Dan Gillmor

This is the saddest July 4 in my memory. The United States is plunging into vile right-wing dictatorship, in large part because once-vital institutions -- including Big Journalism -- have chosen to be quislings when courage was needed.

It's not too late to reverse our decline, but it's close.

Jul 4 at 12:28amFedica
Show threadChris EspinosaJul 4
@dangillmor The US is plunging into vile right-wing dictatorship because there are a bunch of Americans who admire a vile right-wing dictator. Yes, our institutions are failing. They’ve always been failing. They might even be in some ways complicit. But the root cause is the millions of people driven by greed and hate to follow someone who represents them.
Show threadGed MaheuxJul 5
@Cdespinosa @dangillmor Indeed and when said dictator not only pardons Jan 6th criminals but gives them cushy jobs inside the government to reward them, those millions who admire him think he has their back and he gives them even more of a license to be deplorable.
Show threadRicardusJul 4
@dangillmor I've given up hope. I think only a military intervention could help us at this point.
Show threadEquissJul 4

@Ricardus @dangillmor Actually there are two books that can help yu.

One is the Myth of the national defense.

The second is Democracy, the god that failed.

Both by Hans-Hermann Hoppe. I'll help you to understand the real problem.

Show threadRicardusJul 4
@Equiss @dangillmor I read Chomsky. I'm aware.
Show threadEquissJul 5
@Ricardus @dangillmor Right. The philosopher Hoppe gets it right when it comes to this whole chauvinism in democracy thing.
Show threadDarren du NordJul 4
@dangillmor I still have hope. The demonstrations I have attended let me know I am not alone. As long as I am not alone, I have hope.
Show threadbhauglandJul 4
@darren @dangillmor I have no hope as long as people are so stupid to continue to follow political parties like a bunch of sheep
Show threadDarren du NordJul 4

@bhaugland @dangillmor

Then enjoy your sad life. You set a very high bar for hope.

Show threadNol Malone ☭Jul 5
@darren @bhaugland @dangillmor Hope is a wish that can chain our mind to a fiction if we aren't careful. A cold, reality based, assessment may not break our bonds directly, but bonds that cannot be seen can never be broken.
Show threadIronCladLouJul 7

@darren @dangillmor this! This is the key! We are not alone! The protest should give us a LOT of faith. The policies are wildly unpopular!

But our representatives no longer represent us, they only represent power and money. We all know this!

And they WILL NOT change without being forced to change. No one in power is going to grow a spine, no one is going to put their neck out. none of them are going to be the hero we need. They are going to stay this course now because it seems safe and they are winning.

But we don’t need violence to force the change. What we need is a #generalStrike to stop the whole system, and remind the ruling class that WE are the true power.
We demand the changes to get us back on a new, better, course as a society. If the ruling class declines our demands (they probably will) we simply refuse to do a damn thing anymore to support the system and we crash it into the sea. Goodbye Wall Street.

But we need UNITY -lots and lots of unity. And loads of people willing to help their communities in very real hands-on ways (food support, child and elder care, counseling, communications, medical help)

From here on out, our lives are going to be very, very hard. Because they are going to make us suffer… badly.
The sooner we fight back in a unified and forceful way, the less we will suffer.

#anticapitalism #antifascism

Show threadAustrianJul 7
@ironcladlou
Fascism is a socialist system. Fascism has an anti-capitalist nature. How can you combine these opposite hashtags? You are confusing #capitalism and #statism the so-called mixed economy. Statism is a system of state intervention in human life and, above all, in the market economy.
@darren @dangillmor
#mixedeconomy
Show threadoscarfalconJul 4

@dangillmor

So are you going to rename the holiday Re-dependence Day?

Show threadDebbie BelairJul 4
@dangillmor 😱
Show threadrouxdoo √Jul 4

@dangillmor

Let us not lose hope, Dan. Yes - things are grim but we (all of us together) have and will always overcome evil intentions.

"Aligator Alcatraz" was named by the AP today as a "concentration camp"...the only outlet I've seen recognizing it as such so far.

@georgetakei can speak to the ability of real Americans jailed by evil Americans to overcome after evil is banished. He is still joyful.

I, for one, will celebrate our Independence Day with joy and hope for a better tomorrow.

Show threadSean07Jul 4
@dangillmor maybe you should start using your guns that you are so keen on.
Show threadFossThoughtJul 4
@dangillmor This is the first Independence Day that actually feels ironic.
Show threadIdaho buckeyeJul 4
@dangillmor we are the Nazis
Show thread@martlund 🌲🐶🇸🇪🇨🇱🌈Jul 4

@dangillmor

GOP slinging premeditated murder while cashing in on prison stocks, with a corrupt SCOTUS, Worse than fascism

Show threadHoward Chu @ SymasJul 4
@dangillmor speaking of which... in the 1930s, at what point was it definitely too late to steer Germany off its fascist path?
Show threadarceuthobiumJul 4
@hyc @dangillmor arguably it wasn’t too late until Hitler was named chancellor. Or maybe it was when the SPD decided not to run their own candidate for president in 1932.
Show threadgentlegardenerJul 4
@dangillmor sad to say am with you. The 89.6m murricans who were eligible to vote but did not, don’t get to use the term independence day, not around me.
Show threadOregon Wine WomanJul 4
@dangillmor
Mine as well. Sackcloth and ashes.
Show threadJenny FxJul 4
@dangillmor maybe it has to hit rock bottom before it gets better. I really don't want things to sink any lower, though. It's sickening.
Show threadEquissJul 4
@dangillmor right and left are the same. Both just want power.
Show threadKg. Madee Ⅱ.Jul 4
@Equiss@vivaldi.net oh sod off with that shit. Even if by "left" you mean Democrats, who are kinda fail, this is nonsense
Show threadZe GyreJul 4
@Equiss @dangillmor Agreed. Both wings are of the same bird. Oldest tactics in the book; Divide and conquer
Show threadEquissJul 5
@zegyre @dangillmor That's right, and it's true in every aspect of life. Politics is a poison.
Show threadMastodon MigrationJul 4

@dangillmor

AG Sulzberger bears much of the responsibility for this descent into authoritarianism. He is the one person in journalism who had the power to stem the flow of mind bending disinformation that shaped the electorate and he did nothing but embrace it and fan the flames.

Show threadIn Search of a Better WorldJul 4

@dangillmor

It isn't too late, you can always vote to return to the fold and rejoin under the British Crown. Then you'll just have #Neoliberal-scum lite, instead of the full fat version you have over there.

#HappyIndependenceDay #July4th #USpol #UKPol

Show threadiveylineJul 4
@dangillmor I sense it is now too late for the US. It is taking a giant leap backwards and passing the lead to other nations - China, India, even possibly Europe. "Only the blind cannot see" For example: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/opinion/trump-bill-clean-energy-china.html
Opinion | How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

Beijing must be delighted by how the U.S. is surrendering the future of electricity to it.

The New York Times
Show threadUkeleleEricJul 4
@dangillmor Do your best to commemorate your no kings day appropriately.
Show threadDP0Jul 4
@dangillmor
Show threadArapallaJul 4

@dangillmor

Waiting for you guys to get off your backsides and seriously do something about it.

The whole country needs to be in the street, everyday, in front of the bad guys homes and offices until they fall.

Show threadNoortje Van LeeuwenJul 4
@dangillmor my fiancée said, so on the day people there celebrate their independence and freedom, they took freedom away.
Show threadMidniteMikeWritesJul 4
@dangillmor Even if it were too late, we have to try or be judged on the stage of history for not standing up for what's right.
Show threadxs4me2Jul 4

@dangillmor

Quislings indeed, being complicit.

Show threadDoesn't Exist.Jul 4

@dangillmor

Suspect many never had children after 30 years of warning upon warning of existential climate change?

But did not see this coming on top.

There's still time?

Show threadMatteo PinzautiJul 4
@dangillmor I know it's sad, and I know it's hard. To blame in my opinion is the social media lack of rules in how they can impact the opinions of people by targeting bubbles and showing only one side of the coin to users. @EUCommission be aware of this please.
Nowadays we see how big of a problem this is, one can buy a social network (🐦) to get unbanned to influence the most susceptible, also you can create your own to spread your ideas, no matter if truth or not.
As if Brexit wasn't enough...
Show threadPelican Dock MusicJul 4

@dangillmor

yes to that

Show threadMidgePhotoJul 4
@dangillmor
The size of the minimum change needed to avert bad outcomes tends to rise with time.
A staple of #SF
Contrariwise, if something is not one man, or a conspiracy of a limited number of such, another staple of time travel stories is that convergence occurs with a similar outcome after a limited edit.
Show threadNol Malone ☭Jul 5
@dangillmor Journalism was purchased because that's the inevitable outcome of capitalism. There are plenty of principled, and unemployed, journalists.