Because if things can always be worse, then things are never too far gone to be saved. Whatever small thing you could do to improve something, or even just to keep it from slipping, is valuable. Your life, your communities, your environment, your planet, are all worth the effort you put in to improve it, no matter how small the impact can feel. Because things can always, always be worse.
I keenly feel the cynicism, doom and gloom that plagues activists, or even everyday people realising the scale of human suffering. We’ve never been more aware of the injustices and hurt felt around the world today. Simultaneously, we’ve never been more aware of what could be, how so many solutions seem like a mere hair’s breadth away, if only those in power had the guts to reach for it. Sometimes it feels like things have gotten so bad, so desperate, that it’s more cathartic to burn it all down, pronounce it DOA, and be done with it all. At least then we wouldn’t have to suffer in perpetual disappointment. This anger is valid, and reasonable, and important, and needs an outlet every now and then.
But things can always be worse.
Serena Chen
I stand in full support of the Free Software Foundation and its ethical and moral stance on free software. I oppose the misguided recent attacks against Richard M. Stallman, the accusations against whom are baseless and lacking in factual evidence. I am a signatory to the open letter in support of Richard M. Stallman.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Do you remember when
The United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Netherlands and several others voted NO, in December 2020, on a United Nations resolution that called for “concrete action for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”? And China, North Korea and Russian Federation actually voted YES?
I do. Now read the text above again. “Are we the baddies?"
P.S. This should be a series. Music provided by Michael Jackson, of course .
Richard Stallman support letter
I signed the Richard Stallman support letter and you should do it too . Keep in mind that the signers of the letter are subjected to harassment .
Please think about how to treat other participants with respect, especially when you disagree with them. For instance, call them by the names they use, and honor their preferences about their gender identity.
Honoring people’s preferences about gender identity includes not referring to them in ways that conflict with that identity. For instance, not to use pronouns for them that conflict with it. There are several ways to avoid that; one way is to use gender-neutral pronouns, since they don’t conflict with any possible gender identity.
Those statements apparently make Stallman a transphobe.
Also fuck Tor . And I think it’s time to ditch Mozilla and let them die by their own actions.
Mачете: Mачете
Alternate realities in the every day: extremism, the internet, and the death of truth
The majority of people read headlines and go no further, ignoring the substance by which they could create a developed worldview. A few words without context or explanation, and people genuinely believe that they are informed about the workings of complex political, economic, and psychological systems. Constantly awash in facts, propaganda has taken on a new form. Those with destructive agendae don’t have to lie to you to get you to believe what they want.
They are comfortable doing so, and a society with atrophied critical thinking skills will make such falsehoods easy to buy, but far easier than fabricating facts is using extremely selective presentation of those facts to push people towards a philosophy. Barraging people with events, which they can understand, rather than context and interpretation, which requires more effort, you can effortlessly make the world seem however you want. If you want to demonize a group of people, highlight every time a member of that group commits a crime.
John Farrell