A Guide to Taking Urgent Social Action
Making an Impact in an Unjust World Requires Planning
Many folks are feeling depressed, distraught, and outright overwhelmed right now. Our government and Constitution are under attack and most of us do not feel that we have the power to affect a change significant enough to right this situation. The good news is that we DO have power. We always have.
Unfortunately, most of us have been teetering between the poles of being numbed out on social media, meds, or whatever pleasurable pacification works for us—and some version of despair, despondency, depression, or burnout. The pace and expectation of the American work/life hell—I mean treadmill—keeps us shackled to our labor, often underpaid, in exchange for mere survival…if we are lucky.
The productivity-pay gap has expanded by criminal proportions since the 70s, enriching executives and the top 1% at an exponential rate by excluding laborers from the profit gained from our work. Before the 70s, as labor increased, so did wages. That all shifted when the wealthy and the employer class decided to stagnate wages and steal the profit for themselves, even as cost of living, housing, and inflation grew out of control. People are forced to work multiple jobs and side hustles and still are unable to make ends meet. That is unacceptable in a world where scarcity is manufactured. There is and always has been more than enough food, time, and money for zero poverty. Unfortunately, the greedy class wants to stockpile wealth for themselves at the expense of the vast majority of our nation.
I have been carefully curating my news sources since the recent inauguration, fully anticipating the onslaught of shenanigans we’ve witnessed to date. I highly recommend Aaron Parnas here on Substack if you want a quick, concise daily rundown of the news you need to know from a brilliant independent journalist with a legal background. He offers a 4-minute video summary in the morning and one in the evening here and on TikTok (while it lasts), Instagram, and YouTube. Aaron’s Substack also includes a written newsletter with a more in-depth look at the day’s events from a legal perspective. I appreciate his short form, info packed videos because attempting to process too much (bad) news is detrimental to our emotional wellbeing. And that is exactly why this administration is bombarding us with rapid-fire tomfoolery.
I found Denise Conroy on my quest for well-researched, relevant content that I could act on. Here are a few gems that everyone who is interested in being part of the solution should review and consider. I have acted on each of these and I am taking a cascading approach, doing one thing at a time until it becomes easier and easier to divest from funding our own oppression.
Each time you divest, unsubscribe, or boycott—you might need to find replacement options. The comments in my recent viral posts showed me that people are sometimes reluctant to give something up without having a viable replacement option. I extend my deepest gratitude to Denise for all of the amazing research that went into compiling the following lists and action items for her fellow freedom-loving Americans and global citizens.
Voting with Your Dollars: Grocery Stores
(Live link in title and photo)
Click this link to read the details about her research and how she created these lists.
This article offers both an in-depth analysis of various grocery chains and the reasons to invest or divest, and a handy set of infographics if you don’t care for the deep dive.
Boycott Corporate Owned Media
(live link in title and image)
This article demonstrates how and why to unplug from corporate media. Here is the cheat sheet.
Again, if we hit these corporations where they live, in their bottom line, we can reshape the world by supporting institutions that support us.
Here’s my last recommendation from Denise’s Substack, Bridges to Burn, 10 Ways for Regular Americans to Stick it to the System. I am sharing her work because it’s so thoroughly researched and thoughtful.
Follow me here and on YouTube, and consider subscribing to support my work and the others mentioned in this article. Here’s my Linktree for access to all of my offerings, courses, and projects.
-Doc Jana