Now is the Time to Channel Anger into Action
This is militant decency in motion.
A while back, I wrote about a concept popularized by Terry Pratchett called militant decency. Terry Pratchett is one of the best authors of all time in my opinion, and there wasn’t a social issue he didn’t try to address in his works, most notably the Boots Theory of Economic Unfairness.
In a nutshell, militant decency is the notion that you can and should get incredibly angry at the state of things. Anger is fine, good, and a natural response to all of the injustice in the world, and holy crap the world is full of injustice these days. The overturning of Roe was just the most recent step in a long, long list of the right’s attacks on our rights and freedoms.
The thing about militant decency is that the anger, which again is a natural response, needs to be channeled into action. That action can be a lot of things — anything from protesting in the streets to leaving a $20 tip as a quiet protest of bad work conditions at Starbucks. You can and should be angry, but that anger needs to go somewhere, so it might as well be productive and helpful to the cause.
Now is the time for it. Get angry. Be furious. Yell, scream, cry, grieve, do whatever you need to do, and when you’re done, act. Use the anger to make a change, to do something productive, to fight the oppressors. Channel your anger into something positive. Now is the time to be angry.
Most importantly, never let anyone, especially someone on the right, tell you to not be angry. People on the right like to do stuff to provoke reactions, then insult you for getting rightfully angry. Fuck that. Your anger and frustration at the situation are incredibly warranted, and you are well and truly entitled to that anger.
We have all been through a lot lately, and in this and so many other cases recently, anger is an appropriate response. So too is grief and sadness, and so too is numbness. We have spent six years in hell, with Donald Trump doing his absolute best to strip rights from most Americans and set up his little fascist wet dream, and COVID for over two years now.
And, now that a stolen Supreme Court has overturned what they all said was “established case law” in their sworn depositions before congress, it feels like an appropriate time for a whole bunch of emotions. Grieve, be sad, be numb, be unfathomably angry, and feel your emotions, whatever they may be. Then, when you feel like you’re ready, act.
Channel your frustration and rage into action and change. Destroy the patriarchy, burn down the systems of government that oppress you, and show the shitty old white men who would dare take your rights no quarter. Vote them out and send them home in disgrace. Run for office against the Mitch McConnells of the world and let them know that their time has passed.
Tell them that we’re not going to take it anymore. Yell it from the rooftops, from the streets, and from every corner of this country. Fight the powers that be and give them what-for. Show those shameless bastards that they should feel shame, and they should be afraid.
I once again repeat the immortal words of Dee Snider and Twisted Sister:
We’re not going to take it!
No! We ain’t gonna take it!
We’re not gonna take it anymore!
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