CO-VIDs: the gandhi trap
New CO-VID. Sorry for the delay; the world was already exploding when I started this series and in the last few weeks it exploded further. Had to figure out how to work under even more stress than before.
This is the first expressly political CO-VID, and my first attempt to address breaking news on my channel. Script started out big and sprawling, then finally got whittled down to one, primary point as I decided it was better to say something well than to be timely. The bits I hacked off will make their way into a future, traditionally-researched video that looks more broadly at the ethics of political violence.
Starting with this video, CO-VIDs will be monetized through YouTube ads and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Critical Resistance, a police and prison abolition group co-founded by Angela Davis. YouTube's CPM being what it is, it'd have more impact if even a small handful of people donated directly.
This is the heaviest CO-VID that will probably ever come out. I felt I couldn't keep on with the fun stuff without getting some of these thoughts out of my head. The next one's gonna be about an adventure game.
-I
Comments (6)
Great video, Ian. Thank you.
Thank you, Ian.
Excellent. I am interested to hear opinions on if we will continue to see mid-fascism tactics like deliberate slowdowns and logistic attacks against supply lines for police. There is also the possibility the peaceful protests could switch medium of protest and we'd see more cyber behavior as people feel their voice isn't heard and the personal violence encountered is too great.
Oof. Powerful and with good insight. I wish I knew what the answer was, too. Thanks for putting our current situation into historical context.
This is SHARP. Thank you. Yes. It's too complicated to even presume there are 'two sides' and ultimately, the realization of justice and liberation under systems built to deny both is impossible. So imagining a future possibility means using a lot of different strategies to see which ones move us toward the justice we seek. And anyone armchair commenting is as good as complicity in injustice.
Despite your protests about not being exhaustively researched, this was an excellent distillation of your insights into a heavily nuanced topic(s). Ty sir.