The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect.

I had already fallen away from using Livejournal long before the mass-migration away from it, so while I've moved my old journal here in its entirety, I haven't kept up with long-form blogging.

I do still exist online, however, just in different spaces. I continue to opine on political matters, finding myself seeming to slide ever more leftward as time marches on.

I've recently completed my first novel (two actually, working on a third!) and am in the process of getting my books published. They are adventures in the high-fantasy genre. I will likely eventually have an author website where more information on these books will be available. More on that just below:

If you wish to stay up to date with me, I have a linktr.ee containing all of my current social media information. I keep this list updated, so it should remain the best way to keep track going forward. I'll eventually be adding my author website to that list once it is created, but beyond that you can read my often-updated Bluesky feed, as well as my somewhat less-updated but longer-form Tumblr posts (where I often ramble about my writing process.) You can also view my gaming content that I continue to (sporadically) update on sites such as Youtube and Twitch:

https://linktr.ee/adddragon

Although my Livejournal is, in general, friends-only, I've made this post public so that I can link others to it from other platforms.

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Yesterday, I talked to folks who should have voted for Clinton but didn't. Today I'd like to talk to Trump supporters, because there are a couple of things that I feel you need to understand, and also a couple of things I feel that you have an obligation to do.

( Read more... )

cross-posted to talk_politics. Left as public because it was posted elsewhere.

The so-called "alt-right" is an American political movement described as containing elements of nativism, white-nationalism (sometimes including separatism or supremacy,) a belief that Christianity is a core and essential element of "Western Civilization," as well as sometimes antisemitism and neo-reactionary opposition to Democratic forms of government. While this kind of movement is certainly not unique to the U.S., its popularity is, and that demands some examination.

As stated above, while the adherents of "alt-right" philosophy would deny that it has any one specific definition, it's become clear that it is, if not fundamentally aligned with, at least friendly with white nationalism and christian dominionism, and is at least somewhat hostile to democracy. This presents a problem: the vast majority of American citizens reject these things (or at least their most overt manifestations.) Most Americans were raised to believe in the ideals of the Enlightenment, the ideals held by the Founding Fathers: ideals of democracy, equality of race and gender, and freedom of religion. Admittedly, the U.S. has not always adhered to these ideals perfectly (sometimes not at all,) but they have always been held up a goal, an ideal to strive towards, and our understanding of them has only broadened over the centuries. In the early twentieth century, it likely would not have been hard to find folks who'd agree, at least in part, with the philosophy espoused later by the Nazis. Today, it would be much harder to find people willing to agree with that.

Enter the alt-right. The alt-right is facing a problem: most folks reject what they are offering, when it's presented openly and honestly. Most Americans do not want nativism, white nationalism (or white separatism,) neoreactionism, or dominionism.

The alt-right has a solution to this problem.

( 16 points. )

( Cognitive Dissonance )

( What does this have to do with the alt-right? )

( Sunlight )

Leaving public because I think it's worth repeating.

When we are faced with moments of crisis, it is all too easy to fall back on reactions that served us well in the wild, and have remained ingrained within us: fight or flight. Something happens, and we perform a stress response. The problem with this kind of response is that it is automatic, and often unthinking. It might work when suddenly confronted with a predator, but when we're dealing with issues that affect the lives of millions of people and exist in the world of realpolitik, an unthinking response is the last thing we want to perform. Had world leaders during the Cold War reacted to every threat and perceived slight without measured thought and consideration of consequences, we would have all perished in nuclear fire. Yet all to often, we (meaning all of us humans) can so easily resort to such quick, but harmful methods of reaction.

( How easily we give into fear... )