There Is Reason for Hope

Despite the election result, we can still create the world we want to see.

Shocked

Wherever you were late at night on November 5, 2024, we all shared the same horrible realization: she may not win this. As that reality became more likely, the sinking feeling escalated into outright shock, disgust and fear.

It's not just the terrible prospect of where this country appears to be headed; it's that more than half of our country wanted this.

It feels hopeless. But, we're here to tell you that there's reason for hope. Really good reason.

We've Been Here Before

If there's anything consistent in the story of human progress, equality and justice, it's that it is not the default state. It has always been a goal, and the product of great struggle. The measure of our shock today is in many ways a testament to the progress made by previous generations.

So, the gains that were made were hard-won, and those who seek to take us backwards never stopped resisting. But, we are now faced with a particularly powerful strain of opposition, backed by billionaire supporters wielding technology, disinformation and psyops to demoralize us and radicalize many of our fellow citizens. Even foreign nation-states have been arrayed against us. But, at its bottom, it's still the same old story—resistance to progress for the sake of retaining power.

We Need A Completely New Approach

Just as the forces that seek to drag us backwards are employing powerful new weapons against us and our fellow citizens, we're going to need a new approach to continue making progress.

It's clear now that we can't wait every four years with the hope of electing someone who shares our values. We can't live on this knife's edge—witnessing grave injustices committed with impunity and constantly terrorized with hatred and the threat of losing more rights.

We must be active in creating the world we want to see—starting locally and virtually, then expanding upward and outward.

A Starting Place

We must immediately exit "social" platforms that are rife with, and operated by, people who actively hate us and our values. Our presence there supports our adversaries, and it allows them to continue demoralizing us with their algorithms.

In fact, general platforms for "free speech" and the like are no longer sufficient.

We need a space that explicitly supports our shared values of equality, justness and human rights for all. We need a space that does not tolerate hatred, denigration, otherization or attacks on anyone's rights.

We need to use this space to organize and discuss solutions in different areas of importance to us—from reproductive rights to economic and educational opportunity; to racial equity and LGBTQ rights; to fair treatment of immigrant families that will soon be targeted, and beyond.

It starts with discussion, but it cannot end there. There must be active support for targeted communities. There must be political action and focused civil disobedience, including strategic boycotts, procotts and other organized action.

We Offer Upsides Social As A New Home

Like many of you, I've frequented online spaces for years—including the former Twitter. I've long felt that we needed more. The doom-scrolling and endless trolling/hostility are soul-crushing and counter-productive. In recent years, it's gotten far worse.

So, I used my skills to build this platform and I offer it up as the online home for the next phase of the great struggle for progress. My hope is that others will bring their skills and ideas as we grow a community that actively solves problems and implements the changes needed to create a fairer country and world.

Why Upsides Social Isn't Free (and shouldn't be).

Firstly, we're not backed by a large corporation or billionaire investors, which tends to skew platforms to profit over people. We also don't wish to inundate our members with ads. So, we're a bootstrapped company with real expenses.

But, more importantly, free platforms tend to be overrun with trolls and bots. We want real people here who share the values of the community. Requiring even a small amount to support the platform tends to weed out a lot of bad actors.

Finally, a portion of our members' fees will be directed to a fund. Members will vote each month on how to allocate the fund in support of organizations and causes of importance to the community.

We invite you to join us and spread the word. Now is the time for action—perhaps the most important time in our lifetimes.

So let us have hope. And, most importantly, let's get to work.