The left obviously has a huge language problem.
"Anti-DEI" is a prime example of the left accepting extremely problematic right-wing framing.
If you're anti-diversity, you're pro what now? Hmm?
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Unexpectedly triggering phrase: "mutable state" 😭
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Hooray, we're about to get a refresher on why all those pesky processes exist!
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/musk-cronies-dive-into-treasury-dept-payments-code-base
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What a perfect end to #FluConf: a beautiful, short piece of writing on the need to dream bigger when small fixes just aren't working-
https://notapplicable.dev/daring-to-dream
Key question it poses: "Where are we escaping to, and how do we transform this imaginary world into reality?"
It's also a welcome call for more spaces in the spirit of #FluConf, trying to regrow conferences from principles of liberation.
Thank you, @anna and kudos to @fluconf !
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"The most effective tool for starting a collective of any kind is copy-paste" -Calix
[#]fluconf https://cast.coopcloud.tech/
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This writing from Erica (ERN) contributed as part of #FluConf speaks directly to the need to invent ourselves and our future: https://riveraerica.com/fluconf2025
If you already sense the importance of imagination in predicting-shaping the future, this article opens some windows to other thinkers in this area and gives some good reflection points.
And TIL the word "autofabulation," which I hope becomes Word of the Year 2026.
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In retrospect, this article doesn't go nearly far enough.
It's not enough to welcome dissent when it happens, I think it's essential to actively seek the views that are being systemically squeezed out of your field of view.
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I wrote about this with a software angle a while ago, but I really can't stand "nobody could have known."
Somebody knows, it's up to us to pay attention to them.
https://medium.com/@ElizAyer/nobody-could-have-known-inclusive-behaviors-to-counter-a-culture-of-short-termism-cf662e1bab26
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So the fundamental question of resistance isn't actually about you individually knowing the outcome. It's a question of who you're giving your attention and belief to.
Who do you believe, the marginalized people who have been screaming their warnings of disaster, or the powerful people (e.g. media) who are signalling doubt about the outcome?
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In fact, somebody could have known. In nearly all cases, somebody already knows. We're just dismissing them, out of well-ingrained habit. We lean into doubt about ever knowing the future. "Well, you don't know know."
But doubt is always applied more to the less powerful.
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In one sense, I love this question. I think perfectly describes the frustrating uncertainty of operating in any complex system, but especially in sensing disastrous outcomes.
But I also hate this question, because of its "nobody could have known" implications.
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"But one must foresee the end in order to resist, or even see, the beginnings. One must foresee the end clearly and certainly and how is this to be done, by ordinary men or even by extraordinary men?"
This quote from a history of WWII Germany names the core problem:
we have to guess the outcome in a complex system before we can even see its beginning.
The fundamental paradox of knowing when and how to resist.
From They Thought They Were Free: the Germans, 1933-45 https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.htm
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Wow. #fluconf today (Feb 1). Just wow.
Online. Each session hosted by the individual who has something to say.
Directory here: https://fluconf.online/program/
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This may be less natural, but there are also other forms of engagement you can pick up. People like Americans of Conscience put out lists like this: https://americansofconscience.com/01-24-2025/
No list that aligns with your politics? Time to make one! These times are begging for leadership, not pile-ons.
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Specifically, harassing civil servants is really not the engaged political action to go for right now.
The people whose face is on a change may be working very, very hard to soften its impact. Don't make this even harder.
If you want to help, preserve data sets, fork repos, pick up the work and keep it going in the direction you want. Advocate in your own sphere for things others can't lead on right now.
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Treating large organizations as monoliths never makes any sense. In this, or any other political climate, organizations are necessarily diverse. They are ecosystems.
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From Vought, the proposed new head of the US Office of Management and Budget:
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” he said. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can't do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so.
“We want to put them in trauma.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/video-donald-trump-russ-vought-center-renewing-america-maga
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@romeu update: OMG UPSIDE DOWN WAS SO GOOD.
I absolutely adored this book. It has given me a totally new understanding of how the countries south of the USA have already been experiencing our violent, dehumanizing future.
Incredible vision and perspective.
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Great to see so-called meritocracy is under the spotlight again!
Here's a paper I like on the subject, exploring a cumulative social inequality model: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/39799/7/1323748_a723_Karanika-Murray.pdf
It concludes that "reducing occupational segmentation and the 'winner-take-all' nature of structures and being more self-critical toward the meritocratic ideology would help them to attain that goal [of avoiding cumulative inequality]."
Enjoy!
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OK hear me out: sideways bifocals for giving someone the side-eye and seeing them more clearly on video calls.
Gonna call them "slyfocals."
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text/gemini
