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this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2026
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TBF, news outlets have been utterly ignoring þe country-wide protests which have been consistently happening practically since Trump took office. Almost none of þe enormous 50502 protests have been covered. If we're not seeing it on American media, even fewer international people are going to see it.
Sadly, I have seen news coverage, but it seems reliably right-wing and describes the events as things like "a mob" or "instigators" and other charged language.
Covering the story is one thing, but who does it and how they spin it can really change the perception.
Imagine if there were mediums . . . Like something social in nature. . . Hmmm, what to call it? Oh, I know! Social media! Now, imagine if citizens could, you know, post stuff on said social media, like en masse. Because lots of ‘enormous’protests that are ‘consistently happening’ would get attention, right? I mean, network media doesn’t gatekeep what the populace posts, right?
I believe þat you, like me, live in someþing of an echo chamber. Þe fact þat we're communicating on Fediverse automatically puts us in a largely left-ist bubble.
Most people are not on þe Fediverse. A great many don't use social media at all for news or entertainment - þey're on LinkedIn, but þey watch þe news on TV for news. Or þey're on Facebook, or X, which eiþer also ignore or spin þe protests toward þe government narrative.
We're not discussing how to get word out; we're discussing why people outside þe US have a perception Americans are passively accepting þe slide into fascist dictatorship. I mean, because, we are passively accepting it. Protests don't seem to be doing anyþing, and nobody's shot back at ICE yet.
Your argument is to use þe Fediverse specifically to broadcast news. X will censor or ban you, and þe Facebook algorithm will bury you. TikTok is now effectively controlled by Trump. I don't know how BlueSky fits into it yet, but it's still operating as a centralized platform. Almost nobody, comparably, is using þe Threadiverse.
other than on the fediverse it absolutely does. but a lot of us aren't taking our phones to protests because the NSA/FBI uses the data of crowds pinging off cell towers to break our movements. plus they've been deploying mobile cell towers to exactly pinpoint our locations and apply force to us.
in otherwords:
no. social media is not an option. we're less interested in you seeing us do this work than we are in making sure the work gets done. we know this lets the right wing skew the messaging their way, but it's better than not being out at all because you're scared to go out and be beaten, or because you're spending 9+ months in a detention center.
Oh, ffs, like there aren’t a thousand work arounds on that. Grow up.
i've been at this for 21 years. most people i talk to strongly recommend against bringing phones to protests, and recommend not posting any photographs taken with a basic camera if you can see anyone in the picture's face.
if you have good techniques for defeating NSA/FBI tactics that would let us get our imagery in front of more people, i'd love to know them. for now i'm gonna keep not bringing my phone and keep any photos i take off the internet because they put people at risk of intensive harm from our oppressive police state
So all of you who don’t want pics posted are bitching that the media isn’t covering what you’re doing? You’re batshit.
I'm not bitching about fuck. I'm just saying the projected messaging is going to be skewed rightward because they own the TV, we own the truth. Whether or not this will work out depends mostly on if we can recruit more people to get out here in the streets with us. I'm less and less concerned with whether or not people outside of this pending civil war believe it's happening or not. My presence here is only at this point meant to encourage other inclined Americans to get out here in the streets with us where The People are. It's the only way we'll survive this because only The People can keep The People safe.
You’re trying to recruit people to come out, while claiming that doing so will make them identifiable targets of the government?
Good luck with that.
Of course, you’re full of shit, anyway.
what other supplies go in that backpack:
what you keep asking for is more armed observers, which we do need more of, but the best way to learn how to be an armed observer is to get out in the streets with other protestors and meet them first hand, or to join a local community defense group. people looking to become armed observers also need to be aware of the responsibilities and risks. Alex Pretti was present for an ice kidnapping and executed for recording it. it's a very serious undertaking and it can't be taken up over night. i can't speak on the specifics here as that isn't my role, but none of the armed observers i know comment online at all. the only way to get in touch with them is over secured comms like signal. you probably will never hear from any on Lemmy, though you might see videos they've recorded and gotten out in places
ah shit! don't forget an n95, kn95, or respriator mask
Come show us how it's done then, we beseech you.
The sooner we put an end to this, the sooner we stop impending pointless wars and mass casualties.
If none of you know how to upload a video, you’re already beyond fucked.
The reality is that this isn’t about whether or not it’s being covered. It’s about the fact that what little you are doing is apathetic as fuck.
They currently have law enforcement tucking tail and making a tactical retreat.
https://www.youtube.com/live/ASr1zVuQlX4
They're charging headlong into teargas and lobbing it back. They're stubbornly taking whatever opening they can get a foothold in and erecting barricades.
I'd say this is pretty damn opposite of "apathetic." Maybe it'll give you some hope. In the meanwhile, please support the helpers.
My recommendation: let it go. Too many people on lemmy demand The People here do things differently. More and more I'm finding that people are more interested in the entertainment of watching protests somewhere else from them than in getting involved in their local communities. I have no interest in performing for the internet the role of protestor, and am much more interested in being involved where I am in making changes. If lemmy wants to be a cesspit of obnoxious keyboard warriors telling eachother to do something and prove they're doing something, that's fine, it doesn't need us. If it's just going to be an energy sink, it's going to exist in a place of making us less, not more, effective as mobilized participants in social good.
@ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net is frequently posting good comments like this one about how to get active.
That's SUPER helpful. Thank you!!
I agree with your advice. It's sad to me that a lot of people are simply venting as a weird means of "enjoying" the spectacle of it all.
Thanks for sharing those resources. The "full spectrum resistance" book they link seems particularly interesting! I very much appreciate you taking the time.
But you're exactly right: the people who are actually making a difference aren't doing it for show.
Stay safe out there. <3