dzsimbo

I don't envy you. Are you hoping to make something that is more for the locals, or are you thinking along couchsurfing/warmshowers style community building as well? Like commune community?

You are totally right. The legacy of ownership, basically.

The thing is, I'd rather try coming at the problem from empathy. On one hand, it is full-on exploitation. On the other, some dude got to a place in life where he has stewardship of 40 acres in a hypercapitalistic, lonely world.

It's kinda like the will is there, but he is blind to those characteristics that make it impossible. I always boil it down to a mental health/neurosis issue, but that's probably more about me dealing with my own demons.

It feels the like the need is there for the people with means, we just have to kinda redefine the social contract that isn't as spooky as straight out 'taking everything'.

Important distinction.

A friend who has a huge plot is struggling with this. 'Just' a communal garden does not build a community. He is kinda harshed by the food stamp system, because the drifters don't need to work for food anymore, just quarter. I feel he still has a pretty feudalistic view, but he is the closest thing I know to someone trying to actually build along solarpunk lines.

I kinda see why he is not attracting a community, despite craving it so much and being a pretty okay guy. I think it's a case where he can't really create coziness for himself, so the place generally lacks it. This combined with people currently craving belonging more than healthy foodstuffs and working with soil leaves all this potential untapped. I'm sure in cities it would be different, but this is where I am seeing the struggle.

Which makes the above shade all the more disheartening to any literate Hungarians coming this way.

I don't think he visits these forums.

While I am sure there are many people for whom it's not true for, but making a point out of 'look, even jews are protesting against themselves, surely I'm not antisemitic for wanting the same thing' seems to be a phrase you need to publish if you are unsure if you are a racist.

I sometimes fish around these posts and check for good faith dialogue, but it's usually just seething and steam release. I can't really be angry with anyone seeing red, as it is a truly atrocious situation. It's just hard to see racism spill through and being upvoted.

I don't think I should severe the connection based on ideology either. The dude isn't malicious, just edgy. It doesn't bother me a whole much. While I don't know the details of your conundrum, it feels that yours warranted the snipping.

Without me reacting to his non-funny stuff, he selfreflects on being nasty. I am not the thought police, so I don't feel like it's my duty to make an example, or have a fight on ideology. We do talk about it. I hear the usual spiel about grooming. I try and give credence to his worries, then come back to my point of view and try to take away stuff that makes sense.

To give you a concrete example: he made me realize an underlying flaw in my ideal: I am looking at the picture through lenses. Like how I think people will react differently to some ideal of mine, if only they understood the common win is best for us all. He helped me see the situation as it is. Or at least brought my thoughts from the clouds closer to the ground.

Of course we have to stand up against maliciousness, but when race, gender and so many other things are hot topic buttons, the shitty comedians are making a splash. I feel humor is a great latmus test. We need humor to digest all the info we are being bombarded with.

Just as an example: there is a ghibli imagine going around about the George Floyd murder. Both situations are so fucking scary in themselves (police brutality + advanced ML) and someone generated an incredibly offensive image that was so wrong that it got a chuckle from me. Taken at face value, even I can be easily called a racist (which I might be too, but just in denial). I am writing all this in hope to show that we are mostly gradients and not extremes. How I would be denying myself of an otherwise good friend. And while this is not a reason to stay friends, severing based on value signalling might entrench him in further stereotypes (that I happily played into).

Again, I can't contrast it against your situation, as I can totally imagine the negativity in your case. And while I understand how a lot of edgy humor is just a front for being openly racist, and he may even help in a Holocaust 2.0, but he is not actively craving that or working to make it happen. Maybe my building bridges philosophy is also faulty, but I can't live in a world where I have to pay attention who would kill me in a worst case scenario. If we vibe, we vibe. If he's an asshole, I either call him out, or let it hang akwardly in the air, like bird shit.

Let’s hope what replaces it is as much of an improvement.

I say we're doing one better than 'just' hoping it. Talking about it and articulating modern needs lets others learn new ideas and maybe find some social structure.

I think I understand what you mean about the shattered zeitgeist (or social cohesion maybe?). One of my friends is leaning heavy into one of my lesser favored narratives, and he sends me lots of jokes that boarder being edgy (like racist n such), but sometimes actually being quite funny. He's a close friend who casually said he'd have no quarrel if the nazis took over. What can I do? Cut him off based on philosophy? Teach him his wrong ways? So far just asking questions helped me understand more about my view. And as far as his shitty racist jokes go, I don't send a pity smiley. That's the best I have for now.

the zeitgeist has fractured

I'd argue it's being diluted by noise. There have always been conflicting narratives. History is so hard to untangle (for me at least), because most of us come out a bit brainwashed from the system.

I think we are seeing the ends of the safeties this form of democracy has to provide. We are all in it together, everyone hallucinating to some extent. The big difference today is that you don't talk about tv around the watercooler. You send cat pics and talk about Will Smith AI spaghetti videos, digitally or in meat space.

The problem usually isn't lack of shared context, I believe, especially when we have so much in our pockets. It's signal dilution with some plain old ill-intent under the hood (i.e. 'advanced' marketing).

Exactomundo! Choosing the dialogue, choosing the spin, it's one the major spheres of control.

My 'breakthrough' moment was during Covid. Just looking at all the news (from sites I deemed 'my side') without any real information, but loaded with emotional phrasing made me realize that I am being used. I love that we have multiple options for news, don't get me wrong, but I felt betrayed.

Since then, I mostly read comments or watch the video of the event the media is spinning. Comments are pretty awesome, cuz real people help digest (or misinterpret) the harsh tone of the outside world.