TRUMP

268 ANATOMY OF A MONSTROSITY
own role (am I contributing to X social problem by
existing?) you’ll end up paralyzed by inaction, which
helps nobody.
• Don’t spend too much time shitting on people who
are on our side. – We’re all flawed. We need to be
generous to one another. If you find yourself in a
screaming match with someone who roughly shares
your political orientation, something has gone terribly
wrong. Vigorous criticism of our own side is important.
But the more we fight within ourselves, the less
we fight for the realization of values in the world.
• Be kind. Always kind. – Too many leftists are mean. We
have to be a source of comfort, love, and compassion in
these times. We are fighting for a nice world, one full of
love. Be the change you wish to see in the world, and if
the change you wish to see in the world is that the world is
less mean, then we can start by being less mean ourselves.
Hugs aren’t, in and of themselves, a politics. But they are
nice. So there’s nothing wrong with giving more of them.
The systemic injustices of the world make a lot of people
lonely and afraid. And small acts of kindness will not
eliminate the systemic injustices, but they may make living
with them somewhat more bearable for a day.
• Remember that the real world exists, and it’s where
politics happen – So much political conversation
occurs online nowadays that it’s easy to forget that
hardly anything that happens online actually affects
the arrangements of political power in the external
world. It’s also easy to lapse into the delusion that
by keeping up with the news and discussing politics
a lot, you’re an informed citizen doing politics. But