So the people have spoken, Donald Trump is the presumptive president-elect of the United States. The voice of the people has been heard. That's the thing about having free speech: people are allowed to be stupid. People are allowed to look out for their own self-interest and bury their heads in the sand. And now the horse is back in the hospital and, once again, nobody really knows what's going to happen.

Ramifications

There's not a whole lot we know about what's going to happen now, everything is new, people are feeling their feelings, but there's one thing to remember: this was close. Empathy may be in the minority versus self-interest right now, but it was close.

With that being said, I don't think we can be certain of many things outside of that which has already happened, namely the overturning of Chevron a while back, basically gutting federal agencies of their power. This means that any progress made in regulation of things like Big Tech, AI, and Cryptocurrency will shrivel and die. I don't know if there's going to be any interest in taking any of this regulation any further from the legislature or the courts, we don't really know anything.

What Do We Do?

Well, we did what we could do. We let our voices be heard. That's really all we can do now. We can feel our feelings and take this time to come to grips with the new reality that we're moving towards, and we accept that we did what we could do. Be proud of yourselves, you did your part and nobody can take that from you.

Other Than That

Invest. Invest in ideas, invest in each other, invest in the spreading of information. Centralized platforms will always work in their own best interest. They're profit ventures—they will only care about you so long as it makes them money.

The Fediverse is the embodiment of empathy, the promotion of ideas, free conversation. It's where we can be who we want, do what we want, without the possibility of losing it all because someone wants to make a quick buck. Or billions of them, for that matter.

This place we've built—it's for us. And it can't be taken from us no matter what they try to do. We stick together. This is ours.

Closing Thoughts

I know people are upset, I know people are scared. You're right to be. Your feelings are valid. But you cannot let them drag you down to their level. You can't give up on yourself or the ideals that we as a community stand for. Take this time to feel your feelings, but remember why we're here. Remember what we stand for.

I am autistic, I am nonbinary, and I am asexual. I don't know what's going to happen with these communities, but I know that we've got this. It will be hard, it will be long, and it will be stressful, but we can do it. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We fought for these ideals and we shouldn't settle for less. And we can leverage this network of individuals, not states or countries, but people, to make it happen. If you need to talk I'm available on Mastodon or you can email me if you're so inclined.