Comment on It's a wild life out there!
Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 1 day agoI say this with kindness: If a criticism doesn’t apply to you then it doesn’t apply to you. Anyone can get online and say whatever they want. There is a lot of nonsense out there. A lot of people playing fantasy.
I know it’s hard to let people talk shit directly about you and your initiatives but you don’t owe them an explanation and there is no benefit to convincing them if they are strangers on the internet.
It’s easy to just say that Americans are incapable of doing anything, and then be derisive when somebody attempts to do something. I live in a rural town of less than 3k, thousands of miles from DC, so nothing I do will ever be big enough or good enough to change federal policy, and is therefore considered a waste of time by your average commenter here.
Some people might be saying exactly that, but I think people take criticism of the american system really personally and make it about themselves.
When people criticize my government (and there is a lot to criticise) I don’t get defensive because I have no interest in defending the state and I know I am doing what I can to improve conditions locally and disrupt the systems that enable our own brand of imperialism.
faythofdragons@piefed.social 1 day ago
There is absolutely benefit to countering the false rhetoric that nobody is doing anything. I want to inspire others to do stuff in their own communities and stop getting discouraged by all the “you only have stupid protests” nonsense that gets spread around here. Nobody believes an anti-hierarchical grassroots movement could form in a rural town, because they just assume rural = trump supporter, even the people who live here.
Let me tell you, despite being in a rural town, we only get a handful of hecklers at each big protest. We routinely get a crowd of 200 protestors, dozens of people honking in support, and only a couple of people rolling coal. We keep getting people stopping to express shock that we even exist, people keep thinking they’re the only anti-trumpers living out here, but they’re not.
People aren’t going to do stuff if they think they’re on their own. The news isn’t going to spread word about supportive communities in your area. If we don’t talk about what we’re doing, who will?
Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 1 day ago
That’s my point though. The rhetoric isn’t nobody is doing anything. I didn’t make this meme but I can’t imagine a way to make a meme that also says “this doesn’t apply to you if you are doing something, carry on”.
People who believe that are foolish, and aren’t interested in hearing from rural towns because they have already made up their mind.
(I’m rural btw)
Anyways, I’m not trying to tell you what to do, just trying to share things I think are helpful. I don’t take offence to being told I’m wrong and it’s not useful. Good luck, I hope you are successful with your initiative…
faythofdragons@piefed.social 1 day ago
So when you said “Why is cooperation and mutual aid so invisible to americans”, what did you mean? I understood it to mean that you didn’t think anybody was doing anything.
But I’ve literally experienced the opposite, lol. I hear from the people themselves that they’ve just never thought that it could happen out here until they saw it happening out here. Propaganda affects us all.
Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 22 hours ago
I think there are clearly linguistic and cultural differences between us. It’s fine that you’re asking. I’ll explain. But first I want to tell you truly that when someone makes a generalization about a group I belong to, I don’t take it personally. It’s a short cut. If I had to list every single man who isn’t sexist when I complained about systemic sexism I wouldn’t get to say anything at all!
So for this specific comment, I didn’t want to criticise the individual making the comments. My response isn’t about them as an individual. So I can’t say “why are they so invisible to you”. I also have observed this sentiment (americans can’t afford to do anything but comply because they are dependent on the state and pro-state structures) quite a bit, so I knew it wasn’t just this one person’s thoughts. It’s a systemic problem. So I chose the generalization.
The only reason I replied to you is because you asked a question. Otherwise I would ignore it because I’m not really in the habit of telling people they are “one of the good ones”. I think that concept is fundamentally dangerous. We should all be open to criticism, we just need to decide if the criticism is useful or not.
Yes, I hear these things too. I spent my first 35 years in my country’s biggest city. My spouse is from a rural community and he wanted to go back to that way of life. So we did. Rural people also talk a lot of trash about city folk too. Some of it deserved.
It benefits people who hold power to sow discord. I’m sure we can all think of a time we lashed out in a way we regret. So I try and save my energy for people who actually know me. Or if someone who doesn’t know me at all says something and I get super defensive about it I’ll try and sit with why I’m getting so mad. Maybe they are on to something. Maybe I’m just hungry lol