I'm feeling so uneasy with everything I've been seeing. I keep thinking about what we will be this time next year, and if shit hits the fan, what is your plan? I'm queer and was politically active in 2020, so I would potentially be considered a political enemy.
The only blueprint I can think of is what you do in an active shooter situation; Flee, Hide, Fight.
I know there's that romantic notion of "don't be a coward, get out and protest", but I remember the brutality of the 2020 protests firsthand, and even then I thought "thank god I'm going toe to toe with the CPD and not the CCP". Next time is going to be different. The president now has authority to send drone strikes. Protests and riots don't stand a chance agains missiles and live rounds.
Flee- I have an Uncle in Montreal who my family could potentially use as a way to at least temporarily escape the chaos. The hope I'd have is that Canada and other countries would accept American refugees, however that's not a guarantee.
Hide- If borders are closed, lay low and move away from major cities if possible. If civil war breaks out, try to get away from the violence even if you think your side will win. Todays losers may be tomorrows victors.
Fight- If cellular data/ social media algorithms can keep track of you, and surveillance can make sure there's no movement, this would be the last resort of desperation. I guess if possible try to either find a group for safety in numbers, or conversely go guerrilla as groups of resistance would make easy targets.
Sorry my mind is running and I'm getting scared.
There this trend with Americans where they pretend that a presidential election is the beginning of the purge and they've got to make plans or else they're doomed.
I remember back in 2008 when a bunch of conservatives declared that America was doomed because a Kenyan muslim was in power and that his plan was to crash the economy to the ground with the recession he created... and so they were making escape plans to go to Australia or wherever... that didn't happen.
In 2016, liberals famously declared how they were going to escape Trump's fascist regime by moving to Canada or Europe in mass before he starts WWIII... literally nothing happened.
In 2020, both liberals and conservatives declared that if the candidate they didn't want won, they would leave the US to go elsewhere in the West because clearly the country has no future because Trump/Biden will strip them of their rights and run the country into the ground with their incompetence... but nothing happened then either.
Now, in 2024, we have the same candidates from 2020 but more senile and old. Everybody is claiming that if Biden wins he'll sleep walk us into WWIII and if Trump wins he'll turn America into a fascist state. Both of these are unfortunate possiblities, however, will we see a mass exodus? History tells us no, we won't.
But seeing all the dramatic reactions is still pretty funny.
Your comment needs to be higher up. It's a race to the bottom here on Lemmy for actual autistic screeching