I swear to god I love how liberals overthink everything.
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It's very silly.
Everything can be made out to be "performative" -- if someone wants to say that an idea isn't effective, or that it's not cool for some reason explain that.
I think some people don't like the hat idea because of PTSD from the "pussy hats" from 2016 and that is valid IMO
But maybe things have been learned since then.
Also be nice to the knitters, they have sharp needles and frankly are kind of scary.
@futurebird
@jens Is there drama about pussy hats? I still wear mine daily in winter weather. -
There is a very PERFORMATIVE debate going on in knitting and fiber arts about if this idea some people have about knitting red hats is performative or not.
I kid you not. Nice suburban white ladies are giving each other anxiety attacks Please stop. It's obvious that bringing groceries for your neighbor is more helpful than knitting a hat. But if knitting is what YOU can do now? That is AMAZING.
Kind of sad no one has noticed they have reinvented the liberty cap. Put that sucker on a pole.
@futurebird I had to do some research. Found this! https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/blog/liberty-cap-symbol-american-freedom
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There is a very PERFORMATIVE debate going on in knitting and fiber arts about if this idea some people have about knitting red hats is performative or not.
I kid you not. Nice suburban white ladies are giving each other anxiety attacks Please stop. It's obvious that bringing groceries for your neighbor is more helpful than knitting a hat. But if knitting is what YOU can do now? That is AMAZING.
Kind of sad no one has noticed they have reinvented the liberty cap. Put that sucker on a pole.
@futurebird
I've needed a project to focus my knitting practice because I want to get better.
My phrygian cap idea was a bust and looks stupid.
This hat will look stupid.
-2 v -1I figure it's also is a really good pattern for practice considering the one by one repeats.
So those are my reasons.
I hope it doesn't come off too performative, but most of me doesn't care. -
RE: https://indieweb.social/@tiny_m/116040447914491756
There are people I know who removed their pronouns from their email signatures around last year and I'm deeply disappointed in them. More than adding such things in a "performative" way taking them down as the first sign of cultural push-back is a different kind of "performance" Who is this show for?
(It's really noticeable when someone is just swaying in the wind. This is why *some* Democratic pols have trouble, they are so quick to "change with the times" it makes them hard to trust.)
@futurebird yeah, I saw someone referring to it as rainbow hushing, taking all the pride flags down off corporate sites and sponsorship. It is frustrating to learn how cheaply held those values were at the first sign of critique. I work in the UK and I was at a customer event asking about attracting women to leadership training. They told me they weren't allowed to collect the data any longer because they also operate within the US, so even in the UK the global companies follow suit.
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There is a very PERFORMATIVE debate going on in knitting and fiber arts about if this idea some people have about knitting red hats is performative or not.
I kid you not. Nice suburban white ladies are giving each other anxiety attacks Please stop. It's obvious that bringing groceries for your neighbor is more helpful than knitting a hat. But if knitting is what YOU can do now? That is AMAZING.
Kind of sad no one has noticed they have reinvented the liberty cap. Put that sucker on a pole.
@futurebird — plus Needle & Skein, the shop selling the pattern, has raised over $250,000 to help fund groups helping people harmed by DHS in Minnesota:
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/31/nx-s1-5693767/red-hat-protest-minnesota
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@futurebird
@jens Is there drama about pussy hats? I still wear mine daily in winter weather.Some people I think felt a bit left out of the discussion. There is a good feminist goal of de-stigmatizing female coded anatomy but it can feel kind of reductive if you think about it literally.
A pussy doesn't define being a woman. Then (online) as soon as you say THAT terfs show up. (As if any terfs even cared about the women's march in the first place)
I wouldn't worry about it that much.
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As authoritarians seek greater control actions that were once "performative" become dangerous.
People will complain "the protest is just a parade" but it still proves that at least on that weekend you could do a protest. Eventually the right will stop even performative push back... unless it's everywhere and impossible to stop.
@futurebird @RosyMaths I kind of like the idea of regular protests as warrant canaries for civil rights.
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There is a very PERFORMATIVE debate going on in knitting and fiber arts about if this idea some people have about knitting red hats is performative or not.
I kid you not. Nice suburban white ladies are giving each other anxiety attacks Please stop. It's obvious that bringing groceries for your neighbor is more helpful than knitting a hat. But if knitting is what YOU can do now? That is AMAZING.
Kind of sad no one has noticed they have reinvented the liberty cap. Put that sucker on a pole.
@futurebird I even didn't realise until now thats how the magic mushroom most commonly found in Europe got its name!
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I swear to god I love how liberals overthink everything. But I also hate it so much. It makes me want to die.
You know what's "performative" ? The most performative thing in the world?
Talking about what's performative is SO performative.
And here's the spicy take: performative isn't bad.
doing good things performativly is far far better than not doing anything and better than participating in harm.
@futurebird I am listening to a podcast right now about the ending of the Atlantic slave trade. Some of the important events would be considered performative today since they didn't change things. But they got the public's attention, they galvanized the anti-slave people, it got people to work together against the slave trade. The process to end the slave trade took too long but these stepping stones were important.
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@futurebird I even didn't realise until now thats how the magic mushroom most commonly found in Europe got its name!
The Phrygian hat was a mascot for the Paris Summer Olympics a few years ago.
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@futurebird Leftist purity wars have always been the Left's undoing. "Performative" is just the latest weapon in them.
@jens @futurebird so frustrating isn't it. Straight out of Life of Brian
Yes, I know that's what LoB was satirising. -
@futurebird I had to do some research. Found this! https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/blog/liberty-cap-symbol-american-freedom
@YesCT @futurebird thanks for sharing that! The red hats pissed off the Nazis occupying Norway so much that they made them illegal. https://paper-tiger.net/2026/02/06/on-red-hats-as-resistance/
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Sometimes people start doing the right thing not because they understand why it's right but just to fit in. They can learn along the way.
And if you are "performativly filming ICE" you are still filming ICE nobody cares if you are pure of heart and a magical gnome who has never had a biogted thought in your life.
I think the real subtext to some of these debates is just that leftists can find liberals kind of corny and cringe. But we live in a post cringe era. Irony is dead.
@futurebird its not that liberals are corny, its that they are naive.
While some values are aligned, the most dangerous cores of their beliefs allow for the atrocities to continue under a different face and a softer veneer.
The performance is that they think they know what they want, but will shy away at any chance where it challenges the true root of the problem.
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Some people I think felt a bit left out of the discussion. There is a good feminist goal of de-stigmatizing female coded anatomy but it can feel kind of reductive if you think about it literally.
A pussy doesn't define being a woman. Then (online) as soon as you say THAT terfs show up. (As if any terfs even cared about the women's march in the first place)
I wouldn't worry about it that much.
@futurebird @jens A pink hat with cat ears isn't exactly very anatomy-coded either.
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I swear to god I love how liberals overthink everything. But I also hate it so much. It makes me want to die.
You know what's "performative" ? The most performative thing in the world?
Talking about what's performative is SO performative.
And here's the spicy take: performative isn't bad.
doing good things performativly is far far better than not doing anything and better than participating in harm.
@futurebird “Performative” aka “setting a good example.”
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I swear to god I love how liberals overthink everything. But I also hate it so much. It makes me want to die.
You know what's "performative" ? The most performative thing in the world?
Talking about what's performative is SO performative.
And here's the spicy take: performative isn't bad.
doing good things performativly is far far better than not doing anything and better than participating in harm.
@futurebird@sauropods.win
Even if it is simple as saying "no" / "not in my name".
Choose where / if you spend money...
Do what you can when you can, also when you can't if you've had enough.
Indifference and ignoring problems has led us to here.
People are starting to learn to say no and it is scaring the shit out of certain parties. -
There is a very PERFORMATIVE debate going on in knitting and fiber arts about if this idea some people have about knitting red hats is performative or not.
I kid you not. Nice suburban white ladies are giving each other anxiety attacks Please stop. It's obvious that bringing groceries for your neighbor is more helpful than knitting a hat. But if knitting is what YOU can do now? That is AMAZING.
Kind of sad no one has noticed they have reinvented the liberty cap. Put that sucker on a pole.
I remember hearing this Jewish folklore (?) story about some rich man who wants to build a good orphanage but basically for clout. He feels guilty so he goes to a rabbi who basically tells him "who cares what your intentions were you built an orphanage that's a good thing"
Like sometimes intention matters sure, but sometimes it's more the act that matters (like say, filming ICE, whether it's "performative" or not)
And it's one of those things where I also feel like (possibly wrongly!) that some of the people scolding each other for "performative" actions are doing fuck all. (I will say: I hope I'm wrong and more people are taking action and not talking about it)
I will state though: If the reader feels I've attacked them, do NOT prove to me what you are actually doing. I don't want to hear about what you're doing on the ground that could potentially be compromised because you wanted to win an internet argument.
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RE: https://indieweb.social/@tiny_m/116040447914491756
There are people I know who removed their pronouns from their email signatures around last year and I'm deeply disappointed in them. More than adding such things in a "performative" way taking them down as the first sign of cultural push-back is a different kind of "performance" Who is this show for?
(It's really noticeable when someone is just swaying in the wind. This is why *some* Democratic pols have trouble, they are so quick to "change with the times" it makes them hard to trust.)
if you're pretending to care, you care
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@futurebird its not that liberals are corny, its that they are naive.
While some values are aligned, the most dangerous cores of their beliefs allow for the atrocities to continue under a different face and a softer veneer.
The performance is that they think they know what they want, but will shy away at any chance where it challenges the true root of the problem.
right but we should be attacking MAGA as the primary concern
that doesn't mean we can't criticize liberals
that doesn't mean i think you only attack liberals
but it does mean there are people out there who spend all of their time attacking liberals and ignoring MAGA
that only helps MAGA
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I swear to god I love how liberals overthink everything. But I also hate it so much. It makes me want to die.
You know what's "performative" ? The most performative thing in the world?
Talking about what's performative is SO performative.
And here's the spicy take: performative isn't bad.
doing good things performativly is far far better than not doing anything and better than participating in harm.
Meanwhile, Ironically protesting against ICE.
