In a sign of how well AI adoption is going, I noticed that Adobe is referring to manual edits I made by hand in Lightroom Mobile as “AI edits”.
“Nobody wants this so we will pretend they used it”
I don't own a car. I take public transit everywhere, and I do think personal vehicle use has real environmental costs. But I don't think driving is inherently unethical.
I live in Seoul, and the city makes transit easy for me. That's not a virtue. It's a condition I happen to benefit from. Some people live where transit barely exists, or where it doesn't get them to work, school, or care. In those places, driving is not optional.
The same is true of flying. In parts of Europe you can cross borders by train. In island nations, or in places with weak land connections, flying may be the only realistic option. “Just fly less” means very different things in those places.
A lot of what gets called my ethical choices comes from the conditions I live in. That makes me wary of turning structural failures into personal morality. If the alternative is missing or unusable, shaming people for not choosing it solves nothing.
When environmental harm gets framed as individual moral failure, attention shifts away from the structural changes that would actually matter. It's not an accident that oil companies spent decades popularizing the idea of the personal carbon footprint.
These are the habits of the heart of democracy: not just a system of laws, but a life-practice of people who work together with others to set a collective destiny. And it is crucial in this moment that we hold fast to that: because the alternative is to retreat into solitude — and that is how the flame of democracy flickers out. »
🕯️
Because if we say we're willing to do that with each other, there's strength in doing that. Let's talk about what it means to stay in touch with each other, and united in defense of those values.
I'm with you, I believe in these values, and I'm willing to stand with you if you'll stand with me in defense of them.
« This is a tough moment, but it's crucial that we all stay united and committed to the values we share: to decency, to honesty, to care for each other, for freedom of expression, for dignity and equal treatment — and to stand up and speak out when those values are threatened. I'm willing to do that with you. Are you willing to do that with me?
Cupping the Candle of Democracy, adapted from a meditation by Ian Bassin of Protect Democracy:
I don't know what the future holds — but whatever it brings, I will be there for you: to hear your hopes and fears, to share in your struggles and victories, and to cooperate in solidarity wherever possible.
Your well-wisher,
Comrade in Solidarity
If any of what I've shared here speaks to you, please know that even when we're separated in space and time, I have always remembered you as someone worthy of strengthening the bond of camaraderie, someone that I trust to share similar values of social decency, personal #autonomy, and self-realization.
In closing, I'd like to share a meditation from Ian Bassin that I heard on Slate's Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick (on Sat 09 Nov), which I shall remember as "Cupping the Candle of Democracy".
[Slate's Amicus w/ @Dahlialith]: https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2024/11/trumps-2024-election-victory-demands-a-new-playbook-to-protect-democracy
I understand that this isn't for everyone, and it's not my goal to recruit you to any of these, so much as to show where I'm looking for substantive opportunities to do the good work of building up a working-class coalition that supports #equality, #compassion, and especially #democracy. I also believe that volunteer work with local relief orgs — such as food banks, women's shelters, and immigrant refuges — will be more important than ever before.
At the same time, I recognize that the needful work out-scales any one person by many orders of magnitude. I can see that self-care will also be essential in the coming years, and I will be pacing myself to focus on the few things I can do best — to avoid over-committing myself out of desperate urgency, and remember that it's good enough if I only do as much as I can.
If you are also feeling #radicalized into action, I encourage you to forgive yourself if you do less than you wish you could: because it is too much for any one person — but together, with personal dedication and a community of support and encouragement, I truly believe we can make a difference. "If everyone does a little, no one has to do a lot."
And although such expressions can seem bombastic or exaggerated with repetition over time, I nevertheless don't make such predictions capriciously or without reference to primary-source indicators, and I genuinely fear for the future — both my own, and everyone I love. It may seem insignificant — but because fascism seeks to demoralize and isolate us, I believe that #community is #resistance, and I don't underestimate it, nor take it for granted.
As I work to recenter and refocus myself, to reorient myself to the challenge of this moment, the clearest throughline I keep seeing is how critical connection and solidarity will become. Really, they always were essential — but soon we may have no other bulwarks left to resist the tide of #fascism.
Beyond my reconnecting with my immediate social circle, I'm recommitting myself to expand my reach by staying involved in national solidarity orgs, such as the Working Families Party, the Sunrise Movement, and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Working Families Party • @WorkingFamilies • #WorkingFamiliesParty: https://workingfamilies.org/
Sunrise Movement • @sunrisemvmt • #SunriseMovement: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
Democratic Socialists of America • @dsa_tech • #DSAUSA: https://www.dsausa.org/
Cupping the Candle of Democracy:
an open letter calling us together in #solidarity;
may it inspire you to reach out to your beloved companions, trusted colleagues, and friendly neighbors.
https://pqzli1japk.joplinusercontent.com/shares/ZWdhysvCq7x7eA7WBXovWm
#Democracy #MutualAid #CivilDisobedience #ResistFascism #ExistenceIsResistance #CommunityIsResistance #AllPowerToThePeople #SolidarityForever
The past two weeks have been very hard for me, and many I love and care about, as we strain to thread the needle between desperate catastrophizing, and prudently preparing for probable disasters. You're one of those cherished people who has lingered in my thoughts — someone I regard as empathetic and pro-social, and among those least deserving of upheaval and regression.
p.s. -- i follow with abandon, because i love immersing myself in diverse perspectives … and because mastodon doesn't support shadow-following via lists! :blobpeek:
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/6982
so, truly, don't feel obliged to follow back. i'm not entitled to your attention 🙃
p.s. -- it may be confusing that i go by "Ruby", while my profile name is #JobuTupaki. #EEAAO fans will understand this tribute 👀, but you can call me either.
i've had a Mastodon account for years now, but never really used it for lack of audience critical mass. well, i guess that's all changing with the ugly downfall of Birdsite! or maybe the community was always here, and i lacked the courage and willpower to access it. either way, i'm so excited to rediscover this new platform for sharing ideas with one another, freely and empathetically.