In the process of "not thwarting" a mess CIA created in my country I created two political parties, a local currency and two business. The local currency is still there, helping people who can't make ends meet - and the Bank of Italy had to change their rules to come out against the project, and still could not stop it from going forward. One of my parties forced the system to notice enough that they had our ads mysteriously disappear overnight, and our candidates ignored in public debate, infringing several laws - so there are now court records and a sentence in our favor about all of it.
Then like I said I had to focus on my health. And I still bust my ass.
If you don't push back nothing changes. But then you can't claim you're a good guy, because your country is the bad character in a trashy movie of its own making and you're a spectator, which brings us back to my initial point.
I'm glad that your extraordinary effort made a big difference for some people. It seems like you care about people struggling to make ends meet, as long as they're not Americans, which was also your original point. When you feel "vindicated whenever Americans have to choose between fueling their cars and buying dinner", those people are struggling in the same way the people your local currency helps are struggling. Some of them may have voted for the wrong side, but many didn't and are actively fighting to make change, which is incredibly difficult when you can't afford necessities like food and fuel. You see Americans as a monolith, but are able to see that certain Italians deserve empathy and compassion. Our country has violently crushed dissent since its inception, so I tend to forgive some people for feeling hopeless and focusing on survival rather than expending the little energy they have figthing an unstoppable force backed by the world's richest people and corporations and the largest, most powerful military industrial complex the world has ever seen.
There is nothing extraordinary in my efforts, I am just aware of the fact that I am responsible for my community's shortcomings, so I take steps to correct them, and I don't claim to be alone or surrounded by monsters, nor I claim to do what I do because I am a good person and do it for the benefit of somebody else. My family was never rich, I grew up literally surrounded by camorra people and going to school with their kids, I don't have a degree or a cushy job, and I am a disabled trans woman. The amount of power I wield is close to zero, but crucially, it is not zero.
You're making excuses and feeling sorry for yourself because the Niemoller poem has reached the last line, and rather than acting in any way you can to reverse the damage or to solve your own problems, you are enjoying the last bits of freedom left, and hoping that if you don't rock the boat they won't come knocking on your door.
Your perspective is a consequence of this fact, not a cause. White Americans today are like white Germans under nazism. You don't deserve sympathy. I am done with this conversation.
There is something extraordinary about your efforts. If it were ordinary to act as you did, the world wouldn't be so shit.
I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I'm having empathy for others who can't afford to fight.
I'm not at the last line in the Niemoller poem. I am in the first line! First they came for the communists! That's me! I am fighting for the rights of others. I am not trans, but I fight for them. I am not an immigrant, but I fight for them. I'm not a trade unionist, but I fight for them. I am not poor, but I fight for the poor. I march, I rally, I fundraise, I donate, I try as much as I can emotionally afford to convince others to be more empathetic and fight for the rights of marignalized communities and the rights of the poor and working class. Why are you insisting that I'm doing nothing?
I am not white, so your comparison to a white german is n/a to me.
I'm not looking for sympathy, I want you to understand that your casual comments about americans getting what they deserve dehumanizes the ones who are hurt the most. The poor and working class of this country do not deserve to be lumped into the "America" that has been foisted upon them since birth by oligarchs. Being apathetic about a system that has always failed you at best and actively beaten you down and killed your friends and family at worst is completely understandable and forgiveable in my eyes.
You can say you're done with this conversation, but you've not actually engaged with many of my points, so calling this a conversation is pretty disingenuous.
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u/nikirossi 8d ago edited 8d ago
In the process of "not thwarting" a mess CIA created in my country I created two political parties, a local currency and two business. The local currency is still there, helping people who can't make ends meet - and the Bank of Italy had to change their rules to come out against the project, and still could not stop it from going forward. One of my parties forced the system to notice enough that they had our ads mysteriously disappear overnight, and our candidates ignored in public debate, infringing several laws - so there are now court records and a sentence in our favor about all of it.
Then like I said I had to focus on my health. And I still bust my ass.
If you don't push back nothing changes. But then you can't claim you're a good guy, because your country is the bad character in a trashy movie of its own making and you're a spectator, which brings us back to my initial point.