Protest is as American as apple pie. You don't have to be nice to anyone & are under no requirement to practice #civility in the face of rampant incivility.
But my question to those fed up is: What's next? How will your opponent reply & how do you plan to counter that?
Over & over again I see anxious ruminations about whether or not right minded people who oppose Trump are supposed to be appealing to / converting Trump voters.
Why? The last election proved that you're in the majority.
Your goal should be settling differences on your OWN side.
Trump's people are unified. Republicans give this ramshackle, incompetent President a 90% approval rating. Republicans in previous administrations would KILL to have that kind of rating.
So it's not about them, not about what they do, it's about what YOU do.
Screw concerns about #civility, talk about organization. Republican tend to mobilize in much greater numbers during the midterms.
What's the plan to counter that? Forget Trump voters, forget what they want or think or believe.
What's the plan to increase Dem turnout?
There has been a headfake going on for months now: "This is how you get Trump."
Call bigoted people bigoted, TIHYGT
Refute the avalanche of lies from this administration, TIHYGT
Protest & shame public officials, TIHYGT
Everything is how you get Trump. It's a mindf*ck. Ignore it
Trump supporters lording over you TIHYGT are acknowledging what you already know, that this man and his policies are an affliction on the nation.
The constant counter should be about organizing turnout, galvanizing people & squashing (for now) the sniping & infighting
If certain media outlets are ginning up false equivalence about #civility the question should be, how are you going to apply pressure against them to make it known that taking their eye off children in cages to fret about what the Right has been doing for years is unacceptable?
I wish people would think more strategically about this stuff: When you make a move, your opponent isn't just going to sit idle and do nothing in reply. Would you?
We do X. What are they going to do in reply. How do we counter it?
These accounts that are seemingly the thought leaders amongst the #Resistance tweeting out about not being shamed & #civility should be altering the conversation BY REFUSING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONVERSATION.
Master the art of the non-sequitur: The #civility tag should be FLOODED with nothing but the current concern at hand-- children ripped from their parents, an administration that has lied about it and what right minded people intend to do about it.
I submit that the Left needs to bring its messaging in line and its media in line. Let it be known that you will actively oppose them when they create false equivalences. Let it be known that constantly hosting lie spewing Trump spox will be met with boycotts.
Republicans are marching in lock step. My decades of experience with the Left is that it works better as more independent pods-- but those pods need to work together as an organic whole.
That can't happen if you're constantly in reaction.
Many have tried to divine Trump's secret media & organizational sauce.
It's great to understand your opponent, but you will fail every time if you don't understand your own side. How does the Left work? What galvanizes it? What is going to drive the turnout?
Stop talking about #civility. Seriously, don't even offer Trump's people the opening. Where are those babies?
If you don't take my word, listen to this guy:
Each and every one of you, if you stand against a perpetually lying, bigoted, corrupt, incompetent administration are a part of this #Resistance whether you like it or not.
YOU are its leader. What are YOU going to do?
Shift from reaction to action
-Yes, call your representative. You are their courage
-Bombard the producers of supposed Left / Center Left outlets, demand an end to false equivalence reporting & chasing after every Trump tweet
-Form a chain to guarantee 5-10 others WILL TURN OUT
This is a rando account. I'm happily nobody of consequence. But I beg you who are plugged into this #Resistance who have a following to stop talking about #civility & whatever other bouncing, shiny ball Trump has rolled out and drive the narrative, set the agenda!
As a filthy centrist I may not agree with you folks on the Left about specific points, but honest folks left, right & center recognize the danger we are in. The stakes are too high to play the attention game @realDonaldTrump wants us to play.
James Gunn being fired over old tweets reminds me that we're blithely building a society where:
You can never make a mistake.
Your past will forever haunt you.
Your job holds sway over private life because you're a 24/7 representative of the company.
Is this the future we want?
Here's something ugly to consider: Every time we ok this, every time we cheer when it happens to someone we DON'T like, we strengthen the construction of this cage around ALL of us.
Take someone like Brendan Eich, the Mozilla CEO who was dismissed when it was discovered that he donated to an anti-gay marriage initiative in California. Set aside whether you agree or disagree & look at the fact that we are setting up norms here.