What are we supposed to do? We’ve passed the point of peaceful protest. We can no longer organize quickly or effectively. The popular forums have all been taken, and while new ones are emerging, it may be too late by the time they grow. Maybe if TikTok hadn’t bent the knee, but it was always going to. Calls for violence will be quickly dismissed, as they always are, by rational, hopeful people. I’m not saying that violence is the answer, anyway. Any violence now would lead to disorganization, be crushed, and ultimately just fuel the system.

You can’t talk your way out of this. You can’t legislate your way out of it. What needs to happen can no longer happen. So what will happen is what always happens…the changing of power. My trans friend is desperately trying to reach out to our state representative, and I wish there was something I could do. Another friend just got his dream job as a librarian, but it’s a shame how things are going.

I often wonder what the SS or the KGB would have been like with today’s data networks. What can we do? Wipe your social media presence, or sterilize it. My opinion is you’re better off deleting it until the window for them to legally delete your data has passed and then rejoining. Who knows what long gone chats or deleted posts might hit you in the future. Consider who you’re connected to, and get them to do the same. Every time I hear my roommate say, “Okay, Google,” my anxiety spikes. She’s gay.

What are we supposed to do now? The government, the media, and social platforms have all been captured. We’re conquered, caged, and trapped in the net. And the net is only going to shrink. We still need our circuses, but they’ve got everything they need to track and monitor us, our phones, computers, ISPs, social media, apps, even our friends’ apps and browsers.

If you’re staying and not actively fighting, scrub your data while you still can. Find a phone you can install a secure OS on (one that isn’t locked by verizon or ATT and) Get rid of Google, get a VPN, remove everything from your main computer, invest in an encrypted hard drive, and download your favorite shows and books. Tomorrow, they might be wiped. VPNs could even be outlawed for personal use. Get what you can while you can, but keep it off your Windows hard drives. Think about deleting your streaming services. (I’m serious) What you have watched could be used to profile you. If you plan to protest, leave your phone at home. Don’t discuss these things, even jokingly, on any platform that isn’t encrypted—not even Discord. You don’t know how bad this will get. No one can know. We were taught ONE major genocide event in schools for the most part. We found our own lessons on fascism. There were dozen if not hundreds of genocides and power changes that just get forgotten.

There’s so much, and maybe I am over reacting