…You end up knowing things. Because you know; the world is revealed to be mad. But because you knew, you end up becoming mad to the world.

I cant do it. Even if Im wrong about a particular event… Ive lost the ability to trust the opinions of people I genuinely trust or care about. I cant engage in any way with people who view the Iran protests or the HK protests or Taiwan issue or the Donbass conflict.

I must have gone insane.

  • Max
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    9
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    2 years ago

    Definitely something I’ve extensively dealt with—leading to all sorts of existential turmoil and psychological distress, unfortunately. And really it’s something I’ve only recently come to grips with. It has become clear to me that (to borrow your language a bit) Lovecraftian madness only manifests if one cannot resist the impulse to try to convince others to see the world as one does. For me, it stemmed from the all-too-common and frequently extemporaneous notion that someone learning of some piece of knowledge necessarily results in meaningful change in their behavior that would, by some mechanism, spread to others thereby changing society for the better. But the fact of the matter is, some average USAmerican’s opinion on regime change is as meaningful as their opinion on whether it was appropriate for Peter Jackson to omit Tom Bombadil from the fellowship of the ring—it wasn’t their choice to make in the first place.

    Idk if that helps in anyway, but it’s a perspective that positively changed how I interact with the people I care about—some of whom happen to be tragically hopeless but ultimately well-meaning libs. I’m lucky that much of my family and friends are pinkos at the very least, so I’m not sure how to contend with the outright reactionaries should you want or need to do so.

    • @GloriousDoubleKOP
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      82 years ago

      It isnt their choice to make. That is true. If they were true believers, they would join the military. At least that’s what I tell myself.

      • Max
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        52 years ago

        Even then, the rank and file US soldiers’ crimes are murder, terrorizing, and theft; they still do not have any control over the ‘levers of power’. They’re quite explicitly just a tool of those in charge.