Thinking out loud about my own activism and getting more involved.
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I also have told people frequently in the past that, while I agree with you that the Democrats as a party aren't good and it's no fun to be held hostage to "at least we're better than the neo-con/alt-right/facists", that I consider it a vast point of privilege that needs to be considered not to vote for them. You vote for Jill Stein to satisfy your "principals" and meanwhile a ton of people die when the conservatives get into power.
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Recently I think these two unrelated things have converged a bit. I kind of feel like it's now a moral imperative that I become more involved and fight back. This means using the tech that groups have already picked, and not doing so would be a major position of privilege that I'd be placing above my duty to help people who will be hurt by the new administration.
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The Yangsi Michael Dillonreplied to Sam Whited last edited by
@sam and those wouldn't have died with a Harris presidency? Scores of Palestinians would like a word.
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Sam Whitedreplied to The Yangsi Michael Dillon last edited by [email protected]
@anantagd I agree with you, literally the whole point of this is "they're not perfect, but they're better". Trump is going to make that infinitely worse and that is one of the main reasons for my feeling like I now need to get more involved.
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The Yangsi Michael Dillonreplied to Sam Whited last edited by
@sam I'm watching from afar and functionally there is not a lot of difference. Are the Dems better? They don't strike me as such.
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That's basically it. I feel like it's become a bit of hypocrisy on my part not to eg. use Discord and be more involved with the #IWWs free-Palestine and organizing efforts, or use Zoom and Signal which is what my local #DSA chapter mostly does I think, etc.
But I'm still having a hard time convincing myself to sign up for a bunch of VC funded tech companies that I think these groups shouldn't be using in the first place.
Not sure yet what to do. End of thread; thanks for listening to me whine.
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Sam Whitedreplied to The Yangsi Michael Dillon last edited by
@anantagd oh yah, don't get me wrong, Harris' position on the genocide is unconscionable, but she would have at least put some pressure on israel and would be open to shifting her position with an appropriate pressure campaign from the left. Still not great, but better.
Trump meanwhile will absolutely exacerbate the situation, try to stop aid groups, etc.
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The Yangsi Michael Dillonreplied to Sam Whited last edited by
@sam It can also be a very legitimate action strategy to make yourself hard to detect (and ultimately kill)
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Sam Whitedreplied to The Yangsi Michael Dillon last edited by
@anantagd oh yah, totally agree. I come from a position of privilege and feel like I should use that to protect others, but I definitely wouldn't blame someone who's trans, an immigrant, or anyone else the new administration will vilify for becoming less involved to make themselves less visible. That's definitely legit.
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@sam Not sure if you want opinions here, but given your stated concerns, I think meeting groups where they are is probably a good idea. If you're still concerned about the opsec drawbacks of their chosen venues (and you should be) then I'd recommend involving yourself in their opsec decisions when you get there. Help them draft policy on what uses of a VC-funded tech are safe and reasonable. Help them set up alternatives if possible.
But never login to Twitter again. That's the master's tools now.
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Hi Sam, this just came up on my timeline and maybe that’s kind of related? It could be good to help those groups improve their security, I guess.
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@nellie_m Thanks! I wasn't even thinking about doing this from a security perspective, but that's probably a good idea too. One of the reasons I haven't tried to bring up changing it in meetings is I don't want people to feel like I'm the new person jumping in, refusing to try the way it is currently, insisting on doing it my way or I won't participate, etc. so I just say "sorry I'm not on discord" and haven't tried to push for change. But a security approach seems much more reasonable.
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yes, that’s always the hard thing to figure out for me , too - how not to come across as the pushy knowitall when some friends are overwhelmed with their lives anyway. Trying to fight disinformation and extremists’ narrativee etc. But at the same time they so willingly give away all their private information to Meta, Google and Co. it drives me insane.
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@sam You could help them set up a chat bridge or access their chats through a Slidge XMPP gateway? It's not perfect, but at least it would allow you to participate and raise awareness that better options exist.
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Some things are downright scary. Imagine the Third Reich had had the technology we have today.
Or a Fourth Reich …
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@kris I don't do tech stuff for any org anymore and I don't think anyone would use it. For chat we've got to recognize that it *will* be worse in most ways than using Discord. I'm not sure how to get people over that hurdle.
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@nellie_m that's a good reminder, thanks.
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@upstreamism thanks, opinions are indeed welcome! Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about this from an opsec perspective, just from a not wanting to support those products personally and not wanting to be that arrogant guy who shows up and immediately gets petulant about a decision that was democratically decided by the rest of the org. Opsec is a legit good reason not to use those things anymore though that I'd feel less bad about pushing for change with that as the reason. Thanks!
