A loom that learned to weave itself.

http://pattmayne.com/

  • 2 Posts
  • 127 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Do you think the fediverse has a civility problem?

    Short answer: yes.

    Long answer: social media (and humans) have a civility problem. And I wonder how much of it is astroturfed. When Trump was first running for the 2016 election, social media was flooded with racism. You disagreed with one twitter egg, and five more were like “debate me bro” and they had all these stats about race-science, and rhetoric to misconstrue the nature of equality and the value of liberalism. I don’t think it was grassroots. I think it was Steve Bannon’s troll army or some other coordinated institution. Here on Lemmy I keep seeing violent leftist rhetoric, and I also wonder if it’s feds, or reddit’s goons undermining the competition. They’ll post “murder all pigs” or “shoot fascists” and get like a thousand upvotes, and their arguments are belligerent and idiotic, and they pile on you for disagreeing. Feels coordinated. Feels like 2016 honestly.

    is there anything we can do about it?

    Downvote, report, block. Don’t engage (trying to remember that myself). But I bet they’re still driving people away.


  • In relation to “comeuppance,” that stuff is not entirely relevant. Frightened goons and croneys/lackeys still show “respect” (and probably feel it as they understand it). They’ll also act out the hostile wishes of the cruel bastard they follow. Comeuppance doesn’t follow my wishes through them. If I want a good life, I can’t get hung up on whether they get what they “deserve.” I’m focused on my own things.

    And yeah, I’ve had one of those guys literally yelling at me that “the only respect is fear!” I disagree, but his friends obey him and I’m a loner. There will be no “comeuppance.” That’s resentfully imagining revenge into the universe. That’s how you become warped and hostile. I have things to do. I’m not interested in “comeuppance.”


  • Actions have consequences, but if you’re a cruel bastard the consequences might be that people give you more respect than you “deserve,” and if you’re smart about it then you can manipulate and torture people your whole life. I’ve seen the “worst” people, totally abusive and dishonest, commanding the most respect. They have no conscience and they spit on people who don’t “fall in line.” I just avoid them.

    Stupidity and bad luck bring about “comeuppance.” There’s no such thing as “deserve,” at least not objectively, not to the universe.




  • Sure. There are layers to it. If I socially interact for a few hours then I’ll become exhausted, probably cranky. A psychiatrist said I have ADHD, and the sensory input of multiple persons being around is too much. Social environments tend to be overwhelming. A psychologist said I have avoidant personality disorder, but I’m not sure I agree since my problem isn’t based on fear, the fear is downstream to basic social inabilities. But the fear does cause its own problems.

    I also have a social phobia. I don’t think it’s genetic, since I didn’t have it as a kid. But my teenage years (11-18) were severely isolated, and full of humiliation and severe loneliness. I just never recovered from that. I spent my 20s trying to learn, forcing myself into all these social environments, but it was mostly just a torturous cycle of collapse.

    I over-rely on my sense of humor, and this often causes problems. Most of the time it works really well (people like to laugh, and they appreciate a good joke), so I can make a very good first impression. But when it comes to “actual” social interaction, I simply have no idea what to say, like ever. I can negotiate well on other people’s behalf, and I’m good at explaining things, but in open-ended social situations I tend to be weirdly quiet or else I say horribly wrong things without realizing it. I’ve experienced multiple instances of people doing prolonged campaigns of social warfare against me because I accidentally insulted them, and they recognize my vulnerabilities. I’m terrible at reading non-verbal communication (this isn’t just a product of social anxiety or phobia… my brain just doesn’t pick up on these things, doesn’t know what to do with them). So basically I’m not a social creature. Some people actually have thought that I was mentally handicapped (or experiencing cognitive decline, or that I’m “on drugs”) because I just don’t respond like an intelligent person. But then I’ll go to “therapy” (what a disgusting joke) and they’ll see how well I can explain myself, and they’ll declare me to be fine. Clearly no problems with “communication” (but socializing isn’t just explaining things to a person).

    I could go on and on, but that paints a picture.