We all now know the system we live under is destroying itself. So, what comes next? Fascism or revolution? We all know it’s coming—the revolution. The signs are all around us, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that a significant shift is on the horizon. The question is no longer “if” but “when” and “how.” So, what’s the plan? How do we prepare for this transformation in a way that ensures we come out on the other side stronger, fairer, and more resilient rather than dead. We need to come together and think seriously about this. The time for passive hope is over; the time for active planning has arrived.
Identify Key Issues and Goals: We need to define what we are fighting for, what does the future we envision look like? What are the core issues that need to be addressed to get there?
Develop Strategies and Tactics: It’s not enough to know what we want; we need to figure out how to achieve it, practical strategies and tactics that can be implemented on the ground.
Build Networks and Alliances: The revolution will not be won by isolated groups working in silos. We need to build strong networks and alliances that can support each other and work together towards common goals.
One of the key outcomes we hope to achieve is the rebooting of an international organization like the #PGA. These organizations need to be dedicated to creating and supporting frontline collective efforts. To build a federated network for resources, information, and coordination, helping to unify and amplify our efforts.
The coming revolution is about, from a spiky perspective, destroying the old or a #fluffy perspective composting the old; and building new and better in its place. The fluffy crew at #XR are on a mission to do this https://www.r21c.net what more #spiky path do we have?
A personal journal and a platform for broader discussions, this site reflects a deep engagement with grassroots media, #4opens technology, and the mess we make with neoliberalism and consumer culture. This tapestry of reflections, critiques, and ideas centred around technology, media, activism, and society is what you make of it, what are your thought-provoking, intersections of technology, society, and activism?
Open Media and Decentralization: a strong advocate for open media networks and decentralized paths.
Critique of Neoliberalism: our worship of the #deathcult leads to social and ecological decay.
Technology and Society: The impact of technology on society, especially the role of big tech companies (“#dotcons”) in shaping our lives.
Activism and Social Change: Deeply rooted in activism and social movements.
Hashtags and Digital Story’s: Hashtags are a feature to weave complex narratives and critique of the current digital mess. Hashtags like #deathcult, #openweb, #4opens, and #geekproblem are central to discussions.
Personal Reflections and Metaphors: Personal anecdotes and metaphors convey points to make the posts accessible and relatable, to help compost “#techshit” into fertile ground for new ideas and social change.
The primary purpose of the site is to challenge the “common sense” status quo and inspire people to think, and more importantly act differently about both technology and society, to provoke thought and then action. Candid, reflective, and polemical, not shying away from prodding #mainstreaming perspectives and offering alternatives grounded in experience. Hashtags, metaphors, add a layer of depth to posts, inviting people to think critically about the issues. Whether you’re a technologist, activist, or simply interested, please take the time to weave a compelling narrative on the importance of open, community-driven media and technology to grow a different world.
Hashtags are ubiquitous online, at best they categorize content to find and join conversations on topics. The problem with current #fashernista hashtag usage is they reinforce individualism over collective action. This is an issue of #neoliberal “common sense” and the domination of #dotcons, prioritizing profit rather than change and challenge.
Serendipity is about the occurrence of events by chance, this provides a beneficially fresh perspective on hashtag use. By implementing hashtags in a way that fosters unexpected connections and discoveries, it transforms how they function as social tools. Yes, misspelled hashtags result in fragmented conversations, making it difficult for people to engage in coherent discussions. However, embracing these variations also leads to a more inclusive and dynamic categorization system. By allowing for misspelled hashtags to be recognized and grouped with their counterparts, we create a more robust and forgiving serendipity path.
In a federated system like the #Fediverse, and what is envisioned for the Open Media Network (#OMN), there is a tension between universal truths and messy, subjective truths. A federated path values diversity and decentralization, allowing for meany perspectives to coexist. This aligns with the concept of serendipity, where the focus is on connections and discoveries rather than rigid categorization.
The OMN address these issues by implementing word grouping flows, where different spellings or variations of hashtags can be grouped together to build cohesive category flows. This approach makes misspelled hashtags functional, thus addressing some of the fragmentation caused by individualistic usage. But the OMN project faces significant challenges in securing funding and overcoming internal and external obstacles. The difficulty in obtaining #FOSS funding highlights the broader issue of support for projects that prioritize open, decentralized, and community-focused approaches.
The use of hashtags is a progressive and critical perspective on technology and society. Think about neoliberalism (#deathcult) and consumer capitalism (#fashernista), promoting the ideals of the open web (#openweb) against the for-profit internet (#closedweb#dotcons). The interlocking hashtags tells a story that advocates, transparency, collaboration, and sharing in open-source development (#4opens).
Example Meanings:
#deathcult: Neoliberalism and its detrimental social and ecological impacts.
#fashernista: The trivialization of serious issues through consumerism and fashion.
#openweb: The original ideals of the World Wide Web.
#closedweb: The pre- and post-open web internet dominated by for-profit motives.
#4opens: Principles of transparency, collaboration, and sharing in open-source development.
#geekproblem: The cultural issues within the tech community, a strong tendency towards control and determinism.
#techshit and #techchurn: The negative consequences of constant new technological projects that fail to address any social issues.
#nothingnew: The question of whether new projects are needed or if existing ones should be improved.
#OMN and #indymediaback: Rebooting the altmedia projects on the open web.
#OGB: Open governance and the power of community decision-making.
For hashtags to be effective tools for social change, we need to shift the balence from individualistic to collectivist. This requires tech systems that accommodate human error and diversity of expression, while maintaining coherence and building community. The #OMN project is a promising approach by grouping variations of hashtags, but it faces significant challenges in implementation and support.
Let’s embrace a serendipitous view of hashtag to enrich conversations in the era of the #deathcult.
#Hashtags have potential to be used for social change. They create connections between people, amplify voices, and mobilize communities. When used effectively, they transform individual expressions into collective movements. However, the current culture presents significant challenges to this.
Today we are shaped by #stupidindividualism, on this path hashtags become acts of individual expression rather than collective tools for change. This individualistic approach hides the potential for constructive use. Instead of fostering solidarity and shared purpose, hashtags become fragmented and lose any meaning and thus impact.
Tech silos like Facebook (#failbook) and generally the dominant digital corporations (#dotcons) exacerbate this problem. Their business models and design promote individualism over community, a culture obsessed with profit and control at the expense of human values—creates a landscape where meaningful social change is impossible to achieve.
The Need for Collective Action
For #hashtags to regain their function as tools for social change, there needs to be a shift from individualism to collectivism. This requires:
Shared Understanding: Developing a common understanding of the issues and the role hashtags can play in addressing them.
Community Building: Using hashtags to build and strengthen communities rather than just expressing individual opinions.
Strategic Use: Deploying hashtags strategically to mobilize action, raise awareness, and create pressure for change.
Platform Accountability: Holding digital platforms accountable with the #4opens
Movements like Extinction Rebellion (#XR), though well on the #fluffy side, can play a role in this transformation. By emphasizing collective action and the power of grassroots mobilization, they could seed hashtags to build a global community, a common cause.
Conclusion, Hashtags have potential to be used for grassroots social change, but this potential is blocked by our #mainstreaming of individualism, which is pushed by our continuing use of the #dotcons. To harness the power of hashtags, there needs to be a shift towards native #openweb tools and a more collective agenda, community building, and strategic use. Movements like #XR could be a part of this path, as could projects like #OMN#indymediaback and #OGB
We are in a mess with the building #climatecrisis due to our collective refusal to acknowledge reality, after 40 years of worshipping a #deathcult The problem we now need to mediate is that I am not sure meany people know what reality is. What we’re experiencing now is a preview of what’s to come. It’s going to get far worse, and then it will keep on getting worse. Yet, the narrative pushed by the media and #mainstreaming politicians suggests the same consumerist delusions. That the climate and weather will simply shift to a different state, and we can adapt to it. This is not only lying – it’s dangerous.
The view pushed that we can easily adapt to the ever-worsening #climatechaos is a fallacy. Adaptation becomes increasingly difficult as conditions deteriorate, especially when so much remains unknown. The failure to recognize that the situation will continually worsen isn’t due to a lack of language to express it—I’ve just articulated it plainly. No, this is a deliberate act of #gaslighting. It’s a wilful distortion of reality, designed to downplay the severity of the crisis and to reassure the public that adaptation will be straightforward and successful. The motivation of this deceit is clear, to avoid alarming the public into demanding urgent action. The tactic, to maintain business as usual, uphold the status quo, stifling the calls for systemic change.
We’re given the illusion of democracies where the public’s will prevails. However, at the same time, we’re told that things can only be this way. The priests of the #deathcult who benefit from the current failing paths—the wealthiest and powerful—asserts that the system is immutable and that they will not permit any change. This is in stark contrast to the lies we’re constantly fed about the will of the people, democracy, and freedom. The simple truth, those in power dictate what is best for us, to our detriment.
What is real, that the current governments (and governments in general) do not exist to serve or protect the public. They are captured by vested interests, representing the nastiest, most wealthy and powerful factions. The party system, present in every country, acts as a filter, it systematically excludes representatives of the people who are willing to challenge the interests of the #deathcult. The #mainstreaming paths are about maintaining business as usual while asserting that this status quo is in the best interest of the public.
The contradiction, governments preserve the status quo rather than protect or serve the people. In every electoral option, the powerful and wealthy win, while the public loses. This illusion of public representation is simply an illusion. Governments may concede to public demands on issues to prevent revolutionary change, but are very resistant to anything that alters the balance of wealth and power. They are resolute on this point: it will not change.
There are limited options outside this mess, in the #mainstreaming independents are vetted, anyone whose views clash with the intrenched interests will be smeared and discredited by the corporate and oligarch-owned media. This is why we’re facing a social, climate and ecological emergency. Humanity and our civilization are on a path toward global suicide because maintaining this suicidal path serves the interests of the nasty few. This is why they are rich and grasping to power, and why they will fight to kill and displace billions of us to keep things exactly as they are. It’s a #deathcult we need to fight, best to be honest about this.
The science is irrefutable: our civilization is on the brink of imminent, violent collapse due to environmental degradation and #climatechaos. Yet, the political establishment and #mainstreaming media is dominated by those who profit from this collapse, ensuring that the public remains, unfocused, uninformed and distracted by inanity and bile. This toxic combination creates a mental health time-bomb, which will itself feed the crisis we face.
The Illusion of Economic Subsidization
In the UK, a truth goes unspoken: the richest do not subsidize the poorest, it is the poorest who subsidize the richest. The profit amassed by the wealthiest comes from the labour, unpaid wages, and rent extracted from the working class. These profits are sheltered from taxation, perpetuating a system of inequality and exploitation. This #KISS reality is kept hidden to maintain the status quo and protect the nastiest people who push themselves to the top of our ancient vertical “commons”.
There is a #ClimateMajority—most people are aware that we are in trouble. However, awareness alone is insufficient. This majority needs to be active to mobilized systemic change. The linkage between economic growth and degrading overconsumption is clear: you cannot have one without the other. This overconsumption pushes us down a dark path, where our children will have to fight to survive. How can we make the need for action #mainstreaming ?
The Disconnect: GDP vs. Sustainability
Politicians and journalists discuss GDP and the economy, yet they avoid the unspoken issue at hand. Our worshipping of this #deathcult our current economic model is fundamentally incompatible with the living systems we rely on for survival. Prioritizes short-term economic growth over long-term sustainability, driving us towards ecological and thus social collapse. The implications are dire: our economy, as it stands, is on track to destroy the very foundations of our shared lives.
The Path Forward: Systemic Change and Accountability
To avert this catastrophe, we need to be radical in rethink priorities to create systemic change. Some examples involve:
Economic Restructuring: Shift from an economy focused on capitalistic growth to one that prioritizes more socialistic, sustainability and equitable basic resource distribution.
Corporate Accountability: Ensure that corporations pay their taxes and are held accountable for their environmental and social destruction.
Media Reform: Support grassroots #DIY journalism that prioritizes truth and accountability over corporate interests and media agenda lies.
Political Activism: Build real alternatives on one hand and on the other mobilize the #ClimateMajority to demand bold action to replace our political leaders.
Conclusion
The science is clear: we are on the brink of collapse. The political and media is designed to distract and misinform, protecting the interests of the wealthy. It is up to all of us to break this cycle. We need to push the spiky fluffy debate to build alternatives like the #OMN, push the #ClimateMajority to demand systemic change, and replace (and jail some of) our bankrupt leaders. Our survival, and that of future generations, depends on this #KISS path.
Let us not sink into this mental health time-bomb, which will only itself feed the crisis, let’s not be passive observers of our own demise. Let’s fight, It’s past time to face the simple truths to give us power to take action.
Our #mainstreaming paths are pushing social collapse and extinction, not due to natural calamities or unforeseen disasters, but as a result of our political decisions by those in power. These decisions, driven by corporate agenda, are pushing us down the path where millions, will perish and billions be displaced in the coming decades.
The Devastating Impact of Political Choices
It should be obvious to us all that our #mainstreaming class are not fit for purpose and that the knee-jerk hard shift to the right is a dysfunctional “solution” and a continuity of the problem they say they can fix. Every election cycle, we are presented with candidates who promise change, yet the issues persist. The root cause? The worship of the #deathcult (a metaphor for the #neoliberal economic model) for the last 40 years pushed profit over sustainability and human well-being. This relentless consumerist growth is incompatible with the finite resources of our planet, pushing us to environmental degradation and #climatechaos we are seeing and feeling around us now.
The Fossil Fuel Lie
A glaring example of destructive political decisions is the power of fossil fuel companies. These corporations reap astronomical profits—approximately $2.5 billion daily—while contributing massively to the growth of #climatechaos. Why are these profits not being redirected into rapid decarbonization efforts? The answer lies in the entanglement of these companies with political classes of every ideology, our “common sense” prioritize corporate profits over planetary health.
Justice
For over 40 years, the fossil fuel industry has subverted the truth about the environmental and health impacts of their operations. Despite evidence and the catastrophic consequences, the individuals and entities responsible have escaped accountability. Why aren’t these actors facing prison time for their role in perpetuating a genocidal industry? We should keep this #KISS focus and make this happen.
Role of the Media
A factor exacerbating this crisis is the role of the media. Instead of informing the public and holding power to account, media outlets have been conduits for spreading vile ignorance. They amplify the voices of corrupt-corporates, manipulating public opinion and encouraging us to support representatives who entrench the interests of the “nasty” few.
Systemic Change
The upcoming elections do matter. A vote is not going to get the world we won’t, but it will mediate the current mess. So hold your nose and vote for candidates who prioritize dismantling this mess and implementing systemic changes, if these useful one cannot win, then vote for a bit less useless one, we can’t keep pushing this mess. A few basic agenda:
Ending Fossil Fuel Profiteering: Redirect the obscene daily profits of fossil fuel companies into aggressive decarbonization strategies.
Holding Polluters Accountable: Ensure that those who have perpetuated the fossil fuel myth face justice and jail time for their actions.
Transforming the Media: Support independent #DIY grassroots journalism and #mainstreaming media reforms that prioritize truth and accountability over corporate interests.
Conclusion
The time for complacency has been over for 20 years. We must act, radical, transformative, our survival depends on it. Let’s hold our noses and vote, but more importantly, support radical grassroot alternatives like https://opencollective.com/open-media-network. In the election, you might find candidates who are not afraid to challenge the powerful interests driving us towards disaster, If they have a chance of winning, they are worth our support. But this propping up of the #mainstreaming is only a small part of what people need to do, the future, and that of generations to come, hangs in the balance. It’s past time for accountability, justice, and a radical rethinking of our path. Let’s make our voices (and in a small way our votes) count for real change.
Design for Abuse: The #AP protocol is vulnerable to abuse, particularly in terms of Distributed Denial of Service (#DDOS) attacks.
Push-Based Model: The push-based notification model leads to overloading servers, especially when a popular account generates a large amount of activity.
Harassment Concerns: There is a perceived inadequacy in control issues to address the worry of harassment, with issues like the inability to disable replies not being implemented.
Need for Defensive Model: A #geekproblem call for abandoning the working “native” #openweb path and push a “native” #closedweb path, with a complete overhaul of the protocol to incorporate defensive measures from the outset.
The Critique
From an #openweb and #4opens perspective, the critique highlights a different mindset that is clearly incompatible with the current path. But yes, there are questions about the balance between openness and security. Let’s not get lost in the #geekproblem and look at them:
Design for Abuse
Critique: The assertion that the protocol is designed for abuse is an overstatement, but it highlights genuine vulnerabilities. The open “trust” based nature of #ActivityPub and the #Fediverse, promotes decentralization and federation, but can indeed be exploited by malicious actors, people do brake “trust”. Transparency in code is crucial. Vulnerabilities should be openly discussed and addressed through community collaboration, most can be fixed by social norms rather than hardcoding. Data sharing is core, there should be as little as possible “private data” to abuse. Protocols should work with slow revisions to improved community feedback. Decision-making processes around security, should be based on social rather than coding, #openprocess is a core part of this.
Push-Based Model
Critique : The push-based model can indeed lead to server overloads. Popular accounts generating a lot of traffic can unintentionally cause DDOS-like situations. This is a normal lossy part of the “native” #openweb, we should work on this. Implementing caching strategies and lossy notification systems should be developed and tested within the community. Efficient data handling techniques should balance ease of hosting and speed of application, with ease of hosting first. Exploring hybrid models (push/pull) with RSS backup can lead to more resilient protocols use. Real time is less important than the app keeps working. Part of this is about ensuring that changes to the protocol are hard and slow, with debate and consensus.
Harassment Concerns
Critique : The constant talking about harassment tools and features such as disabling replies is a concern. Yes open networks are just that open, it’s the social norms of federation that make them a safe space, we need to build up our communes of trust. Developing robust moderation tools and anti-harassment features should balance with building strong social instances, who in the end do the work, be very careful of #closedweb paths in coding these features. Socialise data on harassment patterns helps to improve trust based moderation tools. The stories we tell and the way we work for moderation and anti-abuse measures should be developed collaboratively. Including diverse voices in the social decision-making process for instances is crucial.
Need for Defensive Model
Critique: Starting with a defensive model is the wrong path. Many security and abuse issues can be mitigated with a trust-first approach. A good culture should be built into the core from the beginning, with active community involvement. Developing norms of behaver through community consensus helps build a more resilient system.
Conclusion
The #closedweb path tries to raise points about vulnerabilities and shortcomings of the current #ActivityPub and #Mastodon implementations. From an #openweb and #4opens perspective, the solution lies not in suggesting we abandon the native path and implemented protocol but in addressing these issues through open, collaborative, and transparent social processes. By leveraging the strengths of the #4opens framework, the community can work to create resilient, and user-friendly networks that are already on the successful native #openweb path.
That the cost of living crisis stems from corporate greed and political corruption is a useful perspective to challenge #mainstreaming narratives. Economic hardships faced by people and communerties are not inevitable or natural, rather the result of deliberate actions by powerful agendas.
“Remember, anyone trying to blame our cost of living crisis on anything other than grotesque corporate greed & political corruption are themselves grotesquely greedy & corrupt.” (from ClimateDad)
Corporate Greed
Profit Maximization: Corporations prioritize profit maximization above all else, at the expense of workers, consumers, and the environment. This drive leads to the current mess of wage suppression, price gouging, and cutting corners on safety and quality.
Market Manipulation: Large corporations engage in anti-competitive practices to dominate markets, stifling competition and innovation. This leads to higher prices and reduced choices for people.
Tax Evasion: By exploiting tax loopholes and offshore tax havens, corporations significantly reduce their tax burdens. This deprives governments of essential revenue needed to fund public services and infrastructure, shifting the financial burden onto ordinary people.
Environmental Exploitation: Corporations engage in environmentally destructive practices to cut costs and increase profits. The long-term environmental degradation leads to increased costs for communities and governments in terms of health care, disaster relief, and restoration efforts.
Political Corruption
Lobbying and Influence: Corporations and wealthy individuals use their financial resources to influence political decisions through lobbying and campaign contributions. This result in policies that favour the wealthy and powerful, rather than the general populace.
Regulatory Capture: Regulatory agencies tasked with overseeing industries become dominated by the industries they are supposed to regulate. This leads to weak enforcement of laws and regulations, allowing corporate malfeasance to go unchecked.
Public Policy: Corruption leads to policies that prioritize the interests of the few over the needs of the many. Examples include tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation, and austerity measures that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income people.
Lack of Accountability: Corrupt politicians and officials face little to no accountability for their actions, leading to a cycle of corruption and mismanagement that perpetuates economic inequality and social injustice.
The Combined Effect
Economic Inequality: The combination of corporate greed and political corruption builds economic inequality. As wealth and power become concentrated in the hands of a few, the majority of people struggle to afford necessities like housing, healthcare, and education.
Erosion of Public Services: Reduced tax revenues and public spending cuts leads to the erosion of essential public services. This affects the most vulnerable members of society, increasing their cost of living and reducing their quality of life.
Social Unrest: Widespread economic hardship and injustice lead to social unrest, as people become increasingly frustrated with their inability to achieve a decent standard of living. This at best manifest in protests, strikes, and more #DIY forms of resistance.
Health and Well-being: The stress and insecurity of economic hardship has severe impacts on physical and mental health, further entrenching poverty and making it difficult for people to see or act coherently.
Conclusion
Corporate greed and political corruption are the drivers of the cost of living crisis, we need to say this clearly to challenge people to look beyond surface-level explanations and examine the systemic abuse and issues on this current path. Addressing these root causes requires a fundamental change to challenge the current #deathcult worship, an effort for transparency, accountability, and fairness in both the corporate and political spheres.
Let’s look at capitalism through the lens of #dotcons (a term that plays on “dot-coms” with a critical twist).
Commercialization of the Internet: Capitalism drives the commercialization of the #openweb and internet, where profit motives override basic humanist considerations such as community, autonomy, privacy and basic democratic values. The term “#dotcons” is a critique of how the internet has been taken by commercial interests, turning it into a marketplace to push aside its “native” public good.
Exploitation of people: Digital platforms exploit users’ data and metadata and attention for profit. Companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon collect vast amounts of personal data to sell targeted advertising and shape public behaver.
Monopolization and Centralization: Tends to create monopolies or oligopolies, as the most evil companies buy out competitors and dominate markets. Today, a few large companies control significant portions of the market, stifling competition and ending innovation.
Surveillance Capitalism: The #fahernistas term Surveillance Capitalism coined by Shoshana Zuboff describes an economic system centred around the commodification of personal data to use to manipulate behaviour and generate profits, reinforcing capitalist dynamics.
Erasing the Public: The logic erodes the public sphere by pushing profitable content over informative or educational material. Algorithms designed to maximize engagement promote sensationalist and emotionally charged content, contributing to misinformation and polarization. This diminishing of the commons is a detrimental path of capitalism on digital discourse.
Short-termism and Innovation Stagnation: In pursuit of immediate profits, capitalist enterprises prioritize short-term gains over humanistic paths, long-term innovation and ecological sustainability. A focus on quick, lucrative projects rather than any groundbreaking or socially beneficial innovations.
Digital Divide: This exacerbate inequalities, including the digital divide. Access to technology and the internet is dictated by market forces, leaving disadvantaged communities behind.
“Capitalism is the logic of the #dotcons” shows how these paths have shaped the #openweb into a landscape to prioritize profit over public good, leading to the current mess of exploitation, centralization, surveillance, and inequality.
We have made a mess of the #openweb, we can’t keep being “prats about this” please, let’s try something different #OMN
I have come to think that care for people requires a high degree of resistance to the culture around us, simply because that culture is dedicated to values that have no concern for people. A tension in society: the disconnect between cultural values and genuine care for people. Actually caring for people requires a strong resistance to prevailing cultural norms that prioritize profit, “efficiency”, and superficial success over human well-being. This resistance is needed to overcome the last 40 years of #postmodern, #neoliberalism that undermines basic humanism.
The Mess
Profit Over People: Our current worship of the #deathcult within capitalist societies, prioritizes profit driven consumerism above all else. Companies and institutions exploit labour, cut costs at the expense of safety and well-being, and focus on short-term gains rather than any long-term sustainability, or even basic survival.
Superficial Success Metrics: Societal success is measured by wealth, status, and material possessions, rather than by well-being, happiness, community health or basic ecological function. This leads to widespread neglect of where value actually lie.
Individualism Over Community: Our dominating “common sense” culture emphasize individual achievement and self-reliance, at the expense of communal support and cooperation. This erodes social bonds and leave individuals isolated and unsupported.
Resistance
Ethical Imperative: Caring for people is an ethical obligation that at best makes us challenge and resist cultural norms that dehumanize or exploit people. It involves advocating for fairness, justice, compassion, and prioritizes a living environment.
Mental and Emotional Health: The pressures of conforming to the #deathcult culture which values productivity and success over well-being leads to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and burnout. Joining together to resist these pressures is essential for maintaining mental and emotional health.
Social and Environmental Justice: Resistance is necessary to address systemic inequalities and injustices that are pushed by the dominant culture. To stop the degradation of our ecology, both human and inhuman.
Making Resistance Happen
Advocacy and Activism: Engaging in #NGO advocacy and #spiky activism to promote and push policies and practices that build human well-being over profit. This includes strong ecological policies, supporting labour rights, affordable healthcare, sustainability, and education etc.
Community Building: Fostering real, supportive communities of mutual aid, solidarity, and collective well-being. This involves creating open non-commercial spaces where people can come together, share resources, and support one another.
Alternative Value Systems: Promoting and practising alternative systems that emphasize care, empathy, and interdependence. This can be through #spiky#DIY activism culture, like squatting, protest camps or more lifestyle #fluffy choices, such as minimalism or voluntary simplicity, and through supporting businesses and organizations that prioritize ethical practices in the #dotcons.
Personal Practices: This is a harder path to make meaningful of implementing personal practices that resist cultural pressures, such as mindfulness, self-care, and setting boundaries to protect one’s mental and emotional health. This path can be a problem, as it in part feeds the #stupidindividualism that feeds the very problems in the first place. Encouraging others to do the same can, maybe, help create a ripple effect of resistance and care.
What should you do?
Caring for people in a culture that disregards human well-being requires a conscious and active resistance to dominant values. By advocating for social justice, building supportive #DIY communities, promoting alternative value systems like the #OMN, and maybe practising personal care, we can create a more compassionate, sustainable society. This resistance is not only a needed path, but also a moral imperative. What are you doing today?
#Opensocialmedia is native to the #openweb it represents liberation, while #closedsocialmedia is centred around control for profit. The balance between these two forms is nuanced, and understanding the implications and paths of each requires consideration. It is not “common sense” so you need to think outside your current limited view please #KISS
Open Social Media: Liberation
Transparency and Accountability: Open social media operate with transparency, allowing people to see and understand the algorithms, policies, and decision-making processes. This transparency builds trust and accountability, as people feel responsible and empowered to be responsible for actions and content.
Empowerment: At best, people and communities have control over their content and data. They shape experiences to take their own path, contribute to the platform’s development, and participate in governance. This builds ownership and engagement, it’s a feedback loop.
Innovation and Collaboration: Open platforms grow through collaboration. Developers and users create features together, improving collectively. This collaborative building nurtures technological for people rather than only for profit.
Information: Open social media provides unrestricted access to information, promoting affective and for fulling speech and sharing of ideas. This supports progressive education, activism, and the basic democratization of knowledge.
Closed Social Media: Control
Monetization and Profitability: Closed social media platforms are motivated by monetization, using people’s data and metadata to generate revenue through manipulative advertising and social control.
Centralized Power: Control is centralized to the platform owners and administrators, in the end the state. This centralization limits people influence over the network, policies and progressive changes, creating vertical, top-down governance.
Content Moderation and Censorship: Content moderation is core to building community and to prevent abuse, closed platforms exercise total, manipulative control, leading to #mainstreaming censorship and the shaping of agendas, and most obviously the suppression of dissenting voices. This control is used to shape public thinking and silence any real opposition.
Data Privacy Concerns: Closed platforms collect and store vast amounts of people’s data and metadata without much transparency about how it is used. This lack of transparency highlights privacy concerns and risks of invertible data leeks.
The Complex Balance
Finding the Middle path: Balancing open and closed social media involves finding a balance where people’s empowerment and creativity coexist with democratic controls and sustainability measures. This balance requires careful consideration of the trade-offs involved in both cases.
Regulation and Governance: Effective democratic regulation and governance are crucial in maintaining this balance. Policies protects people’s rights, data privacy, and promotes transparency without stifling creativity by pushing only #mainstreaming agenda.
Community Involvement: Building in community decision-making grows this balance. Platforms that have participatory governance are likely to achieve a harmonious equilibrium between openness and control.
Conclusion
The balance between open and closed social media is not straightforward and requires taking the path of reflection and adaptation. Open social media offers liberation through transparency, empowerment, and collaboration (#4opens), while closed social media focuses on control, centralization, and monetization (#dotcons). Walking a path that maximizes the benefits of both approaches involves navigating trade-offs, fostering community involvement, and implementing effective governance (#OGB).
