Mastodawn

Dr Neenah Estrella-Luna May 20

Ricki Crush Bandicute Tarr

I'm so sick people thinking if they don't like the system, they can just not be a part of it. There will always be a system, and you will always be affected by it. There is no system that runs in autopilot. Even in the best case scenario, where there is revolution (we don't need to talk about the 50 years of violent unrest that follows violent revolution, right?) there will still be a system, you'll still be a part of it, it will still be vulnerable.

The Cost of freedom is eternal vigilance, the cost of not participating is even higher.

@RickiTarr This is my main problem with Anarchism. To make sure nobody takes control of the uncontrolled, it would take a serious amount of... control.

I can see that everyone I mean EVERYONE putting their oar in would prevent centralized control. How to get people to do that…

social norms, horror tales of what happened when we didn’t, Voting Sausage and kids parades and the fancy dessert we make in water-system-maintenance-season… there are ways. They require care too!

Everything sublunar does.
M@sahqon@beige.party @RickiTarr

Jon Roach May 20

@sahqon @RickiTarr hi, barging in uninvited to say that’s why they got trounced in the Spanish Civil War while the Communists did somewhat better. Disclaimer, I wasn’t there, and I’ve read only one book on the subject 😀

Ricki Crush Bandicute Tarr May 20

@FourT4 @sahqon I am definitely not a vampire, totally wasn't there.

-Jon

JWcph, Radicalized By Decency 6d ago

@sahqon @RickiTarr I've been thinking the exact same thing; I like the idea of a collaborative, egalitarian society, obvi, but... how to keep literally everyone, down to the last individual, from organizing in ANY hiearchial ways at all? Wouldn't that take some serious, well, policing...?

The Sleight Doctor 🃏6d ago

@sahqon @RickiTarr My own recent flirtation with anarchist ideas has nothing to do with idealism, or pie-in-the-sky ideology, or some Utopian commitment to anything. It's more to do with a recognition that we're headed there anyway, whether we like it or not. Civilizational collapse is on the horizon, and community-led systems of mutual aid and support, including co-ops and syndicalized labour - everything anarchists have been advocating - are the only way we'll stand any chance of surviving it.

@RickiTarr You speak the truth, Ricki! I can’t help but think that those same people, are the ones responsible for putting Donald Dumbo back in the White House… All because they “don’t like the system…” I wonder if they like the system now…?

BAD BURNS aka Knitting Dyke May 20

@RickiTarr We may not have made this system but someone did. Which means it can be unmade or remade. Pretending you can leave the system to make a difference in it is delusional.

Xenofact (he/him)

@RickiTarr a thing I noticed in my readings of Taoism and other Chinese works was an idea of "seeking a leader to serve." At first I thought "ah, that's just feudalism."

Then as I read on I realized it was "work with the best people you can find or the system will suck." There's a reason the "Art of War" is basically "complete royal idiot's guide to not fucking up."

Taoists struggled with questions of disengagement versus engagement and from what I read, ended up on the side of engaging.

Samhain Night May 20

@RickiTarr This is the problem with not voting. It doesn't remove you (or anyone else) from the system. It just puts you at the mercy of those who do vote.

FediThing 🏳️‍🌈May 20

@samhainnight @RickiTarr

Beautifully put 👏

Steve Gisselbrecht May 20

@RickiTarr
We apparently do need to talk about it.

Ricki Crush Bandicute Tarr May 20

@stevegis_ssg I guess so lol

CM Thiede May 20

@RickiTarr that would take an extreme amount of education efforts. Nobody likes being told what to do and many find alternative views to one's own some form of indoctrination. Figuring out a way to enlighten people in a manner that makes them feel they came to their epiphany on their own is the real challenge.

Ricki Crush Bandicute Tarr May 20

@cmthiede Yes, education and change is generational

spanghero 5d ago

@RickiTarr @cmthiede Critical thinking teaching in schools would lead to significant generational change and increased engagement in the political and social system. Wonder why it isn't encouraged?

spanghero 5d ago

@cmthiede @RickiTarr I disagree a little with the statement that people don't like to be told what to do, because they do but they don't like to be told explicitly, i.e. they're happy for politicians and lawmakers to set boundaries for them as long as the boundaries are couched in a way that it's to protect the majority from the minority (who are always deemed to be the danger). I think it's why some repressive policies are more successful than others.

@RickiTarr well said.

@RickiTarr reminds me of this essay:

https://www.guernicamag.com/john_berger_7_15_11/

Fellow Prisoners

<p>The best way to understand the world is not as a metaphorical prison but a literal one. </p>

Guernica

katzenberger May 20

Define "participating", please.

I call this the all the benefit and none of the responsibility paradox. Talk about magical thinking.

Robert Taylor May 20

@RickiTarr 8647!

halfredgreenapple May 20

Pusher of Pixels May 20

@RickiTarr in the words of prophets of Rush

"You can choose not to decide, but you still have made a choice"

[long haired head banging interlude]

Mister Shade 6d ago

@Johns_priv @RickiTarr Americans failed the test of vigilance in November 2024. Perhaps we can try again.

Bob Jamieson May 21

@RickiTarr Recent politics has been determined not by voters, but by those who didn`t bother, or were too disillusioned to vote,

Estarriol, lucozade dragon May 21

@bobjmsn @RickiTarr

no, recent policy is determined by whose lobbyists spend the most on 'gifts' and 'donations'.

Ben Royce 🇺🇦6d ago

@Thebratdragon @bobjmsn @RickiTarr

And how do you fix that?

You show the fuck up to vote

What does "the system is fucked" and walking away do?

You are simply ceding control to them

The lie is that you can just walk away

There's no where to walk away to

Mark T. Tomczak 6d ago

@benroyce @Thebratdragon @bobjmsn @RickiTarr We may actually have a new mayor in my town that is not a member of either party.

He ran a heck of a write-in campaign. We had the most write ins I've ever seen running the polls, enough to almost burn through all the ticker tape in the counting computer printing the individual write in rows.

Dopes The Frogman 6d ago

@benroyce @Thebratdragon @bobjmsn @RickiTarr Most AMERICANS have nowhere to walk away to.

I love the "I didn't vote because both parties suck" crowd. It's like, yes, you've already opened up your anus to the throbbing cock of greedy capitalism.

an actual bus 6d ago

@macacator @benroyce @Thebratdragon @bobjmsn @RickiTarr what the fuck lol

Dopes The Frogman 6d ago

@renardboy @benroyce @Thebratdragon @bobjmsn @RickiTarr veiny too

Neil E. Hodges 6d ago

@RickiTarr @bobjmsn @Thebratdragon @benroyce @macacator Silence is complicity. :3

JWcph, Radicalized By Decency 6d ago

@benroyce @Thebratdragon @bobjmsn @RickiTarr Exactly. The only way of opting out of humanity is to literally kill yourself. Or become a Republican.

Steven Hilton 6d ago

@benroyce @Thebratdragon @bobjmsn @RickiTarr

The soap box hasn't worked.
The ballot box hasn't worked.
The jury box is barely holding and appears to be on the verge of failure.

@bobjmsn #truth

Rachel E. S. Lösche 5d ago

@bobjmsn @RickiTarr I always vote but I feel real sympathy for those who are too depressed to do anything. Because campaign finance in the US is a complete disaster. It is depressing.

Let's make democracy truly participatory. Indivisible is good but DiEM25 I am finding to be an excellent addition.

It is not either/or. Join #Indivisible protests and meetings AND join #DiEM25 to learn how organizing works. Let's do the work that matters. Encourage people to vote and join the collectives at work.

Dread Pirate John Scab🚫4d ago

@RickiTarr A turn of phrase I heard was " you might not be interested in politics but politics is sure interested in you"