i just... am so sick of these posts that are like "Just a reminder that it's OK to do nothing and take care of you and your own" like holy shit can you imagine saying that to the "Good Germans" during the lead up to the holocaust??? Can you please imagine how it feels to see "it's OK to do Nothing" to people whose lives and families are being affected by this??? It's not OK to do Nothing. That's called being complicit. the Good Germans didn't even KNOW about what was happening. We Do.
@shel So because I'm autistic, and terrified of crowds, and unable to use telephones for more than a few minutes without screaming in frustration, I'm worse than nazis? That's what you're fucking saying with this. You are saying that because I'm not as socially capable as most people I'm evil.
@keiyakins I'm also autistic and afraid of crowds and I'm only good at telephones cuz i worked at a call center living under the poverty line cuz nobody else would hire me.
and i don't know how you got "Worse than nazis" from my post. You're not worse than the nazis. You're worse than the germans living in nazi germany who knew what was happening but did nothing.
@keiyakins and despite my autism, and anxiety, and being trans, and having disabilities, and having no fiscal safety net no blood family to fall back on, despite all of that
I blockaded a DHS office and went to jail. and guess what
You can do shit without going to jail or being in crowds
@keiyakins Like the guy who used an HTML scraper to pull every single ICE officer off of LinkedIn and posted their names and faces with their titles and cities.
Like the people who late at night poster around town the faces of ICE agents in the area
The people who sabotage ICE vehicles while nobody is looking
@keiyakins the people who archived the ICE roster before DHS could take it down. the people who find out where ICE detention centers are. the people who provide rides to undocumented members of their community to help them avoid getting pulled over by ICE. the people who repair breaklights. etc. etc.
@keiyakins you're underselling your abilities to help out.
If you do nothing you're complicit. If you seriously assess your own personal situation and you really seriously can't do anything
you're still complicit but u have an excuse.
@shel I mean... I write and discuss and try to build up the ideas when I can. I made a backup of that data set. I think my representatives are probably sick of hearing from me. But being unable to drive and stuck living in the fucking suburbs with no mass transit blocks pretty much every avenue that involves leaving the house. And it felt like you were trying to say it's not okay to consider my limits, to take some time to maintain enough health to not snap. I probably misinterpreted you.
@keiyakins It's not OK to prioritize feeling pleasant feelings and not taking risks to the point that you don't engage and do nothing. It's not OK to sit around retweeting and boosting things and that being all you do. It's not OK to be constantly reassuring everyone that you can be a good person while not doing anything to fight back.
I said in a related post that only you can assess what you're able to do; but you have to make that assessment and leave your comfort zone
@keiyakins i'm 100% there's something people living in the suburbs can do though I can't tell you what it is because I don't know the specifics. I'm sure there's a local DSA or something that has members with some ideas
@keiyakins I used to live in a rural area just outside the suburbs with my dysfunctional parents and could only leave the house by borrowing their car.
i told them i was visiting a friend in newton, took the car, and went to roxbury to join a march and filmed cops.
i asked for money to get pizza and then gave it to local activist orgs.
there's shit you can do
@keiyakins but i'm willing to risk it because it is morally necessary to do so.
so you don't get to tell me i'm being unreasonable by saying that i hate all these posts reassuring everyone it's OK To Do Nothing and how pissed i get when privileged people With Anxiety or other mental issues i also have come into my mentions to complain that I want more people to help fight back
@shel I honestly think we fundamentally agree - we have a duty to do what we can, comfort isn't an excuse. I'm just frustrated with my own lack of agency and taking it out on you... I'll stop now.
@keiyakins and yeah if you live in the suburbs w/ your parents you are WAY better off than most of us who are taking action. it can be boring and frustrating and depressing but you have a much greater capacity to take risks than I do. If I lose my job I don't really have much to fall back on. my own personal savings, maybe a gofundme. i could lose my medications. my hormones. all sortsa suff