@hex@kolektiva.social2026-02-25 06:06:41
This is as good a time as any for a thought experiment.
You're in Nazi Germany. You know about the camps, you know what they do, you see the ash fall, you smell it. People who resist alone are killed, some are sent to the camps too. You're afraid to even talk to people about it for fear that they'll turn you in.
You think back to when the camps were being built. You had all the warning signs, but you didn't know how to interpret them. You could believe it would happen. You thought you'd have a chance to vote him out. You thought there might be another way. You thought maybe things would turn out differently if you just sat tight, kept your head down, kept yourself safe.
You see a family being dragged from their home. You know they will be killed. You want to fight, not just for them but for yourself. You opposed Hitler, and at any point you know you could be on the list... Even if you do nothing.
You wish you could rise up, shoot the SS, open the gates, fight it all. You know you aren't alone, but you don't know how to connect with the people who want the same thing.
Using the knowledge we have now, what should you have done in the preceding months and years to connect, to build a community that would open up all paths of resistance?
There were people who resisted. We know it wasn't enough.
Gun laws in Nazi Germany were very similar to US laws in that Nazis were largely free to own guns and everyone else was not. Unlike the US, where "others" have historically controlled using the fear that they might be randomly executed, Germany did codify it. Red flag laws were one more step in the US towards that codification, and there will be more.
When Nazis were taking away those guns, the social networks didn't exist to make resistance possible for most folks. But some Jews were able to resist.
It wasn't the guns that made the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising possible, though they definitely helped. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was made possible by labor organizing in the precessing years.
If there were more uprisings like that, the Holocaust could have been stopped if not prevented. Social networks make resistance possible. Guns are only useful tools to resist authoritarianism *after* you build a community able to support that resistance, and they are only one of many tools made useful by that community.
Getting guns is easy, and not always necessary. Building community is hard. Guns won't keep you safe. Community will.
Single acts of resistance may slow the machine down, but to actually bring down a monster you need to be able to attack more than once. You need a society of resistance. If you are afraid now, build that. Talk to people while it's still safe to do so. Ask them where their red line is. Talk to neighbors. Figure out your network.
Take the steps you need now to keep your neighbors safe, to keep yourself safe.
#USPol
@wvmierlo@zirk.us2026-02-24 11:52:00
Just spreading the word about our great MA in Contemporary Literature and Culture at Loughborough University. As it happens, I met with our wonderful students this morning to talk about the current state of the literary market and the diversity deficit in publishing on an amazing module called 'The Market, Literary Prizes and Canon Formation'.
@wvmierlo@zirk.us2026-02-25 11:18:17
Just spreading the word about our great MA in Contemporary Literature and Culture at Loughborough University. As it happens, I met with our wonderful students this morning to talk about the current state of the literary market and the diversity deficit in publishing on an amazing module called 'The Market, Literary Prizes and Canon Formation'.
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot2026-02-06 10:21:36
“Everybody is so fed up with #Labour’s only strategy being ‘vote Labour to keep the Tories out’, and now it’s ‘vote Labour to keep Reform out’,” Spencer tells me. “It’s like: how about you actually just do something to make people vote for you?” -- #Green party candidate Hannah Spencer in the Gorton and De…
@debellum@ludosphere.fr2026-03-22 10:39:07
Fin de chantier des Miroirs des Terres Médianes - Rêve de Dragon - Scriptarium
Voila c'est disponible en boutique !!!
https://scriptarium.org/potinier/rdd/fin-de-chantier-des-miroirs-des-terres-médianes-r388/
@Mediagazer@mstdn.social2026-01-29 09:10:59
Q&A with SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin about streaming consolidation, AI, residuals, upcoming labor negotiations, and more (Katie Campione/Deadline)
https://deadline.com/2026/01/sag-aftra-sean-astin-interview-2026-labor-talks-amptp-12366987…
@hansaplast42@social.wastedalpaca.wtf2026-01-20 18:50:04
Would be nice if someone familiar with @… apps sets up a tar pit solution to protect hosted applications like mastodon
https://tldr.nettime.org/@asrg/1138674
@markhburton@mstdn.social2026-03-01 09:13:01
Sadiq Khan - Labour must stop imitating 'Reform'.
"In all my mayoral elections in London, I asked potential Green supporters to lend me their vote so that we could deliver progressive policies to build a fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London for everyone. Many did, but it only worked because people believed we would walk the walk, not just talk the talk."
/Cont'd.
@krone@frawas.de2026-01-16 08:18:22
Starkoch verrät: - „Ich habe bei euch ein tolles Schnitzel gegessen“ #News #Nachrichten
@Mediagazer@mstdn.social2026-02-10 04:15:43
SAG-AFTRA contract negotiations with Hollywood begin for actors; the 2023 post-strike deals are set to expire on May 1 for writers and June 30 for actors (John Koblin/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/business/media/hollywood-ac…
