Electoral Politics Online isn't Helping My Soul

Electoral season always induces a level of nervousness in me. I live in Florida, a Republican-controlled state after making some (in retrospect) silly choices. I considered for some time "escaping" but that didn't align with my values. Instead, it's had me dig my heels in and work in some capacity with local groups. You might have seen some imagery I've shared online of such action. However, whenever I go online and enter my bubble of social media, I find myself getting lost. I get confused on the ease of backpedalling I see folks who use the word "progressive" but end up endorsing (even praising) the idea of reformist reform, a behavior where change is advocated that exists in a watered-down position. You can see this from the abolitionist stance of policing, prisons and jails, a lofty but not impossible goal, get picked up by progressive folks and stretched into the notion of "police-appointed community oversight", a system that even these endorsers don't seem to engage with themselves. It makes me frustrated and confused because I see these same narrative wielders then go to praise folks in the past whose stances were against these points. Question marks float all around my mind. It's also making me so spiteful, each time I choose to scroll a feed of contradictions.

This becomes my need to disengage. My means to supplant this when I'm choosing to use the Web will be focusing on reading material that aligns and supports the stances that push people closer to liberation. I'm realizing that I'm contributing more energy and air to the things that I don't want to see offline: detraction from the point, negativity that takes up the space that could be used to share back from productive sessions of organizing and working to tie more community. I don't think that this means my kind of material will change; in fact, this gives me more reason to work through some reads I've been eager to get to on topics around abolition, Black history and techno-feudalism.

What sparked this was partly seeing the new vice president nomination made by presidential nominee-by-way-of-secession Kamala Harris. I think that, ironically as someone who didn't care too much for Sanders as a presidential candidate; his work in the Senate and in Vermont are things that need to be modeled in more parts of the country, like enabling more workers' rights for autonomy in the workspace; reducing the power of private corporations, a nudge to bringing a sense of actual democracy to this country. Again, I seem to ask for way too much. However, Sanders did endorse Waltz recently in Minneapolis; something I wasn't expecting given that he wasn't too vocal about supporting Harris. When it comes to it, I'm not of the mind that electoral politics lead to change for the people. As it's been documented, change occurs at this level through the transfer of capital and its interest. If Harris posed a threat to the ruling class and their endorsers, she wouldn't be up for the seat; point blank. Harris has already mentioned that she'll be more strict than Trump at the borders; which doesn't bode well for the people who are already searching for a haven due to the aftershocks of American imperialism. What's routinely ignored on the ballots are the impacts of this country on the rest of the world; not just in someone's HOA or car-free city. I have found that there's no point trying to talk about this online; as social media in mixed company has become more about cliques and bantering than building community; if you're lucky, you'll find one. If not, you'll be the main character of the timeline.

So this is a bit of a public recommitment notice. To myself, to remember what month it is, to remember what it is that I'm aiming for and why, and to remember that the people are not my enemy; the system that maintains, endorses and profits from oppression is. As Hayes mentions in said piece,

We live in an era of reality TV politics filled with DIY controversies. Any of us can generate a social media debacle that observers will waste hours on – how democratic! The press, politicians, and our education system all reinforce the idea that our electoral choices are the sum total of our political lives. This misperception leads people to feel righteous in their electoral obsessions and has convinced many that sharing memes and yelling at each other about elections not only amounts to political action but also constitutes a meaningful political life. However, politics dictate the conditions that inform our lives each and every day, so our engagement with politics – the work of shaping those conditions – must be ongoing. We must not allow the electoral circus we’re experiencing to reshape our ideas about what is possible.

We need to be more conscious about how we choose to let this theatre adjust what it is we claim to be fighting for, to be endorsing. Until we can get to a place where we can smash imperialism and liberate everyone, I'm going to keep myself focused on that.