Septimaeus

I understand the terror of watching this unfold from the outside, if only because many people I love on the inside are facing these new horrors directly. Some wouldn’t even call it new, just a more explicit and sweeping abandonment of our crumbling democratic sociopolitical facade.

Things don’t work that way.

But they do. When it comes to collective action, especially when so many are effectively kept in the dark, revolutions progress slowly then all at once. For example the French Revolution didn’t attain critical mass with the general populace until the treasury was literally empty and the government couldn’t pay its bills. Even then it took many bloody years to stabilize into its modern liberal democratic form.

By comparison, the intent of this new regime, while obvious to anyone paying attention, has only been truly manifest for a few breathless weeks. Though it takes time for the light to break through all the disinformation bubbles and dawn on the general populace, it is finally happening.

I too want it to happen more quickly, and feel every bit of urgency you do, but the truth is it takes people like you and me working together to mobilize others, because this is just one expression of a global crisis, with global roots, that can only be solved with global collective action. Blaming the oppressed and deceived people of democracies that fall is understandable, since everyone thinks “that couldn’t happen here” while it certainly can and has been for years. It’s self-defeating, however, because we can only win this fight together.

Truly iconic!

I mean, we’re not talking about mutually exclusive properties.

Whether a paper is more or less dry and whether it’s more or less accessible to newcomers is separate from the quality of the contribution.

You can have both.

OMG the perfect reference!

For those interested, there’s an episode of Star Trek the plot of which revolves around an extreme example of this style of high context communication.

Edit: since we’re in the weeds below, let me rephrase. It’s OK for science to be fun. In fact it tends to encourage more and better science. This particular technique is quite old, and trends ebb and flow, but how you go about making science fun is up to you.

If you aren’t having fun in your work, or you aren’t having fun with other scientists, and especially if levity or personality detected in other scientists’ work really annoys you, maybe ask yourself where that feeling is coming from, because the only science being hindered is your own.

I think they’re referring to the implicit exclusion, since it amounts to an “inside joke” which lends to cliquish social dynamics. Gatekeeping proper usually connotes more intentional and targeted action, but I think that’s what they mean. Personally I try to be more selective than I once was, when using references in groups, for that very reason.

I hear you, and I agree there’s a lot more that needs to be done. I can say with some confidence that the average American doesn’t want any of this in the slightest, even if the average American isn’t as politically engaged as they need to be to truly understand the global implications.

The truth is that the average American is mostly thinking about immediate problems in their own life, like how to pay both their rent and their phone bill and still afford gas to get to the grocery store where many staples are increasingly expensive.

Even something as important as voting or protesting can feel like a privilege for the well-off when it’s the choice between that and working a shift to pay bills, and of course voting has been made deliberately difficult in most states. Voter registration isn’t automatic, for example. Likewise Election Day isn’t a National Holiday, so many people have to take off work if they don’t plan ahead to register, apply to vote absentee and meet deadlines for ballot mail-in.

Basically I’m just trying to encourage you to remember your neighbors are normal people who actually do value being good neighbors. They are oppressed and deceived, however, and a small portion of them are straight up brainwashed by a cult.

I hope, trust, and believe that when the chips fall, people in this country will answer the call to fight the global oppressors for themselves and others, because deep down they know that we’re all in this together. First they must lift their heads and see, a difficult process which I think has finally begun.

Ah right! Been a little while but I remember. Thank you

I don’t often see this stance taken on here — where victim blaming might be seen by many internationally as “punching up” due to former US hegemony — but I agree.

It’s not only more technically accurate, it’s more useful knowledge in terms of what actions must next be taken, because anyone from any country who thinks this phenomenon is purely American is in for a rude awakening.

The crisis and its roots are global. The solution must likewise be global. I just hope history shows that Americans pulled their weight in the coming global struggle that has only just begun.

Me too. Uh oh.

Lol “please please tread on me”

Wasn’t the Gadsden flag anti-colonialist originally? Or is there a deeper history here I’m unaware of, like that it was only championed by wealthy slave-owners?

I assume you’re not referring to the fact that systemic oppression coexisted (which included slavery and genocide) since by that measure no liberationist symbol in history would survive.