Mastodon – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

More Thoughts on Resilience as Our Strength and Our Weakness

The damnation of short and painful memories.

Warning. This is going to be a very long, very personal and very cynical take. A lot of this has been bubbling in my gut for far too long, and I’m tired of the taste in my mouth when it regurgitates. So I write.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece titled Resilience Is Our Strength But Also Our Weakness. The slug line for the piece was “Time to break a few things.” I stand by the title, the slug line, and the content.

That said, I’m going to write further based on a conversation generated from the piece on Mastodon with fellow Mastodonians David Todd McCarty and Denny Henke. Henke, while admiring the piece, took me to task for not offering specifics about what to tear down. He was correct. I didn’t. I’ll offer what few I think there are throughout and towards the end of this essay.

Nasty hint. I don’t think there are many. That’s one reason it’s taken me so long to think and write this essay. There are questions. Nothing I’m going to say here should come as a surprise. Anyone reading this has probably already had many of the same thoughts. If you haven’t I don’t know why you’re here.

Before I get into that, let me toss out a few links for context for anyone interested. First, take a look at McCarty’s piece linked to in my previous piece called A Quiet Truth, and also his attempt to answer Henke’s response in this piece Democratic Socialism: Keeping The Great American Experiment Alive.

I’ll also reprint Henke’s intial thoughts in his response to me below:

Great post Warner and I generally agree but you don’t offer much detail. You’re focused on the Reconstruction and the historical rooting of our current moment in the Confederacy, which I would interpret as the unresolved issues of 150ish years ago.

But shouldn’t we go back 250 years? That would seem to get us closer to the foundational problems.

Also, coming back to today and the notion of breaking things. What is it you want to break? What do you see as being the goal? And how do you see us getting there?

I’d ask the same of DTM. You both SEEM to be calling for a sort of soft revolution without really saying it. And though you both seem to be rejecting the previous normal, you’re seemingly okay with many aspects of what we had.

What level of inequality are you willing to accept or is it none? What level of general social-ecological-economic violence are you willing to accept or is it none?

History

Both McCarty and Henke mention my historical references to our country’s capacity for compassion and resilience in my earlier piece, specifically how we as a nation chose a path of reconciliation over one of punishment after the American Civil War. History can nag, and be both instructive and problematic. I’m not one who thinks looking past the past, or picking your past (as I did) helps tremendously, though it instructs if you pay attention. Otherwise why would the dark hearted forces that seize control keep trying to erase or change it every time the cycle swings them back into power? History doesn’t only contain a recounting of events, it contains what’s behind those events should you care to look.

We may not step foot in the same river twice, but we keep recycling the water in history’s reflecting pools.

In my view, as a species (expand for a moment those borders and blinders beyond the U.S.) we’ve more than proven that we’re incapable of the persuasion necessary to promote positive change in the grand scheme of things. We’re also incapable of enough horror to counter dark underlying forces eager to exploit., explode and yes, extinguish in their quest for power and dominion. We don’t want to be the monsters we need to counter.

It’s a doom loop humans have been caught in long before anyone reading this was born. And it’s a loop so overstuffed with doom that we want to physiologically and psychologically wipe it from our memories the moment we begin coming up for air after one catastrophe or the other. It’s amazing how we even find ways to ignore the scar tissue.

For the moment then , set aside history. Why continue to dissect it to death for no great real benefit? Set aside also discussions of racism, religious intolerance, class warfare, and all flavors of hatred of the other. More words have been written about those topics, some here, and in countless other places by countless other writers. None seeming to have any real lasting effect beyond blowing off steam on trains stalled on the tracks. Words do have meaning. Meaning meanders through the mediums and get muddled in the summaries.

Dig beneath to what in my opinion is the rotten root behind most of the ills humans continue to bring on one another. The thirst for dominion reveals dark hearts fueled with an appetite for self aggrandizement that makes the sin of gluttony feel like a mild teenage eating disorder. You can’t read a history of any civilization without finding that to be the case. Oh, shit. There’s history again.

What? Too big? Too broad a topic? Too much to tackle?

Spot on.

It is too big. Also too unsolvable. Too deep. You can erase moments of history. You can’t erase who we are. It is who we are. At least as demonstrated by a collective human history of repeating and revisiting the motivations behind the moments that stand out on the surface, that iceberg-like signal greater horrors underneath. Perhaps we’re waiting for some AI to solve it. That’s only partially a joke. Easier to laugh than accept responsibility.

Not recognizing the enormity of the larger root cause makes it far too easy to focus on what comparatively is the day-to-day (these days overwhelming) minutiae of corrupt and poisonous politics, legal morasses, greed in all forms, and debates over a constitution that has essentially been abused as much as the people it supposedly protects. Every day there’s a moment that feels crucial (it is always the most important election of our lifetime!), always feels pressing, and always ends up, in the grand scheme of things, rewarding a few while screwing over the rest. Always.

Admitting the larger problem is indeed too much, but also too much a condemnation of us all. And we generally shy away from that. Focusing on the immediate threat always and often more urgently satisfies the emotional need to rage against that which can’t be changed or controlled. And that brings me to violence.

Violence and Monsters

I’m not advocating violence. I’m not a violent person. I have resorted to it a couple of times to defend myself and loved ones. Beyond self defense, (too often a convenient excuse) I am acknowledging that violence is usually what most of what we’re experiencing evolves (devolves?) into. Not always. But usually. And usually when it counts.

Frankly, in my world view, if you’re not prepared for a violent outcome you’re being naive in the best case. In the worst, you’re just a willing victim and actually a part of the problem. Regardless, those willing to accept violence as a piece of the puzzle are at least the ones who have chance of winning each moment’s argument.

Yes, violence begats an endless cycle. One good deed may deserve another, but one bad one too often breeds many more. But without the threat of violence or punishment, power and the restriction of it is essentially meaningless.

Reiterating, I’m not advocating violence. I just think we need to be prepared for it. Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t already seen it on a larger scale in this country in the reactions to the violence visited on us by our government. To say you’re incapable of it, means you’ve never been under serious threat, real or imagined. Reason is always preferred. Until you confront the unreasonable.

But what about the important non-violent movements throughout history? Gandhi? Martin Luther King and civil rights? Labor strikes? What about Victor Orban stepping down after being defeated in an election?

Don’t kid yourself. While non-violent organizers fighting for civil rights practiced and preached non-violence, realize in most situations they were prepared to have violence done on them. Those organizers were no fools. In too many cases throughout history (damn, there it is again) it wasn’t until things turned violent that things begin to change. The presence of cameras made a difference during the US civil rights struggles of the 1960’s. They don’t seem to do so with the same result in the 2020’s. It takes sociopaths to not blanche at the sight of bloodshed of others. It takes courage to bleed for them.

But what about Orban? Perhaps the most sensible tyrant in history. He read the writing on the wall, knew he’d already made his bundle, and had changed the structure of his country in ways that will take decades to fix and tie his opponents into knots. He got out while the getting was good. It’s a rare villain who knows to quit when he’s ahead. Or still has one. U.S. tyrant hopefuls who have been taking cues from Orban should heed his last one.

This country just quasi-celebrated its 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. If it wasn’t for a group of men willing to publicly sign their name to a document at the risk of being hung for treason, who knows what this continent would have become? Would you have signed it with your neck on the line?

Violence is being done on citizens of this country almost daily by its government, as well as on others around the world. Dark hearted monsters have more than proven their lust for it. As for the rest of us?

With the possible exception of some citizens in cities invaded by ICE, I’m not sure enough are willing to stand in the way when the guns come out. Certainly that would require sacrifice in such action. Would you be willing to make it?

The fact that ICE murders haven’t yet turned the tide is something I find hard to grasp in the same way a collective catastrophe like COVID did not. When it is easy to exploit death and destruction for selfish gain we’ve turned a corner into a very dark alley.

As twisted as all of this is, it’s also become some sort of an even more twisted spectator sport to watch the clock hopefully run out on Trump one way or the other. Allies and enemies abroad have joined in on the watching, waiting for a flashpoint or an act of God that may or may not come before too much more damage is done. Meanwhile the violence continues.

I’m not condemning anyone by saying that. I’m just acknowledging that we’re more willing spectators than we are victims watching a losing match, while somehow still trying to manage our lives, than we might believe. Much like the small folk in any Game of Thrones episode helplessly watching dragons fly overhead.

And therein lies one of my larger points.

It pisses me off when I hear criticisms about those who are too comfortable to do what it takes to change things. Certainly there are those who don’t want their comfort zones turned upside down. They deserve condemnation. But there are far too many just trying to provide for their families and get through the day-to-day. I know quite a few for whom that struggle is as all consuming as any political struggle.

It also pisses me off that those who do have enough capacity to work for change have chosen to do so so weakly. They piss me off more than those that willingly attach to the predators like remorseless remoras.

Folks may be willing to boycott a retailer, or a streaming service, or attend a weekend march for a few hours. But I don’t see any concerted actions or desire to do what the Albanians are currently doing to protest their government’s collusion with the Kushner/Trump family attempts to steal and develop a piece of that country’s shoreline. I think the Albanians have now been in the streets for longer than 40 days. That’s a long weekend that’s not short on courage.

So, as to one specific. Until a large enough portion of the population of this country is willing to stand in the streets for periods longer than a few hours on a weekend afternoon, I don’t think on the whole we’re ready for the moment, or the struggle. Those afraid of losing their comfort and those willing to enable by sitting on the sidelines don’t deserve a voice in fixing what has been broken, if or when the time comes.

The citizens of Minnesota and other cities invaded by ICE showed great resilience in the face of government violence. Tragically, it wasn’t enough. That winter furor cooled off as warmer spring temperatures crept in, though it seems to be sparking anew in the heat of the summer after similar recent government sponsored murders in Texas and Maine. I have my doubts.

It’s monstrous what’s happening. And we need to meet the monsters where they are. There’s a great theme in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, Station Eleven, later made into a streaming series. “To the monsters, we’re the monsters” is perhaps more proverb than theme. There’s always fear on either side of a conflict. Do we need to be more monstrous?

For those who think this sounds like anarchy, you’re probably correct in the strict sense of the term. Here’s the thing. I happen to believe that active tyranny is worse than anarchy. I’m not alone in that. Anarchy is chaos without control. Active tyranny is chaos under the guise of control. That’s where we are. Both bring chaos. Both bring horror.

We’re living under active tyranny masquerading as a constitutional republic that controls too many of the world’s purse strings, constantly tilting every axis it can find, led by a decadent decaying thug, held up and held together by sniveling supplicants, none of whom know when or how to quit, or desire to. Trading one flavor of chaos for another often sounds appealing. It usually never is. Until there is no alternative.

Damnatio Memoriae

The condemnation of memory is an ancient practice of wiping the memory banks clean. The Romans get first credit for attempting to remove all instances of those no longer in favor. Rather than be faced with reminders of those unwanted, remove all instances of their likeness and wipe them from the history books. Don’t mention their names. Damnatio Memoriae resurfaces throughout history like a bad memory popping up out of nowhere, as those controlling the roads patch over the potholes created by the destruction of those who stood in their path. Sorry. History rearing its ugly head again.

I was in Russia directing an American musical when the statue of the founder of the KGB, Felix Dzerzhinksy, was removed from the square in Moscow bearing his name. Joshua Yaffa has an interesting take on the moment, the history, and its aftermath. Here’s a quote:

…in a civic culture that placed more emphasis on forgetting than remembering its more painful moments, Memorial never became part of the mainstream. In 1992, an investigation into the legality of the Communist Party’s actions ended with a whimper. There was never any formal reckoning or judgment on seventy years of Communist rule and those who carried it out.

I grew up in the South in the era when those with long memories and lingering hatreds began turning their dream of rising again into the ugly reality that has led us to where we are now. It was subtle, insidious, and largely ignored outside of the region.

The same media institutions we rightfully condemn for their capitulation today essentially did the same thing during and after the civil rights struggles in the 1960’s. Sainted as they may be for turning their cameras on the Bull Conners and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they largely ignored the raising of statues and Civil War memorials celebrating traitors, hiding as easily as behind a hood, a politician’s platform, or the masks today’s ICE goons wear in cowardice. The media treats losing soccer coaches with more disdain than it has the legacy of losers who ripped a country apart once and are doing so again.

Politics

In Conor McPherson’s underrated musical Girl From The North Country, featuring the music of Bob Dylan, one of the characters speaking to another, his face pummeled from a boxing match, says:

Marianne: Boxing is so foolish. They say that in the bible, you know?

Scott: Yeah?

Marianne: Leviticus. Chapter 3 verse 4.

Scott: What?

Marianne: I’m making it up. You can say anything is in Leviticus.

The same is true about politics. You can say anything in politics. It’s in the bible. I’m making that up. The opposite is true and you can find it hanging on the walls of schoolhouses in some states. Irony isn’t dead, it just can’t outrun political comedy.

Built into the Constitution since its ratification, the speech and debate clause allowed members of Congress to lie through their teeth while working during attendance at sessions. It’s expanded well beyond the wells of congressional chambers, but then the constitution itself, much like the bible, expands and contracts depending on the moment, the speaker, and the number of social media followers.

One of the cardinal rule of politics is to make your opponent spend time and resources defending themselves. As to one of those specifics I left out, we don’t practice that skill enough. The monsters do. We do not. We need to.

Call me crazy, but as the Democratic Party searches in vain to try and grab a coherent message, their consultant driven attempts keep missing the mark against opponents tossing slop at them from the gutter. If you didn’t want to wrestle the pig on his home turf, you should have never gotten into politics.

The consultants want to call the intersection where the right and left meet a horseshoe. It’s actually a circle. But closing that gap rhetorically might just mean making those who hate each other for different reasons find too many similarities to make the comfortable classes uncomfortable, and put the consultant class out of work.

To me, there is only one message that should be leveled in any and all attacks. “You want the shootings in our streets to stop? You want health care? You want to afford a living for you and your family? You want an expanded Supreme Court? You want..(fill in the blank with any other issue currently sizzling on the hot plate)? Then first you have to vote these criminals and cowards out of office.”

If you’re not calling them a criminal and a coward every time you speak, in exactly those terms, you’re missing the moment. And if your candidate refuses to do so, find another one who will.

I hate to say it about myself, but I look several family members in their face on Zoom calls and bluntly say, “when you stop supporting pedophiles, rapists, and criminals, then we’ll talk.” I hate being brought to that place. It’s damn painful. But here we are.

The dark hearted monsters have made sure there is no longer a middle road. We need to quit looking for one. Stop also looking for the high road. Everyone is in the same ditch. Don’t debate nonsense. Don’t try to reason with the unreasonable. If your compassionate muscle begins to twitch, exercise it in support of those who literally find it hard to manage through a day or a week, and can’t find the time or energy for anything else.

Henke asked me “What level of inequality am I willing to accept, or is it none?” I’d love to say it was none, but that would be naive. Like Thomas More I don’t think there could ever be a Utopia. There is always going to be inequality. Thinking equality for everyone is a fiction that can really only be achieved from a perch above those you want to help. There’s irony in there somewhere.

The question isn’t what level of inequality would you accept, the question is what levels of support for those on the lower rungs of the ladder are you willing to pay for.

For some, politics may be about creating equality, opportunity, or possibility. We like to hear that. Some desperately want to believe that. And yes, laws do matter. But laws can be undone. More swiftly than they can be created. Laws can be evil. Slavery was legal. Laws can be ignored. But at its root, politics is, and always was, about dividing up what resources are available or finding new ones when those run out. If you think it’s about anything else, you’re wrong.

More Specifics and Breaking Things

I promised to list some specifics beyond the few sprinkled above. And here you go.

As to the upcoming elections.

Pay Attention: There are no secrets. We’re told and we see daily what the plans are. If you dismiss them as the ravings of a lunatic, you’re wrong. Pay attention.

Vote. The only way to defend the right to vote is to vote. That sounds easy and trite. I don’t think it will be for some this year. Whatever obstacles (and there are quite a few) that the president has declared he wants to throw in your path need to be overcome. Voting is going to be more of an act of defiance than it has ever been.

Organize. Yes, it helps. But it only helps if you do so strategically with the simple goal of tossing the bums out. Everything else is secondary. Certainly if we lose.

Be ready to protest after the election and whatever bullshit the coward and criminal-in-chief tries to pull to keep himself in power and out of jail. The largest mistake we made after the 2024 election was staying in shock and not causing trouble in the immediate aftermath. We allowed the criminals the time to carry out the plans they had made very public for all to see. None of what we are seeing should be a surprise. If it is or was, you weren’t paying attention.

Sharpen your steel. The steel in your spine. Know you’re already under attack and know what you stand for or don’t. Know what you’re willing to compromise on and what you’re willing to sacrifice and what you’re not. That won’t be easy. It never is.

Call and write your representatives. Or visit their local offices. Certainly call and write them on an issue and how you feel about it. But let whomever answers the phone or greets you at reception that your support stops depending on how they fight. More importantly tell them straight up that if they want a donation they have to ask in person and be prepared to stand accountable. Remind them that the country you want them to fight for was birthed by a minority who pledged it all and that you expect them to do the same.

Write. Not just on social media. Not just your representatives. Not just on the Internet. Write your friends. Write your family. Write the CEOs of companies you do business with. Turn your mind into one that isn’t afraid to make waves. Let whomever you write know that you hold them responsible as the ones that broke the dam and caused the damage. Put them on the defensive. If they are going to tell you to get lost, they are already lost to you. Don’t try to reason with the unreasonable. Write them off and let them know you’ve done so.

As to breaking things.

The only reason the president hasn’t declared some sort of state of emergency and taken complete control is it would bring political fundraising to a halt. Not just for him. He doesn’t need it while he sits in office and collects the bribes that spill over his desk like golden showers. But it would end most political fundraising for the rest of the hangers on and lickspittles. That of course would be a blow to the media as well, because that’s where the dollars raised mostly go after the consultants take their cut.

I have no doubt in my mind that Trump will do some such action either before or after the election. At that point the money will have already been raised and spent and it’s one of the few gambits he has left.

“Things” are already broken. Congress. The Courts. The Justice Department. The Constitution. The economy. Global alliances. The list is too long before you even get to the defacing destruction of Washington DC and the White House.

I’m reminded of when now senator Mark Warner was elected governor of Virginia in 2002. (Sorry, not sorry, but it’s another history moment.) He came to power to discover that the Republican Party had been essentially cooking the books. Warner had to scale back some of his plans to put the state’s finances back together. It wasn’t easy. But he largely succeeded by setting aside some of his promised priorities.

That pales in comparison to what whomever is elected in 2028 will face, or assuming the democrats come back into the majority in Congress after the midterms.

Like Orban’s Hungary, so much is broken it is going to take years if not generations to restore. I’d suggest restoration shouldn’t be the goal. Neither should reconciliation.

Sure, we’d all like to see some of the physical manifestations of Trump’s classless remodeling of the capital city and other places torn down and ripped asunder. That would probably feel good, and provide a cathartic cleansing. A symbolic, yet perhaps necessary one. But we should never attempt to erase the memory of what we’re living through. Don’t damn the memory, damn those who created them and forever remember their evil. At least for seventy or 80 years or so. That seems to be our capacity.

Certainly we’d like to see many of these barbarians sent to jail for their crimes. If we don’t, forget about the current system of laws that they’ve already spit on and torn asunder. The criminals have. We should too.

The harder work will be in closing the holes that our constitutional republic has left open that let this madman run through and over. Those holes exist because the founding fathers believed in honor, checks and balances, and to some extent the will of the people. This decade has more than proven that we don’t care so much about honor, much less checks and balances or the will of the people.

Break what’s left, and I’d suggest taking advantage of the opportunity to make something new. If it requires a constitutional convention, do it. If it requires being more monstrous to meet the monsters where they are, do so. It can’t be any messier or more dangerous than things stand now.

I’ll close with something I post on social media twice a week.

Act like it.

(Image from Halinskyi Max on Shutterstock)

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.

Indigo: A Well Designed Social Media App For Those Who Need It

Good design and execution matter.

Here’s something I’ve been recently thinking about software. There’s really nothing new under the sun. And the skies have been cloudy for a good while. It feels like we’ve reached a point where the only difference between apps within a category boil down to execution and design. Often not even then.

Perhaps we’ve exhausted all of the ideas for what software can do and we’re just looking for a better iteration of what we already have at hand.

I’m talking on a consumer level. Beyond whatever AI supposedly offers, and the explosion of social media apps that happened when Twitter x-ed itself out, I can’t name an app or piece of software in the last few years that wasn’t a different version of something that already existed. Even AI software feels like it’s more of the same, just at a quicker pace.

Certainly there are nuances. But over time they tend to blur. As an example, take weather apps. They’ve all recently followed the leader (I don’t know which app that was) to display variable forecasts from different weather sources. It’s a good feature given that weather services can offer different forecasts. But as most weather apps have quickly adopted similar features, once again there isn’t much of a differentiator between them. Unless Carrot Weather’s bell weather use of insults is your cup of tea.

Don’t get me wrong. Execution and design can (and should) go a long way. Even more so when all things seem much the same or serve the same purpose. Beyond price, that’s really the only big differentiator.

It’s why I’ll try out an app that looks like it doesn’t offer anything beyond what I already have. Within that personal scope, let me say that the new social media browsing and crossposting app Indigo is worth your attention if its functionality fits how you use social media.

Indigo is the creation of Soapbox, the developers who created crossposting app Croissant. (I wrote about it when it released.) While Croissant allows you to cross post to Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads, (functionality I find useful), Indigo is meant primarily to merge and scroll through a single timeline of your Mastodon and Bluesky feeds. You can also crosspost to both if that’s your desire. Threads isn’t included, as it doesn’t allow for viewing its timelines in the same way, which is curious as it is supposedly federated with Activity Pub.

If scrolling social media feeds is your thing, Indigo is certainly worth a look. It’s very well designed, and easy to discover its functionality.

It’s a first version of the app, and as one of the developers, Aaron Vegh says on his blog, “The Indigo we’re shipping today is going to be the worst version.” For the worst and first version, I believe Aaron and Ben McCarthy have done an excellent job. (You should read both Aaron’s and Ben’s blog posts. Ben’s describes the functionality quite well.) Having followed the development of Croissant since its release, I’ll say that the care they’ve used in the past with that app points to the same for the future of Indigo.

If you use both Mastodon and Bluesky, once you sign in to both through Indigo, you see your feeds merged together. You don’t need to use both social networks. The functionality is the same if you prefer only one of the two social networks. So, if you’re user of only one, it could replace whatever app you might currently be using.

One of the nicest design touches, and obviously an essential one, is that it’s easy to distinguish where things are coming from if you merge your timelines. Mastodon links are purple and those from Bluesky are, well they’re blue.

You can tell if a post is crossposted between the two networks, and another nice feature is that Indigo will merge the two in some cases (timing plays a part) so you don’t see them twice. You can switch between each version and take actions like quoting or replying to both at the same time.

If you’ve used Croissant to crosspost, doing so on Indigo will feel very familiar. Notifications, should you choose to receive them on your device, work as you would expect. The Notification tab in the app is quite well done and easy to understand.

The app is available for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and a single subscription covers you across devices. There is a free tier that’s read-only. If you’re interested in Indigo, the free tier is read only. That’s good way to determine if the excellent design of the app appeals to you.

If you use both social networks and would like to combine your feeds into one timeline I think Indigo is worth a look. Let me say this about Indigo and my social media usage. The single merged timeline feature has its attraction, but it’s not something that’s a high priority for me and that brings me back to the beginning of this post.

I like to keep my eye out for developers who focus on good design and good functionality. That’s the case with Indigo. As in this case, an app may not fit my needs, but I’ll remember the developers or company behind it. It’s much the same way I follow good theatre or film directors, and good writers.

I don’t see many new ideas or new needs to fill coming down the software or app pike in the near future. That may say more about me than it does the software market these days. Even so, that view of mine has me paying even closer attention to those who care about the look and feel of what they produce.

(image from the author)

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.

Social Media Stewing in the Stewpot

Social media, like everything else, is in a state of flux.

Social Media is having another moment. Social Media has many of those. This one is in the wake of the historic U.S. election and a largely a delayed reaction to Elon Musk’s raping of what used to be Twitter, pro-Trump propagandizing, and general infantile behavior. That last comment was not intended to insult infants. They know no better.

Certainly it cuts deeper than that. But not by too much. Since Musk’s takeover of Twitter it has largely become a stinkier cesspool than it already was pre-Musk. Now, it’s overrun by frat boys, tech bros, and Nazis, all far too eager to rape and pillage as Twitter/X barrels down a path to becoming State Sponsored Social Media. That would be ironic if irony applied to anything on the Internet and in politics these days.

Since the takeover, there have been at least three massive migrations of Twitter/X refugees that would make a human trafficker lust with envy for the business. The first came in the days leading up to and after Musk’s takeover. Most of those folks headed to Mastodon at the time. But, for quite a few Mastodon offered too many hurdles, too much policing, and too little inclusiveness to overcome their quest for Social Media solace. But quite a few stuck.

Then there was Threads, the Mark Zuckerberg empire’s attempt to swipe back at Musk. That too pulled in a rush of users, at least initially because you could import your entire Instagram graph. That could and should have been an early warning sign.

What was funny to watch in that migration was how conveniently many who had been pounding Zuckerberg as an Internet devil in the Meta hellscape, quickly developed amnesia and jumped on board. But Threads began to lose luster, when it became apparent that producing, sharing, and viewing desired content (most of it political and news) became secondary to Meta’s commercial needs. Again, that should not have been a surprise.

And in this latest chapter there is yet another shift to yet another social network, this time BlueSky.

This last migration to bluer skies is both yet another reaction against Twiiter/X and also the increasing dissatisfaction with Threads. There are reports that Mastodon is also seeing a smaller wave of newcomers or returnees. Regardless of platform, returnees is a key. When a new service, in this case a social network, is launched, there are quite a few who sign up simply to reserve their name or handle on that service, assuming that at some point their followers will, well… follow them there. Some try it out and stick, some move on, perhaps to return at a later date.

To be clear, I’m on Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky. (Yes, those are links to my profiles on each of those services.) I stopped participating on Twitter during the first big migration, though I kept my account active for a period of time before finally deactivating it. I am one of those who will grab my name, (I always use my real name), when a new platform debuts and it is littered around more Internet services than I can remember.

If I had to choose one social media platform today I’d choose Mastodon. I’m comfortable there, and that will probably be my downfall. So I continue to actively explore because I don’t think there’s anyway to predict how any of this will evolve. Ask anyone who proudly proclaimed with each new app that they were replacing the Twitter icon on their home screen with Mastodon, then Threads, now Bluesky. Always a good laugh. Infatuations are always infinite entertainment.

Know this. For one reason or the other all of these services will end up disappointing users at some point in the future.

Here’s the thing. The story we’re living through has been repeated many times on Internet platforms other than social media and in social spheres other than the Internet. Folks find an app or a service they like. The business of that app or service changes hands when the original owners cash out (nothing wrong with that), or choose to pivot in different directions. Customers show their dissatisfaction and move on. Nothing is forever in life. The distance between now and forever is even shorter in Internet time.

Why is social media so attractive an addiction?

Being on social media is largely a performative gesture. If you’re going to participate, as opposed to just lurking and following, you’re choosing to share what you think or feel, in and of itself, quite a bit like performing. Some do it as themselves, some adopt personas.

If you rub digital elbows with celebrities, sports heroes, and other favorites, you get to bask in their spotlight while pretending that you are actually communicating with those larger than life folks with large followings. Think of it has having a backstage pass. You’re part of the entourage, part of the show. At least in your mind. And like all performers that’s where the juice is juiciest. In the little theatre or grand stages of their own minds.

But, the minute you step on any stage you also open yourself up, and become vulnerable to judgment, criticism, and yes, ridicule and possible abuse. Willing to share, many recoil at the responses that can come flying back their way, yet some thrive and build lucrative lifestyles from it. To say you need a thick skin and not care oversimplifies and understates the paradox. Protestations aside, (“I don’t read reviews”), all performers care. Even stating you don’t care is an act that shows how much you actually care.

Reacting to Reactions

Everyone wants whatever new social network pond they are swimming in to be either what TwitterX was before Musk, or anti-what TwitterX became. Everyone also wants their pond to be just the right temperature and free from scum. Except of course the scum. There will always be scum no matter how many ways of blocking or muting a network can provide.

Variety may be the spice of life, but there’s also a healthy clamoring for all of these new networks to work together. Protocol debates are heating up and some interesting solutions for cross pollination are buzzing about. Quite honestly I hope whatever we end up with will be something different with distinctions with differences among them.

I don’t expect any of these social networks will find ways to escape, or be free from whatever you, I, or someone might consider bad or wrong behavior. You would have to get rid of humans to do that. (Maybe we’re heading that way faster than we think. *Cough* AI *Cough*). There are new features in all of these newer networks that are reactions to how things sunk so low on Twitter/X. Call them reactions. Every action may have an equal and opposite reaction, but that’s a cycle that never ends.

Why we should have an expectation of a safe and conflict free “social” network when we live in an age when we can’t expect that at a sporting event, a church, or a family holiday gathering is beyond me. I’ve always viewed social media no differently than I view any other social interaction, there’s just a safer illusion of freedom when you’re behind a keyboard and not face to face. Remember, TwitterX had its bad actors even when it was in its prime.

Real Time

Bad actors notwithstanding, there will never be another Twitter/X-like social network that resembles what it was in that heyday. Those days and that utility are gone. In my feeds I could get real-time local news, as well as real-time news from around the planet. I could communicate with companies I did business with, promote my own, and receive technical support, (remember ComcastCares and Frank Eliason?) There was also great fun to be had reacting online in real-time to sporting or current events.

The key to all of that was the real-time or near real-time utility of Twitter. Currently none of the newer networks comes close to that. I doubt they ever will.

Bluesky looks like it might have the best chance of achieving some semblance of that real-time utility, but it’s early and it has a ways to go before any determination can be made. What is obvious is that Bluesky has put up enough of a threat to Threads, which seems to have no interest in anything approaching real time, that Meta is making rapid changes signaling they are feeling the pressure. All that means is we’re going to see some bursts of activity and change as competition, perceived or real, heats up. In real time.

What was Twitter/X wasn’t built in a day and just like everything else happening in the world we’re in a period of transition without knowing, but perhaps fearing, what we’re transitioning to. So, it is wise to be skeptical.

Far be it from me to tell anyone where to consume or perform on social media. I’ll continue to explore what’s out there, because one way or another we’re heading somewhere different, perhaps faster than we could have imagined a short time ago.

Pick your poison.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Tough reading for tough times in today’s Sunday Morning Reading.

It’s a Sunday. I’ve been reading. As usual I’ll share some of that with you in today’s Sunday Morning Reading.

I started out the week thinking I’d try to avoid politics. That didn’t work. Sort of like getting a cancer diagnosis and not wanting to know anything about the disease taking over your body. So, apologies if there isn’t much “light” reading today.

I’ll start of with an anonymous piece published in The Guardian. We all knew misogyny was a feature of the incoming frat party that will be the new administration. I don’t think anyone thought it would filter down so quickly to high schools. The Boys In Our Liberal School Are Different Now That Trump Has Won, tells that story. Woe be onto us and our children.

David Todd McCarty is working out how to get through the day these days. Check out We’re All Just Killing Time.

Sherrilyn Ifill calls her piece The Truth. It is. And it’s hard.

Joan Westenberg says the way to destroy a generation is to make them think the word runs on feelings and then use those feelings against them. Check out How To Destroy a Generation.

David French thinks Donald Trump Is Already Starting to Fail. Great. Too bad he’s going to take the rest of us down with him.

Norman Solomon is optimistic about Hope In A Time of Fascism.

Margaret Sullivan tries to debunk some of the lies rolling around this history changing moment in As Trump Plans Become Clearer, Reject These Four Dangerous Lies.

Life may feel too short to worry about some things. But it’s all a matter of perspective. Check out Natasha MH in Life’s Too Short for Matching Socks.

And to close things out, BlueSky is the latest social network to experience a burst of new users. This time the the burst is due largely in reaction against Musk’s rape of Twitter/X, and dissatisfaction with Zuckerberg’s Threads, which had been the darling for awhile. Mike Issac takes a look in Bluesky Is Growing Up. Maybe Too Fast.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks, including Bluesky, under my own name.

Croissant is a Treat for Social Media Cross-Posting

Croissant is a sweet and simple app for social media cross-posters.

With the social media world still very much atwitter and scattered among various platforms in the wake of Twitter’s destruction at the hands of Elon Musk, some users like myself traverse across the multiple platforms seeking to replace it. That’s all well and good as far as it goes, but it presents a first world problem of having to post separately for those who do.

To the rescue comes Croissant. A lovely little app from indie developers Ben McCarthy and Aaron Vegh that simplifies cross-posting to Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky. While there are promises a plenty of interactivity via ActivityPub, that’s still by and large a waiting game. I also don’t think buying into a protocol will be the simple answer most think it will be for differing complex platform agendas. Meanwhile Croissant serves up a tasty treat for cross-posters.

In this first version the action is sweet and simple as is the design. Feed in your account credentials and cross-post away. You can add photos, hashtags, and you can tag someone in your post assuming you know their handle and it’s the same across multiple platforms. Swipe right to delete a post, swipe left to create a thread.

You can choose to spill out your toots, threads, and posts to all three, or pick and choose where each pearl of wisdom drops. You can also save drafts and create threaded posts. For those who manage multiple accounts on any of the platforms it provides a one-stop solution. Croissant also delivers the now table stakes of different color schemes and your choice of icons.

I’d like to add more to this quick review, but there’s no need. In its first iteration Croissant does what it does simply enough and that is its elegance and its utility. The developers have a road map for adding new features in the future, but I hope hanging on to the “buttery smooth” simplicity remains a priority.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Why and How I Use Mastodon

We’ve just marked the anniversary of Elon Musk purchasing Twitter. You could call it the beginning of the end. Many see it as a dark day. I’m just the opposite. Musk buying Twitter and then selfishly and sadistically delighting in destroying it will probably go down in history as one of the best things that could have happened to and on the Internet. And perhaps civilization. Maybe not. Regardless, Musk jolted folks out of complacency and into a self-reexamination that in my opinion tilts the scale of humanity to the better side.

We’re a year into whatever this moment is or will be and it’s been a bumpy ride. Like many of those who saw what was coming I began looking for a new social media home. I’ve tried out most of the social media alternatives that have sprung up. Currently I’m on Mastodon , Bluesky and Threads. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and a few other places. Regardless of the digs, my shingle is my real name. But where I feel the most comfortable, most informed, most entertained, and most aligned is Mastodon.

Welcome to the land where Mastodons roam. Here’s why and here’s how I use Mastodon.

Of the many things I’m interested in I like to keep current with events. I like to discover new things. News, yes, but not just news. Every day I learn something new is a good day is not only my mantra but it’s why my two great passions in life, making theatre and playing with technology, keep me going. I also love to share discoveries. I’m a theatre director. I share stories that others write. I write the occasional one myself. So, yes I’m a storyteller but also a story sharer. Combine all of that into a mix and I think that’s why the Internet should exist. And for me, that’s why social media as a construct works. Here’s the bio I use on social media websites:

Gadfly. Flying through life as a gadget geek and theatre artist…commenting along the way. Every day I learn something new is a good day. Boosts offered without endorsement. Comments on the other hand…

When it comes to comments and opinions I’m an opinionated SOB. I’ve got enough mileage on me to not give a damn if you disagree with mine, but to respect that you have one. Even if you’re wrong. I find humor and sadness to be two sides of the same coin. Pain and joy the same. I wish we lived on the edge of those coins more than we’re able or comfortable with. Because the highs and lows of life really are on the edges. Not on flat surfaces lying on flat surfaces held down by gravity.

Mastodon was and is a reaction to the evolution and destruction of Twitter. I first opened a Mastodon account long before Musk mucked up his new joint. But I didn’t really start using it until I was a part of the first big wave of Twitter refugees looking for a new place to do the things social media does for me. Mastodon, a year into regular usage does that.

Now let me be clear. In my view the success or lack thereof of any congregation depends on the users and those who own or control it working in tandem. Users are like having employees. The minute you have one employee you have an employee problem. Given Mastodon’s place in the larger Fediverse and the large number of federated servers, many with different rules of the road, I’m amazed things seem to have settled in they way they feel to me. There have been some hiccups, and moments of angst, but the folks I’m following and who follow me seem to be the sort of characters I’d like to hang out with in a bar. I’m constantly exposed to new thoughts, new things, new people and I feel like what I share is generally welcomed, agreed with or not. There are very few days when I feel I haven’t learned something new.

Is it a place just for like-minds? Maybe. Time will tell. But I think not exclusively. Witness the discussions currently as the world is experiecing the trauma in the Middle East. There’s tension. And it’s real. There’s divergent views. How could there not be? If there’s common ground it’s one that feels grounded somewhat in respect. I could be wrong, that could change, but that’s how I feel it at the moment.

Do I think that will last forever? Not on your life. As far as Internet gathering places, and I’ve gathered at a bunch from BBS’s to forums to chatrooms to where we are today, they always end up changing. Typically for the worse. Users and waves of users come and go. Things change. Such is life.

So that’s the WHY. Here’s the HOW.

The key for me is Lists. I follow a ton of folks and interests. Trying to keep up in my Home feed is almost, but not quite impossible so I rely on separating areas of interests into Lists. I break my key Lists down this way:
Favorites: People and interests I want to keep up with in general
VIP: Folks I want to see every thing they toot.
Apple: Apple (and other) tech journalists, geeks, and developers I want to keep an eye on what they’re working or reporting on.
Chicago: Folks and topics from where I live.
Old People of Mastodon: Folks like myself that have accumulated some mileage. That list is generated via a hashtag.
Lisa Melton: This prolific booster has her own list and it’s through her generous sharing I discover so many new folks and ideas. I can’t imagine Mastodon without her.
Laffy: The best person to follow for up to date poltiical news, especially during our current lifetime of legal linguini. If I need a quck catch up on the day I can without fail catch up by viewing this List of her toots.

I also have lists for Science, Photography, Theatre, and the Arts. These I follow as hashtags. I create others as I discover things of interest I want to follow.

Within that VIP List I have a select few folks I’ve set up Notifications for. Meaning if they toot I’m going to see it on my iPhone or my Apple Watch.

On the Mac via the web I use the Advanced Web Interface mostly because it constantly updates the number of columns I’ve chosen. Occasionally I’ll use Ivory. I’d use it more if it updated continuosly. (Can you tell I miss Tweetdeck?)

On iPhones and iPads I’m using a combination of the apps Ivory, IceCubes and Mona. I like to vary things up a bit. Ivory is my go to on the iPhone but there are things I like about IceCubes and Mona as well. Mona is my go to on the iPad. I like its handling of columns the best on that device. With Ivory on any of those devices I can also keep track of and post to my acounts on Bluesky and Pixelfed.

I have an older Android phone for testing some things out and I use the app Trunks on that device.

On my Apple Watch I use the excellent app Stomp. I don’t spend much time with it (or any app for that matter) on the Apple Watch, but if I’m out and about and I get a notification from someone on my VIP list, it’s a handy way to quickly glance at what they’re tooting about.

I use Hashtags a lot and find them handy if I need to search for something. Being able to follow a Hashtag and pin it to a column in the Advanced Web Interface is a real plus. I also use Favorites and Bookmarks to keep track of toots I may want to refer back to. Favorites is also a great way to acknowledge someone else’s toot. I try to do a #FollowFriday toot each week sharing new folks I stumble across.

And yes I refer to what people put on Mastodon as a “toot.” I understand some despise the use of “toot.” Get over yourselves and welcome some whimsy into your life. (Told you I was opinionated.)

So there it is. The Why and How of why I enjoy Mastodon and spend the overwhelmingly majority of my social media life on that website. As I said, I’m also on Bluesky and Threads. I’m not sure Bluesky knows what it wants to be any longer, which is probably why I can’t figure it out either. I’ve still got some invites for Bluesky if you want to try and figure it out. And Threads is having a bit of of a social media moment, currently gaining traction among a new wave of refugees from Musk’s mayhem. What’s funny to have witnessed on both sites is the exact same series of new user reactions as I witnessed on Mastodon.

Here’s the script:

This place feels so much nicer.

There’s no nazis here.

Where is this feature?

I’m having a hard time getting my followers to move here.

I miss my “whatever number of followers” from Twitter but the engagement is better here.

Block liberally. We don’t want this here.

I’ve replaced Twitter with this app on my Home Screen.

I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to tell my followers I’m here.

I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to check in now and then. Boy has it gotten worse.

I’m not contributing to Twitter any more and I’m thinking of deleting my acount.

This is why I deleted my account on Twitter.

Which in the end points out that the only thing that separates social media interaction from the local bar or diner, the church recreation hall, or any place humans gather is use of the Internet. To each his/her own. At the moment I feel like Mastodon is the place I want to hang out for a few drinks and enjoy some fellowship. I’ll continue to visit others and participate there as well. Because you never know when someone’s going to come in and wreck the joint.

Oh, and you can find me at Mastodon here.

Ivory for Mastodon Brings Out the Cheers!

Toot the Horns!

iOS and Mac developer Tapbots gladdened the hearts of many today with the iPhone and iPad release of Ivory, a new app for using the social network Mastodon.

I won’t go into much detail about the app itself because Frederico Viticci has covered it brilliantly on Macstories.net. Here’s a sample of that review from the opening paragraph.

There’s an intangible, permeating quality about Tapbots apps that trascends features and specs: craftsmanship. With Ivory, launching today on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, you can instantly appreciate that level of care and refinement that the Texas-based duo is well known for after more than a decade on the App Store. But there’s something else, too: for the first time in a few years, it feels like Mark and Paul are having fun again.

He covers the ins and outs of the features of the app well, so if you’re interested check out that review.

What I will spend a few mintues on is the rich journey the developers Paul and Mark have gifted all of us interested in the app and its development.

CleanShot 2023 01 24 at 12 08 59 2x

Tapbots is a premium app developer for Apple devices. Its Twitter client Tweetbot set many a standard along with the other great apps that have come out of that company. (I’ve used them all.) When things began going sideways with Twitter after Elon Musk’s purchase many became concerned about the longevity of the third-party Twitter apps that we used to access that social network. (Twitter’s own app has never been liked, only tolerated.)

Sure enough, Musk and his minions unceremoniously cut off access for Tapbots, IconFactory, and other 3rd-party app developers for his newly acquired plaything. When I say unceremonius-think kicked to the curb without so much as a fare thee well.

As Paul and Mark (and other developers for other apps) began working on apps to access Mastodon, they all created quite a bit of excitement along the way. But the Tapbots team not only treated us to a beautiful first beta version of the app, but with wonderful glimpses into some of their process along the way.

I can tell you that the journey was keenly followed, supported and encouraged. As will be the new Ivory app. I can speak for myself and only speculate for others, but their efforts in sharing the journey add an intangible yet very real extra-special value to the lovely finished product that exceeds anything I’ve ever felt or seen surrounding the release of a piece of sofware.

Let me just say this. Tapbots has long been a favorite developer of software for Apple devices. Paul and Mark capitalized on that hard won and much deserved loyalty and took what could have been a crushing blow and turned it into what I believe will be an extraordinary success story by letting their users participate along the way.

Any company, regardless of product, should take note.

Tech Predictions for 2023

I thought I’d jot down a few tech predictions for 2023. So here we go.

There will be tech news in 2023. There will be grand promises and grander failures. It will be entertaining, a bit crazy, and ultimately meh as the latest in a round of bad bets come due or come closer to being so.

Apple will make a ton of money in 2023 even though some governments want to design products for them. Apple won’t have as easy a time of it as it has in recent years for a number of reasons including some self-inflicted wounds.

Artificial Intelligence will continue to be a dominant story until chat bots start writing most of the tech stories.

The Metaverse will further try to wriggle out of the pond with or without legs. With other companies jumping into the “let’s put an expensive, goofy-looking, headache inducing gizmo on your head” it will be one of the comic tech highlights of the next few years before this whole thing ends where it was always destined to: an enterprise play.

Cyrpto will continue to falter as the denizens of the latest refuge of scammers discover that they’ve sucked all the money they can from the available suckers. There certainly won’t be any Super Bowl commercials.

Streaming Entertainment will continue to figure out that they haven’t figured it out yet. Consolidation will begin in earnest, hopefully before the streamers cancel all of the shows.

Twitter. Who the hell knows. It’s owner sure doesn’t.

Mastodon and federated social networking will continue growing pains as it continues to grow and becomes less of a pain for new users to gain entry.

Humans. Humans will be the biggest tech story behind the stories that capture the headlines. The humans who create tech will continue to be in some form of tension with the humans who use it. Humans who do use tech will continue to look less and less for tech to solve their problems, understanding before tech creators that all tech solutions aren’t necessarily going to change the world. At least until the tech creators understand that they need humans to talk to humans to help them solve the problems with the products they create. Or until the robots show up.

Where the Mastodons Roam

So I’m hanging out on Mastodon these days. It’s the social networking site that quite a few folks have found to continue their social networking addiction, thanks to Elon Musk’s behavior as the new owner of Twitter. So far I’m liking it quite a bit. Scratch that. I’m liking it a lot. So do many of the folks I’m hanging out with.

If you’ve come to this blog post from Mastodon you’ll recognize most of the things folks are saying in my thoughts. Yes, it’s more civil. Yes, the Mastodonians are working hard to keep it that way in reacton to the Musk melon’s mucking up the joint. Yes, it’s not Twitter. Yes, the engagement is richer. And yes, it’s fun.

I’m here to tell you that I haven’t had as much fun with an Internet thingie since, well… since Twitter first came along.

While Mastodon has existed for awhile (I first staked out a piece of turf in May of last year), it picked up a fast blossoming head of steam once Musk’s purchase of Twitter went through. That momentum seems to be continuing. And those who’ve set up shop in these recent waves of refugees seem to be enjoying themselves as much as I am.

In addition to hanging out there it led to this blog. I stopped blogging and writing on the Internet primarily due to Twitter’s existence. I’m not alone in that. But as Mastodon is gaining in popularity, there appears to be a parallel resurgence in personal blogging. That urge hit me as well and here we are.

Twitter may have turned into the place of “owning” someone with a witty response, but “being owned” accelerated into a whole new nasty meaning in the last few months. So, Mastodon or no, it was time for a change.

For those who don’t know, Mastodon is set up as a decentralized network where no one person has control or ownership. It exists in a place(?) called the Fediverse. There are many Instances (or servers) where folks can find a home, and those Instances are interconnected through the Internet. If you’re not paying attention to that structural distinction Mastodon feels like a similar experience to Twitter. I’m reasonably certain that Mastodon will run into some issues down the road given its structure and philosophy. But that’s for another day.

There are other types of services in the Fediverse as well. Pixelfed is an Instagram-like service Yes, I’ve staked out a spot there as well, though I’m not that active currently. And if you’re starting to sense that these services on the Fediverse sound reactionary, then you’re correct. I’ll probably spew out some words on that in the future.

But for the moment I’m enjoying that fun I referred to earlier. Not only is the service new (we all like new things and self-validate our new choices) but the energy in the eco-system surrounding Mastodon feels very much like the days when mobile tech exploded after the launch of the iPhone. I’ve tried out more new apps in recent months than I have in the last couple of years. I’m re-discovering folks who I followed but somehow lost sight of on Twitter while discovering new folks in abundance.

So, if you choose to visit this blog you’ll be hearing more about Mastodon in the future. If you choose to find your way there you can check me out at this link.