I grew up pre-internet and only embraced it at uni, early www time. I grew up not having a mobile phone because they didn’t exist, went to the local (crappy) library if I wanted a map of the world or to do any form of research. Things most people today can do it seconds involved having to get up, go out, and interact with people one way or another.
I rushed out one day and forgot my phone and headphones. I got about 40m away before realising and thought ‘meh’. Didn’t make any difference to my day.
I look at what I do today, and even typing this wouldn’t really have been possible some 25-30 years ago, unless it was in an email to someone I probably personally knew. I only had read-only access to usenet.
Now, everyone (and any bot) can write text on to another computer that others can be influenced by.
Posts that are clearly attempting to manipulate me are everywhere - propaganda thrived in the newspapers, on the radio, the television, and now internet. He who wins, gets to write history.
Having so much information at my fingertips (both biased and factual) mean I actually need to interact with the world less because any inquisition can be solved within seconds.
So now, I’m actively stepping away from the online and want you encourage you to do it too! I’ve started to read a physical book, ask more people questions forget my phone more often, and take a better look at the world around me, and things are so much more quieter!
“Muh anxieties” have no excuse because I need to forget about them to do stuff.
We’re actually becoming a world of isolated people falling into particular funnels that shape us. Break free now and do something afk that scares you. Put your phone down, leave it at home when you go out, ask a stranger for directions.
You owe no online community anything, especially not your short-lived time.
i know it seems that way but it’s only because you are not accurately viewing the world, in my opinion. it isn’t that there are dicks, it’s that there are uneducated, ignorant, self-serving people who are just trying to get by. they don’t usually act maliciously but their unintentional ignorance and poor judgment causes worldwide death and suffering.
i cannot stand the average person any longer. truly, i have struggled my entire life. but the PTA mom who votes Dem without giving much thought? she is just as responsible for fascism as her Republican counterparts. it doesn’t matter if she isn’t doing it intentionally or maliciously—the end result is the same. if you are effectively contributing to the destruction of humanity i want nothing to do with you on a personal level.
I do think there’s an element of privilege here. Just because you have the luxury of time and space to be involved in politics and spend a lot of emotional energy in that area doesn’t mean that everyone else has that luxury. For the single mother of three, working two jobs to provide for her kids, she probably doesn’t have the bandwidth to be super “educated” politically.
But what would you have that PTA soccer mom do? The bar is always arbitrary. I could choose to set it higher or lower than you. Why is your spot for the bar what it is? I could claim anyone who isn’t vegan, or uses toilet paper, or doesn’t drive an EV, or isn’t growing their own food, or isn’t chaining themselves to government buildings in protest isn’t doing their part and is actively “contributing to the destruction of humanity.” You have defined your threshold of acceptable somewhere short of actively murdering fascists (I assume), so why is that? And what makes your choice of threshold the correct one?
I think we have a tendency to say, “what I’m doing is the correct standard,” in order to make us feel justified in our outlook and superior to the people around us. Is it that others are actually “contributing to the destruction of humanity” more than you, or is that something that you tell yourself to help maintain an emotional wall of protection?
And, literally all that aside, I think your assumption that there aren’t plenty of people around you who feel similarly to you is unfounded. You could make friends by getting involved in a political campaign. I did that a number of years ago, and met a lot of great people. Helped a lady get elected into the House of Representatives. Had a great time and met a lot of cool people along the way. And surely those people would meet your thresholds of “good enough,” no?
i’d argue it isn’t a luxury it is a responsibility and i do not have the time or space, actually. i do it at the sacrifice of my mental health as i’ve made clear.
frankly, i’m not interested in this conversation because you are not the first, second, third, or 100th person to say the same thing and my response is never agreed with and it just becomes a back and forth until we either agree to disagree or tell each other off.
also no, i have not stopped short of actively killing fascists. murder it would not be, it is self-defense. ultimately, i am morally superior and am confident in that fact. it’s not something i expect people to understand. i am lucky that my partner feels the same as me and we can share in this worldview. what makes me more correct than others? the fact that i am and they aren’t. i have the outlook that results in the least amount of human death and suffering.
How many fascists have you killed? Genuine question. Cause if the answer is zero, you have stopped short of killing fascists. Saying you would is no different than the person who says they would care about politics but doesn’t.
I don’t mean that as an attack. I simply am pointing out that everyone draws the line differently. A Ted Kaczynski would say a person who really cares about these issues would already be sending mail bombs.
I disagree with that (as do you I imagine, as I don’t think you’ve started mail bombing people, as that would’ve been in the news), but he was just as sure of his line as you are. Why do you not go that far?
To be very clear. Don’t mail bomb people. Don’t take this as a challenge. I’m just genuinely curious how that falls against the line you are drawing.
Also, back to the original topic, you said earlier that you can’t go to events solo due to your social anxiety, which is understandably difficult, but could you not bring your partner along? Why can’t you have that security blanket as you go out to meet new people? Having a partner makes making new friends a thousand times easier!