People are suffering from several massively terrifying things all at once:

1. gaslighting on a mass scale via massive misinformation campaigns, dearth of accurate data makes it VERY difficult to discern truth from fiction.

2. Climate change worsening conditions for life (increasing likelihood of more pandemics atop our current one too)

3. Pandemic is still ongoing, but acknowledging it means dealing with 1 and 2 and the reality of what that means. There is a lot of grief tied up in this as well.

4. Trauma from living in a genocidal fascist state (white supremacist capitalist colonialist patriarchal state is pushing for full on genocide starting with our most vulnerable — disabled folks and/or trans folks and Jewish folks, which is who the Nazis in the 30s targeted first. Which by the way Nazi ideology arose after the Spanish flu swept through populations in a similarly terrifying way that Covid has been for us. Recall that some of the first book burnings was the Institute of Sex Research that cared for the health of trans people, and carried so much literature on trans people and queer folks. History may not repeat itself, but it certainly does rhyme).

5. Temptation to do whatever those in authority proclaim because it means less thought, less dealing with the heavy emotions of 1 through 4, and recognizing that they are vulnerable and could easily die and/or become disabled by the pandemic or some other trauma from the state. And most folks aren't ready to deal with this. They'd rather die by distraction, lies, and perpetuate gaslighting than face reality.

Why do you think so many went along with Nazism in the 1930s? Why do you think people turned a blind eye to the horrors done to the Black community again and again? Why do you think people refused to acknowledge AIDS? Acknowledging reality means acknowledging the ways in which we may have been complicit.

None of us can claim we are entirely separate from the systems that harm us, and thus by participating in them – even though most of us have no choice – we must face the fact that our participation upholds that horror. People want to view themselves as only good and so facing this morally complex situation often pushes people to not deal with it.

Yet, when disasters strike, people tend toward mutual aid and helping people. People have a tendency toward working together, but at the same time, there's a caveat to this rule. When the pandemic first started in 2020, people were roaring forward with mutual aid projects, assisting one another, and using pandemic mitigations.

But the pandemic isn't a one-time thing. It's not like a hurricane or a tornado, where we help one another and then rebuild. Those are a visible rebuilding – people can see progress. Thus it is often easier for people to aid what they see as visible progress toward goals.

Pandemics aren't visible like that. It's a long-term, erosion of life. It is hidden and hard to see. It isn't fully visible. There isn't a lot people can do other than pandemic mitigations, which are being increasingly villianized, and people want to be seen as part of an in-group. They don't want to be otherized in a time where being the 'other' will likely mean being harmed or killed. And a lot of people fail to deal with it, so they fall into 5 – temptation to give in and do what authority tells them.

Lack of ego death also plays into all of this. It is our ego that can blind us to the suffering of others and to connecting with others, where we may think of ourselves as special, where the calamity/situation/trauma can't and won't happen to us. Except, this mode of individualistic thinking is false. All of us are vulnerable and susceptible to calamities and bad things. Ultimately, we are all vulnerable people, and on a grand scale there is no meaningful difference between us.

This realization can lead people either toward apathy and despair, where they they may feel as if nothing matters and thus there is no point to trying, which leaves them susceptible to the temptation mentioned in point 5.

Or it can lead them to empathy and the realization that everything matters, and we can still care for each other. We can still thrive in a collective whole, and we don't have to face this alone.

Those of us who refuse to give in to the temptation in point 5? Who value people's lives over our own egos, over being part of any in-group, over whatever horrific justification folks are peddling these days, etc?

We see the truth of the reality we face. We yell and warn, and we refuse to fall in line with authority. We refuse to stop talking about reality, and thus we become the villain. We are forcing people to think and reflect.

So when faced with thinking and facing one's complicity in a horrific system, people lash out in anger. It's the easiest response.

In the Western world and the USA in particular:

Changing one's behaviors and the way things are currently done is incredibly hard and requires a lot of collective work. Acting in a collective way to save as many people as possible is hard. And there's far too many people who don't know how to do that.

The systems that we live in are built in a way to prevent collective work as much as possible. We've been socialized to NOT think collectively, to view it as bad, to view individualism as good — when in reality, humans can't survive for long unless we collectively work together.

But at this point, many people have made this selfish-ego-centric individualism into their identity, and anything that threatens what they view as their identity? They lash out in anger and derision. They defend themselves, even though it's killing them to do so.

Because to admit the truth?

It requires them to upend their entire way of life, their view of themselves, and to hold themselves accountable. And far too many people are not ready to take that step. So they cling to an authority that takes away the choice and makes them feel good even if they know their actions cause harm.

This is what we are up against. Yes, it is awful and it sucks. Yes it is infuriating. Yes I've been the one derided and attacked because I continue to speak up about this too, and it's hard and exhausting to keep speaking up. To keep fighting for justice, accessibility, for that better world.

But one person at a time, we build that better world. It often takes a few people to start a cascade of realization, of discovering the truth, and of laying the foundation for others to join us in the fight.

It's why it's imperative for those within our movements to not fall for the temptation of point 5. Why it's crucial to continue to be accessible with pandemic mitigations, to normalize pandemic mitigations, to refuse the dealth-cult-narrative that mass death and disablement is okay, to refuse the individualistic-ego-centric view, to refuse the ideology that profits matter more than people, and to continue to stand up and speak our truth.

Because in the end, they may try to tear us down, break us up, but truth and justice burns still. We must continue to keep those fires lit within us and within each other. Collectively we are powerful, and we can illuminate for others the path away from the temptation of point 5.

By building our collective power together and building networks of aid long-term among ourselves, we are showing through our actions another way. A better way, and we need to keep building. To not lose hope.

Mariame Kaba, a Black abolitionist organizer, once said that “Hope is a Discipline.” So let us enact the discipline of hope.

Blog version: : https://blanketfort.blog/thebird/people-are-suffering-from-several-massively-terrifying-things-at-once

#CovidIsNotOver #CommunityCare #PandemicMitigations #Pandemic #PandemicMitigations #ClimateChange

@antiall3s Whoever contacted you about the risk reduction with wearing masks doesn't know shit. That is absolutely incorrect nonsense they are peddling. We've known for over fifty years -- of numerous studies done over and over for over fifty years -- that masks DO WORK. And their reduction in risk for various particulates, viruses, etc., is FAR more than 8%. But I guess that ableist asshole has to tell themself some sort of bullshit to justify engaging in state-based eugenics. I got a whole database of studies on pandemic stuff, and a whole slew of articles on the efficacy of masks.

Plus, what about security culture? Masks do a great job of keep us safe from being identified by the state. There's multiple reasons for the efficacy and usefulness of masks.

Ugh.

And yes, anyone who calls themselves an anarchist and refuses to do pandemic mitigations is falling for state propaganda and perpetuating systems of oppression.

Eugenics is evil. It's not anarchy. Not implementing pandemic mitigations during a mass death and disabling event that hits disproportionately our most marginalized and vulnerable community members? That is agreeing with state eugenics and enacting state eugenics against our most vulnerable. It's very much anti-anarchist.

I'm angry you have to deal with shitty assholes like that. It's frustrating and makes me so angry. If we can't Care For Our Most Vulnerable, then what the fuck is anarchy for? No one.

Either we care for one another by utilizing pandemic mitigations (we're still in a pandemic!!) or we engage in state violence. This is the line in the sand, and far too many anarchists (or really most Leftists if we're being honest here) fail to understand this.

We can't dismantle oppression by perpetuating violence against our most vulnerable, and not enacting pandemic mitigations and/or other accessibility tactics is indeed perpetuating violence against our most vulnerable.

Isolation is violence. Leaving our most vulnerable to the predation and harm of the state's oppressive systems is violence.

Lack of accessibility is violence.

Pandemic mitigations is an access issue, and it's a community care and security issue too.

#Anarchism
#CovidIsNotOver #PandemicMitigations

It's an absolutely betrayal when Leftists refuse to do pandemic mitigations.

Thanks for revealing you are pro-eugenics? Like, I really wanted to believe most Leftists didn't overlap with fascists on this, but honestly, anyone who refuses to do pandemic mitigations during a pandemic that kills millions and disables millions more?

That's a bad look. That's fucking evil. So don't get mad at me when I call it out.

If these Leftists gave a shit about us, they'd be doing #PandemicMitigations.

isolation sucks

Being chronically ill and isolated sucks.

Yet society is deadset on making itself as hostile as possible for people like me to survive in it. I wish our communities fought against the normalization of death/mass-disablement and did more collective action like mutual aid. Instead, folks like me get tossed out as inconvenient and left behind.

It hurts even more when my communities claim to 'leave no one behind' and yet people like me (millions of us) are being left behind anyway due to lack of accessibility (Covid mitigations are part of accessibility by the way) and mutual aid to aid in our survival in an increasingly warming, hostile-to-life world.

It's so... exhausting and dispiriting.

Check in with disabled people. Aid us and support us, and please stop leaving us behind. Be accessible, please.

#Accessibility #MutualAid #CollectiveCare #PandemicMitigations #StopIsolatingDisabledPeople

If your anarchy or socialism does not include #PandemicMitigations, then you aren't actually fighting for a better world. This is a hard truth to swallow, I know, but all Leftists MUST face this truth.

And then do better. Why?

Because failure to do pandemic mitigations is acceptance and promotion of eugenics; it is accepting the state's position that certain demographics deserve death and should be written off as waste.

Stop blindly believing the state's gaslighting of the pandemic. Believe us #disabled folks and the scientists doing the studies, who have proven again and again how dangerous this virus has become, especially long-term effects.

Masks work. Decades of studies prove this, and shrills funded by the state who try to claim otherwise? Stop blindly believing them. Masks when properly fitted work, and work best when we all wear them together.

The virus isn't going to disappear just because the US President said the pandemic is "over." The virus will continue to mutate into worse variants, will continue to spread, will continue to cause long-lasting damage to our bodies, will continue to kill and disable.

We could STOP THAT if we all worked together and make sure we Leave No One Behind.

We can't build a better world without normalizing pandemic mitigations in all of our work and organizing. A better world should NEVER adopt the eugenic strategies of the state, and that's what the failure to do pandemic mitigations does - it adopts the state's horror.

So stop doing that! We have the studies and science that prove the virus is still mutating, still causing tremendous harm to our bodies, and still killing thousands in the USA every week. Those people deserved life, and we could have saved them if we all collectively worked together to do pandemic mitigations:

1.Check wastewater data to see if Covid particles are on the rise to help assess risk. Demand data for Covid Transmission rates everywhere.

2. #MaskUp at all your events at all times. Demand all healthcare facilities and workers mask at all times.

3. Do #Testing for Covid before and after (PCR tests currently the best for new variants).

4. Buy or make Air Filtration units and install them in all rooms. @cleanairkits has some good options and instructions on how to do CR boxes. Make extras to share with others so they too can have clean air.

5. If possible, hold the event outside to allow people to spread out better.

@PeoplesCDC has an amazing toolkit called "See You Safer" that documents various ways we can safely organize, meet up, and fight against the rising tide of fascist eugenics.

So if you want to live out your truth, to truly build that better world that Leaves No One Behind, then get your asses in gear and DO PANDEMIC MITIGATIONS.

Please stop falling for the state's gaslighting eugenics.

Instead, FIGHT against that with people like me.

Thanks for reading.

I've been trying to not lose my temper on educating folks on #Covid, but I realize that I have every right to be angry on this. I've been in isolation for three years now.

We need to be able to talk about how the lack of covid precaution is a form of eugenics, and that eugenicist policies is rooted in the marriage of white supremacy + ableism. If we can't discuss this, then we can't ever dismantle the systems of harm killing, disabling, and isolating so many of us.

Leftists in particular need to stop putting their feelings first, sit down, and listen to the words said here.

Lack of Covid Precautions creates a space where Covid can easily spread. This infects more people and puts their lives in danger. This action is rooted in denial of Covid's very real danger, and that denial complicity with eugenicist policies. That's a very hard truth for folks to swallow, and I get that, but if folks cannot grapple with that truth, then how can we ever build a better world?

Denialism indirectly kills people and causes severe harm to individuals and communities. Lack of Covid precautions indirectly kills and disables people. The dropping of covid precautions and mitigations by many governments is eugenics and it kills and disables many. They kill and disable because these actions spread Covid, and Covid kills and disables people. These are facts not opinions.

Instituting Covid Mitigations does require work, but saving lives and not contributing further to mass death and disablement ought to matter more than people's feelings and desire to 'save on work.'

We must, if we wish to build a better world, change our behaviors and normalize Pandemic mitigations. That's the only just path forward, and to try to fight normalizing pandemic mitigations is to side with eugenicists. Yes, most people don't want to believe they are complicit or side with eugenicists, just as people are very reluctant to admit when they are being racist, as they see eugenicists as pure evil and no one wants to view themselves as evil.

But that is a form of denialism. It denies the reality that the actions we do influence and impact other people. Our actions lend support - whether we wish to admit it or not - to others who either fight for justice/accessibility/equity or fight for eugenicist/racist/ableist policies. None of our actions exist in a vaccum. We influence and are influenced by society and our communities.

People have the capability to do great good and great harm. We are never fully good or fully bad. Our complexity, our internalized bigotry, our wants/needs, our feelings, our actions all play a role in who we are and how we present ourselves to others. Examining internalized bigotry is hard and scary, and I get that, but it must be done otherwise no growth can happen and we stagnant. That stagnation tips us into denialism of our roles and impacts on others, which then perpetuates (whether we are conscious of it or not) the oppressors and the harm they cause.

It can be powerful and life changing to be willing to say: I am wrong. I did cause harm. I want to do better. I am going to learn about this and change my actions to do better.

Calling out the actions we do by naming exactly what they are is how we can recognize the harm done. It is how we can learn what to examine, find ways to examine it, and then change our actions to do better.

Words matter. Words often need to be precise for us to best understand the complexity and nuance of a situation.

For Covid, we don't have the luxury of time.

Covid Mitigations and precautions save lives, that is a fact. We need Leftists in particular (but all people) to be willing to acknowledge the harm they've done when they've relaxed covid mitigations/precautions, and we need them to be willing to grow and do better. To be willing to change their actions in order to be more accessible, more just, and more willing to save as many lives as possible.

#CovidIsNotOver #PandemicMitigations #Pandemic #WhiteSupremacy #Eugenics #Justice #DisabilityJustice #DismantlingSystemsOfOppression