Not in America so viewing you as on the front lines of this present catastrophe.

Please do everything you can to avoid further entrenching resentment.

It looks like your country is so bitterly divided. I’ve visited once, and my impression was then that there is a lot more grey than any media or the internet conveys.

If you’re living close to someone who supported that maniac, please do what you can to build bridges so that they can find a way back to sanity. I get that it’s not fair and that responsibility should fall on them. But realistically I think you need to be the adult in the relationship.

Please do what you can to build bridges and be compassionate, curious. Own your own sense of moral outrage and dignity, but give these people space to make their mistakes and learn from them, without your judgement. Direct your hatred and anger against the acts that upset you, but be gracious and kind in your relationships. Allow your mother in law to be wrong. Honour whatever is good in her.

Don’t be a player hater!

If she says something racist, don’t just let it stand. But where you can, see if you can draw out her reasons. See if you can uncover the true fears behind the scapegoating. Just let her be heard, without judgement. Be curious about the person. And where you can do so with humility, share your own beliefs and what is important to you. But share in the interests of being known, not of flag bearing.

Give yourself space where you need. It’s OK to feel strongly, and to be upset. But please, do the work to build bridges, don’t let your family be divided by an utter madman.

Thanks 😄

I’m stoked by the engagement; I initially found the question following some article posted on bluesky. Replying there resulted in crickets. I thought to ask here on a hunch, and it’s been wonderful to read all the responses.

Back in the day people would claim that what was good about reddit was that it was a community. Well it’s not that anymore.

This is pretty good though!

Hey, that’s a good point!

I think they’re keen to buy something new, so my main excitement is hey look a shop where you can start with Linux in the first place.

But I could also end up showing them how to repurpose their current laptops as media servers or something, which would be cool!

This is what I’m excited about. My parents are in the market for new laptops, I’m going to see if they will take a framework running popOS and make the switch to Linux. It’s incredible that this option is now so approachable.

I was always wary about reddit being a non-opensource/non-federated platform. But the communities there were incredible. I remember when it really was like the ‘front page of the internet’. But I could not believe the user unfriendly decisions they made, and the app ban was the death-knell.

Besides, Lemmy is awesome! Not much need to go back.

I’m so inspired by the Fediverse, the social options we have these days are just magical.

A decade ago, Diaspora got press because they were going to build an alternative to Facebook. But there was hype and then there was disappointment.

Now, everybody knows how terrible legacy social media is. Everybody knows. Sure, most people are still stuck there. But these vibrant alternative places exist! The options are exciting! It is so much better than it’s ever been!

Just keep building. This is great, and it’s only just started.