this is not apathy. this is not flippancy. i have thought about this a lot, especially recently. i have three posts i will link to expand on this, the most recent of which i just posted and will copy and paste in full. i highly recommend you read the other two as well:
- written after reading this specific post and commenting on it: https://cohost.org/vin/post/6952506-oppressed-population
- expanding on concerns voiced in response to the above post: https://cohost.org/vin/post/6974254-this-was-a-portion
- quoted below: https://cohost.org/vin/post/6974276-i-have-felt-disturbe
"i have felt disturbed and destabilized especially in the past several weeks watching a huge portion of the people ive known for years, who have never as long as ive known them, fallen into this kind of behavior or analysis, almost overnight explode into doing so. i am deeply torn and uncertain of what to do about this, as it at times overwhelms me to feel like my choice is between sticking to my principles and what i view as standing up for my friends from the backgrounds these stances inherently determine are disposable to those who promote it in the interest of their own (in my opinion, illusionary) 'safety' & self preservation. i also know criticism of this could resemble or potentially activate a sense of threat, imply perhaps i wish to cancel or dispose of people (i do not, and will not), or reinforce power structures and dynamics relevant to my position in the world & society & the positions of the majority of my friends / mutuals. i am primarily speaking of twitter here when i say this as i am not a regular user of any other social media, but still.
i have made the choice to stand by my principles regardless of the outcome of doing so, while attempting to do so compassionately, as i do not believe punitive or moralistic responses to fear ever help or encourage people to work through those difficulties. there is a strong chance this will damage trust or friendship between myself and a lot of people i know. that is painful and sad for me, but not as painful as it would feel to my friends i would fail by conceding to these developments towards reactionary stances. that number of friends is much smaller than the former, but so be it. i do not feel compelled to prioritize my social life more than this. if you are a stranger to me though, i do not by default intend to tolerate being told i am a fascist or a nazi collaborator for being a communist and sticking to that specific framework of analysis for both personal and political reasons.
one of the original targets of these ideologies, these genocides-politicides, have often been communists (under which anarchists often fall as well if unnamed), or populations branded as communists to justify a lack of opposition to their persecution. the american-western powers axis (and allies) have crafted the 'liberal democracy' as we know it as a fundamentally anti-communist approach to governance. this has been explicitly laid out as intentional in US law ever since the korean war. it has been the initial point in the justification of so much mass death, so many wars, so much intervention, coups, obfuscated vassalization. perhaps you think the problem is itself "power", the concept, the abstraction those who have any impact on form and function of day to day life supposedly possess. i do not agree, though i think criticisms of power hold their value in our considerations. i do not demand nor expect people to speak the same language of the framework i speak, though im happy to explain & translate it as best i can. i ask that you not determine what every imperialist nation has concluded is one of the biggest threats to the way of life for (some, predominantly white-as-legal-status) western citizens (not all residents) & their own interests is what collaborates with said nations & their projects. nothing is immune to these issues, but historically, overwhelmingly, that has not been the case in most instances."
