• 2 Posts
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Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: June 15th, 2023
  • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.workstoNo Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•How do you build revolutionary optimism in these dark times?
    5·
    6 hours ago

    Locally

    Civilization is basically just bureaucracy integrated over population. Some people figure out how to game the system via the chasm of abstraction between; that’s a function of any sufficiently complex system, look at the speed running community

    But ultimately, civilization is just people. All the bureaucracy placed on top of it is just a collection of systems made by people to coordinate themselves. A lot of the dark theatrics are the result of the population becoming so vast that even at the lowest levels, the bureaucracy is distant and abstract. That abstraction alienates people from one another, so they only really know how to interact through the lens of that bureaucracy

    The optimism is that you can engage your community. You can meet your neighbors, learn their trades and share yours, start a group chat. You can organize barter networks, childcare rotations, handyman services, mutual aid.

    You can join local political groups. Start local political groups. Go to protests and meet people in neighboring areas. Network.

    You can promote candidates for local office, and encourage others in your network to do so. You can run for local office, and encourage others in your network to do so. We’ve seen what the other side is offering so far as administrative competence, you think you’re worse?

    Go to local events. Talk to your neighbors. Organize with your neighbors. The big system is very top down in its perspective, but it’s really ultimately dependent on the composite people. You can organize the people from the bottom up, and get your friends in nearby neighborhoods to do the same.

    If all the neighborhoods are organized, bloodless revolution slides quite comfortably into the realm of plausible futures.

  • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.workstoMemes@lemmy.ml•vindication
    12·
    7 days ago

    The theory I’ve read is that lots of people are into a bit of the taboo/forbidden partner aspect of an attraction they have toward a real person in their life: their neighbor, platonic friend, co-worker, etc. But most of these connections don’t really feel all that taboo when it’s someone else, so the “step-” angle is just a generic stand in that carries the forbidden aspect without going too far.

  • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.workstoLemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world•Belief
    192·
    14 days ago

    Someone else suggested that the rise in belief in human goodness is a function of the rise in belief of human incompetence. When you start recognizing that people frequently do stupid bad things not because they are bad, but because they are stupid, your heart softens a bit with regards to their intent.

    Anti-abortion is a great example. The majority of anti-abortion people genuinely believe that a zygote is an innocent human life, and terminating it is literally murder. If that’s what they believe, why wouldn’t they do everything in their power to stop it? People are murdering innocent babies!

    The more you get to know people, the more you start believing in Hanlon’s razor. Most of the “bad” people aren’t bad, they’re just good people with stupid beliefs.