I like this piece. I do. It hits something deep and necessary.
Empathy as defiance. Kindness as rebellion. Beauty as resistance. These are not small things in an age of cruelty—they’re oxygen. They remind us who we are before the machine tries to make us forget.
And it’s true: fascism thrives on despair, on alienation, on the slow suffocation of joy and imagination. So yes—paint, sing, dance, feed your neighbors, light candles in the dark. I’m here for all of it.
But.
At some point—and that point is now—all this compassion, all this decency, all this beautifully defiant humanity must translate. It has to become strategy. It has to become confrontation. It has to become, as Snyder warned us, a refusal to obey in advance.
Because while we’re cultivating gratitude, they’re stacking courts.
While we’re writing poetry, they’re writing executive orders.
While we’re staying joyful, they’re preparing the apparatus to make sure the next protest is your last.
There is no contradiction between staying human and fighting like hell.
But one cannot substitute for the other.
So yes—flip off the fascists with joy.
And then flip over their tables.
Block their roads. Fund their opposition. Sabotage their plans. Use your money, your voice, your body, your time. Break their narrative. Dismantle their infrastructure. Strip them of power—while we still can.
This isn’t just a culture war. It’s a contest of wills.
One side is organized, armed, and hungry for dominion.
We can’t meet that with vibes.
We need beauty and resistance.
Kindness and confrontation.
Hope and teeth.
So yes, keep your joy. But remember—joy alone won’t stop a boot.
Thank you, Anne. Coming from 40 years in military and government I tend to hit the ground running. Yet, I am sensitive to the felicity of peace and good will, as well as their moderating effect when in desperate contest.
My husband and I live on a corner lot, and he’s planted a flower bed facing the corner, which will bloom to spell out “8647.” It’s giving us and our neighbors who’ve noticed a lot of joy!
One of the heaviest things on my heart for years, and something strangely absent in much political speech, is the poorest of the population of this country, namely homeless people. More than 500,000 people in the richest country on the planet, are sleeping every night on the street. I was once one of them. I advocate for them every chance I get. I wrote a novel that includes some of my experiences 5 years ago (shameless self-promotion, I know). It is surprising to me how many people who read it have no idea what challenges homelessness brings into a life. It is called Life At Ground Level, and I encourage everyone to give it a look, especially in these troubled times.
If this shitzkrieg economic meltdown brought on the Bigly Orange Malignance (a.k.a. Donny Two-Dolls) & cronies & henchmen & axmen & ICEmen continues apace, there will be many many many many many more homeless. Folks may be forced to choose between shelter and food. I may be one of those. I'm scared for us all. I'll check out your novel.
Nope, it mos' def' is not. Way beyond the middle finger, a very malcontent snappish Floofie, and perhaps a whole herd of us, may bite Orange Shitler where it counts, and keep on biting.
I love these! I have been giving the middle finger through some of these and will expand my finger giving with being more joyful!! I am so grateful for YOU, John!
May I add to the financial component to shop local in any way you can, especially with tariffs and trade wars (and everyone's shrinking wallets) brutally hitting the small businesses and farms in so many ways. Buy that loaf of artisan bread, shop a farm market, give your business to a mom and pop cafe instead of a chain, enjoy a brew at a pub that features local musicians.
Also, if your town is lucky enough to still have a LOCALLY owned small newspaper, please subscribe and support them, even if they mail you a complimentary copy each week. Many areas are in a news desert and citizens no longer feel a connection to their communities or schools, thus the extremists easily slide in with their twisted views and control. Please be aware however, of the fake imposter newspapers that pop up before elections or in highly contested swing districts. Thousands of them are owned by Metric Media, a right wing propaganda outfit that will impersonate legit local papers. Research the name, publisher city and postmark before deciding. The content will usually show it's true colors by page 2. Middle finger to them as well!!
Good stuff, Shelly P! Very inspiring, all these helpful actions I can take during these dark troubled times. All damned good ways to support each other -- and flip the bird to those who are trying to tear this nation limb from limb. Thank you!
Thanks, Shelly P, for the info on those fake community papers. I've not seen them in our little county, bit I'll be on the lookout. We are fortunate to have an award-winning rural weekly here.
Once again, thank you for reminding us that we have the power to be positive, find gratitude and joy, and do good in many small ways in our ordinary lives.
Headed out to do a bulletin board about affordable housing initiatives for our church. I can't think of a better middle finger to the people who are in Congress at this very minute crafting a budget package that will derail funding for affordable housing. I feel so much better now.
All good strategies! Lawsuits are one of the better ways to gum up the works for Project 2025; personally I donate to ACLU, EarthJustice and other groups that fight back in court.
Yesterday, I was speaking with an American friend who lives in an ashram in another state. She is a gifted artist who has worked hard for the success she is finally achieving. I am a photographer who was entering the art world in a new medium a couple of years ago and feeling enthusiastic. My well of inspiration has dried up but I'm using this time to encourage a more spiritual approach to life. I asked my friend how her art was going. She, too, despite being surrounded by deeply spiritual people, said she had not painted for a long time because of the mess we are all in. But her spiritual advisor, who has guided her in so many ways, told to go back to her painting, but start with something simple and not as challenging. She did, and found it encouraging. I plan to do the same. Living a quiet, kind, thoughtful life has its own merits and strengths, especially when one can share the kindness and empathy.
I definitely relate to and agree with all this. The local protests have actually had a celebratory atmosphere and I realized joy and getting together are subversive of this fascist reality. I'm doing lots of singing and making art and more writing.
I like this piece. I do. It hits something deep and necessary.
Empathy as defiance. Kindness as rebellion. Beauty as resistance. These are not small things in an age of cruelty—they’re oxygen. They remind us who we are before the machine tries to make us forget.
And it’s true: fascism thrives on despair, on alienation, on the slow suffocation of joy and imagination. So yes—paint, sing, dance, feed your neighbors, light candles in the dark. I’m here for all of it.
But.
At some point—and that point is now—all this compassion, all this decency, all this beautifully defiant humanity must translate. It has to become strategy. It has to become confrontation. It has to become, as Snyder warned us, a refusal to obey in advance.
Because while we’re cultivating gratitude, they’re stacking courts.
While we’re writing poetry, they’re writing executive orders.
While we’re staying joyful, they’re preparing the apparatus to make sure the next protest is your last.
There is no contradiction between staying human and fighting like hell.
But one cannot substitute for the other.
So yes—flip off the fascists with joy.
And then flip over their tables.
Block their roads. Fund their opposition. Sabotage their plans. Use your money, your voice, your body, your time. Break their narrative. Dismantle their infrastructure. Strip them of power—while we still can.
This isn’t just a culture war. It’s a contest of wills.
One side is organized, armed, and hungry for dominion.
We can’t meet that with vibes.
We need beauty and resistance.
Kindness and confrontation.
Hope and teeth.
So yes, keep your joy. But remember—joy alone won’t stop a boot.
You’ll need to stand. And push back. And mean it.
Dino, that was beautifully expressed -- a form of resistance in your reply! Thank you.
Thank you, Anne. Coming from 40 years in military and government I tend to hit the ground running. Yet, I am sensitive to the felicity of peace and good will, as well as their moderating effect when in desperate contest.
Bravo Dino! Exactly why I have learned to embrace the term: Joy Warrior :)
Also, thank you for your service! My father, husband & his father all served: I learned to have gratitude for our military @ a very young age.
“My father, husband & his father all served” 🫡 💪 💪💪
So basically, simultaneously: “Become Ungovernable”…(?!!)
Well said, ALL
My husband and I live on a corner lot, and he’s planted a flower bed facing the corner, which will bloom to spell out “8647.” It’s giving us and our neighbors who’ve noticed a lot of joy!
BRAVO!!! Well done!!! And may that wish spelled in flowers come true!!!
Amen, John. I lit a candle and flipped the bird in your honor.
Empathy is my war cry. Joy is my resistance. And my wallet? It ghosted fascism years ago.
While they rage-scroll Fox News, I’m baking queer cookies, tipping drag queens, and donating to librarians.
I'll be wishing them deepest well-being, bathing in the glow of their bitter prayers—while joyfully starving their businesses.
We’re not just surviving—we’re throwing dance parties in the apocalypse.
Thanks for the sermon. Off to weaponize beauty and kindness like the cheeky anarchist monk I am.
—Virgin Monk Boy
BIG LOVE to you! Keep dancing in the apocalypse and stay cheeky!
One of the heaviest things on my heart for years, and something strangely absent in much political speech, is the poorest of the population of this country, namely homeless people. More than 500,000 people in the richest country on the planet, are sleeping every night on the street. I was once one of them. I advocate for them every chance I get. I wrote a novel that includes some of my experiences 5 years ago (shameless self-promotion, I know). It is surprising to me how many people who read it have no idea what challenges homelessness brings into a life. It is called Life At Ground Level, and I encourage everyone to give it a look, especially in these troubled times.
If this shitzkrieg economic meltdown brought on the Bigly Orange Malignance (a.k.a. Donny Two-Dolls) & cronies & henchmen & axmen & ICEmen continues apace, there will be many many many many many more homeless. Folks may be forced to choose between shelter and food. I may be one of those. I'm scared for us all. I'll check out your novel.
It's not wise to create a large number of people who have nothing to lose.
Nope, it mos' def' is not. Way beyond the middle finger, a very malcontent snappish Floofie, and perhaps a whole herd of us, may bite Orange Shitler where it counts, and keep on biting.
Just don't swallow. Might be poisonous. 😉
Oh good golly Miss Molly, hadn't thought of that! Ew.
I love these! I have been giving the middle finger through some of these and will expand my finger giving with being more joyful!! I am so grateful for YOU, John!
Finger-giving as a sacred act! Keep on keeping on, and keep up the good joy, Teresa!
Excellent suggestions!
May I add to the financial component to shop local in any way you can, especially with tariffs and trade wars (and everyone's shrinking wallets) brutally hitting the small businesses and farms in so many ways. Buy that loaf of artisan bread, shop a farm market, give your business to a mom and pop cafe instead of a chain, enjoy a brew at a pub that features local musicians.
Also, if your town is lucky enough to still have a LOCALLY owned small newspaper, please subscribe and support them, even if they mail you a complimentary copy each week. Many areas are in a news desert and citizens no longer feel a connection to their communities or schools, thus the extremists easily slide in with their twisted views and control. Please be aware however, of the fake imposter newspapers that pop up before elections or in highly contested swing districts. Thousands of them are owned by Metric Media, a right wing propaganda outfit that will impersonate legit local papers. Research the name, publisher city and postmark before deciding. The content will usually show it's true colors by page 2. Middle finger to them as well!!
Good stuff, Shelly P! Very inspiring, all these helpful actions I can take during these dark troubled times. All damned good ways to support each other -- and flip the bird to those who are trying to tear this nation limb from limb. Thank you!
Thanks, Shelly P, for the info on those fake community papers. I've not seen them in our little county, bit I'll be on the lookout. We are fortunate to have an award-winning rural weekly here.
Once again, thank you for reminding us that we have the power to be positive, find gratitude and joy, and do good in many small ways in our ordinary lives.
Headed out to do a bulletin board about affordable housing initiatives for our church. I can't think of a better middle finger to the people who are in Congress at this very minute crafting a budget package that will derail funding for affordable housing. I feel so much better now.
Perfect message for me today!
All good strategies! Lawsuits are one of the better ways to gum up the works for Project 2025; personally I donate to ACLU, EarthJustice and other groups that fight back in court.
Yesterday, I was speaking with an American friend who lives in an ashram in another state. She is a gifted artist who has worked hard for the success she is finally achieving. I am a photographer who was entering the art world in a new medium a couple of years ago and feeling enthusiastic. My well of inspiration has dried up but I'm using this time to encourage a more spiritual approach to life. I asked my friend how her art was going. She, too, despite being surrounded by deeply spiritual people, said she had not painted for a long time because of the mess we are all in. But her spiritual advisor, who has guided her in so many ways, told to go back to her painting, but start with something simple and not as challenging. She did, and found it encouraging. I plan to do the same. Living a quiet, kind, thoughtful life has its own merits and strengths, especially when one can share the kindness and empathy.
This is the way to go. I just had some big round buttons made that say “Resist with joy”. Makes me and other people smile…counter cultural indeed. 😉
Giving them the middle finger!
One of my current mottos is:
“Every day should be Small Business Saturday”. Oh, and I proudly wear a guillotine pendant, from an Etsy artist, of course.
If you need a laugh, please read JoJo from Jersey’s
“The Stupid Goes to 11” on Substack.
Appreciate this right now! Authoritarians have no power if we don’t submit, and this fits right in. Enjoy!
I definitely relate to and agree with all this. The local protests have actually had a celebratory atmosphere and I realized joy and getting together are subversive of this fascist reality. I'm doing lots of singing and making art and more writing.