23 Comments
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Valerie's avatar

every day i ask myself if the world has been hit with a noticeable increase in cruelty or if it's my tolerance for cruelty that has gone down. or both. omg.

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P. A. Williams's avatar

Yes! There's a fantastic article about this called "How America Got Mean" by David Brooks (available for free if you copy and paste the article link into 'archive.ph') and it felt like the validation I needed to understand why it feels like there is far less kindness and integrity in the world today.

Of course, I'm assuming you're American-- like a true American does-- but if you aren't, I do think that the article also speaks to the ways in which economic disparities are also playing a huge role in the detrimental shift of human behavior.

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Jessica W's avatar

So good! The heartfelt clarity, the sheer brilliance, the thoughtful blending of postmodern absurdist humor balanced with honest sincerity. your artwork is phenomenal. Oddly I feel kinda strange commenting on an essay written to criticize the lack of irl political progress on the left side of politics. I agree wholeheartedly that the left needs to organize and engage more with in person action. I know I’ve said this in the past, yet I’ll repeat for the sake of sincerity that your top notch, unmatched writing style reminds me of the best of Bob Dylan and Ginsberg. Shame can be painful. In the beauty of the ending, it feels clear that feeling free is the best remedy. Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ll sing your praises from the rooftops. Peace <3

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jess's avatar

"just be a normal person who's involved" absofuckinglutely

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briffin glue's avatar

it's so crazy how even that bare minimum is out of touch with reality now

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jess's avatar

one of my friends loves to say "just be regular" and i think that that should resonate with more people

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briffin glue's avatar

great bit of advice yeah, it applies well to like any situation

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Melissa Smith's avatar

Yess

“loss is hard. well let’s get going. here we go speeding off this dock, trading one (murky) topic of conversation out for another — let’s hop along…”

“we need to have conversations with each other and not the algorithm.”

“i’m here to tell you you can hear your own voice when you talk. i’m here to tell you the mornings can be for coffee and contemplation. i’m here to tell you you have autonomy over your own life and you can do whatever you want. you can do things and talk to people and jump into lakes.”

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Sierra Madison's avatar

this is a great reminder that we don’t need an audience, we need community

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sofia's avatar

i'm so completely in love w this !!

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nadav's avatar

really big fan of this, the internet is the lefts crutch, there is no future on the internet just a halfway promise. been in the real world a whole lot often. got on national television. feels good. feels strong. still fights to be fought. keep writing. keep fighting. thanks very much griffin

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briffin glue's avatar

the internet is a halfway promise (at least how it’s set up now)

wait you got on national television?? doing what lol

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Inigo Laguda's avatar

top tier!

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briffin glue's avatar

hey thanks!

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Evgeniy Choffski's avatar

It feels like the wind is blowing eastward. The reek of excrement is at least 2% stronger than a couple of months ago. Leftists here are just leaving while proclaiming there's nothing left to care about. But that's so far from the truth.

If there ever was a time to care and to engage and to participate - it's right now; high noon; top of the clock tower. Chronical onlineness will soon enter the mental health dictionary, mark my words. I hope more people get the message that online doesn't exist and is virtually (haha) irrelevant to what's actually happening.

God, I hate pigeons.

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Caroline Beuley's avatar

I couldn't agree more! When I taught high school we always read the graphic novel March, and one of John Lewis's biggest points is the importance of deep engagement, rather than shallow ties between organizers. That type of engagement really only happens in person, not behind a screen.

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briffin glue's avatar

100% deep engagement is the real way to make progress

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J.C. ⋆ ☕︎˖'s avatar

I couldn't have agreed more with people (the left) needing to come together in the real world and foster community and action. We need to bring circle discussion outside of academia and into community. Great article, I loved the surreal ending, i can hear the pigeons cooing through your words.

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briffin glue's avatar

these dang pigeons

was showering once with the window open (my bathroom window is right next to my head if i’m, say, standing in the shower) and one of the assholes comes up right to the window screen and coos so loudly that i almost fell and died

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J.C. ⋆ ☕︎˖'s avatar

who needs an alarm system when you have the pigeons.

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Elle's avatar

griffin blue ur my jorjor wel

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briffin glue's avatar

jorjor welllllll

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M 💌's avatar

reading this after you said you’d quit cigs lol

how’s it goin, stranger?

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