I'm about ready to read news again
I've been almost completely checked-out from the news for about 4 weeks now. Last time I read a bunch of stories it was to decide if Fascism had actually landed in my country. I determined that it had, but it hadn't taken over yet.
Since then, I haven't really been reading the news. My mental has been bad (because of chronic issues, not because of the news), and I haven't had the capacity to read or listen to commentary or stay meaningfully informed.
But I think this period of mental reprieve is lifting. I just read my first news article in weeks. DOGE is closing some federal government buildings in my area, and it sounds bad.
But the article left a lot of questions unanswered, like ... are the buildings in use? What are workers in those buildings doing? If they're closed, what will happen to the work that was being done?
My first instinct is to look up the answers to all of these questions for each of the 6 buildings listed in the article. But I feel overwhelmed and somewhat panicked thinking about doing that work. I have an anxiety disorder, after all.
Either way, I can feel the need for reprieve waning. But how much of the stress of news can I really handle? How can I keep myself well while keeping up? If all I'm doing is reading miserable news and having mental health episodes, then my being-informed isn't actually accomplishing anything.
So I will need to move forward keeping that in mind. It's more important that I make some noise about the presence of fascism than that I know every terrible news story coming from our fascist government.
Whatever sect of society you're in, I encourage you to resist the terrible shit that's happening. Don't rat on your community members. Defy mandates telling you not to teach LGBTQIA+ history. Resign if you're a cop or soldier who's ordered to enforce unjust fascist mandates. Talk to your friends and family about these things. Stand on the street with a "Fascism is here" sign. Do something if you can.
Me? I guess I'm blogging for now. I still want to make "Fascism is here" flyers to spread at the grocery store and other places I go. I still want to stand on the street with a sign. But man, I'm disabled and we need able-bodied able-minded folks to fucking do something. People like me need people like you to fucking do something. Please.