Posts from August 2018

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Chicken Leaf

Making Unconscious Rules Conscious

Every couple days I visit How (Un)Popular is the President? by FiveThirtyEight to see what the polls show. And every day I am amazed that it doesn't change. I've read the articles that say 42% is still a historic low, but knowing that the family separation policy was widely known in mid-June and seeing the support number stay the same and then improve is discouraging.

When I look at the demographics of that 42%—they look a lot like me. I've been trying to understand why I have a strong negative reaction to what I see while people who are similar to me do not.

I tried to write down a list of rules that are constantly running in my brain that help me understand the world. As stimulus from the outside world comes in, I filter it through some process and then make decisions about how to react. This process has built up over time based on my experience and I don't even think about how it works anymore—it's just who I am. I gave each rule a one-word alias so they would be easier for me to remember and spot them as they're working.
  • All humans are real, complex people who experience love and have hopes & dreams. (Respect)
  • Not all sources of information are alike. Journalists are a better source of information than companies, governments, or peers even though these will be better sources for specific information at times. (Discern)
  • Learn from diverse sources past and present; nuance exists and expanding your vocabulary can help you express and comprehend complex ideas. (Read)
  • Our systems of governing and commerce are currently unfair with winners and losers. Zero sum competition is the business environment but not the entire human experience. Someone else's success does not diminish you. (Balance)
  • Use power available to you to make the unfair world more fair for everyone. Help people in a weaker position. Vote every time. Frame issues when you talk about them. (Participate)
  • Trust your own mind and observations and continually work to improve them. Skepticism of authorities is healthy. (Question)
  • It is good to care about people and things you love and believe in. (Care)
  • Make friends both online & off but spend more time with people in physical space. Listen carefully. (Connect)
  • Doing things a different way from the majority is ok. Understand why things are popular but don’t feel compelled to follow. (Diverge)
  • Think about how things you say and make could be interpreted and used in different contexts and change if it makes the world less fair. (Imagine)
  • Wild, undeveloped spaces in our physical world are a source of inspiration so spend time there if you can. (Restore)
I don't perfectly execute these unconscious rules everyday, but my theory is that they're a core part of how I process the world. I'm sure there are rules that I'm not aware of yet. I can't wave a magic wand and know what rules guide other people, but maybe trying to make my own rules conscious will help me understand how I'm processing the world.

Twitter Breakup

Jerry Seinfeld had a funny line on his show about how breaking up is like knocking over a coke machine:

That's how I feel about Twitter right now. Even though I swore off Twitter in January I've found myself back in the daily grind there. Despite uninstalling the app on my phone and hacking my hosts file, I still end up back. Twitter and I have had some great times over 11 years and five months! It's not easy to give that up. I found my current job via Twitter, I hear stories from people I would never have met, I keep up with friends, I get industry news, and there are always great jokes.

But Twitter also has a problem with toxic speech that they refuse to address. That is the dealbreaker for me. That's the poop in the pool. Here's a sampling of recent decisive leadership from Twitter:

I also found myself identifying with Matt's My own reasons for leaving Twitter. I too feel that addictive pull all. the. time.

So this movement to deactivate accounts on Friday is just the kick in the butt I need to remind myself to make conscious choices about the places I patronize.

I will genuinely miss the fun parts of Twitter but I don't want to be part of a platform that hosts hate speech. The US government tolerates hate speech because it places a high value on free speech. I understand the trade-off there but Twitter is not the US government. There are plenty of places to publish online. Twitter is more like the host of a big party. And if the host of the party doesn't kick out nazis when they show up it's time to knock over the coke machine for good. (I'm definitely mixing metaphors here but the point is that I don't feel comfortable spending time and attention there anymore.) Twitter, I know it's a cliché but: it's not me—it's you.