Between the trolls and the virtue signallers, you can honestly try to tell a wholesome story in the most appropriate forum and it's guaranteed you'll be criticised, insulted and made to feel like a mistake of a human being.
I was feeding some geese by hand in my local park when a lovely young lad came over and asked how I get them to do that. I told him that I'm here every day and we've built up trust. I then made a bit of conversation about the goslings, to which he responded enthusiastically and then meandered off. Nice, I'm happy with that.
Then he came back with a big bag of bird feed and asked for my help opening it. I duly obliged and he asked if I would like some. As I already had two little tupperware boxes full of seed, I said I'd be okay. He then insisted that I take some "because you're kind," so I thanked him and took some as instructed.
After this, he went over to a couple who were watching the birds and asked if they would like some feed. The man said no but his partner encouraged him and they took the kid up on his offer. The couple looked happy and the kid looked proud of himself.
He was with siblings or friends too so hopefully he's set an example by being kind to birds and birdwatchers alike. What a little gentleman, confirming what I've suspected for a while: bird people are good people.
I was posting on some other subreddits earlier about AI and climate change and how it surprises me when I see people speaking with ambivalence or resignation about them.
The response I got was mixed but there was a lot of "doesn't affect me" or "why would I care?" or "what am I supposed to do? I'm just trying to enjoy my life, not worry about all the world's problems." Some in much less polite language of course.
The way my mind works, I can't just separate my own life and contentment from existential threats and knowledge of what's going on around me. Issues like government corruption really affect the way I feel day to day because they alter my understanding of the world I live in. They inform my context. They pollute the water I swim in, so to speak.
I want to know if this is a common experience among autistic people and if the pushback I experienced was a neurotypical/neurodivergent mismatch.
I'm not talking about criticism, I'm talking about fury.
I see comments playing down the sinister aspects of AI as if governments and tech corporations aren't trying to exploit us in any way - what?!?
I see "they have it so they must deserve it" style attitudes toward people who are literally building bunkers to survive the scorching of the earth that they're ushering in.
They aren't two separate problems either: data centre production has ramped up to a frankly incomprehensible level recently, the emissions of which are a major contributor to climate change. Weren't we trying to fight that tide just a couple of years ago? But there's money in it so sure, let it roll.
There have been some absolutely horrific actions and events in human history that we look back on in disgust. There have been uprisings and revolutions because people believed that the systems they lived under were tyrannical and corrupt. Arguably, what's happening now will have the most devastating and long-lasting effects of anything humans have ever done, and we're just kind of... Watching it happen.
Is it just the bystander effect? Are we all hoping someone else has it covered? Are we so blinded by beaurocracy that we think the people in suits must know what they're doing? Or have we just collectively decided not to bum everyone out by gesturing toward the impending horrors?
I'm not talking about criticism, I'm talking about fury.
I see comments playing down the sinister aspects of AI as if governments and tech corporations aren't trying to exploit us in any way - what?!?
I see "they have it so they must deserve it" style attitudes toward people who are literally building bunkers to survive the scorching of the earth that they're ushering in.
They aren't two separate problems either: data centre production has ramped up to a frankly incomprehensible level recently, the emissions of which are a major contributor to climate change. Weren't we trying to fight that tide just a couple of years ago? But there's money in it so sure, let it roll.
There have been some absolutely horrific actions and events in human history that we look back on in disgust. There have been uprisings and revolutions because people believed that the systems they lived under were tyrannical and corrupt. Arguably, what's happening now will have the most devastating and long-lasting effects of anything humans have ever done, and we're just kind of... Watching it happen.
Is it just the bystander effect? Are we all hoping someone else has it covered? Are we so blinded by beaurocracy that we think the people in suits must know what they're doing? Or have we just collectively decided not to bum everyone out by gesturing toward the impending horrors?
I'm not talking about criticism, I'm talking about fury.
I see comments playing down the sinister aspects of AI as if governments and tech corporations aren't trying to exploit us in any way - what?!?
I see "they have it so they must deserve it" style attitudes toward people who are literally building bunkers to survive the scorching of the earth that they're ushering in.
They aren't two separate problems either: data centre production has ramped up to a frankly incomprehensible level recently, the emissions of which are a major contributor to climate change. Weren't we trying to fight that tide just a couple of years ago? But there's money in it so sure, let it roll.
There have been some absolutely horrific actions and events in human history that we look back on in disgust. There have been uprisings and revolutions because people believed that the systems they lived under were tyrannical and corrupt. Arguably, what's happening now will have the most devastating and long-lasting effects of anything humans have ever done, and we're just kind of... Watching it happen.
Is it just the bystander effect? Are we all hoping someone else has it covered? Are we so blinded by beaurocracy that we think the people in suits must know what they're doing? Or have we just collectively decided not to bum everyone out by gesturing toward the impending horrors?
I'm not talking about criticism, I'm talking about fury.
I see comments playing down the sinister aspects of AI as if governments and tech corporations aren't trying to exploit us in any way - what?!?
I see "they have it so they must deserve it" style attitudes toward people who are literally building bunkers to survive the scorching of the earth that they're ushering in.
They aren't two separate problems either: data centre production has ramped up to a frankly incomprehensible level recently, the emissions of which are a major contributor to climate change. Weren't we trying to fight that tide just a couple of years ago? But there's money in it so sure, let it roll.
There have been some absolutely horrific actions and events in human history that we look back on in disgust. There have been uprisings and revolutions because people believed that the systems they lived under were tyrannical and corrupt. Arguably, what's happening now will have the most devastating and long-lasting effects of anything humans have ever done, and we're just kind of... Watching it happen.
Is it just the bystander effect? Are we all hoping someone else has it covered? Are we so blinded by beaurocracy that we think the people in suits must know what they're doing? Or have we just collectively decided not to bum everyone out by gesturing toward the impending horrors?
I'm not talking about criticism, I'm talking about fury.
I see comments playing down the sinister aspects of AI as if governments and tech corporations aren't trying to exploit us in any way - what?!?
I see "they have it so they must deserve it" style attitudes toward people who are literally building bunkers to survive the scorching of the earth that they're ushering in.
They aren't two separate problems either: data centre production has ramped up to a frankly incomprehensible level recently, the emissions of which are a major contributor to climate change. Weren't we trying to fight that tide just a couple of years ago? But there's money in it so sure, let it roll.
There have been some absolutely horrific actions and events in human history that we look back on in disgust. There have been uprisings and revolutions because people believed that the systems they lived under were tyrannical and corrupt. Arguably, what's happening now will have the most devastating and long-lasting effects of anything humans have ever done, and we're just kind of... Watching it happen.
Is it just the bystander effect? Are we all hoping someone else has it covered? Are we so blinded by beaurocracy that we think the people in suits must know what they're doing? Or have we just collectively decided not to bum everyone out by gesturing toward the impending horrors?
My example would be 2004 American presidential candidate Howard Dean whose campaign was derailed because he said "Yeah" enthusiastically and it freaked people out. The extent to which it genuinely ruined his chances can be debated but the heat he got for it was really bizarre and it's since become his legacy.
Elon Musk has been caught using dozens of unpermitted methane gas turbines to power data centres in predominantly black and low income areas, poisoning people as well as the environment.
Peter Thiel, political lobbyist and panopticon pioneer, has said that some corruption is good for society and that freedom is incompatible with democracy.
Itamar Ben-Gvir took to Twitter yesterday to say that Israel should go "berserk" and that "All of Lebanon must burn!"
Tim Gurner claimed that he'd like to "see pain in the economy" and that unemployment should rise by 40-50% to counter the "arrogance" of employees.
Sam Altman stated that "AI will most likely lead to the end of the world but, in the meantime, there will be great companies created."
In short, there are people with views so contrary to the greater good, and with enough power to pursue these goals, that their lives are a detriment to us all. We have it instilled in us that the dead are to be treated with respect and that life is sacred, we have taboos around responding positively to someone's passing, but there are people for whom these taboos ought to be suspended.
Elon Musk has been caught using dozens of unpermitted methane gas turbines to power data centres in predominantly black and low income areas, poisoning people as well as the environment.
Peter Thiel, political lobbyist and panopticon pioneer, has said that some corruption is good for society and that freedom is incompatible with democracy.
Itamar Ben-Gvir took to Twitter yesterday to say that Israel should go "berserk" and that "All of Lebanon must burn!"
Tim Gurner claimed that he'd like to "see pain in the economy" and that unemployment should rise by 40-50% to counter the "arrogance" of employees.
Sam Altman stated that "AI will most likely lead to the end of the world but, in the meantime, there will be great companies created."
In short, there are people with views so contrary to the greater good, and with enough power to pursue these goals, that their lives are a detriment to us all. We have it instilled in us that the dead are to be treated with respect and that life is sacred, we have taboos around responding positively to someone's passing, but there are people for whom these taboos ought to be suspended.
Elon Musk has been caught using dozens of unpermitted methane gas turbines to power data centres in predominantly black and low income areas, poisoning people as well as the environment.
Peter Thiel, political lobbyist and panopticon pioneer, has said that some corruption is good for society and that freedom is incompatible with democracy.
Itamar Ben-Gvir took to Twitter yesterday to say that Israel should go "berserk" and that "All of Lebanon must burn!"
Tim Gurner claimed that he'd like to "see pain in the economy" and that unemployment should rise by 40-50% to counter the "arrogance" of employees.
Sam Altman stated that "AI will most likely lead to the end of the world but, in the meantime, there will be great companies created."
In short, there are people with views so contrary to the greater good, and with enough power to pursue these goals, that their lives are a detriment to us all. We have it instilled in us that the dead are to be treated with respect and that life is sacred, we have taboos around responding positively to someone's passing, but there are people for whom these taboos ought to be suspended.
Elon Musk has been caught using dozens of unpermitted methane gas turbines to power data centres in predominantly black and low income areas, poisoning people as well as the environment.
Peter Thiel, political lobbyist and panopticon pioneer, has said that some corruption is good for society and that freedom is incompatible with democracy.
Itamar Ben-Gvir took to Twitter yesterday to say that Israel should go "berserk" and that "All of Lebanon must burn!"
Tim Gurner claimed that he'd like to "see pain in the economy" and that unemployment should rise by 40-50% to counter the "arrogance" of employees.
Sam Altman stated that "AI will most likely lead to the end of the world but, in the meantime, there will be great companies created."
In short, there are people with views so contrary to the greater good, and with enough power to pursue these goals, that their lives are a detriment to us all. We have it instilled in us that the dead are to be treated with respect and that life is sacred, we have taboos around responding positively to someone's passing, but there are people for whom these taboos ought to be suspended.
I always think redemption is the most evocative tool in the storyteller's arsenal. Nothing else quite brings a tear to the eye or a flutter to the heart like seeing a person renounce their former works and become someone new and better, accepting and renouncing who they were.
​
Are there any such stories that spring to mind for you? Anyone from books or film or comic books or even real life who started out on a dark path and later turned it around and came to be someone you can admire?
Some examples:
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- I recently made mention of an ex partner (whom I kept anonymous) who was genuinely pretty unhinged and very unkind to me. I did this to empathise with someone who was having a hard time, only to be met by a third party with a kind of "if you've nothing nice to say about someone"/"negativity about an ex is a red flag" attitude. That's not adding positivity into the world, that's asking people to repress trauma so you can keep your social interactions in the uncanny valley of manufactured smiles.
​
- My girlfriend was living with some women who were leaving junk around the place, not keeping up standards of hygiene, just being kind of gross and selfish. My mother in law shut down any mention of that because she wanted to believe that her daughter's living situation was just perfect... But it isn't so you're actively creating distance between you and your daughter by shutting this conversation down.
​
- I once said in casual conversation that a particular city isn't what it used to be, that I had just read about how homelessness is a major problem there now, and was told "You can't say that, you haven't been there. I'm sure it's lovely." Optimism isn't something you can hold up as a shield against statistical information.
​
There's a time and a place for hope and positive thinking but it's not confronting people who are just trying to engage with reality as truthfully as possible.
I go to my local park most days to feed the birds, it's the highlight of my day and honestly the only place I feel calm and content in this city (I moved here for love and it's not been great). Sometimes an older woman will chat to me about the birds or general bird info, light and cheery things like "Did you know young puffins are called 'pufflings'?"
​
Yesterday she walked past me and thrust a pamphlet into my hand, saying "Tuck that in your pocket and have a read when you get home." Of course it's some twaddle about how god is the bridge over the void of non-existence and we need to love her imaginary friend or we'll miss out on eternity, typical religious copium.
​
So now I know she believes in this baseless nonsense despite being old enough to know better; I know her opinion of me is conditional on my acceptance of her silly fiction; I know she feels it's appropriate to insert this nonsense into what had been a very chill, positive dynamic; I know she feels that people's thoroughly-considered and logically-based existential conclusions can be overturned by a cheap, cartoonish pamphlet containing "the real word of god". I really feel uncomfortable going back to this place which, until yesterday, had been my sanctuary.
​
I posted about this somewhere else and the god-botherers came out of the woodwork to call me a "freak" and say I'm weird for being so upset by this but I don't want to be in a position where I have to look into this old woman's eyes and say "What you handed me is lazy, derivative fiction that I've chucked in the recycling because that's the only chance it has of achieving any value." However I phrase it, that's ultimately what I'd be saying. I don't want to have this charged conversation with a passing acquaintance, I don't want to offend this lady, but she has put me in a really difficult position that I'd rather just walk away from than navigate.
​
In addition, I've been listening to a lot of interviews recently and often people will talk about their religious beliefs. One in particular really bothered me: this woman (WWE announcer Lilian Garcia) talked about how she needed a job and it was coming down to two weeks of comfortable living left before she would be in trouble. Lo and behold one of her contacts phoned her up and offered her a job. Amazing timing, she really lucked out, right? No, her take-away is that EVERYONE should "just submit" and "stop trying to make things happen" because god has got us all covered.... That's objectively horrific advice indicative of genuine mental illness. Just because it's a mass delusion doesn't mean it's not a delusion.
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I've been having these thoughts and considering posting them to another subreddit but I looked through their religiously-themed posts first and saw all the scathing replies and downvotes. I really hope I'm preaching to the choir here, pun intended, but the utter confidence of people who believe in something that has literally zero evidence for and infinite evidence against is just mind-numbing. If you want to believe that the earth is vaguely spiritual and the mountains have an energy then that's cool, you knock yourself out, but why are you handing me a business card for some Palestinian dude from 2000 years ago? That's not well-adjusted behaviour.
I moved city a couple of years ago to be with my partner and I really don't like it here. The only place I feel content is by the pond where I go to feed pigeons, ducks, coots, moorhens and geese.
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Sometimes people will say hello or comment on how popular I am with the birds. The main person to do this was a mature lady who would tell me about birds she's seen and the like - nice, easy chats.
​
Today she walks by me, passes me this item and says "tuck that in your pocket, have a read when you get home." I say "I'll do that, cheers" and pocket it without looking, very curious as to what bird-related article she has just handed me.
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As I walked, I started thinking "Oh god don't let it be christ. Christ don't let it be god." Of course, I got home, took a look and was incredibly disappointed. I don't know if I can go back there, I feel so uncomfortable now that she's thrust her religion into our acquaintanceship. I'm not sure I'd be able to avoid her and I just can't stand there and explain to this lady that her lord and saviour might as well be a Scooby Doo villain as far as I'm concerned.
Before the age of billionaires,
A man would turn up with a plan;
A man with hunger in his stare -
And yes, it's usually a man.
Perhaps he'd flaunt his parents' means
Or call in favours from his friends,
Or lick the right boots to a sheen -
What matters to us are his ends.
You may have thought that life was free
But you can pay or wind up dead;
The small print grows til you can't see
The sky that's falling overhead.
You pay to sleep and eat and drink,
You owe the sweat upon your brow;
You rent from him the time to think.
Why should it be different now?
The thing about this man is that
He doesn't quite know when to stop:
Til seas are dry and mountains flat,
The world is ash - with him on top.
Yet so repulsive is his greed,
So sickening this man to all,
He cowers from the sight of need
Behind his money, guns and walls.
But walls are built with callused hands,
And hired guns have eyes to see;
Though tyranny has other plans,
We will remember life is free.
Thus, hacked to pieces in the street
As dirt before a noble plow,
The king is ash beneath our feet.
It shall be no different now.
Before the age of billionaires,
A man would turn up with a plan;
A man with hunger in his stare -
And yes, it's usually a man.
Perhaps he'd flaunt his parents' means
Or call in favours from his friends,
Or lick the right boots to a sheen -
What matters to us are his ends.
You may have thought that life was free
But you can pay or wind up dead;
The small print grows til you can't see
The sky that's falling overhead.
You pay to sleep and eat and drink,
You owe the sweat upon your brow;
You rent from him the time to think.
Why should it be different now?
The thing about this man is that
He doesn't quite know when to stop:
Til seas are dry and mountains flat,
The world is ash - with him on top.
Yet so repulsive is his greed,
So sickening this man to all,
He cowers from the sight of need
Behind his money, guns and walls.
But walls are built with callused hands,
And hired guns have eyes to see;
Though tyranny has other plans,
We will remember life is free.
Thus, hacked to pieces in the street
As dirt before a noble plow,
The king is ash beneath our feet.
It shall be no different now.
Before the age of billionaires,
A man would turn up with a plan;
A man with hunger in his stare -
And yes, it's usually a man.
Perhaps he'd flaunt his parents' means
Or call in favours from his friends,
Or lick the right boots to a sheen -
What matters to us are his ends.
You may have thought that life was free
But you can pay or wind up dead;
The small print grows til you can't see
The sky that's falling overhead.
You pay to sleep and eat and drink,
You owe the sweat upon your brow;
You rent from him the time to think.
Why should it be different now?
The thing about this man is that
He doesn't quite know when to stop:
Til seas are dry and mountains flat,
The world is ash - with him on top.
Yet so repulsive is his greed,
So sickening this man to all,
He cowers from the sight of need
Behind his money, guns and walls.
But walls are built with callused hands,
And hired guns have eyes to see;
Though tyranny has other plans,
We will remember life is free.
Thus, hacked to pieces in the street
As dirt before a noble plow,
The king is ash beneath our feet.
It shall be no different now.