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7 votes
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Who am I?
I'm constantly torn between things. It's like I never have a strong opinion or stance on things. It's like I don't have an identity or values. This has become difficult to sustain mentally....
I'm constantly torn between things. It's like I never have a strong opinion or stance on things. It's like I don't have an identity or values. This has become difficult to sustain mentally.
Example #1. I despise Instagram because of the way it transformed people's behavior and because of its privacy abuses. For these reasons, I refuse to have an Instagram account and I don't participate in it. At the same time, Instagram is admittedly essential in today's social life, so I feel I am missing out.
Example #2. Sometime in the past, I got interested in climate change. I read books, papers, articles... You name it. I changed my lifestyle to better align with the values I had internalized. I started preaching others about the real threat of climate change, about the need for action by everyone. Now, years later, I don't care about all that any more. I believe doom is inevitable, and that there's nothing we can do about it. So I stopped pretending.
Example #3. I've been an open source enthusiast for quite some time now. This means I run open source software wherever I can. This idea got to the point where I refused to use any software that was not open source, much like a vegan does with food. No WhatsApp, Spotify, Microsoft Office, ...basically any popular software that everybody uses. Over time, I got tired, and stopped caring about open source that much. I'm even thinking about going all-in Apple now (yes, one of the worst enemies of open source you can think of).
You should have a general idea of how it works by now. One day I'm a diehard Linux enthusiast, the next I don't care at all. One day I delete my social media accounts, the next I create them anew. Not literally the next day, but there's always an internal conflict or a straight U-turn with regard to what I believe in, or what I stand for.
Especially examples #2 and #3 could be generalized to any hobby, habit or interest I pick up. They eventually fade out or are replaced by other things. Things I strongly believe in suddenly lose their meaning or value.
I don't know who I am, or what I stand for. What's wrong with me?
I'm not even sure I'm saying something that makes sense. Maybe I'm just conflating totally unrelated issues about myself in one single post.
13 votes -
Tuvix will never die
10 votes -
You don’t need an identity
5 votes -
The Machine - A webcomic about consciousness, identity and teleportation
14 votes -
Andrew Yang’s Asian American superpower
11 votes -
How Star Wars' biggest fan wiki found itself in a fight over trans identity
14 votes -
Reddit will introduce the option for new users to add their gender identity to their accounts when signing up
21 votes -
The political meaning of colors around the world
3 votes -
Ken Burns still has faith in a shared American story
6 votes -
Urbit: A Personal Identity Server
6 votes -
American Pickle: A pickle-shaped void
5 votes -
Spoonbill—a change-tracker for Twitter bios—offers a glimpse into the unseen effort with which we express our identities online, and how the uncanny feeling of being watched informs our sense of self
8 votes -
Spain's new gender bill will allow self-id, without a requirement for medical treatment
20 votes -
Derek DelGaudio's in & of Itself (2020)
4 votes -
When I injured my vocal cords, I was forced to change the way I spoke – and discovered how much our voices reveal who we are
6 votes -
How the self-esteem craze took over America
8 votes -
Why do political ads love to feature girls instead of women? Defiant young girls have become a political symbol in a country that fears grown women.
15 votes -
Buildings and residents testament to the rich seams of history and identity of Kiruna in Sweden are ousted in favour of the profit-laden iron ore seams lurking beneath
2 votes -
In Louisiana, Cajuns are keen to preserve their identity
10 votes -
Does Google know me better than I know myself?
5 votes -
GWU investigating whether White professor invented her Black identity
7 votes -
Labels (Spoken Word)
4 votes -
Catching sight of your self — Perception as the key to who we are
3 votes -
Interview with Thomas Chatterton Williams on race, identity, and "cancel culture"
5 votes -
The future of online identity is decentralized
11 votes -
Our country is in chaos. But it's a great time to be an American
12 votes -
The Stoic self | An eminently practical take on who we are
10 votes -
How we can understand ourselves through games
4 votes -
The coronavirus has hastened the post-human era
5 votes -
What does it mean to be a ‘Karen’? Karens explain: As the meme has become more prominent online, its meaning has become confused – with real-life Karens caught in the crosshairs
13 votes -
Je regrette tout: Does moral growth demand regret?
7 votes -
The coronavirus called America’s bluff: Like Japan in the mid-1800s, the United States now faces a crisis that disproves everything the country believes about itself
18 votes -
This is taco nation
3 votes -
Scandinavian Airlines clarifies an advert intended to highlight the role of travel, immigration and cultural diversity after it was pilloried online by far-right and nationalist groups
9 votes -
How rigid/fluid is your gender and/or sexuality?
The following questions are aimed at gender identity, gender expression, romantic orientation, and/or sexual orientation. To cut down on wordiness, all the questions below will just say...
The following questions are aimed at gender identity, gender expression, romantic orientation, and/or sexual orientation. To cut down on wordiness, all the questions below will just say "identity", but know that I'm asking about any and all of the different parts that make up our gendered, romantic, and sexual selves.
You don't necessarily need to answer regarding all axes or focuses: choose the ones most salient or meaningful to you and your experiences. Furthermore, these questions are open to all, including people who don't identify as LGBT.
- How would you describe the rigidity/fluidity of your identity or its different parts?
- Do you experience short-term changes in your identity?
- Have you experienced long-term changes in your identity?
- Does your identity have any elements that are unchanging long-term?
- How does the fluidity/rigidity of your identity affect you? Are there advantages? Disadvantages?
- Are you certain in your identity right now, or is it unclear to you at the moment?
- If you are certain, do you think that certainty will persist, or might things change in the future?
- If you are uncertain, do you think a more definite identity will coalesce for you at some point?
As always, the questions are just jumping off points and don't need to be treated like a quiz. Also, just to be clear, I am asking this purely out of curiosity and am in no way trying to assert that a more rigid/fluid identity is better/worse. Likewise, I'm not trying to cast judgment on anyone still questioning or engaging in self-discovery. Your process and your identity are valid wherever you're at and however you feel. I'm simply interested to hear what your experiences are, whoever you are.
27 votes -
The internet of beefs
11 votes -
If you made a claim for $125 from Equifax, you’re not getting it after court awards nearly $80 million to attorneys
19 votes -
DEF CON 27 conference - Nina Kollars - Confessions of an Nespresso money mule
6 votes -
Mount Erebus disaster: The plane crash that changed New Zealand
10 votes -
Behind Hong Kong’s resolve: Locals’ view of a city under siege
7 votes -
How do you handle your different online identities versus your real life identity?
I've recently been trying to confront the fact that a lot of the things I want to do online work best if they've got some connection to my real life identity (or will eventually, almost by...
I've recently been trying to confront the fact that a lot of the things I want to do online work best if they've got some connection to my real life identity (or will eventually, almost by necessity, become connected). Things like working on open source software, writing, etc. almost always seem to lead back to other people knowing at the very least your real name and probably your email address.
I know that my threat model for people going after my identity is a lot different from someone with nation-state level adversaries like Ed Snowden or various activists, but I still find it hard to decide what gets to be connected to what. Do I put my real name on my GitHub account? Do I post things on my GitHub blog to here? Should I have my real name on my Twitter account? What about the fact that some of my usernames resemble each other?
I'm not necessarily looking for advice about my particular situation, but I would really like to hear how other people have dealt with such situations and what you generally think about things like identity compartmentalization.
37 votes -
Every year, Paris holds a Grand Prix to crown the city’s best baguette – and in recent years, the winners have been bakers whose ‘origins’ are far from France
6 votes -
In Iceland I found I couldn't write – but then I started to notice small things
6 votes -
The wrong man: The Facebook friend request that led to three years in jail
7 votes -
Samoa's 'third gender' delicately balances sex and religion
9 votes -
Narcissism and the new politics of identity
7 votes -
Will non-binary gender options on state IDs reduce discrimination?
8 votes -
Categorically Gay: For queer people who grew up in an era when rigid identities were essential, today’s fluidity can feel like their history is washing out with the tide.
12 votes -
Five trans Catholics on the Vatican’s rejection of their gender identity
7 votes