“What’s going to happen in this next election? I’m terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter. Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit, it affects us in ways sometimes I think people take for granted,” Obama told Jay Shetty on his podcast “On Purpose.”
“The fact that people think that government — ‘eh, does it really even do anything?’ — and I’m like ‘Oh my God, does government do everything for us, and we cannot take this democracy for granted.’ And I worry sometimes that we do. Those are the things that keep me up,” she said.
“The bars are different for people in life. That I’ve learned,” she said.
Without naming Trump, she continued: “Other people can be indicted a bunch of times and still run for office. Black men can’t. You just learn to be good. And in the end, you benefit from that extra resilience.”
I don’t disagree, but it also only works out so well for many, many people. Like depending on where someone lives, their community is largely the people they needed to be protected from. I’m lucky in that I live in Portland. A fairly progressive, if not at least performative prgressives, but at least we won’t be the first to go. But since I have sympathy and empathy for people, I would rather it not come to that. Accelerationsm is just sacrificing marginalized communities. And I get you’re not much of an ally, and that’s fine. I’ll take people who don’t care but are willing to let us live our lives. But for the rest of us, I can’t get behind the mentality of just throwing people in the fire and saying “Well I’m just gonna watch over myself.” That’s a part of how things like dictators happen. And once that happens, participating locally won’t be enough, because things like local elections wont be a thing anymore.