@evan fellow #Amercans

It is our job right now to wake our fellow citizens up. There are many possible ways to do this. Pick a few and do them today.

Put copies of "On Tyranny" in your local Little Free Library.

Use chalk to write things in public spaces. You can make a plastic stencil and use spray chalk if you want to get your #Banksy on.

Print out memes and flyers. Put them everywhere. Light poles, signs and community boards.

Use wheatpaste for more permanency.

I'll post an Elon Musk WANTED poster today with the hashtag #ResInt

Which leads me, of course, to Beastie Boys - Sabotage (Official Music Video)

And one more word about those Righteous Gentiles. After the Holocaust, psychologists began to study them to figure out what made them courageously agree to hide Jews while the majority went along with tyranny. Maybe they were friends with Jews before the war? Maybe they had spare rooms or extra savings tucked away? Maybe some people just come wired with an altruistic personality?

Nope. The psychologists found that none of these factors made the difference. Instead, as Bregman recounts in his book:
Turns out there was one circumstance that determined almost everything. A new analysis of data … showed that when this condition was met, nearly everyone took action — 96 percent to be precise.

And what was that condition?

Simple: you had to be asked. Those who were asked to help someone in danger almost always said yes.

Asking things of each other and acting together is how we move unjust systems. So go ahead.

Reach out to someone. Ask.

The article quotes author Larissa MacFarquhar, who wrote in her book Strangers Drowning: Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Urge to Help:

"In wartime — or in a crisis so devastating that it resembles war, such as an earthquake or a hurricane — duty expands far beyond its peacetime boundaries. In wartime, it’s thought dutiful rather than unnatural to leave your family for the sake of a cause. In wartime, the line between family and strangers grows faint, as the duty to one’s own enlarges to encompass all the people who are on the same side…

This is the difference between do-gooders and ordinary people: for do-gooders, it is always wartime. They always feel themselves responsible for strangers — they always feel that strangers, like compatriots in war, are their own people."

Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now:

30. If you don’t have anybody to reach out to, reach out to me. Really. I’m just a stranger on the Internet. I’m busy too. I’m balancing multiple day jobs and a couple kids and piles of laundry that never disappear. I may take a while to get back to you. But I will. I won’t have all the perfect answers, but I’ll listen to you. My role, if you need it, isn’t necessarily to solve your problems. It’s to help you practice reaching out to others for support.

https://thewhitepages.net/p/thirty-lonely-but-beautiful-actions

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That last one applies to me, too. I'm on #Signal and you are not alone.

Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now:

28. Again, whatever you do: broadcast it. It doesn’t have to be on social media, but that’s fine, too. Is that performative? Absolutely, but you’re not doing it for yourself. You’re doing it to model it for somebody else. Do you know why human beings attend artistic performances? To understand ourselves better through somebody else “performing” humanity in front of us. First comes the performance, then comes the repetition, then comes the integration into all of our lives.

29. Look back at this list. Think about the idea that you rolled your eyes at the hardest, the one that seemed least applicable or most scary to you. Look at it again. Ask yourself not “why can’t I do that?” but “what support would I need to do it?” Ask who in your life might be able to provide that support. Reach out to that person and say, “I have a crazy idea, but I need your help.”

https://thewhitepages.net/p/thirty-lonely-but-beautiful-actions

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23/?

Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now:

27. Ask yourself how much of your political engagement is confined to spaces where everybody else is already aware of and angry about the same things that you are. Ask yourself, gently, “Should I just complain to the same friends?” “Do I need to spend all this time on Bluesky?” “Why am I only reading authors who tell me how bad everything is but not what we can do in response?” Instead, consider spending more time with folks who are highlighting everything that’s already being built and reminding us of how much power we actually have. I’m not saying that your time should be spent debating and getting in screaming matches with the most MAGA-loving person in your vicinity. Remember that most of your neighbors aren’t paying attention one way or another. This moment is about spreading the word: people are being hurt, and we should stand in opposition.

https://thewhitepages.net/p/thirty-lonely-but-beautiful-actions

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22/?

Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now:

25. Remember that fascists hate unions, and one of the reasons why they’re winning is that union density is at an all time low. If your workplace has a union, throw yourself into it. If your workplace doesn’t, there are a whole bunch of people who would like to help you start one. If you don’t have a traditional workplace (like me), you might be surprised that there are unions for us as well. Join. Agitate. Know that we won’t turn the tide if we can’t get union density back in the double digits.

26. If you know and love a federal worker, particularly in a targeted agency, do something kind for them. If you’re a federal worker, particularly in a targeted agency, tell us what you need and how you’re doing.

https://thewhitepages.net/p/thirty-lonely-but-beautiful-actions

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21/?

Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now:

23. Regardless of whether you’re a parent, go to a school board meeting. During public comment, reiterate how much you value:

A. The district remaining a safe and welcoming place for queer and trans students.

B. The school district not cooperating with ICE.

C. The school continuing to teach accurate representations of U.S. history, multiculturalism and respect for all students’ backgrounds.

24. When you wonder “what right do I have to go to a school board if my topic isn’t on the agenda” remember those Moms For Liberty who caused all of that school board chaos a few summers ago… what right did they have to do so? And yet, there they were, creating a political moment out of nothing. You’re showing up for something real, something that matters. Your school board deserves to hear from you.

https://thewhitepages.net/p/thirty-lonely-but-beautiful-actions

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#ResInt #TTJ #Education #Activism ICE #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #USPol

Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now:

21. Research mutual aid efforts in your area. If there isn’t one near you, research how to start one. Start showing up for their meal drop offs or their trash pick-ups or whatever it is that they’re doing. Discover that it’s simpler and more fun than you imagined. When people ask you how you’re doing, say “I’m trying a new thing– I’m getting involved with ______ mutual aid, have you heard of it?”

22. If you’re a parent, send a letter to your kids school. Tell them thanks, and then ask how you can support them.

https://thewhitepages.net/p/thirty-lonely-but-beautiful-actions

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19/?

Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now:

20. Recognize that so many of the boycotts whirling around the internet are probably too diffused and unorganized to truly bend the arc of history, but that they do matter, both for keeping the pressure on these cowardly profit-seeking, fascist-knee bending corporations, but also for the way they build intentionality and focus into our lives. Pick a company that’s been hard for you to boycott but that you’ve been tempted to quit– Target perhaps, or Meta, or Amazon. Start listing all the reasons why it’s hard. Text a friend “hey, I’d like to quit _____ but I can’t. Can you help me brainstorm how to make that change?”

https://thewhitepages.net/p/thirty-lonely-but-beautiful-actions

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