Glyph

I spend too much time trying to resolve the cognitive dissonance between the facts that:

1. living in a society means accepting and finding peace with the idea that I cannot selfishly demand my own personal policy preferences and total autonomy, that I need to find ways to accede to collective consensus that I do not necessarily find agreeable

2. everybody making decisions at any scale in 2025 *is* a complete fucking evil moron, they're ruining the world, and I *should* be put in charge

Aug 26, 2025 at 8:01pmWeb
Show threadGlyphAug 27, 2025
It is particularly challenging because so many of my social cohort are (like myself) prickly contrarians with an anarchist streak; being a contrarian among contrarians of course makes me want to make the case for conformism, which means highlighting point 1 above in many conversations. Which is particularly challenging when point above 2 is very obviously true for both me and my erstwhile interlocutors.
Show threadAndrew KuchlingAug 27, 2025

@glyph I really like this quote from "The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks", by Robertson Davies:

"As I plodded back and forth I reflected miserably upon my own political rootlessness, in a world where politics is so important. When I am with Tories I am a violent advocate of reform; when I am with reformers I hold forth on the value of tradition and stability. When I am with communists I become a royalist — almost a Jacobite; when I am with socialists I am an advocate of free trade, private enterprise and laissez-faire. The presence of a person who has strong political convictions always sends me flying off in a contrary direction. Inevitably, in the world of today, this will bring me before a firing squad sooner or later. Maybe the fascists will shoot me, and maybe the proletariat, but political contrariness will be the end of me; I feel it in my bones."

Show threadMr XAug 27, 2025
@glyph as a fellow contrarian I must object to this on principle. you understand.
Show threadGlyphAug 27, 2025
@alfinpogform of course. by which I mean: you are mistaken
Show threadfancysandwichesAug 26, 2025
@glyph a lot of people are saying maybe we'd like a dictator
Show threadChris PetrilliAug 26, 2025
@glyph I realized the other day that I am substantially more qualified to hold any cabinet position in government than its current occupant. Any of them.
Show threadMark T. TomczakAug 26, 2025

@glyph Yep. That cognitive dissonance is what ends up with royals' heads shoved into guillotines.

(Just as long as we don't forget that what happened next wasn't a republic; it was an empire.)

Show threadJayFAug 26, 2025
@glyph "They know what they're doing... right? RIGHT?"
Show threadMr XAug 27, 2025
@glyph yeah you do! any time at all is too much. you are the protagonist, you don't have to play by the rules.
Show threadGamal Adel (جمال عادل)Aug 27, 2025
I think it's important to remember that you're not the only one with your policy opinions. It's not that you should be in charge or dictating what should be done, but you should try to empower the community that agrees with you to fight against the evil morons