Fandom Problem #14,440:

Credit to @perfectlyvalid49

Ive been deep in cyberpunk and I love when you go on the reddit and people are role playing and being like "my v takes no prisoners and if paid will kill anyone"

And im gunna join in here goes :

This is my V, she will take any mission possible because she can barely drive and keeps smashing her cars up and has to pay the insurance fee almost every time. She will take stealth missions but if caught is so fucken giga cringed out that that she has to kill everyone in the room so no one can say anything.

in this mindset, the only useful thing i could do was die. i didn't want to. i wasn't generally suicidal (although i do consider this mindset a form of... abstract suicidal thought). but i believed my life was the only meaningful thing i had to offer.

now i'm a member of a community who values me and values my contributions even if i can't contribute as much as i'd like -- a community that emphasizes that every single good deed matters, every compassionate act changes the world. a community where just showing up is enough.

now i know that i can change so much more while i'm alive than i'd ever be able to as a corpse on a battlefield. i know that if i keep showing up, i will find or someone will show me a way to make a difference. i know that i am valued as more than a hypothetical martyr in some grand final battle. i know that i am missed when i'm gone. i know that the actual work is done by regular people with a goal in mind, and i know that that work is unglamorous. i know the unglamorous work is often the most meaningful and the most fulfilling.

the "revolution or nothing" mindset is rendering my generation hopeless. a very loud portion of gen z now believes the only contribution they have to offer is their life. this belief effectively nullifies a person's capacity to create meaningful change; any action they could take while alive is not worthwhile because it won't fix the world's myriad problems in one fell swoop -- better to burn it all down and yourself with it.

i am not blaming the people who are in this place. it's a terrifying, dark place to be in, and when you're there it really does feel like it's the only thing that exists. this is the place where people kill themselves.

i think, though, that this phenomenon, scaled up to apply to politics and activism, undergirds so much of what we see from the left now -- the world is dark and terrifying, and in the 24-hour news cycle, social media doomscrolling era we live in it's so so easy to only see the bad, and when you surround yourself with other scared, overwhelmed people, it can form a sort of 2014-tumblr-depression-tag echo chamber where that hopelessness is glorified and lauded and propped up as Correct And Enlightened.

In 2022, during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, I saw how brutally they were blindly shooting and beating people. These images come back to me even when I’m trying to do my daily tasks.

Some major updates from people in Iran and leaks:

While the official number of deaths is stated to be between 2,000-3,000, people estimate that the actual number of deaths is estimated to be at least 12,000. Videos show bodies all over the streets and body bags just lying on the ground.

Doctors are reporting being overwhelmed by the casualties.

The regime is trying to arrest injured protesters in the hospital.

The regime is charging money to return the bodies of murdered protesters to their families. (This practice is already disgusting, but imagine charging money at their rates in Iran's current economic status when people can barely afford bread.)

People are reporting that people from the regime's affiliates and proxy groups in the region have already been brought in to help with the suppression.

Messages being sent from Iran are saying that curfews are being enforced and that the regime's forces, including these proxies, are shooting indiscriminately at will.

Executions will really start tomorrow.

The regime is doing whatever it can to cut off people from the world. It's very difficult for people to contact family in Iran. There is still an internet blackout.

Despite this, there is still some footage coming out that people are still willing to risk it all and fight.

This is a humanitarian crisis. The people of Iran need your support more than ever. Amplify their voices, and don't let the regime get away with its crimes in darkness. Hold your governments and media to account to make sure that they support the people of Iran and not support the regime.