My father-in-law, a life-long Democrat and retired education bureaucrat was suffering from extreme TDS (Trump Derangement). He was getting increasingly belligerent, eventually blaming me for electing Trump. When covid hit, he acted predictably. He's an elite, so he tried to restrain his growing animosity towards me, but he couldn't fully restrain himself.
A couple of years ago it dawned on me that device habits might somehow be fueling this. The devices, by their nature, are extremely individualistic and socially isolating (anti-social). They've capture everyone, young, old, elites, religious, non-religious. Everyone loves them. They've defeated boredom. But much more significantly, they dealt a defeat to social behavior. They've made being alone more titillating and engaging than any club or group could ever hope to offer.
My point - I explained this to my Father-in-law. He had trouble understanding it. He couldn't seem to separate politics from the devices. He wanted to blame the right-wing content, not the devices. He's a really smart guy. I impressed on him that it didn't matter what people were looking at. What mattered was they were alone, being individualistic and anti-social. That was the social catastrophe. I tried to convince him that Trump was the figurehead of this social catastrophe because he's an unapologetic belligerent individualist. I told him point blank that Trump isn't the enemy of social ideology. The devices are!! It slowly started to settle in. In conclusion, he still dislikes Trump a lot, but his TDS has subsided significantly. He doesn't seem to be harboring aggression towards me anymore. It somehow calmed him, restoring some sanity. I can't help but think this would work on a wider scale. We need to calm these people down. Only the truth will do that.
My father-in-law, a life-long Democrat and retired education bureaucrat was suffering from extreme TDS (Trump Derangement). He was getting increasingly belligerent, eventually blaming me for electing Trump. When covid hit, he acted predictably. He's an elite, so he tried to restrain his growing animosity towards me, but he couldn't fully restrain himself.
A couple of years ago it dawned on me that device habits might somehow be fueling this. The devices, by their nature, are extremely individualistic and socially isolating (anti-social). They've capture everyone, young, old, elites, religious, non-religious. Everyone loves them. They've defeated boredom. But much more significantly, they dealt a defeat to social behavior. They've made being alone more titillating and engaging than any club or group could ever hope to offer.
My point - I explained this to my Father-in-law. He had trouble understanding it. He couldn't seem to separate politics from the devices. He wanted to blame the right-wing content, not the devices. He's a really smart guy. I impressed on him that it didn't matter what people were looking at. What mattered was they were alone, being individualistic and anti-social. That was the social catastrophe. I tried to convince him that Trump was the figurehead of this social catastrophe because he's an unapologetic belligerent individualist. I told him point blank that Trump isn't the enemy of social ideology. The devices are!! It slowly started to settle in. In conclusion, he still dislikes Trump a lot, but his TDS has subsided significantly. He doesn't seem to be harboring aggression towards me anymore. It somehow calmed him, restoring some sanity. I can't help but think this would work on a wider scale. We need to calm these people down. Only the truth will do that.
"The devices, by their nature, are extremely individualistic and socially isolating (anti-social)."
Phoenicians don't name these things arbitrarily...
De = of Vice = vice (noun);
1. immoral or wicked behaviour immorality wrongdoing wrong wickedness badness evil-doing evil iniquity villainy venality impurity corruption corruptness misconduct
2. a metal tool with movable jaws used to hold an object firmly in place while work is done on it, typically attached to a workbench
Vice (preposition)
1. as a substitute for
Substitute for what- a healthy home life? Belonging? Reality?