The United Factions of America (Why I Quit Facebook)
Right now, its Tuesday, January 19th, 2021. The time is 10:18am, and I’m standing in front of my computer realizing the 24 hour clock just began.
In less than 24 hours, the administration of POTUS45 will transition into the administration of POTUS46. A historic moment will take place, one that many Americans have waited four years for, but when POTUS46 takes the oath of office tomorrow afternoon, he will immediately walk into;
A national crisis surrounding COVID19 recovery efforts that have been hindered with a disorganized approach to early viral infections coupled with a nationwide distrust of the current vaccination efforts through the misinformation in media and the perception of government overreach with the imposition of unconstitutional laws and mandates have left the nation divided on the function of government and the definitions of implied obligation surrounding personal responsibility.
Domestic extremism surrounding at least a dozen “activist” type groups.
I call them activist groups because it seems like every group has a cause to rally behind. Boog Bois love guns and want to make sure they’re ready for the apocalypse and want to ensure the government won’t prevent them from reaching that goal. Proud Boys love being white and reminding everyone that white people are the current leader in greatest races found in the world. BLM simply doesn’t want corrupt cops to kill black people for the simple fact that the color of their skin is different and for others to simply acknowledge that, because of that fact, they fundamentally have a disproportionately more difficult human experience in America. Like I said, everybody has a cause to get behind, but each one of those causes have an inherent moral value (BLM > Boog Bois > Proud Boys). The problem with so many activist groups, is their lack of any official hierarchy or localization of communication within the group. This problem creates pockets of misinterpretation that breeds extremism in all groups. Extremism has a tendency to step on the toes of those with differing ideologies. With so many cooks in the kitchen, there is eventually going to be a pot that boils over.
Are Antifa terrorists? I mean, technically, no. The definition of their name is “Anti-Fascist” and I can’t remember a time prior to 1776 that the United States supported fascism. So by the core definition of the group’s name and looking at their supporters, no I don’t think they are terrorists.
Are Booaloo Bois terrorists? I doubt it…….probably not…..depends on the situation? The purpose of buying a firearm is to have it for worst case situations, but to hope that you never need to use it. It is the responsibility of all gun owners to be knowledgeable of their firearm in both operation and maintenance, so it can be available for self-defense should they find themselves in a situation that their life is in danger. As a supporter of the 2nd amendment and someone who pays attention to the world around me, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to train and learn how to use your firearms more efficiently, simulating situations that they could find themselves in.
Are Proud Boys terrorists? No……..but they are assholes to be sure. When I got my 23&Me results and found out I was 99.8% White, these guys finally made sense to me. Everybody else gets recognized, so why don’t I get to be included? Somebody else gets a month to remember their history, why don’t I get white history month? White culture has done so much to civilized society. blah blah blah blah elitist bullshit is what I say. The difference between me and the proud boys, is that when I see my heritage equated to a number of concrete origin, I don’t take pride in the actions of ancestors I never met, especially when those same actions aren’t honorable in the context of living in the modern world. I take pride in the actions of myself as an individual and where I see taking myself much more than I would ever consider taking pride in the actions of those who hold no merit over me.
Do I believe there can be extremists in all groups? ABSOLUTELY I DO. The correlation I find falls within the inherent moral value. I personally don’t believe there is the same volume of extremism within the ranks of BLM as I do within the ranks of the Proud Boys. Because groups like the Proud Boys are more densely populated with people of the same extreme mindset, you can see more emboldened actions and greater participation in events like the storming of the capital on January 6th.
POTUS46 is starting his administration in what I believe is one of the most fractured times in the United States of America. I didn’t vote for him, nor did I vote for the incumbent, but I wish him the absolute best of luck, because his success as president is our success as a nation.
Through hundreds of conversations in the barbershop, I’ve pieced together what my version of reality is.
America’s first amendment, or more specifically, the quest to be able to say an unfiltered version of whatever you want, is like the wax wings of Icarus. Sure, those wings are beautiful when the government tells you that they won’t stop you from saying what you want, but you will quickly learn your limitations when you go onto a private company’s platform with a terms & conditions that dictates what you can and cannot talk about. You also realize at work that you have a Human Resources department that enact policies to prevent conversation deemed inappropriate for the workplace. The wax wings are a little rigid, but they will let you go as far as you want. And just like Icarus flying too close to the sun, if you choose to go too far with the first amendment, you will have to deal with the consequences. Maybe you’ll get fired from work, maybe you’ll be asked to take your business elsewhere, maybe you’ll be ostracized from friends and family, it’s perfect okay for you to make your own decisions about speech because the government won’t say no.
There has recently been a movement to move away from “Big Tech” companies like Facebook, Apple, Google, etc. because of the perception of censorship and pushing an agenda. One of the most notable efforts was the great exodus from Facebook to Parlor. Some people live in a world of regulators, choosing to agree on an objectively agreed upon reality, while the other group moved platforms, and while they will continue to go through the exact same actions they did on the previous platform, they will be sharing variants of the information shared on the other platform with people who no longer disagree with them. As voices within the platforms increase in volume to the audience that agrees with them, the participants within the two platforms stop seeking to communicate with one another to compare notes.
This is a dangerous formula for neighbors to create hate and distrust towards one another. When you add the isolation of Covid social distancing to the fragmentation of objective reality on various social media platforms, I understand why so many people are finding themselves unexperienced with navigating conversations around people they fundamentally disagree with.
I bring all of this up for a reason.
I recently followed up on a threat I’ve been making for a year and removed my Facebook profile from any practical use. I need it in tact for my barbershop, but by and large I hate how much contradictive nonsense I have seen fill my feed in the past few years.
Let me quickly explain. As a barbershop owner, I get friend requests from ALL SORTS of people. Local people, travelers, students, businessmen, democrats, republicans, conspiracy theorists, you name it. Hair is the great equalizer, and one of the things that I love about my shop is that no topic is off limits. If you have hair, you have an opinion. The world is a living breathing place around us, so I love getting other people’s perspectives on their experience in it. I’m a socially progressive, fiscally conservative, gun advocate, so when I tell people I’m politically moderate, its done so in an effort to let them know I can navigate both sides of the aisle without being disrespectful. Building this network of relationships has made for an incredibly unique social media feed. A lot of which contradicts each other, but that’s what I loved the most about it, it was the pulse point of my community.
But tribalism caught up with Americans, as it does, and the grand exodus occurred. I had signed up for a parlor account to see what was going on over at the neighbor’s party, but it was no longer a comparison of thoughts. Instead, it was logging into a completely different reality. the perspectives were all aligned, but it was all aligned towards the variant. As the weeks have moved forward, there have been even more divides onto platforms like Gab, but Facebook is largely becoming the same thing, but now it’s the variant of what was left behind.
This was my tipping point. I prefer my conversations in the barbershop with body language and vocal inflection alongside context to the tangible relationship over the comments section within the online reality of my choosing. I already have a website that talks about my life in general, so this is already the best way for people to see what’s going on in my life.
Now that I’ve ranted about America and social media, I want to give a quick update on life as well as trips. We haven’t been going out of town too much simply because of Covid and squirreling aside money for paying taxes, which I’m planning on sucking especially hard this year. This year’s goal is to get a hardshell tent on the roof and some all terrain tires on the wheels by fall so we can use the winter to get prepared for our cross country adventure of 2022 in the spring or early summer.
The holidays were largely uneventful, as Hailie and I spent Thanksgiving, Sol Invictus, as well as New Years at home with the dogs. I’m pretty sure most families felt like covid and 2020 ruined their plans, but I actually appreciated spending the season at home with few expectations. We experimented with food since we didn’t have any family to disappoint, and we geeked out hard by playing gloomhaven on the days off together. I was excited to decorate and get in the mood, but I wasn’t really thrilled to get completely in the spirit after the largely rubbish year 2020 turned out to be. I think the general sentiment was that the holidays were our collective sigh of relief that we made it through the year.
Considering this post may have come across as largely pessimistic, I feel quite optimistic towards 2021. I don’t expect the year to be a simple one, but I do believe it will be a largely rewarding one. I have some personal fitness, career, and travel goals that I hope to accomplish, but I’m largely lookin at 2021 as a sequel year until the nation can figure out normalcy. The extra time will give me the opportunity I need to focus on my goals.
Until next time.
-Chris
