🧵 US activism & how it doesn’t work. So I scrolled thru the most popular ‘outrage’ posts: ▪️Qatari airplane ▪️ICE arrests ▪️RFK Jnr sewage ▪️White S Africans ▪️Gov Pritzker ▪️Houthis, Yemen ▪️Drug costs ▪️US Attorney General ▪️Putin ▪️Afghan refugees How can anyone not be overloaded with panic & chaos? [1] - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

robertbohan.bsky.social • 5 days ago

🧵 US activism & how it doesn’t work. So I scrolled thru the most popular ‘outrage’ posts:

▪️Qatari airplane
▪️ICE arrests
▪️RFK Jnr sewage
▪️White S Africans
▪️Gov Pritzker
▪️Houthis, Yemen
▪️Drug costs
▪️US Attorney General
▪️Putin
▪️Afghan refugees

How can anyone not be overloaded with panic & chaos? [1]

Comments

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

[2] The thing is, there is too much to take in. People are overwhelmed. Everything is on fire. They freeze. The overload of actions, announcements & commentary are all part of standard fascist chaos. And it’s working, judging on my BlueSky feed!

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

[3] So how can any one person deal with it all, even if they know it’s irrational, anti-democratic or illegal? How do you share the issues with people who haven’t invested the time to understand, who don’t understand the implications for everyone, who don’t get this impacts them?

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

[4] First avoid being a political stooge or a hashtagger. Be yourself. Look at the topics every day & focus on the ones you have knowledge about. Do the reading. Understand the context. Consider how the topic impacts older voters & Red States. Stop preaching to the converted. Focus.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

[5] So here’s my suggestion on each of the topics.

Everyone knows the jet is a bribe. Most don’t know it will cost hundreds of millions to bring up to technical level of Air Force One - for instance ability to harden circuitry to withstand an EMP. People care about costs as taxpayers.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

[6] ICE arrests. Have you asked any older White people about these? What were their negative takes? I’ve learnt that my very elderly Irish American relatives are now fearful they will be arrested & deported. That’s the message you need to link with. They vote.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

[7] RFK Jnr. People expect him to be nuts. That’s not the point. Connect with people where they are at. No responsible parent [RFK Jnr’s son/daughter who allowed this] allows their kid to swim in excrement. That’s the human part, focus on the obvious & human. Bad parents.

judys76.bsky.social•5 days ago

I'm an older white person. Some of my ancestors came here in 1630. It still scares me, although who knows where they'd deport me. I know elderly naturalized citizens who came here in the 1950s that are afraid to leave because they might not be let back in. The local lawn crews are really scared.

egnowit.bsky.social•5 days ago

I don't even know what the timeline for such a retrofit would be. It's possible that it wouldn't be ready for another year or so, meaning it would only be in service for about 2 years before Trump gets personal use of it after leaving presidency.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Again, some people love technical details & costing. That’s a story. Is it a gift if the US has to spend a billion to bring it up to being a command post in the sky? Etc. Facts are always powerful & add in no such thing as a free lunch & you have the right being interested.

nestverchgruffydd.bsky.social•5 days ago

Fuck that; find the bandwidth and fight.

jonathaneveritt.bsky.social•5 days ago

Wise words. Since the election, I've urged folks to guard their mental health. Nothing else matters without that. And part of good mental health is distinguishing between vigilance (good) and hypervigilance (bad). I'll keep banging that drum. The firehose of lunacy is intentional.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Absolutely. Pick a specialism & run with it.

numberjohnny5.bsky.social•5 days ago

"Flooding the zone" #BananaRepublicOfAmerica @reed.senate.gov

thexadexone.bsky.social•5 days ago

They're giving us a lot, hoping we'll get so annoyed with it all that we'll stop paying attention.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

And that is their goal. Please read the thread.

thorlabby.bsky.social•5 days ago

It is overwhelming truly

pradapill.bsky.social•5 days ago

So basically capitalism

forfooksake.bsky.social•5 days ago

You forgot gutting Medicaid, gutting funding school lunches for kids, and giving tax breaks and government contracts to billionaires!

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

I didn’t forget. I did an analysis. Also why are you anonymous - do you not think you have a moral duty to fight fascism?

fatmadt.bsky.social•5 days ago

Unless ice just arrested him, Gov. Prizter wasn't bad news.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Read the thread rather than jumping in at the top.

patricklovellpresentsthecleannewdeal.com•5 days ago

Hahahah! It's a stupid carnival of idiocracy. Do we deserve it?

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

You might if you haven’t read the thread 😉☘️

patricklovellpresentsthecleannewdeal.com•5 days ago

The thread or post?

ccdemetriadi.bsky.social•4 days ago

If you aren't in a flat panic AND protesting (hard to do from Scotland but not impossible), you aren't listening.

proverbialcrow.bsky.social•5 days ago

📌 practically addressing issues

jordanshawn.bsky.social•5 days ago

Keep your faith up live life enjoy your loved ones have no fear of being the best you

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

Yes!!!!

newsknot.bsky.social•5 days ago

📌

gardenia-38.bsky.social•5 days ago

This was the first one but since several other Cory’s have ruled that it is invalid.

https://youtu.be/_x75De1N-Oo?feature=shared

angrypersiangardnr.bsky.social•5 days ago

I’ve told myself to pick one thing I’m good at, physically able to do, somewhat qualified for, and put my volunteer and activism energy into that one thing or else I’ll get overwhelmed and freeze.

And then making a decision makes me freeze because I can’t decide

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

The thing that moves the dial is the cost of things. ‘I went to the store & a packet of cookies I love used to cost $3 & now they cost $7. Does anyone know where I can get them cheaper?’

Then you include a nice photo of the product. Another thing is talking about your monthly electric bill etc

fflobster.bsky.social•5 days ago

I'm amazed that no-one afaik has brought a case to have Trump's use of the Enemy Aliens Act declared unconstitutional. Ditto similar actions.

If they haven't done so because it would have no chance of success, the US is down the drain, and by its own constitutional hand

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

That’s your take, it’s clear his voters don’t care. It’s not how to be an activist. Activists try to change minds based on facts. You can only do that with things his voters care about.

fflobster.bsky.social•5 days ago

It doesn't matter if his voters don't care if rule of law still applies. Agreed, it might not.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

What matters to you may not matter to others. Also being anonymous your views/facts/takes will have little impact with ppl.

fflobster.bsky.social•5 days ago

Again, if SCOTUS doesn't rule out his actions there is nothing short of actual revolution that will stop him.

gardenia-38.bsky.social•5 days ago

It has been brought up and the false claim that it has been approved by the S.C. ruling is false.
Lost in 3 to 4 courts.

kittywashere.bsky.social•5 days ago

It has been challenged. Almost all his illegal activity, thankfully, has been challenged.

There’s a lot, so I keep saying “divide and conquer,” and Robert is right in echoing that. Focus on resisting in our individual areas of strength and let others do the same.

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-lifts-temporary-block-on-trumps-use-of-alien-enemies-act-to-deport-immigrants-clears-path-to-further-challenges

kittywashere.bsky.social•5 days ago

Well, echoing may be the wrong verb. Robert is more notable than I. We are just in agreement.

mjshanklin.bsky.social•4 days ago

#shockandawe #deathcult

teq2.bsky.social•5 days ago

Thank you for your level-headed post on how to address this hose of, planned, panic-inducing change.

Surprised that Climate Change is not on the list. That's one of the things that has the second highest (albeit longer-term) risk.

robertbohan.bsky.social•5 days ago

That’s in your perception. It’s not what people are talking about in a major way on BlueSky. It’s important not to apply preconceptions in fighting back.