Aesthete, Euphuist, Dandy, Epicene, Invert, Symbolist, Shut-in, Child of God. My Name is Alex. Series in Highlights. Unaccountable Players of Social Games DNI.
I'd like to establish some account rules - things I will block for and other rules of engagement. This piece is essentially going to be a code that I can cite when I block people and for other twitter interactions. (Think of this as the Terms and Conditions of Alex and when interacting with me you have clicked "Agree")
Distilled (Tl;dr) rules are, when interacting with me: No accusations, no dehumanization, no direct attempts to cause emotional harm, no sexual harassment, no intentional obscenity (like posting porn or gore at me - swearing is ok). Please do not manipulate me. Please address problems specifically and directly.
I need an explicit code of conduct or I will struggle to enforce my boundaries. I'm not very good at punishing other people. Read this if you have some question as to how to treat me or interact with me.
You don't have to read everything I write. I write a lot. For long posts I'll try to put a summary in the beginning and it's perfectly fine to ignore content you're not interested in. I want my work to inform and inspire - if you're not feeling informed or inspired while reading something, stop reading it. It's not for you, I might have something else that is. I write things because I think they're nice or they're important to me. They're things I'd like to share.
If you think that I "think I'm better than other people" or "want to rule over them", that's a social feeling you have. Most of the time I think I'm rather stupid and I have no interest in any kind of power. I believe in my own dignity and I respect my ideas. I also strongly believe in my moral and aesthetic judgment. This can give me an "arrogant" tone, especially because I miss a lot of social rules. I want to communicate my ideas and sometimes I get excited. I don't look down on other people and I often earnestly believe other people are better than I am.
I like every reply that is "good conversation". That doesn't mean I necessarily agree, but you're being respectful and I like that. There is only one "like" so they all mean this. If I don't like something and you weren't being mean, I probably just missed it. I'm charitable and I don't take things the "wrong way" if I can help it - I'm more likely to overlook malice than read it in. I'm only going to block you for aggression and cruelty.
I know there are people who don't really care about hurting other people on here and even seem to enjoy doing it. I've considered making awards for those people, so they can just claim their award (and block) here and not have to bother me. (The "Cool Kitty" for doing something to offend me like posting vulgarity, the "Hot To Trot" for being needlessly cruel and dehumanizing, etc.) I can't draw well enough yet, but if my coordination comes back, I'll make them for people who want a trophy for "getting me".
I don't really understand that behavior, but I know that some people enjoy scoring social points. I generally try hard not to upset other people. I like to be honest (and often very much need to be, I get uncomfortable with things that are inexplicit). I will state things directly, but I try not to get carried away and I don't like fighting. I don't have a social sense of humor (some might say I just don't have a sense of humor at all). I know social punishment has its place, but it's not my thing and I'm not good at it.
I will argue with people who have disagreements with me (especially in my comments - I try to respond to people with questions and points). I'm comfortable disagreeing with people and don't expect people to agree with me or my ideas (I know they're pretty far out a lot of the time). I will try to show you my side and inform you - but I don't like pressuring people. There's not really any belief a person could have that would make me not want to talk to them if they're kind and respectful. Just always argue, don't fight.
Arguing is when you present an idea with the expectation that the person will respond to it. Fighting is when you want the person to shut up so you overwhelm them and treat them disparagingly. Arguing doesn't always have to be courteous (although of course I prefer it to be). Fighting is without content and purposefully upsetting. Don't bother responding to me if you're just going to try to shut me up or "own" me with a series of insults.
For the most part, I can handle a lot of discourtesy. So don't worry too much about accidentally getting blocked. I won't block for brief insults unless they're particularly bad. I will forgive someone calling me socially "wrong" like calling me embarrassing or annoying. I know I'm strange and crazy and arrogant and pretentious. I understand insults based on my mental illness or sexuality as long as they're not demeaning or continuous. I don't even mind having my intentions questioned (You're a Nazi!) if I'm allowed to respond. I'm very unlikely to block for a joke in good fun.
I will not accept long dehumanizing insults with the intention to hurt. Especially the sociopathic practice of trying to find a way to make the person feel as pathetic and small as possible. So it's ok to say that I'm crazy, but it's not ok to write at length about how I'm worthless and stupid because I'm mentally ill. This is bizarre and I don't understand why you'd do it. I also won't allow for vulgar fanfiction - where you write a weird ugly story about a person, like "I bet you [spend your day in a way that's humiliating and usually vulgar]" I don't understand that either - if you're going to write fiction it should be beautiful or at least instructive. I don't often see people writing kindnesses about people as involved as their cruelties.
I have some triggers, most of them aren't applicable here. Two of them are: dehumanizing "jokes" and accusations. I do not like being called a monster or "jokes" that amount to comparing me to a monster or accusing me of crimes. No, "where are the bodies" stuff or telling me that I'm frightening, it's not funny and it hurts my feelings. If I do share pictures ever, I will add another post to detail appearance-based triggers. Do not ever try to trigger me on purpose, it's cruel. If I think it's an accident I'll inform you so you stop. I know that I'm unreasonable, but I will be kind about other people's unreasonable things and I expect it in return.
Most importantly, I have a strict policy on accusations. If you accuse me of immorality you have to explain it to me. Do not try to say that I'm cruel or evil without being ready to tell me what I did that was cruel or evil. That is not a social game I will play, it's not an acceptable way to score social points on me (I think it's culturally poisonous in general).
I'm a little bit easier on accusations of intent - like accusing me of being AGP or being a Nazi or having other bad intent. I will tell you that you are wrong, it's not appropriate and what I actually believe. I understand people are dishonest on here, so I won't be too offended that you needed clarification. I try to be very straight forward, but I know many people aren't. I'm referring more to direct accusations of immorality. Telling me I've done something wrong like being unkind or treating someone cruelly. Especially if you won't be specific. That forces me to try to "figure it out" and I'll be hurt accusing myself of things.
I have very high moral standards for my behavior and I take moral accusations very seriously. I'm imperfect of course as everyone is, but I do not believe that I am cruel or I am callous. It's ok to disagree with me, or note a place I might have been careless, but it's not ok to accuse me. I've had people on here tell me that I don't care about abuse victims and that I'm trying to hurt people on purpose and that I don't believe in God - absolutely evil way to try to score a social point. Do not make an accusation if you don't believe it's true.
For me especially, accusations can be dangerous. I have a condition called Scrupulosity which means that I can be very easily overwhelmed by feelings of guilt. There have been times in my life I've been accused of acts I didn't commit at all (by manipulative "friends"). I will still often respond to the guilt of "if I had done it" rather than the reality of my not having done it. For instance, a person will tell me I said something different from what I actually did say - even if I remember what I really said I will still feel bad for having said the thing they're saying. I won't be able to let it go without "making it right" or proving I didn't say it. (Thankfully I can read back on twitter). I am unfortunately gaslightable and while it's not as bad with strangers on here, you will have to justify accusations or I will block you.
I need this rule for my mental health. I'm not just trying to be touchy or control other people (and I will never use my condition to punish others).
In general if you have a problem with me, please directly address it. It's entirely fine to tell me something specific that you think I've done wrong - I want to do the right thing. I will never attack a person for trying to correct me in good faith. I am autistic and I make mistakes. Say, "I think you forgot to consider x person's feelings here" when I've been careless. Not "You are such a cruel thoughtless person, I can't believe it!". I'm not a cruel person, and it's not nice to try to make me think I am.
I always want to consider other people's feelings and needs. I am going to be honest though and say that I'm rather easily manipulated, so please don't try to manipulate me. It's unkind and I will block you if I think you've done that on purpose. It's easy to trick me into thinking I need to apologize or to "fix" something, but I have a friend who helps me with these things so I will find out you did it. This is a major reason I'm so sensitive about people trying to use sympathy maliciously or cynically. This is why I might not socialize much with people generally. It's not that I don't like you, I just can't trust people.
It's a sad fact of this hypersocial low trust society that refuses to punish bad actors - it leaves people with disabilities like my own vulnerable. This is why so many autistic people become misanthropic - we are taken advantage of and treated cruelly. People don't want to make space for us because that means holding bad actors accountable for malicious social games. It's easier to mock and exclude the autistic person than to explicitly control social games.
I try not to be hurtful. When I make argument that might be seen as "attacking" someone I always start with a "Hi" or "Hello" which indicates that I'm just pointing something out (so don't take this personally). I will try not to offend, and I always address words not people (in a Hi/Hello post that is). If I thought you were a bad person, I wouldn't say Hello to you. In the rare instance that I'm addressing someone who I think is a bad person - I will say that directly. I will also make sure that I have evidence and specific accusations. I always try to be explicit - and I say what I mean.
I don't follow social rules very well, but I do try to be considerate of the people reading my work. I try to always see the other person's side. I condemn behaviors but I always try to help people do better. The only time that I will unequivocally condemn will be when talking about the internet system and it's dehumanizing agenda (and people who are intentionally and consciously empowering it). Even they can be saved though, and while I might hate what they're doing - I hope to reach them.
Finally, I will also not tolerate sexual harassment. I'm very grateful that I haven't faced a lot of this here, and hopefully that will continue. If I think it's a mistake (or anything else on here is a mistake), I will cite the rules so they know not to do it. Then I will block if they ignore them. I will block anyone who posts obscenity at me to offend me or disgust me.
So to distill, I will block you:
- Accusations that you don't explain
- Fighting me with extensive insults/demeaning
- Trying to Hurt me On Purpose (malicious fanfic about me)
- Sexual Harassment
- Obscenity (Gore images or pornography)
Thank you. I appreciate people who interact respectfully and considerately. God Bless You.
(Yes, I'm aware all of this is very silly. I just like having rules).
Blue Button: The Obvious Choice
Blue Buttons? Red Buttons? This is the hot new thought experiment hitting the market (as a returning product). Anyone will survive if they hit the Red Button and everyone will live if 50% hit the Blue one! How provocative! How New!
Anyone who knows me will be aware that I have long been an enemy of thought experiments. I have a strange preference for talking about things which have some basis in real phenomenon and donât generally find fantasy-based choose your own adventure stories to be compelling. Even if theyâre made for academics.
I have not been posting often recently as my health has been a bit prohibitive (I apologize). However, I saw my old nemesis had reared its ugly head again and couldnât help but fight him once more.
The Red and Blue Buttons (or pills or whatever else have you) have been around for quite a while. Lately the Based, Rationalist, Smarty Pants choice is to always pick red because then youâll certainly live. Many have weighed in to assure us that Blue Button picking is simply Natural Selection working. In fact the Thought Finder General himself weighed in on the situation to give us a brilliant analogy. You see imagine a giant blender. If you donât enter the blender you will survive, but if 50% of people enter the blender it will jam and fail to blend to kill its inhabitants. Perhaps it would severely injure a few and kill them, but we neednât worry about technicalities like this because weâre experimenting with thought here (not something that observably exists).
As a simple minded Blue Button Pusher, Iâm not as intelligent as our mastermind here, so I find the analogy frankly not particularly analogous. Not least of all because Giant Blenders only exist in cartoons. I canât imagine how such a thing would be built or powered nor what purpose such a thing would have (aside from realizing thought experiments). As I have previously stated I like dealing with real phenomenon, so I came up with some analogies known to happen in our world.
For instance, I could imagine a young abandoned child trapped in a building which has caught on fire. Now of course this child is of lower stock (from parents who have abandoned them). Further, if I ran in to free them there could be a flashover and I could be severely injured or die, but with enough blue button pushers (weâll call them firemen here) everyone could survive. Do I try to help? I could see a woman being beaten on the streets. Clearly this man is violent, so I would likely face some injury if I attempted to step in. This might again be natural selection â she got herself into this situation and isnât strong enough to fight him off. If there were enough blue button pushers I could rely on surely they would step in for me. At least sometimes. If youâre not Kitty Genovese or hundreds like her since. When my country is attacked do I go on the front lines, or do I hold back and let the Blue button pushers do it? Do I go to the frontier and risk my life on that brutal trail or do I wait until Blue Button pushers settle it for me? Itâs clear that it wouldnât be very âSurvival of the Fittestâ or âPrisonerâs Dilemma winningâ of me to press that Blue Button, it might even be a case of Sklavenmoral. Still, I think thereâs a reason itâs prisoners in Prisonerâs Dilemma â because Red Button is the way people think who live in a prison. Blue Button is what built civilization.
An old saying most people know is âA Society grows great when Old men plant trees in whose shade theyâll never sit.â The greatest argument for the Blue Button is that no one should want to live in a world where all the Blue Button people are gone. Many seem to think itâs the âdumb onesâ, the âentitled onesâ, the âunproductive onesâ who press the Blue Button. Theyâre wrong. Itâs the builders of civilization. People who exploit and attack civilization will press the red button to save themselves every time (why do you think they exploit and attack). Why do you think the thief steals? â he values himself more than the community or the vulnerable.
If I gamble on the Blue Button and I lose the worst that can happen to me is dying. If you gamble on the Red Button and win â thatâs a fate far worse. Youâre stuck with a life sentence of the gangland, of a world of the selfish, of people who canât trust one another. Youâre stuck living among the very people you thought youâd exterminate.
I don't see how it cancels out. I don't know if you read my post or not but I was criticizing thought experiments for not being analogous (and this one isn't). There are no Blue or Red Buttons - it's never happened nor will it. I was using realistic examples to show similar situations that might be more congruous to the idea the person had. Then I show the consequences of having such a philosophy.
@atlanticesque https://t.co/L1X4Wsws7G Very much true. Very unfortunate. The Blizzard hit the whole state but most homeless in other areas were forced to evacuate.
Hello friend - HRT does not change your Chromosomes in the slightest. It also doesn't change your DNA unless it causes secondary cancerous problems. It will give you secondary sex characteristics. Score one!
People under estimate the power of HRT it literally changes your DNA makeup, is known to change your chromosomes and gives you secondary sex characteristics! đłïžââ§ïž
@kessler_ulrich Disgrace to Western New York. I don't understand really how you can ask the question. "How many of you will defend yourself from murder?" All of us? What other answer do you expect?
My number is as many as it takes. Ramming a car into someone is attempted murder and justifies self defense not only in law enforcement (which ICE agents happen to be) but in the general civilian population. If that means a million get shot - well then I wish they hadn't done that. Thankfully medical care for trauma has gotten better and many probably will survive idiotically ramming a car at a man with a gun.
Hypothetically speaking...
Let's say millions of US citizens start standing up to ICE and ramming them with their cars.
How many US citizens is it OK for ICE to kill?
1?
10?
100?
1,000?
10,000?
100,000?
1,000,000?
Where is the line?
I cannot allow this to stand (and frankly I'm sick of Israel first (but the other way) Rightists). They're essentially leftists in anything but name. So I'll give everyone a history lesson on two historical events I know a tremendous amount about.
We'll begin by skipping the Minneapolis incident. Let's just talk about Randy Weaver and his family. Randy Weaver was a deeply religious Militia man who had previously served in Viet Nam. He met an ATF agent who entrapped him into cutting the barrels off of shotguns. Then they immediately served him papers but the trial date on the form was wrong. Instead of sending new papers for a new date (given especially how small a charge this was) they came to his house. His son Samuel and their dog striker were out with a family friend named Kevin Harris. They happened to be armed as is their right. The officers (who had not announced themselves) started firing on them. They killed the the dog and shot young Sammy in the back dead as he ran away. They did not allow the Weavers to come and to take the body of their son. Vicki Weaver (the mother) later came out to try to accompany the men to retrieve her dead son. She was holding her baby Elisheba. They fired on them and she retreated. She was shot by a sniper while hiding behind a door cradling her 10 month old baby. After that they taunted the family saying "Let Vicki out - we have pancakes". It's one of the worst police brutality case in history.
Now let's do Waco. Many people have strange ideas about Waco. They think it was about David Koresh having child brides. Well that's not the ATF's job and had nothing to do with the raid. It was a justification after the fact. It was about modified firearms once again. David Koresh often went into town and was very well known to local law enforcement. They could have easily taken him in on one of his outings. They chose instead to confront the compound. If they hadn't it would have saved the lives of 28 children - but ATF decided to do it the hard way instead. They fired on the compound (and evidence from the doors shows irrefutable evidence they fired). They instigated a standoff. They used tanks to destroy the children's outdoor toys, played loud music and used psychological warfare. They played recordings of dying rabbits (which if you're unaware sound like children screaming). Then they cut off their power and their water and taunted them. Finally at the end they sent in a massive amount of tear gas (on children and women to be clear) and fired on them. Guns fired into tear gas is dangerous. Tear gas is flammable and it lit on fire killing almost everyone inside.
This is nothing like a woman being killed while resisting arrest and driving at an officer of the law.
This video should convince anyone unconvinced. Not because she and her partner are aggravating - you shouldn't get shot just for aggravating. However, she refused to leave her car, her partner attempted to reenter the vehicle (reports are they had been stalking ICE for days). Further she clearly drove towards them seeing clearly his position while her partner tells her to drive. Finally he's obviously hit during the course of an investigation.