I keep reminding myself that it's Miller and Vought we need to be watching out for and that, more and more, DJT is, albeit terrifying in his own way, the distraction. By focusing on the fascists, I'm hoping to gather community that clearly recognizes the threat of fascism and, as we did in the 40s, coalesces and votes them out. Then our job is to rebuild, with an eye to full inclusion and equity, doing not for, but with. Israelis will have to figure out how to develop a centrist coalition government that allows them to vote Netanyahu out, get byond nation-wide PTSD, and rein in their military, hopefully with borders secure. Iran and the Palestinians will need to figure out how to rid THEIR countries of their own terrorizers, including those they've sent out to wreak havoc in other countries. I'm not sure we have any right to try to judge or interfere in their part of the world when our own house is in such disarray. I am heartbroken by the pain, suffering, hunger and poverty as well as loss of life around the world. At the same time, I KNOW that we need to address it successfully at home first, hopefully becoming a model for ways to do so abroad.
I think the most helpful template to consider when looking at the current administration is what is required when attempting to leave an abusive romantic partner. Because that is what is happening, according to all my instincts. The entire country (and, by extension, the world) is trapped in an abusive relationship with Donald Trump and his enablers/toadies/puppet-masters (depending on your sense of his actual agency).
The most dangerous time in an abusive relationship is always when you're trying to leave (seconded closely by the time immediately after you've left). This is why dv advocates talk about safety planning-- how to hide resources (if you can) in anticipation, where to go, who to trust with knowledge of your plans, and how to disappear. Can we all run and hide from these abusers? No, we can't. But we can work on building our local community resources to protect/support us, and we can also think strategically about what failsafes need to be put in place institutionally/systemically as soon as possible after we end things to prevent retaliatory violence or any sort of return to power. We have to take the threat of violence very seriously, just like any abuse survivor has to.
A large part of why we've ended up where we are today is because so many people, from politicians to media to regular citizens, has insisted on downplaying the very real threat that we've been dealing with for so long now.
I fully appreciate the cognitive dissonance and the anxiety. But I think the remedy may be simpler than it seems, although not easy and wiithout minimizing the fear or the danger. It is very difficult to win on a battlefield someone else controls and sets the rules for. What you describe is that battlefield and the feeling of constantly defending and trying to find safety in it, to survive it until reinforcements arrive (which they won't), with all the noise and threats and violence and chaos. Like a war of attrition in the wasted trenches of no man's land. I feel like we need to reclaim our own battlefield, which is built on the democratic foundations of this country and us as a people in it, and continue forcing them to play by OUR rules on OUR terms of engagement. Leave their battlefield empty and barren except for them and their constant bombardment. Our ground is there already - we live on it with our communities every day. We just need to know that and do the work. All together.
You say "it’s not, nor has it ever been the case, that I should ignore everything that comes from this administration," but I want to make a soft pitch for doing something pretty close to that. I have modified my news diet to be almost exclusively local Chicago news, and I still learn enough about national/international news via osmosis to feel like I generally know what's going on, though usually on a delay. I often think of Lisa Sibbett's beautiful Buddhist advice "don't spend time with fools" (https://theauntie.substack.com/p/end-of-september-care-package-links), and more often than not keeping a finger on the pulse of the news feels foolish to me.
I do sometimes have mixed feelings about this (I recently re-subscribed to News Not Noise to get a better sense of what's happening in Iran) but my honest feeling is what do I get from being better informed? How does this change my personal behavior, my fight, my community care? If I am already on the lists of texts and emails for protests and other actions, why do I need the headlines that go with them?
I am genuinely curious about your answers to those questions, because I want to know where my thinking is flawed or what I might be missing out on with this strategy. But I already know Godzilla is murderously drunk, and I know I will get word of how to support those crushed under his heel. Do I also need the details of his every roar?
I keep reminding myself that it's Miller and Vought we need to be watching out for and that, more and more, DJT is, albeit terrifying in his own way, the distraction. By focusing on the fascists, I'm hoping to gather community that clearly recognizes the threat of fascism and, as we did in the 40s, coalesces and votes them out. Then our job is to rebuild, with an eye to full inclusion and equity, doing not for, but with. Israelis will have to figure out how to develop a centrist coalition government that allows them to vote Netanyahu out, get byond nation-wide PTSD, and rein in their military, hopefully with borders secure. Iran and the Palestinians will need to figure out how to rid THEIR countries of their own terrorizers, including those they've sent out to wreak havoc in other countries. I'm not sure we have any right to try to judge or interfere in their part of the world when our own house is in such disarray. I am heartbroken by the pain, suffering, hunger and poverty as well as loss of life around the world. At the same time, I KNOW that we need to address it successfully at home first, hopefully becoming a model for ways to do so abroad.
I think the most helpful template to consider when looking at the current administration is what is required when attempting to leave an abusive romantic partner. Because that is what is happening, according to all my instincts. The entire country (and, by extension, the world) is trapped in an abusive relationship with Donald Trump and his enablers/toadies/puppet-masters (depending on your sense of his actual agency).
The most dangerous time in an abusive relationship is always when you're trying to leave (seconded closely by the time immediately after you've left). This is why dv advocates talk about safety planning-- how to hide resources (if you can) in anticipation, where to go, who to trust with knowledge of your plans, and how to disappear. Can we all run and hide from these abusers? No, we can't. But we can work on building our local community resources to protect/support us, and we can also think strategically about what failsafes need to be put in place institutionally/systemically as soon as possible after we end things to prevent retaliatory violence or any sort of return to power. We have to take the threat of violence very seriously, just like any abuse survivor has to.
A large part of why we've ended up where we are today is because so many people, from politicians to media to regular citizens, has insisted on downplaying the very real threat that we've been dealing with for so long now.
I fully appreciate the cognitive dissonance and the anxiety. But I think the remedy may be simpler than it seems, although not easy and wiithout minimizing the fear or the danger. It is very difficult to win on a battlefield someone else controls and sets the rules for. What you describe is that battlefield and the feeling of constantly defending and trying to find safety in it, to survive it until reinforcements arrive (which they won't), with all the noise and threats and violence and chaos. Like a war of attrition in the wasted trenches of no man's land. I feel like we need to reclaim our own battlefield, which is built on the democratic foundations of this country and us as a people in it, and continue forcing them to play by OUR rules on OUR terms of engagement. Leave their battlefield empty and barren except for them and their constant bombardment. Our ground is there already - we live on it with our communities every day. We just need to know that and do the work. All together.
Gorgeous articulation Katharine. This is so smart and important.
You say "it’s not, nor has it ever been the case, that I should ignore everything that comes from this administration," but I want to make a soft pitch for doing something pretty close to that. I have modified my news diet to be almost exclusively local Chicago news, and I still learn enough about national/international news via osmosis to feel like I generally know what's going on, though usually on a delay. I often think of Lisa Sibbett's beautiful Buddhist advice "don't spend time with fools" (https://theauntie.substack.com/p/end-of-september-care-package-links), and more often than not keeping a finger on the pulse of the news feels foolish to me.
I do sometimes have mixed feelings about this (I recently re-subscribed to News Not Noise to get a better sense of what's happening in Iran) but my honest feeling is what do I get from being better informed? How does this change my personal behavior, my fight, my community care? If I am already on the lists of texts and emails for protests and other actions, why do I need the headlines that go with them?
I am genuinely curious about your answers to those questions, because I want to know where my thinking is flawed or what I might be missing out on with this strategy. But I already know Godzilla is murderously drunk, and I know I will get word of how to support those crushed under his heel. Do I also need the details of his every roar?