Don't Let 2024 Be The Year of the Silent Scream
A couple of weeks ago I decided my “looking ahead” post would declare that 2024 would be “The Year of the Silent Scream.” I felt like someone watching a slow-motion car crash trying to scream to make it stop but unable to be heard. I felt it when I read the morning news from Gaza and Ukraine, two wars with increasing misery and no end in sight. Donald Trump, despite the attempt to overthrow the government and his many indictments, is poised to take the Republican nomination with little opposition. Even worse, he and his Myrmidons have been open about their radical plans to go full fash. On top of all that I have the knowledge that the electoral college aided by voter suppression and third party candidates could yet again invalidate the will of the majority. Biden’s anemic poll numbers, support, and appeal made my feelings of dread worse. I was already screaming in my head, I wanted to put that scream into worse on this site.
I am glad I did not write that post. I suddenly remembered some advice from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations that has served me well. If you are confronted with a problem, ask yourself if it can be surmounted. If not, stop worrying, there’s nothing you can do. If so, stop worrying and get to work solving it. It’s easy to give in to hopelessness and doom, but that only helps the worst and most cynical people in their infernal work. Instead, people of good conscience need to organize and ready themselves for a fight. What kind of people would we be in a moment like this to just shrug our shoulders and give up? I’ve made a two resolutions for the new year.
Avoid the distractions
In many ways our discourse contributes to the feeling of hopelessness, and in the coming year I have decided on some new habits to help with this. I am cutting down on my social media usage, avoiding poll numbers, and ignoring bad-faith actors. Social media, even on BlueSky, is a place where the id of doomerism runs riot and blackens my mood. It’s also where people say outrageous and angering things to get attention. In many cases this means people on the left declaring they will not vote for the Democratic candidate. I realized that these people are just begging for attention and for that reason, I will just ignore them.
The same goes for polls. In the spirit of Marcus Aurelius, I know nothing I can do will change those numbers. Worrying about them accomplishes nothing. In the past when I have paid so much attention to them I have either become complacent when the numbers are good, or paralyzed with anxiety and when they are bad. I’m planning on staying focused on active work instead.
Be Active
I have also resolved to be active, instead of passive. This also means being active in more productive ways. Every time I feel like posting something on social media about something I dislike or want changed, I am going to call one of my representatives or contribute money to a campaign, too. This was a habit I established in 2020, and one that gave me great piece of mind.
Every time I see something bad, I am going to ask myself what I can do. If there’s some state senator somewhere trying to write a bill banning teaching the realities of American history, I will write postcards or give a contribution to their opponent. If there’s in fact nothing I can do directly about what’s bad I will funnel my efforts into doing something about a different problem instead of stewing in anger, anxiety, and fear.
Instead of trying to change the minds of low-information voters who still say both parties are the same because that sounded smart back in the 90s when they were young, I am just going to ignore them and try to reach the people already on the right side of things who just need some encouragement.
The enemies of democracy want us confused, hopeless, and despairing. They want us to give up before the fight even starts. They want our screams to be silent. I actually think this is why Stephen Miller released all these wild post-election plans and Trump is talking about “blood poisoning.” They want to be so brazen and terrible that the rest of us think we can do nothing, that the horrors they will unleash are inevitable.
I am mad at myself for having fallen for it. No more. The fight is there ahead of us. Remember, most people in multiple elections have rejected the fascist message. These people are even losing school board elections. They can win through undemocratic means like the electoral college and filibuster, but also by making us think we are not the majority. We are. Let’s start acting like it.