I've been in several conversations, in several venues (including CoSo), where I've called the loose definitions of fascism at play in the public square problematic.

I've pointed this out because such vagueness can lead to sweeping and reckless disassociations of ideas, ideologies and, by extension, people.

This video from Ryan Chapman shares my concern about vagueness, and distils what I think is an important definition from the theorists and proponents of fascism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T_98uT1IZs

Just a word to the wise: "Well, I can't argue with that logic!" is not always a compliment.

In USA's culture, morality is not driving. Celebrity is.

So often, whatever the loudest voice says, on the most public platform, tends to be what carries.

This phenomenon scales; from small social gatherings to the national stage.

The driving question for so many people is not "Does this actually resonate with me?" but rather "Who said it?"

It allows people to get swept up in tides they could never imagine even dipping a toe in.

I just saw my neighbour out with a hoodie that has a Punisher symbol with a thin blue stripe running down the centre of it.

If I was in talking range I would have loved to engage this with him. Maybe it will happen some day.

I mean, that is one scary mess of mixed messages right there.

I derive a twisted sense of satisfaction watching all these conservative calls to boycott end up showing spikes in sales.

Their power is not as strong as they keep trying to convince everyone (especially themselves) it is.

Society is moving toward inclusion in spite of their most petty efforts.

I've seen introverts describe ice-breakers in an array of shades of unpleasantness.

So if you're an introvert, what is a way that has actually worked to ease social connections in larger groups of relative strangers?

I was in an inclusivity workshop today -- some remarkably good insights in there.

Here's one that I want to share here: people who have experienced one form of prejudice or oppression are not necessarily sensitive to other forms of prejudice and oppression.

The presenter pointed out that this is a myth, connected to the myth that left to our own devices, we would all naturally live in harmony.

In reality, harmony takes attention, intention and work.

Have you noticed this? US news outlets seem to be aggressively competing for who can make the most convoluted headline. I invite you to try it -- it's kinda fun!

I'll start:
New political faction threatens to challenge the antagonistic stance banned by the current political faction regarding an issue the former political faction was alleged to be covering up, claim counter-protestors.

I think we're due for a resurgence of colour, like the 90s and the 60s.

Many new cars' entry-level models are only available in white, grey/silver and black.

What?!

The first round of social media --web 2.0 -- saw a bunch of people waking up to diversity that was already in their midst, and they woke up grumpy!

"It's too early!"
"Ugh. I don't want to acknowledge that my default hostility has even affected people close to me!"
"Just 5 more minutes!"

Twitter was a place that was trying to deal with this, until Elon Musk took over, and made grumpy its entire brand.

So things are generally maturing, but not everywhere. There is still plenty of work to do.

Solar tech is being adopted by so-called developing countries rapidly, like cellphones were in the '90s for the same reason -- there isn't nearly the amount of "sunk costs" invested in infrastructure that there is in the so-called developed world.

These tech initiatives are making cleaner energy available to people who have never had access to electricity before, because power grids are expensive and complicated.

Lots of tech initiatives are levelling the international playing field.

I was in a conversation about social change where a conservative Christian said "But suffering is inevitable."

I realised that I used to believe that.

Now, when directly challenged, conservative Christians don't believe God is sadistic, but there is a large -- and largely unquestioned -- vein of fatalism and/or nihilism running through Christianity.

This deeply affects adhedents' whole lives, including their political choices. It's a big deal.

#Christianity
#Christian
#religion

The biker adage "it's never too late to have a happy childhood" may sound kinda silly...until you're on a motorcycle!

There's just nothing like it.

On that note, I'm going to see if I can my bike's insurance renewed this weekend.

I hereby pledge to never make a YouTube video where I introduce myself as "your boy."

My phone now recognises siiiiiiiiiigh as a real word.

So...how's your week going?

Okay, so there's a reboot of Google Glass afoot, except this time there will be AI prompts that will appear to the wearer like a teleprompter. The newscaster I heard on this said they'll be useful for interviews...and dates...

We haven't even nearly started to apprehend what's coming at us yet!

Want your project/organisation to be viable long-term? It needs a plan for the immediate phase, and it needs to dream about subsequent phases.

Many startups get this wrong, in both directions.

Either *everything* is a dream, so nothing is ever concretely decided or acted on (and the constraints are not apprehended and processed).

Or the *only* thing that matters is the current plan, which causes tunnel vision.

Success requires planning and dreaming working in harmony.

I remember, about 15yrs ago, sitting in on a conversation with some community leaders, listening to them talk about how glad they were that postmodernism was finally over.

They never really found it compelling anyway!

What a relief it is be done with it!

Oh wow, that just keeps getting funnier!

The vast majority of instances of failure are recoverable.

The key is humility -- failure is an invitation to learn.

The denial of failure (eg toxic positivity) defies this learning, or indeed, lures us into learning all the wrong lessons from it.