1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media, Hello, and welcome to the Cool People 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: Did Cool Stuff. You're a weekly reminder that when bad 3 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:12,559 Speaker 1: things happen, they were there for each other. We always 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: have been and we always will. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,319 Speaker 1: and this is going to be another week where I 6 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: break from the regular format of the show because it 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: has been a rough week to try to act like 8 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: everything is normal. There have been a lot of weeks 9 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: like that in the three and a half years I've 10 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: been doing the show, to be clear, But for whatever reason, 11 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: I thought this was a decent week to try something 12 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: a little bit different. This isn't a new show, and 13 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: I don't want it to be, and we will continue 14 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: to do history and do all the things that we 15 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: do on this show. But I can't pretend like what's 16 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: happening right now, what happened last week doesn't affect me 17 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: and doesn't affect my work. This might have been the 18 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: worst week for free speech in the US since the 19 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: end of the Red Scare. I can't immediately point to 20 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: a worse time of that. People are being deplatformed at 21 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: an astonishing rate for sharing their opinions about the death 22 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: of Charlie Kirk and for sharing their opinions about the 23 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: government's backlash against free speech in the wake of the 24 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: death of Charlie Kirk. I'm recording this two days after 25 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: Trump declared Antifa a domestic terrorist organization he has vowed 26 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: to dismantle. Obviously, Antifa isn't an organization. There are no members, 27 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: there's no funding. Anti fascism is simply a position one 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:42,960 Speaker 1: takes against fascism, But pointing out the nonsensical nature of 29 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: their plan is meaningless. They aren't doing this because they 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: believe there's some shadowy cabal called Antifa pulling the strings 31 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: on the left. They're doing it so that they have 32 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: an excuse to punish their political rivals. When Trump took power, 33 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: he said a lot of shit about coming for the 34 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: radical left, and look, that's me, that might be you. 35 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: I'm on the radical left. I'm an anarchist. I'm reasonably 36 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: open about that. So I got worried. But it was 37 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: pretty obvious right away that what he actually meant by 38 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: the radical left was the Democratic Party, his most direct 39 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,519 Speaker 1: political rivals, even though the Democrats have been running towards 40 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: the right for years now trying to catch up with Trump. 41 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: So Trump declared Antifa a terrorist organization, but specifically said 42 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: he's going to be going after its funding. There's this 43 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: long standing conspiracy theory that antifa or antifa, I guess 44 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: is the way that they would say it, because they 45 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: sure don't want it to sound like it's short for anything. 46 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: There's this long running conspiracy theory that Antifa is funded 47 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,519 Speaker 1: by George Soros, the billionaire liberal philanthropist. So it seems 48 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: pretty transparent to me that Trump's primary target here is Soros. 49 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: I don't think Trump thinks that Antifa exists any more 50 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: than you or I think that. I'm certain that this 51 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: designation will be used against rank and file activists too. 52 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: The right wing is terrified to protests, and this will 53 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: be another tool that they can use against anyone organizing demonstrations. 54 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: So why am I talking about all of this? Well, 55 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: the not so subtle subtext of this show has been 56 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: from the beginning that you and I can aspire to 57 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: be cool people who did cool stuff too. I talk 58 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: about the various protest movements and freedom fighters in history 59 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: because I want all of us to understand that there 60 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: are endless numbers of them and that we can be 61 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: them too. Then, as I started to research episodes, I 62 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: quickly learned that all my heroes, all the people I 63 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: was researching, they're all flaw as fuck, which when I 64 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: first started this show was kind of disappointing. These days, though, 65 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: it's oddly liberating to realize that all of these people 66 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: I've heard stories about my whole life, that there are 67 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: just kind of a bunch of fuck ups and assholes, 68 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: because I'm like, hey, a lot of my friends are 69 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: fuck ups and assholes too. I bet a lot of 70 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: you listening are fuck ups and assholes. Not me, though 71 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 1: I've never done anything wrong, but fuck ups and assholes 72 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: can do amazing things. Because I do this show for 73 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 1: a living, because I spend all my time reading history, 74 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: I find myself thinking about most current events through a 75 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: historical lens. But the problem with looking at current events 76 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: like their history is that we can fall into this 77 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: lazy way of thinking that certain things are determined by history, 78 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: that certain things are inevitable. Historical determinism, we could call it, 79 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: and that's a joke and me taking the piss out 80 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: of Marx. Historical determinism is a different political idea, one 81 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: that I disagree with and that I don't want to 82 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: get too much of into a tangent about right now. 83 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: But basically, it's like if we think that history will 84 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: do something, it's kind of like when we think Dad 85 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: will come and solve all of our problems. You know, 86 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: it's this way of ignoring our own agency and waiting 87 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: for someone else to solve a problem. Have you ever 88 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,719 Speaker 1: been in a like public situation where something bad is 89 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: happening and everyone just kind of watches the bad thing 90 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: happen because everyone's waiting for someone else to do something 91 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 1: about it. That's what happens when we forget that we 92 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,599 Speaker 1: have free will. That's what happens when we think that 93 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: history will take care of itself. Capitalism will collapse under 94 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: the weight of its own contradictions. Fascism will fall because 95 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: it fell every other time. I mean, it's I need 96 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: to compare the Trump presidency to Hitler's Germany, because when 97 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: we do that, it's the worst case and the best 98 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 1: case of fascism all at once. Worst case because well, 99 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: it's Hitler, a man who is up there with King 100 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: Leopold the Second of Belgium, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zadung 101 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: for having killed the most people in history. We don't 102 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: want Trump to be a Hitler for obvious reasons. But 103 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: when we compare the Trump presidency to Hitler, there's some 104 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: optimism attached. The Nazis ruled Germany for twelve years from 105 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three to nineteen forty five. The Nazis famously 106 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,239 Speaker 1: lost World War Two. A bunch of slightly less evil 107 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:49,799 Speaker 1: empires like the UK, the US, and the USSR teamed 108 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: up to see to that. It took that whole World 109 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,679 Speaker 1: War in neerd to stop the Nazis, but they were stopped. 110 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: Other fascists and authority tarian regimes, however, lasted for an 111 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: awful the fuck longer than twelve years. Most of the 112 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: ones I read about for the show tended to last 113 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: a good couple of generations, but again, that's presuming that 114 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: things in the future will look like things in the past. 115 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: Most of the authoritarian regimes I've read about they didn't 116 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: last any random couple of generations. They lasted for decades. Specifically, 117 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: in the middle of the twentieth century. The middle of 118 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: the twentieth century was a good time to be a dictator. 119 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: The end of the twentieth century it was a much 120 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: harder time to be a dictator who fucking knows what 121 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: the twenty first century will look like. Just because things 122 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: have happened in the past doesn't mean that that's how 123 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: they're going to happen in the future. I think that 124 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: we can all fall into that trap, and maybe especially 125 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: those of us who read history all the time. Although 126 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: you read enough history, and he used to be sort 127 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: of kind of galaxy braining it where you're like, actually, 128 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: nothing is ever the same. There's these patterns that repeat 129 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: over and over again, but nothing is ever exactly the same. 130 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: But do you know what is a pattern is that 131 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: on this show the discussion or the diatribe as it 132 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: were in this particular case, is interrupted pleasantly so by 133 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: goods and services letting you know all about themselves, letting 134 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: you know what other things you can buy, how you 135 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: can gamble your money, which you absolutely shouldn't fucking do. Whatever, 136 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: here's fucking ads, here they are, and we're back. So 137 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: historical comparisons are always fraud. People talk about the assassination 138 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: of Charlie Kirk like it's going to be the reichshag 139 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: Fire of our generation. I think even some like right 140 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: wing tweeter tweeters Twitter whatever, fucking assholes were like, this 141 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: is gonna be the Reichshag Fire, which is funny because 142 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: that's them admitting that they're the Nazis and this particular metaphor, 143 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: and look, it might prove to be the Reichstag Fire 144 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: of this generation, but I don't think it will. But 145 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: when people make that comparison, they're mistaking what happened with 146 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: the Reichstag Fire. Pop culture history remembers it as a 147 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: false flag attack that the Nazis burned the Parliament building 148 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: in order to consolidate power. This isn't true. I covered 149 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 1: the Reichstag Fire on this show in a two part 150 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: or a while ago. It's worth learning about if you 151 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: haven't already, because in some ways the comparison is apt. 152 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,440 Speaker 1: The Reichstag Fire was set by a young council communist, 153 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: which is basically an anti authoritarian communist AKA person with 154 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: actually pretty decent politics. And this guy was named Marenus 155 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: von der lub Is this Dutch guy. He wants through 156 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: a cop through a plate glass window, which I think 157 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: is our right. Anyway, Marness was pissed off that no 158 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: one was doing anything about the Nazis, and so he 159 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: was like, all right, maybe if I go burn the 160 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: Parliament building, German workers will rise up against fascism. Unfortunately, 161 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: this isn't what happened. The workers did not rise up 162 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,959 Speaker 1: against fascism at this particular point. And like it's easy 163 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: to read that outside of the context of the nineteen 164 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: twenties and be like, what the hell's wrong with the 165 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: German workers? Why didn't they rise up? The German workers 166 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: have been fighting tooth and nail for about fifteen years 167 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: at that point, and they were just worn down and losing. 168 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: This is the part that I haven't done as much 169 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,679 Speaker 1: research about, but in general, I am aware of the 170 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: fact that the Nazis actually did a decent job of 171 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: recruiting from the working class. It's actually one of the 172 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:56,560 Speaker 1: things that differentiates fascism from a lot of previous right 173 00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: wing movements. Before fascism, the right wing was really not 174 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 1: a thing that the working class had like all that 175 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: much affinity for. You'd run across it, and there's always 176 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: this thing where like rural workers are always seen as 177 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: like more right wing. Marks was always on about that 178 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: he was wrong. It was actually rural workers who did 179 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: the Russian Revolution by and large. But you know, there's 180 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:22,960 Speaker 1: always been this association between rural workers and being on 181 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: the right wing, like the peasants are not the industrial 182 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: proletariat or whatever. Right, But in general, the working class 183 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: has been largely a left wing phenomenon because well, class 184 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: solidarity against the rich. It's an important part of it. 185 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: But I've talked about this a couple times in the show. 186 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: What fascism did, what Mussolini's like magic sauce was is 187 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: that he took the trappings of the political left. He 188 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: took the idea of being a revolutionary and applied it 189 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:57,839 Speaker 1: to the right wing. I don't know if this is 190 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,199 Speaker 1: universally true, but in general, prior to that, the right 191 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: wing was like fundamentally conservative socially and just wanted to 192 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: continue the monarchy. And you know, it was just very 193 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:12,840 Speaker 1: like not revolutionary, right. It wasn't about changing things. It 194 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 1: was about preserving things, you know, the nature of being 195 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: a conservative rather than a progressive. And what fascism did 196 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: is it said, well, we actually, like all of the 197 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:29,439 Speaker 1: seizing power and the let's fundamentally change everything about society. 198 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: We just want to do that in the service of 199 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: right wing ideas like keep out the foreigners, super hierarchical power, 200 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: although later the you know, Bolsheviks are going to be like, 201 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 1: oh well, let's keep the conservative idea of super hierarchical 202 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: power and apply to the left. Anyway, that's a long tangent. 203 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,839 Speaker 1: So basically, the German workers weren't going to successfully resist 204 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: the Nazis at that point. I sure wish they had. 205 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: It would have been great if they had risen up 206 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: after the Reichstag Fire. They did not. But more importantly, 207 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: the thing that people forget what the Reichstag fire is 208 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: that the Nazis were going to do what they were 209 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 1: going to do regardless of the Reichstag Fire. The Reichstag 210 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:16,560 Speaker 1: Fire might have changed their timeline marginally, but honestly it 211 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: might not have. What I'm much more interested in learning 212 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: about from history is less does this modern event look 213 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: like this historical event, but more bigger picture questions about 214 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: overall patterns and strategy. It's this bigger picture viewpoint that 215 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: helps me understand that fascists are going to fascist. They're 216 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 1: going to do the fascist thing regardless of whether or 217 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: not people oppose them. Appeasing them, just like does not work. 218 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: Acquiescing and appeasing is not effective. It is no more 219 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: effective than kissing the ass of your bully in middle school. 220 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: That wouldn't have worked. Ask me how I know growing 221 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: up with the fawn response and as a bullied kid, 222 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: it did not get me out of that situation. That's 223 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: one of the most personal things I'll say on this show. 224 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: On an individual level, you can't get mad at people 225 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: about faun responses, fight flight, freezer faun or just things 226 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: that people do right. But you can get mad about 227 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: it on a social level. And the Democrats are doing 228 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: a fawn response and it is not effective and it 229 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: will not stop fascism. It's also this bigger picture look 230 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: that reminds me that effective social change seems to take 231 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: both action and organization. You have to have both. You 232 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: need to actually get together with people to discuss goals 233 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: and then work towards those goals. But the most effective 234 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: social movements I can come up with in history weren't 235 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 1: run by singular organizations, but instead various organizations and groups 236 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 1: and individuals working together towards similar goals, whether or not 237 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: they like each other. At a big macro level, take 238 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: World War Two, since why not we're already talking about 239 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: World War Two. The Nazis were stopped not by a 240 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: single organization but by many, many organizations, many of which 241 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: didn't even like each other. The USSR had been allied 242 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: with Hitler at the start of the war, and the 243 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: US and the USSR were never friends. But it took 244 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: the US, the UK, the USSR, China, the Soldiers rallied 245 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 1: by various colonies like India, partisan troops of all sorts 246 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: of ideologies. It took so many people, fighting for so 247 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: many different reasons to stop the Nazis in Japan. We 248 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: can look at the abolitionist movement in the US and 249 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: see something similar. It's easy to look at it and 250 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: be like, oh, that was the Union Army that did that. 251 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 1: The Union Army was part of that. And I actually 252 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: don't mean to disparage the courage of the individual soldiers 253 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: who fought in the Union Army. But it was an 254 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: awful lot of different organizations, formal and informal, working in 255 00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: tandem that ended legal chattel slavery in the United States. 256 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: Black people self emancipating and creating abolitionist societies was probably 257 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: the core of a lot of it. Quakers risking their 258 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: lives to help people free themselves. The underground Railroad is 259 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: a very diverse organization of different people. Militant, multi racial 260 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: groups like John Brown's Raiders were involved. Northern industrial like 261 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: they literally were like, We're going to Kansas and killing motherfuckers. 262 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: It was I mean, it was terrorism, right. Northern industrialists 263 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: who just wanted capitalism to win worked alongside people who 264 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: actually understood that this was a battle for liberty. The 265 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: Union Army was involved, their motives were not exactly pure, 266 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: at least at the governmental level and honestly mostly at 267 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: the individual level. The massive general strike among enslaved laborers 268 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: in the South, which is the greatest labor action in 269 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: US history, was a rather important part of it. It's 270 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: maybe the crux of it. There were the guerrilla fighters 271 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: who came out from maroon communities and swamps and mountains 272 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: to fight. There were white working class revolts within the 273 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 1: Confederacy that seceded from the secession and fought militarily against 274 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: the draft. Movements are strong when they are built from 275 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: diverse organizations, and as the Zapatistas have taught us, they 276 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:22,120 Speaker 1: are strong when they fight for a world in which 277 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: many worlds are possible. In many ways, that's the core 278 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,240 Speaker 1: of the fight. In front of us. We have to 279 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: fight against the idea of a singular worldview. We need 280 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,120 Speaker 1: to build mutual respect and solidarity between us or we're 281 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: going to lose. So yeah, this week I'm going to 282 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: share a few pieces written about the world we woke 283 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: up into last week. I'm recording this last Friday, so 284 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 1: it's impossible for me to be entirely timely. But again, 285 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 1: fortunately I am not a hot take writer and I 286 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,880 Speaker 1: don't run a news show. Hopefully this is useful. Today, 287 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 1: I'm going to share a piece that I wrote and 288 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: posted on my substackle last week. On Wednesday, I'll be 289 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: sharing the work of a group called Crimethink. If you're 290 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: in a hurry, and honestly, I would recommend this head 291 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 1: over to crimethink dot com just crime th hi NC 292 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: dot com. They're fairly effectively shadow band on a lot 293 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: of social media platforms, or regular band on a lot 294 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 1: of social media platforms because the crackdown on free speech. 295 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: It's been happening for a while, because when we empower 296 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: various platforms to determine what kind of speech to allow, 297 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:41,159 Speaker 1: it ends up backfiring and hurting leftists. Anyway, whatever you 298 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 1: can head over to crimethink dot com to read what 299 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:47,600 Speaker 1: they have to say. But for now, ads, I bet 300 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: you new ads were coming. Here they are, and we're back. Okay, 301 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: this piece, I posted it last week on my substack. 302 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 1: It's called I Can't tell You What's coming. My dog 303 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: knows there's something wrong, and he's anxious. He hasn't mastered 304 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: the art of doom scrolling, and I don't think he 305 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,199 Speaker 1: takes much in from the news podcast we listen to, 306 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,159 Speaker 1: but he can tell that I'm worried, which makes him worried, 307 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,120 Speaker 1: which in turn makes me worried, which in turn, well, 308 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,679 Speaker 1: you get the idea. It breaks my heart that I 309 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: can't keep my friends safe from anxiety, and it breaks 310 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: my heart even more that I can't keep this four 311 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: year old mut safe from anxiety. He's got long walks, 312 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,200 Speaker 1: and he's got as needed trazodone, and those things help, 313 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,639 Speaker 1: but I suspect it would help more if all the 314 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: humans in his life weren't wound up balls of stress, 315 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 1: staring at an uncertain future. The news ascending waves of 316 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: stress through us, leaving fractures across our bodies, or at 317 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: least it's fracturing me and some of the people I 318 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 1: care about. Most people I know are tired, stressed, and 319 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,240 Speaker 1: grouchy right now, and when they get together, they make 320 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:07,399 Speaker 1: one another tired, stressed, and grouchy. Our friendships, relationships, and 321 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: communities are all strained by what's going on. I don't 322 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,159 Speaker 1: have any solutions here, not other than the things you 323 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: already know, Like that, we need to be offering one 324 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,359 Speaker 1: another grace now more than ever. We need to be 325 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: assuming best intentions of everyone we care about. We need 326 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,520 Speaker 1: to practice our empathy and our conflict de escalation. We 327 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,640 Speaker 1: need to build community even when sometimes all we want 328 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: to do is be left alone. We also, maybe more 329 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: than anything else, need to remember that we are strong, 330 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: that our enemies are just people, the same as us, mortal, 331 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: the same as us. It's weeks like this that I'm 332 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: grateful that I'm not a hot take writer. When you 333 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,880 Speaker 1: write and talk for a living, there's this incessant pressure 334 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,680 Speaker 1: to know exactly what to say about every news story, 335 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:04,160 Speaker 1: every political development. There's good money in offering people rage, 336 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: bait or reassurance. Saying everything is fucked or everything is 337 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: fine is a good way to build your platform. As 338 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: mad as I sometimes am at the hot take machine, 339 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: I'm not mad at the people who live inside of 340 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: it and make it run. It takes a certain kind 341 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,639 Speaker 1: of bravery to come out swinging with an opinion every week. 342 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: I just don't want to do it. I don't want 343 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: to do it because, frankly, I don't know anything. I 344 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,719 Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen. I spend countless hours 345 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,399 Speaker 1: a week researching the history of social movements, but history 346 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: can only give you perspective, never answers. There is a 347 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,879 Speaker 1: certain kind of reassurance I can offer you right now, 348 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: or at least I can share the reassurance I'm offering 349 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: myself right now. It's a strange reassurance, I admit, but 350 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: here it is. They are already instituting fascism as fast 351 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: as they can in this country. All the bad shit 352 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: we're afraid of, they're either already doing it or they're 353 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: trying to sort out how to do it, and they're 354 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,160 Speaker 1: not going to be able to move substantially faster than 355 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 1: they already are. I'm not afraid of the fallout of 356 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,960 Speaker 1: last week's news because everything bad that might come out 357 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,360 Speaker 1: of it was already being planned. They've already been scapegoating 358 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: trans people for everything bad in this country and are 359 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 1: trying to criminalize our existence. They've already been talking about 360 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:35,199 Speaker 1: declaring Antifa a domestic terror organization. They're already funding a 361 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: genocide and were before the current administration, and they were 362 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: already ramping up ice infrastructure as fast as they possibly can. 363 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 1: I don't know that there's any further acceleration available. The 364 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 1: fascist pedal is already to the fascist metal. That's not 365 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: to say that things aren't going to get worse. They 366 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,879 Speaker 1: are going to get worse. They're just as far as 367 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 1: I can tell, getting worse as fast as they already can. 368 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: Our actions are not going to somehow convince the fascists 369 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: to get even more fascist. There's an odd sort of 370 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: freedom in that realization. We can and should collectively stop 371 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: saying shit like, oh, if you behave a certain way, 372 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: it will just embolden the fascists. They're already as bold 373 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 1: as they can get. And that doesn't mean that the 374 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: free speech crackdown over the past week hasn't been startling. 375 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: The level of hypocrisy from the right wing comes as 376 00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: no surprise, but it's still worth noting a man they 377 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: touted as a champion of free speech was assassinated, and 378 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,760 Speaker 1: their response is the suppression of free speech at levels 379 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,080 Speaker 1: we haven't seen since the various Red scares of the 380 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: twentieth century. My friends are worried about me right now, 381 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: and I'm worried about me too, and I'm worried about them. 382 00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,280 Speaker 1: All of us are playing strange games where we decide 383 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,640 Speaker 1: who should be more more worried about whom. We're all 384 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: wondering who is the most at risk, who needs our 385 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: support most immediately. It's our duty, though, to resist fear 386 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 1: and despair. Last week I saw people online, people I 387 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,959 Speaker 1: usually respect, say terrible things like if you're trans, then 388 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,880 Speaker 1: don't go home tonight, but stay with friends because we're 389 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: going to be hunted tonight. In so many ways, I 390 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,640 Speaker 1: see people say we are weak and vulnerable, and that's 391 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: just not true. All of us are made of flesh 392 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,399 Speaker 1: and blood, and there's a built in fragility to the 393 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,439 Speaker 1: human body. But that's no more true this week than 394 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: it was two weeks ago. When I look at the 395 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,640 Speaker 1: trans people in my life, I see the toughest motherfuckers 396 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: I have ever met. There's this meme that goes around 397 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,439 Speaker 1: of two people talking, Wow, you're so resilient says the 398 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: first person, Thank you it was that, or be dead, 399 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: says the second. I know people share that meme to 400 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,920 Speaker 1: critique how often marginalized people are told that they're resilient. 401 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: But there's still also an essential truth to it. We've 402 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: seen ourselves through so much, and we'll see each other 403 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:19,160 Speaker 1: through so much more. Once, about half my life ago, 404 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: I went to foreign attention in the Netherlands for a 405 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: night because I was caught up in a mass arrest 406 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,120 Speaker 1: of anti fascists who were trying to defend a mosque 407 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: against the Nazis who'd already burned the place down. Once 408 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: the police managed to single me out as a foreigner, 409 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,920 Speaker 1: but we all refused to give them our names or nationalities, 410 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,360 Speaker 1: and they singled me out as well as a few 411 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,160 Speaker 1: Dutch people who seemed to potentially foreign to the cops, 412 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: And so there I was in foreign attention. I felt 413 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: defeated that night, lying alone on a wooden bench in 414 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: a cell across the ocean from where I was born. 415 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: Because of some complicated shit in the Dutch legal system, 416 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: I had reason enough to worry that I might spend 417 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:05,560 Speaker 1: months or years in prison in a foreign country. I 418 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: made a bargain with myself, the kind of bargain I've 419 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: since learned you should never make. I told myself, once 420 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:15,639 Speaker 1: I get out of this, I'll live my life in 421 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: such a way to not wind up in foreign detention again. 422 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: The police let me go the next day, and they 423 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: told me I'd fallen in with the wrong crowd, considering 424 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,200 Speaker 1: two Dutch strangers let themselves be carted off to foreign 425 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 1: attention alongside me rather than break solidarity. I disagree strongly 426 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,640 Speaker 1: with that cop. For years, I looked at that night 427 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: all wrong. I let it scare me. I kept that 428 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: terrible bargain I had made with myself. Whenever I was 429 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:50,359 Speaker 1: in a legally complicated situation overseas, like sleeping in a 430 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 1: squat or marching in a demonstration, I was racked with 431 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: and wrecked by fear. I acted like the Dutch cops 432 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:02,159 Speaker 1: had won. They didn't, though. I walked out of that 433 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: cell the next day, in no small part because several 434 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: Dutch people would refuse to identify themselves and gone to 435 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:15,160 Speaker 1: foreign attention with me. I were rather we won. We 436 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: walked out with no charges. The real lesson I should 437 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 1: have learned that it took me a decade to learn, 438 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: was that solidarity is powerful, not that the police are powerful. 439 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: I can't tell you what's coming, and I can't tell 440 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: you it'll be okay. But I also really really can't 441 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: tell you that everything is fucked or anything like that. 442 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:40,920 Speaker 1: I can only tell you that the future will be 443 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: determined by our actions. One problem with the current electoral 444 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 1: system in this country is that we grow up being 445 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: told that the only way we can make our voice 446 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: heard is by voting for representatives to various levels of government. 447 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: But history isn't written by voters. It's written by people 448 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: taking action. In particular, though not exclusively, history is written 449 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:09,840 Speaker 1: by people taking collective action. In order to take collective action, 450 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:13,919 Speaker 1: we need to act in solidarity with one another. In 451 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: order to act in solidarity with one another, we need 452 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: to offer each other grace. We need to assume best intentions. 453 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,240 Speaker 1: We need to de escalate our conflicts. We need to 454 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: work hard, and we need to not let ourselves off 455 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: the hook. But we need to be willing to let 456 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:35,240 Speaker 1: each other off the hook. And I need to figure 457 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 1: out how to explain to my poor dog that everything 458 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: is okay even when nothing is okay, because his only 459 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: job should be to live his best life. And be 460 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: good to people, which is actually quite a hard job. 461 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: But I bet he's up for it. At the end. Yeah, well, 462 00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:58,959 Speaker 1: I don't know what to say that I didn't already 463 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: just say take care of each other. Shit's rough, it's 464 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: going to get rougher. But as we approach winter, and 465 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: there's this thing I think about every year, and that 466 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: is that there's a delay between when you put into 467 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: place the processes that make things better and things starting 468 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:19,880 Speaker 1: to get better. The best example of this is the 469 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: winter solstice, the longest night of the year, the darkest 470 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: night of the year. It's when the light returns that 471 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: the cold sets in. But the light returning is what 472 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: will eventually cause the cold to end. And so we 473 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: won't know when we start making things better by things 474 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: getting better. Right, as we start to make things better, 475 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: things will get worse. As we start to make things better. 476 00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: And that's okay, right, we're in a very dark place 477 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: right now, but through our actions, the lightwar return. That's 478 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 1: my over dramatic thing for the week. But I don't 479 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: think you listen to this podcast because I don't have 480 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: a flair for the over dramatic. I was a high 481 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,760 Speaker 1: school goth. I am and now an old goth. We 482 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: like dramatic things, we like being earnest and well, we 483 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: also like the darkness. So it's a very strange way 484 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: to use that metaphor. But whatever metaphors or metaphors, I'm 485 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: Margaret Kiljoy. What else to plug? There's so many other 486 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,400 Speaker 1: good shows on this network I would listen to. It 487 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,840 Speaker 1: could happen here, especially. I listened to The Friday's Executive 488 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: Dysfunction Disorder. I don't actually know the name of the podcast, 489 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: apparently because every week Robert makes a joke that confuses 490 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 1: me about what the name of it is. But I 491 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: listen to it every week. And also check out crimethink 492 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: dot com, who I will be reading a piece from 493 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: on Wednesday, and I have a and this the post 494 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: that I just read you, Like, almost all of the 495 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: posts on my substack is free. The only stuff I 496 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: put behind a paywall is more personal posts. All right, 497 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,479 Speaker 1: be well, be as well as you can with everything 498 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: that's happening. I'll talk to you on Wednesday, and don't worry, 499 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: there will be I will continue to do the educational 500 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:25,960 Speaker 1: fun history episodes I just had to do this week. 501 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,480 Speaker 1: Cool People who did Cool Stuff is a production of 502 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. The more podcasts on cool Zone Media, 503 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: visit our website coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out 504 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: on I Heard, Redio, app, app a Podcasts, or wherever 505 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts