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I heartedly concur that social media is not connecting the world but isolating it by keeping people home and in their respective bubbles. I'm not sure how we fix it, but my minor role is to open my home to people visiting and talking to individuals - even strangers - when out. It is remarkable how people want to talk to an actual human being instead of a text. Lastly and in relation to people criticizing others particularly on-line has more to do with individuals never being in charge or a responsible for anything making them imagine how easy it is to get a group of people to do anything. As a boss I had once said, "Nothing is impossible if you don't have to do it yourself."

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Nov 14, 2022Liked by Aaron M. Renn

Boy howdy that was about the most insightful piece I have ever read about what creates the toxicity of our political culture. And a dynamic I have noticed in myself especially when interacting in the online universe. I am a Never Trumper, despise the man and wish he was in no way identified w/conservatism, but after receiving the standard vicious and accusatory criticism from people who are liberal online, my reaction is just "Trump all the way! MAGA 2024!". Because I don't like Trump, but he does make the left gnash it's teeth, and he doesn't kowtow to their attempts at psychological coercion (He's a hater! a racist! etc.)

Having said that, though, we need to dump Trump. Structural integrity. Not that I hold out any hope for anyone too much better. I am idealogically nearer conservatism than liberalism, but no fan of either party and don't necessarily think conservatism=Republicanism. Politics is a shitshow, the whole interaction is completely toxic and broken (the media deserves a fair amount of the blame) for all the reasons outlined in this article. It would be like asking me which rapper I liked, X or Y? None of them. I hate rap. When politicians start producing music (not gonna happen) I might pay attention, but it's just noise at the moment.

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