There's been a numbing, sinking, unescaping feeling of dread at the pit of my stomach and the depths of my chest these days that continues to augment on the daily due to the current landscape of the world. Being in high school right now is such an experience in and of itself, I hear so much insensitive, immature, inaccurate, idiotic rhetoric, insults, and straight-up slurring left and right. Reading and any form of intellectual gain or self-actualization is immediately met with accusations of being a "nerd" or how it's some waste of time, which is influenced by the rapid consumption of social media in all of our daily lives. People in my circles are becoming radicalized and desensitized to really, really frightening ideologies that are facilitated through the lack of discernment and punishment for simply just wrong exclusionary statements that are said to attack people's integrity, race, gender, what have you. I am not hearing many positive things going on, and every insane headline I accidentally see, even when I avoid the news (not that that is the answer), is something straight out of a dystopian novel.
It hasn't been a month and a week if I'm correct. Left and right, I see exclusionary, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, racist, classist, chauvanistic, and outright outdated policies and rhetoric normalized and spreading like wildfire. We tried to tell ourselves it wouldn't be this bad. It is that bad. And pray to whatever you worship that it won't get worse. But don't leave it at that. Do your part. Please do your damn part.
Volunteer. Donate. Talk about it. Use your platforms. This post is not meant to catastrophize, but to shake you hard and wake you up. When tomorrow comes around, remember the plan. Please look up the "People's Union USA" for more information on the February 28th boycott, and try your hardest to do your part.
We are the people, the masses they fear. We have the power.