Art is my Resistance.

How is it that it feels like years since my last entry, and it has only been a month. I guess this blog has become more about the political dystopian nightmare as it unfolds rather than my attempts to escape it. So much is happening so quickly that it is exhausting and nearly impossible to keep up. There is a new scandal basically every single day. A new atrocity. A new horror. Every single day we are faced with yet another moment where it is hard to comprehend this is even happening. Another “what the fuck?” in almost a decade long string of “what the fucks.” It is overwhelming. And that is the point. 

We are constantly flooded with these unthinkable violations of laws, rights, and humanity. It is immense. It is unending. 

This is their tactic. 

Sensory overload. How are we supposed to keep up with everything? How are we supposed to keep track of the thing we are trying to fight when a new challenger approaches every time we turn around! For those in congress or positions of power that are actually trying to go after this corrupt administration, where do they even start? How do they keep the pressure on when our systems are so slow and corruption is so fast. 

There is a massive tsunami threatening the entire country and we are just trying to build a dam… made entirely of Bonsai trees… While we are already swept up in the current and just trying to cling to any piece of debris to survive. 

Too slow, too ineffective, too late. 

Fascism is HERE. It isn’t coming. It isn’t around the corner. It is right here. Right now. And it is rapidly stripping away whatever rights and protections we have left to ensure that it will remain. 

Yet it still feels like nothing is happening. Because our systems are too slow. 

We have been lulled into a false sense of security that the system will eventually work itself out. The balance of power swings back and forth between democrats and republicans and that is just how it goes. But that swing has been getting wider and wider and with republicans being on the authoritarian side of things, it is much more likely to get stuck on their side. Well, more likely they will just grab it and cut the cord so it can’t swing anymore. And that is what is happening. 

(And yes, I am aware that if you go far enough left you still end up with authoritarianism but we are so fucking far from that I consider it a non-issue right now. It is just another tactic to keep us divided. If and when it becomes an issue, we will deal with it. Right now? The enemy of my enemy is my friend.)

The system has always been broken. The powers that be have allowed it to appear effective enough that we believe it works, if everyone would just participate. Honestly, that might actually be true but the powers that be also dictate who participates. We need to move past this illusion that everything will actually work out if we all just play by the rules. Because the powers that be do not play by the rules and they never have. Rules are for the lesser folk. You and I. Not the elite. They are the ones who make the rules for us, and change them whenever they see fit. We should not expect a fair game, and it has never been one.

I think more people are starting to realize this. But our systems are too slow. WE are too slow. People are too afraid to act. Or people are too stunned to act. The damage of this corruption, especially now that it is out in the open, is spreading so fast that we are not even equipped to handle it. It’s like a deadly new virus striking a population with no natural defenses. We are not adapted to deal with such a threat and there is a period of lag before the immune system catches up and is able to start fighting back. Unfortunately, when we see this in nature, it is usually the result of a massive die off. Those unable to fight the disease perish and the survivors are the ones who develop the immunity. 

We need to be smarter than that. We are not relying on an involuntary bodily process to defend us from this threat. We are entirely capable of using our incredible brains, and doing it ourselves. We just need to break the deer in the headlights stunlock. 

And it isn’t easy. I recognize that. I am sitting here writing a blog instead of throwing a molotov because I am part of this problem too. Not that I am stunned into inaction, but because I am scared. 

We are all scared. No one wants a fucking civil war. No one except the rich ever wants any war. No one wants to be the first shot fired, even as they execute us in the streets for all to see. No one wants to be the force that pushes this to the next level, even if it might force the change we need. But what if it doesn’t? 

Of course, there is at least one way we can have a significant impact without resorting to that final extreme yet. A universal general strike. But people are too afraid to act on that as well. 

For a strike to work, enough people need to do it. If enough people do not do it, then the ones who did lose their livelihood. Fired from their job, no pay and no healthcare means no food, no medications, no rent, no car payment, and they are out on the streets in 1-3 months. And in our current economy where finding a job is basically impossible? No one wants to take the risk.

 I don’t know what “enough” would be. I have seen as little as 3% of workers, maybe 10%. If something as high as 50% of workers went on strike it would probably slam the US economy right into a brick wall. But we will never see those kinds of numbers. We had the largest protest in history. Twice. And it was only 2% of the population. And that is why people are afraid to strike. It is not enough.

So we resort to what is comfortable. Hurry up and wait. We have midterms coming. Democrats, specifically leftist Democrats, are very likely to sweep the election. THEN, finally we can start the persecutions and investigations and removal of corrupt powers. Right?

But our systems are too slow! 

Midterms are not until November. That is ten months. TEN MONTHS. That is an awfully long time for this smash and grab authoritarian regime to ensure that there are no midterms or no results that actually matter. That is an awfully long time for tensions to escalate, people to disappear and be killed, families to be torn apart, or starved out. That is an awfully long time for us to just… wait… 

I don’t have the answers to what we do next. I just know that I don’t like the idea of waiting. I have been drawing resistance bird emblems to help focus my anxieties. And people have loved them! I started in response to the slew of AI slop that was coming out after the original design of the Loon from Minnesota started making the rounds. I have not seen who the original creator was, or if it, too, was AI slop. But I took up the inspiration and created an emblem for all states and US territories and I am currently working on allied countries. 

The base of the design is the Rebel Alliance emblem from Star Wars, the state birds, all facing to the left, and Polaris, the north star, guiding us back towards sanity. The deep blue background is a personal reference for me. I am a military brat and grew up with my father in the Air force, though he has long since retired. I remember the blue uniform, and what being patriotic used to be. My dad taught me what pride and love for this country actually looks like.

Symbolism is important to bring people together in solidarity. And art is my resistance. 

As a result of doing these drawings I have found myself connected with more resistance groups, some I had never even heard of before! I have seen the inspiration to action in myself and in others. People are more connected when they have something to rally behind, and I am honored that I am providing that in some small way. This is what I can DO. For now. 

See the full collection in my shop.

https://sylvias-shop.fourthwall.com/