Grassroots in Tech Communities: Challenges and Paths

The discussions surrounding grassroots movements within tech communities intersects with broader social themes, such as #neoliberalism and #postmodernism. These ideologies shape what is considered “common sense” and can create real barriers to introducing alternative viewpoints and practices. Within this context, progressive grassroots initiatives aim to counteract these dominant paradigms, but they frequently face challenges both…

The mess of our “common sense” hard shift to the right – Ukraine

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine exacerbates the influence of far-right groups. The Russia narrative highlights the presence of far-right elements in Ukraine to justify its actions. However, this narrative is used politically rather than in any way sincerely addressing the issue. Western support for Ukraine, primarily aimed at countering Russian aggression, overlooks the…

Beyond Consumerism: Building Trust Through Openness and Action

This pervasive influence of ideology and consumerism in modern society, illustrating how even well-intentioned actions can be co-opted by the systems they aim to resist. It emphasizes the need for genuine, systemic change rather than superficial actions that offer a false sense of contribution. The problem we need to mediate is everyday consumer choices are…

A messy job, but with the right tools and approach, we can make progress

The neoliberal world-view is designed to replace trust with greed as the social motivator. Of course, all successful societies are based/built on trust, so neoliberalism is building a #deathcult. The current #climatechaos and social decay are simple to understand outcomes. If you’re wondering why this is useful, it’s an important part of a conversation and…

The Importance of Words and Ideology

Words shape our thoughts, and common understandings of these words are essential for coherent and effective communication. Ideologies form the basis of all thinking, whether unspoken and #mainstreaming or articulated and still minority. The challenge is to transition minority ideologies to the mainstreaming paths. The Plan: Using Common Hashtags and Syndication To achieve this transition,…

The Solution: Embrace the #4opens

We can’t keep repeating the same #TechShit over and over again. #TechCurn is a dead end.The #OMN is the only positive path I know forward. #Mainstreaming #fashernistas are dangerously consumptive. Our alt #fashernistas are utterly pointless. We need to disrupt social norms and make #4opens fashionable to salvage any value from these people and pull…

The blindness of fluffy and spiky liberals

The last 40 years of social and environmental mismanagement have brought us the onrushing disaster of #climatechaos and social break down. This situation highlights a troubling reality about society. On one side, we have the powerful and fundamental evil hard right anti #mainstreaming entities responsible for the harm. On the other side, there’s a small…

What works?

What works in the rise of social justice movements and grassroots mobilization. Movements start at the local level, driven by people and groups who are directly affected by social injustices and are motivated to bring about change. For technology to be of use to build these out wider, we need to foster the importance of…

The Illusion of Realism in the era of the #deathcult

Our “common sense” in capitalism disregards the history of socio-economic material conditions, #classwar, #ecocide, debt, slavery, violence, and oppression. In this we are currently blinded by the myth that there is no alternative to the current crap and broken system, this willfull blindness obscures the brutal realities on the edge of our “privileged” lives. The…

Serendipity and #Hashtags

Hashtags are ubiquitous online, they categorize content to find and join conversations on topics. The problem with current 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 challenge. Serendipity, the occurrence of events by chance, beneficially offer…