Abstract Fairy @AbstractFairy@schelling.pt

short low effort posts + rapid feedback = twitter

longer more effortful posts + slow feedback = blog

mastodon does not fit in this, despite me being fully on board with the concept :/

so far the only people who do seem to post around here are programmer type people. like hacker-news, but twitter like

so i think the main aspect of social media in general, and twitter in particular is the whole i'm already here for a short quick dopamine hit, but i can also post stuff and get feedback and dopamine

for me i still haven't found on mastodon the same level of engagement that would make me open it, nor do i find the same level of rapid feedback

this makes me want to write longer form and post it on my blog instead

good news is that i'm using the time to focus on longform writing (was going to do so anyways, but now i have a twitter corporation made distraction blocker)

i keep forgetting that toots are longer than tweets. my writing has definitely gotten more short and snappy and this is a good thing.

but i don't need to make each point into a tweet/toot

(i mean like, i myself am not exempt from this shit lol)

maybe we should make meme bots to get people to come and stay?

it doesn't look like my account has been banned nor shadow banned. but it deeply bothers me

makes me regret not posting as much on mastodon

the main problem rn is that most of the people i'm interested in are on twitter and i have no clue how to encourage them to migrate

TIL that there is a "daily limit" for tweets. i can't tweet nor retweet.

even worse, for some reason my DMs stopped working.

lowkey suspect that its because i added a link to my blog. but the again i actually have been tweeting a lot this week

5. i feel like this stuff should be in a political science 101 book. but at the same time what little political books ive found seem to want to push a square peg through a round hole. forcing a theory instead of looking at the data

my impression of history books is that they try to tell a story. they dont compare between different events

True Believer by Eric Hoffer is a good example of the type of book i want to read. talks about social movements and brings several historical case studies

3. if voting is a tool for gaining legitimacy, then what other ways could we build that legitimacy. e.g. building it based on religion or monarchy or whatever

4. what counts as legitimacy anyways? lack of opposition? willingness to obey and coordinate? faith in leadership?

(the following is my own. not pwang's)

1. i had never considered that voting was a tool for legitimacy, instead of how its usually presented as a tool for discovering and implementing the will of the people

2. this kinda makes sense though. we've had plenty of corrupt votes here and no one could dare challenge the government for it. absurdity is a feature of authoritarian regimes, not a bug. 2 + 2 = 5 and no one dares challenge it, dont stick your neck out

(not sure if pwang is in mastodon or not. that account seems empty

https://twitter.com/pwang/status/1604638195773280256?t=XqmzwNVIH9ylqcmx12gcbg)

RT @pwang

Voting is not a great way to surface the “best ideas” from a group.

The primary purpose of voting is to maintain legitimacy of the regime in the minds of the losing cadre; you get their “buy in” bc they were part of the “process”

It’s not a tool for collective sense-making; it’s a tool for popular control.
Always has been, always will.

If, somehow, some general sense of “the collective will of the people” can emerge from a voting process, it’s a nice side benefit.

*makes an alt to post things that can get me in trouble*

*stops posting spicy takes once i got mildly popular* 🤦‍♂️

but this place is cozier and nerdier. so lets have fun

eyes (pupil dilation) are incredibly expressive, but i don't get to see that because most people here have very dark irises

people will never explicitly say "i envy you." however they will say that this is "unfair" or "immoral" and that you "*should be punished*" for it and have it taken away

i wonder how many political movements started with envy

(this toot is a minefield of hazards. but its quiet here so should be ok. nice to experiment)