“The Fun’s in the Fight”: Flipping the Script on All This Shit
My Facebook feed has been a shitstorm of panic since Jan 22 as the tyranny and the bullshit of the Trump administration unfurls at a rapid pace. I think that I keep thinking that if people read about it, or just SEE it, that they will understand that we are in very dangerous territory as a democracy. Like my all caps insistence that we are in a constitutional crisis will wake people up.
But that’s Cassandra’s effort. I find myself exhausted and depleted after a day of constant updates about the shit that’s going down in DC. I’m focusing far more on the negative than on anything positive, which just makes me and everyone else feel completely hopeless and full of despair. It is a disempowering strategy.
At this point, nothing can convince me that we aren’t in dire straits; but it’s clear that nothing can convince some people that we are (not even my eloquent updates and carefully cultivated shares!). But what we can do is play up the positives, normalize political engagement, and piss em off by having fun while we do it.
A friend shared this with me today as we were having a small group chat about how freaked the fuck out we are:
“I think every day I’ve said some variation on, resistance is a snowball. It is momentum-driven. The more people participate and back it up, the more normalized it is and the easier it gets to keep resisting. This also is what made the Tea Party movement work, I think. It had a name and an identity, and it’s easier to join 100 racists in funny hats than it is to be the first racist in a funny hat. So we just need to keep being literally millions.”
I think any activist (even if you’re an under-the-radar caller and ACLU-donor and not particularly vocal about it) should think about how we can use social media to advance our cause effectively without playing into the chaos that Trump et al. can so gleefully sow. What can we do? I think the above advice is excellent.
Be visible. Share what we are doing that is positive. Look at how many people showed up, our community is awesome! I called my senators today during lunch to oppose Betsy DeVos, like ya do every day because that’s what’s normal now! The same friend of a friend said:
“People talk about not normalizing Trump. To win I think we need to normalize the opposite. We need calling reps at lunch breaks, showing up to protests, and organizing to be normal.”
Normalize resistance and activism. Do it like you go to church. Do it like you check your bank balance and pay your bills. Normalize engagement.
And amplify the good stuff. Can we not forget that last weekend we held the biggest protest in US History? THE BIGGEST ONE!! Turnout was off the charts, y’all. I was in Des Moines IA — we expected 10k and had 26k. This is what winning looks like. Don’t let them drive the narrative of whiny bla bla bla. Fuck that. Let em bitch and moan. We have the drive on our side.
Last night after Sally Yates got canned, I shared an ominous video and was all “Oooooo are you paying attention to the rise of fascism you sheeple!” (I did not actually say that). Then one of my homies in the best little secret Hillary group on the interwebz pointed out how awesome it was that she didn’t cave on the Constitution. Yeah, she was toast anyway. But the girl went down swinging. So I deleted that video and posted about what a badass mother she is. Flip the script; take the bad, find the good, and amplify that.
We have GOT to remember — I have got to remember — that the fun’s in the fight. The unsinkable Molly Ivins wrote:
On the occasion of the bicentennial of the Constitution, the ACLU was fixin’ to lay some heavy life-time freedom fighter awards on various citizens and one of ’em was Joe Raugh, the lawyer who defended so many folks during the McCarthy Era and the civil rights movement (note that the rightness of those stands is always easier to see in retrospect). Rauh was sick in the hospital at the time and asked a friend of his to go down and collect the award for him. His friend went to see him in the hospital and said, “Joe, what you want me to tell these folks?”
So there was Raugh lyin’ there sick as a dog, thinking back on all those bad, ugly, angry times — the destroyed careers, the wrecked lives — and he said, “Tell ’em how much fun it was. Tell ’em how much fun it was.”
It is possible for happy warriors to be effective warriors. Nothing is more scary to an narcissist on a power trip than someone who simply doesn’t give a fuck what they think.
Maybe we’ll have to fake it ’til we make it; fine. Don’t let em see us cry. Let em see us laugh. Let em see our protests as the best block parties. And let em see us showing up and doing this work every goddamn day.
We cannot — we will not — let them break our spirit. They don’t get to have that. They can sit in their tower with their awful hair and watch us grow. Snowflakes become snowballs, and who doesn’t love a good snowball fight?
Lauren is a Chapter Leader and Congressional District Director for Indivisible Iowa, a new statewide network of over 50 local Indivisible chapters based on state senate districts. See Indivisible Iowa’s facebook group to learn more.
Looking to do your part? One way to get involved is to read the Indivisible Guide, which is written by former congressional staffers and is loaded with best practices for making Congress listen. Or follow this publication, connect with us on Twitter, and join us on Facebook.
