it's not a goddamn riot

Today’s podcast reminds us that stories are important. How you describe a thing influences how people view a thing. Right now, we’ve got a lying liar who lies squatting in the oval office and foaming at the mouth to claim that concerned neighbors protesting the abduction, torture, and trafficking of their neighbors is somehow “a riot.” He’s saying it in Los Angeles, in spite of the sheriff’s department, the LAPD, the mayor, and the governor saying protests are peaceful.

Donald Trump is breaking the law and insulting the honor of our armed forces by sending them in to terrify our neighbors for exercising their first amendment rights.

By repeating the lie that what’s happening in LA is a “riot,” you do Trump’s fascist bidding for him. You escalate fascism by framing your neighbors civil rights as inherently threatening— which is absolute shit because Donald Trump and his jackboots are the ones terrorizing our communities.

Donald Trump is doing this shit because he doesn’t want you to focus on the fact that he’s in the Epstein files and that his buddy Elon helped him steal the election. That’s why he’s doing this. Please, for the love of carrot sticks and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, stop repeating this bastard’s talking points.

A central element of our resistance needs to be reclaiming our linguistic sovereignty. Don’t repeat shit just because people in power are saying it; a lot of people in power got there precisely because they don’t have your best interests in mind. That’s why independent thought, diverse reading practices, critical inquiry, and authentic storytelling are so important.

If you wanna listen to the pod, I talk more about this at length, but if you take nothing else from this podcast episode blurb it’s this advice:

Say the opposite of whatever the regime says. Don’t even repeat the propaganda to deny it. Don’t use his language at all. Rehumanize the people and places he is trying so desperately to dehumanize.