General Discussion

To be the person you are on the inside with a group of people who will run cover for you no matter what you do.

We see this in MAGA and Republicans easily. It's always easy to recognize in the other side.

More difficult to notice - or care - when it's in the house. Sexism, racism, joy in suffering, light homophobia when it can be managed. All is fair when pointed in a direction deemed socially acceptable by the group. It's much like religion in its way.

I've pulled way back from politics on social media. Half because I'm just too busy, and half because it's like walking into a bar as a former alcoholic and expecting support for sobriety. If your mental health ranges in well-adjusted adult territory, political spaces on social media can bring that down for you.

But if you're already at the bar drinking, well, have at.

It's a bit Nietzschian, but it's kind of gone far beyond that in the past 15 or so years. It's social media. It's dragging everyone down into a mental goblin mode. Right before this thread, I saw something so brain-breakingly stupid and tribal, I said aloud, "What am I doing with my time?" to my cat, who was his usual unimpressed.

The world is miserable right now in many ways, but being a miserable person is an active choice being made daily. And when you realize everyone around you is half in the misery bag, it's up to you if you want to plop down and join them in that drink.