Lesley Carhart 

Hey, so as a veteran and incident responder I need to warn you to pay attention to something in America.

The human brain is resilient. While you’re watching kids get dragged away from the parents and people being beaten in the streets, you’re accumulating trauma but also being desensitized.

Oct 29 at 9:15pmWeb
Show threadLesley Carhart Oct 29

This is a natural reaction of your brain to repeatedly seeing horrific things. It will pay less and less attention to those images and have less of a visceral reaction. You can accept horrors.

This is what the fascists want. They want you to accept things continually getting worse and more violent.

Show threadLesley Carhart Oct 29
I know it’s overwhelming right now, but kick in your rational brain and risk measures and then evaluate if things are the same or as good as they were a year ago, ten years ago, etc. Is this something you would have considered normal or noteworthy? Is this what you’d expect from the gov or media?
Show threadLesley Carhart Oct 29
I’ll never forget being on the gulf coast after hurricane Katrina and how it took less than a month to stop noticing apartment buildings sheared in half and the smell of decay. I’ll never not recognize that smell now.
Show threadsenOct 29
@hacks4pancakes Have never been that close to a cyclone, but all the ones that have come near did dump a heap of water in areas I've lived in. So, having assisted with four cleanups so far, I'm well versed in that stench.
Show threadjustmichelleOct 30
@hacks4pancakes The rotten chicken warehouses. The rows of fridges taped shut and still oozing vileness.
Show threadJJOct 29
@hacks4pancakes First off, you left Chicago at precisely the right time. Second, people know this isn't ok. The issue seems to be that there are no good options to make this go away. The courts are slow, stepping in physically to protect people leads directly to the Insurrection Act being invoked and further dominoes falling, and while people are doing what they can, masked men are still crashing cars, tossing teargas, and throwing people into unmarked vans. It's insane.
Show threadLesley Carhart Oct 29
@guitarfosec people on Mastodon know. My dad doesn’t know. My colleagues don’t know. The people who organize Chicago events don’t know. We are in a bubble.
Show threadKim ScheinbergOct 29

@hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec
I have been thinking about going to Chicago to protest and wondering, if I get beaten or arrested, will that finally be the wakeup call for some people in my circles

My fear is not of being beaten or arrested. My fear is that even *that* won't be a wakeup call

Show threadBen RamseyOct 29
@kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec My in-laws think we’ve been radicalized. If we went to a protest and were arrested and/or beaten, they would assume we are too far gone and deserved it.
Show threadKim ScheinbergOct 29

@ramsey @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec
I am often told how much happier I would be if I just stopped reading the news

"It's not like you can do anything about it!"

In the last week I've asked those people to match my donations to food banks because, well, I read the fucking news

Show threadDraken BlackKnightOct 29
@kims @ramsey @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec
My brother thinks I've been radicalized just because I voted for Mamdani when early voting opened up on Saturday.
Show threadCollette's BrainOct 30
@draken thank you for that
Show threadBen RamseyOct 29

@kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec In reality, we (my wife and I) have probably moved toward the left much less than they’ve moved to the right.

(Though, since we now agree with health care for all and UBI, among other things, we may be farther left than we think.)

Show threadDarwin WoodkaOct 29

@ramsey @kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec

UBI isn't leftist, it just makes sense since it's cheaper than anything else you can do for mental and physical health and well being, keeping people in housing and in school. Instead we spend more on cops, health programs, trying to police schools, food assistance, etc, etc....

Show threadBen RamseyOct 30
@darwinwoodka @kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec I know, but in the US, it’s pretty far “left.” I think we arrived at it because it just seems like the best way to make everyone freer.
Show threadKim ScheinbergOct 30

@ramsey @darwinwoodka @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec
I did a deep dive on UBI back in 2017. Weirdly, it was the one position that, once upon a time, Ds, Rs, and libertarians all agreed on

Their reasons were *very* different, but there is video on C-Span of Charles Murray (author of the execrable _The Bell Curve_) and Andy Stern (former president of the SEIU) arguing on the *same side* for UBI

And Nixon almost enacted it!

https://thecorrespondent.com/4503/the-bizarre-tale-of-president-nixon-and-his-basic-income-bill/173117835-c34d6145

The bizarre tale of President Nixon and his basic income bill

In 1969 President Richard Nixon was on the verge of implementing a basic income for poor families in America. It promised to be a revolutionary step – had the President not changed his mind at the last minute. This is the incredible and largely forgotten tale of just how close the U.S. came to stamping out poverty altogether.

The Correspondent
Show threadBen RamseyOct 30
@kims @darwinwoodka @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec If Nixon had signed a bill for UBI, where would we be now, 50 years later? Interesting alternative history speculative fiction prompt.
Show threadJonathan HartleyOct 30
@ramsey @kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec reminder that "health care for all" is absolutely table stakes centrist for any other civilized nation except this one. You're just fine. 🤗
Show threadJames WellsOct 30

@ramsey
Health care is really not a right or left issue. Government has one job and one job only and that is to maintain the health and welfare of it's people. Also note that in order to maintain a strong standing military made of those same people the government needs those people to be health and well cared for. The US government has lost it's way.

@kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec

Show threadJames WellsOct 30

@ramsey
Before anyone asks, look at various laws and bills, they are all framed as a tool to protect someone from something. Even the constitution and it's amendments are statements of protections, they limit the power of the government to harm you.

@kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec

Show threadDon_RubielOct 30
@kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec so this happened:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/immigrant-children-sexual-abuse.html no one got arrested, so the country is hiding those predators. And then, people reelected that president. They know, and this world is what they want. You wont woke up anyone, they want this.
Thousands of Immigrant Children Said They Were Sexually Abused in U.S. Detention Centers, Report Says

There were 4,556 allegations in four years, including a rise in complaints during the Trump administration’s family separation policy.

The New York Times
Show threadPlsik (born in 320 ppm)Oct 30
@kims @hacks4pancakes @guitarfosec I've been there, Kim. As an activist in the climate movement. We live in a bubble. Friends are "interested" and show concern that nothing will happen to you. But they don't want to hear much about the reasons. When I ended up in a police cell after being attacked on the street, they just found it even stranger why on earth I was doing it. Okay, I'm nice, maybe a little weird.
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈Oct 30
@guitarfosec @hacks4pancakes
I'm afraid "people know it's not ok" might not be entirely correct: Yes, Trump's approval ratings have dropped considerably, but 2 out of 5 Americans still think this is the way to go forward...
Show threadAnne OminousOct 29

@hacks4pancakes

yup

this is why several people, some historians, advised people to keep a diary or a list of things they think will never change, or that they would never do, in trump's first term

it feels far more pressing now to do those things, and we're all exhausted.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7382605.Sarah_Kendzior

Show threadcrispy branzino ☭ (sold out forever)Oct 30
@rustoleumlove @hacks4pancakes how do we incense ourselves to be sensitized by trauma through historic recollection seems counter productive.

My resilient mind is an asset.

We should instead spend effort on the question: How do we resist?

Trauma has not changed our underlying convictions, only marginalized our response.
Show threadAnne OminousOct 30

@Nimbius666

yet you cannot speak for everyone when you claim 'trauma does not change underlying convictions'

i think the point is to prevent being normalized, so that you have something to compare your current situation to, from a very personal perspective -- your own.
bc many ppl ARE normalized. there's even a name for one aspect of it - called normalcy bias.

it's not to say one should not resist; many of us are actually capable of doing more than one thing, even if we are traumatized

Show threadcrispy branzino ☭ (sold out forever)Oct 30
@rustoleumlove you are absolutely correct. Its not appropriate to speak for everyone with trauma. I was cavalier.

You are a medical professional. May I know, how do we heal from this trauma and move on to resistance.
Show threadTrisha Lynn 🇵🇭 🇺🇸 🇨🇦Oct 30

@simon_bitdiddle No lie, when my spouse & I were making our list of reasons to apply for permanent residency in Canada, we made a list of things that would make us want to leave and gave them all point values. When it hit 100, we’d start the application process.

It took 6 months into his *first* term of office.

Show threadGrumpyDad 🇺🇦🇵🇸Oct 30
@rustoleumlove @hacks4pancakes This is really good advice. Since I have a habit of forgetting stuff on a daily basis, this would help a lot in keeping a consistent view of the world for me.
I'm going to start doing this today.
Show threadNeil KandalgaonkarJan 30

@hacks4pancakes I think this is sage advice

Counterpoint: some people are coming off the sidelines because they’ve seen a person who looks like them be a victim. I know some very progressive people who are ashamed to admit that snuff videos are what’s finally arousing their “fight” response, but it’s true

Is there some small amount of exposure that we do need, or is it all bad

Show threadacmOct 30
@hacks4pancakes I'm not sure "accept" is quite the right word -- we mostly seem to be stressed all the time! -- but maybe "become inured"...? helpless?
Show threadWulfy—Speaker to the machinesOct 29

@hacks4pancakes

40+ years of zombie fiction has desentisized folks to be fine with killing human shaped targets.

Show threadFuzz-RaOct 29

@n_dimension @hacks4pancakes

Nah, that's bollocks. The dehumanisation does that, zombie fiction is just one of the paths that's played.

Show threadCollette's BrainOct 30
@n_dimension I used to think zombie fiction was about alzheimers' and chronic disease
Show threadSteven Saus [he/him]Oct 30

@n_dimension @hacks4pancakes

I can speak to this one: That's a symptom. Substitute "Nazi/communist/terrorist" and you'll see the same pattern across the board.

Zombies are different only in that they represent different things to different people, sometimes even in the same creative work.

Not negating your point; just saying that training isn't JUST zombies, that's merely one expression that doesn't have to change with shifts in geopolitical agendas.

Show threadFlous   Oct 29
@hacks4pancakes As a fellow veteran, desensitizing goes fast. Getting rid of it is a slow process which not always works. Keep it up Lesley, fight the good fight.
Show threadFuzz-RaOct 29

@hacks4pancakes

Brutality always cases problems down the line. Always.

Show threadBillOct 29

@hacks4pancakes

How did these motherfuckers get so desensitized to this to be able to do it?

Show threadWm.sonOct 29

@w_b @hacks4pancakes

Money...

Show threadLesley Carhart Oct 29
@w_b I’m particularly horrified over the minority Americans signing up.
Show threadAoi_X_KaizakiOct 29

@hacks4pancakes Being desensitized means he or she doesn't know how to treat people.

These people don't know how to treat them as they don't have them. Or the ones who do have kids, treat others the same they treat their own - by beating them, pulling them, and grounding them by yelling.

The people who work in force, with weapons, ICE govt military - Should they have the right to have a family? - That is a big question. - A paradox.

Show threadepiPelagic PuckOct 29

@hacks4pancakes
I haven't watched news in a few years, I read my info, and even that affects me. I have to take breaks while just peeking in enough to not be ignorant, I'm in one of those phases currently.

So much for my "golden" years.

Show threadPasswordsarehard4Oct 29
@hacks4pancakes watching a little child being dragged away from thier parents while crying in a language you don’t know is just getting you used to children begging in a language you do know while they are dragged away from thier parents. Pretty soon you’ll think it’s better if they just didn’t exist anymore at all, that makes it easier to get them on the trains.
Show threadWm.sonOct 29

@hacks4pancakes

That's the point of all these highly visible troops. So we are used to it.

Show threadKnut 🏳️‍🌈 🇳🇴🧸Oct 30
@hacks4pancakes that can go one of two ways. Like I have PTSD, and seeing that shit is disturbing. Its very upsetting. Because it's very real to me. But if you have PTSD, you are aware of the realities of the world more than someone who has never experienced something like that. And so if you're not...then it doesn't seem real. And then that gives way to conspiratorial thinking. Do people get stabbed? Yeah. They do. Ask me how I know. Its not something people just make up for the evening News.
Show threadCyOct 30
A corollary: even when you've been "desensitized" to people being beaten in the streets, and kids getting dragged away to their parents, you'll still step in and save the day, when you have the power to do so. Don't believe the misanthropes. You're just taking care of yourself when you don't act for fear of retaliation, and if you can stop the other humans from stopping you, you will be able to do good, kind and noble acts of humanity.
Show thread❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Oct 30
@hacks4pancakes
Some people never become desensitized, not ever.
Show threadRegan KingOct 30
@hacks4pancakes Fraenkel’s Dual State Model keeps me sane. I try to consider that my friends/family lost to a cult (or addiction for that matter) find meaning and belonging in it. I have the craziest stories about what some of my family/friends/co-workers believe; it just paralyzes me. It’s hard to find meaning in uncertainty. Cults are definitely not uncertain about their ends. I try my best to love my lost ones, find their humanity as something more lasting than hate.