One of the things that makes Rebecca Solnit such a powerful and inspiring writer is her ability to talk bluntly and unflinchingly about what is wrong in the world, however grim the facts may be, without giving up on the hope that we need to hold onto if we want to make the world a better place.
In an essay published yesterday in the Guardian, Solnit acknowledges that, yes, here “[i]n the United States we are probably headed for a very grim phase of uncertain duration.” And she reminds us that it is in grim times like these that we have the greatest need for hope.
“Hope is for when you don’t have what you need and for when things are not OK,” she writes. “It is the belief that liberation might be possible that motivates you to make it more possible … .”
It’s in the darkest times that resistance — and the hope that drives it — can make the biggest difference.
“We would do well to study the countries that have sunk into tyranny or despotism and survived,” Solnit notes.
To discover how Argentina and Chile and Brazil went through an era of dictators and death squads and emerged, in part because people like the Argentinian women in las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo stood up to their fears and their regime.
Solnit finds hope not only in history but in those who are standing up against injustice today.
“There is another America rising and taking action, and it is beautiful,” she writes.
Many people are still trying to figure out what to do; others are doing it. They give me hope, in some portion of humanity, the portion that will resist Trump and defend our ideals. It will be hard. It will be ugly. Our job will be to be embody and protect all of those things most antithetical to authoritarianism, racism, misogyny, kleptocracy, an atmosphere of lies and indifference to science, fact and truth.
In easy times, we grow slack; this will require us each to find our capacity for heroism.
It’s a tremendous, and tremendously useful essay. Read the whole thing here.
EDITED TO ADD: If you didn’t already get a copy of Solnit’s book Hope in the Dark when she was giving it away for free, you can get it at half price from the publisher here.
In other Trump news: I found a new book to read.
http://68.media.tumblr.com/c86a69e40f667e064401ae27d194bbfa/tumblr_oiz4k06LGG1qgwi7to1_500.jpg
http://68.media.tumblr.com/5768d5d75ad1cc03f4e2ad8edd695ad4/tumblr_oiz4k06LGG1qgwi7to2_500.jpg
http://68.media.tumblr.com/d3d70a6f7219b2aa7a3c7fda7cb2c9be/tumblr_oiz4k06LGG1qgwi7to3_500.jpg
From the author: “This book is full of blank pages. Despite years of research, we could not find anything to say on this subject, so please feel free to use this book for notes.”
And speaking of books, how did waste of oxygen Milo Yiannopoulos snag this?
Milo Yiannopoulos snags book deal with Simon & Schuster imprint
No doubt my library will have to buy this piece of junk. My only consolation is that if 50 people check it out of the library, that’s 50 people who won’t buy it for themselves and line Milo’s undeserving pockets.
@PI:
HAH!
>:D
ETA: Now just tell me that that book has a dust jacket that can be removed, and we’d be in business.
Well, as Rogue One reminded us, all rebellions are built on hope. I am resisting and rejecting this new regime. Right now the progressives and the equality minded must join and stop fighting about petty issues and focus on stopping the dismantling of our country, the harassment of our citizens, and the blatant disregard for anyone who isn’t white and rich as important to our futures.
@PI
So… can I find it on amazon, or do the publishers do international shipping or anything else ?
@Ginormica
I used to live in a town that had one library, and one librarian working there – she told me about those dreaded “awful books that you’re obligated to have”.
Since she was pretty much left to run the place on her own with little to no oversight from townhall, she had a habit of “disappearing” those books.
Fun story : she told me because I caught her walking out the back door with a pile of Bernard Henri Levy’s finest works and a sigh on her lips. Or maybe she was the one who caught me while I was having my 420 break behind the building.
@Ginormica:
Simon & Schuster are pretty amoral when it comes to whom they give money to, sadly.
Off topic and about another country, but did you see the Honey Badgers claim they have a court date in January and are begging for $15,000 to get them, their attorney, and their witnesses to the trial? Stellar planning there.
@PI
I am so reading that book. That is amazing. I assumed it is sold on amazon, and thus I assumed would have some awesome sarcastic reviews. Sure enough!
https://www.amazon.com/Trump-Deserves-Trust-Respect-Admiration/dp/1540743225
But wait! Not all the reviews were good! Here’s a 1-star review:
Also, excuse my extreme hipsterness but I was totally into reading sarcastic amazon reviews before it was cool! I credit Christina H, aka Mortal Wombat, from cracked as the original person who drew attention to the comedy gold found on Amazon (and I could be completely wrong, but every internet article I saw on the topic ripped off, or was ‘very similar’ to her original cracked article).
Finally, a book Trump himself will be capable of reading!
Amen! May we all keep up a spirit of rebellion!
Getting a clickbait ad on top of this page that is a cutaway of a person’s airway, with a chicken drumstick crudely ‘shopped into the mouth. “One trick to stop snoring!” it says.
Yeah, choking on a chicken bone’ll stop most any problems you’ve got.
Not sure if you guys have seen this, but apparently Andy The No-Life Loser is urging his followers to ruin Twitter by flooding it with “fake black people” accounts as “revenge” on Black Lives Matter and on Twitter for banning racist accounts, and also because he’s an empty, dead-eyed husk of a human being with nothing going for him whatsoever:
http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/national/alt-right-group-encourages-twitter-users-create-fake-black-person-accounts/FhbsNy2abVv5bcs6rY7l5J/
How this effort will be any different from white supremacists normal favorite pastime of ruining things for everyone else remains to be seen.
I flipping love her work! Consistently one of the best on Cracked. CH is who turned me on to Amazon reviews, also.
Democracy Now!, the progressive radio/TV news show, is putting on a shindig for all those who wish to resist fascism. If you’ve got $500 for a ticket and are near DC, you might want to go:
Christina H is amazing. I have choked with laughter over so much of her work over the years.
I’m passing by to wish everyone here a (as much as possible) good new year and to say thank you, specially to you David. I have no words to say how much this community has helped me since I found it, specially the past 20 months or so.
Every time I read a post or a comment helping someone through a problem or shinning new light in this heartless world,it brings me hope and I want you guys to know it. Even if it’s just a for your enjoyment your existence here is a blessing for someone like me and I hope to see/read all of you here next years if you so want it.
Blessings/Good Vibrations/Strength for those who wish any of that
Luckily, this thing exists.
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/219117/we-built-a-bot-that-trolls-twitters-worst-anti-semitic-trolls
If you think you see one of his ‘fake black people’, by all means, be in touch.
Thanks for linking to this essay.
One important thing will be to not let them colonize our minds. While blatant lies and propaganda are one aspect of an authoritarian regime’s assault on independent thinking, more insidious is the process by which propagandists can even get critics to accept and adopt their framing of issues just for the sake of “remaining part of the conversation”, thus neutering critiques. For example, if you ever find your liberal friends worrying about how opposition to the Trump agenda could be seen as an expression of “liberal elitism”, stop them right there and point out that “liberal elitism”, at least as used by right-wingers, is a bullshit concept.
@Podkayne Lives (Soulless Golem)
That bot is beautiful,
now if only it could detect new fake accounts on its own.
@EJ @PeeVee
I think my favorite article by her is the 6 types of internet arguments. Or why cycling is an exercise in humiliation. Ah, good times, shame she hasn’t written much since!