Thread by @odanu

1/ THREAD: How to thwart the Russians (evening edition, reposted from this morning): Russian bots, Russian spies, Russian provocateurs.

2/ There is no doubt now that not only did Russians interfere in the US Presidential election of 2016, but continue to interfere daily in

3/ our democracy by stirring up divisions along the existing fault lines of race and culture that have existed since the beginning of the

4/ union. They have been noted stirring up the conflict about kneeling in protest of police killings of black people, the #Charlottesville

5/ white supremacist rally, the #healthcare debate, and pretty much every every division in American for the last several years. They *want*

6/ us to hate each other and be unable and unwilling to work together. Here’s a few tips to avoid following or re-tweeting bots: 1) Bots

7/ typically have little or no original content, and share only the more divisive things they can find. 2) Many bots have names that end in

8/ 8 digit numbers. 3) Watch for natural language. While some legitimate #resisters speak English as a second language, most Russian trolls

9/ are attempting to sound American without being American, and often it shows. 4) Check location stamps for individual tweets and date that

10/ account was opened. Anything later than mid 2015 needs a second look. 5) A blue check mark next to the name is a pretty sure sign that

11/ the person is who they say they are (I’m still working on mine, but a Google search will show that I exist, and have been on line under

12/ my birth name and pseudonym for decades). When you spot a bot, report it. Twitter is actually getting pretty good at getting rid of them

13/ all. And here’s where it gets really simple — and really complicated. We need to reach out to our friends and families on the other side

14/ of the divide. We need to have those one on one and small group conversations with co-workers, family and friends. AND: We need to stand

15/ up for what we believe, never excusing a racist or sexist or homophobic statement because “s/he’s not really like that”. We need to

16/ kneel for what’s right and stand for what’s right, while at the same time being gracious enough to include people who aren’t perfect,

17/ who don’t *get* it, who say and believe gross things. The Russian’s goal is to goad us into civil war, or at least into enough

18/ dysfunction that we can’t get it together to create a functioning government. On that second front, they’re *winning*. Yeah, I know.

19/ “But the other side…” “And you won’t believe what they’re saying/doing…” I KNOW. Here’s a revolutionary idea. With the exception of

20/ people (Nazis) who openly and apologetically call for the extermination, separation or oppression of people different from them, we need

21/ to be taking the time to have the conversations. In the end, everyone but the Nazis are on the same side, and we’re all being screwed by

22/ this Russian plan to destroy our democracy and economy. And again, white folks who have straight privilege, especially white men and

23/ relatively privileged white women, should be at the forefront of this. We can’t ask our sisters and brothers and siblings of color who

24/ are more marginalized to be the “cannon fodder”. Its our blood, our families, our communities that are making up the institutions that

25/ are wreaking havoc on the United States — the press that egged on the “horse race” that allowed an unqualified man to win the Presidency

26/ over an eminently qualified woman and several other qualified men — the courts that repeatedly allow rapists and child molesters to walk

27/ free or serve insultingly short sentences — the businesses that put short term profit over both long term profit and the well-being of

28/ their employees and customers — the schools that are burying their dropout numbers in “transfers”, who are actively re-segregating more

29/ successfully than the 1970s — police that kill innocent people of color and people with disabilities with impunity — legislators that

30/ pointedly ignore and even run from their constitutents who elected them. It’s our friends and neighbors who say the flag and anthem as

31/ symbols are more important than the people they represent. It’s our family members and loved ones that crack “jokes” about “faggots” and

32/ “trannies” and “bitches” and “thots” and tell us we’re being “too sensitive” when we tell them to knock it off. That means we can’t

33/ retreat when Uncle Ugly tells his umpteenth racist joke at a family gathering, but calmly hold our ground and let him know his views

34/ aren’t acceptable, and that no one’s humanity is up for debate. That means that we build our safety nets so that when the inevitable

35/ backlash comes, when we come out of the closets in our lives, we remain safe and continue to fight effectively. “Yeah. I’m bisexual.

36/ Yeah, I’ve been married for 20 years to a man. No, these things aren’t incompatible.” That means we educate ourselves on social justice

37/ 101 and common sense 101, using wonderful websites like Everyday Feminism everydayfeminism.com, Teen Vogue teenvogue.com,

38/ and The Establishment theestablishment.co, and individual writers such as @Karnythia, @tanehisicoates, @Stonekettle, @RedTRaccoon,

39/ @ShaunKing, and SO MANY more. We educate, and we share what we learn, and we break down complex and challenging concepts, and we use

40/ metaphors and we tie them to the lives of real people. When someone says they like the ACA but hate Obamacare, we take the time to

41/ explain not only that they’re the same thing, but that the term “Obamacare” was created to cause division. We teach people enough about

42/ economics to understand why “trickle down” means “piss on everyone but the rich”. We teach people how to tell the difference between

43/ valid and reliable sources and unreliable, invalid sources. We quietly support causes we believe in by marching, kneeling, standing,

44/ writing, and calling. When people ask why we support those causes, we take the time to explain. When fellow allies and #resisters get it

45/ wrong, we ask for better, sometimes demand better. We’re not going to get everyone on one side. But if we can get everyone but that tiny

46/ Nazi minority to recognize each others’ humanity, to start discussing what compromises would look like, to start finding points of

47/ agreement, to start *making sausage* in the grand old tradition of American politics, and recognizing that *experience* in politics

48/ *can* be a sign of competence and devotion to public service, and not just a sign that a person is too “establishment”, we can thwart

49/ this attack on the United States and come out the other side stronger than ever. And in case you were wondering what, specifically, the

50/ Russians want, they want us to throw away our attempt at increasing health care access to more Americans, want us to give up on becoming

51/ a leader on alternative energy, want us to continue to have huge fault lines along gender, race, class, and sexual orientation lines,

52/ and want us confused and fighting each other. They want us to be an oligarchy mirrored on and beholden to Russia. Does that mean we

53/ shouldn’t fight for the things we want? No. It does mean we need to pick our fights and our words carefully, to avoid opening the wounds

54/ deeply. And we’re not going to always get it right. We’re going to get angry and mouth off (I’m a champ at that). We’re going to tell

55/ our political leaders *exactly* what we think of them. But if we don’t pay attention to attempts at vote suppression, at loading the

56/ courts and the executive branch with people who are either against the needs of the American people and for the oligarchs, or actual

57/ Russian agents, we are going to lose everything that *truly* makes America great. So if you want to #MAGA, we start by getting the

58/ Russians out of our politics. You can find some more tips on how to use social media to resist here: patreon.com/posts/30-socia…. While

59/ there, feel free to sign up to support my work every month. Or you could leave a one time tip at Paypal.me/JenniLiles. A dollar or