I definitely feel that way about traumatizing videos too. Yes, knowing what is happening is important. But how does watching violence over and over again actually help? How does it move the needle on anything except make you feel bad?
As for concrete actions, I really like the Climare Action Now app for quick and easy go-to actions. It even customizes actions to your state!
I don't know why, but what's wearing me down is not the vile and toxic, but the know-it-alls who don't know anything. The former can be ignored and the available tools and algorithms help a bit with that. But the latter are ubiquitous and require your actual attention. And god help you if you ever post in the form of a question or speculation; the self-nominated experts take that as blood in the water and will inundate you. It's just all Dunning-Kruger, all the time out there.
Yes. I feel like this is especially true of people who are an expert in like ONE domain, and then suddenly are speaking with completely unearned confidence on literally every domain.
You are an expert on like, baseball stats, my dear. Not genetics. In that you are an expert on your vibes.
If your Twitter and BlueSky feeds are trash, you are the problem. Who do you follow? Do you block? Mute? Use Lists? Twitter is much less useful than it was, a lot of the good serendipity has been lost, but my personal experience has changed little. In BlueSky, I am also selective about who I follow, the feeds I follow. I have one list already. I block, mute users or posts when I want to. No social network is going to be "pure" unless you set one up for you and your friends which you can do on Mastodon. Don't blame a public network for being public. 40% of the US public is fascist. You can't create a social network that excludes them, but you can control whom you interact with. And, BTW, when I first got into Blue, I did more blocking/muting than in years on Twitter because of the Middle School locker room humor which I disliked. My experience is much better now because of the choices I've made and the tools BlueSky has put in place.
Similarly, one might say that if my comments on Substack are full of condescension, perhaps I am the problem. I, myself, would blame the condescending poster.
I definitely feel that way about traumatizing videos too. Yes, knowing what is happening is important. But how does watching violence over and over again actually help? How does it move the needle on anything except make you feel bad?
As for concrete actions, I really like the Climare Action Now app for quick and easy go-to actions. It even customizes actions to your state!
Hi Bethany, I've been wanting to write letters asking people to vote too! Where do you send them or what tool do you use to do it? Thanks!
https://votefwd.org/ Thsi is the one I've been using.
Thanks so much!
I don't know why, but what's wearing me down is not the vile and toxic, but the know-it-alls who don't know anything. The former can be ignored and the available tools and algorithms help a bit with that. But the latter are ubiquitous and require your actual attention. And god help you if you ever post in the form of a question or speculation; the self-nominated experts take that as blood in the water and will inundate you. It's just all Dunning-Kruger, all the time out there.
Yes. I feel like this is especially true of people who are an expert in like ONE domain, and then suddenly are speaking with completely unearned confidence on literally every domain.
You are an expert on like, baseball stats, my dear. Not genetics. In that you are an expert on your vibes.
Neil deGrass Tyson comes to mind lmao why is he speaking on climate science and Trans issues with Ben Shapiro when he’s an astrophysicist?!
If your Twitter and BlueSky feeds are trash, you are the problem. Who do you follow? Do you block? Mute? Use Lists? Twitter is much less useful than it was, a lot of the good serendipity has been lost, but my personal experience has changed little. In BlueSky, I am also selective about who I follow, the feeds I follow. I have one list already. I block, mute users or posts when I want to. No social network is going to be "pure" unless you set one up for you and your friends which you can do on Mastodon. Don't blame a public network for being public. 40% of the US public is fascist. You can't create a social network that excludes them, but you can control whom you interact with. And, BTW, when I first got into Blue, I did more blocking/muting than in years on Twitter because of the Middle School locker room humor which I disliked. My experience is much better now because of the choices I've made and the tools BlueSky has put in place.
Similarly, one might say that if my comments on Substack are full of condescension, perhaps I am the problem. I, myself, would blame the condescending poster.
Well said!