Re: Qanon: This is when I started reporting-and-blocking all the misinformation, harassment, trolling, etc I came across on Twitter. I deliberately sought it out - block people before they can find out you exist, before they decide to target you for their followers to pile on. I'd do this for hours every day. I still do, though this past week or so, I've spent hours instead window-shopping on eBay. Twitter must automatically disregard my reports. But I wouldn't send them so many reports, if there wasn't so much stuff to report.
Re: cults: Maybe my concern for Qanon people arose from the fact that I could have been one of them, had I not seen warning signs. I discovered a website when I was looking to find out what a music video was about. That was interesting. I dropped the website, however, when realising that every person who covers one eye when photographed is likely not a victim of sex trafficking. Mostly, covering one eye is not that deep. So I unsubscribed from the site, and blogs and feed readers were being phased out, anyway. (I miss Google Reader.)
Re: feeling superior: Every time I hear of a school shooting - or any mass shooting - in the USA. Because I was born, raised, and still live in suburban Australia. Never had live-shooter drills, because no reason to. If there are guns, they belong to farmers with livestock. The motorcycle gangs and crime families. Not suburban Australians. Not people owning them claiming that they do so in order to "protect". There was a gun amnesty after Port Arthur, of which I was too young to remember at the time. Even with a prime minister whose party I don't like, the politicians of all parties came together to do what was right. The superior smugness of "we did it, so USA could too - they just don't want to". Or not enough to. American gun culture is a thing that maybe suburban Australians like me might never truly understand. And that's a blessing. Not personally having a reason to worry about gun violence is a privilege, when it should be a right.
I don't think your essay harms. I don't know if it helps, but it lets readers know that we're not the only people feeling this way, or at least in some aspects.
I'm feeling a lot of this.
Re: Qanon: This is when I started reporting-and-blocking all the misinformation, harassment, trolling, etc I came across on Twitter. I deliberately sought it out - block people before they can find out you exist, before they decide to target you for their followers to pile on. I'd do this for hours every day. I still do, though this past week or so, I've spent hours instead window-shopping on eBay. Twitter must automatically disregard my reports. But I wouldn't send them so many reports, if there wasn't so much stuff to report.
Re: cults: Maybe my concern for Qanon people arose from the fact that I could have been one of them, had I not seen warning signs. I discovered a website when I was looking to find out what a music video was about. That was interesting. I dropped the website, however, when realising that every person who covers one eye when photographed is likely not a victim of sex trafficking. Mostly, covering one eye is not that deep. So I unsubscribed from the site, and blogs and feed readers were being phased out, anyway. (I miss Google Reader.)
Re: feeling superior: Every time I hear of a school shooting - or any mass shooting - in the USA. Because I was born, raised, and still live in suburban Australia. Never had live-shooter drills, because no reason to. If there are guns, they belong to farmers with livestock. The motorcycle gangs and crime families. Not suburban Australians. Not people owning them claiming that they do so in order to "protect". There was a gun amnesty after Port Arthur, of which I was too young to remember at the time. Even with a prime minister whose party I don't like, the politicians of all parties came together to do what was right. The superior smugness of "we did it, so USA could too - they just don't want to". Or not enough to. American gun culture is a thing that maybe suburban Australians like me might never truly understand. And that's a blessing. Not personally having a reason to worry about gun violence is a privilege, when it should be a right.
I don't think your essay harms. I don't know if it helps, but it lets readers know that we're not the only people feeling this way, or at least in some aspects.
Thank you for sharing it.