Thread by @0x49fa98

My friends, I am expanding to Gab, though I will continue to post here. This place has become too insufferable, too fake, too hemmed in, and I have found it is harder to speak earnestly to you, because to be earnest breaks my heart gab.com/0x49fa98

When I look around me, I feel mostly contempt. I'm supposed to say contempt is a bad emotion, that it eats you alive inside, that it's noble to set these things aside and focus on the positive–but I'm not here to say what I'm supposed to

https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1311066324785917953

Trump is gone and we are all still processing that. I haven't had much to say on this topic because I prefer to watch things unfold than pretend to understand a complex social situation where I have no inside information.

We feel angry and betrayed after this loss, but it's not that we lost Trump the man, it's that we lost Trump the symbol. He represented a rising American nationalist consciousness, that's what we don't want to let go

Any lingering hope I had for America is gone. This is not my country any more. Maybe it hasn't been for a while, but that last trace of belonging is gone. There are still people here who are my people, but this is not our country

There are no moves within the existing political structures that will make it our country again. That's a fact. Some of us are in denial about this, others are bargaining, or grieving, or angry – but you need to accept it.

I say this not to demoralize you, but to push you to think of new strategies for taking back this place we have lost. If I had my way, no one would ever cast so much as a single vote for any GOP-affiliated person ever again

Four years ago, the dissident right or whatever you call it had a "big tent" feeling. We had room for a lot of disparate viewpoints, but we were all interested in nationalism. This was a nice feeling. When we participate in a movement, we are seeking a sense of belonging

It dawned on us around 2018 that our symbol was only a symbol, and more and more of the people in our "big tent" peeled off. Maybe this correlation with interest in "tribalism" means nothing, or maybe it tells the whole story

One problem with attempts to foment American nationalism is that it draws a lot of people pretending to be nazis (the big problem with national socialists is that they are socialists, though of course, they have some other problems, as well...)

"Nebulous monolithic scapegoat" is a cognitive antipattern: the same sort of people who point out that blaming everything on "the jews" is overly reductive will then go on to blame "neoliberalism" or "the patriarchy" or even "the cathedral." Rationality is a myth

On the other hand, it really is true that the only meaningful political distinction is friend/enemy, and all the principles and constitutions in the world are just 4d chess tokens that boil down to black and white. I don't mean that in a racial way but what can you do

Technology makes previously hidden things visible. Print and typography made private inner experience outwardly legible, and helped awaken the nationalisms that arose in previous centuries

https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1063561114514903040

In the same way, technologies of instant mass peer-to-peer communication made certain previously hidden commonalities much more visible, and now we can quite accurately describe America as two nations, one cup.

https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1195032867312529408

I don't really believe in "free speech" – there's no such thing. What there is is "tribe speech" and "other tribe speech". If you are the dominant tribe by a mile, you have the luxury of allowing other tribes to talk freely. Otherwise, "free speech" is pure liability

Free speech, which is an indulgence that the powerful can afford to grant to their inferiors, is eroding precisely because the dominant memeplex is losing power, and it no longer finds this luxury to be within reach

The reason there is only tribe speech, not free speech, is that marketplaces of ideas behave the same way as marketplaces of capital. The medium of exchange becomes distributed according to a power law, and that's just how power works

That means there will always be things you're more or less obligated to say, regardless of whatever high-minded notions you have about truth and freedom. The definition of freedom that americans use, as a pure negation, is non sequitur

https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1347615828804558851

The argument for free speech is that true ideas are supposedly able to drive out false ideas. This might be true in the world of homo economicus, but it's not true in the world of homonormativity

https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1318248737702031360

The truth is that ideas that make you feel good will always drive out ideas that make you feel bad. No no, dear reader, I don't mean *you*. You are a steely-eyed realist with a special dispensation of intellectual grace that liberates you from motivated reasoning

But for us mere mortals, us earthbound ones, truths can be very dangerous, and the herd to which you belong will only give you so much elasticity. If you stretch the norms too much, they snap

We resent the groupthink of other groups, especially when they impose their thoughts upon us, but we have also placed far too much weight on being "independent." Yes, there are times to go against all herds, but a far better thing is to choose the herd that values you yourself

You can belong to a herd of one, but that really does just make you a loser. There's nothing sadder than internet tough guys who posture and puff out their chests about how free-thinking they are. We know, we know; you're not like all the other girls.

Group-minds die if they can't reinforce themselves. Faith is a contract that exists among the members of a group, and it's something they continually renew amongst themselves. The goal of online censorship is to stop you from renewing your faith.

That's why if there's any hope at all, it starts with our communication networks. We must be able to talk to each other without persecution. We must have hard-to-fake signals of loyalty to a common cause. We must be able to transact freely with each other. These are table stakes

There are many new and exciting technologies for both communication and payment that will help us to support each other, but all of them are in their infancy. Crypto is still nowhere near the thing we need it to be, and if it ever gets there, it will be the true end of the USA

Twitter is enemy territory. That's a huge part of its appeal. When we're here, we're behind enemy lines. By fighting and fighting visibly, we give hope to each other. It sends the message: you are not alone.

Combat sharpens us, but it also warps us. The medium is the message, and the places you invest your mental effort ultimately determine the shape of your mind. Gab is a different place, with a different shape. Some might even call it cozy. I could do with a little coziness.

We should not concede the commons. A big part of the reason I started writing here was to try to show that it's possible to be literate and nuanced while also being hard right. I have found some friends also who succeed in setting that example

We should continue to develop friendly spaces, and right now I feel the temptation more than ever to retreat into escapism and inner exile. Quietism, passivism, and defeatism are seductive, but it's not what I want for myself, and it's not what I want for you, my friends