to me this resonated as an example of how feeling good today can lead to greater political engagement and effort tomorrow https://twitter.com/terisasiagatonu/status/1325136256146182147

we all know people who will be “out to brunch” and checked out, I spent so much of my youth frustrated by people like that. connecting instead w those engaged and trying made me so much more productive in tangible ways towards the politics important to me. happier & healthier too

We have to move with complacent people in mind so the complaints about them or lack of ‘real change’ arent unmerited, but the people making them are usually very informed, & care. I don’t want what is frustrating to exhaust them. Theyre who we rely on, not the checked out people.

This is a long way of saying I really don’t mind the people on the left scolding us for being joyful because chances are they’re anticipating being alone in worrying about the things we still have to fight. To me, regardless of their age, they just sound young.

It’ll be better to give them company than to scold them back about fun being allowed.

I said the above with a very specific type of person in mind, like a student quote tweeting someone celebrating the election to admonish them for celebrating an imperialist and a cop. And thinking to me that student is cool bc they’re paying attention and they care.

It’s not broadly true that the people who arent moved to celebrate right now simply ‘sound young.’ That would be a very condescending and inaccurate assessment.

I was prompted to make that distinction by the clarity and wisdom of this: https://twitter.com/halfatlanta/status/1325129503555776513

Definitely the validity of “Let people enjoy things” is dependent on the people in question. Centrists clapping in the streets calling this a ‘revolution’ can afford to be shamed for their glee.

Regardless of stated politics, right now everyone’s comfort comes at the expense of someone else’s. Sure, I know better than someone who sees Biden/Harris as an unambiguous good...

...But everything I live off makes me very indebted too. I, personally, would look like a clown trying to make fun of clowns for being clowns when *I* need to make a dent in my own debt! I’m not talking about guilt...

...Guilt is self serving. I’m talking about shame which, when in response complicity, leads to an awareness of duty.

The entirety of this thread can be summarized like this: I’m team joy and team protect the killjoys - not the cynics or the nihilists, but the ones that keep saying ‘this isnt enough’. Because they’re right and it is much harder to be them.