Notices by Druid (druid@netzsphaere.xyz), page 5

@lanodan @sampo @hj I understand these two things aren’t related at all but I liken it to my feelings on Abrahamic religion. I have spent a LOT of time immersing myself in religious study and also did a lot to try and “break” myself and receive revelation etc. I even summoned a spirit to learn from it. I have been obsessed with deboonking Christianity since I was a little boy and that has morphed over time into a feeling that this branch of religions presents a real and present threat, that its deities (there are multiple even if they deny it, the angels for example are deities) are real and harmful.

It’s at the point where I can’t see a single “my brother in Christ” joke or even a particularly Christian Christmas joke without wanting to come in and say “🤓Ackshually…” but the thing is, that doesn’t work because:

1: Most people don’t believe in or care about what I’m saying (just like most people don’t give a fuck about the proprietary software debate) 2: Of the ones who do care about / believe in / understand anything that I’m saying, the chances of them actually agreeing are millions to one, and we will inevitably get into a bitter spat over minutiae (just like how even other techbros will argue about distros and other shit) 3: Of the ones who might actually listen / understand / agree, very few have any understanding whatsoever of how to meaningfully (as in even your deepest dreaming subconscious converts, not as in the usual ceremonial LARP) convert from one religion to another and when asked for details I end up fumbling around for a place to begin teaching an ordinary person elementary magic (just like how even someone like me who is receptive to the arguments of the FOSS community will then ultimately do nothing about it due to the time/learning wall) 4: Of the presented alternatives, none are readily accessible becaue westerners generally have a poor grasp of non-Abrahamic religion and they will eventually hit language barriers studying the Dharma etc. (just like how even telling a newbie to install Ubuntu will create a gigantic project of hassle for them, as the “it just works trust me bro it’s for casuals” gradually desolves into the usual nightmarish driver fiddling and help begging for totally unknown and initially indecipherable terminal commands)

Thinking about this made me realise that my approach is wrong. If I actually want to have a meaningful impact on the world in this way then I am going to have to present myself and what I am saying very differently. I’m going to have to re-learn the mindset of an uninitiated person. Demanding they reach my level of literacy is not practical.