maol

Yeah, that is really depressing.

I think it's a sunk cost thing for the authors, but also it could be fear of coming off as "disgruntled" to people they're hoping to communicate with. They still have hope of changing these communities, but they know these communities are very hostile and dismissive towards any criticism, especially criticism from perceived "enemies". They also don't want to lose whatever power and respect they have in those communities. So emphasising how great these groups are and how smart all the members are and how much they got out of being a member is a tactic to try and get around all that hostility. They want to flatter the remaining members enough that they'll retain their respect for them. Which in itself is a sad comment on the attitudes common in these communities.

Having said all that, the poor man is not long out of a cult and has taken a big step by publicly blowing the whistle. That takes some backbone.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this:

He seems to have spent a lot of time on early tumblr, but young lefty activist women horrified him. I don’t think anyone explained that people are nicer in person and volunteering in person is a great way to fall in love.

Could you explain?

I guess the "end the drug wars and stop the attacks on communities of colour" politics that I assume many harm reduction activists had in 00s/10s California wouldn't gibe well with the "I am rich and smart and I will never die so I should be allowed to do whatever I want" politics of TESCREAL.

I've never been a drug user but my impression is that like safer sex education, harm reduction education is actually more likely to turn people off using drugs than encourage them to try it. Like, check out this page about amphetamine harm reduction, which mentions that taking it might affect your immune system, damage your heart, cause psychosis and trigger mental health problems and cause malnutrition. Doesn't exactly make it seem attractive!

Wow, it's formerly gifted children all the way down.

Speaking of 60s psychedelics use. This is from an interview with two members of 1960s band The Pretty Things:

microdosing LSD [is] a practice [Phil] May thinks may have been invented by a keyboard player who performed with the band in the 70s. “He used to have a little lick of acid every morning while standing on his head, doing his yoga exercises.” And did it help him psychologically, as latterday devotees of microdosing claim it can? “Well, no, not really,” sighs May. “He went pretty loony, to be honest.”

D:

I remember reading a while ago about the defunding of the authority that investigated alleged miscarriages of justice and false convictions. I guess that solves one of the problems with this 👍

Why would anyone be scared of an empty suit lol

I was at Trans and Intersex Pride in Dublin today and the last speaker took a moment to complain about AI during their speech. "These billionaires are burning the planet down with generative AI because they don't have the patience to draw a picture or write an email..."

OH WOW WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS

i'm sure this guy will have a sane, healthy and self-compassionate attitude to disability and long-term illness.