The problem is that this has been decades in the making. A lack of education in the likes of civics, us history, critical-thinking skills (fallacies, research and analytics). If such education is a vaccine against false rhetoric (bad propaganda), then to reverse course is going to take an extremely long time.

Neurons take time to rewire no less, and if you didn’t arrive to your worldview by rational means, rational logic will not get you out of that overnight.

The only short-term solution I see is redirection of existing anger to the billionaires, and using mockery and satire as a way to short-circuit people’s preexisting biases. For whatever reason, this breaks barriers like little else.

There are several tracks of learning musical instruments, at least the way I see it. Learn to play other people’s stuff for fun solo, compose and record your own stuff, or jam with a group of buddies.

I’ll be honest I never got into playing other people’s music but composed in the past. That was nice because you had absolute control but it also limited the creative input and stunted my own growth in music theory that becomes a must when jamming.

This past year I’ve played more than maybe my entire life with jamming with family. It has been by far the most fun. We just make up our own simple shit and grow together.

Out of curiosity, do those who read quickly type or write more slowly than you?

Hey thanks! I appreciate it! So far do they seem responsive to feedback?

Hey sorry, just wondering if it’s still possible to get an invite link to Digg? No worries if not, thanks.

Sounds like they wanted to angrily vent, but not also take accountability for what may be their own mistake. People are extremely poor at confrontation, and so often resort to these cheapshot hit-and-run tactics. They MUST have the last word, so they get their little dig in, then block very quickly. I just roll my eyes.

Yeah I have a similar mindset. I honestly have a lot of people tagged on here from some pretty rough debates at times. But weeks, months, years later I still up vote some of their stuff.

Very well said, and I think that’s a reasonable take. A balance between protecting yourself but also not necessarily promoting a self-validating echo-chamber. Temporary blocks are genius.

It’s funny you mention the AI thing. I’m no pro or anything but I am a software engineer and was recently blocked by someone for just noting that AI has its uses in the fight against extremist hate and online discourse and that we shouldn’t necessarily limit our tool box in the fight against fascism — especially when it’s being used against us. That’s actually what spurred my thinking about these knee-jerk blocks.

Honestly, turning inwardly to my family has been great. Especially given the political climate and my general disappointment. Finding “your people” is quite pleasant. Tribalism is sort of ingrained into us at a primate level, I suppose.

Still, I guess I try to strike a balance when all possible because I know the traps of building one’s own silo and the consequences that can have.

There’s such a massive disconnect there, though, isn’t there? I agree the slow deliberative process is key; but there is clearly a missing piece of the puzzle to bridge that gap between experts and laypeople that unfilled leads to well… All this.

Follow-up to this question after seeing many responses (and thank you): What is your default mode for self-doubt when engaging in discussions?

That is, no matter how confident you may be in something, do you maintain an open door, or are your beliefs you block over completely set in stone?

For me, little terrifies me more than becoming the thing I hate; to be clouded by my own cognitive bias; to inadvertently throw myself into an echo-chamber of self-validation. As such I try my best to always maintain at least the slightest bit of doubt in even my strongest beliefs, and to that end to at least let dialogue challenging that come through.

Only way around this is editing your previous comment, though I’ve been told that can sometimes lead to a ban? Never happened to me though.

What really annoys me about that is that it prevents you from replying to anyone ELSE who replies to you in that thread, which is completely absurd.

People are trying to ‘win the argument’ for personal satisfaction. They’re not trying to self-correct or seek the truth.

How do we promote more people to cooperate instead of compete in the mutual pursuit of truth while maintaining humility and introspection that their own views could be incorrect?

I think there are many people out there who could.

To me, the problem isn’t being a benevolent dictator; it’s getting a benevolent person there in a benevolent way.

It’s been my goal to make an effort to reconnect with people through the months of September and November. We’ll see how it goes.

I tried to reconnect with an old good friend of mine but he has kind of gone off the deep end, deep into drugs and conspiracy theories. We used to see eye-to-eye on things. Used to be compassionate, informed. Kind of a burnout now.

He asked me recently what I thought about “the shot” knowing my partner and I both worked in hospitals during that time. He got immediately cold when I was blunt about my pro-vaccine stance after he prodded. After he got cold, I reciprocated and that’s that. Oh well. Hope he finds stability. I can’t put out everyone’s fire.

My sister is another story that I started to write about, but I think I’ll save that for another time. That one naturally hurts the most.

Oh wow, yeah, truly small. It depends on your own outlook and how willing you are to assimilate, or if you’re okay with being kind of an outcast who sticks to themselves. If for instance you’re a young progressive atheist moving to a rural Tennessee town of deeply religious conservatives, yeah that’s not going to be fun. Small Vermont ski town? You’ll fit right in. Alaskan town? They’ll be conservative, sure, but given the weather and isolation, people have a tendency to rely upon each other and that brings the community closer together.

I grew up rural just outside a town of about 30,000 that was just transitioning to a formally-designated small city. You could go to the grocery store and not see people you knew 2 out of 3 times, I’d say. It’s not always bad. We’re social creatures and the internet has gotten us away from that, somewhat detrimentally.

How small we talking?

To each their own, but similar to glp-1, not for me. I’ll just age naturally and do my best to maintain levels via diet and exercise.

I had one of the weirdest conversations with acquaintances at a lunch outing one time, and it was about them using testosterone to, uh, not look like Joe Rogan? Idk. They were all conservatives and certainly the first to be opposed to LGBTQ+ rights or other forms of gender-affirming care.

I listen to a lot of music in languages I don’t understand. Growing up I especially loved Rammstein. No clue what they were saying until I was older, but feeling is feeling.

There’s a time for both instrumental and vocals, and that’s of course dependent on my mood and focus. I’ll put on something like an elder scrolls soundtrack or lo fi hip hop if I need to focus.

Don’t be duped by fairy tale stories of any variety that seek to shackle your mind.