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Transcript

Activism is 💀 · Mechonomist Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Activism is dead.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: And,
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: maybe good riddance,
• 0:04
  but it got taken over by a bunch of really ignorant people who
• 0:13
  screamed down their
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: allies and drove home ideological stuff that...
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: really didn't matter.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was no longer about community.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was about getting famous.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not an effective form of resistance anymore.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: People went to protest to get views on their social media page.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: They went to protest to get famous.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: They went to protest to build their careers.
• 0:51
  in academia and in nonprofits,
• 0:54
  and it just became something that people stopped listening to.
• 0:59
  And I guarantee you that the powers that be do not give a fuck
• 1:02
  about activism anymore.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: It worked for many years.
• 1:07
  It worked in the 60s very well because there was still some
• 1:14
  sense that the powers
• 1:15
  that be cared what people thought and that you could put
• 1:18
  pressure on them to get
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: them to change.
• 1:21
  but they have gotten so powerful and so disconnected from the
• 1:25
  average person that
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: they no longer have to listen to people.
• 1:29
  And people in activism have done their due diligence in
• 1:34
  destroying any ability for
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: activism to be effective.
• 1:38
  And I think it poses a very difficult question in the face of
• 1:43
  rising fascism.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what do we do?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the things is just get to know your neighbors,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: build relationships,
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: have lots of friends.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: It may not be the same type of fascism that it was before.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: It may be fascism in the midst of collapse.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it may be imperative that we learn to take care of each other.
• 2:14
  uh tune out the noise i think i think tuning out the noise is a
• 2:20
  is some good advice
• 2:21
  for this this this day and time if you go to twitter or threads
• 2:27
  not so much
• 2:27
  facebook anymore because facebook is just ads you go to twitter
• 2:32
  or threads it's
• 2:32
  just people screaming at each other and that is not good that
• 2:37
  is not healthy for
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: society for people to just scream at each other constantly
• 2:43
  And people have walled themselves off into ideological and
• 2:47
  racial and gender and
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: whatever else corners.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And people just aren't talking to each other.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason we've gotten in this position,
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: anyway,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: is because people have just stopped listening.
• 3:04
  Liberals don't want to listen to conservatives and
• 3:07
  conservatives don't want to
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: listen to liberals.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's...
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to listen.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: You have to actually get at what is behind the weird views,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: whether it be calling people cishet or whether it be believing that...
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Latinos are rapists and criminals.
• 3:36
  Most of this stuff is just programmed from on high by media
• 3:41
  conglomerates who have
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: so much power over our minds nowadays.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's just fucking scary.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: People watch stuff on TV and just repeat it verbatim.
• 3:51
  And I think turning off the TV and having friends and having
• 3:55
  community and taking
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: care of each other and eating together and having conversations is
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: We'll go a long way, but how do you get people out of their houses?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: some of my friends at Connective Tissue have been working,
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: have been looking at loneliness and men,
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: non-college educated men don't have friends for the most part.
• 4:20
  That's why they're so isolated and they get wrapped up in these
• 4:24
  weird incel MAGA crap.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And...
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But as far as affecting the government,
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: as far as changing the way the state operates,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to do that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I used to think I knew how to do that.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I do not know how to actually change policy in a big way.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I could see...
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: changing local policy.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I could see getting involved locally and being able to change that.
• 5:04
  But I don't see how there's any way to shape what Donald Trump
• 5:11
  or Nancy Pelosi or
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: what any of them do.
• 5:14
  I think they're totally unaccountable and don't have to be
• 5:17
  accountable because they
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: have basically complete hegemony over the United States,
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: which is
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose if the economy collapsed,
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: that would change,
• 5:33
  but I'm not hoping for that because that's going to be even
• 5:35
  worse than it is now.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to somebody the other day and there's,
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: there's,
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: there's some,
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: there's some narrow path for change from the inside at the local level,
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: extending upwards,
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: but that is a narrow path.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 5:55
  And activism is not going to do it because it's been killed by
• 5:58
  activists.
• 6:00
  I like to say that activists are temporarily embarrassed Che
• 6:03
  Guevara's because
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: they're all trying to become heroes and be famous.
• 6:10
  And I see my activist friends who I used to struggle with and
• 6:14
  used to work with,
• 6:15
  and they're still humping the same stuff they've been humping
• 6:18
  for the past 20 years
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: and nothing's changed.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you had 26 million people in the streets.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: For Black Lives Matter,
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: some black people got jobs in higher places,
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: got better jobs,
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: and rest in peace to white people in TV commercials.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: But what substantive actually changed?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not much.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not much.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if 26 million people in the street hasn't changed anything,
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: that avenue for change is foreclosed.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we need to find new ways to,
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: and I don't even know if it's resist.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what resist means,
• 7:01
  but we got to find new ways of being that can't be manipulated
• 7:07
  by the powerful and
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: by media conglomerates and by the algorithms and so on and so forth.
• 7:15
  And I mean,
• 7:16
  I'm saying this on a social media platform that uses
• 7:20
  algorithms.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a pretty good platform, but
• 7:23
  Nonetheless,
• 7:24
  it's still going to manipulate us in some way,
• 7:27
  shape or form.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I pose this question to you.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I pose this question to you.
• 7:37
  What do we do if activism doesn't work and protest doesn't work
• 7:42
  and we can't change
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: policy and we're virtually powerless now?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: What do we do in the face of climate change?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: What do we do in face of increasing wealth inequality?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: What do we do in lack of health care?
• 8:02
  What do we do in the face of all of these things that seem so
• 8:06
  overwhelming?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there's very little we can do about it.
• 8:12
  And it seems like the only power that we have is to be kind to
• 8:16
  others and to have a
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: lot of friends.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that is real power.
• 8:20
  I'm willing to entertain any thoughts on this from the seven
• 8:25
  people watching my video.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Any thoughts?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right, y'all.
• 8:54
  This was kind of a dumb video,
• 8:55
  but I figured I'd share it with you because it was on my mind.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll see y'all next time.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, y'all.