When There Are Too Many Words
But they never seem like enough
I’ve written an introduction to this newsletter five different times. Erased it. Then I wrote another version.
It’s not that I don’t have words. I have plenty of words. I’ve always had plenty of words. But words are only as powerful as you can make sense of them, and you can lead your audience from point A to point B.
Point A to point B communication is my mother-in-law’s email saying she’s no longer supporting Amazon and Facebook because they won’t block their services in Russia. Yes, this is FOX News’ current talking point, and yes, this same woman voted for Putin-loving Trump twice. I have many things to say about FOX News, but they know how to get to their audience from Point A to Point B to serve their purposes.
When disaster strikes — whether human-made like war and genocide or natural disasters (often human-made too) — my mind goes immediately to the people I know who live there, the people I know who have family there, and the reverberations all of us face because we’re all connected on this one rock in space. Just like COVID-19 recognizes no borders, neither does fascist ideology or climate change. You won’t be saved because your relatives moved from a “red” state to a “blue” state in the 1950s when the drought in South Dakota reached record levels, and your grandma wanted indoor plumbing and a dishwasher. War is never “those people over there” because you and I are “those people over there.”
If you care about Ukraine (and you should), you should care about Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Palestine too.
If you care about Ukrainians being allowed to flee to other countries and taken in as refugees, you should care about rapidly housing your unhoused neighbors without a list of demands.
If you cheered on the Ukrainian sailor who burned down a Russian oil oligarch’s yacht, you should care that yacht-owner WV Senator Joe Manchin (D) blocked a Senate resolution to codify Roe V. Wade into national law.
If you want Putin’s wealth destroyed, you should care that US Congresspeople used classified COVID-19 briefings to gain money on the stock market without consequences, and Rep Nancy Pelosi (D) doesn’t think Congresspeople should have to give up their stocks.
If you worry about external fascism and genocide, you should care that TX Governor Greg Abbott (R) and TX AG Ken Paxton (R) are attempting genocide against trans kids, and Idaho, Alabama, and Tennessee follow.
If you worry about external fascism, you should care that Paxton tried to overthrow the US government and hang then VP Mike Pence (R) on January 6th in Washington, DC, and is walking around free.
If you worry about external fascism, you should care that the Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison (R) supported the January 6th insurrection and now works to harm your unhoused neighbors with the full backing of Mayor Bruce Harrell (D) and a good amount of city councilors (D) and the militarized SPD who were never defunded. (Bonus for Seattle friends)
On LinkedIn, I saw a pro-Ukraine post by a former coworker who complained about (pre-summer 2020) Black Lives Matter protests blocking the streets for his commute home. Since then, I hope he’s grown; maybe he took a DEI course or read Ijeoma Oluo or Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.
On Twitter, someone wrote how Texas’ attack on trans children is precisely what happened in the show The Handmaid’s Tale. (I guess someone finally wrote in a trans storyline.) Except that there’s historical trans genocide in living memory, like when the Nazis burned the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, and many people were murdered, or the ongoing yearly record-breaking number of murders of trans women of color in the US.
I told you I could not focus, and I don’t think this is the most effective communication from Point A to Point B. I wish I could believe in lizard people or spicy Nancy Pelosi drinking babies’ blood because that’s a more straightforward narrative than her financial statements. It certainly makes a sexier headline and set of social media memes. The secretiveness and salaciousness titillate in a way that Seattle City Councilor Sara Nelson (D) inviting a group of business owners for a selective meeting to express their overwrought concerns about crime and come up with ways to do everything but outright murder unhoused and poor people — who she’s also supposed to serve — does not.
After all, COVID-19 is so boring that the US just declared it over.
I cannot focus, but I can pick up litter on my street instead of complaining about it on NextDoor. I cannot focus, but I can donate to trans organizations and individual GoFundMes. I cannot focus, but I can send cat photos to a friend who spends every day worried about her family in Ukraine. I cannot focus, but I can put down Twitter and write fiction or read another Romance book because all I can read are Romance books.
I cannot focus, but now I need to edit the cactus and succulent society newsletter. Would you like a houseplant?
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