Despair is not an option
It’s interesting that as my inner outlook on life in society continues to get worse, my outward-facing outlook, especially as a volunteer, has become more and more positive.
Why is my own outlook on life in general plunging? Let’s see…
Politically: the risk of World War Three; the growing drumbeats for war in the news and among those close to Democratic leadership; the betrayal of Nina Turner by Jayapal; the fact that fascist Marine Le Pen is actually neck-and-neck with neolib Emmanuel Macron in France’s presidential race threatening to bring fascism to what was one of the most leftist democracies in the world.
Day-to-day life: people refusing to get vaccinated; even among the vaccinated, people refusing to wear masks even as covid cases are up by over 30% in the US over the past week; the growing number of conservative a-holes (“Karens” and “male Karen"s”) and MAGA folks who are openly racist and the effect that’s having even on conversations on people I know IRL… the United States that are even less united than even.
At the same time, as a volunteer for TYT Army’s Social Relations task force — which helps draft tweets and Facebook posts to spread progressive messages, take on media bias, and encourage people to join in the fight against this and other establishment bias — my posts are becoming more lighthearted or even bordering on inspirational. Here are two examples of posts I was involved in creating.
What gives? I think part of it is because I have dealt with depression all my adult life (undiagnosed until my mid-30s). As someone with bipolar, I simply can’t let myself give into hopelessness. That’s a natural tendency but through treatment and self-care strategies, which I had access to because unlike millions of people I have decent healthcare, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn to mostly deal with it. By spreading positive messages, I’m also trying to tell myself that there is still hope.
The other part of it is we have no choice. If progressives give up, the neolibs, neocons, and fascists win. That simply isn’t an option. Humanity has sputtered and crawled towards a somewhat more just world. What’s different now, in my opinion, is that the forces who want to subjugate us and hold onto power have the means to do so not just on a local or national basis, but on a global stage.
They have near total control over the economy, technology, and military industrial complex, to an extent that would have literally been unfathomable even 50 years ago. But there are more of us and we’re on the right side of this fight. If they destroy democracy in the US, in France, and in increasing places around the world, it will be damn near impossible to get it back.
We have to fight, and convince others that we have to fight.
Both personally and politically, we can’t give up. And the small victories here and there — which in some cases, like for unionization, are growing — are what we have to focus on. We need to build off of that momentum and join together to make sure there’s a society and planet worth fighting for. It won’t be easy, but we have to try.
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