Attention rural comrades: People in a town near me were planning on setting up armed checkpoints. This thread details how we dealt with it and deescalated, and some tips on how to begin doing this work yourselves in your own community. Here we go:
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So on my local neighborhood watch page, folks started clamoring about the arsonist rumors and advocating for armed checkpoints at the edges of town. A disappointing number of people quickly agreed and began discussing specifics.
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We noticed the post, and jumped in. Four people was enough to turn the conversation around eventually and have everyone backtrack on their plans. It didn't take much, and it's important work to do that will help keep your community safe. You want to stop this BEFORE it starts.
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If you wanna do this make an alt-account bc these folks will not give you any consideration as a leftist. Just stick a big american flag in your banner photo and you're good to go. FB pages to find & join are neighborhood/town watches, and patriot/constitutional militias.
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Probably most importantly, tell them you will not allow your right to freely travel on public roads to be infringed upon. This is powerful because a lot of them just wanna larp, but if they realize they may actually be shot at, they will think twice.
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Here's an example of that, with me and another comrade getting the OP to edit the original post and walk back what he was advocating. For these and the rest of the pics, all comrades are in black, OP is red, green or purple is other community members, teal is locations.
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See the OP try to use plausible deniability to back out of advocating for checkpoints? NBD, the point isn't to be right, it's to prevent chuds from going out in the street with guns. Let them think they're winning and walk it back in peace, as long as they actually back off.
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If you can, have other folks just chime in to add opposing voices, without appearing threatening. Ruin the echo chamber. Doing this opens up space for more community members who have concerns to raise their voices without feeling alone. Two different comrades commenting here:
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After they posted those comments, a couple other folks we don't know came forward to say that they either had concerns or that it was illegal to set up checkpoints. This is what you want—make them realize they do not have community support for their proposed actions.
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First pic is another community member advocating "manning the bridge" to the OP, second pic is me and a different community member addressing that comment. Firmly holding your ground on this while still pretending to be a right-winger is a wakeup call for some folks.
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Finally we have the person who suggested manning the bridge walk that back. I address her fears and emphasize the importance of not viewing your neighbors with suspicion, and both her and the OP liked my post.
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And that was the end of any major planning being done, at least on that page. They all appeared to realize they can't reasonably go out in the street and create potentially deadly situations, so that's a win.
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And yes I defended cops in that last pic. No, I don't actually mean what I said. But it's a powerful aid in deescalating the situation, and you *need* some common ground to stand on with these folks or you'll be ignored.
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Do the "meet them where they're at" thing. Yes it's applying that concept totally wrong and in a way that panders to their beliefs, but go right ahead if it helps you defuse an urgent safety concern in your community. Use their language, it does help.
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Even if you consider a civil war inevitable, you should still be working to lower the temperature and delay it. Buy us some time, if possible pick up some weapons and train with them as you also work on deescalation tactics and deradicalizing anyone who isn't too far gone.
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That's it, thanks for coming to my ted talk, now go out there and keep your communities safe, try not to die from covid/smoke/nazis and live to fight another day. Solidarity y'all.
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