I don’t know why I’m posting this. Maybe I’m hoping for some epiphany or for someone to point to a way out I’ve missed though I’m certain that’s not going to happen.
I’m watching the Nazis rise again in my country. I never supported them. Not now, not in earlier incarnations that lead to this. They rose anyway.
I got out of homelessness. I got a college education, though admittedly not in anything useful. I’ve never committed a crime aside from speeding. I’ve always played by the rules, even when they were unfair to me. I believed we had to cooperate with eachother, debate, struggle along to arrive at something more honest, a compromise that would better serve more people in the long run. But that only works if both sides are playing the same game by the same rules. The Nazis aren’t. I bettered myself as best I could. They didn’t. And they are winning.
I know what’s coming next. I understand that great violence is coming. I fear I will not survive. I fear my friends will not survive. My siblings and nieces and nephews will not survive, or worse, the young will grow up in such chaos that it becomes normal to them to operate that way. That safety and respect become nothing more than stories from a primitive culture that existed long ago.
I’m gay. Im liberal. I’m an atheist. I’m outspoken. I’m poor. I’m honest. These are traits that are not desirable in the new country forming around me and they will be punished.
I’m not changing myself to make Nazis comfortable. They are just going to have to kill me. And they will.
Recently a friend was concerned about me and invited me out with others. We were out at a gay bar. A petition was going around gathering signatures to fight Ohio’s plans to reinstate a ban on gay marriage. They won’t stop there. I know they want us removed. And they have many ways of erasing me quite effectively. It ruined the evening seeing another loosing game being played. Ohio didn’t listen to its voters before, and America sure as hell won’t let them start now. I’m watching these people play the game as if they are setting things up for a victory tomorrow. People are already being disappeared. These people won’t be around to fight this tomorrow.
I signed the petition anyway. I might be wrong. Maybe this little bit will help if I am wrong. But I also felt that by increasing my visibility even this much, I’m increasing my risk. It is foolish to expect my state or country to handle opposition respectfully. But compliance with the regime just makes it more difficult for those strong and brave enough to fight back so on behalf of them, I signed my death certificate. I won’t likely win, but I won’t make it easy for them to silence me either.
When I lost my last job I lost health care and lost my psych meds and treatment. I went through withdrawal while working a retail job that wasn’t actually paying the bills but I had to keep trying. Now I have a better job and health coverage again but I cannot afford to go back on medication. RFK has already stated what he plans to do to people receiving psych medications. If he simply takes those meds away, I’ll go through withdrawal again and will likely lost my job as I’ll be unable to function while my neurochemistry readjusts. I literally can’t take the risk to better myself. My family and friends have noticed. They are worried. I can’t even see a therapist because I can’t afford one. Besides, the Trump regime has expressed opinions on enslaving people for that too.
I got a small windfall from this years tax return. I spent it all immediately on little tech project distractions for myself. I use them as puzzles to put my focus into. I dare not hold onto enough money to buy a gun while in this state.
I cannot survive like this much longer. If my country doesn’t kill me, I might do it myself just to get away.
I can’t afford to immigrate to another country. I have no money. I have no unique and in-demand skills. I only speak one language. And I’m an American in 2025. No one would want me in their country anyway and I can’t say I’d blame them for that.
I can’t keep stalling. I don’t know what to do next but doing nothing will most certainly lead to my demise.
Please don’t throw your life away by resisting fascism too hard. Don’t do anything to make them target you. Choose nonviolence so you can stay alive.
Non violence requires empathy in your opponent to be effective. It won’t work here.
Everyone have different roles. The truck drivers who transported ammunition during the fight against nazis is just as important as the soldiers on the front line.
As I said in my other comment, this era has one of the best tools. Cameras. Record protests and share videos so there is evidence of popular resentment against the regime, and also proves any acts of police brutality. Information can sway the “court of public opinion”. Use social media to counter corporate propaganda.
Social media is not your friend. It is a propaganda machine. Once the rich notice Lemmy they will fuck it up for everyone here too.
Do what you can to help, but it’s more important for you to take care of yourself. The rebellion will continue even if you aren’t on the front lines. Every soldier deserves a rest.
I’m hardly a soldier. I haven’t even attended a protest before. I live in Ohio where that sort of thing doesn’t actually matter. In Ohio, republicans gerrymandered the state, ignore the courts, and ignore the voters. Protests are just a political inconvenience to them but since no republicans have been killed over it yet, it doesn’t actually matter.
I am a liberal. I want fairness and growth. I want responsibility. That even if it means the republicans have to die to get that done I want it. But I can’t bring myself to harm any of them. And they know people like me won’t do that. And they don’t take us seriously because we are not a threat to them.
Basically there’s nothing I can do here unless I’m willing to become another Luigi.
Doing a Luigi and going to prison for life would be the same as committing suicide. Don’t commit suicide.
This is true but there’s a greater good at play here. Can you imagine what would happen if many people did that? We still outnumber the Nazis. We just have to be willing to kill them. We would end up dead too but those left behind would have better lives.
I’m just not willing to do such a thing. And that’s a problem.
It’s never okay to commit suicide, even to prevent fascism. You shouldn’t tell people it’s okay either, don’t you care about your fellow Lemmy users?
What make lemmy users more important than non-Lemmy users? My point is if we all rise us and started purging Nazis, things would rapidly change for the better. At least for those left behind it would. But if we do nothing, we are going to the gas chamber anyway.
What if a suicidal person is browsing Lemmy and takes your words to heart?
Tbf, they are disappearing nonviolent protestors and cutting off aid even to their own supporters.