21h ago

A Nation of Sheep? Trump's Fascist Tactics Working All Too Easily

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A Nation of Sheep? Trump's Fascist Tactics Working All Too Easily | Common Dreams

Where are the nationwide protests? The national strikes against the destruction of what is left of U.S. democracy? As for the eerie complacency of the Democrats, it is hardly surprising why there is such a huge loss of trust in the leadership of the Democratic Party.

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There are nationwide protests, there is one this weekend..?
- The largest worldwide protests in history (at the time) happened on February 15th, 2003, to try to prevent the War in Iraq from happening.
  The war happened anyway. Take that for what it's worth.
  (We even have JD Vance saying Europe didn't do enough to stop the war, as if the giant protests weren't enough)
  Stop protesting and start building parallel systems we can rely on when we all need to General Strike, which is coming quite quickly. We will need systems to feed, water, clothe, house, and in general care for one another during a nationwide general strike. While people aren't wrong that being armed will probably be a necessary part of that, in the USA, that's the only part people seem to focus on, forgetting that you cannot eat bullets.
  
  The protesting is what makes people realize and become confident that radical change is needed you fool.
  DO NOT STOP PROTESTING
  Protest AND do the things you are saying.
  
  Yeah, another point is that a lot of times, building parallel systems like this looks like nothing is going on. Like I have my garden and am always generally prepared and handy anyway so no one looking at me is going to think anything is changing much.
  I guess purchases show a different kind of story, but no one is really looking at that either.
  Edit: At least parallel systems on a smaller scale, I guess.
- On a weekend when we're not disrupting anything. The defacto complaint is, "I can't take time off work." Sorry for the inconvenience. Then the next most common excuse is, "Nobody shows up during weekday protests." Well, shit. Sorry for your democracy. See you next time we put up clever signs on a Saturday.
  We need to organize.
  Get the names and numbers of 10 people and make decisions to meet. Ask them to do the same.
  We need to organize.
  Decide on how to be more disruptive and how to make more noise.
  We need to organize.
  Cute and clever signs don’t mean shit if the establishment doesn’t read them. Make decisions that affect their profits.
  Organization is hard. Mobilization is easy.
  Kwame Ture convinced King to include Vietnam in his stance against the government when most people said that it would be a mistake. Ture marched with King. He helped organize the Million and More March on DC. He was an authority on protest and civil disobedience... but I think it's time to be uncivil.
  https://www.itsinscope.com/research-internal/2020/10/31/kwame-ture-organisation-vs-mobilisation
  Edit: Downvoting because this upsets you? Good. You're part of the problem. WE NEED TO FIGHT. You can stay home if you're clutching your pearls.
  
  "Do it my way or it's not good enough."
- Saturday
- I think the worry here is that the protests are only attracting tens of thousands in each venue, and a few million at most nation-wide. These numbers should be higher. 75 million people voted for Harris. Another 2 million voted for third parties. And 90+ million stayed home. Big cities should have hundreds of thousands or even millions in the street, and imagine what would happen if a cool 100m turned out nation-wide tomorrow.
  The worry is that we won't get even 10% of those numbers, and a nation of 330m will be led to Fascism by 77.5m people actively supporting it and another 90m just whistling past the grave.
  
  Protests help with the world view, but it won't make a difference with this administration. The thing that could work is a nationwide work stoppage. But that is a lot harder to pull off.
  We still need more tRump voters to see what his actions are doing to them. That's the only way they'll get it. When it affects them.
  
  I mean, there have been some of the largest protests in American history. There's really no reason for the administration to care though. Public approval doesn't get them anything. If a third of the country protested tomorrow they would just dispute the numbers and carry on.
  If your goal is to create a white Christian ethnostate and never give up power, people you already don't care about asking you not to isn't going to stop you.
  We need more people taking more action, but protesting is just how you communicate that there are numbers to make it safe to resist. The protests themselves won't do anything.
- They are protesting the byproducts of a corrupt system, not the system itself, which is what they should be protesting.

This feels like clickbait - I find it hard to believe the writers of this piece are unaware of the protests. The better question, perhaps, is "why does media refuse to cover the protests", and the answer to that is obvious - the media (damn near all of it) is controlled by the very oliarchs we're protesting.
- Precisely. The interests of rich oligarchs and multinational media conglomerates are one and the same.
  Independent news media is hard to find, but it exists, and looks nothing like the corporate slop regularly broadcast on cable tv.

https://www.mobilize.us/
The map viewer is a lovely way to find out about events in your area.
- Mobilization is easy. We need to ORGANIZE.
  I'm repeating myself from above, but here's what we need to do when we gather:
  Get names and contact info from 10 people at the event
  Plan when and where to meet again.
  Ask these people to do the same
  Decide on how to be more disruptive and make more noise! We need to shake things up.
  Cute and clever signs mean nothing if it doesn't get attention. We need to speak TO the power. We need to upset them DIRECTLY.
  The only thing the powerful can hear is the noise made in their pocketbooks.
  
  Where have you been able to accomplish this? Any groups we can hook up with that are getting the job done? Or places online or in-person that interested and worried Americans can join the cause? Because I'm seeing a lot of theorieticals from you but nothing more. It feels more like you're telling everyone else to do it. Maybe you're not in the US, which would be confusing because you keep saying "we."

The comment section here:
The circular firing squad in all its goriness.
Folks, be nicer to each other. And don't be so opinionated about what exactly the only right solution is and what definitely isn't. That's bullshit. Look around, find something where you see yourself making a start, take it from there. That will probably look different for everybody, but that doesn't mean you aren't all pulling together.
E.g. https://www.mobilize.us/ (from one of the comments) looks helpful. I'm not endorsing anything, surely there's more good info to be found.
- This message is so important. Everyone has a different capacity and opportunity for resistance as well as a different risk factor for their involvement, and the most important thing is that we're all pulling the same direction.
  Some people's draw will be to the front lines for protests. Some might be more activist. Still others are going to be drawn toward building networks for food, water, shelter, education, etc. These are all important roles and there's room for everyone that is an ally. And sometimes people need a break to clear their head and stay sane in order to not burn out.

Sounds like the author hasn't been paying attention.
- Author wearing a fucking blindfold really.

Why do I keep seeing questions about where are the nationwide protests. Almost every weekend in my metro downtown.

eerie complacency of the Democrats
It's so pathetic to blame Democrats for this entire situation that now it's just a tell.
- Biden should have had Trump jailed or executed for treason, on day 1, full stop. His admin is significantly at fault for where we are at today and deserves plenty of blame for the pathetic outcome of their term.

Man .world pisses me off sometimes.
A nation of sheep
Well unfortunately yes.

Trump is a demagogue. Americans could have known, the checklist is available on the internet for all to see. Read it and you will find that Trump ticks almost all the boxes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue#Methods

I don't think the headline is talking about protests.
I think the headline is suggesting extreme violence.
- Extreme what?

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