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Joined 7 days ago
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Cake day: March 10th, 2025

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  • I think it’s really important to consume social media/whatever this and Reddit are conscientiously. Be aware you’re in an echo chamber and step outside from to time. Sometimes it’s just annoying (I was really into the show Mr Robot, and one of my many Reddit rage-quits was just being sick of seeing any speculation about where the show was going that was anything but the accepted popular opinion being downvoted) and sometimes just misleading (we all thought Trump couldn’t win), but there are so many ways it sneaks into your consciousness. For me, the tribalist culture wars became really glaring. We hate everyone who drives a car. We hate anyone who has a grass lawn. You can’t advocate for something there without making it about hating everyone else. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I firmly believe a lot of that is by design. I’m sure it will bleed over here eventually if there is a large exodus, but I hope there are counter measures.




  • Hello, I’ve been here for a few days now and getting the lay of the land. I live in Wisconsin, originally from Minnesota, so you betcha I’m a Midwesterner. I’m also a Reddit refugee (didn’t get banned because I stopped contributing a while ago, but I still couldn’t stop the doomscrolling. I definitely would have been banned. Go Luigi).

    Although I live in a very liberal city, I don’t feel like I’m on the same wavelength as a lot of people. You don’t like the oligarchy taking over, but you simply cannot stop throwing your money at Amazon? Ok. Maybe the really radical ones will go stand in front of the Tesla chargers on Friday with signs, which is perfectly safe and I’m not sure accomplishes anything because everyone in this city agrees with you (although I am coming around to the idea that it builds a sense of community and a common cause, and maybe makes it ok to rebel just a little to start). I just feel like there has to be something else. I don’t even know what to call myself anymore, I’m sure as hell not a Democrat, even though that’s who I’ve always voted for, more and more while holding my nose. I know there are people out there who share my mindset and who can inspire me, and that’s what I’m hoping to find.

    In the meantime, I’m focusing on limiting my capitalism as much as possible (I am far from perfect; I like my stuff and have to really curb my desire for additional stuff) and donating what I can to those who are doing something (ACLU, NRDC because right now lawsuits seem to be the first step), trying to get myself to read more actual information and not Reddit memes, and trying to figure out what I can do about what’s going on in this country, because I dont think I can live with just sitting around hoping it blows over.


  • Germany is a really interesting example. When I’m trying to decide if I’m overreacting about what’s happening now, I often tell myself a lot of Germans probably said the same thing in the 1930s. I’ve never assumed all Germans were Nazis, and always knew there was a large number, if not majority, who were victims of their own government. However, I remember my mother (born just after WWII and my grandpa fought in the Pacific) saying she grew up with a negative opinion of Germany.







  • As a white American, I was just talking about this relatively new experience to me, and not in any way meaning to co-opt or undermine other people’s objectively worse experiences, by the way. Just wanted to throw that out there.

    At the same time, while we might disparage Russia or China, to me that’s always meant the government, not literally the people. I hate that I probably took for granted that at least most other people thought the same way I did.




  • As a pretty terrified American, I actually take some comfort in this idea. Please learn from us. I just hope if things get that far here, that the rest of you will have some empathy for those of us who did not want this. So many comments from people in other countries are blaming every American for this. Seeing so many of those comments (mostly on Reddit) has been the second scariest part of all of this for me. I’m used to being hated in the abstract for being an American, but to think that if the fascists here get their way people like me have no hope of escape is too much to think about