Surfing the Smallweb III
When I began this blog, I was unaware that there are occasional unofficial community events. Currently running is "July Reply", where bloggers are encouraged for funsies to respond to each other. That is already the subject of my Surfing the Smallweb series, so it's a natural fit.
As always, I will try to keep the excerpts as brief as strictly necessary to avoid obviating the value of visiting these blogs.
America 250 and my thoughts on life in America | MikeShuey.com
Mike says this about the United States:
But, I've seen enough of the world to know that this is still the best place to live on earth.
I've tried to think of a better country to live in and while there may >be places I'd enjoy hanging out in for an extended vacation, none of >them have ever made me think of renouncing my citizenship.
And that's the thing I don't understand. If a person absolutely hates >the country they live in and what it stands for why stay? If I felt >that way I'd just leave.
I think Mike misses the mark here on several counts.
First and foremost, the whole "love it or leave it" trope does not stand up to a modicum of scrutiny. Mike asks, "why stay?" as if A) leaving behind your entire existence by relocating to a different country (possibly including moving an entire family), finding employment, and gaining citizenship abroad is so trivial as to be completely elided, in the same way that I might omit the instruction to put on your shoes while teaching my kids how to drive. It's a bizarrely reductionistic framing of an incredibly multifaceted proposition, ridiculous enough that I struggle to understand how anybody takes it seriously as a criticism either to receive or to give. It almost comes across as a taunt, in fact, because many of us who would rather not live here dislike it first and foremost because it imposes self-reinforcing poverty onto us. For someone to think of quitting one's job and traveling to another country as a solution so obvious that he is sincerely baffled as to why none of us pesky discontents have thought of it before suggests a life enviably free of financial stress.
It may be countered that this is an unfair evaluation, but I honestly don't think so. If somebody has experienced financial stress before, it is scarcely possible that "why stay?" would strike them as a reasonable question. We can't assume that Mike is being purposefully simplistic in his framing for the sake of making his argument more punchy because he explicitly says he doesn't understand it. The only options left are that he either lacks the grounding to comprehend that some people can't afford to gallivant across the globe purely for the sake of living up to their ideals, or has simultaneously thought about this issue enough to bring it up yet not enough to arrive at the immediately obvious solution.
(I suppose there is room to wager that he has thought of this but rejects it as a mere excuse, in which case he is, as suggested before, just demonstrating a lack of worldliness and empathy for the struggles of other people.)
That issue aside, it is difficult to evaluate Mike's judgements here because he doesn't specifically outline what it is about the United States that he loves so much. Meanwhile, I could readily provide data regarding life satisfaction; life expectancy; economic upward mobility; career prospects following incarceration; income inequality; nutrition and fitness; average levels of debt; mental health trends; incidence of depression; civil liberties and economic freedom; and many other factors that would suggest that America can only possibly be considered impressive (from the perspective of the average citizen) as long as it isn't being compared to virtually every other developed nation on Earth.
He says near the end that he'd "play a round of golf or hoist a beer with any of the recent presidents" if he were given the chance, which reinforces the idea that he has lived a life lucky enough not to be personally victimized in any significant way by the decisions of our national leaders.
Nevertheless, he is correct that criticizing America is a "popular thing," and I commend him for having the confidence to openly declare his convictions. There should be room on the Smallweb for people of any ideological persuasion, even ones I find disagreeable.
Confidence is hell of a drug | SpaceCowboy987
Unfortunately, this post is so short as to require me to quote the whole thing in order to respond:
My confidence has risen recently so much that I feel like the guy from >limitless. It feels incredible to just do things how I want to do them >and see my own imagination unfold in front of my eyes!
Sometimes all one needs is a little bit of belief in themselves...
First of all, good on SpaceCowboy! I'm glad he or she has found themselves in such a great place.
I would, however, caution them to temper their expectations. Confidence that propels you to the top of the world like this sounds like a short-term burst rather than a sustainable change, especially if it hasn't been accompanied by any corresponding shift in behavior. They should enjoy it while it lasts, but not allow the return to their baseline emotional state to make them feel like they've crashed. SpaceCowboy should use this time as inspiration to work toward long-term change so that they can become more confident permanently.
When Alexithymia Takes Over | What If I Shit My Pants?
(Yes, that is the actual title of the blog.)
The author, who I guess I'll designate as Pants, writes about their struggles with emotional expression and uses it to teach me a nifty new word:
Having been recently diagnosed with autism, I have learned that I >struggle with something called alexithymia. Basically, it's difficulty >identifying and describing your own emotions, sometimes even difficulty >knowing what you're feeling at all. Some people experience it as >feelings that feel vague or physical rather than nameable. Like you know >something is off, but you can't put your finger on it.
Thankfully, I have never struggled with this sort of thing, but I have known a fair few people who have. It sounds really aggravating, and that's not even considering how it must feel when other people become aggravated with you for not knowing how to articulate your emotions. Pants says that writing helps them make sense of their emotions, and I definitely agree with that. It can be a very freeing and cathartic hobby, and I'm glad Pants has decided to push through the fog and keep at it.
Time travel brain breaking | What the Fran
Frances shares some of her thoughts about time travel in fiction, and how interesting and complicated it can make a narrative. This one bit in particular stood out to me:
People like to say that internal consistency is key. As long as you >stick to your own rules. But, you know, we're disproving science and >Facts and the status quo all the time and finding new ways to do >things. If I really want to >break the rules there will be a way to >break the rules. However, those are then the new rules. It can't be a >one-off. Plus authors love to subvert any expectations.
Breaking your own pre-established rules has to be handled very carefully, of course. I've encountered lots of stories where the tension of a conflict evaporates as it's solved by some nonsense that wasn't telegraphed or established as a possibility beforehand. If a rule absolutely must be broken, you should at least mitigate the risk by showing a clear progression of how that novel solution was arrived at, or give some justification for where it came from. The way I see it, a clever solution using information I'd known about beforehand is far preferable to a surprising and more dramatic solution that could not have been anticipated. The latter also proactively weakens the stakes for the entire narrative going forward; for every new conflict or problem that arises, I merely wonder if another unanticipated bit of chicanery will be revealed to fix it without notice. At least she and I agree on a prohibition against arbitrary exceptions to established rules within a setting, because that would just be anarchy.
On an unrelated note, Frances had the wonderful idea to have an open digital whiteboard in lieu of a traditional guestbook. That is fantastic, and I think I'll pinch it and add one to my site as well.
I feel like I should have an outro, but there is nothing to put here!