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One of these days I'm going to drop out.

I said it last year, and the year before, and it's still actually true. One of these days I'm really going to drop out. I'll quit my job and focus on my art. I'll become a full time weirdo and stop being a poser; I'll stop being a hypocrite.

I'm just making stupid money and it would be stupid to quit right now. One of these days my niche is going to collapse, like everything else. Time and time we're told again "it's not inflation—it's just that the stuff you want to buy is all coincidentally more expensive than ever due to [not inflation]"

I remember first it was food, then it was rent. Back when I was freelancing, the pace of life was slowly increasing around me. All I could do was run to keep up, faster, desperately trying to avoid being chucked off the back of the runaway treadmill.

Our dear leaders told us to suck it up. They declined to prosecute the architects of the Great Recession; instead our Department of Justice accepted billion-plus dollar settlements, aka bribes. As I ran, I watched my friends get chucked off the treadmill, never to recover. We were told they were just lazy, entitled millenials. I had to reinvent myself out of necessity (did I?)

In any case, I'm not complaining. I'm happy that I did not crash and burn. Now I'm like my old pal the big fat lizard, sleeping in a compost pile and eating every bug and worm that comes my way. Sleeping and shitting and thinking lizard thoughts. But I still dream.

• fake
• facts
• debunked
• reeeee

We are not prisoners of groupthink.

How I stopped worrying about "cancel culture" with this one weird tip.

This is a response to the Gareth Roberts essay titled "We are all prisoners of groupthink".

A common theme on the Internet is selection bias. We seek out content and interactions that fit our sensibilities, beliefs and emotional disposition. Social networks have exploited this tendency, drawing us into filter bubbles where we are algorithmically bombarded with content designed to maximize our "engagement" with no regard to damage done in terms of our psychological well-being or intellectual isolation. This makes us better consumers, but reinforces divisions between individuals and poisons any possibility of meaningful discourse, instead favoring shit-flinging competitions between so-called "keyboard warriors." This is well-documented, the social media companies are aware of it, and they don't care because division makes money.

Our filter bubbles are designed to comfort and placate us while we're force-fed promoted content and offers and idealized imagery. Our collective ability to think critically has been siphoned away; anything that remotely challenges our beliefs is seen as a threat or an attack. Over time this has lead to the ridiculous notion that "words are violence," and from this, the rise of cancel culture, the First World pastime of mobbing, doxing, and socially destroying anyone who dares to voice an unpopular opinion or do something stupid. This cancel culture was born of social media. Sure, some might blame other factors like liberal arts education but really they're nothing new to society. But I'll tell you what changed.

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• groupthink
• cancel culture
• censorship
• reeeee