Inauguration Ironies
The "arc of the moral universe" may bend towards justice, but it is elongating too
I know many have written today about the ironies of Inauguration Day and MLK Day coinciding. I didn’t tune in much, but am also reflecting about what some of those are.
The first is that the state will still conspire to kill you for standing up against oppressive systems of power and then celebrate you after your death. We might kill you, but you get a day for your revolutionary actions!
The second is that even today, our voices are constrained. For one, we can’t even post about these issues on our typical social media platforms. They run this inequitable world. It’s like being for prison abolition, but jailing yourself to take a stand. You give away your agency willingly.
Instead of everyone willingly going into the jail, we need to liberate everyone and get them out. We cannot afford to give these institutions our time, money, or attention.
Both Meta and X are clear monopolies, but worse, they have been bought. Politicians and CEOs line their pockets while critical thinking and facts are repressed.
We can’t even critique these companies because our smartest friends work for them. Normalized complacency.
Where is freedom? Where is equity? Where is justice?
To find them, we have to get uncomfortable.