A Suggestion for these troubled times
Sunday, November 7th, 2004 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serai.
This post is public because I feel this pertains to everyone, and everyone could derive some benefit.
There have been some wonderful, passionate posts by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mirabile_dictu, mirabellawotr, beizy, blackbird_song, oselle, aratlithiel, elanorgardner, and many others around LJ. I'd like to thank all of you for writing all that great stuff - it's been wonderful to see how many people feel comfortable expressing their feelings at LJ. How great it is to have a place where we can take solace with each other, though we've never met!
And that brings me to the point of this post: I've been hearing and reading this and that about the election and the Patriot Act and consequences thereof. Predictions of what may happen to our liberties, and our right to communicate, and the internet especially. It's a complex subject, but not one likely to go well, in my opinion.
So I have a suggestion for everyone, one which I hope people have already begun to act on:
Start collecting addresses. Those of you who have met here on LJ and share like minds, those of you who've become friends without any RL ties, those of you who feel heartened and lightened by each other's similarity in viewpoint and feelings about what's happened. Exchange your real-life info. Make sure there's a way to keep in touch with each other besides the internet. Make sure that the people out there that care about you, know who you are and where you are. Let's all start creating a web of connections besides the internet, a real-life web that can be touched on and relied upon in some other way than electronically.
Because the time may soon come when all of this will be gone. Either gone or sharply curtailed. Or even worse, here but spied on, carefully watched so as to entrap people. We've all heard what happened toanniesj and "Dilyn". Do any of us really think that's going to stop, now that those who created the legislation to facilitate it are firmly in power for four more years? Do any of us think they won't go farther with it?
Err on the side of caution, folks. Trade info with those people you don't want to lose contact with, and keep it safe. Don't keep it on your computer - write it down in a notebook and stash it. WRITE to each other. Put your actual hand to pen and do it the way we've done it for centuries. The internet is a wondeful place, and really fun, but there's no feeling so warm and comforting as the one you get when you open a real, honest-to-Hermes letter and know that somewhere, someone thought enough of you to create that little piece of history. And there's no feeling so helpless as suspecting something has happened to an online friend, but having no way to find out what.
Who knows where we're going from here on out? It may well be sinful to despair, as Tolkien believed, but the fact is there are dark possibilities for the future, and it would be well to prepare for them. This is one way we can prepare that is hopeful and productive in the midst of the oncoming gloom. Even if the worst doesn't ever happen, and the internet remains as free a place as it already is (and yes, that IS a debatable topic), we would still have good ties established with people we care for, and ways to communicate that would help in any crisis.
Love,
Serai
This post is public because I feel this pertains to everyone, and everyone could derive some benefit.
There have been some wonderful, passionate posts by
mirabile_dictu, mirabellawotr, beizy, blackbird_song, oselle, aratlithiel, elanorgardner, and many others around LJ. I'd like to thank all of you for writing all that great stuff - it's been wonderful to see how many people feel comfortable expressing their feelings at LJ. How great it is to have a place where we can take solace with each other, though we've never met! And that brings me to the point of this post: I've been hearing and reading this and that about the election and the Patriot Act and consequences thereof. Predictions of what may happen to our liberties, and our right to communicate, and the internet especially. It's a complex subject, but not one likely to go well, in my opinion.
So I have a suggestion for everyone, one which I hope people have already begun to act on:
Start collecting addresses. Those of you who have met here on LJ and share like minds, those of you who've become friends without any RL ties, those of you who feel heartened and lightened by each other's similarity in viewpoint and feelings about what's happened. Exchange your real-life info. Make sure there's a way to keep in touch with each other besides the internet. Make sure that the people out there that care about you, know who you are and where you are. Let's all start creating a web of connections besides the internet, a real-life web that can be touched on and relied upon in some other way than electronically.
Because the time may soon come when all of this will be gone. Either gone or sharply curtailed. Or even worse, here but spied on, carefully watched so as to entrap people. We've all heard what happened to
anniesj and "Dilyn". Do any of us really think that's going to stop, now that those who created the legislation to facilitate it are firmly in power for four more years? Do any of us think they won't go farther with it? Err on the side of caution, folks. Trade info with those people you don't want to lose contact with, and keep it safe. Don't keep it on your computer - write it down in a notebook and stash it. WRITE to each other. Put your actual hand to pen and do it the way we've done it for centuries. The internet is a wondeful place, and really fun, but there's no feeling so warm and comforting as the one you get when you open a real, honest-to-Hermes letter and know that somewhere, someone thought enough of you to create that little piece of history. And there's no feeling so helpless as suspecting something has happened to an online friend, but having no way to find out what.
Who knows where we're going from here on out? It may well be sinful to despair, as Tolkien believed, but the fact is there are dark possibilities for the future, and it would be well to prepare for them. This is one way we can prepare that is hopeful and productive in the midst of the oncoming gloom. Even if the worst doesn't ever happen, and the internet remains as free a place as it already is (and yes, that IS a debatable topic), we would still have good ties established with people we care for, and ways to communicate that would help in any crisis.
Love,
Serai
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Sunday, November 7th, 2004 12:25 pm (UTC)By the by, I'm on at YM right now, woman. Let's palaver!
no subject
Date: Sunday, November 7th, 2004 01:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, November 7th, 2004 01:18 pm (UTC)But may I also recommend that everyone who is afraid of loosing freedoms search out and support (money and time) a human rights/civil rights/freedom of speech organization? Find some you believe in and pitch in. They will need our help and support more than ever now.
For me, it is the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and MassEquality (a Massachusetts-based equal rights organization). There are many others out there who fight every day. They need lawyers, writers, lecturers, and workers. They also need money. I have made a new commitment to get involved and it makes me feel a bit more empowered and less helpless.
no subject
Date: Sunday, November 7th, 2004 08:55 pm (UTC)Thank you so much for this post! (And thank you for including that nod to my post. I am honored and, I fear, quite unworthy to be included in such a group of noteworthy authors and their brilliant words.)
Catherine