netop://ウィビSep 25, 2025
The most succinct and accurate description of the Old Web I’ve seen to date.
Show threadAnthropy

@netopwibby you can still choose to use the right platforms. They are still out there.

in that sense I feel like a lot of today's negative experience comes from people blindly following corporate advertisement, and having an incessant need to go with 'the big standard things'.

If people dared to actually reject what they hated more, if people actually sought alternatives rather than pathologically clinging to what they dislike, maybe they could actually fix this abusive relationship for once.

Jan 4 at 11:59amWeb
Show threadUsagiJan 4
@anthropy @netopwibby It's not so trivial.

Ever heard of tyranny of the defaults? That's the reason why Google pays billions to be the default search engine.

Ever heard of network effect and customer lock-in? They make it nearly impossible to get away once trapped in one of the 'big standard things' towards which people are pushed by default.

Or as someone put it when your proposed solution starts with "If all people just ..." it's not a solution. ​​
Show threadAnthropyJan 4

@bunny @netopwibby I think it's important to acknowledge the lacking things in the alternatives out there and keep improving.

But I also want to emphasize that a lot of people suffer from learned helplessness, which is incredibly frustrating when hearing them whine about how things suck.

It's like people that buy croutons at the grocery store and complain they suck. Like, no shit, have you tried baking some sliced bread with olive oil and garlic? It takes less money and less time than buying m

Show threadUsagiJan 4
@anthropy @netopwibby Let's consider your diagnosis is correct, and we are experiencing an epidemic of learned helplessness, and that's the thing that gets in the way of the improvements you would want to see.

Learned helplessness is a medical condition which has causes and treatments.

If you want to see the progress that is blocked by learned helplessness you need to eradicate the causes of it and promote treatments. ​​
Show threadAnthropyJan 4

@bunny I understand your point of view, and I again think that alternative platforms can and should keep improving.

but, realize that the treatment for learned helplessness is psychological counseling and introspection. Which is for example setting reasonable goals, like buying an open-friendly phone instead of yet another iphone/samsung, or moving to fedi instead of yet another corp social media.

As much as I don't want to sound dismissive: Not every problem is someone else's problem.

Show threadUsagiJan 4
@anthropy You say "Not every problem is someone else's problem" while you are saying the exact opposite.

As in the argument seems to boil down to the elitist "Somebody pulled me up by my bootstraps so everyone else should pull themselves by theirs. I's not my problem if theirs are torn."

Counseling is part of health care, and there are politics for making it widely available, and politics for dismantling public healthcare. If you are concerned about learned helplessness epidemic blocking achieving your goals that should inform where you stand on this issue.

Introspection requires that people are well and not constantly fighting for survival. Things like worker rights, unionization, public welfare programs make it more likely that people have the leeway to think about their choices, as opposed being squeezed to work endless hours just to survive. If you are concerned about epidemic of learned helplessness that blocks the progress you want to see that should inform your position on these issues as well.

Monopolies reduce the choice available to people and cause real helplessness. There are politics to strengthen and politics to dismantle anti-monopoly law. If you are concerned about choice that should inform your position of the matter.

Of course, there isn't always on opportunity to do something about these problems. Nonetheless, knowing who is working for you and who is working against you is useful. Not only politicians but also friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. ​​
Show threadAnthropyJan 4

@bunny it's not elitist to say that there's a balance between expecting the world to fix all your problems for you, and having some agency and being able to help yourself.

By all means, reduce the monopolies, improve opensource software, create the environment you want to live in, etc

but in the end, it's up to people to stop buying iphones and samsungs and windows desktops etc. If that takes a moment of discomfort, so be it; it's not impossible, there are plenty of existing good alternatives.

Show threadAnthropyJan 4

@bunny I also much loathe the comparison to healthcare here. I am 100% for socialized healthcare.

But if people keep buying privatized healthcare because "that's what they're used to" and they refuse to take part in the systematic improvements that underpin the changes you seek, then it simply won't happen.

And that's not because there's no attempts to improve the world, but you can't just pretend that 'the world has to fix this'. You ARE part of that world, you should work towards the fixes.

Show threadUsagiJan 4
@anthropy That's where I have to disagree.

Berating people for not having agency is elitism.

Lack of agency is exactly what marginalization is about.

Agency is what privilege boils down to. ​​
Show threadAnthropyJan 4

@bunny you're saying that like people don't have the agency to pick anything other than a new iphone. And that's exactly what I meant by learned helplessness.

to be clear: I 100% support people who are struggling, I think we should make the environment as welcoming as we can

but in the end people do have to actively choose to not sustain the terrible system that we currently have. As much as I get that it may not immediately be comfortable.