Michel de Certeau once wrote an interesting book called The Practice of Everyday Life, wherein he demonstrated how individuals navigate their lives (under any sort of political or economic system) through the use of what he called "tactics": shortcuts, ways of moving, thinking and being in the world.
A big part of my research is examining how Hollywood films and affinity for US culture served as tactics of resistance for Spaniards living under the hardships of the dictatorship. Even people who weren't actively persecuted by the regime still suffered, and Hollywood films at least gave them the idea that some other life, some other possibilities existed beyond that which they knew.
I'm realizing that in the weeks after the election, I've developed a few tactics of my own. This isn't to say that the US has fallen under a dictatorship (though it may well in time), nor that my life has directly been impacted all that much (it hasn't--barring the tío who threatened me with a rather passé form of torture and public humiliation on Facebook).
And yet, it's nice to discover new tactics of resistance to the vagaries of life. My usual ones involve constant obsessing and BFRB's. These new ones are rather more empowering and subversive.
Let's start with the empowering ones.
I've added a civics resolution to my list: I'm calling my Congressmen. I have their numbers saved on Skype, and they have been hearing from me. Constantly. Ideally, daily, but at a minimum, 2-3x/week. It really doesn't take much. Just saving their numbers so that they are easily accessible and being specific about my requests.
And then, the subversion.
You may recall Civics Resolution #5, wherein I refuse to refer to this President-elect by name. It's going strong, but I've realized that just calling him the President-elect gets a little boring after awhile. I've been feeling a need to switch it up, so I've been going through a list of nicknames. So far, my favorite is "el pato Donald" (Donald Duck in Spanish), but I've come up with a few others:
A big part of my research is examining how Hollywood films and affinity for US culture served as tactics of resistance for Spaniards living under the hardships of the dictatorship. Even people who weren't actively persecuted by the regime still suffered, and Hollywood films at least gave them the idea that some other life, some other possibilities existed beyond that which they knew.
I'm realizing that in the weeks after the election, I've developed a few tactics of my own. This isn't to say that the US has fallen under a dictatorship (though it may well in time), nor that my life has directly been impacted all that much (it hasn't--barring the tío who threatened me with a rather passé form of torture and public humiliation on Facebook).
And yet, it's nice to discover new tactics of resistance to the vagaries of life. My usual ones involve constant obsessing and BFRB's. These new ones are rather more empowering and subversive.
Let's start with the empowering ones.
I've added a civics resolution to my list: I'm calling my Congressmen. I have their numbers saved on Skype, and they have been hearing from me. Constantly. Ideally, daily, but at a minimum, 2-3x/week. It really doesn't take much. Just saving their numbers so that they are easily accessible and being specific about my requests.
And then, the subversion.
You may recall Civics Resolution #5, wherein I refuse to refer to this President-elect by name. It's going strong, but I've realized that just calling him the President-elect gets a little boring after awhile. I've been feeling a need to switch it up, so I've been going through a list of nicknames. So far, my favorite is "el pato Donald" (Donald Duck in Spanish), but I've come up with a few others:
- The gold-plated anything (typically something orange, like a carrot, persimmon or pumpkin)
- The Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief
- The Orange-faced Ensaimada
- The gold-topped push-up pop
- The Dumpster-Fire-in-Chief
- The angry orange emoji (😡)
Obviously, paid comedians can come up with a lot more (and their's tend to get more profane and also funnier), but this is what I've started with. Does anyone have any suggestions to add to my list?
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