Directly behind you
Joined March 2007
- Tweets32.3K
- Following744
- Followers878
- Likes69.8K
X dropped this in my feed. It’s made up, given form via AI. It’s crafted to stir people up, and even if they acknowledge it’s fake, too many fall back to “but this really happens” and just keep churning on it.
I don’t honestly know how we survive what we’ve built.
Damn... this story hits heavy.
She asked him to stop initiating, he actually listened for *sixteen months*, no pressure, no sneaking, nothing. And then one day he’s like “yeah I’m done living like roommates.”
The quiet part is what gets me. He wasn’t yelling or cheating or making threats. He just slowly checked out while still showing up for the kid and the laundry. That’s the scary part is when the fighting stops because one person already left in their head.
Sixteen months of “I’ll tell you when I’m ready” with no timeline is a long time to keep hoping the connection comes back. You can’t take one of the biggest parts of marriage off the table indefinitely and act surprised when the other person eventually walks.
Painful story. Real one though.
I want to know people's stories before I know their positions.
Our algorithm-driven media engagement economy is entirely too quick to platform these attempts to address (without first declaring) or cover over personal wounds.
Let's hear about you before we address the system.
I think this is true of more people than we realize.
Our backstories and the people who rejected us play a formative role in our lives and how we make sense of the world. We all long for our stories to be redeemed in some way, and we all long for identity, belonging, and purpose—sometimes so desperately that we self-sabotage by differentiating ourselves from the very people we need most in order to heal. We hate and villainize others to normalize and numb the pain. Or we seek the approval of those whose acceptance we crave. Too often we project our issues onto others. Us vs them feels good if it means we can be a part of an “Us.” But it’s a destructive illusion.
The world is full of wounded people. When I encounter cruelty and sweeping derogatory generalizations about people on here my first thoughts are “Who hurt you?” and “What are you running from?”
Thankfully, there’s a loving divine Healer whose open arms we can run to and be put on a path to true wholeness.
Performing arts executive. Not my particular lean. Oops.
The scale of…well, everything online…is inherently anti-human. Too much, stretching too far, always demanding the generation of More Content.
The arrival of actual inhumanity puts the lie to the notion that we can do what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, in a human way.
Wow, this is brutal. Some dude with a BS Turkish identity got AI-generated bylines in Plough, Commonweal, Touchstone, even Paul Kingsnorth's Substack (!!)
jonmalesic.substack.com/p/ho…
Through social media, all of us are subjected to the most incandescently stupid form and articulation of any opinion we might otherwise hold.
One of my fascinations is with the monthly free Amazon First Reads. All of this month’s seven main selections are written by women, six feature female protagonists, and…three involve time gaps of similar length (two 18 years, one 17 years).
I don’t know how AI can be worse.
And top it off with a book club for book club books. Quirky!:
"Once upon a time, friends Tessa, Kate, and Hallie dreamed big. Now they’re all that’s left of a once-thriving book club, meeting weekly to drink wine, talk novels, and quietly wonder how their lives got so small."
To taste more of this notably monochrome rainbow, just check out amazon.com/firstreads . It's consistently amazing.
“The death hasn’t stopped.”
Was…there a plan to stop The Death?
[clears throat for Youth Pastor Voice]
