This is a petty issue, not an important one: a trifle, comparatively.
If you think we’re doomed, you’re free to think so. If you think the law and protest and politics are pointless, likewise. If you think methods and issues people are talking about are irrelevant, that’s for you to think.
/1— Fucking Bitch Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 1:07 PM
/2 But if, when folks are risking their lives to oppose ICE, and people are talking about how to best defend them and how we might support each other and do right, the role YOU are called to is to slump in and tell us what we are talking about is naive and meaningless, you can just fuck right off.
/3 That sort of performative emo narcissism is a personality between you and your therapist and the Lord your God and get it fuck off my thread, I am blocking your tedious ass.
Our ancestors were real breathing people who turned sticks into fire, their descendants spent thousands of years building a regime of unsurpassed global peace and prosperity, and we shall not entertain the suggestion that it all ends here just because the man with the golden toilet says so.
— Michael Engard (@engard.me) January 9, 2026 at 1:10 PM
It's totally understandable if you're dooming about any facet of the American experiment right now. So your feelings are "valid" in the sense that they represent real anxiety, and I get that. But to vent that anxiety in other people's spaces is wrong for three reasons.
— Ken Jennings (@kenjennings.bsky.social) January 7, 2026 at 10:39 PM
First, it’s factually wrong. There will be elections in 2026 and 2028 under Trump, just like there were elections last year under Trump and during his first term. This despite one of the two major parties now harboring a lot of anti-democratic elements and ideas.
I’m not particularly interested in convincing anyone on this point and won’t try, the future is the future. But if the left side of the political spectrum is still the domain of scholarship and expertise, take note that you don’t find scholars and experts you worrying about canceled US elections.
Second, and probably most importantly, it’s tactically wrong. “No point discussing political opposition to fascism, there won’t be elections anyway” cedes victory to your enemies. It’s defeatism and nihilism.
Finally, it’s wrong AS A MATTER OF ETIQUETTE. Entering a total stranger’s discussion and leading with your private anxiety is as off-putting in social media replies as it would be in real life. If you wouldn’t interrupt a stranger at a party to announce that America is doomed, don’t do it here.
If you are anxious and sad about the state of the world, that’s fine, and there are plenty of strategies for dealing with that. But I think you already know that drive-by online dooming isn’t a strategy. It’s selfish and adolescent. It’s a contagion that only spreads the worst of you, not the best.
Take a second and think before posting the easy Eeyore reply. You might have something substantive to say instead. Or, even better, you can say nothing at all.
