I downvoted out of instinct.

I’ve already stopped using Google because of this bullshit. Fuck ‘em. AI already gives biased responses because you just can’t give a short summary of complex issues provided by a variety of voices. True knowledge arises from complexity.

The people of this earth have always been friendly neighbors, not counting the consequences of authoritarian propaganda.

Those who struggle for power have always created enemies out of nothing just for their own gain.

Americans are with you, friend!

I’m so glad you asked! It feels good to find kinship and community in this way!

Honestly—this is going to sound really woo-woo, but I’m not trying to—I encourage you to take the journey to find the resources yourself. Trust that your own curiosity will lead you to the right entry point and the right format for your mindset and life experiences, whether it’s book, movie, YouTube short, poem, or audiobook. The right teacher will appear when you ask the right questions. I can recommend the book that started me on this journey, but it may not resonate with you and you could lose interest.

But if you really don’t know where to start, I started with the audiobook version of Braiding Sweetgrass, and paid attention to her lessons on reciprocity and living life directed by the lessons of plants. I then moved on to Restoring the Kinship Worldview, and now I’m listening to Sand Talk. I’m also looking for documentaries.

Good luck on your journey! Let’s see how many others we can invite along with us!

I completely agree with all of your points. It’s really hard to break out of the belief that it’s far more comfortable at home, that other people are scary, that you don’t know how to meet people, etc., but you know what’s more scary?

Being absolutely and utterly alone.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We cannot thrive and become whole humans like this. We cannot save ourselves from tyranny like this. Making a bunch of comments online is not making real change out there.

I really hope we can figure out how to bring back third spaces/the commons, and soon.

"Amending this bill to require the Ten Commandments be made of bulletproof kevlar may actually be useful as a shield from gun violence, a real problem Texans face," Samuels said.

Savage. Beautiful.

This isn’t directed at you specifically but at anyone who comes across these comments, and I’m including this information here because it directly influenced my initial comment above:

I’ve been doing a lot of listening to indigenous worldview and learning of indigenous values. It has really helped me identify where western civilization and culture has been lacking for millennia, but especially over the last few centuries.

I’ve come to understand that the damage starts when we are young when we learn that nature is an “it” without needs and that we cannot rely on or trust other people. We learn to either dominate or make ourselves small in our daily relationships in order to feel safe when we should be seeing the world and one another as gifts to be explored and shared.

It takes some listening and reflecting to figure out that what you’ve been taught is dangerous. I’m currently trying to figure out how I can learn more of these perspectives and also build a stable and trusting community around me.

I think that’s where we need to do the work to try and undo what’s happening both at the national level and in those who are supporting authoritarianism.

I’ll get off my soapbox now, but I wanted to share in case it resonated with anyone else.

I forgot about that. Free choice and free will apparently isn’t a guarantee in this country, anymore.

I hate how possible this sounds. Like, alongside the other bullshit we’ve been exposed to, this nonsense sounds like it could be real.

That’s my hope: Americans get fed up with this and fight for our rights and needs.

But I’m worried that propaganda will continue to placate the masses.

“Illegally boycotting.”

Trump is hilarious. Like the government can stop me from NOT BUYING something.

Sounds like if he had it his way, we’d be forced to buy only what he declared and in the quantities the law stipulates, regardless of need or ability to pay.

So much for “government financial efficiency.“

This is detrimental to community, especially community organizing against fascism.

Like it or not, community is shown to improve mental health.

I’ve been listening to a lot of indigenous teachings on community. It’s really impactful.

What the absolute fuck.

I noticed this phrasing as well. Our government is taking this money from the poorest half of its citizens, and Trump either doesn’t know that or is intentionally clouding the waters for those who still dont know what tariffs are.

I’m frustrated at the ultra-zoom-in of the charts. The stock isn’t even back down to what it was last year, yet.

There is a lot further to go.

“Nazi-like salute…”

Ugh.

When Trump refers to “us,” he isn’t talking about everyday Americans. When he says “we aren’t worried,” I’m confident that he’s referring to the ultra wealthy and/or Putin, not his administration.

We’re on our way to state-sanctioned physical and emotional torture. They won’t stop at trans people, or gay people, either. When one group loses their rights, everyone does.

Women choose the bear. The bear kills for survival. Men degrade women as a grotesque show of unearned power.

Good. We Americans need to learn the lesson that, in fact, we are not, have never been, and cannot be individualists. We are dependent on our neighbors: personally, nationally, and internationally.

We also need to learn that we cannot sustain ourselves by constantly taking: taking from each other, taking from nature, and taking from the future generations. We have become a nation of consumers, not citizens, and that is morally wrong. We expect to take with no consequences, and that’s just not how Earth works.