I’m just watching SG-1 defeat the human and alien villains on PlutoTV today while playing games on my phone.
I don’t want to think or write or move. Yet here I am. Writing. My thought last night was what I said on the Nicole Sandler show while talking about our mutual friend, the late great Joel Silberman. He taught progressive politicians to tell stories that illuminated their message.
There is good news in the world. US job numbers are great. The Economy was not destroyed by GOP, THIS TIME.
YET…. As Mrs. Spocko said, the relief that we feel when the GOP didn’t destroy the American and WORLD economy, doesn’t match the worry & anxiety that we have been feeling for weeks.
Celebrating the win is important. But also infuriating when we shouldn’t have been here. I get Biden talking about “My friends across the aisle” since his plan worked. The MSM LOVES that bipartisan stuff. But I really want those assholes on the right who brought us here to be stopped. I’d like them to be punished, but that’s not Biden. So let’s look at how to punish them in their role in the insurrection. Telling stories about victories is important for helping us feel good about our actions.
Anger is energy. Action is energizing. And Depression is real
I TOTALLY understand why the right stokes anger. It provides energy for them. I’ve used it in the past to fuel my action against RW media. Taking action can be energizing. And when it looks like all the anger you are feeling and the actions you are taking isn’t leading to stopping the right, NOR to getting justice for their horrific actions, the depression can get overwhelming.
The agents of destruction are still out there. They are still powerfully. They are still making money and getting resources and driving their grievance/ victim narrative.
I’m not just “documenting the atrocities” as Atrios likes to say. I try to help people with messages and actions. That includes the choir. Because getting the choir to sing together is important. Picking the right music that meets the moment is important. Are we singing about a funeral or celebrating new life at a wedding or baptism? Do we sing in Latin, that only the elite understand, or the people’s language?
I believe it’s my duty to stop the horrible people on the right and to help others to stop them. I can speak with authority because I HAVE HAD SUCCESS in the past fighting them, both with our narrative and financially. When I tell these stories it’s not about self aggrandizement, but because I want to help others to learn, and when we win, to inspire them. WE CAN DO THIS.
I told Nicole the story about how I worked with multiple religious groups, costing Michael Savage millions of dollars and dozens of advertisers. He sued one of them, CAIR, and lost.
I saw on Chris Hayes someone said Biden won’t gloat or do a victory lap after winning the Debt Ceiling crisis created by the GOP. Sure, that’s an appropriate solution, if you are A Responsible Adult like Biden.
BUT I want to CELEBRATE THE FEELING of defeating them. BIDEN got them to stop! Hurray!
Let’s not just move on to the next crisis.
As I said, it would be best if people on the right realized they are wrong and changed. But what if they don’t? What do we do with the ones who know what they are doing is wrong and they keep hurting us? We need to figure out the ways that they get it. Punishments come in many forms. Personally, I don’t want them to profit, we know they care about money above almost all else.
But money is only one reason they keep coming. They like to hurt others. They use the phrase, “Own the libs” and “Make liberals cry” because that is SATISFYING to them. I’m all about making Fascism less profitable, but it’s not the only thing. I don’t know what the pathology is that drives them, but we know that autocrats use that emotion to consolidate their power.
Right now Trump is psychologically exhausting us. He uses many methods to stay in the media, but also lawfare. Everything is always delayed. No victory feels complete. He turns financial judgements against him into fundraising opportunities. He sends a message that he never really loses. NYU prof Ruth Ben-Ghiat talked about this to Ali Velshi.
Right now I see the fight against RW media, Fascists & their promoters requires having a plan to show, and then stop, their use of threats of violence to get what they want. This fight involves how we define threats of violence and the actions we can take when we see it happening. People can and do pay a financial price for defaming others. People CAN and DO go to prison for threatening violence.
It has now been established people go to prison for planning and implementing an insurrection.
The Department of Justice has been sending “the boots” to prison. Elmer Stewart Rhodes just got 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. Here he is with his prison issued orange eyepatch.
Now it’s time to send “The Suits” to prison. And tell the stories of our victories. And then we celebrate.
Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain