4 ms·

That sort of don't-let-my-peas-touch-my-mashed-potatoes instinct is part of the reason that autocratic-aspirants are getting away with so much these days. I'm a

by pohl 5y ago

That sort of don't-let-my-peas-touch-my-mashed-potatoes instinct is part of the reason that autocratic-aspirants are getting away with so much these days. I'm amazed how there can be a coup attempt and people will just show up to work the next day and go through their scrum ceremonies without mentioning it, because they don't want to risk mixing politics and whatever. Am I alone in thinking that?

d23 5y ago
It's a weird thing to live through, for sure. One strange thing to note from watching my vote count after I posted this comment. It rocketed sky high within the first 30 minutes, was the top comment, and seemed to be settling to an equilibrium. Then suddenly, over a span of a few minutes, it got massively downvoted to about 33% of the count it had at peak. I've been posting on the internet a while, and I've never seen such a rapid swing.
gameman144 5y ago
I can empathize this, but I think that limited human mental and emotional bandwidth requires some kind of compartmentalization. If I am trying to do my day job and can't avoid getting drawn into political debates, that's exhausting. If I share an interesting article about new Javascript features, it doesn't mean I'm either endorsing or ready to debate the author's climate-change-denial posts from years back: that's also exhausting. If I go to read fan theories of my favorite books, only to have the conversations focus on the author's controversial Tweets du jour, that's exhausting. If I'm watching the Superbowl, and everyone keeps interrupting the game to tell me how awful a person one of the key players is, that's exhausting. Granted, I do think you're totally right that there are places to discuss these things, and I don't know of a one-size-fits-all approach here. That said, the "don't-let-my-peas-touch-my-mashed-potatoes" (new phrase for me, and I love it) instinct is quite reasonable, since otherwise life becomes an infinite stew of pessimism and critique.
- pohl 5y ago
  All true. That exhaustion is exactly the vulnerability that autocrats seek to exploit, alas.
orblivion 5y ago
At least these days, a lot of things that people think are very clearly happening right in front of our eyes, half the country thinks is an absurd framing. Ginni Thomas just tried to overthrow the US government! The Democrats just stole the election! Groomer teachers are trying to turn our kids gay! Republicans are trying to erase trans kids! You want to slap some sense into everyone around you, and break through the politeness that the bad guys are weaponizing, but it's just going to start an argument. You can carve out a space to talk shop undistracted and save the politics (as important as it may be) for later.
SllX 5y ago
The exact chamber of the government which was on the receiving end of the trespass into their House set the example to do exactly that, and in fact showed up back to work that very same evening and continued to carry out the exact business they were carrying out prior to the interruption, evacuation of the Capitol, and eventual removal of everyone who was not authorized to be in the Capitol. They did so in accord with their exact parliamentary procedures, and the final result was the certification of the results of all 50 States and the District of Columbia precisely according to the votes of the Electors who voted in the Electoral College of the State which appointed them. So yeah. Carry on. Trump ate enough of my mental bandwidth back when he had both the power of the Presidency and influence as the Leader of the Republican Party—and I actively avoided much of the news that that still went out of its way to find me. He still has influence, an apparently dwindling amount and not as the clear leader of his party, but he doesn’t have the power of the Presidency. Now it’s just some other disappointment who is strangely enough, disappointing in many of the same ways as his immediate predecessor but with less natural political instinct but is also less of a chatterbox on Twitter.

by pohl 5y ago

d23 5y ago

It's a weird thing to live through, for sure. One strange thing to note from watching my vote count after I posted this comment. It rocketed sky high within the first 30 minutes, was the top comment, and seemed to be settling to an equilibrium. Then suddenly, over a span of a few minutes, it got massively downvoted to about 33% of the count it had at peak. I've been posting on the internet a while, and I've never seen such a rapid swing.

gameman144 5y ago

I can empathize this, but I think that limited human mental and emotional bandwidth requires some kind of compartmentalization. If I am trying to do my day job and can't avoid getting drawn into political debates, that's exhausting. If I share an interesting article about new Javascript features, it doesn't mean I'm either endorsing or ready to debate the author's climate-change-denial posts from years back: that's also exhausting. If I go to read fan theories of my favorite books, only to have the conversations focus on the author's controversial Tweets du jour, that's exhausting. If I'm watching the Superbowl, and everyone keeps interrupting the game to tell me how awful a person one of the key players is, that's exhausting. Granted, I do think you're totally right that there are places to discuss these things, and I don't know of a one-size-fits-all approach here. That said, the "don't-let-my-peas-touch-my-mashed-potatoes" (new phrase for me, and I love it) instinct is quite reasonable, since otherwise life becomes an infinite stew of pessimism and critique.

pohl 5y ago
All true. That exhaustion is exactly the vulnerability that autocrats seek to exploit, alas.

orblivion 5y ago

At least these days, a lot of things that people think are very clearly happening right in front of our eyes, half the country thinks is an absurd framing. Ginni Thomas just tried to overthrow the US government! The Democrats just stole the election! Groomer teachers are trying to turn our kids gay! Republicans are trying to erase trans kids! You want to slap some sense into everyone around you, and break through the politeness that the bad guys are weaponizing, but it's just going to start an argument. You can carve out a space to talk shop undistracted and save the politics (as important as it may be) for later.

SllX 5y ago

The exact chamber of the government which was on the receiving end of the trespass into their House set the example to do exactly that, and in fact showed up back to work that very same evening and continued to carry out the exact business they were carrying out prior to the interruption, evacuation of the Capitol, and eventual removal of everyone who was not authorized to be in the Capitol. They did so in accord with their exact parliamentary procedures, and the final result was the certification of the results of all 50 States and the District of Columbia precisely according to the votes of the Electors who voted in the Electoral College of the State which appointed them. So yeah. Carry on. Trump ate enough of my mental bandwidth back when he had both the power of the Presidency and influence as the Leader of the Republican Party—and I actively avoided much of the news that that still went out of its way to find me. He still has influence, an apparently dwindling amount and not as the clear leader of his party, but he doesn’t have the power of the Presidency. Now it’s just some other disappointment who is strangely enough, disappointing in many of the same ways as his immediate predecessor but with less natural political instinct but is also less of a chatterbox on Twitter.