@aral there's a great poem (“fascist nations”) by wiktor woroszylski, himself a polish jew, and it starts like this:

Shortly after the war of 1914-1918 the first fascist nations
emerged in Europe In those nations
the sun rose and set at the usual time shedding light
on homestead roofs and hills' green slopes Cattle
mooed gently in cowsheds Mothers kissed
their children's foreheads to wake them at dawn¹

(he wrote it in 1969, a year after the nominally socialist regime of people's republic of poland started an antisemitic and nationalist campaign that forced many members of the polish jewish community – already struggling after being almost entirely wiped out during ww2 – into exile)

¹ translation by stanisław barańczak and clare cavanagh

@aral

Germans today have a saying, "If ten people are sitting at a table and a Nazi sits down with them, how many Nazis are at the table? Eleven."

@aral
White supremacy in the Deep South of the US has always been built upon gentility.

Decorum enables rhetorical erasure of violence from public conversation.

@aral 🤔 you need not always express your opinions

The rhetoric sounds dramatic but....

@aral

I think people are taught to be nice instead of kind. Nice is not making waves or avoiding offending nazis. Kind is standing up to nazis and protecting those they target.

@aral

And this is why our Davids — the “serious” columnists who really never say anything useful, but do a lot of bland both-sides damage — penned columns about how people lack niceness and we need to restore niceness.

We need lovely people who will go along nicely with the fascists.

@aral

I want to give this to my boss So Badly. She's exactly like this & I just get So Tired of the pretense

@aral unsolicited podcast recommendation:

Behind the bastards: How Nice, Normal People Made The Holocaust Possible

Part 1: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-how-nice-normal-people-72548148/

Part 2: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-two-how-nice-normal-72623237/

@aral

❶ #Mastodon is full of “nice people...focused on happier things”🔴https://mastodon.social/@B2Spirit_TT/110913510417509721

YET...

❷ The fact that #Politics is more embraced is good🔴https://rb.gy/2r4vk

HOWEVER, #Research #Data shows:

❸ #Security #Threats abound🔴https://gizmodo.com/mastodon-fediverse-child-abuse-material-stanford-resear-1850670857
+
❹ The #Fediverse has a #MentalHealth Problem🔴https://medium.com/@thisismissem/the-fediverse-has-a-mental-health-problem-4cb4845dfee1
+
❺ Instances are already fracturing into tight ideological bubbles🟥https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36549218

#SocialMedia #Psychology #Abuse #Law #BlackMastodon #News #Science▼

@aral It's true in hindsight and a decent rule of thumb. However, one never really knows the capabilities of other people, or even one's own, until facing a situation where action is critical. Words and appearances can be deceiving.

Allowing shit to escalate to the critical point (people being dragged away) is another story, but even then, weighing risk and success is very difficult. Throwing livelihood away over one thing may result in being unable to help with another. A cruel reality of choices. Though on the other hand, a sacrifice is never judged by its impact.

@aral
At the bottom of my every email:

All that is needed for
the triumph of evil
is for good people to do
nothing and stay silent.
- Edmund Burke -
(( paraphrased ))

@aral

That's very insightful. I'm going to 'borrow' Naomi's words as they align with my thinking about what those types of "nice" people are doing about climate change (nothing much)