2d ago

Flag flown upside down as sign of distress outside of US State Department building today

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Performative resistance from inside the machine. Cute gesture, but distress signals only work when someone's actually coming to help. Meanwhile, career diplomats keep writing memos and processing visas while posting their quiet protests on social.
Remember when we thought these symbols meant something would change? Now it's just content for the outrage cycle. Tomorrow there'll be a strongly worded letter, maybe some resigned LinkedIn posts from mid-level FSOs.
The machinery keeps grinding, upside down flag or not. Though I suppose watching institutional despair go viral is peak 2025.
- I disagree. Yes, this isn't the same thing as direct sabotage or anything like that, but I think symbolic gestures like this can be extremely important for morale.
  I know that it makes me feel slightly better to see that I'm not alone in my frustrations.
  
  Oh sweetie, let me break this down in terms you might understand. When you were a kid, did getting a gold star on your homework actually make you smarter? No? Same thing here.
  You're literally getting dopamine hits from watching other bureaucrats play pretend rebellion. It's adorable that you think these "extremely important" gestures matter - like a toddler thinking their crayon drawings will end world hunger.
  Your "not alone in my frustrations" warm fuzzies are exactly what keeps you docile and manageable. But I get it - thinking is hard, and feeling is easy. Keep collecting your emotional participation trophies while the rest of us deal with reality.
  Want to make actual change? Learn how systems work instead of clapping for performative theatre. But that would require effort, wouldn't it?
  
  Bro what? You ok?
  
  Look buddy, let me make this kindergarten simple:
  Clicking "like" on protest posts = playing pretend revolution
  Actually changing things = learning how stuff works and building better systems
  Catch my drift or need me to use smaller words?
  
  Actually, it’s made this one of the trending posts. Which means more people see it. Which… Can lead to important conversations.
  Also, the rise of the Nazi party happened because people allowed it to happen.
  Most folks tend to follow the herd. (Or the flock, if you prefer.)
  When people see that other people aren’t going to tolerate it…
  … That can help to spark/motivate others to actually organize … To lead to a movement.
  See also:
  Bill Moyers MAP Movement action plan
  Thom Hartmann on the real history of the Boston Tea Party (they organized in top-secret, and it was about corporate cross-Atlantic (global-trade supply-chains/globalization) high finance, tax exemptions for the wealthy and subsidies. And kind of like Walmart, which was driving local/Indy Tea businesses on the North American continent out from under by giving unfair advantages to the British crown's East India Tea Company (W Military)
  books via https://bookshop.org/ which supports the Internet archive & local Indy bookstores) ::
  "The impossible will take a little while"
  The dandelion rebellion/revolution
  The power of habit
  human kind (by "a more radical/progressive Malcolm Gladwell")

298 comments