Asking for a friend

Edit: wording

  • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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    24 minutes ago

    Assuming we’re thinking of the same place, you have to deal with a large group of people who have been fooled, and are about to get very angry and need a target they can reach for their anger. Highlighting mid to high level members of their party leadership as the people to blame allows them to hold their great leader blameless, protecting their egos, while at the same time ripping down the pillars that prop up that same leader. Calling for new blood to support… whatever leader you’re talking about, and voting out “those idiots that aren’t giving him what he needs and so we all are suffering” allows the malleable followers to self destruct the party apparatus like ants eating away the bones of an elephant.

  • cabbage@piefed.social
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    14 hours ago

    If your friend is willing to make the effort to combat this, she should get organized. She should find like-minded people, act locally to gain political power, and create a stronghold where the illegitimate government will face resistance. She should base this around ideological lines, rather than willingly subscribing to what experienced members in established political elites in her country are trying to make her say or do. She should write down whether values are and make sure to keep them close at all times, knowing that she just might be successful and that power corrupts.

    She should not give up hope, but she should give up the belief that others will change anything for her. She needs recognize that her country is already broken, and she needs to act to be the change.

    She needs to recognize that she’s not powerless. She can make a difference.

    Likewise, she needs to recognize that it’s a long and painful process. It needs to start locally, and it might always stay local. But that is fine.

    She needs to realize strength is in the community. Building the community of like minded people working for local action is crucial. She’ll be disappointed in them at times, but she’ll just have to keep going. There’s power in community.

    At least that’s what I think I’d advice her. But I don’t know your friend or her situation, obviously.

    • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.worldOP
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      14 hours ago

      She says she grateful for your thoughtful response and did not intend to be rude but asked if you had any examples of this working. I told her that would be rude because you’re a very kind thoughtful person so don’t mind her.

      • cabbage@piefed.social
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        13 hours ago

        She’ll be happy to hear that it has worked on numerous occasions throughout history! After the fall of Fascism in Europe, people in many countries got together and created strong welfare states in the post war period. Some were more successful than others, but even in the ultraconservative UK they managed to create a national health service that hs proven difficult to kill off.

        Sadly, I’ll have to break to her that the fight never ends. The second you stop fighting for progress, some asshole will pop up and try to instill feudalism again. After a generation or two people tend to forget the ongoing nature of this threat, and it seems we haven’t managed to come up with ways to permanently get rid of it, despite our best efforts following the French and American revolutions.

        Maybe the time has come to go back to the drawing board, and rethink some of the decisions that were made back then. Jefferson said every generation should have its own constitution. Maybe he was right.

        • bookmeat@lemmynsfw.com
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          12 hours ago

          It has worked after a violent struggle forced the system to change or gave opportunities for previously oppressed voices to come into power.

          • cabbage@piefed.social
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            12 hours ago

            Yeah, generally people need quite a bit of nudging before they get off their asses.

            So now seems like a good time to start - no reason to wait for things to get even worse. This is why I stress the community building - it only really requires people to fight back, but it does require people to fight back.

      • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Rylanor’s situation just seems similar to ours;

        • everyone he cares about is morphed into a parody of themselves or dead
        • The authority that he trusted betrayed him deeply
        • He only survived (Drop Site Massacre) by allying with others of the same cause

        Bonus if your name is Luigi:

        • Perfectly executed a premeditated attack on the ones who wrong him
  • deafboy@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    The goal of the hostile country is to cause chaos and conflict. It does not care if an insider or outsider does it.

    The only way to win is not to play.

    • Ech@lemm.ee
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      11 hours ago

      You say that as if it’s an option for everyone in said country.