On Echo Chambers, 'Our side', and Preaching to the Choir.

We're the resistance now. This is how we assemble. This is how we win.

Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash

Our country is in a fine mess, I don’t have to tell you. I don’t even have to tell you who put us here. You know, because we’ve talked about it many times and for many years. For so many years you would think we were tired of it by now. And some of us are. But the rest of us are not, and we’re here. On a mission. Because this is what we do when danger approaches. We come together to figure it all out, and then we work at doing something about it.

We keep hearing from supposed allies that we’ll need to stay out of the echo chambers, that we’ll need to open our hearts to those who ‘disagree’, that preaching to the choir gets us nowhere.

You know what I’m going to say to that, right? And how do you know? Because we’ve been here and there, together, and we’ve been talking about it. We’ve come to know each other well enough to get it. We know where we all stand, if we don’t yet know what to do about it.

But we’re working on it.

We.

Together.

If Constant Commoner is an echo chamber, let these walls rumble.

If we’ve taken sides, bravo! Solidarity! The first rule in any army: take sides.

If I’m preaching to the choir, FORTISSIMO.

This job is going to be hard enough without the usual sabotaging. Our focus is on stopping a near-foregone disaster. I’m asking you not to listen to those who want to tear us apart. There’s a reason for that. Keep the infighting to a minimum. Eyes on the prize. The fate of the entire country lies on who wins this battle.

I wish that were hyperbole. I wish there was no danger ahead. I wish that horrible man would lose his power. And then I hope. And hope comes when I see signs that we’re not backing down—any of us.

And that includes our leaders.

If we have to light fires under them, we have the power to do that. If we need to give them courage with our encouragement, we have the heart to do that. If we have to get out there and do what we can to help, we have the strength in our numbers.

I’ve written about these things before. I don’t claim to be an expert on anything, but I’ve taken on the role of cheerleader so many times I may have to make pom poms and batons my logo.

This is what we cheerleaders do: we keep on rallying our team, even when they lose.

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So this is where I am. If you’ve followed me at all, it won’t come as any surprise that I’m entrenched and in this for the long haul. I am a loyalist to my country, and a proud one at that.

I’m totally partisan. Again. Proud.

It’s okay if you’re not, but in this one major battle we’ll have to take sides. We can’t back down. I’ll be preaching to the choir in every echo chamber I can find. And there’s plenty of room for anyone who cares to come inside.

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