So, I've been working on hatching a theoretical structure to address the quandary of MAGA for a long time. I think it is almost impossible to combat it unless one can identify grasp the causal factors of the eruption of a mass psychosis. This is going to be a really long thread and I'm developing it slowly. Please feel free to mute me if this irritates you - I'm thinking aloud here. And most of my ideas aren't original, I'm just sometimes gathering them together in novel ways. #musings
Moreover, ideology - the compromise of morality in the service of a greater good - provided a coherent (if entirely unacceptable) excuse for obedience in many cases.
My sense is that something has changed in a fairly profound way. When it comes to Trump, while those outside the MAGA movement might perceive him as an obscene transgressor, those within it don't. For them, he isn't a leader with flaws, he is a leader beyond where flaws are measured. He is an authority beyond law. #musings
History haunts us with the specters of catastrophic leaders. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot. Of ideologies that were used to excuse barbaric atrocity. But history has grappled far less with why such a mass of their citizens willingly participated, tolerated or were ambivalent to the horrors of their actions over long periods of time. Historians have attributed their collaboration to ideology also. But I do not find this satisfying. #musings
And even from very early on, we notice failures of fairness or honesty - in our own parental figures. But we also notice that there is an attempt to hide those failures. That drive to hide the failure actually underscores the value of the principles even as they are transgressed.
As humans we are very tolerant of disappointment, as long as it is acknowledged that a failure has occurred, that a mark has been missed, that a law has been transgressed. #musings
Yesterday I made a series of posts on the paradox of authority within a society. That while authority often fails, it must operate on the falsehood that it doesn't. In essence, I argue that hypocrisy is essential to an organized culture. Now I know I will lose the anarchists among you, and there's no fix for that, but I will argue that, with few exceptions, civil societies require a hierarchy of authority to function, and this is probably due to our experience of familial structures. #musings
And with the rise of leaders like Trump or Johnson or Putin, that rationale of ideology really fails. These men have no ideology, unless one can conceive of greed as an ideology (which is a concept I'm prepared to entertain). I'm not comparing Trump to Hitler or Mao in terms of historic catastrophe, but in terms of the effects he has on his followers. I simply don't believe ideology accounts for this. #musings
I am a veteran software engineer who works as a freelancer from their home.
I love modernizing ancient software by carefully, slowly rewriting while it is still operating - without disruptions.
Currently I have two wonderful, awesome, really amazing clients between whom I split my time roughly about 50:50.
For the first one, I am the "Primus inter pares" in a team rewriting a 20-yo C++ & JS-based system in modern nodeJS + Typescript. My main job there is not to write code (it seems), but review PRs, review code, give coding guidelines, merge PRs, and make sure everything my team needs is there: test servers, development server, on-premise Gitlab, on-premise Mattermost, a good/respectful/lovely atmosphere, a lot of fun, and what else we need to deliver an awesome product. The team is amazing, the atmosphere is full of respect and love; I will stay with this team as long as I can.
For the second client, I am rewriting a 15+ year old system (Java, Java/Swift/Vue1.x-FE; rpc-like crap-API) using go(BE), gRPC (API) and dart/flutter (FE).
Here I am the core developer for the new client and the new back-end. The back-end is, for now, a proxy/a wrapper around the existing one. Behind that wrapper, two wonderful co-workers are modernizing & optimizing the Java-BE. This team here is equally as lovely as one can ever hope for; and yes, I will stay with this team as long as I can as well.
Oh, and BTW: people in both teams are nearly 100% remote.
I am married to a wonderful, an absolutely amazing person who is so full of love that she sometimes struggles with the universe (or with humanity). And I am a proud father (yes, "father"*) of a woman with a brilliant Beautiful Mind and a heart as big as the universe (who also happens to have Mastery of Words™️).
I love learning new things from complete strangers. The stranger the new knowledge the more fascinating it is for me.
I have a #FragMyBrain (autistic, ocd, nd) so be ready for detailed explanations, where each word is carefully chosen & positioned in the sentence, but still some missing - when you ask me something.
I quickly fall in love with brilliant people with language mastery skills - Mastery of Words™️.
You can always shitpost with me & talk garbage - as long as it is done intelligently, with wit & humor, and respect.
The fastest way to land on my block list is not to make a mistake, but to repeatedly make the same stupid mistake again and again and insist on it being right. There is always enough space in the "Dungeon of Blocked Accounts" (and being racists, queer-/transphobic, ableist, disrespectful, white supremecist, etc., etc. - you know what I mean).
I will add CW and mark as sensitive whenever I think so. If I forget once, please inform me and I'll correct it as fast as I can. I don't discuss whether something needs CW/sensitive marker or not, I just accept it.
I wear my feelings on my skin, i.e. what you see is how I really am, there is no IRL Imdat Celeste and a different, Fediverse Imdat Celeste: you will see a lot of 🫂,💜,😍,🥰,🥹,😳... and more. If you feel it is intruding, please let me know.
I come over differently, but I am also insecure: so, I will add a lot of emojis - just to be sure.
Also, please don't expect a "normal person" here: I am completely, utterly, hopelessly an un-normal person.
Also, my posts my start with one specific topic but during the text itself it may just become something completely different - "Train of Thought".
Again, nice to meet you - I am always looking for more new friends...
*: I am a trans non-binary person. When I came out to her, my daughter asked me how she should call me from then on and since it is an honor to be her father, that, yeah, I am and will always be that.
When I put a video up on Youtube, I post on here, Insta, and FB. I literally get 10 times the reactions on here as I do on either of the others :axolotl_shock: :blobhaj_heart:
I've literally only been on the fedi for half a year, yet it's both better for my music and for my own enjoyment :zerotwo_hearts:
Considering the userbase here isn't even that big, it really feels like a quality-over-quantity situation :charmander_yay:
We all have this situation: you have a beautiful photo that you would like to post. A photo that somehow moved you, touched you, and you would like to share that feeling. Whether it is happiness, sadness, melancholy, or even anger.
But…
You have to write an alt text, a description for B/VI persons. You may feel weariness , you may dread, even hate it.
No, I am absolutely no exception here.
You think “how can I describe this image, this photo? „a bee on flower“, no, to short, but what? I wish there was some software which could just describe what I feel…”
And then you either (a) refrain from posting and feel somehow “betrayed” or (b) reluctantly write an alt text…
Yes, I get it, we, the people who can see, who can enjoy the visual beauty of the Universe,… some of us hate to write down what they see, what they feel … or feel forced to write an alt text.
Yes! I really get it! I feel you!
But…
If we want to make this beautiful world better, more beautiful, more enjoyable, then we are obligated to - nay: it is our solemn duty - to make the whole world accessible to each and every one of us; so that each and every one of us can live their real lives, be their selves; so that the brilliance and beauty of each and every one of us can flourish and contribute to this magical thing, to this miracle that we call Life!
Imagine a world where being B/VI is the norm (99.99999%) and being able to see the exception. And you were one of those being able to see. Wouldn’t you think that your ability is a privilege?
I know: doing good, being good is not easy.
But no worthwhile thing doing is easy. It is hard! But it is hard because it is worthwhile, and it is hard because it is Good.
Being bad, doing bad, being evil is easy : just don’t do anything! Just let others do the work! Just ignore every suffering, every pain! Being bad is easy…
To be good you have to actively do things, you have to act, you have to take a position, a stand… sometimes you have to say “until here and no further!” Sometimes you have to fight, even some horrible battles…
But this is it: It. Is. Worth. It! Only by doing good can we make the world a better place.
Next time you despair in front of your screen at the prompt “alt text”, please know: you are a good person! You are making the world a better place! You. Are. My. Hero!
And don’t forget: your alt text is good, and you will get better over time … it just needs practice to … be good!
Recently did some work on this alternate altar that lives in our bedroom.
Some bones foraged from our land, some foraged back in Michigan by an old friend. The human teeth belong to the same friend (one of their baby teeth & wisdom teeth, given as a gift).
The altar in our public space is a really wonderful artistic display, a story of us, blending a lot of cultural elements that we share and some that we only share because we're sharing a life together. It's full of offerings to this land, but also pulled tarot cards, sculptures, gifts from friends, palo santo & copal incense, stones and offering plates from my side of the family. Bundled pine, bundled sage, and blessed rosemary. It's public, interactive, and beautiful.
This altar, though, is very personal. Some elements have been in my possession for years, before I began this journey into spiritual practice, before I knew what their purpose was (or my own). Some elements have been added over time: the fossilized lizard tail and heart, for example, I found after opening the first studio I had on this land. The rat femurs I also found on the land, while cleaning trash when we first moved in, and all of these little things that have found me I've felt compelled to venerate and offer back to the space. The display in our living space is public: it invites guests to add to it, and sometimes they leave offerings for us there, too. But this space is in our private area, and it feels like it contains little secret pieces of us and the land. Things that people only really see if they spend enough time here to become privy to them.
To me this parallels the reality of working with such a space: many people come and enjoy the superficial aesthetic beauty of the land and the home, for a time. But they don't truly understand what it is we're doing here, or what it really means to be here. They have respect, but lack full awareness and veneration. But there are some who know what this land means just by virtue of having been here -- some needed to come often to feel it, some stepped foot on it and knew instantly that it was special. But that kind of awareness isn't common, and it's something that we hold very dear. We keep very close to us those who share our recognition of this space as liminal, as straddling time and place, of its constantly repeated history, playing out over and over each moment, and the responsibility we have to honor the spirits that exist here.
Transfemme Mastodon has been a giant love-fest of nothing but support from the moment I set foot here. Even the radical politics are borne of a sense of self-preservation and righteousness.
I love this place. And considering my egg cracked only two weeks ago in an explosive mess, I have never been more sure of who I am than in this moment. Transfemme Mastodon has only affirmed that.
I eagerly await to start #HRT in the next few weeks and have my body coccoon into a wonderful, feminine butterfly.
I know I probably sound incredibly naive, but I have a core belief that the vast majority of people are trying to do good. My evidence is that as shitty as things are, society still runs. People care about friendships & families. Lots people want to get into fields of helping, nurturing, the arts, entertainment, gardening, animal care etc. You can have thousands of people on a highway all driving at incredible speeds with only a handful of accidents.
I forget where I read that revolutions tend to occur in the spring/summer because that is when state policy reveals failures at the time of harvest, there’s not enough food, and people lash out at the their rulers.
Also, the #SpermBankSaga of mine has concluded. I know what I did wrong last time and I followed the instructions closely this time.
It is done. And if I still get rejected or have a problem there, I'm just going to say "Fuck it" and continue #transition . Bio kids would be neat, but there are other ways to have children (if I want them in 10-15 years) if bio kids just aren't in the cards.
My social #class is a bit difficult to pin down. I don't have enough money or an impressive enough CV to count as middle class, but I probably talk too much like a middle class person and generally come across as too much of a middle class person to count as working class or underclass. #musings#sociology#SocialScience
It's both a wonderful and an odd feeling :cat_mlem:
On one hand, that's a lot of people that found my thoughts worth their time and attention :cat_wow: :espeon_love:
On the other hand, my most faved post is words, not music (which runs counter to my usual sort-of-self-depricating motto of "I'm a musician, not a wordsmith" :blobfox_laugh_sweat: )
:blobhaj_think: Huh...does this mean I can finally give myself permission to call myself a bard without adding an asterisk? :zerotwo_flushed: :dracthyr_yay:
I really do have a soft spot for 80s heavy metal like Iron Maiden and Dio. I don’t listen to it very often, but occasionally the mood strikes.
There is something about it that feels grandiose, almost naive, and a bit playful compared to the dark assault that much of the genre seems to be these days (though tbh I don’t really have a wide knowledge of contemporary metal).
It’s also partly nostalgia and a connection to my teen years.
Sometimes it's hard to live out here, and winter is especially isolating. As we all retreat and focus on inner work and reprieve from the often constant movement of other seasons, we tend to reach out less, travel less. This is true for both us and our friends we see often, usually, and so since the Solstice it's been quiet here at the Ranch. We've really not gone anywhere, and no one has really come to visit.
However, I'm reading "The Independent Farmstead" by Shawn & Beth Dougherty, and feeling renewed and inspired. Sometimes this path feels too difficult, and I reminisce on the period of my life where I was ignorant of the depth and multitude of the issues that plague our species and where I just lived in the way that society dictated. In a way, ignorance really is bliss. In a way, it was just easier.
But I think back on the suffering I experienced then: the suffering I experienced at jobs, at the hands of others abused by our society, the suffering I experienced feeling like I was drifting along without a purpose, and the suffering that came from seeking purpose in careers that I could never attain because of my chronic inability to engage in personal politics. In a way it was easier to work many hours a week, eat out, go to parties, and move through life unthinkingly chasing the next thing that made me feel alive, connected, loved, despite that those experiences never lived up to my memories of them and despite that they were always so fleeting.
So it's not that we don't suffer now, of loneliness or of hardship or of our own interpersonal shortcomings. But we feel guided by purpose and by duty, and in so many ways that eliminates suffering. Though we don't always have other humans here to feel connected to, we do often, and in their absence we are connected to place, and to other living things that help sustain us and which we sustain in return.
The pentecostals talked constantly about the afterlife. Heaven. In but not of the world. How did they get from that (which came with its own problems such as climate denial) to wanting to dominate and rule every aspect of society?
#Dominionism is the theological justification, but I think it's a subconscious realization that they wasted their time. They want their reward and power now.
@analgesicsleep Or worse, sharks AND corpses? But I suppose that wouldn't make sense, you'd figure the sharks would eat the corpses, right? #Musings#BaroqueSun