Tag: hashtag

Individualism isn’t the problem, the “stupid” part is the problem

let’s try and compost this mess, there is nothing wrong with being your own person, having an authentic inner life, and cultivating a strong sense of self. In fact, psychological separation from family, nation, and community is a critical aspect of human maturity. This perspective was forcefully argued by the socialist psychologist Erich Fromm, who saw the problem not in individualism per se, but in what we might call hyperindividualism, toxic individualism or what I call #stupidindividualism in the #OMN #hashtag story.

His three-stage psychological development that shapes the journey of human maturity:

  • Absorption of worldview, when we are born, we absorb the worldview of our family, community, nation, or clan. In this, one’s identity is intertwined with these external structures, what Fromm calls “blood and soil.” People in this stage see themselves as extensions of their family or nation.
  • Independence of thought, when we mature, an authentic inner self begins to develop, and we break away from external identities. Achieving independence of thought to not rely on the beliefs and views of others to define ourselves. At this stage, a person’s identity comes from their authentic inner life, rather than from intense belonging to tribe, country, or religion.
  • Reconnection through solidarity, the final stage, involves reconnecting with others, but not through blind conformity. Instead, this stage requires a re-connection through solidarity, a unity with others that does not destroy individuality. Psychological health, according to #Fromm, requires this balance: to be oneself and yet be connected to the broader human community in a meaningful way.

The balance is currently out, when people fail to progress through these stages, social and psychological dysfunctions grow. For instance, fascism, Fromm argued, is a product of being stuck in the first stage, where people crave authoritarianism because they have not grown as authentic individuals. On the other hand, those stuck in the second stage, cannot reconnect with humanity, also suffer from isolation and alienation, this is the state of much of the #mainstreaming today.

Capitalism is both surface “individualist” and deeply anti-individualist, its story celebrates it as a system based on the individual. However, this is a misleading portrayal, if you truly think for yourself within capitalism, questioning the status quo, challenging authority, or stepping outside the normal #mainstreaming roles, If this is threatening, you are ridiculed, ostracized, ignored, and marginalized. Genuine individuality, especially when it contests capitalist norms, is not celebrated but rather suppressed.

In the current path, “individualism” is for the rich. The wealthy can afford to “be themselves” because they have the means to cushion the consequences. Everyone else must conform – follow orders at work, keep their heads down, buy the same cheap products, watch the same blockbusters, and generally consume and behave as they are told. Deviating from this path risks economic ruin and social exclusion. The “stupid” part “freedom of choice” is in the current mess reduced to trivial decisions like choosing between McDonald’s or Burger King, or which big-budget superhero movie to watch. This mess reduces human worth to economic output and consumer choice, devaluing any real individuality that does not conform to the dogmatic profit-driven logic.

Thus, the individual within capitalism is constrained, workers are rendered disposable the moment they are no longer “useful” to the corporate machine. This mess is full of irony: while capitalism promotes the ideal of rugged #individualism, it actually holds contempt for the vast majority of individuals who do not fit into its narrow path. This is a distortion of individualism, capitalism turns individualism into a competitive drive that compels people to measure their worth in the greed and fear driven push of personal successes and failures, rather than by group and community paths. This force undermines any path of collective solidarity.

“Socialism entails a collectivism which does not suppress the individualism of bourgeois society, and in contrast to the ‘crude’ collectivism of very poor working class communities, is a collectivism which transcends (or sublates) individualism.”

The end path of collectivism does not erase individuality, instead, it moves past the hollow, competitive individualism pushed by capitalism. This balancing of collectivism encourages personal development in the context of a supportive community. In conclusion, the problem is not individualism, but the path that warps it into #stupidindividualism, a toxic, isolating force that fragments solidarity and community, this is the “stupid” in the hashtag #stupidindividualism, yes it is stupid and makes us stupid, we do need to talk about this to start to compost the mess.

Reconnect with Our Social Roots

The path through technology, society, and environmental crises is a challenge that most people find difficult to find, let alone walk. This is why I have been building “sign posts” in a #hashtag story for the last 20 years, hashtags such as #geekproblem, #KISS, , and #deathcult etc. These are metaphors that highlight our technological thinking and represent issues and philosophies that make visible the paths of technological advancements and social cohesion. By using these “signs” and path, people can better understand the need to move from individualistic and technocentric working to collective and sustainable social practices.

The #geekproblem has the tendency of technologists and enthusiasts to focus excessively on technical solutions, neglecting the social and human aspects of these paths. Technologists struggle to comprehend the simplicity of #KISS path to overcome the tunnel vision where technical fixes are panaceas, side lining the importance of social dynamics and community engagement. The framework—open data, open source, open standards, and open process—offers a counterbalance by providing a structure that promotes transparency and collaboration. However, this does not inherently solve issues; it simply creates a space for people to engage and address problems collectively.

A significant barrier to overcoming the #geekproblem and embracing more holistic approaches is the pervasive culture of #deathcult worship. This is a metaphorical for the last 40 years of #neoliberalism, a term that describes the idolization of technological progress and capitalist efficiency at the expense of environmental sustainability and social well-being. Many people and groups, consciously or unconsciously, worship this path, prioritizing short-term gains and #fashionista “marvels” over sustainability and human connections.

The worship of this #deathcult is destructive because it undermines broader societal issues, it pushes the culture of #stupidindividualism with blinded competition, making it challenging to discuss and address anything outside the #mainstreaming agenda. This focus diverts attention from the collective action needed for #KISS tackling complex problems like #climatechaos and resulting social break down.

In this metaphor, composting represents the process of breaking down and re-evaluating our technological and social practices. It requires a willingness to let go of dysfunctional and harmful paradigms and to create fertile ground for new seeds or sustainable and humane approaches. This fertile soil, enriched by lessons learned and experiences gained, can nurture the sprigs of humanity through the on rushing era of #climatechaos.

To move beyond this destructive worship and technocentric mindset, we need to recognize and reject the blinded pushing of technology and efficiency as easy goals. This involves a critical examination of our values and the systems we support, using the to composting the piles of #techshit accumulated over the past decade’s symbolizes a necessary shift from merely accumulating technological advancements to reflecting on their impact and repurposing them for good.

Pickup your #OMN shovel and get to work:

  • Balance Individualism: Embrace collective action and community engagement. Recognize that social problems cannot be solved by technical solutions alone.
  • Promote the : Encourage transparency, collaboration, and openness in all endeavours. Use these principles to create spaces where people can engage and address issues together.
  • Critique the #Deathcult: Actively challenge the idolization of blinded technological progress and capitalist efficiency. Advocate for sustainable and socially responsible practices.
  • Compost and Rebuild: Reflect on past practices, learn from mistakes, and repurpose technology to support long-term sustainability and human well-being.
  • Nurture Humanity: Focus on building strong, resilient communities that can withstand and adapt to the challenges of the #climatechaos era.

The journey to overcoming the #geekproblem and moving away from #deathcult worship is needed, it’s past the time to pick up your shovels and make compost on this.

https://opencollective.com/open-media-network

The importance of words and ideology

We need to think of how words shape our thoughts, and how common understandings of these words are essential for any coherent and effective communication. Ideologies form the basis of all thinking, whether unspoken and #mainstreaming or articulated and minority. The challenge is to #KISS transition creative minority ideologies to the less working mainstreaming thinking.

There is a plan: Using Common Hashtags and Syndication

To achieve this transition, we need to use common hashtags and syndication through platforms like #activertypub and #OMN (Open Media Network, looking for funding). This strategy creates a real-world mainstreaming challenge that can remain resilient against co-optation by #fashionistas while still catering to their egos so they might embrace the needed change and challenge.

Actionable Steps

  • Establish a set of common hashtags that encapsulate core principles and ideas. Examples include , #openweb, #DIY, #techchurn, and #activertypub etc.
  • Encourage the use of these hashtags across social media and other communication platforms to create a unifying language and community.
  • Educate useing guides and resources to explain the importance and meaning of these hashtags to grow widespread understanding and adoption.
  • Encourage participation by inviteing grassroots and alternative media projects to join these syndication networks, ensuring a diverse range of voices and perspectives. Use tools like the #OMN to automate the syndication process, making it easier for participants to share and distribute content.
  • Grow collaboration and linking between different projects and communities to build a robust and supportive ecosystem.
  • Maintain open standards by ensuring that all participating projects adhere to the principles (open source, open data, open standards, open processes) to focus on transparency and inclusivity.
  • Monitor and adapt to regularly assess the network’s effectiveness and build feedback to make adjustments to improve reach and impact.

    Engaging the #Fashionistas
  • Initial outreach is about identifying key #influencers and early adopters within the alternative and grassroots tech communities.
  • Appeal to egos by recognizing the need for recognition and validation among #fashionistas, to sustain and create opportunities for them to showcase their contributions within the network. Highlight their success stories by sharing these stories and case studies that demonstrate the value and impact of participating in the network, encouraging more to join.

By leveraging common hashtags and syndication through #activertypub and #OMN, we create a resilient and impactful story that brings “native” ideologies into the #mainstreaming paths. This active path not only challenges the status quo but also changes its flow. Providing a sustainable path for grassroots and alternative projects to grow and thrive. The key to this is to maintain the and grow collaboration on the stories we tell #KISS

All language is metaphor, and the metaphors we choose shape how people think about problems and solutions. The “digital drugs” metaphor works because it makes the addictive design clear, but it can also push people into a moral panic frame (“users are addicts”), which risks oversimplifying.

A few metaphors you might find less #blocking of the #hashtag story:

  • Food & Nutrition
    #Dotcons = junk food (engineered to keep you consuming, empty calories).
    #Bsky = diet soda (feels lighter, but still unhealthy).
    #Fediverse = a community kitchen (messy, you have to cook and wash up, but nourishing and shared).
  • Urban Space
    #Dotcons = shopping malls (bright, controlled, profit-driven).
    #Bsky = curated boutique arcade (less harsh, but still enclosed).
    #Fediverse = the street commons (chaotic, noisy, sometimes rough, but free and collectively shaped).
  • Agriculture/Gardening

    #Dotcons = monoculture agribusiness (neat rows, efficient, but sterile and toxic).
    #Bsky = organic supermarket (nicer branding, but still transactional).
    #Fediverse/#OMN = messy permaculture garden (takes effort, community labour, but self-sustaining and alive).

These metaphors keep the critique, from individual pathology to collective space.

The hot air block on social change

In more than 20 years of activism I have seen our use of language fail us. There mainstreaming language, all we have, has no power it is just hot air.

If we are to have hope. We have to reclaim our language, we have to recreate our language. We need to call everyday things by what they are.

#deathcult the neo-liberalism that has ripped our society and ecology apart for the last 40 years. This is inside everything we touch and shapes our thoughts.

* liberalism is seen as a good, it is, the small “neo” is meaningless in our language. #XR has made mainstream that it is about death and despair at an unimaginable scale. A cult? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult its invisible death that we all share and believe in, the glue that binds us.

#dotcons are the new internet based media companies such as #failbook who are the #deathcult in code and algorithms, all the new economy which shapes us every hour of our lives.

* it took 10 years of fighting against the #openweb for us to accept our digital addictions. We knew that they were cons to make lots of money, what we did not know was that they were about social control.

These new #hashtag words need a growing community to reache a critical mass. Then the door to the mainstreams will open. Until then it is locked and bolted and hot air of our current languages stinks.

What is a hashtag

I use the #deathcult tag to highlight the neo-liberal era of the last 40 years which has left us in this current mess. A cult as few of us inside can see outside “common sense” and death as #XR has made the climate chaos cliff we are facing and billions of deaths visible to the mainstream. Of course neo-liberalism is just an extream form of capitalism we had it before in the UK during the irish potato famine with its millions of deaths and displacements. When people realised the problems mainstream moved to social democracy (soft) capitalism before “forgetting” agen in the late 1970’s. Corbyn and Sanders are trying to move us back to social democracy, which is of course no sulution BUT much better than the current mess. We as radicals need to do better #OMN

My point is that sanders and Corbyn are old mainstream and the current #deathcult are the current mainstream that’s dieing now. Ie we should create real radicalism to make Corbin and Sanders the centrist they actually are if you look back for a moment to the 20th century. We could get some real change then, if we keep them as the “radicals” then the is no future #XR

Calling the current lot a #deathcult is about opening up the space for Corbin and Sanders to be centrists in our minds. No matter what we do the right will be nutters, so not aiming at them with the tags at all.

This applys to everything. So the digital economy are all #dotcons and #failbook with its ownership of whatsapp and Instagram etc. Is the digital leader of the the #deathcult with google and Apple not far behind.

Pushing the dialog is probably the most powerful nonviolent direct action you can do from a armchair or public meeting

Q. The tags my friend are meaningless distracting drivel alas. That allude to something grand. When I click on them sometimes all I see is a list of Hamish posts. They have some utility if they bind peoples posts by theme, which is how they came to be popular on twitter I guess. They are useless when forging ahead one ones own with one’s own invented idiosyncratic tags that just litter ones text with # chars and jargon.

You have great things to say and if you shared them in common English you would reach many more people with them, I assure you.

A. look at the problem I am trying to solve agen. You actually do describe it in your reply but that is as far as your understanding goes in this reply. Note if you would have added a common #hashtag your post WOULD have been added to that hashtag view and the would have been more than my voice. Now keep adding new (common) hashtag users and you get a meaningful conversation and organic spread. When you don’t do this all you have is your #failbook echo chambers. I call this problem #stupidindividualism and it is both #mainstreammedia bad and sad

Note hashtags are comparable across #silos and more importantly on the #openweb get a #hashtag conversation going then do a web search on it to reach outside the #dotcons its very basic stuff.

As an example. The is a opening to #stepaway from the #dotcons here if people desire change. That problem we face is fear and doubt and the widespread use of #FUD https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/FUD.html