One of the things I love about the #fediverse is that it tends to act as a very effective filter: those who earn their bacon in the hype cycle tend to find better success elsewhere, and at least expend less effort here. Hopping around here is like knowing where the best dive bars are in every city one visits. And for me, the best dive bars have always attracted smart, creative, and hilarious people. Or, at least, people who are in the smart, creative, and hilarious phase of their lives. And while everyone is different, I will say that it is a rare oddity to run into someone who isn't all of the above, endowed with strong sense of values and ethical orientation.

But, and I'm honestly really nervous about putting this out there as I want it to be interpreted as a jostling-to-senses, but I worry it may be rounded down to capitulation...

What if, as in late in the #expanse cycle—as the punks and the freedom fighters and the antifascists and the chardonnay armada and everyone in between have come together and become so inwardly-facing that the they still think small relative to vast hidden changes that are stirring—what if some of the battles we're choosing, the filters we're applying simply wear us down in aggregate in the long run? What if that is what the adversaries are counting on, because probability, in a time of chaos, is on the side of those with actual power?

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