Handy Tips and Tricks for Surviving Fascism
Hint: it’s not all anger
Wow, it’s hard being a human right now.
It sort of feels like the Death Eaters, Valg, Venin, and Storm Troopers are all swarming around us like Tracker Jackers from the Hunger Games. It’s unrelenting and we’re powerless. We don’t have superpowers, or signets. We’re not Valkyries.
It’s okay if you don’t get the references from these popular fantasy stories. We’re living in our own dystopian world, and guess what?! It’s not fiction.
I’m a dirty little liar when I said I was on a news fast. I won’t watch or listen, because I can’t tolerate the voice of the smallest man who ever lived (This started in 2017. Sorry, NPR, I like your news stories, but for some reason you keep threading his sound bites through your reporting.) I read the news as fast as possible, so I can attempt to move to the processing stage. JK JK. There is no processing this crap.
There are so many people on this platform who have an in-depth understanding of, if not so much the shit-show that is the current White House, the constitutionality of what’s going down (spoiler, 99% of it is not legal). They offer suggestions on how to stay sane and what we can do. Outrage isn’t enough. A quick stroll through the thoughtful side of Substack will reveal so much knowledge, a lot of which we won’t see in legacy media which is either owned by, beholden to, or falling in line with the current administration.
I’ve collated the advice of the sage scholars and added some of my own
Keep following the news even though it hurts.
Choose your news sources carefully.
Don’t try to get the whole picture. It’s too much to comprehend.
Pick one or two things. Like immigration, reproductive rights, trans-rights, LGBTQ, FEMA, CDC. AI. You know your jam. Keep your focus there. These are the stories to follow. Do whatever you can. However you can.
Make 5 calls part of your daily habit.
Keep reminding yourself that this isn’t normal.
Remind your friends that this isn’t normal.
Look.👏🏻 The fuck👏🏻. After👏🏻. Yourself👏🏻.
And your friends.
Find ways to be in community.
Find ways to serve your community.
Find joy.
Make joy.
Share joy.
I’m opening up a chat so you can share what you’re doing to look after yourselves, your people, your community. How are you finding, creating, and sharing joy? We need ideas and inspiration.
Smart people who know what they’re talking about:
(feel free to add more to the list in the comments)
In an unexpected twist, a resistance group formed in 2017 to protect our National Parks, AltNationalParks, is blasting hard, scary truths on Facebook and BlueSky.
If you’re outside of the US, check on your American friends, we are not ok. We have lost the ability to have a conversation about anything that doesn’t end abruptly with an “I don’t even fucking know,” and a significant amount of head shaking, followed by a heavy sigh, a few seconds of silence, then a cheery compliment, because damn we need something positive
Tell us how you’re creating and sharing joy, being in community, looking after yourself and staying sane (click here to join the chat)!
Also this (IYKYK):
I’m always open to ideas, suggestions, shenanigans, tomfoolery, collaborations, cheese, snacks, and field trips.
You can find my art here and here. I offer custom workshops and design. I am the proud guardian/custodian of a 16 year old cheeseburger named Patty.
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words and images © Rubi McGrory 2021-2025
Love this so much! Thank you for all of it.