Hiatus, Disconnect
The last post on TheDacian is dated August 4th, 2020 making the past three months the longest stretch of inactivity I've had online in the last five years. One reason for my hiatus is the fact that life has taken me to the South Pacific where internet connectivity is at a premium. When I manage to get the slow internet working it's so irregular that writing and uploading anything becomes a frustrating experience. More often than not the only consistent access I have is on my slow smartphone network that has difficulty loading anything beyond email.
Another reason, and honestly the primary one, is that I am enjoying my disconnect from the modern American discourse. Between the year of the virus, lockdowns, protests, riots, violence, the election, and constant serotonin burning online engagement I've realized that I have come down with a serious case of media toxicity. Refreshing twitter every minute or living your life with the constant pornographic fear peddled by twenty-four-hour news networks droning in the background is an unhealthy existence, the spiritual equivalent of living with a pair of heavy indoor smokers who refuse to open the windows. Disconnect.
Of course, I can predict some of the objections to the above so let me lay it down for everyone. The election is not the most important election of all time and what is going on around it is not unprecedented. Fascism and Socialism will not be defeated or implemented or even seriously discussed except in delusional fringe circles filled with fed informants and absolutely no power. The current political turmoil doesn't shock me, I don't find it unprecedented. The way events are developing is exactly how I expected things to go. Democracy across a large empire where every citizen is enfranchised but lacks basic civic knowledge or access to representatives is destined to turn out exactly how it's turning out right now. Worse still, democracy barely works in small homogenous nations with common cultures, how can we expect it to not be a complete mess when we have a massive country like ours with different cultures that are growing more and more incompatible by the day
The reality of the situation is that when Bush was president we lived in an oligarchic empire, when Obama was president we lived in an oligarchic empire, during the last four years we lived in an oligarchic empire, and whoever is president the next four years will continue to be life as usual in an oligarchic empire. Your vote is performative shamanism at best, it's the equivalent of ancient man throwing spears at cave paintings, the political equivalent of believing that because you wore your team's jersey and yelled loud at the television you had a hand in your team winning the SuperBowl.
What matters and what you do have power over in your life is culture, things like family, art, fitness, and music. How you interact with your neighbors and friends, how you treat animals and nature, and how you live day to day for yourself and your family. Focus on the things that matter and you will build strength physically and spiritually. Stop wasting your life and energy on parasocial relationships with the political wizards of Oz.