Yes. I opted to step away from Lemmy because of political news for a few days and it helped. I took a similar break for two weeks earlier this year and got all kinds of other shit done.

Selfcare is a very important part of being an activist (a lesson I’m struggling woth a lot myself).

Not because you’re of use to noone if your burnt out but because we need to try to live the better world we’re fighting for. So choose your battles as they say and take time off and take care of yourself.

If demonstrating feels pointless (I know the feeling) try to find your niche, maybe something local where you can see the results. Work in a shelter or a charity or a garden project, whatever is important to you. You (probably) can’t change the world but you can change a tiny bit of it

Yes that’s why I curate my Lemmy feed to not see it

And that I’m expected to devote all of my time and energy and effort to it just to prove it. The least I can do and have done anymore, is whenever an issue involving women comes up and someone is attempting to shut them down, I’ll speak my mind of it.

You’ve stated your own problem here. Trying to please moralistic people is a no-win game. Instead, be practical.

Every activist or charity type of group is going to have a person who tries to tell you that your way of participating is wrong or not enough or that you have to do exactly the same thing they do or else you don’t care enough about whatever you’re fighting for. This is toxic bullshit and should be ignored. You’re not doing anything wrong by engaging in the way that is the most effective use of your energy.

You know, I have one simple rule.

You can think what you like, and other people can think what they like also.

But they can’t tell anyone else what to think. So all this social media and Hollywood propaganda about gender and race can fuck off. It wont change my mind and it shouldn’t. I have my own life experiences and I don’t need that replaced with what they tell me to think.

Friends who try to tell you what to think can also fuck off. You have to have this attitude or you end up with really annoying friends.

Real friends can have opinions without pushing them on to you.

The problem is that, with a lot of causes like feminism, it’s kind of mushy. It isn’t straightforward, it is loud, it is a winding path. … I just feel like just simply supporting the rights of women isn’t enough with it and that there’s something more.

This is why intersections are important, there are many interconnected struggles under capitalism which all run into common opposition along misogynistic/classist/racist lines and often with numerous overlaps.

Having an approach which does not include the systemic forces at play from more angles than just one, can lead you to blind spots which cause friction with other people.

I don’t think going out of my way to stand somewhere waving a sign for hours is what I think a good way to spend time with. I believe we should protest smarter by fighting with facts and being more focused than just allowing intrusive and irrelevant directives take hold of certain causes.

Demonstrations are only useful if they’re actually demonstrating something. If there’s nothing actually threatening why should anyone take your demonstration seriously? This doesn’t mean you need to be actually getting people in danger, but shit like stopping traffic and being disruptive makes a point where holding signs does not.

There’s a lot of people that can’t see reason through their self-righteousness. And when they begin berating people because they don’t believe or support a cause precisely to their standard, then they themselves are no longer supporting the cause, but just trying to feed their own ego. Those people are not people you need in your life