Fight the powers that be (or at least critically engage with them)

I don’t even know what to say right now.

But I do recommend everyone read Eichmann in Jerusalem, by Hannah Arendt, which is incredibly relevant right now in re: structures of power, the banality of evil, and the actions of individuals during dangerous times. As an added bonus, Arendt is brilliant not only as a political philosopher but also as a thrower of subtle shade, which is pretty funny in a dark comedy way.

(But Adrienne, you might say. Isn’t philosophy difficult and boring? 1. No, 2., Well, sometimes, 3. But not in this situation. The obvious companion Arendt is The Origins of Totalitarianism, which is an enormous, daunting brick of a book, despite its keen insight and extraordinary relevance. But Eichmann is written in a narrative style – it’s compiled from essays Arendt wrote for the New Yorker, and is a very approachable text.)