olivecrest
Although more people than ever are taking estrogen and testosterone - either age related or because they are transitioning. I would imagine there could be some research done on how introducing those things results in changes compared to a control group of folks who are similar and don’t take them.
I mean I know so little that I don’t even know how much I don’t know. There is just a lot of reluctance to even ask questions for fear of being called sexist, and I am a fan of scientific curiosity.
I’m sorry. I also feel anger and fear. I am desperately looking for ways to take action that are at least potentially effective, even if there is risk and personal cost to myself. I do not feel like a “moderate”.
I also do not want to lose sight of my own value system. Trump is full of vengeful hate. I would rather be a good person who got killed trying to make things better than be still alive but consumed with vengeful hate / hurting other people.
I am not religious - but I am a pacifist at heart. The people I admire most are folks who brought about massive change through non violent means - not people who won wars.
And honestly even if the political stuff all suddenly became ok (it won’t) the billions of people who will die from climate change is inevitable- so that gives me some perspective. Like we are ALL going to die. What is the best I can do with the time I have?
I do not have answers. Maybe - as you suggest - everything I do will be ineffective. I share your fear and dread, but if I can’t continue to value love over hate then I have already lost.
And I would encourage avoiding collateral damage whenever possible.
Or maybe activist can focus on causing damage to directly to Musk. Like maybe we should all always try to avoid collateral damage when we can.
Not that hard to do.
Agree: Musk is the one hurting Tesla owners
Agree: US Government doesn’t care about collateral damage
I just would encourage folks who want to hurt Musk to focus on action that hurts Musk. Causing collateral damage is not fair or helpful - best to avoid it whenever possible.
At this point they’d get almost nothing for it - certainly not enough to buy a replacement car.
I’m just saying it helps to carefully target the people you actually are trying to hurt. It doesn’t help a movement if they start hurting bystanders.
I would 100% go if I knew all my fellow protesters were only going to protest.
Lots of people are very angry- which is valid and I get it - but personally I am not interested in violence or destruction of property. It’s hard to know if those things will be part of a protest or not.
I have gone and will go to protests, but fear that they will turn chaotic makes me less likely to go. Also not at all convinced that small ones are effective, and big ones are rare.
So why would someone lack empathy?
Like if there is a 4 year old whose parents hit them - then they go to school and hit other kids. Is the 4 year old evil? Or were they taught that behavior?
I’m not saying that adults are 4 years old and aren’t responsible for their actions, I’m just saying that some people have VERY different opportunities than you and I have had.
People are complicated, but my (liberal) values are exactly what one would expect me to have if you look at my upbringing and education. If I had a different education and upbringing I almost certainly would have different values.
Not fun to admit, but true.
I prefer to call actions bad rather than people. People are pretty complicated, and it’s not a level playing field.
What if a person bought a Tesla 10 years ago (before folks knew what an asshole Musk was) to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
Do you think that person deserves to have their car vandalized?
You sound really angry.
Action taken based on anger and hatred is different than action motivated by compassion and morality.
So it’s important that people who are elderly or have young children feel safe.
If you want to get in conflict with police please do that at a different event that is intended to be disruptive. Please let the peaceful protest be a place where everyone is welcomed and we can attract huge numbers of law abiding citizens.
100% civil disobedience will be needed. This is not the day for that. This is a “big tent” day. There will be plenty of opportunities to cause trouble- but if you cause trouble at this one - that I am attending with my 87 year old father - he will never come with me to another event.
So please don’t. Please disrupt a different event.