Little warning: long post.
There was a brief exchange of comments regarding "do you, too, feel like you're living in a weird dystopian hellscape?" in a previous thread. Thanks for u/MarkTwainiac for the push - here we go, let's talk about it, dissect it, and try to find constructive ways to manage this... um... Let's just call it 2020 now I guess.
A lot of GC people (be they women, men, feminists, whatnot) were reading about what is going on and thought they were mad. Either that, or the entire planet had gone in to shit mode - to put it lightly. Some of us found our way to the gender critical circles and it probably felt like having a cool glass of water after wandering around a desert for years.
But you're not mad - although I suppose a lot of us are verging on madness now. In any case I will attempt to put this shitstorm into somewhat manageable boxes just so we can see the full picture of WHAT is happening and why (and also how). It will have the inevitable collision course with ROGD, for example - which is why I do feel this discussion is necessary on this platform, just to be clear. And no, it's not just about this excellent year we're having. Things started to escalate well before the virus outbreak. I'll start from (in my opinion) the least terrible and go towards the worst.
News publications blatantly appeasing a certain political crowd only. Facts don't matter to either side - or they'll be twisted to support whichever political binary they fall on to. There are only two sides now, it seems: the neonazis and ultra liberals. If you say anything at all that might not be "super progressive" you'll be called a racist/nazi/TERF - if you say anything at all that might not be "right wing" you're a wimpy boot licking commie. Open, honest discourse seems to be a thing of the past. Every word, event and person is politicized.
Following up, the so called one-coin politics: you are on this side, or the other. There isn't a between. The bipartisan take on politics is not simply something the U.S. citizens suffer from - it was so coyly marketed to the rest of the world that we now see a weird, unexpected rift in our democracies that used to function on a "hey, let's talk about it" basis: now it's left or it's right, and nobody in their right (heh) mind can tell where exactly they'd fall onto. Many things that I'd usually call very "right-wing" are now being blatantly supported by the "lefties." More and more people feel politically homeless. I am one of those people.
Let's gear up. FAKE NEWS. Also a seemingly stupid idea but damn, if it didn't take over the entire world like we were all offered a free pass on thinking. The "get out of jail" card, only it said "get out and use none of your intellect." You see someone you disagree with? FAKE. Easy way out. Maybe it would help if we'd start seeing more publications reporting neutrally? Then again that would mean journalists would likely go against the owner of whichever publication they work for - and their factual reporting won't ever make it out for us to see.
Toxic cancel culture. Say anything that opposes the "accepted" status quo (GC ideology is a very good - or bad - example in this) and BOOM! Cancelled. Bullied. Doxxed. So, reasonable people fear the inevitable backlash and also understand they may risk their jobs and livelihoods by outing their opinions; thus, they remain quiet, and so all the WrongThink will continue to diminish, little by little. We have already witnessed many experts being kicked out of their jobs by stating mere facts. It's more than understandable that the Average Jane/Joe, having seen this, thinks: well damn that, I won't say a thing. Absolute silence with a hint of fear: the most quiet weapon that will kill our societies, and we aren't even noticing it. YET.
Getting there, folks! Internet. Yes - I myself have found many very useful things, platforms, products, even people, you name it - on the internet. But were we ever really ready for it? When it all started it seemed like a pretty innocent thing. I remember my first web search on AltaVista and it was "cute dogs." Sure enough, that is how I personally still mostly use the internet - but the society as a whole did not truly understand the very sinister things that it would inevitably allow. Especially because it's so very, very uncontrolled. It's the Wild West all over again. That is what www. should mean. Wild, wild west. Very little laws, everyone can do what they want, there will be very few ways to track you down (if you're smart), just yee-haw and let loose. Human trafficking, child porn, revenge porn, online bullying - just to name a few of the things "the greatest invention of our times" made much easier.
The gold star ⭐️ of shittiness goes to... Massive social networking companies that seemingly fly under the radar and never cease to tell us how they will control themselves. Allow me to chuckle cynically. Social media platforms use algorithms that follow your every search, like and comment - and then concoct the "perfect" array of sites and/or people you might like. You're then effectively shut out from seeing the other side at all, and when you're locked inside your own perfect little bubble of hivemind... it's so very easy to dismiss any other opinions. There is an excellent documentary that I recommend everyone to watch, called "The Social Dilemma" and it digs deep into the whole madness of what we see/want to see/are even allowed to see whenever we pick up our darling little smartphones.
In this documentary they show a pretty alarming graph: since the internet became a THING, there was also a huge peak in e.g. teenage/young adult self-harm and suicides (and ROGD even though it isn't mentioned specifically). Abigail Shrier in her book "Irreversible Damage" speaks about the same phenomenon, but she points the finger at iPhone only. It's not just that, though, folks.
Every move you make, every step you take, every purchase you make, every like, every tag... Somebody is watching. Carefully creating a world for you only.
A lot of us "older" generations have trouble tackling this, as we actually did meet up with people, have our shitty formative years (or as we call them - being teenagers) with other teenagers. However, the teens/tweens of today won't have this luxury. They will live their lives since day 1 understanding how to manage a phone, or an iPad, or whatever. And it is something we as humans have not evolved to handle with. It's a hellish vortex where one letter placed wrongly will definitely NOT make you see furry babies.
To the surprise of nobody, all of this is done for PROFIT, of course. That brings my point home: the ever-shitty capitalism that rules us, commands us, enslaves us. It is, after all, just about money - and the shareholders, owners of newspapers, people who fund studies - will have their way, because they have the money. To be terribly rich is to have massive power. You think those annoying ads on Instagram are there just because you happen to like leather boots? Think again.
How should we start fixing this all, then? Our kids (not mine, I don't have any and my cats are still trying to figure out the passcode of my phone...) will live in a world we never imagined - a world we actually cannot imagine.
Ideas, comments, constructive thoughts - that is what we need NOW. Feel free to share your solutions and insights, no matter how "small" they may be. It's not too late yet, but it may be too late soon.
Edit: grammar, wording, mistypes.
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