Personal opinions aside, its not an interesting thought. The propaganda would be the tool that makes it hopeless. Here is a similar sentence : if they were dangerous, they wouldn't need guns. Might be true that without guns they aren't dangerous, but the point is moot if they have guns.
As far as I am concerned, all of the social progress made in America has been a natural progress of a free society. Yes, people have fought for their rights. The natural progress towards a more inclusive society was sped up by the fighting for human rights. But overall, I see it as a natural progress. There is no such thing as a real "conservative" in the United States. What we call "conservative" are a loose grouping of Christo-Fascists, bigots, and misogynists, who all believe "times were better back when" (insert evil excuse for being an a-hole here). The correct term is Regressionists. Those who always want to roll back societal progress. Now the Regressionists have their ultimate weapon. A corrupt "court" that was created by Regressionists, with the sole purpose of remaking American society in reverse.
My mother lived in those era's also. She survived (50/50 chance) cancer back when only treatments were surgery & hard radiation. She continued her 50% chance at life, through 2 more children, other health issues, for another 50 years. Sometimes one makes their own miracles, she refused to believe other people's opinions of her limitations.
"And when love is gone there's always justice. And when justice is gone there's always force. And when force is gone there's always Mom. Hi, Mom! So hold me Mom in your long arms..." ~Laurie Anderson, *Oh Superman"
Personally I've found that when hope fails, there's always spite. We keep aiming to do the right thing, if not because we think we can, then at least because it really annoys the people working to make things worse. If we cant make the world a better place, we can at least piss off the fcking fascists.
This is true. It's why I have an issue with leftists being seen as "tolerant". Sure, we just act like human beings and allow other the same, and that does get us some flak. But here me out: we should have no tolerance for the minority rule's oppression, and they should feel that with every fiber of their being, constantly.
If the American democracy was stable, we shouldn’t celebrate that 5 judges agreed to uphold democracy in Alabama voting map. We should be shocked that 4 judges DIDN’T!
Trump's a stable genius. To be honest, when he said that, I thought he meant he was good with horses. Look, I don't want to stirrup trouble or saddle Trump with blanket accusations but the mane point is that he was making policy on the hoof and that is not something to foal around with. Anyway, I need to trot along and start jockeying for position in my household's bathroom queue. I'll shut up now. My throat is sore and I'm a little horse. As they say in Star Wars, “May the Horse be with you”. PS No, I am not from Filly, you neigh-sayers.
Let's put this another way. Imagine you're a Ukrainian celebrating that 5 missiles aimed at civilian targets were shot out of the sky before they hit your neighborhood. It's still shocking that four did. But you can't let it get to you because the side that seizes the other side's morale wins. If you don't celebrate the missiles dodged, you're going to get defeated pretty quickly. The whole point of bombing innocent families is to break you, right? Don't give them the satisfaction! And never mind that there shouldn't be any bombs headed your way in the first place--they are, that's the reality, so you've got to grab every win that you can to get through this onslaught. The same goes for the battle for democracy. We shouldn't have to be fighting to save our democracy, yet here we are. Okay, then, battle! Cheer every time a bombshell lobbed at you misses the mark, and work on improving on what you get. Don't let anybody shock you into submission. Fight!
This is the doomer mindset Beau is talking about. Ok, there’s some bad happening, let’s accept it, see why it’s happening, and make a map. A map from the present, to the future. A brighter future. Only we have the power to change the future, so let’s do it.
That depends on why they disagreed, honestly. I could potentially see an argument that it was beyond the scope of the federal government to rule for or against any case concerning how election maps and districts are drawn within any given state. Most Americans aren’t aware that the federal government takes a mostly “hands off” approach to elections. The FEC rules are mostly financial, with only a few exceptions. Even the Electoral College is meant to keep Federal involvement in elections at a minimum. Now if those four dissenting opinions were based on those grounds, it should be laid out in the dissenting opinion paper for the case. Every case heard by the Supreme Court has the opinion of both the majority and the dissent written as part of the ruling for just such a reason. The Supreme Court does what I believe our legislature should have to do. They have to explain their reasoning behind every vote. There are multiple dissenting papers on some Supreme Court decisions, simply because the reasons for dissent were different for each justice in those cases.
@@EvolutionWendy Every inch pushed back is a win. Because the other side will declare even their losses "wins" and if we cede that interpretation to them, we really do lose.
I have had one hell of a bad year - both my parents died, my marriage collapsed, was constantly berated and belittled by my mother in law, my housing situation is untenable, my income is evaporating - and those are just a few "high"lights. But I ain't dead; I'm fine and I will continue to improve whatever I have left. And anybody that gets in my way better watch their toes, I'll roll right over them!
I had a year like that, I called it “the year my life fell apart”. I just want to give you a word of encouragement. It took awhile but I have thrived and I am sure you will also. Attitude is everything!
You got that right. It has to be exhausting to be a maga head. The mental gymnastics needed to justify the world view alone has to be draining. I would also venture to guess all the hate takes a toll also. I’m with Beau on this: it’s easier to be a good person.
They believe they'll get endless life in perfect bodies after they're dead, all for getting dunked in some water and kneeling on a Sunday morning. You couldn't make this kind of mental gimcrackery up if you were writing a comic book story.
@thehellyousay someone did. It’s called the Bible. Written by Bronze Age superstitious men. Where every sin can be forgiven except the sin of disbelief. Wrap your head around that. I am of the firm belief that nothing has done more to retard the progress of mankind then religion.
I am probably the most pessimistic person in my circles. That said, I have lived to see much change. From colored drinking fountains, and the ones who stepped off the curb and stared at their toes until the white lady passed by in my childhood to having a daughter that lectures on systemic racism and writes books on implicit bias. I have seen the system rigged in so many ways that I firmly believe that voting is the least effective action one can take but I never miss voting. I go and vote blue in a red state where my vote is swamped but the only thing less effective is sitting on the couch not voting. Stand tall and tilt at windmills, if for no other reason than self respect. I get up in the morning and can look at myself in the mirror knowing that I shun racism and all of the phobias daily. Live and let live to me is what life means. Rapid change always has a backlash as those who cannot keep up rebel at the changes, but progress is made in the end. Frustrating? Yes! Time to surrender? NEVER!!!
Harper v Moore was my greatest concern. The EPA rulling is so disturbing. Make no mistake- poors, minorities(especially black), and workers are the objects of a rabid hate from clarence thomas.
Go back to Malcolm X and listen to him talk about the “house negro” and yes, I had to clean that language up to avoid offending. Thomas has the mindset Malcolm X was talking about. It’s the petite bourgeoisie that Marx wrote about as well. Thomas knows that he isn’t any more important than any other black man to the people who support him, so he goes out of his way to please them. It will bite him on the ass one day, but it keeps him above the “field negro” for now. He is more dangerous than the billionaires that keep him in such a lofty position.
@@almitrahopkins1873 It may bite him in the ass "one day" but the time inbetween then and now is filled with him bing a vicious moron with zero consequences. I hate this.
I was really sweating the Independent State Legislator Theory vote, and when the Supreme Court struck it down, I was surprised, relieved, and hopeful for my country. I'm troubled that it even came into being and that it made it to the Supreme Court, and I'm assuming it's a harbinger of more attempts to come. Still, I'm happy to take this particular "Not Today" though, and be grateful.
Me, too. That one really shook me. We cannot just sit idly by, however. Thank God, or The Fates or whatever you prefer, that SCOTUS shut that one down. But they left the door open and we must fight, fight, fight.
SCOTUS ruled against it became they realized -with the animosity over Roe, loosening gun laws, tightening voting laws, empowering corporations, lowering 1%'s taxes, etc, etc, they are just one more big, "hateful" ruling away from a "Revolution and Sacking" ! They are bidding their time and working on getting more MAGAs into power ! !
The Supreme Court likely supports it but knows the country isn’t ready for something that extreme. In the meantime, they will issue “acceptable” rulings like overturning student loan forgiveness and legalizing discrimination.
Right wing legal “scholars” are coming up with some really desperate ideas these days - the State Legislator Theory, the theories that Trump tried to use to overturn the election, etc. They’re desperate to subvert democracy itself - because they KNOW they’re losing. That they can’t win on merit, because they have no ideas on how to deal with any of the actual problems we face, like climate change, or even just not bankrupting the federal budget. So they want to seize control in a way that it can’t be lost to mere democracy. I hate depending on the Supreme Court, but they’re pretty much all we’ve got against this nonsense.
We need to demand that the ones that received gifts and didn't claim them be impeached. Thomas and Alito should have resigned after all the dirt on them was revealed by investigative journalists.
About 1/3 of my coworkers identify as Trans and more than 3/4 as part of the LGBTQ+ community. We rarely discuss politics beyond the local level but when we do, and when I see folks discuss online, I understand their darkness and dread but I try to push folks to make allies. There is some great stuff happening in Minnesota and Michigan right now. There's are also powerful Trans groups currently serving in the armed forces and Veterans. Reach out and build coalitions. Acknowledge the work and see if you can help. Create sibling groups, sibling neighborhoods, and sibling cities. The organization I work for grew out of the AIDS epidemic, I was just becoming an adult, and seeing the people around me withering and dying, and the government and the "Christian Right" (and that bastard Reagan) ignoring them, blaming them, and glad for it. It was the darkest time and it felt like the end of the world but the good people, the caretakers, the ones wearing pink triangles, the moms, the good politicians, they kept going. Now, I'd say nearly 1/4 of the folks I work with are not just living with HIV, they are thriving. It was devastating getting from there to here but those voices and that wisdom is still here because of the work and the fight and the amassing of small victories. We will get to a good place and these evil or stupid people will be buried and forgotten. United We Will Win. In Solidarity
Your eloquence was very moving. Just one observation in regard to your comment about evil or stupid people. Evil and stupid are not mutually exclusive. All too often they are found together. And as Exhibit A, I give you Donald Trump.
When you see how much society has shifted around trans issues in such a short space of time- there’s reason to be optimistic. Even 15 years ago, trans people did not have anything near the support and the allies they do now ♥️
To Beau and the Person who sent this in Trans woman, part of a queer household and 1 of 4 trans people in said house and the only one without a uterus. Beau is right, on a long enough timeline, we win. This is getting so bad right now because we are winning, that's what the reactionary movement is reacting to. I know it seems hopeless, and I know it sucks. If the worst happens to any of my three family members, well we live in GA and all of them would prefer their uterus be a yeeterus. But 2 of us are in out mid 40s, one in their 30s, and the new they/them is in their 20s. You have no idea how far we've come in my lifetime if you haven't lived it. On the flip side? Beau? This is why I can never be a pure anarchist no matter how much I love the idea. See, the five of us? My four and them? Statistically? There are fairly good (bad) odds one of us won't be here next year. Suicide, DV, SA, removed by one of these Nazis... It gets worse if you are a BIPOC trans person, a lot worse. The fight against tyranny is never ending, and the only way to fight it is to band together. Whoever you are, hang in there. The world is better off with you than without you, despite how much it hurts. And remember, don't you dare do those Nazi's job for them and every day we fight them is a great big middle finger to them. Never give up, never surrender.
Just a little lesbian here that has been watching our whole community suffer. I, by no means, am facing what y’all are , but i NEEDED to see you comment today. I know it wasn’t for me, but thank you all the same. 🫶🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
"Beau is right, on a long enough timeline, we win. " Maybe, maybe not. I think is many, many things in a long enough timeline we just lose completely. See - The Environment, general public rights, the rising of corporations replacing countries. But on this matter. Sure, if we all get put in a camp, it's cool that maybe in 70 years after we win. But.... What's cooler is not having camps today.
@@Revy575It IS for you. This rolling back of women’s right to choose, & the rights of the 🌈 is all backlash.. but together we can win. I’m 55. I was a tomboy in the 80s. So was my best friend. I lived in a very racist, bigoted town growing up. Rumor spread through the Jr high school that we were lesbians. I was bullied severely for almost 3 yrs. Beaten up, attacked walking home from school (3 miles), burnt w/ cigarettes. I’d walk down the halls & I’d hear them calling me slurs. It was constant. I didn’t give up. It was very hard, but I didn’t give up. Many went through much worse than me. I want you to know I understand, even though I don’t understand, if you know what I mean. I know what it’s like to be threatened just bc of who you are, or who people think you are. We XGens.. when we got to our 20s & 30s… things were still bad, but many of us wanted to change it. And it did change. Now we see the backlash, but THIS is time we have to remain the most steadfast, & not let them win. I know it’s not easy. I really do. Know that you are not alone. There’s many of us, quiet in the background.. but we’re your allies. Many of us are deep believers in equality for all under the law, no matter your skin color, religion (or lack of one), sex, or gender. Whatever. You do you. No judgement if it’s between consenting adults. If we give up & stop trying.. they win for sure. The other thing I wanted to say is, if where you live isn’t safe.. I mean the town or state you live in, bc of changed laws, & local attitudes, consider leaving to a friendlier more welcoming area, if possible. Don’t give up. They don’t deserve to win. 🫶🌈✊💯
Thanks Beau for stressing how important Moore vs Harper was to this time-line. However, it's a shame that keeping rights we already possess is falling under the category of: "wins"
@laurentsaint-laurent3659 Yet the arc of civilization compared from 10,000 years ago to 2000 years ago, to 250 years ago compared to the last 100, has grown steady better. Not for a majority of people but for numbers and percentages far greater than ever in history it has gotten better. Especially, admittedly, in the west. For whom it is spectacularly better. Still even for those that lack with hard lived many still enjoy far more creature comforts and opportunities than their great great great grandparents had. Kings and queens didn't enjoy modern plumbing. Cell phones and such access to information. As Beau suggests we need to look at longer timelines. Not in years and maybe no less than decades. Civilization has reached some current pinnacles not imaginable even 2 generations ago. Steadily better for more people than before. And even for those who do not enjoy those things the model exists. At one time no one could run a mile in 4 minutes. Seemingly forever, unattainable. And then someone did it once. All of a sudden the model existed and more people quickly started doing it. Now it's a standard for being a better than average runner. And there are other examples. Once more people taste some freedom, do better than their ancestors, maybe just have more to eat more regularly the more, those models drive civilization to excel. Once unimaginable things are now possible. Possibly more so for future generations as long as we keep it together and make some improvements over the next couple of them. The long arc of civilization historically bodes better for more and more.
@@nosuchperson284; Don't forget the dark ages that history has seen, two steps forward, one step back. That seems to be the dance of historical progression.
@@jvcyt298the dark ages are not so called because they were bad. They're so called because for a long time we had little information on them - they were dark in the sense of being unilluminated to historians by primary sources. Easy mistake to make, but important to correct.
An extremely wise and effective therapist I knew used to say, "You must count the wins, because the mind can get locked into patterns, and if you only count the bad, that will eventually be all you see, and all you value, so you will begin to miss the good things that occur and register only the worst, making your life a constant agony."
Moore v Harper court decision erred when it stated "the sole authority lies with the states when in truth the sole authority lies with the people and secondly with the states. By constitutional right it should have been handed directly back to the people for final decision by ballot measure.
Some of us wont live long enough to see the change we'd like, Beau. You are still young. SCOTUS will be in place, unchangeable for too long. It only took Rump 4 years to do decades of damage. Good never happens as swiftly--I'm a realist too;)
This is my thing. In 5 years it's unlikely anything on any level will be better. In 20? The best case scenario is that in 20, we're gonna be at a similar level to where we where after Obama left. Shit, maybe when he first came in.
Trump got into power because of too many people on the left and center being too apathetic to vote against his candidacy. Whether caused by doomerism or simple nihilist "nothing matters", inaction is never helpful for *progressive* causes.
Im almost 30 and I know I’ll never see the world I want. Beaus made videos about that too. It’s part of being at the front, you’re pushing towards something you’ll never see.
“If you look for the light, you will often find it. But if you look for the dark, that is all you will ever see” -Uncle Iroh Just remember, on a long enough timeline, we win… garunteed
No. Absolutely not guaranteed. If you win it's because individuals banded together and made it happen. Their is no moral arc to history, unless you bend one into existence. That's why you can't give up.
Greetings from the UK. Bravo! Wise and true words Beau. Keeping your head in the long game is great for morale as a progressive (anywhere in the world). We're not the ones looking at our colleagues and voter base literally dieing off within a generation or so. The conservatives are the ones facing doom, not us.
This writer could have been me. This is the best video you could have made for me, and if I remember correctly, I’ve caused at least four videos. I’ll be saving this one for the future. Today, like many other days, this is what I need to hear. Stay strong, siblings. We won’t all make it through this, but no one can take your joy without your consent. Laugh and dance on the steps up to the gallows. We win.
I'm not a doomer; I'm a realist. But from where I'm located, it's hard to find wins these days. Doesn't mean we give up. But folks should stop expecting fake smiles, too. As always, sending abundant Love & Light from Carroll County, Mississippi. Y'all stay safe and keep taking care of each other. ✌🏼💚
I’m 70 and tiptoe quite a bit, here in Alabama. I have managed to slightly change a neighbor’s mind about non-heterosexual people. Not her husband’s, though. They are in their late 80s. He is a racist, and pitched a fit about Juneteenth being made a federal holiday. I’ve quit dancing around his feelings, and snap back. At 70 years of age, I’m still bigger than he is. 😊
I apply this message to "conservatives" too. They gave up. Building a better world for their children was too hard, too costly, required too many sacrifices. So they quit. And we're suffering those consequences. But we'll get through it. Because we can. We don't have to break the world. We just have to not let it break us.
the truth in your statement is relatively deep, with free flow of information in usa, britain, france, germany, we see a lot of youth becoming very active; in other parts of the world where this is not so, we do not see it as much; this differential will change, is changing right now (asia, africa, south america, etc)
@@niteskylight6699south African trans woman here. Our politicians are starting to mimic yours. I'm coming over there myself to help fix this, I felt safe here four years ago. Now, I don't see the point in staying when the fight is both here and there, but clearly centralized there
I'd go a step further, and say that the doomerism is NOT warranted. It absolutely does matter who we vote for. Things are better than they could be, and we narrowly missed out on them being even better than they are. Would it really be so surprising if Clarence Thomas was replaced by a liberal in the next 5 years? That's just one of many, many possibilities.
Yes, let us hope. I’m hoping for another like Madame Jackson(? Most recent appointee - really competent, intelligent, *rational,* etc. Only improvement I can think of is to have this person be explicitly *Left.* Those are rare, and much needed.)
I guess I would argue that doomerism is warranted on a long enough timeline. Even if we survive the sun turning into a red giant, it is highly unlikely that we survive the heat death of the universe.
I understand the way you feel. Many a time I've been anxious & upset with the world. However. were on this planet for such a short time - better to be grateful to be here & find joy where you can.
Who said we should be content? Discontent is what makes change happen. There is truth in “Be the change you want to see.” As for happy, my happiness isn’t rooted in the state of the nation. It comes in part from waking up, having a roof over my head and food for my belly. A level of joy comes from helping others achieve that.
I pay attention to reality CONSTANTLY and I am VERY optimistic and quite happy thank you. I'm sorry that you are depressed. Overcome it and go forward. The Right BELIEVES we can win, and it terrifies them. Why are we helping them???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Thank you for my favourite phrase of July. "If you want to change the world .... adopt the, absolutely unearned, self-confidence of every middle class white dude on Twitter. That confidence, that desire, that belief that you CAN make difference, that you CAN alter the outcome is the only thing that's gonna let you do it!"
@@roundglasses3629 I would suggest that people never live their lives in a state of "inaction". We are all constantly making choices about the way we live our lives, think about other people and interact with them. Beau is highlighting that "reactionaries" and those who don't question conservative narratives are operating with confidence in their own frames of reference effectively acting in ways that reinforce negative outcomes. In order to counter those strong force of "cultural inertia", it is essential to actively demonstrate positive behaviours. For those with the motivation they can campaign (as "sharp tip of the spear") to make the improvements. The combination of these forces can contribute to the eventual overwhelming of cultural conservatism that we have seen over decades.
“I can't be a pessimist because I am alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter. So, I am forced to be an optimist. I am forced to believe that we can survive, whatever we must survive.” James Baldwin
Love it when people treat optimism as some kind of factual thing. As if people who break under the pain of life are just stupid or something. Everyone has a limit. If you think you don't, you haven't reached yours. Lucky you.
@pendlera2959 I can see how that quote can come across as blithe, but I recommend watching the interview where Baldwin said this. He was actually grappling with the despair you mention when he said this. You are right. Sometimes the pain can outweigh our coping mechanisms or resources. When people do hit that limit, the best thing is just to hold on for the sake of holding on. “Hope has two beautiful daughters, their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and courage to see that things do not remain as they are.”
When you have lived decades 5 for me, you know things take time to change. Republicans and stupid judges are dragging the country backward, so I can see where people can lose hope on the future. Just keep fighting for forward change.
It’s like knowing that courage is not the lack of fear, it’s being afraid and doing what needs to be done, and doing to the best of one’s ability, anyway.
We don’t ever know if something can be changed unless we try to change it. Margaret Mead is still right. It’s always a small group of committed citizens …
"But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward." Yeah the current situation sucks, but you have to live in the world you're in while you fight for the world you want.
Exactly. I literally told my kids on the way home from the carnival tonight, about a friend of theirs that’s had a rough life, you can’t help the hand your dealt but, you can help how you play that hand. You can’t just give up, you do your best to make it the best it can be.
One of the lessons I got stuck in my brain from childhood keeps playing over and over in my head. I grew up in a very rural, conservative area and my grandfather noticed that I would always be quick to have these elaborate ideas that all hinged upon EACH STEP in the 127-step plan working perfectly or....a step could fail, ruining the entire plan. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Son, life's difficult and the way you think [neurodivergent], it's going to be even more difficult for you. You're going to see a path to success crumble around you more times than I care to imagine. However, if you treat each solution as a destination and each problem as a starting point, then you will see there are multiple routes to the same place. Life will throw you detours, learn to navigate them." It's stuck with me for almost 30 years and really helps me not to be so.quick to say."The sky is falling! The world is ending! This task is impossible!" The task may prove to be impossible in THAT moment, but there's nothing wrong with taking a detour and approaching the destination from another angle. For the non-cis, hetero, white men out there who see a change that needs to be made, I often wonder if there's a detour that could reach the end result faster. As far as LGBTQ+ and systemic racism go, the thing that got me on board was watching you guys fight against the current status quo. Normalizing what SHOULD be normal already, but isn't due to ignorance and hate. I know it looks like the whole world wants to exterminate you, and I imagine that it feels like that at times! However, through the detour of having your struggles filmed and "go viral," I believe you're shrinking the number of racist/bigoted/trans/homophobic religious extremists each day and in enough time... they'll be swept away by the current instead.
Bit hard for those of us who have no communities. I don't have anything significant in common with the overwhelming majority of the people I live and work around. I don't like hunting, fishing, athletics, the outdoors, racing, cars, or bars, and I haven't been inside a church except to vote in over a decade (the fact that churches are polling places rubs me the wrong way, too). Communities and friendships are built around common interests; mine are not common or in common. I live in a red state dominated by agriculture and the church. My nearest friend lives over twelve hours of driving away.
The optimism, for me, is that as a white,cis,het (and for myself will add, old) man is that I know I will always stand up, interfere, sound off, and just be there for those without my adjectives until some things change. We are out here. Believe.
Right on! I’ve gotten my neighbor to be a bit more accepting of people “different” from her. Her husband is a different story. I’m 70, they are in their late 80s. The one small advantage I have over him, I’m bigger than he is!
Hope makes you more than you are, a bigger obstacle, a tougher target, so fake it while you make it. Their hate is weak and pathetic and will destroy them.
We need to have hope, but they need to have fear. They need to be shown how weak their hate is compared to our desire to live. Make no mistake, we are beyond hope, and sometimes, hope has to be enforced.
Spite also works. My great grandma shaped most of my worldview and spite served her well for 98 years. Knowing you're pissing off somebody you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire feels pretty good. You can still think we're royally screwed long term (as I do) and still want to do something to piss off people who fall to pieces over the fact that you exist. Country folk, especially here in Appalachia where I'm from, operate on spite a lot more than you would probably think. We've been screwed over by every politician that's ever darkened a door here. Industry sees us as only a resource deposit (human and natural). And, people still believe the bullshit that it's them vs the others - it's always the others who are making things suck, not the people raking in the cash with the status quo. Watching developments long-term doesn't really show a trend in a positive direction either, especially for us not cis/het/white. So, why not be a thorn in their side?
Hope is a hard thing to maintain sometimes & folks often mistake the refusal to give in to despair for optimism. For some of us remaining hopeful is an intentional act born of realizing that radical hope can be a survival skill.
I was once told... Celebrate the opportunities! 🎉Progressives have made large strides. Sometimes we don't acknowledge the progress. We're too busy getting to the next goal without realizing we completed the last one.
I too strongly believe that on a long enough timeline we win, but I also know that I’m able to stay a believer because I moved to the US. There are places where there’s no local Beau, and expressing dissent is very dangerous..
This is the kind of video that gets me. "I know you have a harder life than me. Neither of us wants the status quo. Don't give up." You have a different demeanour when delivering this kind of message. ❤
To be a doomer is to surrender to evil. Our existence as human beings has never been easy and was never going to be easy. We have to fight against a relentless onslaught of malice to protect everything we hold dear. And we have. Our ancestors have. Many have died in this endeavor, and many more will die. To succumb to doomerism is to shit on the suffering and sacrifice they endured to see that we all live in a freer and more compassionate world.
It's wonderful that they actually stopped the Independent State Legislature case from passing, but it's hard not to still feel discouraged over Roe, and the loss of Affirmative Action, and Student Debt Relief. It was a win, but we're still stinging from major losses.
I will soon be 70, in my childhood the school superintendent bragged that the one black family in town knew better than to show their faces after dark. Being gay was illegal and could result in jail time, if male might result in chemical castration. Then only option for most trans people was to live within the “wrong body”. Change can never come fast enough for those who want it, especially if you are suffering but the reality is the only way to change attitudes is slowly or wait for the holders to die off. My grandfather was a racist until the day he died, he never lived to learn that he has great great grand children that are black. As a nation we are two steps forward and one step back, we need to keep that forward momentum going and if we give up it becomes one step forward and three steps back. Don’t give up and don’t let that happen.
When my mother was alive and I was taking her to Drs. appointments, tests, and at the end, talking about hospice care, when medical professionals would ask her questions, her response was "I'm fine." When I was alone with her she would tell me her "real" problems. It was aggravating. We won admission to hospice on a Thursday night and she passed on Friday morning. When I was asked about her gravestone, I laughed and cried a little and said "I'm fine." Every time I visit her, I am reminded of Aerosmith. Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional. I miss my mom every time I read that engraving.
You didn't say what she had, but watching my mother in law dying of cancer fake it at family events when it would absolutely exhaust her for weeks made me look at people differently. A lot of people smile in public and some lash out. Your mom sounds tough AF. 💪🏾
Oh, I didn't know that quote was from Aerosmith, I picked it up in the books of Louise Penney (she has a character who's a crusty old poet who always carries a duck with her, and has a nationally acclaimed book called "I'm fine" , with the subtitle you mention spelling it out. ) Thanks for letting me know the source of a good quote, I'd thought Penney had made it up. And as a person who grew up in stiff-upper-lip culture, I find it a very accurate reading of, "I'm fine."
One of my favorite conservationists in the global conservation movement, Captain Paul Watson states, “the louder the dissent and the higher the forces that rise to face you become, the more effective you have been in your actions and your activism.” I am a master student of history currently studying the holocaust. Nothing gets more hopeless than the depths of a concentration death camp. Hope remains eternal in the passion, imagination, and direct action of the people who want to do the right thing. We will win but that may take time.
We fought so hard making incremental progress towards trans rights. Along the way we had roadblocks, betrayals, and hard ship. Then in 2016 we had an authoritarian movement sweep in and spend 7 years targeting us and trying to destroy all we worked for because they saw us as the vulnerable wedge issue they could use. Trans rights has been set back by 30 years through their hateful actions. It will not take us nearly so long to gain back what they are trying to crush and kill.
You should read Lawrence Britts 14 Characteristics of Fascism. We need to work against all 14, but it will also explain how them choosing you really has nothing to do with you. It is just a means to take control. We need to stop them on ALL fronts. All 14.
@@ValoRuss That sounds like one of those "if this person were asking in good faith, they would have taken the ten seconds to fucking Google it" kind of questions. "The trans." LOL. OK, grandma.
The rulings have gone back for which I am so very sorry. But I do believe majority of people have not gone back in recognizing and accepting of trans rights and other rights validity. I am hopeful there will never again be an election that is not considered important and that the backlash of this hateful court, and political party will be forever a lesson.
Thanks for the reminder, Beau. Them shooting down the independent state legislature theory wasn’t just HUGE, but necessary to the possible continuation of democracy in our country. My pops would always say that I’m a pessimist, to which I would reply that I’m a realist…”That’s what a pessimist would say.” was his inevitable response.
@@Dave1507 idk. i did want to see it. the dvd sitting downstairs hasn't been watched yet. silly me has prime and hulu, so catching up on dvds i own is slow going. plus there's this thing called youtube....
as with anything PR: *'BAD News Sells BEST'* .. this is what doomers are about in the end (any political affiliation). _Or in other words - it's easy to see the gas-lighters in the other group, but not in your own._
Sorry in advance for the long comment: I truly understand the inclination to fall into despair as a queer black person. I lost my childhood community for being LGBTQ, and I grew bitter and angry, shutting myself off from the world for years. I lost so much of my life. However, after finding a new support system (and getting a lot of therapy), I came to realize that if we give up, there will be absolutely NO CHANCE of progress ever being made. The fascists/white supremacists would win 100% of the time. I look at activists who came before me, who laid the groundwork for the good fight to continue (James Baldwin, Marsha P Johnson, Andrea Jenkins, and others). I also see young activists of today who have helped lay the groundwork for future generations (Kat Blaque, Indya Moore, Alicia Garza, and others). Things are dire. I won't deny that. BUT I just cannot let decades and generations of hard work fall apart without a proper fight. Don't give up yall. PLEASE don't give up.
The fascists count on doomerism! The more people give in to doomerism, the less opposition they face ... and for some, the way out of doomerism is to "find" scapegoats
The thing to keep in mind about being doomer-pilled: When you are so down and doomer and convinced nothing good can happen, you create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your inaction makes your fears reality.
I try so hard to be a realist but the weight of what we are wading through pushes me to doomer. You really help me to keep moving forward and having continued faith in humanity. ❤
I'm a realist myself, giving up and feeling doomed is an end. Making change is not easy, if it were we would all be in a better place. Real Life is not a TV show that has a happy ending so we can fall asleep easily. Things are not very good right now, I am displeased but motivated with the hope for change. It takes work and a lot of time.
People "sense" doom when they don't see any possible good endings. It's worth remembering that people can be surprisingly tunnel visioned and myopic. We don't have the whole picture, and the world seldom works in such absolute ways (unless you're diving to the ocean floor or flying to outer space). "What have you wrought upon us?" "A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it." Also worth remembering: YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO GO IT ALONE.
I often get bothered by this when it comes to people who believe their marginalised identity gives them some sort of more objective view on the world no one else can achieve. No fam, your perspective is shaped by your life experience, and it is as un-objective as everyone else's. You trying to sabotage all efforts to improve things is not helping you or anyone who shares your identity.
Speaking of the world working in absolute ways, me and my dad ended up seeing this profoundly stupid movie called "Fall", featuring as protagonists two girls who were up for a Darwin award (you know the type, the kind who take selfies on top of waterfalls and cliffs and whatever). The girls survive their situation (on top of this really tall spire with a broken ladder in the middle of the desert and no way down) way longer than they would in real life, and in the movie only one of the girls gets the Darwin award, but let's face it, if the situation were real both girls get the Darwin award. THAT is a doom situation. And even there, the reason it's doom (and would be absolute doom IRL for both parties involved) is because the stupid decisions the girls make don't end when they climb to the top of that spire. And because that movie is a textbook example of everyone holding the Idiot Ball (which is something I got from TVTropes, pretty self-explanatory).
Trans woman in Texas. 100% agree with you, Beau. I get called a doomer sometimes. But I’m not. If I share something scary I learned about it’s not because I’m dwelling on doom, I’m trying to convince people to vote and to act.
especially after a bad day or news cycle you can feel like a doomer make yourself stand up 1) it will give you a different perspective and..... 2) it will scare those who hate you. you can do it. you are stronger than you know.
Beau, with some of your videos, I feel like I've been to church (an open, accepting one) where I heard a sermon that makes me think, reflect, and want to act on what I've heard. This was one of those "sermons". Thanks, Rev. Beau. 😉
I'd say more realist, and more historically grounded. Yeah we're not where we want to be. Yeah, because the GOP has played the long game, we're going backwards at the moment. But the distant past was worse.
If all you see is doom before you, fight on anyways just to spit in fate's eye. If nothing you do matters then realize that the only way for your actions to have any value is if you value them. You decide you matter to you and you take actions that enhance your value of you.
As a well-off cis-het white woman, I get what you are saying. I would not tell that to my gay son and his husband, nor yet to the transgender youth down the road from us. They are reeling from this past week in ways which I don't think make them especially open to your commentary.
@@ethelryan257 Bravo! As a trans woman's best friend, I wouldn't say that either, and people REALLY need to step outside of their own perspective; and think about how others might read something, before they start selling quaint phrase merch!
Try being a realistic optimist: You believe that things will work out alright in the long run, but it won't be easy getting there. It really helps dealing with all sorts of setbacks and bumps that comes your way.
NEVER give up. Just because it's quiet sometimes doesn't mean you're alone. The reason it's quiet is because actions don't make the noise like talking but I guarantee you somethings happening to keep pushing forward & we need all the help we can get.🤝
That point you made about how doomers will talk about what the problems are but don't take actions to fix anything really hit me. I fell into thinking and acting and I need to get away from it. I'm a cis het white guy, and I hate the status quo for what it means for everyone else. Thanks for this video Beau.
"Everything was impossible until it wasn't." I'm still extremely pessimistic. It's going to be decades undoing the damage of four years, just to get us back to where we were when Obama stepped out, and I have less confidence in it than I do in a coin coming up heads.
"Everything was impossible until it wasn't." Yep yep. "It can't happen in THIS country" libs say. Not remembering this has happened 2-3 times before now. This is one of the things we can safely CAN happen here.
Having said that, I believe the younger generation has copped most of the crap and will cop it for years to come. I think they will come out fighting. They really don't have much choice, because the boomer (my generation) has really screwed it for them. The voted in the republicans, and those republicans got their corrupt supreme court. The younger ones won't put up with it.
@@TheDemonsHaveMe WE? Your screen name doesn't say WeLoggedOnJust4U....now who is it that really decided to open Pandora's box with that kind of comment??
Eventually it will get better. Been mindset since mid 80s as a child. The trauma helped me envision MOST of the outcomes for the negatives of a decision, AKA(over thinking)
One of my favorite memes of all time said, "If it was truly hopeless they wouldn't need the propaganda."
5th at the 5th Column. 🏆
Nice! It reminds me of this quote:
Being in power is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.
- Margaret Thatcher
Right On!
⚡️👊🏼🧐✌🏼🌎
Personal opinions aside, its not an interesting thought. The propaganda would be the tool that makes it hopeless.
Here is a similar sentence : if they were dangerous, they wouldn't need guns. Might be true that without guns they aren't dangerous, but the point is moot if they have guns.
exactly. If voting didn't matter, they wouldn't spend billions trying to stop you from doing it.
It's worth noting that conservatives think us leftists can change the world and they act accordingly. Why shouldn't we?
💯
As far as I am concerned, all of the social progress made in America has been a natural progress of a free society. Yes, people have fought for their rights. The natural progress towards a more inclusive society was sped up by the fighting for human rights. But overall, I see it as a natural progress.
There is no such thing as a real "conservative" in the United States. What we call "conservative" are a loose grouping of Christo-Fascists, bigots, and misogynists, who all believe "times were better back when" (insert evil excuse for being an a-hole here). The correct term is Regressionists. Those who always want to roll back societal progress.
Now the Regressionists have their ultimate weapon. A corrupt "court" that was created by Regressionists, with the sole purpose of remaking American society in reverse.
Absolutely ❣️🇺🇸💙
Good point!!
Great point 👉
My grandfather that survived the Great Deppresion and WWII always stated. "Don't give up before the miracle happens". Works for me.
My mother lived in those era's also. She survived (50/50 chance) cancer back when only treatments were surgery & hard radiation. She continued her 50% chance at life, through 2 more children, other health issues, for another 50 years. Sometimes one makes their own miracles, she refused to believe other people's opinions of her limitations.
Let's see what we can do...
Thank you! My view of that is don't expect to see change in your lifetime. If you do, that's awesome, but no one ever said miracles are short-term.
@railrodemike I really like that, that’s a nice thought :)
My grandmother raised three kids through the Depression. She had the best motto: "We'll manage". And they absolutely did.
Frankly, when optimism seems like too tall an order, moving forward out of _spite_ works.
'Then we must do without hope... there is always vengeance!'
"And when love is gone
there's always justice.
And when justice is gone
there's always force.
And when force is gone
there's always Mom.
Hi, Mom!
So hold me Mom
in your long arms..."
~Laurie Anderson,
*Oh Superman"
That's about all we have left.
Personally I've found that when hope fails, there's always spite.
We keep aiming to do the right thing, if not because we think we can, then at least because it really annoys the people working to make things worse.
If we cant make the world a better place, we can at least piss off the fcking fascists.
I like this tactic.
They are spiteful and bitter and cruel so.....
AMEN!!! 😂(But we *can* make it a better place, so that's where I try to put my energy. 🙂)
Bless! I love this!!
This is true. It's why I have an issue with leftists being seen as "tolerant". Sure, we just act like human beings and allow other the same, and that does get us some flak. But here me out: we should have no tolerance for the minority rule's oppression, and they should feel that with every fiber of their being, constantly.
If the American democracy was stable, we shouldn’t celebrate that 5 judges agreed to uphold democracy in Alabama voting map. We should be shocked that 4 judges DIDN’T!
Likewise, the fact that 3 SCOTUS justices sided with independent state legislature theory is an atrocity.
Trump's a stable genius. To be honest, when he said that, I thought he meant he was good with horses. Look, I don't want to stirrup trouble or saddle Trump with blanket accusations but the mane point is that he was making policy on the hoof and that is not something to foal around with. Anyway, I need to trot along and start jockeying for position in my household's bathroom queue. I'll shut up now. My throat is sore and I'm a little horse. As they say in Star Wars, “May the Horse be with you”. PS No, I am not from Filly, you neigh-sayers.
Let's put this another way. Imagine you're a Ukrainian celebrating that 5 missiles aimed at civilian targets were shot out of the sky before they hit your neighborhood. It's still shocking that four did. But you can't let it get to you because the side that seizes the other side's morale wins. If you don't celebrate the missiles dodged, you're going to get defeated pretty quickly. The whole point of bombing innocent families is to break you, right? Don't give them the satisfaction! And never mind that there shouldn't be any bombs headed your way in the first place--they are, that's the reality, so you've got to grab every win that you can to get through this onslaught.
The same goes for the battle for democracy. We shouldn't have to be fighting to save our democracy, yet here we are. Okay, then, battle! Cheer every time a bombshell lobbed at you misses the mark, and work on improving on what you get. Don't let anybody shock you into submission. Fight!
This is the doomer mindset Beau is talking about. Ok, there’s some bad happening, let’s accept it, see why it’s happening, and make a map. A map from the present, to the future. A brighter future. Only we have the power to change the future, so let’s do it.
That depends on why they disagreed, honestly. I could potentially see an argument that it was beyond the scope of the federal government to rule for or against any case concerning how election maps and districts are drawn within any given state.
Most Americans aren’t aware that the federal government takes a mostly “hands off” approach to elections. The FEC rules are mostly financial, with only a few exceptions. Even the Electoral College is meant to keep Federal involvement in elections at a minimum.
Now if those four dissenting opinions were based on those grounds, it should be laid out in the dissenting opinion paper for the case. Every case heard by the Supreme Court has the opinion of both the majority and the dissent written as part of the ruling for just such a reason.
The Supreme Court does what I believe our legislature should have to do. They have to explain their reasoning behind every vote. There are multiple dissenting papers on some Supreme Court decisions, simply because the reasons for dissent were different for each justice in those cases.
i do not exaggerate when i say this, this video literally saved my life.
Solidarity in the long nights + days, Friend. This place is better with you here, real talk.
The world is better with you in it. None of the stuff going on is worth your life. PS. I’m your sister-I’ve been there.
Good. Anything that helps, helps.
I’m a middle class white dude and trust me, there are more of us than them. Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.
As a veteran from Ohio the independent state legislature case is an absolutely huge win for democracy 🇺🇸
Pushing back the tide of insanity a bit... Not a huge win, not even keeping even. Look we slayed an invented dragon!!
@@EvolutionWendy Every inch pushed back is a win. Because the other side will declare even their losses "wins" and if we cede that interpretation to them, we really do lose.
I have had one hell of a bad year - both my parents died, my marriage collapsed, was constantly berated and belittled by my mother in law, my housing situation is untenable, my income is evaporating - and those are just a few "high"lights. But I ain't dead; I'm fine and I will continue to improve whatever I have left. And anybody that gets in my way better watch their toes, I'll roll right over them!
I had a year like that, I called it “the year my life fell apart”. I just want to give you a word of encouragement. It took awhile but I have thrived and I am sure you will also. Attitude is everything!
🌷❤
I'm glad you've still got a fighting spirit. Keep on keeping on!
You are now free to create your life to benefit yourself. Stand strong!
Keep going. The strongest of us can heal and move on from truma and misfortune. You got this.
The irony is that no one is as big a doomer as a MAGA trumper. They see the world right now in biblical terms.
You got that right. It has to be exhausting to be a maga head. The mental gymnastics needed to justify the world view alone has to be draining. I would also venture to guess all the hate takes a toll also. I’m with Beau on this: it’s easier to be a good person.
They believe they'll get endless life in perfect bodies after they're dead, all for getting dunked in some water and kneeling on a Sunday morning.
You couldn't make this kind of mental gimcrackery up if you were writing a comic book story.
@@ironsausage808 Indeed, being (and keeping yourself) angry and afraid all the time does take a toll on your health. Both mentally and physically.
@thehellyousay someone did. It’s called the Bible. Written by Bronze Age superstitious men. Where every sin can be forgiven except the sin of disbelief. Wrap your head around that.
I am of the firm belief that nothing has done more to retard the progress of mankind then religion.
“… and *they* are slated for destruction/judgement…”
I am probably the most pessimistic person in my circles. That said, I have lived to see much change. From colored drinking fountains, and the ones who stepped off the curb and stared at their toes until the white lady passed by in my childhood to having a daughter that lectures on systemic racism and writes books on implicit bias. I have seen the system rigged in so many ways that I firmly believe that voting is the least effective action one can take but I never miss voting. I go and vote blue in a red state where my vote is swamped but the only thing less effective is sitting on the couch not voting. Stand tall and tilt at windmills, if for no other reason than self respect. I get up in the morning and can look at myself in the mirror knowing that I shun racism and all of the phobias daily. Live and let live to me is what life means. Rapid change always has a backlash as those who cannot keep up rebel at the changes, but progress is made in the end. Frustrating? Yes! Time to surrender? NEVER!!!
Respect!
Thanks for sharing this.
Harper v Moore was my greatest concern. The EPA rulling is so disturbing. Make no mistake- poors, minorities(especially black), and workers are the objects of a rabid hate from clarence thomas.
It is profoundly disturbing that a man with so much self-hate has so much authority.
Moore v Harper was so off-the-rails in its consequences that some of us weren't holding our breath on that one.
Go back to Malcolm X and listen to him talk about the “house negro” and yes, I had to clean that language up to avoid offending. Thomas has the mindset Malcolm X was talking about. It’s the petite bourgeoisie that Marx wrote about as well.
Thomas knows that he isn’t any more important than any other black man to the people who support him, so he goes out of his way to please them. It will bite him on the ass one day, but it keeps him above the “field negro” for now. He is more dangerous than the billionaires that keep him in such a lofty position.
@@almitrahopkins1873 It may bite him in the ass "one day" but the time inbetween then and now is filled with him bing a vicious moron with zero consequences. I hate this.
Uncle Ruckus.
I was really sweating the Independent State Legislator Theory vote, and when the Supreme Court struck it down, I was surprised, relieved, and hopeful for my country. I'm troubled that it even came into being and that it made it to the Supreme Court, and I'm assuming it's a harbinger of more attempts to come. Still, I'm happy to take this particular "Not Today" though, and be grateful.
Me, too. That one really shook me.
We cannot just sit idly by, however. Thank God, or The Fates or whatever you prefer, that SCOTUS shut that one down.
But they left the door open and we must fight, fight, fight.
SCOTUS ruled against it became they realized -with the animosity over Roe, loosening gun laws, tightening voting laws, empowering corporations, lowering 1%'s taxes, etc, etc, they are just one more big, "hateful" ruling away from a "Revolution and Sacking" ! They are bidding their time and working on getting more MAGAs into power ! !
The Supreme Court likely supports it but knows the country isn’t ready for something that extreme. In the meantime, they will issue “acceptable” rulings like overturning student loan forgiveness and legalizing discrimination.
Right wing legal “scholars” are coming up with some really desperate ideas these days - the State Legislator Theory, the theories that Trump tried to use to overturn the election, etc. They’re desperate to subvert democracy itself - because they KNOW they’re losing. That they can’t win on merit, because they have no ideas on how to deal with any of the actual problems we face, like climate change, or even just not bankrupting the federal budget. So they want to seize control in a way that it can’t be lost to mere democracy. I hate depending on the Supreme Court, but they’re pretty much all we’ve got against this nonsense.
We need to demand that the ones that received gifts and didn't claim them be impeached. Thomas and Alito should have resigned after all the dirt on them was revealed by investigative journalists.
I was a doomer as a child and teen, worked hard to be an optimist in my 20's, 30's and 40's. Now in my 50's, I'm a realist.
About 1/3 of my coworkers identify as Trans and more than 3/4 as part of the LGBTQ+ community. We rarely discuss politics beyond the local level but when we do, and when I see folks discuss online, I understand their darkness and dread but I try to push folks to make allies. There is some great stuff happening in Minnesota and Michigan right now. There's are also powerful Trans groups currently serving in the armed forces and Veterans. Reach out and build coalitions. Acknowledge the work and see if you can help. Create sibling groups, sibling neighborhoods, and sibling cities.
The organization I work for grew out of the AIDS epidemic, I was just becoming an adult, and seeing the people around me withering and dying, and the government and the "Christian Right" (and that bastard Reagan) ignoring them, blaming them, and glad for it. It was the darkest time and it felt like the end of the world but the good people, the caretakers, the ones wearing pink triangles, the moms, the good politicians, they kept going.
Now, I'd say nearly 1/4 of the folks I work with are not just living with HIV, they are thriving. It was devastating getting from there to here but those voices and that wisdom is still here because of the work and the fight and the amassing of small victories.
We will get to a good place and these evil or stupid people will be buried and forgotten.
United We Will Win.
In Solidarity
Your eloquence was very moving.
Just one observation in regard to your comment about evil or stupid people. Evil and stupid are not mutually exclusive. All too often they are found together.
And as Exhibit A, I give you Donald Trump.
Damn man... that's beautifully written. You are one of the strongest people in the world ✊️
When you see how much society has shifted around trans issues in such a short space of time- there’s reason to be optimistic. Even 15 years ago, trans people did not have anything near the support and the allies they do now ♥️
Ronald Reagan was a terrible person who caused immeasurable damage to this world and its people.
GOOD STUFF ✊🏽
To Beau and the Person who sent this in
Trans woman, part of a queer household and 1 of 4 trans people in said house and the only one without a uterus. Beau is right, on a long enough timeline, we win. This is getting so bad right now because we are winning, that's what the reactionary movement is reacting to. I know it seems hopeless, and I know it sucks. If the worst happens to any of my three family members, well we live in GA and all of them would prefer their uterus be a yeeterus. But 2 of us are in out mid 40s, one in their 30s, and the new they/them is in their 20s. You have no idea how far we've come in my lifetime if you haven't lived it.
On the flip side? Beau? This is why I can never be a pure anarchist no matter how much I love the idea. See, the five of us? My four and them? Statistically? There are fairly good (bad) odds one of us won't be here next year. Suicide, DV, SA, removed by one of these Nazis... It gets worse if you are a BIPOC trans person, a lot worse.
The fight against tyranny is never ending, and the only way to fight it is to band together.
Whoever you are, hang in there. The world is better off with you than without you, despite how much it hurts. And remember, don't you dare do those Nazi's job for them and every day we fight them is a great big middle finger to them. Never give up, never surrender.
Just a little lesbian here that has been watching our whole community suffer. I, by no means, am facing what y’all are , but i NEEDED to see you comment today. I know it wasn’t for me, but thank you all the same. 🫶🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
"Beau is right, on a long enough timeline, we win. "
Maybe, maybe not. I think is many, many things in a long enough timeline we just lose completely. See - The Environment, general public rights, the rising of corporations replacing countries.
But on this matter. Sure, if we all get put in a camp, it's cool that maybe in 70 years after we win. But.... What's cooler is not having camps today.
@@PhosPhrynewhere is the camp suggestion coming from?
By Grabthar's Hammer, we shall all be avenged!
@@Revy575It IS for you. This rolling back of women’s right to choose, & the rights of the 🌈 is all backlash.. but together we can win.
I’m 55. I was a tomboy in the 80s. So was my best friend. I lived in a very racist, bigoted town growing up. Rumor spread through the Jr high school that we were lesbians. I was bullied severely for almost 3 yrs. Beaten up, attacked walking home from school (3 miles), burnt w/ cigarettes. I’d walk down the halls & I’d hear them calling me slurs. It was constant. I didn’t give up. It was very hard, but I didn’t give up. Many went through much worse than me. I want you to know I understand, even though I don’t understand, if you know what I mean. I know what it’s like to be threatened just bc of who you are, or who people think you are.
We XGens.. when we got to our 20s & 30s… things were still bad, but many of us wanted to change it. And it did change.
Now we see the backlash, but THIS is time we have to remain the most steadfast, & not let them win. I know it’s not easy. I really do. Know that you are not alone. There’s many of us, quiet in the background.. but we’re your allies. Many of us are deep believers in equality for all under the law, no matter your skin color, religion (or lack of one), sex, or gender. Whatever. You do you. No judgement if it’s between consenting adults.
If we give up & stop trying.. they win for sure.
The other thing I wanted to say is, if where you live isn’t safe.. I mean the town or state you live in, bc of changed laws, & local attitudes, consider leaving to a friendlier more welcoming area, if possible. Don’t give up. They don’t deserve to win. 🫶🌈✊💯
Thanks Beau for stressing how important Moore vs Harper was to this time-line.
However, it's a shame that keeping rights we already possess is falling under the category of: "wins"
Welcome to American history always has been.
@@Fe22234 all history, everywhere, always.. no right is ever safe or guaranteed to last
@laurentsaint-laurent3659
Yet the arc of civilization compared from 10,000 years ago to 2000 years ago, to 250 years ago compared to the last 100, has grown steady better. Not for a majority of people but for numbers and percentages far greater than ever in history it has gotten better. Especially, admittedly, in the west. For whom it is spectacularly better. Still even for those that lack with hard lived many still enjoy far more creature comforts and opportunities than their great great great grandparents had. Kings and queens didn't enjoy modern plumbing. Cell phones and such access to information. As Beau suggests we need to look at longer timelines. Not in years and maybe no less than decades. Civilization has reached some current pinnacles not imaginable even 2 generations ago. Steadily better for more people than before.
And even for those who do not enjoy those things the model exists. At one time no one could run a mile in 4 minutes. Seemingly forever, unattainable. And then someone did it once. All of a sudden the model existed and more people quickly started doing it. Now it's a standard for being a better than average runner. And there are other examples. Once more people taste some freedom, do better than their ancestors, maybe just have more to eat more regularly the more, those models drive civilization to excel.
Once unimaginable things are now possible. Possibly more so for future generations as long as we keep it together and make some improvements over the next couple of them. The long arc of civilization historically bodes better for more and more.
@@nosuchperson284; Don't forget the dark ages that history has seen, two steps forward, one step back. That seems to be the dance of historical progression.
@@jvcyt298the dark ages are not so called because they were bad. They're so called because for a long time we had little information on them - they were dark in the sense of being unilluminated to historians by primary sources. Easy mistake to make, but important to correct.
"If you tell people there's nothing they can do, they will do worse than nothing." -Margaret Atwood.
An extremely wise and effective therapist I knew used to say, "You must count the wins, because the mind can get locked into patterns, and if you only count the bad, that will eventually be all you see, and all you value, so you will begin to miss the good things that occur and register only the worst, making your life a constant agony."
The shooting down of Moore v. Harper was a GIGANTIC win and should be treated as such. It's a major fucking win. Major.
Moore vs Harper stopped lot of shooting
Moore v Harper court decision erred when it stated "the sole authority lies with the states when in truth the sole authority lies with the people and secondly with the states. By constitutional right it should have been handed directly back to the people for final decision by ballot measure.
Some of us wont live long enough to see the change we'd like, Beau. You are still young. SCOTUS will be in place, unchangeable for too long. It only took Rump 4 years to do decades of damage. Good never happens as swiftly--I'm a realist too;)
This is my thing. In 5 years it's unlikely anything on any level will be better. In 20? The best case scenario is that in 20, we're gonna be at a similar level to where we where after Obama left. Shit, maybe when he first came in.
Trump got into power because of too many people on the left and center being too apathetic to vote against his candidacy. Whether caused by doomerism or simple nihilist "nothing matters", inaction is never helpful for *progressive* causes.
Im almost 30 and I know I’ll never see the world I want. Beaus made videos about that too. It’s part of being at the front, you’re pushing towards something you’ll never see.
“If you look for the light, you will often find it. But if you look for the dark, that is all you will ever see”
-Uncle Iroh
Just remember, on a long enough timeline, we win… garunteed
No. Absolutely not guaranteed. If you win it's because individuals banded together and made it happen. Their is no moral arc to history, unless you bend one into existence. That's why you can't give up.
Greetings from the UK. Bravo! Wise and true words Beau. Keeping your head in the long game is great for morale as a progressive (anywhere in the world). We're not the ones looking at our colleagues and voter base literally dieing off within a generation or so. The conservatives are the ones facing doom, not us.
This writer could have been me. This is the best video you could have made for me, and if I remember correctly, I’ve caused at least four videos.
I’ll be saving this one for the future. Today, like many other days, this is what I need to hear.
Stay strong, siblings. We won’t all make it through this, but no one can take your joy without your consent. Laugh and dance on the steps up to the gallows. We win.
I'm not a doomer; I'm a realist. But from where I'm located, it's hard to find wins these days. Doesn't mean we give up. But folks should stop expecting fake smiles, too. As always, sending abundant Love & Light from Carroll County, Mississippi. Y'all stay safe and keep taking care of each other. ✌🏼💚
Back at ya! :)
Take wins locally. Help your family, help your friends, help strangers. You probably can't change the world. I can't. So change what you can. 🙂
Cheers from Alabama. Hard to keep your head up these days if you’re from the south and not a Trump-American.
❤
I’m 70 and tiptoe quite a bit, here in Alabama. I have managed to slightly change a neighbor’s mind about non-heterosexual people. Not her husband’s, though. They are in their late 80s. He is a racist, and pitched a fit about Juneteenth being made a federal holiday. I’ve quit dancing around his feelings, and snap back. At 70 years of age, I’m still bigger than he is. 😊
I apply this message to "conservatives" too. They gave up. Building a better world for their children was too hard, too costly, required too many sacrifices. So they quit. And we're suffering those consequences.
But we'll get through it. Because we can. We don't have to break the world. We just have to not let it break us.
It really is easier to go back 5 or 6 decades in policy than to move forward because you are going against the wind of people that hate change.
Republicans (and corporate Democrats) sold their souls for short-term gains to the detriment of us all.
When America gets a cold the rest of the world sneezes. We're all watching to see if we need to buy tissues.
the truth in your statement is relatively deep, with free flow of information in usa, britain, france, germany, we see a lot of youth becoming very active; in other parts of the world where this is not so, we do not see it as much; this differential will change, is changing right now (asia, africa, south america, etc)
@@niteskylight6699south African trans woman here. Our politicians are starting to mimic yours. I'm coming over there myself to help fix this, I felt safe here four years ago. Now, I don't see the point in staying when the fight is both here and there, but clearly centralized there
I love it. Pretty funny.
As a low grade prepper, who sailed through Covid, I’d say buy the tissues, if our cold doesn’t get you hay fever might.
I'd go a step further, and say that the doomerism is NOT warranted. It absolutely does matter who we vote for. Things are better than they could be, and we narrowly missed out on them being even better than they are. Would it really be so surprising if Clarence Thomas was replaced by a liberal in the next 5 years? That's just one of many, many possibilities.
Yes, let us hope.
I’m hoping for another like Madame Jackson(? Most recent appointee - really competent, intelligent, *rational,* etc. Only improvement I can think of is to have this person be explicitly *Left.* Those are rare, and much needed.)
Yep, I agree completely.
I guess I would argue that doomerism is warranted on a long enough timeline. Even if we survive the sun turning into a red giant, it is highly unlikely that we survive the heat death of the universe.
@@dennisyoung4631improvement: also young!!!
@@BluePatriotWinner forgot *that* part. Thanks.
It's really hard to be optimistic, happy, or content if you are paying attention to reality.
I understand the way you feel. Many a time I've been anxious & upset with the world. However. were on this planet for such a short time - better to be grateful to be here & find joy where you can.
Who said we should be content? Discontent is what makes change happen. There is truth in “Be the change you want to see.” As for happy, my happiness isn’t rooted in the state of the nation. It comes in part from waking up, having a roof over my head and food for my belly. A level of joy comes from helping others achieve that.
I pay attention to reality CONSTANTLY and I am VERY optimistic and quite happy thank you. I'm sorry that you are depressed. Overcome it and go forward. The Right BELIEVES we can win, and it terrifies them. Why are we helping them???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Thank you for my favourite phrase of July.
"If you want to change the world .... adopt the, absolutely unearned, self-confidence of every middle class white dude on Twitter. That confidence, that desire, that belief that you CAN make difference, that you CAN alter the outcome is the only thing that's gonna let you do it!"
But they 'make a difference' by inaction. Others can't win that way.
@@roundglasses3629 I would suggest that people never live their lives in a state of "inaction". We are all constantly making choices about the way we live our lives, think about other people and interact with them. Beau is highlighting that "reactionaries" and those who don't question conservative narratives are operating with confidence in their own frames of reference effectively acting in ways that reinforce negative outcomes.
In order to counter those strong force of "cultural inertia", it is essential to actively demonstrate positive behaviours. For those with the motivation they can campaign (as "sharp tip of the spear") to make the improvements. The combination of these forces can contribute to the eventual overwhelming of cultural conservatism that we have seen over decades.
“I can't be a pessimist because I am alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter. So, I am forced to be an optimist. I am forced to believe that we can survive, whatever we must survive.”
James Baldwin
Love it when people treat optimism as some kind of factual thing. As if people who break under the pain of life are just stupid or something. Everyone has a limit. If you think you don't, you haven't reached yours. Lucky you.
@pendlera2959 I can see how that quote can come across as blithe, but I recommend watching the interview where Baldwin said this. He was actually grappling with the despair you mention when he said this.
You are right. Sometimes the pain can outweigh our coping mechanisms or resources. When people do hit that limit, the best thing is just to hold on for the sake of holding on.
“Hope has two beautiful daughters, their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and courage to see that things do not remain as they are.”
@@jjjjjjjjkigghh8662l love the latter part of your post regarding anger, hope and courage ; l will quote it a lot.
James kicked ass
@@jjjjjjjjkigghh8662Good on Baldwin and good be life to you.
When you have lived decades 5 for me, you know things take time to change.
Republicans and stupid judges are dragging the country backward, so I can see where people can lose hope on the future.
Just keep fighting for forward change.
It’s like knowing that courage is not the lack of fear, it’s being afraid and doing what needs to be done, and doing to the best of one’s ability, anyway.
We don’t ever know if something can be changed unless we try to change it. Margaret Mead is still right. It’s always a small group of committed citizens …
"But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward."
Yeah the current situation sucks, but you have to live in the world you're in while you fight for the world you want.
Exactly. I literally told my kids on the way home from the carnival tonight, about a friend of theirs that’s had a rough life, you can’t help the hand your dealt but, you can help how you play that hand. You can’t just give up, you do your best to make it the best it can be.
Thanks, Beau. This is the shot in the arm I needed.
@@bot1a543 Wow. What a disgraceful environment to be in. Sorry you had to endure that.
One of the lessons I got stuck in my brain from childhood keeps playing over and over in my head. I grew up in a very rural, conservative area and my grandfather noticed that I would always be quick to have these elaborate ideas that all hinged upon EACH STEP in the 127-step plan working perfectly or....a step could fail, ruining the entire plan. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Son, life's difficult and the way you think [neurodivergent], it's going to be even more difficult for you. You're going to see a path to success crumble around you more times than I care to imagine. However, if you treat each solution as a destination and each problem as a starting point, then you will see there are multiple routes to the same place. Life will throw you detours, learn to navigate them." It's stuck with me for almost 30 years and really helps me not to be so.quick to say."The sky is falling! The world is ending! This task is impossible!" The task may prove to be impossible in THAT moment, but there's nothing wrong with taking a detour and approaching the destination from another angle.
For the non-cis, hetero, white men out there who see a change that needs to be made, I often wonder if there's a detour that could reach the end result faster. As far as LGBTQ+ and systemic racism go, the thing that got me on board was watching you guys fight against the current status quo. Normalizing what SHOULD be normal already, but isn't due to ignorance and hate. I know it looks like the whole world wants to exterminate you, and I imagine that it feels like that at times! However, through the detour of having your struggles filmed and "go viral," I believe you're shrinking the number of racist/bigoted/trans/homophobic religious extremists each day and in enough time... they'll be swept away by the current instead.
“Damn the torpedoes…” pretty much covers it.
I know you're just doing political commentary, but you are the role-model some people, including myself, needed.
👍👍👍
Well said.
His commentary is more than just political
Doom Busting is done by community strength. We have to make that happen.
Bit hard for those of us who have no communities. I don't have anything significant in common with the overwhelming majority of the people I live and work around. I don't like hunting, fishing, athletics, the outdoors, racing, cars, or bars, and I haven't been inside a church except to vote in over a decade (the fact that churches are polling places rubs me the wrong way, too).
Communities and friendships are built around common interests; mine are not common or in common. I live in a red state dominated by agriculture and the church. My nearest friend lives over twelve hours of driving away.
People really need this message. You can’t just throw out the towel and accept the situation.
*Beau* might not be an optimist but he most definitely is one of *The Realest.*
The optimism, for me, is that as a white,cis,het (and for myself will add, old) man is that I know I will always stand up, interfere, sound off, and just be there for those without my adjectives until some things change. We are out here. Believe.
Right on! I’ve gotten my neighbor to be a bit more accepting of people “different” from her. Her husband is a different story. I’m 70, they are in their late 80s. The one small advantage I have over him, I’m bigger than he is!
Hope makes you more than you are, a bigger obstacle, a tougher target, so fake it while you make it. Their hate is weak and pathetic and will destroy them.
We need to have hope, but they need to have fear. They need to be shown how weak their hate is compared to our desire to live. Make no mistake, we are beyond hope, and sometimes, hope has to be enforced.
Spite also works. My great grandma shaped most of my worldview and spite served her well for 98 years. Knowing you're pissing off somebody you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire feels pretty good. You can still think we're royally screwed long term (as I do) and still want to do something to piss off people who fall to pieces over the fact that you exist.
Country folk, especially here in Appalachia where I'm from, operate on spite a lot more than you would probably think. We've been screwed over by every politician that's ever darkened a door here. Industry sees us as only a resource deposit (human and natural). And, people still believe the bullshit that it's them vs the others - it's always the others who are making things suck, not the people raking in the cash with the status quo. Watching developments long-term doesn't really show a trend in a positive direction either, especially for us not cis/het/white. So, why not be a thorn in their side?
"… They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
(So come on)"
--- Muse
Hope for the best prepare for the worst and you'll able to build a home conforming to ACE specs.
Holding onto hate is like taking poison and hoping the other person will die.
Beau: “I got a message”
Also Beau: “I’m fine (T-Shirt)”
Me: I’m here for it.
"Beau: “I got a message”"
and that message is clear.
i really really really really wish you were here.
Hope is a hard thing to maintain sometimes & folks often mistake the refusal to give in to despair for optimism. For some of us remaining hopeful is an intentional act born of realizing that radical hope can be a survival skill.
I was once told... Celebrate the opportunities! 🎉Progressives have made large strides. Sometimes we don't acknowledge the progress. We're too busy getting to the next goal without realizing we completed the last one.
Believing in doom will make many give up. Don't give up. Keep on fighting for a better world. The world is worth fighting for.
I too strongly believe that on a long enough timeline we win, but I also know that I’m able to stay a believer because I moved to the US. There are places where there’s no local Beau, and expressing dissent is very dangerous..
Sometimes survival is a radical act. It's also incompatible with just assuming doom.
This is the kind of video that gets me. "I know you have a harder life than me. Neither of us wants the status quo. Don't give up." You have a different demeanour when delivering this kind of message. ❤
This was a damn good video. We need a lot more anti-doomerism
To be a doomer is to surrender to evil. Our existence as human beings has never been easy and was never going to be easy. We have to fight against a relentless onslaught of malice to protect everything we hold dear. And we have. Our ancestors have. Many have died in this endeavor, and many more will die. To succumb to doomerism is to shit on the suffering and sacrifice they endured to see that we all live in a freer and more compassionate world.
It's to propagandize for evil. I don't like doomerism. Beau is right about it.
It's wonderful that they actually stopped the Independent State Legislature case from passing, but it's hard not to still feel discouraged over Roe, and the loss of Affirmative Action, and Student Debt Relief. It was a win, but we're still stinging from major losses.
I will soon be 70, in my childhood the school superintendent bragged that the one black family in town knew better than to show their faces after dark. Being gay was illegal and could result in jail time, if male might result in chemical castration. Then only option for most trans people was to live within the “wrong body”. Change can never come fast enough for those who want it, especially if you are suffering but the reality is the only way to change attitudes is slowly or wait for the holders to die off. My grandfather was a racist until the day he died, he never lived to learn that he has great great grand children that are black. As a nation we are two steps forward and one step back, we need to keep that forward momentum going and if we give up it becomes one step forward and three steps back. Don’t give up and don’t let that happen.
When my mother was alive and I was taking her to Drs. appointments, tests, and at the end, talking about hospice care, when medical professionals would ask her questions, her response was "I'm fine." When I was alone with her she would tell me her "real" problems. It was aggravating. We won admission to hospice on a Thursday night and she passed on Friday morning. When I was asked about her gravestone, I laughed and cried a little and said "I'm fine." Every time I visit her, I am reminded of Aerosmith. Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional. I miss my mom every time I read that engraving.
❤
🤗
You didn't say what she had, but watching my mother in law dying of cancer fake it at family events when it would absolutely exhaust her for weeks made me look at people differently. A lot of people smile in public and some lash out. Your mom sounds tough AF. 💪🏾
@@liloreoinya Yeah, she was tough. Thank you for your kind insight.
Oh, I didn't know that quote was from Aerosmith, I picked it up in the books of Louise Penney (she has a character who's a crusty old poet who always carries a duck with her, and has a nationally acclaimed book called "I'm fine" , with the subtitle you mention spelling it out. ) Thanks for letting me know the source of a good quote, I'd thought Penney had made it up.
And as a person who grew up in stiff-upper-lip culture, I find it a very accurate reading of, "I'm fine."
One of my favorite conservationists in the global conservation movement, Captain Paul Watson states, “the louder the dissent and the higher the forces that rise to face you become, the more effective you have been in your actions and your activism.”
I am a master student of history currently studying the holocaust. Nothing gets more hopeless than the depths of a concentration death camp. Hope remains eternal in the passion, imagination, and direct action of the people who want to do the right thing. We will win but that may take time.
Totally agree with this video. My favorite quote on this topic: if you are going through hell, KEEP GOING!
I needed this right now Beau. Thank you. Also everyone wants that shirt now.
A lot of us needed that today.
Thank you, Beau.
You saying "It takes time" is the ONE thing that most of us pragmatic Democrats get taken to task for by the Leftists. THANK YOU for the sanity check.
We fought so hard making incremental progress towards trans rights. Along the way we had roadblocks, betrayals, and hard ship. Then in 2016 we had an authoritarian movement sweep in and spend 7 years targeting us and trying to destroy all we worked for because they saw us as the vulnerable wedge issue they could use. Trans rights has been set back by 30 years through their hateful actions. It will not take us nearly so long to gain back what they are trying to crush and kill.
You should read Lawrence Britts 14 Characteristics of Fascism. We need to work against all 14, but it will also explain how them choosing you really has nothing to do with you. It is just a means to take control. We need to stop them on ALL fronts. All 14.
And what rights do the trans not have?
Set back 30 years? I'm guessing you weren't alive in 1993.
@@ValoRuss That sounds like one of those "if this person were asking in good faith, they would have taken the ten seconds to fucking Google it" kind of questions.
"The trans." LOL. OK, grandma.
The rulings have gone back for which I am so very sorry. But I do believe majority of people have not gone back in recognizing and accepting of trans rights and other rights validity. I am hopeful there will never again be an election that is not considered important and that the backlash of this hateful court, and political party will be forever a lesson.
Thanks for the reminder, Beau. Them shooting down the independent state legislature theory wasn’t just HUGE, but necessary to the possible continuation of democracy in our country. My pops would always say that I’m a pessimist, to which I would reply that I’m a realist…”That’s what a pessimist would say.” was his inevitable response.
There's a similar analogy in warfare. An army who believes they cannot win is defeated before the battle even begins.
I agree with Beau about the left turning a win into a catastrophe because we didn’t get everything we wanted all at once.
" turning a win into a catastrophe because we didn’t get everything we wanted all at once."
but we did get everything everywhere all at once.
@@vforwombat9915 But did we want it? I for example didn't know I wanted that amazingly weird movie before I watched it.
@@Dave1507 idk. i did want to see it.
the dvd sitting downstairs hasn't been watched yet.
silly me has prime and hulu, so catching up on dvds i own is slow going.
plus there's this thing called youtube....
as with anything PR: *'BAD News Sells BEST'* .. this is what doomers are about in the end (any political affiliation).
_Or in other words - it's easy to see the gas-lighters in the other group, but not in your own._
Wise men tell me to take the good with the bad.
Sorry in advance for the long comment:
I truly understand the inclination to fall into despair as a queer black person. I lost my childhood community for being LGBTQ, and I grew bitter and angry, shutting myself off from the world for years. I lost so much of my life. However, after finding a new support system (and getting a lot of therapy), I came to realize that if we give up, there will be absolutely NO CHANCE of progress ever being made. The fascists/white supremacists would win 100% of the time. I look at activists who came before me, who laid the groundwork for the good fight to continue (James Baldwin, Marsha P Johnson, Andrea Jenkins, and others). I also see young activists of today who have helped lay the groundwork for future generations (Kat Blaque, Indya Moore, Alicia Garza, and others). Things are dire. I won't deny that. BUT I just cannot let decades and generations of hard work fall apart without a proper fight.
Don't give up yall. PLEASE don't give up.
The fascists count on doomerism!
The more people give in to doomerism, the less opposition they face ... and for some, the way out of doomerism is to "find" scapegoats
💪✊✌️
Look for the allies.
Love from Italy 💜
The thing to keep in mind about being doomer-pilled: When you are so down and doomer and convinced nothing good can happen, you create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your inaction makes your fears reality.
I try so hard to be a realist but the weight of what we are wading through pushes me to doomer. You really help me to keep moving forward and having continued faith in humanity. ❤
Brought tears to my eyes when you said, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can not, do not give up."
"Evil prevails when men of good will do nothing."
I'm a realist myself, giving up and feeling doomed is an end. Making change is not easy, if it were we would
all be in a better place. Real Life is not a TV show that has a happy ending so we can fall asleep easily. Things are not very good right now, I am displeased but motivated with the hope for change. It takes work and a lot
of time.
People "sense" doom when they don't see any possible good endings. It's worth remembering that people can be surprisingly tunnel visioned and myopic. We don't have the whole picture, and the world seldom works in such absolute ways (unless you're diving to the ocean floor or flying to outer space).
"What have you wrought upon us?"
"A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it."
Also worth remembering: YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO GO IT ALONE.
I often get bothered by this when it comes to people who believe their marginalised identity gives them some sort of more objective view on the world no one else can achieve. No fam, your perspective is shaped by your life experience, and it is as un-objective as everyone else's. You trying to sabotage all efforts to improve things is not helping you or anyone who shares your identity.
Speaking of the world working in absolute ways, me and my dad ended up seeing this profoundly stupid movie called "Fall", featuring as protagonists two girls who were up for a Darwin award (you know the type, the kind who take selfies on top of waterfalls and cliffs and whatever). The girls survive their situation (on top of this really tall spire with a broken ladder in the middle of the desert and no way down) way longer than they would in real life, and in the movie only one of the girls gets the Darwin award, but let's face it, if the situation were real both girls get the Darwin award. THAT is a doom situation. And even there, the reason it's doom (and would be absolute doom IRL for both parties involved) is because the stupid decisions the girls make don't end when they climb to the top of that spire. And because that movie is a textbook example of everyone holding the Idiot Ball (which is something I got from TVTropes, pretty self-explanatory).
Trans woman in Texas. 100% agree with you, Beau. I get called a doomer sometimes. But I’m not. If I share something scary I learned about it’s not because I’m dwelling on doom, I’m trying to convince people to vote and to act.
All evil needs to win is for good to do nothing. Never give in.
Elect SCOTUS, don't appoint for a lifetime.
Adopt rules of ethics.
This would turn judges into politicians, rather than interpreters of the law. We already have enough politicians.
Appoint for a limited but finite time.
especially after a bad day or news cycle you can feel like a doomer make yourself stand up 1) it will give you a different perspective and..... 2) it will scare those who hate you. you can do it. you are stronger than you know.
Beau, with some of your videos, I feel like I've been to church (an open, accepting one) where I heard a sermon that makes me think, reflect, and want to act on what I've heard. This was one of those "sermons". Thanks, Rev. Beau. 😉
Nothing changes, until it does.
IMO, Beau seems more stoic than “optimist.”
I'd say more realist, and more historically grounded.
Yeah we're not where we want to be. Yeah, because the GOP has played the long game, we're going backwards at the moment. But the distant past was worse.
I'd say pragmatic.. my problem with doomerism is that it leads to inaction and is therefore self-fulfilling..
You mean in the Marcus Aurelius sense? I guess I agree.
And a warrior rather than a victim.
Stoic optimism!
My "mantra" is "If we have to walk through hell to get to heaven, quit your whining and keep it moving".
There are no pessimists. Pessimists are just optimists with experience.
Good advice for everything.
If the previous generations were doomers we would not even be having these conversations.
Doomerism is an excuse not to put in any effort.
It's just as bad as ignoring bad things happing, as the result is the same.
If you ignore the problem completely it truly becomes someone else's... I learn to stay in me lane and considered it self love🎉🎉
@@captng but at least you are not complaining then 😅
If all you see is doom before you, fight on anyways just to spit in fate's eye.
If nothing you do matters then realize that the only way for your actions to have any value is if you value them. You decide you matter to you and you take actions that enhance your value of you.
As a well-off cis-het white woman, I get what you are saying. I would not tell that to my gay son and his husband, nor yet to the transgender youth down the road from us.
They are reeling from this past week in ways which I don't think make them especially open to your commentary.
@@ethelryan257 Bravo! As a trans woman's best friend, I wouldn't say that either, and people REALLY need to step outside of their own perspective; and think about how others might read something, before they start selling quaint phrase merch!
✌️Beau
I can't wait until people live longer so that it's easier for more of us to see just how far we've really come, and how much is really possible.❤
This video is a great example of why it is always important to watch Beau's videos to the end. Took me way too long to realise that.
"Optimism is the only realism" Nick Murray
Thank you for this thoughtful post.
Try being a realistic optimist: You believe that things will work out alright in the long run, but it won't be easy getting there. It really helps dealing with all sorts of setbacks and bumps that comes your way.
NEVER give up. Just because it's quiet sometimes doesn't mean you're alone. The reason it's quiet is because actions don't make the noise like talking but I guarantee you somethings happening to keep pushing forward & we need all the help we can get.🤝
Although he was talking about other things, the words of the late Jim Valvano apply here: "Never give up. Never, ever give up."
I wish my niece had, had a counselor as good as you. She might still be here.
My deepest condolences.
😔💔
*Hugs!* 😞❤️
❤️
💖💖💖💖 sending the person who wrote to you as much love and acceptance I can put in a comment section. You win by keeping going just don't give in.
The only place I've ever founf unearned self-confidence is at the bottom of a pint glass. I usually have to check 9 or 10 before it shows up, though.
"pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will."
That point you made about how doomers will talk about what the problems are but don't take actions to fix anything really hit me. I fell into thinking and acting and I need to get away from it. I'm a cis het white guy, and I hate the status quo for what it means for everyone else. Thanks for this video Beau.
What kind of take is this? You actually think the status quo works for you?
@@Jesse-qy6ur No, but it benefits me more than those who are parts of marginalized groups.
Not an optimist. Not a nihilist. Maybe just stoic.
Have been all 3 at different times.
Oh yeah, Hoot Hoot my night 🦉friend !
@@tombrown4683same. I've become the latter. Prepare for the worst, but keep trying for the best.
A pessimist says things can't get worse but an optimist says it can get worse
Thanks Beau.
"On a long enough timeline, we win" is one of the most important takeaways Ive internalized from watching this channel over the years.
"Everything was impossible until it wasn't."
I'm still extremely pessimistic. It's going to be decades undoing the damage of four years, just to get us back to where we were when Obama stepped out, and I have less confidence in it than I do in a coin coming up heads.
"Everything was impossible until it wasn't."
Yep yep. "It can't happen in THIS country" libs say. Not remembering this has happened 2-3 times before now. This is one of the things we can safely CAN happen here.
Having said that, I believe the younger generation has copped most of the crap and will cop it for years to come. I think they will come out fighting. They really don't have much choice, because the boomer (my generation) has really screwed it for them. The voted in the republicans, and those republicans got their corrupt supreme court. The younger ones won't put up with it.
Just wait until you realize that Obama was part of the disease...
good for you to think that this damage was from just 4 years, otherwise you'd be even more pessimistic ;-)
I think we overestimate where we were in the past when things like this get said.
I try to stay optimistic….tougher and tougher to do
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We work from a foundation of hope. Let Pandora's Box stay closed please.
@@TheDemonsHaveMe WE? Your screen name doesn't say WeLoggedOnJust4U....now who is it that really decided to open Pandora's box with that kind of comment??
"She says she's burning with optomism's flames..."
if only.
Eventually it will get better. Been mindset since mid 80s as a child.
The trauma helped me envision MOST of the outcomes for the negatives of a decision,
AKA(over thinking)
A co worker and friend used to say “we are just smart enough to know we’re screwed and to stupid to do anything about it”
Dude, you’re so good at this! Thank you!👏🏾🫡