Choosing Sides

Nature Moments, where I share photography + stories about moments of connection in nature, is currently on pause as I’ve returned to full-time work. In the meantime, please enjoy the archives :)

This week, I am reminded that all of the little things that we enjoy in life, all of the crafts and hobbies and interests and recreations - they all rely on our ability to continue living in freedom. Some people want to keep politics separate from their everyday lives - but, unfortunately, when politics is fascism, it’s not going to let you.

That’s what I was thinking about as I sat around a campfire with my family last week. It’s going to take all of us to protect the moments that are precious to us.

photos courtesy of my 13yo daughter, who adores campfire photography

It comes for all of us.

Fascism does not recognize limits, does not stay contained, and does not play by any rules, not even the ones it makes up itself.

For a lot of people right now, this remote, historical, hypothetical truth is suddenly being cast into the harsh glare of imminent reality, uncomfortably close to home.

Outrage over ICE has spilled into typically apolitical online spaces

On Instagram, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube, influencers who have built vast and politically neutral audiences with content about cooking, sports and fashion have suddenly opted to speak out in fury about the clashes in Minnesota, bringing many of their fans along for the ride.

“If you still support Trump/ICE even slightly, you’re not welcome in this sub…We can no longer tolerate the people who are supporting or making excuses for this.”

It’s winter in Maine, and we’ve had a nice snowstorm. The kids walked out to Hermit Hill, dug out our campfire ring, and built snow-benches all around. The snowbank keeps it so warm you can sit there in your t-shirt, even though it’s still 0° right outside the walls. I’m watching sparks chase each other into a moonlit sky, occasionally dodging snow-melt raining down from overhanging boughs.

I could almost imagine that I can just enjoy my campfire and keep myself to myself. That it won’t come for me way out here. But fascism comes for all of us, even way out in the woods by the campfire.

Sure, it comes for your government, and your law enforcement, and your elections. It converts police into state police and media into state media. But it’s not going to be content with controlling the government. It’s coming for your entire life.

Like rot, it spreads into everything. It comes for the marginalized and the dissenters and the truth-tellers. And then it also comes for your school playground and your neighborhood cafe and right up to your desk at work. It opens the snitch lines to turn neighbor against neighbor. It’s watching everywhere you go, so that you have to watch everything you say, and look over your shoulder everywhere you turn.

How Minneapolis Is Making Social Media More Political

Mainly, they all came to discover that the work they do in their lives—be it travel, art, or animal rescue—was inherently political in ways they hadn’t previously realized. That there was no separating their work from the impacts of Trump’s policies and actions in Minneapolis and cities around the country.

You simply cannot enjoy a cold beer by a warm fire with fascism hanging in the air.

There is no smallest part of your life that these egomaniacal tyrants will not sink their claws into to demand a share. A share of your labor, a share of your tolerance, a share of your obedience, a share of your silence - ultimately, a share of your soul.

Fascism starts in politics - but in the end, it’s an all-encompassing way of life. And like all forms of abuse, it takes silence as consent. This is what so many people are waking up to right now, and this is what is spilling over into every platform where everyday people share their everyday lives. If you don’t pick a side, you’re picking a side. If you don’t actively say no, they’re taking it as yes.

So bake that anti-fascist bread. Share those anti-fascist cat videos. Wear that anti-fascist outfit of the day. Gather round this anti-fascist campfire. Choose a side, and make it loud.