Someone our family has known forever recently told my sister that they’ve been reading my Substack and that if they wrote the things I write, people would call them crazy. I got a kick out of that—not because it’s untrue, but because it reveals something darker about where we’ve ended up as a society. Most people are terrified of being themselves in public.My sister’s response made me laugh: “People do call him crazy. He simply doesn’t care.” The funniest part is that I don’t even write the craziest stuff I research—just the stuff I can back up with sources and/or my own personal observations. I always try to stay rooted in logic, reason, and facts, though—I’m clear when I’m speculating and when I’m not.This same guy has sent me dozens of private messages over the last 4 or 5 years challenging me on stuff I share online. I’ll respond with source material or common sense, and then—crickets. He disappears. If I say something he doesn’t want to hear, he vanishes like a child covering his ears. Over the last few years, I’ve been proven right about most of what we’ve argued about, and he’s been wrong. But it doesn’t matter—he’s got the memory of a gnat and the pattern never changes.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @joseph_at_nostr_fan 7h
The problem is the lack of anonymity, and the weaponizing of law, and NGOs who persecute those who do not follow like obedient sheep what the state, or Big Corps want to promote.
Examine what is happening in the UK, and EU where posting a meme, or criticizing a woke or immigration policy can result in a fine, or even jail time.
In Canada speech is under attack too, it seems only the US is resisting this immense pressure, but it was mostly because Trump won, and him, and his party were the targets of huge lawfare, and persecution.
The cowards are not stupid, they notice what happens when they open their mouth.
How to turn cowards into cowboys? Give them tech to speak out anonymously, elect politicians that value freedom, reduce the size of useless bureaucracies, remove censorship laws, and increase the amount of decentralized news... also places like Stacker News help, since a level of anonymity, and the ability to share and discuss news is rewarded. We need many more venues like it!
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