Thomas The Dank Engine ❤️🔥
Ricki Yasha TarrOne of the things I think people in very political spaces like Fedi miss, is that a good amount of people simply aren't "political". They don't pay attention, they don't know what's going on, they don't engage. They've been told their whole lives that all politicians are the same, and nothing they do matters. It's the greatest trick the "Devil" ever pulled, to convince people that their participation is meaningless.
Seán Fenian@RickiTarr yeah. I have an authors' forum where I talk regularly with two 70-ish types who chant that as their daily mantra. Efforts to point out to them that they are perpetuating the problem are futile.
Pistolenkind@RickiTarr Objection! This is a paradox. Being apolitical is very political because it implies that you are privileged to ignore everything else. And this ignorance is a political decision against others. l 'm not contradicting you, we basically mean the same thing, we say the same thing in different words. I'm just stressing that you can't be apolitical, just as you can't not communicate.
@Pistolenkind Agreed, hence the " "
@RickiTarr l know. Just wanted to say it.
RolloTreadway@RickiTarr Very much so. And what tends to be overlooked is just how many of them there are. The 'not particularly interested in politics' constituency are at least a plurality, often an outright majority, always and everywhere. They hold an enormous amount of power.
There has always been a wearisome tendency on the left to ignore them, as though they don't matter. It's not only that they've been encouraged to disengage from politics; it's also that those who should be trying to win many of them over, don't.
Kim Spence-Jones 🇬🇧😷@RolloTreadway @RickiTarr
Trying to win over voters who vote the ‘wrong’ way is a mugs game. The vast majority of voters are wedded to their view and are immune to persuasion. Far better to do something significant to improve the lives of those who don’t vote, and persuade them the way to get more of the same is to get out and vote.
Trying to win over voters who vote the ‘wrong’ way is a mugs game. The vast majority of voters are wedded to their view and are immune to persuasion. Far better to do something significant to improve the lives of those who don’t vote, and persuade them the way to get more of the same is to get out and vote.
Dave Bryant aka Tom_Clowder@RickiTarr Being political takes time. LOTS of time if one does more than a surface skim—serious involvement effectively becomes a lifestyle. Most people don’t _want_ to make politics their singular hobby or avocation, and demanding they do . . . I mean, yeah, they should eat their vegetables, it’s good for them, but it definitely is an uphill battle for so many reasons.
@tom_clowder Well no one will have a choice now
MFennVT has moved
Johns@RickiTarr I keep having this same conversation with the SAME people at work, over and over.
The argument that always makes them shut up is that 10 years ago paternity leave in Spain was three days, now is 16 weeks.
So, if change isn't possible, how on earth did that happen?
What pisses me off is that we keep having the exact same conversation, groundhog day style. Is like they're programmed to ignore reality
Medea Vanamonde🏳️⚧️ ♀@Johns_priv @RickiTarr and it’s a wonder a shift to they ever suspicious of presented reality Gnostic Christianity has never taken off since Nixon was exposed .
Probably because those potential gnostics have a bad case of Apocalypsis Interruptus: The World should have ended between 1986 and 2005 and it’s still here and they are not in the New Jerusalem laughing at the majority of humans burning in Self Contained Hell forever
Cats Who Draw 
@RickiTarr My wife used to be that way until a few years ago. I'm discovering that there's LOTS we can do to help and participate, hence why I've been sharing all these links, like the privacy tools, as much as I can. I realize that not all of them are for each person, but if it helps someone, then great!
RRB@RickiTarr What changed me was dealing with Soviet dissidents, then African dissidents.
@RickiTarr and on a side note, nice "Usual Suspects" reference 
EMC2@RickiTarr
Decades ago, when I started my work in literacy and community education, I told a colleague that I wasn't a very political person. She pointed out that I was very 'political' because I was supporting marginalized individuals in their reading, writing and critical thinking skills. Paulo Freire said "Education is the practice of freedom."
Decades ago, when I started my work in literacy and community education, I told a colleague that I wasn't a very political person. She pointed out that I was very 'political' because I was supporting marginalized individuals in their reading, writing and critical thinking skills. Paulo Freire said "Education is the practice of freedom."
@ErinMC2 Well put!
mizblueprint@RickiTarr
I've knocked on tens of thousands of doors in the past 35 years, for other candidates, and for my own elections. One think I have never done is knock on the door of a non-voter. GOTV (get out the vote) is strictly for voters. There's a significant percentage of the population that gets no contact with candidates, elected officials, direct mail, or election workers. They are willfully ignorant and have no say about their own interests. It's sad.
I've knocked on tens of thousands of doors in the past 35 years, for other candidates, and for my own elections. One think I have never done is knock on the door of a non-voter. GOTV (get out the vote) is strictly for voters. There's a significant percentage of the population that gets no contact with candidates, elected officials, direct mail, or election workers. They are willfully ignorant and have no say about their own interests. It's sad.
@mizblueprint WOW, first of all thank you for your service, but that's a great point.
@RickiTarr
Yes. The bald truth is that it is not worth the time to try to convince a non-voter to even cast a vote. Those walk lists are "targeted", even back in the 90's. Candidates are entitled to get voter history. Which elections did you vote in, and what is your registration? I knocked doors of all reliable local election voters of any party for non-partisan city council races. I personally delivered 5-10k walk pieces (some for multiple voters in a household) for each election.
Yes. The bald truth is that it is not worth the time to try to convince a non-voter to even cast a vote. Those walk lists are "targeted", even back in the 90's. Candidates are entitled to get voter history. Which elections did you vote in, and what is your registration? I knocked doors of all reliable local election voters of any party for non-partisan city council races. I personally delivered 5-10k walk pieces (some for multiple voters in a household) for each election.
econads@mizblueprint @RickiTarr I've done a bit of canvassing in UK, and it's not like that there. You start at the top of the street and work down.
@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNote@RickiTarr One thing that shakes people out of that complacency is seeing anyone in their town or suburb resisting. Even tiny acts IRL that our “neighbors” can see, have exponentially more motivational impact than just SM or TV alone.
In15 I spoke to over a 1,000 people.1st to register them, later to gather signatures for an EC protest.
Today is #March4Liberty Can’t be there? You can still “show up” using actions from
#AfterNoonNotesToAmerica
#Resist #ResistEverywhere
#tRump #musk #USPol
Kim Possible 
@RickiTarr They don't want to know. They actively avoid it. That means that nothing so far has severely impacted them. But, everyone will be impacted by all this. Everyone.
@kimlockhartga YEP, and it's already happening
@RickiTarr I'm waiting for my neighbors across the street who don't have a TV and are not on the internet (super religious) to figure out that thieves have stolen our nation while they refused to pay attention.
The Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid situation will be apocalyptic. I bet they don't axe them until after this speech.
Charlotte Walker@kimlockhartga @RickiTarr I had a friend who prided herself on not consuming any news - from TV, radio, social media, news sites, newspapers, nothing. It used to irritate the hell out of me. She has never voted in a local or general election and did not vote in the Brexit referendum. She seemed quite proud of the fact that she didn’t know the name of the prime minister. Yet she professed to be concerned about women’s rights, trans rights, minority groups… she just didn’t see there was any connection between those things and politics
@purplepadma @RickiTarr oh good God. How frustrating.
𝓐𝓷𝓭𝔂𝓣𝓲𝓮𝓭𝔂𝓮 𓀤Well there was a time there when you were going through Prime Ministers at a dizzying pace, you have a new King, the only constant seems to be the cat at #10. Someone could be forgiven for losing track.
Hotter, More Cross BunnyToo many people making things that are NOT political, political. End of story.
Farah 🖖🏼🧶🏳️🌈@RickiTarr They are the “lucky” ones
RustyRingThanks for this. In an hour I'm leaving for my first-ever street demonstration, at age 63.
If anybody knows Donald Trump, tell him the old people are rioting now.
BronMasonBRILLIANT! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Jon in Albany@RickiTarr There was a line from Cheers: If ignorance is bliss, then this must be the Garden of Eden.
Katylou@RickiTarr I think about this a lot…
beforewisdom 
@RickiTarr Being like that they are the problem. The "they", I think are the people of the midwest and south, descendants of Germanic and Scandinavians who came here to occupy native American land. That experience made them cynical, distrustful, and nasty. That is in the subculture they passed onto their descendants. Do as you are told, don't think for yourself, look out only for yourself, and anything else is bullshit.
Aviva Gary@RickiTarr The Devil made it seem like a hobby instead of we organize our societies 🙃
Vanessa Nightshade 🏳️⚧️@RickiTarr
We keep participating despite it feeling meaningless. We are not egotistical enough to assume we are correct. Better to make effort and be wrong than be wrong by doing nothing.
We keep participating despite it feeling meaningless. We are not egotistical enough to assume we are correct. Better to make effort and be wrong than be wrong by doing nothing.