I feel like a lot of people expect propaganda to be on the nose. War posters, Uncle Sam pointing directly at you to recruit you for the war or directly glorifying it. But I am starting to notice how propaganda is becoming more and more insidious and targeted and effective. In an episode a long time ago, I remember talking about the concept of Dialectical thinking, which refers to the ability to hold space for multiple, contradictory truths at once. The ability to use multiple truths and perspect...
Jun 27, 2025•7 min
Today is a refresher course on the "awareness wheel" which leads us into tomorrow's episode. feeling outta whack? off kilter? need a lil grounding? check in with where your attention has been going with a lil awareness wheel: YOU are the center. Around you are categories to prioritize BALANCE within like: health, relationships, career, hobbies, goals, rest, etc. resource: https://www.als.net/ice-bucket-challenge/ WATCH THIS EPISODE + OTHER CONTENT: www.youtube.com/juliemerica GET A MONTHLY NOTE ...
Jun 26, 2025•6 min
The resistance is diverse and often spontaneous. Additional disruptive action can win real gains (and already has).Large masses of people are experiencing, and expressing, a sense of solidarity with the oppressed. There are no guarantees. But there is every reason to maintain some optimism and keep our eyes open. SOURCES: Mel Bienenfeld's Article: https://tempestmag.org/2025/06/prospects-for-organized-mass-struggle/ David Whitehouse’s We need to do this together the editorial In honor of Mayday ...
Jun 25, 2025•9 min
Preparation never includes: overthink everything from every angle all the time. There’s a line between aware and too aware, and learning everything there is to know can’t save you from reality when it happens. The best preparation is hands on, so actually call your local politicians and see if you can speak to them one on one. Or if thats too much, go talk to your neighbors, or if that’s too much, go check out a library book and read it. And build upon that, and eventually maybe you can consider...
Jun 24, 2025•9 min
Making this shit backfire in whatever way possible, is a great way to push back against further escalations. Keep talking about the protests, keep talking about the legality, keep talking about how unnecessary and expensive and deadly and cruel and violent and painful this war will be for everyone. Because this, like all the other chaos the regime has been enacting, is a very common dictator strategy. It’s another form of scapegoating. Get everyone focused and talking about this new real threat ...
Jun 23, 2025•8 min
Tomorrow I'll be back with a NEW episode, but for now, enjoy this fan favorite from episode 300 and something. According to science, humans kind of suck at knowing what will genuinely make us happier in the long run. Society tells us what we really want is to find love and money and success, but in reality, we may already have all the things that we could ever want to be happy people, but were too busy trying to meet some arbitrary societal deadline to notice. Resources for Resisting a Coup: htt...
Jun 22, 2025•8 min
On day 342 of this podcast, I said this: "If you’re like most people, the voice inside your head is probably pretty incessant. It’s probably very critical and anxious. That voice is not you. If it was you, it wouldn’t need to share all of it’s wild ideas with you. You would know the message and have already made decisions, instead you engage in these dialogues or arguments with yourself because you’re not that voice. You know it’s wrong or mean or negative and you recognize it. The work you must...
Jun 21, 2025•6 min
Save the work until you get to the work. So often, we get caught up in our heads about potential problems and our workloads that we basically double the work on our plate by basically having to go through it twice. Have you ever been driving to work and pre-writing emails, or pre-planning meetings, or predicting problems? How many times have you left a job and started planning for the next day? Or worse - deciding what you can finish when you get home? Some jobs don’t allow you to leave the work...
Jun 20, 2025•10 min
Book bans are unconstitutional. Florida is in a crisis.I'm on my way to rant at these people. "What is unfolding in Hillsborough County is not the measured application of parental concern. It is a calculated effort to consolidate power through fear, to bypass legal precedent, and to silence diverse voices in Florida’s public schools . Educators and parents view this campaign as a state-directed form of censorship intended to intimidate professionals into abandoning their expertise. Books are bei...
Jun 19, 2025•9 min
historically speaking, the good guys have never restricted access to information. In fact, well intentioned people tend to provide MORE information so everyone involved can make the most informed decisions based on their situation. The Nazi party, the Soviet Union, Communist China, + North Korea all advocated for suppression and censorship which always started and never ended with government overreach through things like book bans. THE SOURCES: The PEN article: https://pen.org/floridas-hillsboro...
Jun 18, 2025•8 min
Successful protests start by rupturing the narrative. It takes time to make real change, but we're moving the needle. Don't stop. THE SOURCES: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66 https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/voices-of-resistance-and-insight-on-the-eve-of-no-kings-day/ SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.net GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EM...
Jun 17, 2025•9 min
He's losing, and we the people are realizing our power. THE SOURCES: https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/voices-of-resistance-and-insight-on-the-eve-of-no-kings-day/ SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.net GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com TUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcast OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.pat...
Jun 15, 2025•8 min
"Hope isn’t a mood. It’s a decision. And if you’re struggling to find it—borrow mine. I’ve lived through a coup. I’ve lived under martial law. And I’m telling you right now: This moment isn’t over. We’re still writing the ending." - Confetti Tactics THE SOURCES: The Thread: https://www.threads.com/@confettitactics/post/DKs5QjQIQn9 Protest advice: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/hong-kong-protest-latest-bruce-lee-riot-police-water-a9045311.html SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https:/...
Jun 14, 2025•8 min
"I am not giving up. I'm hopeful because I believe in civil society, I believe in our power, and I believe in our idealism. I don't know what is going to happen, because we make the future in the present, but in the present I see solidarity, commitment, principle, and courage." - Rebecca Solnit THE SOURCES: Rebecca Solnit's Blog: https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/the-heart-of-the-matter/ The Newsletter by Ruth Ben Ghiat: Lucid SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/mak...
Jun 13, 2025•7 min
The stage before the success stage is all about shifting public sentiment, and we do that by working on our communication. Optics are crucial. One tactic is to reclaim the American flag and wave them at the front of the ICE protests. That way, when the National Guard shoots into a crowd of Americans waving American flags, it will look so horrific that NOBODY could support it and may actually start to shift the media narrative, too. Bill Moyer's (MAP): https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/moy...
Jun 12, 2025•8 min
Success often doesn't feel like success because of the backlash paradox: Authoritarians escalate violence when they lose control, not when they’re strong. We're slowly shifting the overton window and creating mass support for the movement of the people. We're closer to success than we'd think. THE SOURCE: Bill Moyer's (MAP): https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/moyermap.html AND "Doing Democracy In the 21st Century AND The Moyer Model AND https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/9/freedom-floti...
Jun 11, 2025•10 min
There is no end. There is only the continuing struggle, acted out in cycles of social movements. The process of winning one set of demands creates new levels of citizen consciousness and empowerment, and generates new movements on new demands and issues. Today we're going through the conclusion of Bill Moyer's 1987 Movement Action Plan (A Framework for Effective Social Movements). Normal Times - "Business as usual" - Politically quiet times that the public is unaware (or feels defeated in face) ...
Jun 10, 2025•8 min
The movement needs to recognize successes achieved, follow up on the demands won, raise larger issues, focus on other demands which are in various stages, and propose larger alternatives and a new paradigm. Today we're going through step 7 (success) of Bill Moyer's 1987 Movement Action Plan (A Framework for Effective Social Movements). Normal Times - "Business as usual" - Politically quiet times that the public is unaware (or feels defeated in face) of the violations of the general public's righ...
Jun 09, 2025•8 min
Today we're going through steps 6 - 7 of Bill Moyer's 1987 Movement Action Plan (A Framework for Effective Social Movements). Normal Times - "Business as usual" - Politically quiet times that the public is unaware (or feels defeated in face) of the violations of the general public's rights/values/interests. Prove the failure of Institutions - A prolonged period of increasing stress on the system. The intensity of public feeling, opinion, and upset required for social movements can happen only wh...
Jun 08, 2025•10 min
"Rather than feeling depressed and powerless, activists now need to recognize the power and success of themselves and their movement." - Bill Moyer Today we're going through steps 5 - 6 of Bill Moyer's 1987 Movement Action Plan (A Framework for Effective Social Movements). Normal Times - "Business as usual" - Politically quiet times that the public is unaware (or feels defeated in face) of the violations of the general public's rights/values/interests. Prove the failure of Institutions - A prolo...
Jun 07, 2025•10 min
Today we're going through steps 4 - 5 of Bill Moyer's 1987 Movement Action Plan (A Framework for Effective Social Movements). In stage 5, large swaths of activists quit because they feel powerless, despair, and generally like they've failed. Normal Times - "Business as usual" - Politically quiet times that the public is unaware (or feels defeated in face) of the violations of the general public's rights/values/interests. Power-holders lie about their intentions and the most of the public buys in...
Jun 06, 2025•9 min
"The crisis of identity + powerless is a personal crisis for activists. After the experience of a movement in take-off stage, their view of the world and themselves is transformed. They come to realize that the problem is more serious than they had thought, the governmental institutions, powerbrokers, and democratic processes which they thought would help solve social problems were actually part of the problem, and that the problem can only be resolved if they are part of the solution. Rather th...
Jun 05, 2025•10 min
Today we're going through steps 3-4 of Bill Moyer's 1987 Movement Action Plan (A Framework for Effective Social Movements). Normal Times - "Business as usual" - Politically quiet times that people are unaware or feel defeated in face of the violations of the general public's rights. Power-holders lie about their intentions and the most of the public buys into the status quo. Prove the failure of Institutions - Build up stress on the system - The intensity of public feeling, opinion, and upset re...
Jun 04, 2025•9 min
Today we're going through steps 1 - 3 of Bill Moyer's 1987 Movement Action Plan (A Framework for Effective Social Movements). Normal Times - "Business as usual" - Politically quiet times that people are unaware or feel defeated in face of the violations of the general public's rights. Power-holders lie about their intentions and the most of the public buys into the status quo. Prove the failure of Institutions - Build up stress on the system - The intensity of public feeling, opinion, and upset ...
Jun 03, 2025•11 min
We are in a war for the hearts, minds, and support of the general public. The power holders are violating our values, so we have to raise consciousness around these violations. The movement's strategy needs to accomplish the following: Publicly show that the social conditions and powerholder policies violate values, traditions, and self-interests of the general public. This includes publicly revealing the difference between official and operative policies and doctrines. Keep the issue and moral ...
Jun 02, 2025•7 min
The process of achieving social change through social movements is the struggle between the movement and powerholders of the hearts, minds, and support (or acquiescence) of the general public. The powerholders advocate policies that are to the advantage of society's elites, but often to the disadvantage of the majority population and in violation of its strongly held values. Before movements begin, however, the populace is usually unaware of the problem and the violation of their values, but the...
Jun 01, 2025•10 min
"There needs to be a revival of democracy through "people power".The increasingly centralized power of the state and other social institutions, combined with the new use of the mass media to carry out the political process, has all but eliminated effective citizen participation in the decision-making process. Centralized power-holders now make decisions in the interests of a small minority, while simultaneously undermining the common good and aggravating critical social problems." - Bill Moyer T...
May 31, 2025•10 min
"Authoritarianism thrives when people are isolated and dependent — when food, energy, housing and safety are controlled by a handful of elites. But when communities feed each other, house each other, teach each other and protect each other — they are less dependent on dominant systems, which allows them to mount a more effective resistance. Such communities, then, don’t just survive. They become ungovernable by any unjust governing body, regardless of who is in power. Not every system can be fix...
May 30, 2025•10 min
"You don’t need to tackle the entire regime to weaken its foundation. You need leverage points — clear, concrete places to act." I wanted to read the whole article I referenced yesterday, because it was really good. When we do a "force field analysis" it makes it easier to know what's worth our attention. The Sources: Daniel Hunter's Article: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/05/dont-let-the-news-overwhelm-you-use-this-tool-to-stay-engaged/ Useful Trainings in a Trump Era: https://choosedemocra...
May 29, 2025•7 min
Most of us don't have the time, energy, or bandwidth to do anything extra right now, but I hope these guides can be a reminder that there are lots of different ways to engage on a practical level, on any scale. As long as you're alive, you're engaging and that's truly enough. BUT, if you have been feeling the same kind of "listless" that I have, ideally one of these tactics can motivate you (and me) to engage more enthusiastically because there are people are already out there doing the thing, a...
May 28, 2025•9 min
