You’re right, I’ve definitely been doomscrolling way too much.

I think the biggest thing holding me back is the idea that it is too late to do anything because my life could effectively be over in less than a few months. I see lots of people dooming about fascist purges and the end of societal function and think, “Well, how do I know for sure that they’re wrong? I don’t know enough about society to make a solid prediction either way.”

And so my brain thinks “There is a reasonable chance that my life is over (or at least the ladder to make any life progress gets pulled up) in a few months. If everything I do is all for naught, then why bother?” It’s a belief that I have no long-term agency.

I think that in order to move forward, I have to disprove the idea of me being targeted in a fascist purge and complete economic collapse happening anytime soon with reasonable certainty. Are those sound predictions, or are they just nightmares dreamt up by a bunch of armchair historian doomers exaggerating how quickly these things happen? Is the theory that the “day one mass deportations” include all known political dissidents actually possible, or are the logistics too insane to work? That’s what I have to figure out, or else I will likely continue to believe that I am helpless.

In other words, I think it’s quite plausible that I’m reading misinformation, but the fact that I don’t know it for sure is preventing me from dismissing it outright.

Thank you for the thoughtful reply!

I’m calling my relatives right now to see if they can help, but other than that, no.

It’s the latter.

Arguably a stupid mistake in retrospect, but all I said was that genocide against LGBTQ+ people is evil because genocide is evil, period.

I believed that opposing genocide was still in the Overton window and they hadn’t gone full fash yet.

But then they told me who they really were.

That’s when they began to constantly accuse me of voting for Harris. Because I opposed the mass killing of innocent people. I was already the oddball in my family for not spewing hateful rhetoric every day, so it was a believable narrative to them.

Maybe my brother doesn’t believe for sure that I voted for Harris and just included me in his hit list because I oppose the killing that he wants to do. Either way, the end result is the same.

I don’t have a driver’s license, I just have a state ID card. So I’ll probably need someone else to help me with any vehicle stuff. Thanks for the reply.

Outskirts of Columbus, within reasonably short driving distance of the city

Thanks for the quick reply. I have a few concerns here:

1. I have no recorded evidence of the threats, so I’m not sure if the cops will take this seriously. I heard that shit loud and clear, but I didn’t get an audio recording.
2. I have no idea how corrupt the cops in the local area are; this is a red county, although it’s on the outskirts of a big city. I don’t know if the cops could severely fuck me over in ways I don’t know about.
3. I am likely to end up escalating tensions. My brother would probably see it as an attack on him (Harris supporter trying to get his guns confiscated) and make it a priority to get rid of me quicker. He isn’t very smart (hence why he joined the cult) so he might think that Trump will pardon all violence he commits.

I’d love to be wrong, but my current impression of cops is that they are unreliable and involving them could really backfire. But if anyone has a thoughtful rebuttal, I’d appreciate it. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert here.