We have strong passive #blocking of real change and challenge, that we need before we have any hope of changing the world, thus we as a community have to change our stance towards this blocking. And the first step – the most important one – is painfully simple: Stop being a prat.
That means:
- Stop pretending you don’t understand the stakes.
- Stop making perfect the enemy of good.
- Stop whining about how broken things are while refusing to touch the tools that exist.
- Stop treating radical, working alternatives like their someone else’s hobby project.
- Stop waiting for someone else to do it.
You don’t need a degree in political science or coding, or anything to see what’s happening, from floods and fascists to boat evictions and mass precarity. You don’t need permission from a foundation or a blue tick to take part, you don’t need a five-year strategy. Simple, you just need to stop being a prat, and start doing useful things, so, what does “not being a prat” look like?
- Instead of doomscrolling, publish one thing that matters using #OMN tools and paths.
- Instead of performative politics, help document what’s actually happening around you in a native #4opens way.
- Instead of building personal brands, build open #Fediverse infrastructure that your community can grow in.
- Instead of hiding behind cynicism, show up and collaborate – messily, imperfectly is fine, just try not to be a prat.
Why this matters, because the #nastyfew people seizing power, from JD Vance to the canal eviction bureaucrats, aren’t being prats. They’re serious about building institutions to shape futures. The tragedy is that our side, the ones with the heart, the vision, the history, are too often busy being clever, passive, cool, and precious, kinda like prats….
The first revolutionary act in the 2020s isn’t heroic, it’s just showing up, not being a prat, and doing the obvious things, together. This is simple, most importantly #KISS please don’t be a prat about this, thanks.
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