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The following is a melancholic musing, and maybe my participation here is as an unhealthy rant, just a sort of getting my rage and consternation out of my system so that I know other people feel the same way.
I appreciate that you're giving me the benefit of the doubt, even as giving people the benefit of the doubt is a charitable act which strains the bounds of reason. Wokes have shown us what they'll do with the benefit of the doubt, given power and the means to persecute their enemies.
But I also wish that more people extended Trump the benefit of the doubt. Maybe that's the only path to civilization.
Alas, I'm a nobody and I want to keep my online presence small. If you look at the history of purges, there's nothing stopping an AI from scraping pages to find the undesirables for re-education, and I wasn't always good at opsec. So forgive me if I don't mention past usernames. It's enough that you let me stand. (Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there's no one out to get you.)
I am left with this melancholy: what is good faith participation? In a hyper-partisan atmosphere where one side insists on a false reality in which IQ is imaginary, that when Trump mentions a 'bloodbath' in manufacturing he's talking about actual violence, that communism can work, how can we engage constructively?
I didn't put much thought in my username, to be honest. I try to be moderate, in that I find the extremists on both sides reprehensible. I try to be liberal, in that I still try and believe that speaking with people can lead to greater understanding, that platforming people matters. Sorry if that was a suspicious choice.
And thanks for working so hard to keep this place running.
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