“And the only way to reboot history is to figure out new beings to be. Because that’s ultimately what beefing is about: a way to avoid being, without allowing time itself to end.”
on forgetting the internet culture war by remembering purpose:
Conversation
I'm not sure this is bad though? Are we sure that "beefing" isn't just the sign of people having more leisure and using it in the way people like best, by squabbling, relatively bloodlessly?
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Well it’s destroyed careers and mental health for a lot of people so bloodless != harmless
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I guess you’d feel those were bigger deals if you’re close to the people harmed. I know that stuff happens but I’m comparing to worse alternatives. What do you think of the theory that entertainment absorbs energy that might be otherwise used for war or civil unrest?
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That’s a first-order comparison. Football’s damage is kinda limited to say a few athlete brain injuries. CW damage is *designed* to find pathways to policy influence that ultimately lead to wars, police states, re-education camps etc, beyond basic PTSD of participation.
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The CW has *already* metastasized into all those things you seem to agree are bad. Around the world. It shares features with entertainment, but unlike video games or TV, both direct and metastasized damage NPV is not speculative.
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Ok that’s fair, I am concerned about camps etc, though it’s very hard for me to know what’s really going on without reading way more than I expect to.
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A benefit to enduring the ptsd of paying attention is that I now have zero doubt this stuff actually matters and directly causally affects broader societal things. Unplugged normies who know nothing of CW and think it’s an irrelevant online sideshow are just factually wrong.
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Even the simplest cases take significant context to explain, so not going to get into it online, and your decision to stay unplugged is a reasonable one for you.


