General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm just done. I'm so depressed by the rising fascism. How can [View all]ChicagoRonin
(630 posts)Seriously. Because every one one of the things you fear is something generations of people in other countries sometimes had to live under. And often leaving was not an option they could even consider.
Look at history, and look around the world. Even in the worst dictatorships, tin-pot third world authoritarian cesspools, and the like, people still meet, get married, have children, eke out lives. Yes, they are often marked with inequity, injustice and tragedy, but people do it, because that's just what people do.
And sometimes they choose to fight. They become revolutionaries or rebels, risking life and limb. Or, if that's not their inclination, they hunker down and find ways to survive. They might not fight the system, but they are still fighters every day and every way.
I'm half Korean. Every time I have felt down since Election 2016, I recall that my mother was born when her country was an occupied satellite of the Japanese Empire (she wasn't even allowed to have a Korean name until the Japanese left). My family was repeatedly displaced during the Korean war, and eventually split (my grandfather was a communist sympathizer and disappeared north, leaving my grandmother in poverty and the stigma of having a traitor in the family).
The South Korea my mother grew up in was ruled by a corrupt fake democratic president, followed by a succession of military dictators, all of whom were aided and abetted by the wealthy of the country, and a U.S. military and intelligence policy that favored anti-North activities over promoting genuine democracy and freedom. She knew people whose lives were ruined for political reasons, people who disappeared, and what it was like to not be free to speak your mind.
And guess what? She and my other relatives still had full and rich lives. Despite all that crap. So, to quote "The Shawshank Redemption," "Get busy living, or get busy dying."