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A Plan and a Strategy for Resistance [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-02
A Plan
When Arianna Huffington announced her charity, The Center for Effective Compassion, I just laughed. “Effective” compassion? How charitable! So if someone’s suffering can’t be relieved “effectively,” they don’t deserve anything?
But here we are. The attention zone is being flooded with crazy every single day. “Daddy’s home,” indeed, if your daddy burns the house down and blames you for it.
That brings us back to effective compassion, or in this case, effective action.
The plan is to resist Trump’s anti-democratic moves and not to cooperate in advance, as Timothy Snyder describes in his book, “On Tyranny.” Early pushback against stomping on democratic norms is essential. But how?
A Strategy
Counter “Flood the Zone”
If the tactic is “flood the zone,” the counter-tactic is to pick three issues and focus your personal efforts there. You personally can pick what to focus your attention and efforts on. You can trust that with the millions of people involved in this effort, every piece of shit they throw will be picked up by someone.
Strike Fear of Losing Re-election in the Hearts of Politicians
Bernie Sanders told us to directly contact your Congressperson. It works. There’s a lot of thin margins in Congress right now, and they have entire staffs that do nothing but read, log and respond to voter feedback. Here, the focus is on your Congressperson, your state legislator, your city councilperson.
More than that, show up to public meetings dressed well, polite, with your comments already written out. Remember, “I will pray for you” is another way of saying “fuck you.”
Kneecap Tech Bros
The weak spot for the power base of these Tech Bros is your phone. If you delete a social media app from your phone, it directly impacts the stock value of that company. I described it here in my Evil Plan to Save Democracy.
Know Social Media Limits
Social media is great for idea distribution. Highlighting, liking or reposting an idea gets it out there and gives it the potential for power. But it is not, of itself, doing anything. Do not think that your relieved feelings in an electronic realm translate to real power.
A good example of this thought is when Kim Kardashian floated the idea of running for public office. It was a minor office, but the voter disgust and anger ended that fantasy quickly. She has power in the attention economy, but not in the real one. She confused her millions of “followers” for real followers, her social media power for real power. Don’t make that same mistake.
A counter-example is the YouTubers The Meidas Touch. They are a group of experienced attorneys who review the legal machinations of the MAGA movement. They are getting better ratings than FoxNews. What differentiates them from Kim Kardashian is their foundation of substantive knowledge and experience, which translates into respect. They are standing on a platform of real world accomplishments. Yes, liking and subscribing tickles the algorithm for them. It’s important to get their message out there. But the likes are not an end to themselves. They break down who is doing what in MAGA legal fights, and give a realistic picture of the state of legal resistance in the United States.
Go Forth
Now you have a plan and an effective strategy. Let me know how it goes.
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