"Don’t let someone tell you to be optimistic. This requires a rethink. Something out of the box. A long ball thrown. All this bs about the system and protests are just that. We need a general strike, or something else dramatic. The system is rigged against us and to believe the system will save us is fallacious."
I wrote that yesterday to a friend whose wife felt he was defeated. And that that was not helping the cause.
Don't be optimistic.
Don't go out and protest.
Don't think that someone else will do the job.
Do not believe the government and its elected officials will solve the problem.
To protest in the street is too sixties. That's what we did before we could reach the world with one keystroke. Furthermore, the Trump era showed us it didn't make any difference, the bad actors just went on their merry way and ignored the mass gatherings.
And I'm not saying to employ the internet for a fake consciousness-raising program. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge, and that's a good one. Changing your picture on social media, retweeting something, that does little good, don't bother.
But you could employ cyberwarfare.
Now let me go back. I'm not advocating breaking the law. But you may have to in order to move your ball down the field, especially when someone else has rigged the game.
It's not like this is the first time democracy has been in peril.
And what does the public do when it doesn't get its way, when the minority, and frequently the wealthy, lord their policies over them?
THEY GO ON STRIKE!
Let's start there, every Monday everybody in America who is pro-choice refuses to go to work. Donezo.
But I may lose my job!
If you're not willing to risk your job, you're not dedicated to change. And there is strength in numbers. Maybe only a few people stop working the first Monday, but as the Mondays ensue, the group will grow and grow until...
Let's be clear, it's Disney's employees that made the company stand up for LGBTQ rights. So, DeSantis passed an inane law that will raise taxes on his constituents to punish Disney. And what has Disney done? FIGHT BACK! Yes, Disney says under the agreement it signed with the state, Florida can't change the law without paying it a billion dollars. And now residents of Disney's domain are suing Florida. Why is everybody so fearful of losing something that they cower instead of fighting back? The right fights back, but not the left. Or when it does there's so much infighting that those fighting back are ostracized.
You've got to cause disruption. Didn't we learn that in the first decade of this century? It was Shawn Fanning who brought the music business into the modern world. Those in power at the labels wanted no change. But the people did, they were sick of paying double-digit dollars for CDs with only one good track. Was Napster breaking the law? Ultimately a court decided it was copyright infringement, but then KaZaA, without a centralized database, came online and the legal questions got ever more complicated.
I could recite the history of the evolution to music streaming but it was third parties, not in the industry, pirates in some cases, who pushed the ball forward. Yes, there were economic consequences. But the future we're in now...record label revenues are up, manufacturing costs have been eliminated and some people got lost in the shuffle but others have done very well. Furthermore, the customer can now get the history of recorded music for ten bucks a month, ain't that great!
But when it comes to the big issues, politics, and abortion, the Democrats have to color between the lines, they're afraid of touching the third rail. And when a Republican does, they're embraced by the party, can you say Matt Gaetz or Madison Hawthorn or Marjorie Taylor Greene? And then you've got Kevin McCarthy, who is denying what he said even though it was recorded! Do you expect to beat these people by playing by the established rules? You can't.
As for cyberwarfare... Attack anti-abortion organizations. Any institution involved in restricting access to abortion...is in the crosshairs. The loonies on the right think guns will ensure their freedom, hogwash, he or she who employs technology controls the country, never forget it. Put a few hackers on the case and there can be turmoil nearly instantly. As far as stopping it, they haven't found the Supreme Court leaker yet, and even if the culprit is found the legal system works very very slowly. Didn't we learn this with Napster, et al? That the ball keeps moving even though you sued?
And the right protests at abortion clinics with guns. Pro-choice people have to block access to right wing institutions physically, this will gain much more attention than showing up at some federal building with a flag.
And the effort must be continuous. What happened today is gone tomorrow in the internet era. Ukraine is already back to being the top headline, three days later! That's right, abortion has been pushed down. That's yesterday's news.
Trump keeps propagating his b.s. story about the election being stolen...
The left wing cries once and goes home.
It's not like the strategies aren't extant.
As for Fox News... Go surround Tucker Carlson's home and studio in Maine (or Rupert Murdoch's!). Piss him off. Prevent him from broadcasting. This guy believes he's got a free pass. It's legal to protest, go for it.
And it's not about the number of people you gather, but getting news traction. Passive general protests don't even get above the fold coverage anymore.
Almost all of the creative people are on the left. They can't come up with any ideas?
Netflix employees are afraid of what Dave Chappelle says about trans people. I'd think they'd be more upset about the lack of abortion rights. Make Netflix stand with them. Or else...they go on strike.
All those corporations, who've oftentimes given money to anti-abortion causes...they must be made to testify, to take a stand, pro-choice. It's not like they haven't taken stands on social issues before, long before the government. Like providing benefits to non-married same sex partners. If you expect the government to lead...
The newspaper will print the facts.
It's up to the public to take action.
And the public has so many options, so many tools in its belt.
And the story of history is one person changing its course, revealing truths. Whether it be Daniel Ellsberg or Edward Snowden or the leaker of Alito's draft.
Yes, they leaked, the court will never be the same. The processes have been perverted. Have you been paying attention the past couple of decades? The right has been perverting the cause of justice constantly!
And the Supreme Court Justices are just people, they are not gods.
Sure, it would be great if there were term limits. All this stuff the process won't deliver.
But people will change, when you force them to, when you make life so difficult they've got no option, at least not an economic one.
Yes, it all comes down to economics in America. Every single thing. Which is why the revolt has been so tempered so far. People with enough money...they're worried about where they're going on vacation, the travel industry is through the roof. And they know they can fly young Ava or Aurelia to another state if they need to terminate a pregnancy.
If you don't make the people with money suffer, you'll never get real change.
I'm not saying to be violent.
But I am saying passive protest is passé. When Martin Luther King, Jr. was agitating for equal rights there were three TV networks and tens of millions of people watched!
And there's been white backlash for eons. Don't take away my chance, my job, anything. No one can lose anything in America anymore. Talk about socialism...I'm entitled to my job, my income, don't tax me...I could go on and on.
Not that I want to muddy the waters. Let's start first and foremost with abortion.
Coming out as gay...that helped ensure gay rights. Some women are coming out with their abortion stories... Hell, maybe if these wankers found out their sister had an abortion, or their hero, they'd re-evaluate their position. Remember, the fight against opioids only really gained traction when the sons and daughters of middle and upper class whites got addicted and died.
You've got to bring it home.
We live in an information age, we can use information to our advantage.
The "New York Times" printed victims of 9/11 in their pages, how about victims of abortion, day after day after day. The deaths of yore, never mind the more recent terminations.
But we've got to be together, organized. The right gets everybody in line, why can't the left?
Oh, the left is a supposed big tent, that accommodates all voices.
Well, someone needs to make a decision and get everybody on the same page. And that person is a leader. Someone who can motivate the troops. And believe me, this is a war.
So far democracy is losing. The changes will come to your front door. Better to start battling now before it's too late.
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