Yoko Ono

[meadowlander]

30. I'd suggest

challenging bullshit wherever you see it.

Everyone has a crazy Relative X who posts batshit stuff on Facebook and most people just say, "Oh that's crazy Relative X again, not worth responding to." Except it is because your responses are seen by everyone else on Relative X's mailing list and empowers other people to speak up to.

Very few people, even on social media, live in an entirely hermitically sealed circle where they only post with like-minded people. And when you call them on their bullshit, you make them think twice about posting it again.

Positive peer pressure is actually really effective and I think a lot of people have been neglecting to use it because they feel shy, or don't have the time or energy, or don't want to harm the relationship by being "impolite".

And again, we all have the power to "be the change" we want to see in the world. My little 13 year old niece went to bed in tears on election night because she genuinely thought nuclear war was inevitable under a Trump presidency. That really drove home to me the need to be a bit more measured and cautious about what we say, even when it's gallows humour, because it does tend to feed into the general atmosphere of fear and mistrust.