Authoritarians have studied protests. They've adapted, and the effectiveness of protests has dropped.

[Sympthsical]

13. Pressuring legislators is absolutely a good tactic

Inspiration, strengthen, vibes. I dunno. It's very Oprah-coded, which is where I think part of the problem stems. The performative and the spiritual has taken over from the concrete. People show up for marches, but then are nowhere to be found at the ballot box.

At the end of the day, someone is going to have to start talking to the voters and the people who don't participate in these things. Our party, and many of the movements of the past ten or so years, haven't shown themselves to be very skilled in this area.

The strength derived from these events reminds me of those videos you see. Men in the gym all day, bulging with muscles, rather impressive physical specimens. Then they're asked to do some manual labor task, and they can't do it. Meanwhile, some farmer who weighs 100 lbs less starts flinging bags of concrete around.

There's show of strength and application of strength. We show just fine. Can't apply it for shit.

If I sound grouchy, it's because I am stone cold over the performative aspects of politics. It's very 2010s. We're in 2026, and it bothers me to still read this stuff. Especially after 2024. The vibes were immaculate. $1 billion spent. We had joy! Remember the joy? And then . . .

Joy is nice. Votes are better.