I hadn't posted on X since very early in 2014 and the other day I nuked my account, that had been locked down tight as could be.
There was no value. The place is a vortex of ignorance and shit. Turning at great speed and consuming all who throw themselves into it. However great the victories in the moment they are pyrrhic.
The right are going to lose, because they are wrong and their increasing exploitation and extremism will in due course turn people against them.
Perhaps rather than spreading yourself thinly focus on where you are able to influence and make a difference.
I'm sitting in our garden office and the peace this evening has been disturbed by the harvest taking place a few hundred yards away. We are in the country on the edge of a working village.
The machinery just silenced and I looked up at the sky at the swifts and swallows hunting insects on the wind.
Yet there was also a Red Kite. Soaring high and looking for prey. A few moments ago it stooped on some hapless rodent, just out of view to me.
And that is perhaps a metaphor for dealing with the malign actors who hog the cycle of the news circus, whilst doing nothing of note or merit.
I think one point it is easy to forget is whatever you think of this country....paradise to hell hole or somewhere in between it is where you are going to live your life. Unless you have the resources to just up sticks and choose somewhere else. So if you don't best just get on with it. You can moan about small boats, big boats, plonkers, morons, and geniuses and people who differ from you but that's not going to change the price of fish. So best just get along, keep paddling your canoe in what you hope is the right direction for you and hope for a good journey cos one day the journey will be complete and we don't know when.
Thank you so much for this. A perfectly timed reminder. I actually made the decision to ban myself from Facebook yesterday as all that rioting shite was taking up too much room in my head. I forgot to remind myself that none of it was part of my real world I also forgot that I actually have a choice as to whether I read it or just scroll on by. I am my own worst enemy.
I quit Twitter (for the second time in 5 years) a few months back when I realised how annoyed it was making me. I had felt it was some kind of duty to try and preserve decency and stand up against the ‘forces of evil’ who’ve risen to dominance under Musk’s ownership. Then I thought about it, and it thought about how angry and often despondent these opinions were making me all the time, and how detached from actual reality that hellhole is. So I decided to let it go after something like 18 years, and deleted the app from my phone and tablet.
The positive effects were almost instantaneous, not having to try and debate almost every news article Farage took advantage of with brainwashed right wing bigoted Reformorons that they were genuinely being fleeced by the Turquoise Tories, mollycoddled multimillionaires playing at being the voice of the people and some kind of magical panacea so they can take their rights away and acquire yet more wealth they don’t really need, because their parents gave them a fortune anyway, was a relief to me. My blood pressure has lowered, my mood is much improved, heck I’ve even been known to smile and laugh in company now rather than try make them realise what a danger to the nation the Reformorons are!
The peace and quiet is so pleasant, I don’t miss Shitter, as I renamed it (If Elon can, I can!) one bit, and here in the real world I don’t see or hear about Farage and his band of idiots every hour all day long. I don’t have to deal with racists, bigots, extremists and misinformation broadcasters any more, except on that rare occasion when I might meet one, but I can just walk away because in the real world, they’re a minority that decent people shun. A great weight has been lifted from me, and I don’t want to go back to it, now or ever if I think about it.
Do, please, make time for yourself. A lot of us need the grounding we get from reading your articles, and that comes from you being in the correct "this is ridiculous, or this makes me angry" space.
I was so sorry to hear about your dad. The decline of dementia is very hard to deal with, and I think particularly if relations were already strained.
I'd give you a hug, so hug your husband instead - unless he's too tired for that. G
I have been off Twitter( as I like to call it) for at least 3 months and feel cleansed. Also disengaged with the BBC News because it infuriates me. If only there had been 14 years prior, of equal political scrutiny! The bias is palpable. I am happily reading your musings and well considered thoughts and many other bright and lovely folk on Substack and my world has been much sunnier.
My neighbour spends far too much time on Facebook & thinks there’s a child snatcher on every street corner, it’s deeply unhealthy. I left Xitter to consume itself without me sometime last year & stick to BlueSky where I main reside in Wulferhampton where we make our own reality. You are very welcome to join us.😁
Absolutely. I have a neighbour who spends far too much time on Facebook & thinks there’s a child snatcher on every corner as a result. It’s deeply unhealthy. I abandoned Xitter to consume itself without me some time last year & now reside exclusively on BlueSky, mainly in the realm of Wulferhampton, where we make our own reality. You are always welcome to join us. 😁
Dear Bear, much as I enjoy and appreciate your exquisite commentary, please do doff the glasses and take time for yourself.
Oddly enough I tend to do the opposite, in that to escape the world I get out and party with my wife. This weekend has been LGBT+ Christmas, aka Manchester Pride. So a weekend of partying in Manchester with fun happy people and seeing some amazing acts (not just the headliers). Tomorrow it's back to reality, dealing with a job that is getting progressively crap (though ever the glass half full person, keep hoping it will start the uphill swing soon), but also planning our three week Christmas escape to the Philippines 🇵🇭, yup we get two Chrismasses each year :)
Enjoy your downtime.
(Who knows, perhaps we will see you at LGBT+ Christmas next year.)
I find it fascinating that I too this weekend, decided largely to avoid the Twshittersphere and instead, occupy myself with more fulfilling activities.
I've seen two friends who I haven't shared quality time with in what seems like a century and enjoyed tootling around this wonderful nation of ours, traversing several hundred miles thus far.
The shouty banal antics of rather extreme, but largely irrelevant, people can be far too distracting. It's just so utterly disappointing that during the Parliamentary lull of summer, the media decide to gobble up, then regurgitate with added bile, such insignificant mindless acts of minor protest as if it were the imminent decline of society as we know it.
You, I, and the other contributors to this little thread, have all recognised the same. We must simply be mindful not to ignore for too long, the decibel-fuelled gripes expressed by the frustrated, lest they gain too much traction or influence. It's important to suppress the ill-educated echo of the downtrodden, as they clutch at the nonsense they are fed as "explanation" for their woes. Gentle but firm education must always be offered, illuminating the fact that it is the rich and powerful who are amplifying this narrative in order to satisfy their own insatiable greed.
Evening Bear.
An interesting read, as always.
I hadn't posted on X since very early in 2014 and the other day I nuked my account, that had been locked down tight as could be.
There was no value. The place is a vortex of ignorance and shit. Turning at great speed and consuming all who throw themselves into it. However great the victories in the moment they are pyrrhic.
The right are going to lose, because they are wrong and their increasing exploitation and extremism will in due course turn people against them.
Perhaps rather than spreading yourself thinly focus on where you are able to influence and make a difference.
I'm sitting in our garden office and the peace this evening has been disturbed by the harvest taking place a few hundred yards away. We are in the country on the edge of a working village.
The machinery just silenced and I looked up at the sky at the swifts and swallows hunting insects on the wind.
Yet there was also a Red Kite. Soaring high and looking for prey. A few moments ago it stooped on some hapless rodent, just out of view to me.
And that is perhaps a metaphor for dealing with the malign actors who hog the cycle of the news circus, whilst doing nothing of note or merit.
You mirror my thoughts exactly in this post.
The internet has given empty vessels the means to make even more noise….
I think one point it is easy to forget is whatever you think of this country....paradise to hell hole or somewhere in between it is where you are going to live your life. Unless you have the resources to just up sticks and choose somewhere else. So if you don't best just get on with it. You can moan about small boats, big boats, plonkers, morons, and geniuses and people who differ from you but that's not going to change the price of fish. So best just get along, keep paddling your canoe in what you hope is the right direction for you and hope for a good journey cos one day the journey will be complete and we don't know when.
Thank you so much for this. A perfectly timed reminder. I actually made the decision to ban myself from Facebook yesterday as all that rioting shite was taking up too much room in my head. I forgot to remind myself that none of it was part of my real world I also forgot that I actually have a choice as to whether I read it or just scroll on by. I am my own worst enemy.
I quit Twitter (for the second time in 5 years) a few months back when I realised how annoyed it was making me. I had felt it was some kind of duty to try and preserve decency and stand up against the ‘forces of evil’ who’ve risen to dominance under Musk’s ownership. Then I thought about it, and it thought about how angry and often despondent these opinions were making me all the time, and how detached from actual reality that hellhole is. So I decided to let it go after something like 18 years, and deleted the app from my phone and tablet.
The positive effects were almost instantaneous, not having to try and debate almost every news article Farage took advantage of with brainwashed right wing bigoted Reformorons that they were genuinely being fleeced by the Turquoise Tories, mollycoddled multimillionaires playing at being the voice of the people and some kind of magical panacea so they can take their rights away and acquire yet more wealth they don’t really need, because their parents gave them a fortune anyway, was a relief to me. My blood pressure has lowered, my mood is much improved, heck I’ve even been known to smile and laugh in company now rather than try make them realise what a danger to the nation the Reformorons are!
The peace and quiet is so pleasant, I don’t miss Shitter, as I renamed it (If Elon can, I can!) one bit, and here in the real world I don’t see or hear about Farage and his band of idiots every hour all day long. I don’t have to deal with racists, bigots, extremists and misinformation broadcasters any more, except on that rare occasion when I might meet one, but I can just walk away because in the real world, they’re a minority that decent people shun. A great weight has been lifted from me, and I don’t want to go back to it, now or ever if I think about it.
Dear Bear
Do, please, make time for yourself. A lot of us need the grounding we get from reading your articles, and that comes from you being in the correct "this is ridiculous, or this makes me angry" space.
I was so sorry to hear about your dad. The decline of dementia is very hard to deal with, and I think particularly if relations were already strained.
I'd give you a hug, so hug your husband instead - unless he's too tired for that. G
I have been off Twitter( as I like to call it) for at least 3 months and feel cleansed. Also disengaged with the BBC News because it infuriates me. If only there had been 14 years prior, of equal political scrutiny! The bias is palpable. I am happily reading your musings and well considered thoughts and many other bright and lovely folk on Substack and my world has been much sunnier.
Thank you for this. I really needed this reminder.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Chill... 😎
Dear Bear, thank you.
Sadly, the populist makes it sound oh, so simple - which, to the oh, so simple - is very attractive.
But we are not all so smple.
We are much more than simple.
We are the majority, and we are peopling.
Quite right Bear.
My neighbour spends far too much time on Facebook & thinks there’s a child snatcher on every street corner, it’s deeply unhealthy. I left Xitter to consume itself without me sometime last year & stick to BlueSky where I main reside in Wulferhampton where we make our own reality. You are very welcome to join us.😁
Evening Bear,
Absolutely. I have a neighbour who spends far too much time on Facebook & thinks there’s a child snatcher on every corner as a result. It’s deeply unhealthy. I abandoned Xitter to consume itself without me some time last year & now reside exclusively on BlueSky, mainly in the realm of Wulferhampton, where we make our own reality. You are always welcome to join us. 😁
Dear Bear, much as I enjoy and appreciate your exquisite commentary, please do doff the glasses and take time for yourself.
Oddly enough I tend to do the opposite, in that to escape the world I get out and party with my wife. This weekend has been LGBT+ Christmas, aka Manchester Pride. So a weekend of partying in Manchester with fun happy people and seeing some amazing acts (not just the headliers). Tomorrow it's back to reality, dealing with a job that is getting progressively crap (though ever the glass half full person, keep hoping it will start the uphill swing soon), but also planning our three week Christmas escape to the Philippines 🇵🇭, yup we get two Chrismasses each year :)
Enjoy your downtime.
(Who knows, perhaps we will see you at LGBT+ Christmas next year.)
❤️ always be kind to yourself xx
I find it fascinating that I too this weekend, decided largely to avoid the Twshittersphere and instead, occupy myself with more fulfilling activities.
I've seen two friends who I haven't shared quality time with in what seems like a century and enjoyed tootling around this wonderful nation of ours, traversing several hundred miles thus far.
The shouty banal antics of rather extreme, but largely irrelevant, people can be far too distracting. It's just so utterly disappointing that during the Parliamentary lull of summer, the media decide to gobble up, then regurgitate with added bile, such insignificant mindless acts of minor protest as if it were the imminent decline of society as we know it.
You, I, and the other contributors to this little thread, have all recognised the same. We must simply be mindful not to ignore for too long, the decibel-fuelled gripes expressed by the frustrated, lest they gain too much traction or influence. It's important to suppress the ill-educated echo of the downtrodden, as they clutch at the nonsense they are fed as "explanation" for their woes. Gentle but firm education must always be offered, illuminating the fact that it is the rich and powerful who are amplifying this narrative in order to satisfy their own insatiable greed.
Spot on Bear! Enjoy the rest of your weekend 😊