Mastodawn

Jules she/her 2d ago

It's pathetic really. Like wouldn't it be nice if we, in the UK, as a culture, were excited when new ideas and traditions come in instead of being scared and angry? Instead of inventing "You can't say Easter on eggs anymore" wouldn't it be nice if we went "Hey, these people have brought a festival where you can suddenly get really nice dates in pretty boxes and there are lovely shared suppers after dusk?"

wav3ydave 2d ago

@afewbugs 'Tis the season

2d ago

@wav3ydave @afewbugs This is why (popular) social media has such a negative impact on society. It's the tabloid press, but for social engineering. Outrage drives engagement, so the algorithm feeds people more and more nonsense they can get angry about, and that drives hate and fear. Sometimes I think it's not enough to ban it for under 16s, we should just ban it outright. But bans never work, so what we really need is for people to be more educated about what's being done to them.

Mason Loring Bliss

@ravenbait @wav3ydave @afewbugs Very funny thing there... My LinkedIn feed looks a lot like my Fediverse feed, if very slightly more narrowly focused. Despite the majority of my LinkedIn connections being people I've worked with, what I see there are anti-genocide and anti-fascist posts, public health posts. Only rarely anything else.

Here I get to see more animals and crafts, more technology and geekiness. More general fun in addition to entirely reasonable reactions of horror. But a quick glance shows that the algorithm there isn't wildly far off of my self-selection here, despite the connections there being significantly more numerous.

I'm far happier here. I feel like I can be myself more.

@mason @wav3ydave @afewbugs I can't really comment on LinkedIn. I pay zero attention to it. I surmise there's more of a requirement to seem professional and consider what potential future employers might think, whereas other places might be a bit more like being angry down the pub.

I wish we could get people in those other places to think, "If I read this in the Sun, would I believe it?" Random Internet Person is the modern Sunday Sport.

I agree that it's much nicer here.

Mason Loring Bliss 1d ago

@ravenbait @wav3ydave @afewbugs There's definitely a concern with LinkedIn about what employers might think, but I'd come to the "do you know what you world have done during the Holocaust?" realization and it made it hard to burble on about how great everything is, and I skewed from the environmental and technology stuff I'd post before to posting about the genocide and the attack on DEI and ICE crimes and so forth.

I moderate what I say and never boost attacks, never make blanket condemnations, but I post some uncomfortable stuff there. I'm sure I've limited career options, but my soul feels easy -I'm definitely trying to be part of the solution. And I don't want to work for a place that can look at some of the stuff that's happening, shrug, and go back to planning quarterly growth strategy.

(I post about doughnut economics sometimes, re: quarterly growth and the popular illusion that endless economic growth is somehow allowed by the laws of physics.)

@mason @wav3ydave @afewbugs I meant more that the kind of people who would post things like, "Cyclists deserve to die if they choose to use the road," "Britain is turning into an Islamist state," or "Climate change is a hoax so the government can lock us in our houses" wouldn't post such things on LinkedIn as it's an obvious point against them for a future employer. If an employer would scrub me from selection for posting anti-fash stuff, I wouldn't want to work for them anyway.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66476caebd01f5ed32793e09/final_growth_duty_statutory_guidance_2024.pdf

@mason On economics, I've been reading up on the Growth Duty in the UK lately, and the UK government guidance requires regulators to take into account medium and long-term growth. They have redefined "sustainable economic growth":

"‘Sustainable economic growth’ ensures that current-day economic growth can be achieved without undermining the ability of future growth."

Which is not what the UN says at all, even though they refer to this.

@mason It does my head in that government thinks there's a magic spell that will mean we can continue getting more and more STUFF and people will get more and more MONEY, and the proper measure of how well a country is doing is how much is in the bank account, not "are people fed and safe and happy?" or "are we adequately balancing the needs of nature and biodiversity with the population having enough?"

@wav3ydave @afewbugs

Mason Loring Bliss 1d ago

@ravenbait @wav3ydave @afewbugs It's easier to understand the attitudes and behaviours of folks who believe in limitless growth if we think of it in one of two (not mutually exclusive) frames:

1. It's religion, and they are taught not to question.

2. They're aware but selfish, and it doesn't need to be sustainable as long as "I got mine".