it's really not just that I don't like what I read on the internet. it's not just the shitposters and trolls getting to me. the community I live in is actually worse than it was 5 years ago, 10 years ago in tangible ways and I'm sitting on a pile of privilege. others feel it more
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Trump isn't the root of the problem. he's not even the worst symptom. just the loudest and most obnoxious symptom. the root of the problem is that we, as a culture, never figured out what we're doing here. we built consumerism first and let everything else fall apart.
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and now the problem has progressed to the point where we can't talk about it productively any more. any attempt to diagnose the problem leads to enraged, mouth-frothing, culture-warring where narrative control and hurting the reputation of the outgroup is the only game in town.
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so that's it then, right? can't talk about it. have to just sit back and let it happen? where is this all headed?
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Replying to @danlistensto
There are serious problems we all need to talk about sincerely, openly, and with care. But you started with a reduction to "consumerism". This is one, narrow, specific, clumsy framing and only one part (or just symptom) of the problems. You get the responses you leave room for.
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Replying to @DM_Berger
I said "the root of the problem is that we, as a culture, never figured out what we're doing here" If you have something to say about that I'm all ears
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Replying to @danlistensto
Little to argue with that part. It was followed by "We built consumerism first and let everything else fall apart". You also had references to "privilege", requisite anti-Trump signalling. I'm open too, but it is hard because those things strongly signal some premature closure.
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Replying to @DM_Berger
when I reference privilege I mean my relatively comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Many of my generational peers are struggling a lot more than I am. when I reference Trump it is meant to eliminate the distraction of talking about Trump, since there's nothing to learn there.
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Replying to @danlistensto @DM_Berger
and when I talk about consumerism I'm honestly expressing my view of what has been the central animating project of American life. the thing we've built bigger, better, faster, more impressively scaled then any other people before us is our consumer driven economy.
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Replying to @eigenrobot @DM_Berger
how wonderful that they've decided to do what we did. hope the planet survives it.
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