this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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[–] JollyG@lemmy.world 49 points 10 hours ago (6 children)

I am writing this with the assumption that you are tacitly asking about US politics because of the moment in history. What I have to say will make people mad, but here goes:

A lot of the people on this webzone are what Eitan Hersh called "political hobbyists". These are people who do not really take political action in their daily life despite voting or occasionally attending a rally. They may be well informed about politics, but being well-informed in itself is not really effective at changing politics. You can get on your phone and "rub the glass" to complain about politics, or to find people who agree with you. But outrage on social media won't change anything, and if rubbing the glass and occasionally voting is all you do, then you are a political hobbyist.

Political hobbyism mostly functions as a consumerist approach to political engagement. A political hobbyist will passively receive news and information about politics, but will never really try to change anything, because to them engaging in a news feed is all they really do. That consumerism is painfully apparent here when, for example, posters denounce a Democratic candidate as being "not exciting" or someone they are "not passionate about" as if the candidate was the newest model in a brand of laptops that failed to zazzle in Q3. We see signs of political hobbyism again when political parties are treated as entities that are somehow completely separate from the public. For example when a lemmy user denounces the Democratic party for not doing what they want. "The Democrats need to do X!" Why are you complaining about that on the internet? You know the DNC isn't reading these threads right?

If you really wanted to influence the Democratic party (which I think is the best bet for resisting fascism right now) why aren't you lobbying the party? Why aren't you mobilizing voter bases? Why aren't you building political power in your local community so you can influence larger political organizations? Because its hard, because you don't know where to start, because you are busy? Ok, but fascism is coming, and you are too busy to do anything about it. Or too overwhelmed to even try?

The truth is, if you wanted your ideas (and I am including here opposition to fascism as an idea) to influence policy, or what candidates gain traction in nomination races, then you should have been working on that LOOOOONNNNNG before the national candidate was nominated. Treating the Democratic party as a vendor that offers political products is a losing strategy for gaining influence. There will be an endless parade of glass rubbers ready to denounce the various political parties, but by and large, they didn't do anything to gain influence with those parties. Their denouncements are ignored, they are irrelevant. My advice is to ignore the glass-rubbers. Identify one or two local issues in your physical area and try to improve them. What you should do is find a little slice of America (or your own country if you are not American) and try to make it better. Use those efforts to build up influence at higher levels. My goal here was to convince you not to listen to the glass rubbers. But my advice for resisting fascism is: Try to build political networks, try to mobilize local voters in local issue elections. Doing this will make your network an invaluable asset to larger (state and national) organizations. If you have a network of voters, of issue conscious citizens, or donors, larger organizations are going to want to leverage that network when it comes time for lager races. That gives you leverage. That gives you power. The glass-rubbers are going to tell you that is impossible. Its not. People do it all the time. The book I cited has examples of people doing it. Fascist conservative groups do it all the time. So why not you?

I will admit, this is hard. When I first read Hersh's book I was offended, because when he was describing political hobbyists, he was describing me. But it did give me some motivation to think about politics from the perspective of power. And set me down the road of trying to do all things I wrote about here. It is early days for me yet, and I have only seen limited success. My work complicates things. I am busy, and often overwhelmed. But fascism is coming.

[–] Drunemeton@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

Very well said! Thank you.

[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

Now that's what I call evolution

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[–] Chivera@lemmy.world 73 points 10 hours ago (8 children)
[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 29 points 10 hours ago

Imagine the memes if someone started shooting Nazis and his name happened to be Mario

Indiana Jones had the right idea

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 14 points 10 hours ago

Did nothing wrong

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[–] somenonewho@feddit.org 4 points 6 hours ago

Build a network of friends/neighbors etc. conceive plans to protect the ones who will be targeted first (POC, LGBTQI, ...) eventually either go underground or leave the country.

[–] That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml 59 points 11 hours ago (7 children)

Run for political office. The Democrats have no intention of fixing anything, let alone making things better.

And if you believe you're not qualified or don't know how to do the job, just remember that both parties are filled with incompetent fools, fakes, conspiracy crackpots, and morons. It would take considerable effort to do worse than some of the people in congress.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 35 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Well, both parties are also filled with money and other resources needed to ensure that only two parties can succeed.

We need alternative voices in office, but I don't think that's happening without some form of revolution. The best one can hope for in lieu of that is co-opting a party's direction over a span of decades, like the fascists did to the GOP.

[–] Tinidril@midwest.social 14 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

If you can't organize a political movement, you definitely can't organize a revolution. Also, if history is a guide, the people with wealth tend to end up in power after a revolution.

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[–] lukewarm_ozone 6 points 7 hours ago
[–] d0ntpan1c@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Many state and local democratic parties are far ahead of the national party in the progressive shift, too, and it's absolutely easier to inspire change in a local or state party than the national party.

And it's not just running for elected offices. In-party roles like chair membership and planning can be effective for driving change in a party, and also be the difference in whether the elections continue to go to the shoe-in forever politicians or someone new. The people supporting a change who have access to the resources of the party are just as important as those running.

And if anyone is thinking "my city/county/state party is so tone deaf/old/corporate" consider that they might simply need someone younger or more progessive to become more involved. In an ideal world, they'd be able to speak more with the community, but sometimes they are understaffed or unaware and rely on who is involved to provide context. Become that context.

[–] alekwithak@lemmy.world 7 points 10 hours ago

I don't want to put a target on my or my families backs 😓

[–] limer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 10 hours ago

Politics stopped working at the federal level, and only some states are full democracies.

So running for local office either won’t help at all, because the fight is not there. Or it’s a dangerous futile thing to do - if one were to be outspoken and all public against injustice.

The only hope for many is to make new things while breaking as little of the old as possible

[–] Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 8 hours ago

I really want to. But getting started in that is kind of like looking for a door in the castle walls.

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[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago

Sherman tanks and M1 Garands were quite effective once.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 25 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I found this book to be very compelling and topical: https://www.ericachenoweth.com/research/civil-resistance-what-everyone-needs-to-know

Civil resistance is a method of conflict through which unarmed civilians use a variety of coordinated methods (strikes, protests, demonstrations, boycotts, and many other tactics) to prosecute a conflict without directly harming or threatening to harm an opponent. Sometimes called nonviolent resistance, unarmed struggle, or nonviolent action, this form of political action is now a mainstay across the globe. It was a central form of resistance in postwar anti-colonial movements, the 1989 revolutions, and the Arab Awakenings, and people are practicing civil resistance at higher rates than ever before around the world, including in the United States. If we want to understand the manifold protest movements emerging around the globe, we need a thorough understanding of civil resistance and its many dynamics and manifestations.

[–] Damionsipher@lemmy.world 23 points 11 hours ago
[–] dustywinter@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Find charities, news outlets, podcasts, rights groups or other entities that match your message and support them.

Donate money, time, and whatever else you can to help.

I think everyone understands that being loud might draw the wrong attention, so do what you can to support the ones that you want as much as you are able.

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[–] Loss@sh.itjust.works 10 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Wrong comm to ask this on. The only historically backed answer that has been repeatedly proven to work is against lemmy.world's TOS to discuss.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 2 points 8 hours ago

The left can't even convince enough people to vote let alone join a violent revolution.

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

By making every single step they try to take excruciatingly painful by any means necessary.

[–] FelixCress@lemmy.world 15 points 11 hours ago

The ear guy tried.

[–] TeabagRd@discuss.online -4 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Lol these ppl acting like the SS division were on the way

[–] Cool_Name@lemm.ee 11 points 10 hours ago

We need to make detentions and deportations difficult. For a group and keep your eyes peeled. Report any activity that you see by CBP in your area. Be a nuisance. Film them. Shout at them. Drive slow in front of their vehicles. If you can, do more that I won't say online.

[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 6 points 9 hours ago

That depends. How are we defining fascism here? That's the first step.

Would it be a stretch to suggest engaging in missionary activity as a solution?

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 7 points 10 hours ago

That's the neat part...

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

If you ask a question and you say, "but don't say the answer," you're just asking for an echo chamber.

[–] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

The echo usually says vote which is right but.. here we are

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

IMO we're here because of the 10 million Democrats who voted for Biden in 2000 and refused to show up in 2024. Bonespurs only won by a little over 2 million. Harris should have kicked his ass, but oh now, she "supports genocide". Last week the long, difficult Gaza ceasefire negotiation process finally paid off. Funny how nobody's talking much about it.

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 0 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Form a new grassroots party and encourage voters to demand change in exchange for their vote.

This is a tried and true method that has succeeded in multiple countries with much worse electoral systems than the US (I can vouch for PTI in Pakistan, it took them about 20 years including 10 years of military rule)

Unfortunately, it is too radical for the folks over at c/Politics, even though it was literally what Malcolm X often suggested and what MLK did before they were both shot (albeit MLK preferred endorsing individual candidates regardless of party rather than trying to form a new one since that would be slower).

So the real answer is unfortunately to sit back, relax, and enjoy the flames.

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