I am always, always happy when any human system moves decisively away from fascism. That’s true no matter how messy, how problematic, or how broken the system is. I will celebrate all the same.
Not because the system is All Fine Actually. Because I am happy to see fascism pushed back, each and every time. It’s that simple.
Nov 4, 2026, 3:09 PM@inthehands Agreed. We *should* celebrate, and we can look forward to further shifts in the right direction. The naysayers will resurface, and we will know them when they state the obvious, like "the system is still broken" . Well, duh, we just keep going ! More of this!
🤸♂️ 🤸 🤸♀️
@hakona
Quite. It's like, the system is broken, and somehow the solution is to break it more? Because somehow fascism is going to feed, clothe, shelter and educate everyone?
Nov 4, 2026, 6:09 PM@econads They see themselves as action-heroes who will sweep in when everything is *really bad*, like after skynet has taken over and people are "ready" for the solution they have in mind. Incremental improvement is actually delaying the "real" revolution that they want. @inthehands
@hakona
Sorry are we still talking about fascists?
Nov 4, 2026, 10:36 PM@econads Yes. Also deluded people on the other side, though the ones I can name are solid on the old-fashioned fash side. The one who's said the quiet part out loud is Steve Bannon. Elon Musks tactics also seem to want to go that way. Anybody who says "civil war is inevitable"
@inthehands
Nov 4, 2026, 3:34 PMSome people seem to think you only celebrate when the work is done, which is a joyless way to live since there is always more work to do.
@gbargoud look, some of us were raised by immigrant parents. we don’t even get to celebrate when the work is done. just set the next, loftier goal.
I know, I know, I’m working on it in therapy.
I see that “endless hamster wheel” feeling in some of my students, and it’s a tough burden to bear — and a tough one to shake off.
@gbargoud @inthehands Some people have had folks who should have been on their side decide that they'd rather chip in on the genocide against them too many times.
Some of us get our joy from the real-in person work in our communities, not the horse race.
@gbargoud @inthehands (Not telling anyone else what they should and shouldn't celebrate, to be clear, but it would be nice if other folks accepted that not everyone is gonna be dancing in the streets so easily.)
@inthehands When carrying a load, we sometimes smile when we take a step up the hill. But we don’t put the load down and throw a party, we take another step. But we still smile.
Indeed. cf “The Myth of Sisyphus” by Camus
@inthehands
Canada's Dean Blundell lays out why yesterday's stunning Blue Vote matters so much:
"A banana republic is what they just ran for two years. Masked cops. A personal ballroom. A family crypto empire. A war started on a whim and lost on a blockade. An Attorney General who used to be the President’s defence lawyer. A sex trafficking cover-up run out of the Justice Department. A country that does all of that and then shakes hands and says no hard feelings isn’t healing. It’s leaving the door unlocked for the next one, and America needs to empty the clip on that corruption and criminality at scale if it's going to be taken seriously again."
The US now needs to do whatever it takes to be taken seriously again.
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/whos-going-to-jail-the-full-accountability
#Midterms
@inthehands well said 🩷
@inthehands
A mighty wind, indeed.
@inthehands Same here. Small victories are important & there's nothing wrong with celebrating them, while remembering that the battle is far from over. It takes many small victories to win battles against fascists. It takes multiple forms of actions from the people.
Nov 4, 2026, 6:51 PMthat's the difference between pragmatism and perfectionism
if you're not going to be happy until perfect shows up, well:
you're probably not doing anything to achieve that, for one, because perfectionism serves to immobilize you rather than getting in the mud and actually making progress, which is always messy
and for two: you'll be sitting there unhappy until the sun turns into a red giant
so celebrate good moves in good directions
and work for it
and fuck perfectionism
@inthehands In the tug of war of US politics, no one is currently holding the goddamn rope. Really, we've just picked our teams.
It's a necessary step, and looks promising. But no US policy has changed, no penny has been pulled from fascism or spent on people suffering, no criminal has been arrested let alone punished.
I won't crack open the good brandy until the rope starts moving.
🤷
I have a bottle of champagne unopened since that dreadful 2016 November night. I considered opening it last night, but like you, I am suspicious still of the establishment, and await leadership and committee announcements.
I'm afraid that the fascistic corporate model is shutting down our freedom of speech on different platforms. There's no accountability; big money enjoys fascism.
@inthehands