Are you taking care of yourself?
This question has popped up in several conversations. The fire hose of misinformation and musk’s coup are exhausting. (That’s part of their plan.) So of course we each need to take our breaks, live our lives, watch bad TV.
But I still bristle each time I hear this advice because I worry that we will let our guard down and not regain the strength to stay in the fight.
Newton’s Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Two weeks ago, the reactions I heard from people were true outrage. Folks were ready to pick up the phone and search out some media outlet that would tell the full truth. We were putting on our boots to go protest in the snow.
But now I’m feeling a slightly different reaction: exhaustion. The story is starting to sound repetitive and the news is like a bad movie with too many characters and subplots that we can’t keep it all sorted. So we leave the movie running while we go into the kitchen to make popcorn and scroll through dog videos.
Optimistic or hysterical?
While I may present as a Pollyanna, I am a writer at heart and so I plot out even real-life stories well past the present. I can already see us living off our wits in the woods, eating berries and sleeping on piles of leaves as we commit little rebellions and living a life no longer attached to our phones and instead, trade intel written on tiny folded pieces of paper from palm to palm.
Does that make me hysterical? Overly emotional? Over the top?
Or does it just make me a good student of plot?
Plot makes a story matter.
E.M. Forster famously taught the difference between a mere story, and a true plot:
‘The king died and then the queen died’ is a story.
‘The king died and then the queen died of grief’ is a plot.
The difference of course is the connecting of actions. A plot requires actions (or emotions) to have consequences, or a reaction in order for the story to move forward. The queen died because the king died.
Actions and reactions are connected and while the reaction we want isn’t always the reaction we get, we still have some control over the plot.
voldemort and crew don’t really care about the reactions to and consequences of their actions. They are counting on us to leave the confusing movie playing while we go into the kitchen and stop paying attention.
Because readers of this newsletter have the ability to imagine the vast consequences of cutting USAID and giving a kid who idolizes a robber billionaire the keys to the bank vault, means we also have the ability to twist the plot and engender a different set of actions.
How do we change the plot?
“Let’s deal with the truths; then we’ll deal with the lies.”
J and I were watching a history of musical guests on SNL when they showed a clip of Producer Dick Ebersol who said this while explaining what happened when a heavy metal band made a mess on stage (spoiler: John Belushi engineered the whole thing).
As communicators, are we spending too much time on the lies and not enough focus on the truth?
Probably. Because the truth is less sexy than the lies.
A plot requires conflict. The media focuses on the most outrageous of actions because they need conflict to attract eyeballs; commonsense reactions aren’t as hair-raising, or ratings-boosting.
But the truth of our actions does contain conflict…the good kind.
A few truths:
Andy Borowitz, of all people, talked about what the news isn’t showing us and shared a photo of a huge crowd of people protesting outside of the California state capitol building. In the comments of that newsletter was a very long list of actions people had taken.
Jamie Raskin is the face of the resistance. I watched a webinar with him and while he didn’t sugarcoat the dire straits we are in, he seemed unflappable and without doubts that we will prevail. He shared a quote from his father, “When a situation seems hopeless, then you are the hope.”
The Capitol phone lines are getting about 1,600 calls per minute instead of the usual 40 calls. Even Lisa Murkowski seemed amazed by this.
Judges around the country seem to be doing their jobs for the most part. (Except when they’re not.)
In Illinois, our fearless governor put out this important announcement. (Definitely worth the viewing!! At least Pritzker hasn’t lost his sense of humor or his acting chops.)
Do This
The phone calls are clearly making a difference. Call your reps (find contact info here) about:
Voting rights. This one is scary. A bill moving through Congress sounds innocuous but will effectively shut down any type of voter registration drive. Congress needs to vote NO on this latest attack on voting rights.
There is still Kash Patel to worry about. Apparently he’s been making money from a side hustle with Russia. The Senate hasn’t voted on him yet so keep the calls comin’.
Send some valentines to Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson because this is all heading their way and they need chocolate hearts to keep up their strength.
Lastly, we each have to figure out how to manage the balance of personal care and useful rage in our own lives.
Keep the faith,
Jill
P.S. Keep sending me ToDo’s and updates. Thanks to Susie and Heather for some of of this week’s intel.
LOVED your plot perspective (and your subtitle.) Excellent action list, thank you!