by Ipsa Liberalis

So... Donald Trump is president. Then, there were protests.

I sympathize with protesters, but I didn't go. I work two jobs, the second on Saturdays. I didn't go to the protest because I was working, but I probably would not have gone anyway because it sounds like a thing where people are, and I have to be really mentally prepared for that in a way I am not often prepared these days. Eh... social anxiety.

I liked watching all the people in my Facebook feed protesting, though.

I also liked seeing the people who didn't feel the need to protest say so in their Facebook feeds, people who think that we are about to come into some kind of renaissance.

I'm going to try to keep my political thoughts here. Right now, my political thoughts are... not much.

I think this is going to be bad. Already, with certain White House websites coming down for example, it's bad, and it's been only five days. But, like a catastrophic forest fire in Yellowstone, or something, I hope that great renewal will come after this. Or!  I hope that this will be like four years of watching crash-test dummies getting into accidents so that this country buckles the fuck up in the future and drives defensively and maybe doesn't provoke a world war or civil war or develop internment camps.

But the left is already... making me cringe. A friend of mine, a liberal, someone who I believe identifies as white, who is a woman, retweeted something about how white women did this and how white women should get used to feeling uncomfortable (because a Trump presidency is their fault and they are exempt from experiences wherein they might feel uncomfortable?).

What?! What does that even mean? Stop. Just stop. This is why conservatives think the left is fucking nuts. This is why they think we are shitty assholes who wield identity politics like a lash and are just bullies or babies or unhinged.

No one thing or group or ideology did this. Yes, maybe, white women voted for Trump in higher numbers than anticipated, but, for fuck's sake, it's not that simple. And we don't even know what "this" is, besides "not what we want" and "bad in a yet to be defined but we could hazard some guesses" way.

Reductionism is our enemy. We have to think of them, each other, our selves, the problems, the solutions, everything complexly. Now is not the time to point fingers, paint one side or the other with blame, assume blame for something we did not do just because it sounds nice.

If you care about civil liberties, get on the ground, volunteer your time or your money to such a cause.

If you care about reproductive rights or low-cost healthcare, volunteer your time or your money to such a cause.

If you care about absolving your (identity) guilt, give of yourself with humility. Get your ass to a charitable organization and keep your trap shut about it.

Do not project your guilt onto the world at large for Twitter favorites or Facebook likes. The only person this serves is yourself.

We've got four years to combat the tide, fellow progressives. We won't do it by being loud while the sea of shit swells around us. We have to get out there, get our hands dirty, and not presume that our objectives mean something more than what is achieved at the the end of the day.