A lot of our public discourse has reached the stage where it might be worth thinking about it as a mental health issue, and that after the “common sense” worshipping of the #deathcult for 40 years, this becomes hard to mediate. This post is about a summing up of this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/foss/comments/1e5vhif/crisis_of_governance_in_foss_medieval_politics/ on Reddit where…
Crisis of Governance in FOSS: Medieval Politics and Neoliberal Failures
Silicon Valley influence is significant, the concentration of power and resources among a few #dotcons raises issues about democracy, equity, and control. With this in mind, we need a strong push and for meany people a fundamental rethink and restructuring of how we approach technology, governance, and community building. The open-source and free software communities,…
The rise of fascist ideologies
The path of #fascism is blighted by ignorance and the rejection of deeper meaning in life. Fascist leaders and their followers display overconfidence and assertive ignorance, using baseless claims to assert dominance and control. They build false displays of good qualities, such as exaggerated patriotism or faux moral superiority, rather than any genuine ability and…
Understanding the Current Landscape
The accidental #openweb reboot of the #fediverse was created and popularized by a diverse and disorganized group of progressives with meany #fashernistas, this is a #4opens “native” path and reflects the decentralized and chaotic nature of grassroots movements. This “herding cats” means that achieving consensus or coordinated action is challenging. The last 40 years have…
How did we get into such a mess?
The mess is a result of the complex socioeconomic outcome of the widespread adoption of #neoliberal policies and ideology. Neoliberal theorists like Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman developed and promoted the ideas, emphasizing competition and market-based solutions to social and economic problems. Politicians like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan implemented neoliberal policies on a large…
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…
#TED – A Community of Delusions
For millennials lost after the mess of 9/11, the wars, economic upheaval, digital division, and social atomization, #TED was an appealing #mainstreaming alternate vision—of a society where ideas had currency, and a wider group of people could identify with the intellectual vanguard. This vision was delusion, but it easily overtook the norms of drift and…
Hashtags for Social Change
The Potential of #Hashtags as Shared Social Paths #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. The Problem of #StupidIndividualism Today we are shaped by…
Caring in a culture that disregards human well-being requires resistance to dominant values
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…
People think in groups, this is natural
Group thinking is human nature. As social grows, people naturally think and make decisions in the context of groups. This tendency has evolutionary roots, as it historically enhanced survival and cooperation. However, much of our current thinking, although not incorrect, is influenced by the prevailing #stupidindividualism mindset that is “common sense” in our messy world.…