A tale as old a freaking time. I've known many young people that ended up surrounding themselves with the wrong ideology, and were swayed by it. I shudder to think what kind of mischief and...
He leaned liberal in high school but got sucked into white nationalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he joined a fraternity mostly composed of conservative Republican men, began reading antisemitic conspiracy books, and fell down a rabbit hole of racist, sexist content online.
A tale as old a freaking time. I've known many young people that ended up surrounding themselves with the wrong ideology, and were swayed by it. I shudder to think what kind of mischief and trouble I would get myself into if I grew up during the smartphone internet age.
I conceived of my relationships with other people not as distinct boundaries with distinct entities, but more as we-are-all-one. I realised I'd been fixated on stuff that doesn't really matter, and is just so messed up, and that I'd been totally missing the point.
I honestly think this sums up a lot of people that hold alt-right conservative ideologies. I come from an incredibly conservative family, and the vast majority of my family lack the emotional capacity to connect with other people outside their own bubble. Even siblings of mine and their partners treat their most intimate relationships as intensely transactional instances. If we all conditioned to feel a little more, instead of feel less, maybe things would be different.
"There are moments when I have racist or antisemitic thoughts, definitely," he said. "But now I can recognise that those kinds of thought patterns are harming me more than anyone else."
Sounds like my dude may just be sad he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
That may have been the start, but considering his history and introduction, the recognition of the pattern is the important part here. In a sense having his world imploded caused him to pause and...
Sounds like my dude may just be sad he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
That may have been the start, but considering his history and introduction, the recognition of the pattern is the important part here. In a sense having his world imploded caused him to pause and consider that he might be the bad guy, which is also not a typical outcome for somebody leading white supremacist organizations.
At one point I actually started down a similar path probably at the same age (I'm the same age as this person). I'm twice as old as I was then, but some bullshit slips through occasionally strictly internally.
I think there's two parts, and the second is the important part:
The fucked up thought occurs. This can happen with any sort of conditioning in a person's life, but it's the genesis of a bad idea/participation in a harmful ideology. This tend to happen more as intrusive thoughts than anything that should be reasonably considered actionable, but unfortunately people do follow through on these.
The important part: One's response to this thought, and how one deprograms themself from harmful influences by understanding why people act on these thoughts, and where they originate in themselves. Whereas previously his conditioned response was "This thought is perfectly acceptable," he understands, especially in his own personal context, that it is not a positive behavior. The difficult part is trying to safely disassociate with these thoughts without accidentally reinforcing them.
I have a parent who seriously went down the rabbit hole on all the alt-right stuff, to the extent they stopped working in their career and now write and podcast in the space instead. I see it very...
I have a parent who seriously went down the rabbit hole on all the alt-right stuff, to the extent they stopped working in their career and now write and podcast in the space instead. I see it very much an extension of the general lack of empathy this parent had through my life - they saw other people's problems as mostly an inconvenience to them. I don't talk to this parent anymore for a variety of reasons, but I occasionally check their Twitter to see if they've changed any, and it just seems to get worse every time I look. I should probably stop looking, honestly. Never makes me feel good, it's just kind of depressing to be closely linked to someone who is so dedicated to being terrible they quit a lucrative career to be terrible full time.
I'm not really sure how you can prevent people from being drawn into hate in the modern era, where the instant you log onto most social media and view content related to it an algorithm will serve you similiar content. How do you get people to develop the empathy that makes them see people outside their bubble as worthy of being treated well? I guess MDMA might do it, but seems like a difficult sell for the law and order types.
I'm sorry about your parent. I've had a similar thought about my in laws; my wife had to go zero contact with them after coming out, and I wonder if there's even a chance for them to interact with...
I'm sorry about your parent. I've had a similar thought about my in laws; my wife had to go zero contact with them after coming out, and I wonder if there's even a chance for them to interact with media that wouldn't reinforce their current behavior.
I was in the process of being part of generational abuse as I had never experienced being loved and accepted so I didn't know how to have healthy relationships. Being welcomed into a group who I...
I was in the process of being part of generational abuse as I had never experienced being loved and accepted so I didn't know how to have healthy relationships.
Being welcomed into a group who I got to join in taking ecstasy completely changed the progress of my life as with them and the help of the ecstasy I got to experience such a better way of being. I really feel that it showed me that I didn't need to keep barriers up with everybody.
As he relished in the pleasurable feeling, a single, powerful word popped into his mind: connection.
It suddenly seemed so obvious: connections with other people were all that mattered. "This is stuff you can't really put into words, but it was so profound," Brendan said. "I conceived of my relationships with other people not as distinct boundaries with distinct entities, but more as we-are-all-one. I realised I'd been fixated on stuff that doesn't really matter, and is just so messed up, and that I'd been totally missing the point. I hadn't been soaking up the joy that life has to offer."
I think most people would benefit from trying psychedelics once (barring any family history of risk factors for psychosis). In my experience it really does change your perspective on the world,...
I think most people would benefit from trying psychedelics once (barring any family history of risk factors for psychosis). In my experience it really does change your perspective on the world, other people, and your relationship with the universe.
I think it impacts everyone differently and honestly each trip can be different, too. I got more out of one relatively low dose (2g) trip than I did out of over 15 years of therapy, but not every...
I think it impacts everyone differently and honestly each trip can be different, too. I got more out of one relatively low dose (2g) trip than I did out of over 15 years of therapy, but not every trip since has been as impactful. I think intention is every bit as important as set and setting for altering your state of mind if that's the goal.
I tried LSD a couple weeks ago for the first time, it felt very different from weed but other than enjoying certain types of music more I haven't had any lasting effects. I did however only do a...
I tried LSD a couple weeks ago for the first time, it felt very different from weed but other than enjoying certain types of music more I haven't had any lasting effects. I did however only do a medium dose at 75ug. I might need to do a bit more the next time I have time.
Great article, but I was disappointed when he said having racist thoughts “hurt himself more than anyone else” (paraphrased). I guess it just made me think selfishness is still at the root of his...
Great article, but I was disappointed when he said having racist thoughts “hurt himself more than anyone else” (paraphrased). I guess it just made me think selfishness is still at the root of his feelings.
A tale as old a freaking time. I've known many young people that ended up surrounding themselves with the wrong ideology, and were swayed by it. I shudder to think what kind of mischief and trouble I would get myself into if I grew up during the smartphone internet age.
I honestly think this sums up a lot of people that hold alt-right conservative ideologies. I come from an incredibly conservative family, and the vast majority of my family lack the emotional capacity to connect with other people outside their own bubble. Even siblings of mine and their partners treat their most intimate relationships as intensely transactional instances. If we all conditioned to feel a little more, instead of feel less, maybe things would be different.
Sounds like my dude may just be sad he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
That may have been the start, but considering his history and introduction, the recognition of the pattern is the important part here. In a sense having his world imploded caused him to pause and consider that he might be the bad guy, which is also not a typical outcome for somebody leading white supremacist organizations.
At one point I actually started down a similar path probably at the same age (I'm the same age as this person). I'm twice as old as I was then, but some bullshit slips through occasionally strictly internally.
I think there's two parts, and the second is the important part:
The fucked up thought occurs. This can happen with any sort of conditioning in a person's life, but it's the genesis of a bad idea/participation in a harmful ideology. This tend to happen more as intrusive thoughts than anything that should be reasonably considered actionable, but unfortunately people do follow through on these.
The important part: One's response to this thought, and how one deprograms themself from harmful influences by understanding why people act on these thoughts, and where they originate in themselves. Whereas previously his conditioned response was "This thought is perfectly acceptable," he understands, especially in his own personal context, that it is not a positive behavior. The difficult part is trying to safely disassociate with these thoughts without accidentally reinforcing them.
I have a parent who seriously went down the rabbit hole on all the alt-right stuff, to the extent they stopped working in their career and now write and podcast in the space instead. I see it very much an extension of the general lack of empathy this parent had through my life - they saw other people's problems as mostly an inconvenience to them. I don't talk to this parent anymore for a variety of reasons, but I occasionally check their Twitter to see if they've changed any, and it just seems to get worse every time I look. I should probably stop looking, honestly. Never makes me feel good, it's just kind of depressing to be closely linked to someone who is so dedicated to being terrible they quit a lucrative career to be terrible full time.
I'm not really sure how you can prevent people from being drawn into hate in the modern era, where the instant you log onto most social media and view content related to it an algorithm will serve you similiar content. How do you get people to develop the empathy that makes them see people outside their bubble as worthy of being treated well? I guess MDMA might do it, but seems like a difficult sell for the law and order types.
I'm sorry about your parent. I've had a similar thought about my in laws; my wife had to go zero contact with them after coming out, and I wonder if there's even a chance for them to interact with media that wouldn't reinforce their current behavior.
I was in the process of being part of generational abuse as I had never experienced being loved and accepted so I didn't know how to have healthy relationships.
Being welcomed into a group who I got to join in taking ecstasy completely changed the progress of my life as with them and the help of the ecstasy I got to experience such a better way of being. I really feel that it showed me that I didn't need to keep barriers up with everybody.
FriendshipMDMA, the sweetest influence.I think most people would benefit from trying psychedelics once (barring any family history of risk factors for psychosis). In my experience it really does change your perspective on the world, other people, and your relationship with the universe.
I think it impacts everyone differently and honestly each trip can be different, too. I got more out of one relatively low dose (2g) trip than I did out of over 15 years of therapy, but not every trip since has been as impactful. I think intention is every bit as important as set and setting for altering your state of mind if that's the goal.
I tried LSD a couple weeks ago for the first time, it felt very different from weed but other than enjoying certain types of music more I haven't had any lasting effects. I did however only do a medium dose at 75ug. I might need to do a bit more the next time I have time.
How much? I tried 3g for the first time and went to another planet.
It was the most incredible experience I had in life.
Great article, but I was disappointed when he said having racist thoughts “hurt himself more than anyone else” (paraphrased). I guess it just made me think selfishness is still at the root of his feelings.
Thanks, I like this.
It's a swell story and I'd like it to be true, but to believe it I'd need to see evidence from someone who's, you know, not a white supremacist.