People are suffering from several massively terrifying things all at once:
gaslighting on a mass scale via massive misinformation campaigns, dearth of accurate data makes it VERY difficult to discern truth from fiction.
Climate change worsening conditions for life (increasing likelihood of more pandemics atop our current one too)
Pandemic is still ongoing, but acknowledging it means dealing with 1 and 2 and the reality of what that means. There is a lot of grief tied up in this as well.
Trauma from living in a genocidal fascist state (white supremacist capitalist colonialist patriarchal state is pushing for full on genocide starting with our most vulnerable — disabled folks and/or trans folks and Jewish folks, which is who the Nazis in the 30s targeted first. Which by the way Nazi ideology arose after the Spanish flu swept through populations in a similarly terrifying way that Covid has been for us. Recall that the first book burnings was the Institute of Sex Research that cared for the health of trans people, and carried so much literature on trans people and queer folks. History may not repeat itself but it certainly does rhyme).
Temptation to do whatever those in authority proclaim because it means less thought, less dealing with the heavy emotions of 1 through 4, and recognizing that they are vulnerable and could easily die and/or become disabled by the pandemic or some other trauma from the state. And most folks aren't ready to deal with this. They'd rather die by distraction, lies, and perpetuate gaslighting than face reality.
Why do you think so many went along with Nazism in the 30s? Why do you think people turned a blind eye to the horrors done to the Black community again and again? Why do you think people refused to acknowledge AIDS? Acknowledging reality means acknowledging the ways in which we may have been complicit. None of us can claim we are entirely separate from the systems that harm us, and thus by participating in them – even though most of us have no choice – we must face the fact that our participation upholds that horror. People want to view themselves as only good and so facing this morally complex situation often pushes people to not deal with it.
Yet, when disasters strike, people tend toward mutual aid and helping people. People have a tendency toward working together, but at the same time, there's a caveat to this rule. When the pandemic first started in 2020, people were roaring forward with mutual aid projects, assisting one another, and using pandemic mitigations.
But the pandemic isn't a one-time thing. It's not like a hurricane or a tornado, where we help one another and then rebuild. Those are a visible rebuilding – people can see progress. Thus it is often easier for people to aid what they see as visible progress toward goals.
Pandemics aren't visible like that. It's a long-term, erosion of life. It is hidden and hard to see. It isn't fully visible. There isn't a lot people can do other than pandemic mitigations, which are being increasingly villianized, and people want to be seen as part of an in-group. They don't want to be otherized in a time where being the 'other' will likely mean being harmed or killed. And a lot of people fail to deal with it, so they fall into 5 – temptation to give in and do what authority tells them.
Lack of ego death also plays into all of this. It is our ego that can blind us to the suffering of others and to connecting with others, where we may think of ourselves as special, where the calamity/situation/trauma can't and won't happen to us. Except, this mode of individualistic thinking is false. All of us are vulnerable and susceptible to calamities and bad things. Ultimately, we are all vulnerable people, and on a grand scale there is no meaningful difference between us.
This realization can lead people either toward apathy and despair, where they they may feel as if nothing matters and thus there is no point to trying, which leaves them susceptible to the temptation mentioned in point 5.
Or it can lead them to empathy and the realization that everything matters, and we can still care for each other. We can still thrive in a collective whole, and we don't have to face this alone.
Those of us who refuse to give in to the temptation in point 5? Who value people's lives over our own egos, over being part of any in-group, over whatever horrific justification folks are peddling these days, etc?
We see the truth of the reality we face. We yell and warn, and we refuse to fall in line with authority. We refuse to stop talking about reality, and thus we become the villain. We are forcing people to think and reflect.
So when faced with thinking and facing one's complicity in a horrific system, people lash out in anger. It's the easiest response.
In the Western world and the USA in particular:
Changing one's behaviors and the way things are currently done is incredibly hard and requires a lot of collective work. Acting in a collective way to save as many people as possible is hard. And there's far too many people who don't know how to do that.
The systems that we live in are built in a way to prevent collective work as much as possible. We've been socialized to NOT think collectively, to view it as bad, to view individualism as good — when in reality, humans can't survive for long unless we collectively work together. But at this point, many people have made this selfish-ego-centric individualism into their identity, and anything that threatens what they view as their identity? They lash out in anger and derision. They defend themselves, even though it's killing them to do so.
Because to admit the truth?
It requires them to upend their entire way of life, their view of themselves, and to hold themselves accountable. And far too many people are not ready to take that step. So they cling to an authority that takes away the choice and makes them feel good even if they know their actions cause harm.
This is what we are up against. Yes, it is awful and it sucks. Yes it is infuriating. Yes I've been the one derided and attacked because I continue to speak up about this too, and it's hard and exhausting to keep speaking up. To keep fighting for justice, accessibility, for that better world.
But one person at a time, we build that better world. It often takes a few people to start a cascade of realization, of discovering the truth, and of laying the foundation for others to join us in the fight.
It's why it's imperative for those within our movements to not fall for the temptation of point 5. Why it's crucial to continue to be accessible with pandemic mitigations, to normalize pandemic mitigations, to refuse the dealth-cult-narrative that mass death and disablement is okay, to refuse the individualistic-ego-centric view, to refuse the ideology that profits matter more than people, and to continue to stand up and speak our truth.
Because in the end, they may try to tear us down, break us up, but truth and justice burns still. We must continue to keep those fires lit within us and within each other. Collectively we are powerful, and we can illuminate for others the path away from the temptation of point 5. By building our collective power together and building networks of aid long-term among ourselves, we are showing through our actions another way. A better way, and we need to keep building. To not lose hope.
Mariame Kaba, a Black abolitionist organizer, once said that “Hope is a Discipline.” So let us enact the discipline of hope.
Written by Aidan Z. (Aaidanbird@disabled.social or TheBird@ni.hil.ist)