Things that Frequent my Brain

“My name is Aaron Bushnell. I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal. Free Palestine.”

—Aaron Bushnell

“The act of an American soldier sacrificing himself for Palestine is the highest sacrifice […] a poignant message to the American administration to stop its involvement in the aggression.”

and also recognize that voting for Democrats is extremely important because it allows things like the confirmation of Justices and prevents the literal fascist party from gaining more power and that harm reduction is an important end in itself

These things can coexist

I'm not one to put lipstick on a pig. Wil, and others, can you say these two sentences in one breath with a straight face?

I endorse a certain amount of immigrants, deviants and foreigners dying in order that my safety and way of life shall be maintained, up to and including a genocide.

I am anti-fascist.

Do not mistake me, I am not trying to tell you how to vote. I'm saying if you need to turn off your critical thinking skills and redefine fascism to this extent in order to justify your vote and ask other people for theirs, we have a problem. You will ignore this problem at your peril in the coming months.

Can you reach this conclusion without a situational redefinition of fascism that would have you voting for literal Hitler over Trump if he came back to life and ran as a Dem? Or, I mean, Trump over Hitler, depending on how you want to define the "lesser evil" there. There is a point at which "lesser evil" becomes academic. If this isn't it - and I'm not telling you it has to be! please try not to shut down your brain out of fear! - where do you draw the line? If you are going to stand against fascism there needs to be a line!

People who want to do fascism somewhat less are not your imperfect allies. They are also fascists. I know this information is in your brains, why are you ignoring it on purpose? How? And do you really expect everyone else to do that?

I am a real human being who fled the USA to get away from concentration camps for tots. I voted Biden. I'm not willing to do it again. He lost me. Am I your imperfect ally? Or are you hovering over your keyboard right now thinking I'm a fascist, and the guy fighting hard to drop more bombs on Gaza and kill more immigrants and asylum-seekers isn't?

I believe in imperfection. I believe in harm reduction. DEEPLY! But I am honestly telling you, I do not know which of these old men will kill fewer people as President. Not even marginalized people. Just plain people. I thought it was Biden in 2020 - he sure showed me! And people like this are going out of their way to let me know they might stand up and push back against Trump, but if it's Biden again... ehhhh, lesser of two evils, right? Give the man some points for trying!

No. If it causes more people to roll over and go back to sleep and just let it happen, no, that is not the lesser evil. You do not get points for trying not to be fascist. I have sympathy for a disenfranchised voter who's pushing back as best they can, not for the fucking President of the United States! There is a point at which you must be willing to say, "This person (whoever they are!) is either not trying their best in a bad situation, or their goals do not align with mine."

What we do from here is to use the upcoming vote to produce the least fascist governments we can manage for the time being. We continue protest actions to make it known that we have a problem with the situation. We work hard at progressively more local levels to produce better systems.

But the only thing that has ever made a political party in the United States change is significant voter flight. Voters choosing to let the worse party take over for a bit to disenfranchise the enabling party and establish footholds with a new party.

An example of this is the Whig party. Which are essentially the democrats today-they desperately tried to hold onto the balance and play ball and reach across the isle, and people got sick of their enabling slavery and its expansion. Yes the years before the republicans were able to gain ground saw further advancements and appeasement of slavery, but without showing it wasn’t possible to maintain power/keep their seats, the Whig party wouldn’t have changed/dissolved.

(You can even look at the current Republican Party as an example of how they had to change in order to win because they couldn’t get enough support)

Trust me I know the political landscape isn’t the same today and political funding is so skewed and dictated by corporations and private interests.

But the fact of the matter is, the lesser of 2 evils is how we are here and stay here. It’s how we lost roe and other protections. It’s why we have the boarder crisis and mistreatment, it’s why we’re appeasing/helping Isr*el. All. Of. It.

If there is no impetus to change, they won’t.

There are some democrats that have responded to the demands of the people and are actually trying, but the old guard is holding us back from positive change.

No one with empathy or a proper grasp of economics/history wants trump. But the power the democrats need most is in the house and senate.

I have seen my rights go away and religious bias seep into politics all while democrats held power/the majority. They had plenty of time and opportunity to codify roe and didn’t. They had opportunities to do so much and haven’t.

I don’t think we’re at the election yet that it will be effective to take a stand across the board, Especially because the cost of the alternative is so steep.

(My vote in Texas essentially doesn’t count for president, so I have the privilege of protest voting against Biden.)

But we as a collective, will have to reconcile how much we are willing to appease, how many miles we are willing to concede just because it’s not quite as bad.

Just because one person tightens the shackles less than another, doesn’t mean you’re not still in chains.

Just because one person is less fascist doesn’t mean they aren’t still a fascist.

Yes keep being loud, keep protesting and boycotting (especially boycotting!), keep calling your representatives. The rights and laws we have in this country were not established through appeasement.

but I am also super annoyed by the way it's framed as "without light pollution you can see how beautiful the night sky is" way more prominently than it's framed as "hey, did you ever stop to think of how much energy/resources/money are literally wasted by having so much light shine up into the sky?"

Northern Cardinal, 4/10

I'm sometimes worried the male is sexually harassing the female but I'm pretty sure they're just doing some elaborate public pickup roleplay. The rest of us didn't agree to participate in your kink, guys.

American Robin, 1/10

Literally just some dude hanging out. Never bothered anyone but worms. Big fan of the way you just stand there in the middle of the grass like you forgot what you were supposed to be doing.

House Sparrow, 10/10

You're a gang. You're participating in gang violence. There's ten billion of you living in a single wood pile and it's been civil war for three years now. When will the bloodshed end?

Tufted Titmouse, 1/10

A shy baby. A pretty little guy. I saw you on the neighbor's garage roof and time stopped. There were anime sparkles around you. Come back.

European Starling, 9/10

Why is it always you? Listen, I know, I KNOW the sparrows are the problem, and YET. When the fighting starts, it's always you in the middle of it, provoking them and then screaming like you're an innocent bystander defending yourself. I'm onto you.

Carolina Wren, 3/10

This rating is not for physical violence, which you don't engage in, but for your role as an incurable narc. A tattle tale. I know they're fighting again, okay? I see it. Our yard has been a warzone for years, you don't have to make a big announcement every time someone misbehaves.

Eastern Wood-Peewee, 0/10

If this were "birds who think they're better than everyone else," you'd get 10/10.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, 6/10

It's a utility pole. It's not a tree. You're surrounded by trees that are full of bugs. But there you are, on the utility pole. Committing vandalism.

American Crow, unrated

For who am I to cast judgment on the actions of La Famiglia? I assume you are doing what is best for the neighborhood. If I could, though, without criticism, make a single observation. That when large numbers of you gather in the ominous dead cottonwood - no? No, you're right. None of my business.

Great Crested Flycatcher, 5/10

Frankly, I think you could be doing more. I think your name implies a great potential. I think you should massacre the insects. I think your beak should drip with viscera.

Common Grackle, 7/10

La Famiglia does not suffer you to stop in our neighborhood long, and I trust their judgement in this manner. You have the look of a guilty bird.

Tennessee Warbler, 2/10

You keep to yourselves, and I respect that. I get the sense that you could defend yourselves if it came to it, though.

Brown-Headed Cowbird, 3/10

You're not a crow, and eventually they ARE going to figure it out, kiddo.

Gray Catbird, 5/10

Would you. Respectfully. Would you shut the FUCK UP.

Eurasian Collared-Dove, 0/10

You're doing great, sweetie, everyone loves you.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch, 4/10

A comedian. A little jester of a bird. You're so silly. Sure sometimes you incite violence in others but, really, is that your fault? If it is, we forgive you.

Blue Jay, 12/10

If you could learn any human behavior you wanted, it would be how to build a bomb.

Honorable mention:

Turkey Vulture, 5/10