Insights Roundup: Feels And Reals
Building understanding and resilience
Sharing The Love
This one really hits close to home in a variety of ways. I would encourage you to extend any and all kindness you can towards
who has been a great friend to me and this project as well. I eagerly look forward to the time where we may collaborate again.I’ll quote the comment I left on this very important and touching piece:
What I love so much about this treasure you've shared is that I believe this is a message that needs to be better understood by young men. It's immensely more important to be loving than to "be alpha" or whatever the current meme is. That requires a completely different set of skills and attitudes than what is easily accessible in the mainstream.
I’ll take this as an opportunity to share fellow Digital Autonomy enjoyer
’s album Foreverland. The 2nd track The Things We Take With Us has been my own personal anthem of learning to change while I take on the challenges I’ve had to face. I hope you can find the same comfort and encouragement from Foreverland that I have.As I hinted, Liam, Margaret &
have been previous guests on Digital Autonomy and the Arts, where we explore the intersection between art and the line between technological freedom and tyranny.
“You are what you eat”
illustrates the vast divide between the addictive, empty, and outright trashy grocery store ‘food’ against the bounty of a fresh farmer’s market. Anne covers a wide variety of topics in her illustrations, which are insightful, fun to look at, and filled with wit! 
For those who don’t know, I had a great talk with Anne discussing Digital Autonomy & the Arts where we touch on many things like Free Software alternatives, to AI & technocracy.
Overcoming Chronic Emotional Pain
This book by Dr Breggin is one of the most important I’ve read.
I’ll quote the mini-review I posted in my weight loss diary.
As somebody who struggles with living in the moment for reasons brought up in this book, it’s helpful to have a frame of mind for how to begin to do so. Dr Breggin defines love as joyful awareness and that you can and should take the time to appreciate simple things in your life. If done right, you can practice applying this to those around you to live a more loving and present life. I’m still very far from putting this into practice perfectly, but I can say it’s been a helpful frame of mind for escaping the maze of my own doubts and fears.
The main reason I need to tackle this is that I recognize the degree in which my overeating has been emotionally driven. Through a troubled childhood, a stroke a few years ago and a grave family tragedy, I had learned to merely push frustrations aside and suffer the effects later. Later has come and It’s become clear that many of my daily activities were aimed solely at avoiding how I’m feeling in the present moment. Peter’s book does a phenomenal job at explaining how constant frustration or sadness can build up into a wall of numbness. It is reassuring to learn that this is not permanent and can be reversed.
Poking Fun at Technocrat Apparatchiks
Humor is a terribly undervalued tool in the tyranny-resisting arsenal. It hits all the right beats. It brings people together and it can even jolt people into realizing the truth. I hope you appreciate The Declaration of Dependence 2.0, a collaboration of
and friends.
A Troubling Trend
There seems to be an escalation in a long running trend of tech projects being purged from within. As an onlooker, there very much appears to be a long-running coordinated and organized effort to reshape various institutions and projects. I can only speculate about the source and extent of the campaign, but this has lead me to be far more cynical about things people are naturally inclined to take at face value.
He at least deserves support. If not from the various soulless machines that now run Python, from actual human beings. I’m disappointed to not see more support for Tim from the community that owes him so much. People who know this is wrong, and whom have so far stayed silent should not. If Python is now only top-down unquestionable authority henceforth ruled by a faceless ubercouncil, so be it, but I suspect (and hope) that allowing others to walk sheep-like into that future without a peep in service of preserving your own purported respectability will weigh on your conscience for a good long time.
Institutional DARVO
absolutely hits the nail on the head of what we’re seeing almost everywhere now. One of the more horrifying realizations of our time is that the entire public is subject to textbook abusive conditions by authority and power. That particular thread is very dark, so take your time with it.The manner in which our institutions are communicating with the folks they are meant to serve, is itself, in my view, clearly very triggering to large sections of the people, and is driving a lot of people into permanent, heightened defensive nervous system states, thus spreading left hemisphere overactivation. At the same time, the institutions are also clearly reacting very defensively when the worldview of lots of people is contrary to the institution's own narratives.
Unfortunately, our institutions are now resorting to blaming and shaming the very people that ineffective messaging and lack of good communication skills has already triggered into defensive states. The fastest way I am aware of for rapidly escalating defensive states is through shaming and blaming.
*Emphasis mine
Corporate Totalitarianism
makes a critical case of outlining how the Culture War is a lot more than it may seem. She makes insightful connections between the behaviors of various activists and the outcomes that corporations are seeking. I believe that even as the consequences begin to be more and more obvious to the average member of the public, there are still many important lessons to learn from what was done and how.The most insidious aspect of this corporate insurgency is the way it seeks to dictate morality to the public. Companies are now positioning themselves as the arbiters of our social norms, telling us what is acceptable and what is not.
They are creating a culture of moral blackmail, where those who refuse to conform to their ideology are shamed, ostracized, and punished. This is not the free market at work; this is corporate totalitarianism, where the interests of the few are imposed on the many.
Information Control
Trish Wood & CJ Hopkins have an in-depth conversation about the rise in global information control measures. In case you’re not aware, CJ Hopkins is being persecuted by the German government for tweeting his book cover criticizing the “new normal” dictates of the Covid Crisis. I greatly appreciate his voice and especially his criticisms of the “Musk cult”.
The Fog
People vastly underestimate the disadvantage most people are at when it comes to information control. Important information is not merely hidden from people, it’s drowned out with distorted fakes, and endless amounts of both subtle and overt propaganda.
Every news outlet, social media platform, television, radio, computer screen, and “smart” phone has been or is being weaponized at every scale. Nothing you see, hear or read can be trusted. Chatbots, algorithms, filters, geo-fencing, and targeted feeds are being deployed to ensure you see and hear only what is intended for your consumption.
Media Matrix Update
I want to thank
a great deal for hosting this very important discussion! I’m sure it was no easy task to bring together 7 important voices to each share their own perspective on important trends that outstretch a single 4 year ‘selection’ cycle. A lot of very important points were raised so I hope you not only enjoy this talk, but also take up the opportunity to explore the participants work on their own sites/platforms.
I listened to Liam's songs while reading this and I'm blown away! His lyrics, the music, I had no idea this talent and art was lurking behind his technical expertise--and I guess now has come out in front. I can see why this would become an anthem for you, Gabe, there's so much heart in it.
And you are, of course, celebrating my friends with Margaret, Tonika and Mary. My heart has been dwelling with Margaret and her loss. I've watched some clips from her post and think of her and Michael often. And the Mary/ Tonika collab is awesome, really magnificent.
Gary is certainly on to something, and his categorization into R & L hemispheres seems apt. I've thought of those as the masculine and feminine too. The masculine corporate world is all about humiliation. It's not just being unemployed or underemployed, it's the shame and knowing that who you are and your status could be gone with a snap of the fingers, always being on edge. I've been thinking that we're a profoundly unmothered society because the baseline of security and nurturing is completely lacking, by design.
I was with my youngest daughter this weekend and telling her how astute and humble you are, Gabe. (Did I already tell you this?) In any case, I think you would like each other. She's also very insightful.
Thank you so much, Gabriel! It makes my day to be included in this post!