{
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  "canonicalUrl": "https://www.jacky.wtf//essays/2024/politics-soul",
  "description": "A want to regulate my expectations and a need for grounding.\n",
  "path": "/essays/2024/politics-soul",
  "publishedAt": "2024-08-06T22:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:e2ctbutx6kya6si4if5ngjmm/site.standard.publication/3mniussyp2d2g",
  "tags": "essay",
  "textContent": "Electoral season always induces a level of nervousness in me. I live in Florida, a Republican-controlled state after\nmaking some (in retrospect) silly choices. I considered for some time \"escaping\" but that didn't align with my\nvalues. Instead, it's had me dig my heels in and work in some capacity with local groups. You might have seen some\nimagery I've shared online of such action. However, whenever I go online and enter my bubble of social media, I find\nmyself getting lost. I get confused on the ease of backpedalling I see folks who use the word \"progressive\" but end up\nendorsing (even _praising_) the idea of reformist reform, a behavior where change is advocated that exists in a\nwatered-down position. You can see this from the abolitionist stance of policing, prisons and jails, a lofty but not\nimpossible goal, get picked up by progressive folks and stretched into the notion of \"police-appointed community\noversight\", a system that even these endorsers don't seem to engage with themselves. It makes me frustrated and confused\nbecause I see these _same narrative wielders_ then go to praise folks in the past whose stances were _against_ these\npoints. Question marks float all around my mind. It's also making me so spiteful, each time I choose to scroll a feed of\ncontradictions.\n\nThis becomes my need to disengage. My means to supplant this when I'm choosing to use the Web will be focusing on\nreading material that aligns and supports the stances that push people closer to liberation. I'm realizing that I'm\ncontributing more energy and air to the things that I _don't want to see offline_: detraction from the point, negativity\nthat takes up the space that could be used to share back from productive sessions of organizing and working to tie more\ncommunity. I don't think that this means my kind of material will change; in fact, this gives me _more_ reason to work\nthrough some reads I've been eager to get to on topics around abolition, Black history and techno-feudalism.\n\nWhat sparked this was partly seeing the new vice president nomination made by presidential nominee-by-way-of-secession\nKamala Harris. I think that, ironically as someone who didn't care _too_ much for Sanders as a presidential candidate;\nhis work in the Senate and in Vermont are things that _need_ to be modeled in more parts of the country, like enabling\nmore workers' rights for autonomy in the workspace; reducing the power of private corporations, a nudge to bringing a\nsense of actual democracy to this country. Again, I seem to ask for way too much. However, [Sanders did _endorse_ Waltz\nrecently in Minneapolis][1]; something I wasn't expecting given that he wasn't too vocal about supporting Harris. When\nit comes to it, I'm not of the mind that electoral politics lead to change for the people. As it's been documented,\nchange occurs at this level through the transfer of capital and its interest. If Harris posed a threat to the ruling\nclass and their endorsers, she wouldn't be up for the seat; point blank. Harris has already mentioned that [she'll be\n_more strict_ than Trump at the borders][2]; which doesn't bode well for the people who are already searching for a\nhaven due to the aftershocks of American imperialism. What's routinely ignored on the ballots are the impacts of this\ncountry on the _rest of the world_; not just in someone's HOA or car-free city. I have found that there's no point\ntrying to talk about this online; as [social media in mixed company has become more about cliques and bantering than\nbuilding community][3]; if you're lucky, you'll find one. If not, you'll be the main character of the timeline.\n\nSo this is a bit of a public recommitment notice. To myself, to remember what month it is, to remember what it is that\nI'm aiming for and why, and [to remember that the people are not my enemy][4]; the system that maintains, endorses and profits\nfrom oppression is. As Hayes mentions in said piece,\n\n> We live in an era of reality TV politics filled with DIY controversies. Any of us can generate a social media debacle\n> that observers will waste hours on – how democratic! The press, politicians, and our education system all reinforce\n> the idea that our electoral choices are the sum total of our political lives. This misperception leads people to feel\n> righteous in their electoral obsessions and has convinced many that sharing memes and yelling at each other about\n> elections not only amounts to political action but also constitutes a meaningful political life. However, politics\n> dictate the conditions that inform our lives each and every day, so our engagement with politics – the work of shaping\n> those conditions – must be ongoing. We must not allow the electoral circus we’re experiencing to reshape our ideas\n> about what is possible.\n\nWe need to be more conscious about how we choose to let this theatre adjust what it is we claim to be fighting for, to\nbe endorsing. Until we can get to a place where we can smash imperialism and liberate everyone, I'm going to\nkeep myself focused on that.\n\n[1]: https://truthout.org/articles/sanders-pushes-for-gov-tim-walz-as-vp-pick-ahead-of-minneapolis-rally/\n[2]: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/30/nx-s1-5055670/harris-trump-border-immigration-georgia\n[3]: /essays/2024/what-do-i-gain/\n[4]: https://organizingmythoughts.org/remembering-who-we-are-to-each-other/",
  "title": "Electoral Politics Online isn't Helping My Soul"
}