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Well, the current efforts are few and lacking.
I think the vast majority of people who participate in American politics online discussion simply do not grasp or understand how to react. Or even what happened to cause this decline. And those that do have very few leaders or organizations or networks to draw support.
This leaves most people who want to help floundering and feeling helpless.
That look the deer had before it’s hit by that truck? This is where the average participant is. And I’m not sure that this is the best it can get or not.
Too much is missing. And all the best will in the world, and all the prettiest speeches, rants, essays , comments and posts cannot will it into existence. It has to grow on its own. And that takes time we may not have
What do you suggest as the first one to three steps to get started on not being the paralyzed deer? You've identified the problem, do you have wisdom to share on actionable tasks one can do to get started? You're not wrong about identifying ignorance...unfortunately, ignorance is self-reinforcing without effective training and education.
Unlearning? Remove the taught perspective of life and society. Reconnect with your own self, know your body. Remove pointless culture and consumerism from your life. Then things become more clear if you do not have things polluting your body and mind. Slowly you will reattach to honest humanity and notice the things marketed to you, products, lifestyles, etc, are not necessity and actually detach you from self and authentic humanity.
That's all great steps 6 to 10 advice, but for anyone who never learned how to unlearn, it'll fall on deaf ears. It's vague and intimidatingly unactionable. I meant some easy, low-cost, entry-level step toward what you're describing, which is nearer to the zenith of what we should be trying to achieve. It's like telling someone who might be interested in becoming enlightened, to, you know, just become enlightened.
My favorite first step toward being a more active component in my community was to go to the local library (bringing with me a piece of mail addressed to me at my address in the same jurisdiction as the library itself as well as a form of identification) and signing up for a library card. I would then see what upcoming programs are being held and then go to some of them to meet other people. Or I'd browse the book selection and specifically try to find books written about social activism or classic dystopian novels. Maybe even see if there are any acclaimed 'how to protest' books. My personal recommendation is The Dictator's Handbook and I just picked up The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes- and Why, which seems good so far.
The problem I'm having is I'm pretty unlearned in the art of effective activism, and that ignorance is intimidating and paralyzing. I don't want to screw it up and potentially get hurt or taken advantage of and without a trusted guide, it's unlikely I'll give it a try. That's the kind of specific, actionable, realistic advice I meant to solicit, not lofty goals of razing and rebuilding an entire socioeconomic worldview. I mean, that would help, but even it is a poor guide for taking real actions in the physical world.
Your not wrong. It is like a craft. You can't learn how to do it, it comes to a person at their own speed. If you try to force it, it result in what organized religion got, false followers and a soulless image to follow that is essentially fake.
Your steps sound good for you. There's no set steps because everyone's so unique with different learning styles.
Your anxieties are understandable. We are in a time where people are being forced to hold a role if they want to live a real life. When I say role i mean make history. It's.like we are living in a time where the history book is being written in real time. We got taught about certain characters of the past, but this is right now. Anyone right now can take their place in the history of America. It's almost like a business boom, like the internet boom. I think we are witnessing harsh reality. The anxiety felt is raw reality and we were taught such a privileged life we don't know how to deal with it.
Unfortunately I am clueless.
My own experience comes from doing grassroots in Texas, years ago. I saw how tentative and fragile that was.
Then , I tried to educate people about the value of paper ballots in Texas. And it gave me insight about how hard things can be to change ( understatement there).
I was incredibly inspired by the Ukrainian revolution ten years ago. And use that to see why things break here. Eventually I put it down to the collapse of local politics and Ukrainians have healthier social ties on average.
But a builder of local neighborhoods I am not, nor am I a good educator or leader, and am somewhat of a coward unless I am a follower. So I got nothing
Unfortunately, I'm clueless, too. I feel especially frustrated by my cluelessness, because I've received extensive "leadership" training and I feel like I should be good at sharing ideas and building consensus. But I'm an awkward introvert who, at best, prefers to be a sidekick to a better leader who understands and relates to other people more easily than I do.
Something I'd like to try in my community is see if I can reserve the rec room at my local library to do a double feature (maybe two features spaced out by a week) in which I show the films Conspiracy (2001) and Schindler's List, with a discussion/shared analysis by the viewers following each viewing.
And then maybe I'd try starting a book club where the first book is This Perfect Day by Ira Levin followed by other titles focused on social ideals, flaws, actions, and abuses.
You know, when I have time, that is...
The Avatar episode about No War in Ba Sing Se would fit in as well. Oh, and the opening episodes of the classic Battlestar Galactica - the Cylons attack when the opposition is gathered for a peace conference. We might relate if WW3 starts.
Battlestar 1978 - Saga of a Star World trailer
We probably should make a list of stuff for everybody to select and show for their respective libraries.
*Avatar: The Last Airbender, episode 14, "City of Walls and Secrets".
*Babylon 5: seasons 4 and 5 focus on the civil war with Earth. In one of the episodes, Sheriden asks incoming warships about what they are supposed to do when issued illegal orders. We could use a supercut of B5 that is solely concerned with the civil war, since the series is filled with many unrelated plot threads.
On that note, Mac's Lore did an episode that summarizes the civil war.
The Secession of Babylon 5
*V: An alien invasion, in which the aliens literally wear human skin to make themselves appear normal. Aside from eating mice and things, they institute fascism. The series is all about forming a resistance against them. There is also a reboot of V, but I don't recall which series got to their conclusion.
I think your ideas are great at the library , as well as a book club. It will help a lot, probably more than you know, and will have effects for years in small ways that are hard to measure.
Plans, even just talked about, like this give me hope.