devtesla admin wrote
Who are you talking to? There's like five people here and we're all saturated with things we're doing to help other people. I'm not sure where this is coming from.
If you're thinking about people in general, I think you're expressing a kind of general dislike for people in the world that I don't think is good for you or your activism. People right now are very isolated from one another, and you're not going to break through that with... whatever this is. If this is something your org is presenting to you as a normal way of thinking I'd be concerned.
Consider this an admin warning, you're at a level of aggro against others that we don't really want to be for jstpst. Please think before posting again and have a good evening!
flabberghaster wrote
IDK i read it as a vent post. Shit is so fucked and we do gotta get on it. But at the same time... like seriously what the fuck do we do? So I can understand the "FUCK YOU GET OFF YOUR ASS AND TRY TO HELP STOP THIS" vibe of the post but also that's not really helpful.
I want to be neither condescending nor dismissive. I am 100% with the OP in that things are very urgent. But i'm also like. literally what the hell are we supposed to do that we're not already doing?
I get a little annoyed at the advice you see to "organize." Ok what does that look like? I'm gonna what, start a union? How even. I tried that. I'm terrible at it. I felt like me being involved was just making things harder. What else can I do though? But also like, seriously shit is fucked, we gotta do something.
I'm torn. I'm freaking out. But I literally do not know what to do that would actually help.
cowloom OP wrote
I can relate to not being cut out for organizing, but I don't think giving up is the right answer either. It takes practice to get good at it. To quote Pearl, "Deep down, you know you weren't built for fighting, but that doesn't mean you're not prepared to try." I was awkward when I first started out, and made plenty of mistakes, but I had to keep trying to get decent at it.
As for what exactly to do, I can't give you a clear-cut answer, because it all depends on what it going on in your location. I think the first step is to figure out what issues the people are facing, and see which of them are suitable for a campaign. Maoists call this "social investigation and class analysis." Here are a couple good articles written about how to get started from scratch:
https://libcom.org/article/building-solidarity-network-guide
cowloom OP wrote
Hi, apologies for the late response, I wanted to wait until my emotions were in check so that I could give a proper response. You're right that this post wasn't aimed at anyone in particular on jstpst, as I posted this on several different platforms. It's aimed at everyone in the US who could be doing something, but isn't. If you are doing something to fight back, that's good, and that's why I put the "this post isn't for you" bit in there. flabberghaster is right that this is sort of a vent post; I've been trying, more politely, to convince people to stand up and do something for years, and the response is usually lip service agreement, followed by no action. Which is a problem, when the situation requires mass action, hence my frustration and tone in this post. When I was a kid, if I refused to get out of bed, my mother would try politely coaxing me out first. But if that failed, she'd eventually have to resort to wringing out a wet washcloth over my head.
Regardless, I accept the warning, and won't post anything this aggressive again.
devtesla wrote
I appreciate the thoughtful response, thank you! I've definitely seen that kind of response before, and I get your need to vent about it, like holy shit.
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