Is that the State Department flag or is it a flag near the State Department?
I mean the US is certainly in distress
Eh. The majority are chillin.
This is exactly what they voted for.
I didn’t vote for him, but I am chillin’. The president, whoever that may be, has little impact on a citizens day to day life. I am far more concerned of who the governer of my state is.
The majority did not vote for this. The majority of voters didn’t even vote for this. He only won a plurality (<50%)
No vote. No opinion.
He got the majority of votes. He got the majority of the electoral.
The majority of participating voters wanted this.
Just because you guys cannot fathom how anyone would want this doesn’t mean this is the same panic inducing situation for them. The majority of politically active people in the United States of America wanted this to happen as evidence of the election we just held.
No. He got a plurality of the votes. Not a majority.
The majority of participating voters voted against him.
How many times do you need that repeated to understand?
I guess one more time?
Outdated data. The votes were not done being counted on November 10th. Trump got 49.8% to Harris’ 48.3%
Ah. Fair enough. Last time I had seen it it was more than 50% still. Well then by a technicality not a majority then. I do love a technically correct statement so I’ll give you that one.
Still. More people voted for this than didn’t vote for this.
That’s not the final count
Yes thank you. It’s already been pointed out several times.
I mean, I’m sure you’re right. What I don’t understand is how that technicality is even relevant. Even if 40% of the people voted for this, does that not still mean you have a sick and dangerous population on your hands? We’re talking about tens of millions of people that voted for a fascist regime.
It means he doesn’t have the popular mandate they keep claiming they do.
But yes. Half of adults are functionally illiterate. 5th-6th grade reading levels. They can physically read the words, but will only grasp the most basic surface level meaning. Republicans’ started attacking education decades ago. This is what they wrought.
He got the support of all the people who voted for him and all the people who didn’t vote against him.
Lucky the USA allows everyone to vote no matter what; doesn’t schedule it for a standard workday, meaning nobody has to choose between feeding their kids and voting; plans out enough polling stations so that people don’t have to wait for hours without access to food, water, or seating; doesn’t surprise deregister voters with little notice; and sends out absentee ballots reliably with sufficient time to return them…
Georgia had both mail-in absentee voting and, especially, 2 weeks of early voting including on weekends. In most places the early voting lines weren’t terribly long. On election day most places were short.
Most people still didn’t vote.
Some people couldn’t vote. Millions of assholes just didn’t bother and are partly to blame.
Big difference between all (the comment I replied to) and most
No
Inaction is an action. The majority are ok with this, otherwise they would have voted.
Given that he campaigned claiming he wouldn’t be enacting Project 2025 (even though it was obvious he would be), I don’t think you can claim people not voting are automatically okay with him breaking that very explicit promise.
No. Americans do not want this. Americans especially didn’t want it done by some nutjob private citizen who has zero authority to do what he’s doing, and no oversight.
No. Americans do not want this
Then they would’ve voted.
By not voting they are saying they are ok with either option.
That’s how democracy works. Voters can bury their heads in the sand, it doesn’t make the politicians go away.
Getting voted in is NOT permission to break the law.
He’s illegally bypassing Congress with his actions. Doesn’t matter if this is what your dumbass voted for, it’s not how this works.
Sounds an awful lot like you’re trying to convince yourself rather than me.
Doesn’t matter if this is what your dumbass voted for
The projection doesn’t help.
Trump has been pretty clear that this was his plan. Anyone surprised by this is just willfully ignorant.
Definitely. Do we know if the people who wanted a criminal moron in charge are still cheering him on, or are they starting to catch on to the fact that his plan always was to thoroughly fuck everyone over? Well, everyone but his clique.
They’re still cheering. No other awareness to be had
As long as the right people get hurt they’re happy.
Republicans would shit their own pants just to make us smell it.
They’re gonna be a lot less happy when they try putting armed citizens in camps and they get fucking shot.
Time has shown that these motherfuckers don’t even care if “the right people get hurt”
As long as there is hurt, and their preferred propaganda machine tells them, they’re happy.
They do care. They’re ok with people in authority hurting them but if a minority does, someone lesser than them, they’ll burn a fucking neighborhood down to get them.
Holy hell, the shit the pants statement is so on point.
They were wearing diapers to support their dear leader.
This is the most succinct you’re ever going to get
in south park he fucks illegal canadians to death, but in real life he is doing it to americans
They’re completely caught in the misinfo and still cheering him on. Anyone getting hurt must have deserved it and if they’re getting hurt it just shows how important it is to hurt the others back.
Everyone just giving their opinion but the answer is mixed. Some regret, many don’t. And it’s not just disinformation, people have to deal with their own cognitive dissonance. Just on the radio earlier was an Arab man still defending vote for Trump because “it’s just rhetoric” right now. He’s willing to say it’s terrible rhetoric, but won’t come to terms with the vote being a bad decision.
They will deny it until they can’t and go right back to denial the moment they can.
He’s their security blanket, their binkie. Any parent knows it’s nonsense but to the child’s mind the magic of the binkie it is real. Arguing the reality of the binkie is futile.
Parents can rely on their child growing out of magical thinking but since these are adults, we’ve got to accept they are forever lost to the magic.
Their need for president binkie cannot be argued with. It can be slipped from their grasp by logic or trickery. The magic must be shattered, utterly and irrevocably. Only they can choose when that occurs.
Yes, but actually no.
Children, regardless of “magical thinking” naturally do not possess cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a learned skill instilled into them by other adults. Everytime a kid asks “what’s wrong with daddy?” when he’s lying on the floor after having too much to drink, and the housewife replies “he’s just sleeping honey, now stop asking stupid questions” we gradually learn to deny our senses, critical thinking and reasoning skills. Children don’t need statistics or scientific journal entries, they can sense when something is wrong. If they see one of these protests outside on the way to the grocery store with mommy they can put two and two together without having to turn on CNN. Yet full grown adults can convince themselves a new pizza parlor must be opening.
A child’s mind is better at discerning nonsense from the truth than you realize. It is we who repeatedly teach them that they are wrong.
Imagine being the person running this up the pole at the fucking state department.
The gravity well produced from the balls of this person (all genders included) is pulling me from miles away.
For real. Serious props to this person.
balls so big they make black holes
Black cojoles
should
Ok now… This verb does not exist in state politics. Sooner you realize it, the better.
In most cases ‘shall’ and ‘should’ is synonymous with ‘must’ for legal purposes.
[cries in RFC 2119]
I used to regulate a local sanitary code that explicitly defined “‘should’ means ‘shall’; ‘shall’ means ‘must’” because lawyers do litigate over these terms.
Saved a lot of time and resources (and public health) where a juxtaposed word in an administrative order didn’t blow up a civil case.
I should myself
Is this real? Nobody is reporting on it.
I’m only seeing one source so far. Not mainstream.
It is on reddit
I’m surprised they haven’t pulled it the way they went ban crazy this morning.
Based on white people Twitter ban this is similar to Luigi situation…
People are just overwhelming their missing ability.
It will be taken down and the opposition sentiment will be supressed in due course.
Right??? Protest coordination on traditional social media is like… iffy now, at best.
Oddly, the recent thing in LA was via TikTok, but to be fair their knee bending is probably superficial at best.
It really makes me wonder how people were able to pull this shit off in the 50s, 60s and 70s when we can’t make it happen today with everything available to us.
they didn’t use maligned, monitored areas for communication… people today should coordinate face-to-face or at worst via telephone if they haven’t already exposed themselves.
Telephones have been insecure for at least 20 years. Cellphones have backdoors built into the protocol standards. Face-to-face or good encryption are the options.
They still had third places where they could organize face-to-face. Think union halls, fraternal organizations (which us Millennials only know about from old cartoons), churches, etc.
See also this Adam Conover video, which isn’t specifically about organizing to protest but nevertheless is pretty insightful about it.
Which of the conservative media in the US do you expect to report it?
but all the mainstream media is run by libruls.
Why does the flag have no stars?
Because the image quality is poor
It clearly does have stars. They just blur into the field because the quality isn’t high enough. Zoom in and you can see there’s slightly whiter dots where the stars should be. You just can’t really make them out.
The real problem with AI is that you have to be so damn skeptical even of real posts.
You write that like you’re sure it’s not real, and/or that others would or should think so. There’s no obvious thing pointing towards it being fake by just looking at the photo, no clear editing signs or anything like that. But we should make sure it is real by finding other photos, there must be more if it is real. And if there was ever a time in our lifetimes where this would be real, it’s now.
This does appear to be the state department flag pole (on 21st street looking East from the state department). And it does appear to be winter, and there is construction in that area around the fed building. But that’s all I can say. The photo is weirdly blurry and grainy so be suspicious.
The photo is weirdly blurry and grainy so be suspicious.
You mean the filthy window? Yeah, something tells me they get pollution there and don’t clean the outside of the windows as often as they should. I’ve seen that kinda filthy often enough on office windows.
That seems like a very bad sign. Someone wanted a message to get out to the public, but I’m not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it. Credit to the person with the balls to send out the warning, though.
There’s nothing that can be done. Republicans have every bit of power there is. At least for the next two years.
This is the message of the enemy. I am not sure what there is to be done, but to say this:
There’s nothing that can be done.
is to give up. The only thing that we ordinary people can know is that the democratic party is unable/unwilling to form an effective resistance right now.
So we must form our own.
You could rise up. Isn’t that what all the guns are for?
No, they say they want their 2nd amendment to protect their country from tyrants. But what they really meant was: to help the tyrant.
There is always one type of power the people have.
I know how anyone could organize something so large, But a mass strike/walkout would have more impact than anything else right now.
None of the common people go in to work until shit stain “abdicates”
Ya seem to not gwt what he is saying, let me make it damn simply. The Tree of Liberty is watered by the blood of tyrants and patriots alike, and Freedom is earned through the barrel of a gun.
This is a strong reason why I would think it would be a tactical error to mess with the elections. Elections are the pressure valve that people are willing to wait for. You can do so much harm and all is forgiven if you step down after an election loss.
Take away that mechanism, and you put all your leadership at huge risk, for minor benefit (history has shown they can get their way like 90% of the time anyway, the “left” will barely even say anything about their material goals and let them stand).
shitposting 🫵😎
Pissposting too 😅
let me help you understand.
I love that you linked this through fucking amazon.
You reminded me me of when I was going through my dystopian fiction phase of reading the first time…I had a big stack of said novels to buy at Barnes and Noble.
They asked if I wanted to sign up for their loyalty card and I was so taken aback. Like…no…I do not want to be in your list.
This is gonna be in my view history on our shared account, and my wife is gonna ask if I’m okay lmao
You can actually edit your browsing history in the Amazon app if you’d like to remove that.
Well, are you okay?
Actually, while we are asking, are any of us?
Would be weird if we are, with the state of everything recently being what it is.
;) very intentional on my part.
“50+ bought in the last month” hmmmmm
When one side ignores the rules, power is the only thing that matters.
I’m not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it.
History offers no control groups; there is no “right” way to proceed. What’s certain is that “nothing” is not the answer.
Maybe we shouldnt vote. Thatll show em
People should get creative. Imagine if they backed up every sewer in DC
History offers one very good “right” way, imo.
I’m not even joking but if this doesn’t happen there’s no hope for the future. we’re past the point of simply prosecuting and hoping they get some time in prison. examples need to be made so others know that just because the supreme court said it’s legal to do whatever the fuck you want doesn’t mean you’re getting away with it from the public.
I used to say “You know Monopoly is an old game, because it has rich people in prison”. The moment we stopped to hold them accountable, everything went really bad. And if the legal systems don’t hold them accountable, it’ll be the duty of the common people.
Maybe we should double down on capitalism again.
It’s the only move the US has used in living memory.
Like when Elon gets rid of “all regulations” make private bounty hunters/hitman legal again?
Anything is legal if it’s not prosecuted.
And with a dismantled government, how much can they really prosecute?
They won’t have to prosecute you if they just arrest you for being ‘violent’ or ‘terrorists’ and ship you off to El Salvador.
Yup. And if they’re not prosecuted for it. Then their actions are “legal” as well.
They won’t - that’s why your military will soon be a judicial militia.
Prosecution is one possibility. Getting gunned down is another. Getting sent to Gitmo is another. Having your family retaliated against is another.
I assure you the last thing to be dismantled will be methods of enforcement on the populace.
It looks like this is the end.
Does anyone else hear violins?
The house has been burning and smoking for hours and people are still thinking that the fire just started
No way. Harris getting elected would have been the end of this just like in 2020. That’s why we must attack anyone critical of her, apathetic voters, and pretty much everyone else except for the DNC.
The culture war would have taken a different direction, but the class war would continue unabated. The owners of the Republicans and the Democrats are all on the same side in the class war.
Please fuck off, thanks.
I’d prefer it if the radical liberals would fuck off so that they stop handing every election to the Republicans by running on diet-Republican policies thank you very much.
And what are you (or literally anybody else) going to do in the next two years to organize a viable progressive party with viable progressive candidates?
You sure you got the demographics right? Or do you think maybe Lemmy isn’t an accurate reflection of the nation as a whole, with respect to political ideology?
Radical liberals
Lol k
It seems like you people believe that voting for Harris (and pointing out objective reality that it was the only real choice) precludes a person from being a leftist or progressive. You alienate the people who actually probably agree with you on a lot of things because they don’t pass your purity test.
Leftism in a nutshell.
You mean “viable candidates” like Clinton, Biden, and Harris who can’t win elections and put Israel, corporations, genocide, and xenophobia before the American people? These candidates who would gladly let Republicans take over the entire government if it means they don’t have to turn their backs on fascist leaders and their wealthy masters?
The Democratic leadership are more interested in enabling the right than opposing them, which is why we all witnessed your “only choice” spend her campaign attacking immigrants and the working class and promoting human slaughter while touring around with the fucking Cheneys. This is why they crushed the only candidate who actually inspired voters in 2016 over the candidate who would get Donald Trump elected the first time. This is why they’re standing around now making empty statements of “concern” while the government is being dismantled literally feet away from them.
What the fuck are you doing to prepare for 2026 other than demanding that everything remain exactly how it is now and attacking anyone who says otherwise?
We truly are fucked if you reflect the nation as a whole because all you are is the controlled opposition arm of the Republican party. You only exist to give the voting process an air of legitimacy when the outcome has already been decided beforehand.
- Is this real
- What does it mean?
- Where are we in terms of worrying? Should I begin to start to think about worrying or something more urgent?
-
I think so.
-
That’s unclear but my take is that this is an expression of the distress felt by the employees, and perhaps the only possible outlet for their feelings. I suspect that it’s more likely the action of one or two people rather that some kind of collectively approved signal.
-
I just don’t know. I’m not even American but I feel very discombobulated.
-
#3 depends where you are on the hit list I suppose. I’m trans, so I’m well past worry-o-clock and am actively making arrangements to leave the country. Someone like a cishet white male tech worker has a lot less to worry about though
You found a way to scream withouy caps–impressive I wish you the best comrade!
That looks like a PieFed bug - the leading # should normally not be parsed into a headline in Markdown unless it is followed by a space. I’ll give @[email protected] a heads up!
That said, there’s every reason to scream at this point. I wish all Americans seeking to flee the country the best of luck.
It’s a bug, yep! Will look into it.
You should have been worrying for years now.
It appears to be real. The federal government is currently in the midst of the most comprehensive purge in the history of the nation, and many career civil servants are being asked to retire early with a severance “or else”. The worrying part should have come when Project 2025 laid out the groundwork for what is happening right at this very moment, back when it was first revealed. Trump intends to replace all of these government workers with yes-men and cronies who will be loyal to him and him alone, and not the constitution or the American people they are meant to serve. The damage being done right now will probably never be reversed in our lifetimes and will pave the way for absolute executive control - in other words, a dictatorship. This is not alarmist, this was the plan all along and nobody listened.
If you don’t have a plan to GTFO in case things get even worse, I would start making one right now. You have to set an uncrossable line yourself and be prepared to act on it, because other people are going to continue to go along with this until the very end, so you can’t count on other people to be giving you signals on when to bail out.
- I see little reason to doubt it
- It means whoever hoisted it considers there to be a crisis, which is consistent with accounts of public offices being overtaken by random young white men who are rapidly taking control.
- Speaking as a non-American political scientist having worked a little with rule of law and fascism, it seems a bit late to start worrying. Think about what you can do for yourself, your neighbours, and your country, urgent or in the longer term. It’s going to be ugly for a while.
The new “phone, wallet, keys”
Here’s something we could fix:
We have no recall option! WTF! We should have such a mechanism. We should ask Congress to enact a law where we the people can recall the president via votes if we can collect enough signatures just like we are able to do for other things.
Not just the president, but any elected official.
Now why would the elected officials do something to their own detriment? You want them to act like representatives or how they’ve been acting?
Many states have done things like that. the problem is for the feds its all defined in the constitution so getting an overwhelming majority to agree to limit power needs an overwhelming push.
Imo the best thing to do would be push for a constitutional amendment that creates an initiative system that fully bypasses congress.
We do. It’s the 2nd amendment. Literally what it was written for, the forceful reclamation of democratic freedom should it be taken by a tyrannical leadership. Too bad everyone that actually gives a damn about that option is on red team, and blue team thinks the 2nd amendment is for killing children and nothing else.
Too bad everyone that actually gives a damn about that option is on red team, and blue team thinks the 2nd amendment is for killing children and nothing else.
Thank you for acknowledging the quiet leftists who take responsibility for ourselves. I’ve been really upset with the crisis-mining nonstop drama panic rhetoric and dis-education about firearms from the Democratic party and their sockpuppet gun-panic action groups.
(While they openly perpetuate systematic issues that increase likelihood of gun violence, of course.)
Now firearms ownership is disproportionately in the hands of conspiracy nuts and goose-stepping good-ol-boys, while many liberals are dogmatically hoplophobic and ignorant about them.
Reminder that the Socialist Rifle Association is a thing.
Educate your friends, get them out to the range, and by Almighty God keep close social ties on each other’s mental health.
I want to solve our problems with words and witty reparté, but all those safeguards are quickly breaking down and we’re seeing an increasing threat of mobilizing angry everyday-sadists looking to hurt people, and stern memorandums aren’t gonna cut it.
We do. It’s the 2nd amendment. Literally what it was written for, the forceful reclamation of democratic freedom should it be taken by a tyrannical leadership.
Except that’s not what it was written for. That’s a modern interpretation.
The 2nd amendment was written because Madison believed a standing army would make the Federal government too powerful, so he didn’t want a large standing army. He wanted each state to have a militia made up of citizens. He changed his mind on the matter after the War of 1812.
You know the 2nd amendment wasn’t about allowing overthrows of the government because the government put down rebellions with weapons in the years following its adoption.
I mean, to be fair, the red team thinks it’s pretty much only for killing children too…
It’s ok once they’re born, god only loves fetuses.
This is exactly why I’ve always maintained that the 2nd amendment against tyranny is complete and utter horseshit. There will never, ever, be a case in which civilians can take up arms against the US government and have any remote shot of doing anything. Any tyrannical government will get to where they are with such significant support they will be so ridiculously protected you’d have to take on the entire military and legal branches of the USA.
In 1814 when every has a flintlock pistol? Sure. Now? Have fun getting remote drone striked before you even step foot into Washington D.C.
The Taliban won and they don’t have advanced technology.
Yeah, let’s just organize 100,000+ people right under the nose of the US government, on the damn homefront, to overthrow a tyrannical government, all the while being spied on via every backdoor on Earth by the NSA. Good luck and have fun having your house burned down.
When CW II kicks off some people will be caught, some people will be thrown in prison, and some people will be killed.
Remember it’s “home of the brave”, not “home of the cowards”.
Remember it’s “home of the brave”, not “home of the cowards”.
I have yet to be proven otherwise.
It’s already been proven.
Then just move. I know the current administration is happy you are spreading propaganda that states to roll over since there’s nothing to do. You are the maga hero.
Look, I’m not saying to just roll over, but wtf are we supposed to do. The second amendment is there, I don’t see anyone utilizing it, and I don’t think they ever will.
The 2A is there for you to do things, but it’s not only simply about rising up. It’s about instrumentalization. When every citizen can be armed “just in case”, all you need is for that to statistically compound into a Luigi or two getting three lucky marked shots on the tyrant du jour.
Let’s pretend any of that actually matters and the US government doesn’t have a history of losing to locals, and ask the following: what happens if you willingly disarm yourself? Criminals will still have guns, your police will still shoot “less-lethal” rounds into the heads of protesters, and you will still be oppressed.
What do you get out of this? A fraction of the illusion of safety? And all it cost you was the last defense against oppression anyone has.
I really don’t care to get into overarching discussion of the 2nd amendment, it’s been done to death. It’s also not what this conversation was about.
Yeah idk man, once they start putting IEDs on I-90 things are gonna change real quick.
I believe in the 2nd Amendment, but certainly NOT to overthrow the government for light and transient causes. I don’t take Trump lightly, but he hasn’t turned into a total despot yet. There is grave risk, but there’s also a chance his abuses will lead to reforms that limit Executive branch powers. I think many non-Republicans like our guns as much as Republicans, but we don’t bluster about them and unlike Republicans we don’t rebel because our candidate lost an election.
light and transient causes
dude… they’re making concentration camps. This isn’t just a “candidate”
That moment was Jan 6th. There was no heavy and hard change in Hitler’s Germany from the Beer Hall Putsch all the way to Stalingrad and the gas chambers. It’s all boiling the frog from here to there. Every change will seem like a light and transient one. By the time you feel you should go all in on the 2A, you will be mostly alone. That is by design.
In fact, we are already in the Gleichschaltung and the appeasement phase.
From a VA employee:
This is destroying the Agency. People come to work terrified every day. I don’t know a single competent and qualified person who isn’t actively looking for work elsewhere and the only people who will be left to serve our Veterans are those with no other choices. The amount of sheer experience, knowledge, and brainpower being lost is irreplaceable, and the trust is already broken. We’ll never get it back. I am heartbroken that so many Republicans deeply, deeply hate us for doing our best every single day to serve Veterans. I will never forgive them for this.
https://open.substack.com/pub/progressreport/p/revenge-of-the-whiny-pampered-baby?r=2lkdbh
I don’t know what you think despotism looks like, but this sure as hell isn’t democracy nor is it a republic. This has nothing to do with losing an election, this has to do with some people’s fantasy that Trump will ever give up power. I guess we need to wait until evidence surfaces, and then only iron clad evidence that the worst is happening will possibly motivate them, maybe.
I disagree with your overall assessment that we are experiencing “light” or “transient” causes for general revolt.
I think the most likely the despotism and the scenario @[email protected] describes will not happen. The thing is if they do happen, they are disastrous. It’s similar to how in Russian roulette you’ll probably be fine. I don’t know what level of risk justifies a armed rebellion. At this point an armed rebellion would turn a disaster that might happen into a certain disaster.
I am not saying to appease them or not protest. I am still hoping the US can be saved without violent rebellion.My friend, it’s already happening, a lot of it has already happened.
The Gleichschaltung is already in motion, they are throwing out the mainstream press in favour of OANN and Breitbart from the Pentagon for example. They are building a “new media”, pushing thousands of random influencers and podcasters to drown out established news outlets. Trump is extorting CBS for billions just because he can.
Institutions are being actively dismantled, some could resist, but the OPM is in serious peril. They are basically planning to replace everyone and building a new state apparatus.
This is not bluster and promises, this is actually happening, a lot of it has already happened and can’t easily be undone, and almost none of it was legal.
Trump is already sending threats all over the world, and a lot of countries are tring to appease him. For now, he’s seeing what he can get away with. We’ll see what he’ll do once he sees that Canada won’t do an Anschluss.
There’s only one way this gets stopped. And the people that would need to do it think they’ll have a ‘prime minister’ title when the dust settles and not that they’ll be chucked out a window. It’s some weapons grade stupid and apathy letting this happen and they’re just hoping that god king chooses to keep them around it’s all so pathetic
So… General Strike to stop the coup?
The State is in distress. Who will answer the call? Who will come it’s aid? We have all been summoned.
(Super Mario Brothers music from stage 1-1 starts playing)
Batman?
Gondor
Wasn’t the upside down us flag thing used by j6’ers? Are the line workers taking it back as the symbol of a stolen country for themselves, or is this Musk and crew indicating we’re fucked?
Its nothing exclusive to J6. Its an international sign that an insurrection or coup has occurred or is occurring.
Not quite, it’s an international sign that a vessel is in distress.
Then mostly right wing lunatics co-opted it to mean that our country is in distress.
I could be mistaken, but I think that was a consideration when designing the stars and stripes. The colors and lack of symmetry make it easy to see its orientation from a distance.
Which they co-opted from protesters in the 60’s, rallying against the Vietnam war, which they co-opted from the Revolutionary war, where (allegedly, much harder to source), the revolutionaries also flew the Union Jack inverted. Its history to mean insurrection in the US is as old as the US.
Its been used in many other instances internationally, and yes, also at sea with a much deeper history to signal distress. Regardless, the pedantry is both technically and figuratively misplaced.
which they co-opted from the Revolutionary war, where (allegedly, much harder to source), the revolutionaries also flew the Union Jack inverted.
If they did, I assume a half dozen vexillology enthusiasts with good eyesight got very concerned.
also flew the Union Jack inverted
How could they tell?
The flag isn’t symmetrical, which is where the orginial flying the flag upside down comes from. It’s subtle enough pirates wont notice but an experienced British naval officer will and come rescue you.
It’s a sign of distress.
They were distressed, but it’s only because they’re sore losers and couldn’t cope with Trump losing.
This is actual distress, it’s appropriate this time.It has been used by punk bands and Anarchists waaay before that
Relevant: https://youtu.be/ZwMVMbmQBug
Performative resistance from inside the machine. Cute gesture, but distress signals only work when someone’s actually coming to help. Meanwhile, career diplomats keep writing memos and processing visas while posting their quiet protests on social.
Remember when we thought these symbols meant something would change? Now it’s just content for the outrage cycle. Tomorrow there’ll be a strongly worded letter, maybe some resigned LinkedIn posts from mid-level FSOs.
The machinery keeps grinding, upside down flag or not. Though I suppose watching institutional despair go viral is peak 2025.
I disagree. Yes, this isn’t the same thing as direct sabotage or anything like that, but I think symbolic gestures like this can be extremely important for morale.
I know that it makes me feel slightly better to see that I’m not alone in my frustrations.
Oh sweetie, let me break this down in terms you might understand. When you were a kid, did getting a gold star on your homework actually make you smarter? No? Same thing here.
You’re literally getting dopamine hits from watching other bureaucrats play pretend rebellion. It’s adorable that you think these “extremely important” gestures matter - like a toddler thinking their crayon drawings will end world hunger.
Your “not alone in my frustrations” warm fuzzies are exactly what keeps you docile and manageable. But I get it - thinking is hard, and feeling is easy. Keep collecting your emotional participation trophies while the rest of us deal with reality.
Want to make actual change? Learn how systems work instead of clapping for performative theatre. But that would require effort, wouldn’t it?
Bro what? You ok?
Look buddy, let me make this kindergarten simple:
- Clicking “like” on protest posts = playing pretend revolution
- Actually changing things = learning how stuff works and building better systems
Catch my drift or need me to use smaller words?
Actually, it’s made this one of the trending posts. Which means more people see it. Which… Can lead to important conversations.
Also, the rise of the Nazi party happened because people allowed it to happen.
Most folks tend to follow the herd. (Or the flock, if you prefer.)
When people see that other people aren’t going to tolerate it…
… That can help to spark/motivate others to actually organize … To lead to a movement.
See also:
- Bill Moyers MAP Movement action plan
- Thom Hartmann on the real history of the Boston Tea Party (they organized in top-secret, and it was about corporate cross-Atlantic (global-trade supply-chains/globalization) high finance, tax exemptions for the wealthy and subsidies. And kind of like Walmart, which was driving local/Indy Tea businesses on the North American continent out from under by giving unfair advantages to the British crown’s East India Tea Company (W Military)
- books via https://bookshop.org/ which supports the Internet archive & local Indy bookstores) ::
- “The impossible will take a little while”
- The dandelion rebellion/revolution
- The power of habit
- human kind (by “a more radical/progressive Malcolm Gladwell”)
Look buddy, let me make this actually simple for you:
Your reading list is peak “I just discovered politics” energy. Throwing around Nazi references while recommending Malcolm Gladwell knockoffs? Really? That’s like citing Wikipedia while claiming to be a history professor.
Actually changing things = understanding that real systemic change doesn’t come from your curated bookshop.org shopping cart. Your “movement action plan” reads like a LinkedIn influencer’s guide to revolution.
And that Boston Tea Party comparison? Please. You’re basically saying “let me explain this complex historical event by oversimplifying it into a Walmart analogy.” The irony of using corporate metaphors to explain anti-corporate action is just chef’s kiss.
The “dandelion rebellion”? Sounds like something a marketing team came up with after their third espresso. Next you’ll tell me we should organize via TikTok dance challenges.
Catch my drift or need me to recommend some actual hands-on experience instead of your self-help revolution reading club?
You really don’t have to be such an asshole. Shit talking potential allies until they give up is not helping.
