"You go talk to kindergartners or first-grade kids, you find a class full of #science enthusiasts. They ask deep questions. They ask, "What is a #dream, why do we have #toes, why is the #moon round, what is the birthday of the #world, why is #grass#green?"These are profound, important #questions. They just #bubble right out of them.You go talk to 12th graders and there's none of that. They've become #incurious.Something terrible has happened between kindergarten and 12th grade." #CarlSagan
I moved from #reddit over to #lemmy last week... Much like I said here when I first got this account... it very much feels like the early internet.
Know what else it made me realize?
Redditors are fucking ASSHOLES.
I think I shall stay here and Lemmy, where true conversations can be had as opposed to snarky responses to... literally everything... for no good goddamn reason.
Service-Toot: Die Messenger-Matrix wurde aktualisiert. Die Empfehlung für Threema wurde angepasst, nachdem nun ein formaler Sicherheitsaudit für das Krypto-Protokoll vorliegt.
Those who were scandalised by @element selling encrypted @matrix communications services to cops, and suggesting XMPP as a replacement, you might be interested to know that...
"Conversations_im seems to be doing its job at the German Federal Police."
Someone asked me recently about the ability to "Read the Room" and whether or not this was a skill that can be developed. I certainly believe it is a skill and can be cultivated. Perhaps the most impactful maxim which can guide us in this regard was taught to me by a Jedi Knight who went by the name Zenchi from the Temple of the Jedi Order. He told me, "Learn to Observe without needing to React."
The Internet, particularly the social media algorithm demon, has created an incentive not just to React to everything, but to Observe specifically to React. In this way we often bias our interpretation of that which we observe with a skew towards the least charitable interpretation so that our reaction can be as extreme as possible.
To counteract this and hone this skill of reading the room, we can practice several behaviors that will improve our lives.
First, be the last person to speak in an interaction. When you allow everyone else to have their say, it gives you a chance to examine their perspectives and gauge their intentions.
Second, questions are better than statements. The cultivation of curiosity leads to more robust conversations. A statement can often be viewed as dismissive or ultimate in nature, sometimes leaving a conversation partner feeling as though there's nothing left to say. Curiosity, by contrast, is almost always viewed as an invitation to continue discourse.
Third, speak in a way that is pleasant. We've been taught to rely on flippancy and sarcasm in modern discourse as we assume the intentions of others or deliberately misconstrue them to make ourselves look superior. By engaging with someone in a pleasant way, we can disarm hostility. Even if others fail to uphold this standard, we will still maintain our own peace which is of a value beyond measure.
"Talk is the fertile field in which cultural change begins; in its absence, it's impossible for a group of people to solve a problem. The goal of the conversation is not to tell people about climate change. It's to expand the number of people in the conversation."
After #GUI, I've now pushed implementation of a #TUI output in #Libervia#CLI frontend, which shows A/V call video streams directly into your terminal! It's using #Kitty or #iTerm2 image protocols, or #Unicode half-blocks (thanks to #termimage)
I'm not aware of any other CLI tools doing something similar (#XMPP or not). It's not as useful as GUI, but it's quite fun :)
If you like Conversations, the XMPP client, FOSS, for Android, do not hesitate to support Daniel Gultsch, its maintainer.
"Daniel Gultsch is the maintainer of the Android Jabber client Conversations. In addition to that he develops various tools that aim to improve the Jabber ecosystem like the Compliance Tester or the Server Status Monitor."
If you show the value of a victim, you feel empathy. This increases the desire for equality but you feel bad: it endangers your health.
On the contrary, iIf you stress the mistake of a victim, you protect yourself: you feel like it should not happen to you. Society supports such detachment if the perpetrator is a white man or a police(wo)man.
Blaming the victim justifies inequality, discriminations, violence by the strongest. It normalizes (adult, white, male or cis) privileges. Therefore it normalizes patriarchy and white supremacy.
Why I'm asking #WhitePeople to understand how #BIPOC have to deal with relentless requests for more #EmotionalLabor on almost a daily basis in almost every area of our lives.
We're really exhausted from this. We need more white folks who will take ongoing heavy burdens off our backs. Start having those difficult #conversations with your fellow white folks & understand genuine #AntiRacism work requires #courage to talk to & #educate the white folks in your circles.
David Bohm and Krishnamurti: Conversations (m.youtube.com)
A collection of conversations between Krishnamurti and David Bohm.