Shoq šŸŒæ

I asked one of my slightly more moderate MAGA neighbors what she thought of #NoKings day.

ā€œIf they are so upset with Trump, why do they act like itā€™s a big festival?ā€

I have precisely the same question. I have never agreed with that strategy of @invisibleteamā€™s. They are convinced it works for us, but Iā€™ve seen no evidence of that. Nobody that was present at any of my events was there because it was ā€œfun.ā€ They were there because their patriotism demanded it. And if you need to convince ā€¦

Mar 30 at 3:05pmSidetoolz
Show threadShoq šŸŒæMar 30

your friends to come out and have a good time, then thereā€™s something wrong with your friends. I donā€™t see any evidence that massive protests in other countries rely on this ā€œletā€™s all get together and have fun showing our discontentā€ narrative, just because they feel thatā€™s a good way of communicating that the movement is not about violence ( as Iā€™ve heard claimed).

And this event was reportedly only a million more than last time (and these numbers are not reliable), so the ā€œletā€™s partyā€ ā€¦

Show threadShoq šŸŒæMar 30

factor doesnā€™t seem to be helping the movement reach that critical 3.5% of the population figure that Erica Chenowith insists is needed for any popular uprisingā€™s success. (Which I donā€™t really think applies to Americans anyway. Our long history of abundant resources and defensible borders has made us very different from other cultures.)

I think this entire #nokings event focus is starting to feel indulgent. Whatā€™s moving public opinion is gas prices and war. What drove MAGAā€™s success was ā€¦

Show threadShoq šŸŒæMar 30

not fuzzy feel-good events every 6 months. It was their consistent expression of rage and discontent at that same rhetorical targets day after day after day and reliably echoed by a complicit media.

Anyway, this is only one criticism of @indivisibleteamsā€™s admirable and important efforts. I have others, but I remain a big fan of what Ezra, Leah, and their team have built.

If I have any overarching criticism itā€™s that the effort focuses too much on protest events, and not enough on other ā€¦

Show threadShoq šŸŒæMar 30
pressure tactics it has the numbers to implement. And no, I donā€™t mean primarying Democrats. They should stay way away from internecine party politics. Theyā€™re not going to, I fear, but they should.
Show threadWendroid šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡¦Mar 30
@shoq A significant difference between the MAGA and No Kings factions is that MAGA was fed, fueled and maintained on funnelled grievance and hatred, where the No Kings side isnā€™t so full of dumb racism and unbridled rage. Weā€™re profoundly not quite the same.
Show threadThadd SeldenMar 30

@shoq I was safety team lead our past two No Kings so I'm pretty involved in the planning.

One of the things that might get missed is that NK is a very important tool in getting people involved in activism. We had a bunch of candidates with booths and an entire section devoted to getting people involved.

There are tables for bringing on new canvasers, postcard and phone-bank campaigns for purple districts, direct action events, just to name a few.

NK is an excellent recruiting tool.

Show threadReturn of AadmaaMar 30
@thadd @shoq I've been so impressed with the NK/indivisible/et al safety lead process btw. Totally organized; while appropriately deferential to local organizers - no bigfooting by the nat'l orgs... Ty for your own leadership!
Show threadShoq šŸŒæMar 30
I think my answer to you got lost or swallowed somehow? Did you see it? If not I can recompose it. But not now. Sorry tho.
Show threadThadd SeldenMar 30

@shoq I didn't see it but something is always weird about your replies. They show up in my feed and threaded properly, but not in my notifications (either in Ivory or on the Mastodon web interface). Not sure why it happens.

No rush on replying, just wanted to share my perspective as someone involved in organizing the event in my city.

Show threadlakeladyMar 30
@shoq I disagree - there was plenty about MAGA rallies that was a party atmosphere. Anger is short term fuel. Community, which is what I believe these events build, is a long slow sustainable burn. And it takes community to effect lasting change.
Show threadCoach Pāį¹‡ini Ā®Mar 30

@shoq

Rage is not a sustainable energy source compared to joy.

Show threadShoq šŸŒæMar 30

As I just said in another post, I donā€™t buy that. This ā€œjoyā€ thing is very fundamental to the Black experience in America (as a rational response to relentless oppression), but I have never seen it routinely expressed in other populations.

As for rage not being a sustainable energy source, how many more years of Tea Parties and MAGA movements will it take to convince you thatā€™s a fallacy. Not only does it seem to be sustainable, but it often feels limitless. You need only look at the ā€¦

Show threadShoq šŸŒæMar 30
enduring appeal of NAZI views that have not only lasted for 85+ years, but are rapidly on the rise around the world again. Rage is what has always fueled and motivated the discontented.