Current Events > Hope is a choice.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm going to start with a story to give a little context to why I care so much about the collective mentality of the people of a private message board on a dying video game website.

I realized I was transgender in the summer of 2020. About a year later, I discarded my previous account and created this one as part of an effort to realign my online presence with my identity. I think it was around the same time that I first encountered CE.

What surprised me and initially drew me to this place was the presence of multiple openly transgender women. They weren't just tolerated. They were a part of the community, treated with the same respect and dignity as everyone else. (Or at least that's how it seemed.) It was the first time I'd found a community where I felt confident I would be welcomed just as I was, and I found it on *GameFAQs* of all places. Needless to say, I stuck around. Even if I've never been well-known around here, except maybe for the wrong reasons, I still always felt like this was a place I could be a part of.

But things have changed. In recent months, for obvious reasons, a certain attitude has started to pervade this place. It's a kind of...resignation. People are observing the rise of fascism, in America specifically but also worldwide, and responding with quiet surrender. "The people voted for this." "No one is going to stop him." I get it. They're fair things to say, given what we've seen so far.

The problem is that, when it's *all* you say, it really isn't. Every "America chose this" carries with it an unspoken follow-up: "So it's best to just accept it." "No one will stop him...myself included." "No one wants to resist...so I won't either." Frankly, it's selfishness with a dash of misanthropy. To see our world falling apart and do nothing but look on with some twisted combination of fear, disgust, and smug superiority...I can't stomach that. Not anymore.

And I want to believe that none of you can either. I want to believe that none of you are as ready to just give in to despair as you make it seem.

Hope isn't a feeling, or a wish. It's a conscious choice. Hope is looking at a grim future and making the decision to believe that it *could* be better...and then doing what you can - whatever you can, *anything* you can - to make that happen. And yes, it's true that one person can't do much. Individually, no single one of us *can* save the world. But if each and every one of us said "But I'll try to anyway"? Well, that might make a difference.

Horrors are unfolding around us, and we all have good reason to fear each new day. But the first step to finding something on the other side is believing that other side can exist. That's the choice I'm going to make.

I would sooner burn this wretched world to ash than roll over and surrender to a tyrant.

So I figure I just find a nice middle ground between those two extremes.

But yeah, I totally agree. Fuck giving up. Yeah things are grim, yeah things probably aren't getting better in a hurry. Long as you're still alive you have some fight in you.

They want us to give in to despair. Why the fuck would anyone here give them what they want?

Umbreon posted...

I would sooner burn this wretched world to ash than roll over and surrender to a tyrant.

So I figure I just find a nice middle ground between those two extremes.

But yeah, I totally agree. Fuck giving up. Yeah things are grim, yeah things probably aren't getting better in a hurry. Long as you're still alive you have some fight in you.

They want us to give in to despair. Why the fuck would anyone here give them what they want?

I agree. I will fight back how I can. Might be mostly small things (like giving up Amazon Prime and shopping local) but i will fight back.

It's just going to get harder to exist unless you fit in your average conservative's central casting view of America.

Don't give up.

It seems like every day I'm getting closer and closer to the edge of complete despair, so, thank you for this.

That's why I've been trying to do little things in my city like go to protests and city council meetings.

I'm guilty of this... but only on GameFAQs. On other sites, and in real life, I refuse to be divisive. I guess that's why I'm so gloomy here, it's my only place to vent what I really feel because I'm otherwise constantly trying to push back against it.

My political leanings are pretty well-known at work because of it. But here's the thing: While I vehemently disagree with Trump supporters, and they know this, I'm willing to talk to them, to try and educate them, to show them what's really happening out there, to not assume the worst of them. I've had deep heart-to-hearts with some of these people. Trying to understand their choice, how they feel about the current state of things (most say they do not align with it). People were misguided, they were lied to by the media... and we have, on some level, an obligation to set it right. Are there wackos out there that are happy about how things are going? Yeah. But I don't think it's nearly as many people as it seems. One of our guys had a TRUMP 2024 sticker on his truck and he's since stickered over it.

I don't want the country to fall apart. I don't want everything to really be as bad as it seems. And I'm willing to extend the olive branch and work together with people who, from my point of view, made terrible decisions... if they're only willing to work with me, and make the right choices moving forward, so we can come back better. Will I forgive them? No. Will I forget? Never. But will I do what it takes to pull us back from the brink? Yeah. Continuing to be divisive and to treat them like enemies is just making everything worse. They're not going to want to admit there's a problem or change teams if we're just waiting at the fence to cast stones. We need, like it or not, to come together and reintroduce reason and compassion into the nation, because... and I know this is cheesy, but... united we stand, and divided we fall. It rings true.

I genuinely believe that this will pass. It breaks my goddamn heart to see how fast we've gone backward, how many people are okay with it (though I'm glad that it's less and less by the day)... and I really hope that, at some point in time, people will just start to value one another again, learn to tolerate differences again and we can start to tackle the bigger problems that are really holding us back. It's going to take us decades to right our course and undo the damage. But I believe we can, and we will. The madness will end.

But...

At the same time, I can't bring myself to hold the doomerism against anyone, at least, not right now. The other team is clearly not playing by the rules, and they're not being held accountable, and America is ALARMINGLY vulnerable to attacks from within. Whatever sense of safety a lot of US users here had is gone. Many people are probably shell-shocked by how fast the country is falling and becoming a fascist dictatorship, and how easily it was done. To be blunt: It's pretty fucking terrifying to watch the worst events in recorded history, the kind of things we said "could never happen here" unfolding before our eyes. The gestapo, concentration camps right here on our soil that are still up and running right now with inhumane conditions and where people who are actually legal citizens are being detained as we speak... and god only knows where things are headed next.

I don't talk about my personal life much on here, but I work at a pretty large food bank. We have lots of immigrant employees... and a lot of them in our food pantry line as well. I had to watch my coworkers panic, PANIC, because a facility next door, literally right down the road, was being raided. And they had nowhere to go, and nothing they could do, and legally, there was nothing we could do to protect them if the raiding party decided to come knock on our door. I can't even imagine how fucking nightmarish that was for them. And many of us were wondering what we, personally, were going to do. It was extremely tense, but we all breathed a sigh of relief when the vehicles took off. Be that as it may, we all know... they could show up at literally any time, and when they do, people are probably going to get hurt, or taken... or worse.

The state of the country right now is insane. INSANE, Sydnie. Should we hope? Yes. Should we push back? Abso-fucking-lutely yes, and I hope everyone here is doing so, as much as they can. But am I going to hold it against people if they're crumbling? I can't. I can't do that. Because I feel it too. I want to lash out. I'm hurt. I'm angry. I'm scared. I'm disappointed. I'm... goddamn it I'm scared.
But that said, if it's negatively impacting other users here... I at least can commit to not doing it here anymore. I'll find another outlet for it.

I mostly agree.

And we don't have to storm the fascist barricades to make things better (not saying you shouldn't). We can just be nicer and more positive in our own lives.

I have to admit, I'm really encouraged by the responses so far.

The truth is, this, right here? I feel like it's all I can do. I talked big, but I'm just one person, and not one of the most stellar examples at that. I don't have the skillset, resources, or connections to organize protests or fight legal battles. All I have is my words.

But maybe those words can reach people who *do* have the right skills, the right resources, the right connections. Maybe those words can resonate with the people who *could* lead the battles that need to be fought. Maybe my words can give people a little more courage, maybe just enough to keep them on their feet through one more fight.

It's all I can do. It isn't much. I can't save the world. But I can try to anyway, in whatever tiny ways I'm capable of. And if that inspires others to do the same? Well, that's exactly what I hope for.

I love this optimism. If Xenoblade 3 were to teach anything, is that if a world ruled by old heads threatens and prevents people from making their own choices and being happy for who they are, then it should be ripped apart and built anew.

Yup I said I might go to USA for a holiday not a single person said have a nice time they just said Id be better off going to North Korea and if I come to America that makes me a fascist

SydnieStarlight posted...

I'm going to start with a story to give a little context to why I care so much about the collective mentality of the people of a private message board on a dying video game website.

I realized I was transgender in the summer of 2020. About a year later, I discarded my previous account and created this one as part of an effort to realign my online presence with my identity. I think it was around the same time that I first encountered CE.

What surprised me and initially drew me to this place was the presence of multiple openly transgender women. They weren't just tolerated. They were a part of the community, treated with the same respect and dignity as everyone else. (Or at least that's how it seemed.) It was the first time I'd found a community where I felt confident I would be welcomed just as I was, and I found it on *GameFAQs* of all places. Needless to say, I stuck around. Even if I've never been well-known around here, except maybe for the wrong reasons, I still always felt like this was a place I could be a part of.

But things have changed. In recent months, for obvious reasons, a certain attitude has started to pervade this place. It's a kind of...resignation. People are observing the rise of fascism, in America specifically but also worldwide, and responding with quiet surrender. "The people voted for this." "No one is going to stop him." I get it. They're fair things to say, given what we've seen so far.

The problem is that, when it's *all* you say, it really isn't. Every "America chose this" carries with it an unspoken follow-up: "So it's best to just accept it." "No one will stop him...myself included." "No one wants to resist...so I won't either." Frankly, it's selfishness with a dash of misanthropy. To see our world falling apart and do nothing but look on with some twisted combination of fear, disgust, and smug superiority...I can't stomach that. Not anymore.

And I want to believe that none of you can either. I want to believe that none of you are as ready to just give in to despair as you make it seem.

Hope isn't a feeling, or a wish. It's a conscious choice. Hope is looking at a grim future and making the decision to believe that it *could* be better...and then doing what you can - whatever you can, *anything* you can - to make that happen. And yes, it's true that one person can't do much. Individually, no single one of us *can* save the world. But if each and every one of us said "But I'll try to anyway"? Well, that might make a difference.

Horrors are unfolding around us, and we all have good reason to fear each new day. But the first step to finding something on the other side is believing that other side can exist. That's the choice I'm going to make.

Youre wiser than most here.

As I bump this, I feel the same trepidation I did about posting it in the first place, and like then, I remind myself that I wrote it all because it felt important to say, and I want people to see it.

Hey for anyone feeling down, and about to give up all hope just remember you alway got me, and that should make you give up all remaining hope entirely.

You're welcome.

Just joking, and stay strong out there.

Even a small act of organized resistance makes a difference. Interacting with others who will come out in public and stand up makes you and everyone else believe in the future.

I'm not gonna give up, but I'm also not gonna pretend that we're not in a rather dark timeline. I will hope that things get better, that I get the opportunities to make things better and take them, and that I will still be around to enjoy the world when things get better. To enjoy that world though, I need to still be around, which means taking the threats against me and mine seriously.

I tell people always to get involved with communities that matter to them. In a world where it feels like the noise is so negative, work with smaller communities of people. Help out with a local NPO that works with people you want to help. It fills you with so much hope and understanding that the world is NOT against you.

All you can do is try to be happy and bring happiness to those around you.

The thing I can't do tho is I can't pretend people are shitty and the world isn't getting worse just because I don't want it to be true.

American has given into fascism with outright support and no resistence whatsoever. There's no way of ignoring that and any better future is many decades away at best. I feel like denying that at this point is empowering the fascists.

Saw this thing in my FB feed (I know, I know) that I think captures a little bit of what I'm trying to say here:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fd6768ab.jpg

Basically, I'm frustrated because it seems like CE collectively decided that actually Denethor had the right idea.

I will never give up hope. No matter how bad things look.

Honestly it's why I feel we got the right Superman film last month. We needed the symbol of hope Superman more than ever and we got him.

Just from a rational standpoint, there is literally no reason to give up. That is emotional backwash.

EpicMickeyDrew posted...

Yup I said I might go to USA for a holiday not a single person said have a nice time they just said Id be better off going to North Korea and if I come to America that makes me a fascist

The USA is dangerous right now which is why I would discourage visiting

Totally agree with you, TC. It's why I consistently ask, "so what, we should give up?" whenever I see people voicing thoughts along the lines that nobody will ever stop Trump.

Am I saying it won't take too damn long for people to stand up and there won't be unnecessary suffering in the meanwhile? Absolutely not. But I want to believe that eventually people will wise up and do something.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/35603c3f.png

EpicMickeyDrew posted...

Yup I said I might go to USA for a holiday not a single person said have a nice time

I wouldn't be that optimistic.

Hope is always an option.

This topic reminded me of the song..."Just One Person" (various versions of it). Listen to it if you can. It's a powerful song.

SydnieStarlight posted...

CE collectively decided that actually Denethor had the right idea.

CE is but one window of the palantir

there is probably some value in keeping up with information and events especially if they are actually relevant to you, but you can also be excessive about it and I feel like a lot of CE has ended up there

Can we just reset the universe?

Americans are toddlers in the voting booth. They can eat all the candy for dinner now.

The rest of us are moving on.

I've decided that, no matter what's happening, I'm going to enjoy life and be happy.

That's my own selfish resistance, in a sense.
I will not let tyrants dictate unhappiness for me.

2001mark posted...

Americans are toddlers in the voting booth. They can eat all the candy for dinner now.

The rest of us are moving on.

What is that nonsense exactly?

Lots of Americans didn't vote at all. Many didn't vote for Trump. So just stop. Your mindset isn't helpful.

Anyway...back to the actual topic: hope. I strongly feel if more people would get organized, protest, help people in need (and so on), the world would be a better place.

I agree TC