Politics and the media

A recurring theme of this blog is the wide-reaching idealist nature of the issues I talk about. Some of them may not be problems for the majority, such is the improbability of change or the incomprehensibility of radical action, but to me they are vital. Here I want to discuss human potential and what's holding it back, combined with more about my own mental illness. Both of these contribute to what many would say is my overriding pessimism, and I feel like elaborating on this. If not for your sake, for my own. The only reason you're reading this right now, through either a direct link to the blog or a social media platform, is because I want to enact change. I believe that creating a better world is the only purpose of social media, and if not for me continually theorising a world in which there is more equality of opportunity, freedom of expression and less violence and hatred, I would not be on social media.  Social media depresses me, plain and simply. I have spent ...

I feel somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place when addressing the protests around the world that have followed the tragic murder of George Floyd. I'm calling it that because that's what it is, end of story. The volume of protests for the Black Lives Matter movement has been fantastic and every single person who has gone out there with good intentions to show solidarity with a historically oppressed group should be praised. Internally, I'm troubled by everything that has gone on. To me, it has acted as a turning point, a wake-up call, a slap in the face to the need for everyone to not just condemn racism, but to be anti-racist. I have not done enough to combat it on a personal level and I want to use these events to act as a springboard to making myself and those around me challenge our preconceptions and implicit assumptions. I don't think many do enough to not only call it out on a daily basis but recognise that we ourselves are complicit, and that lends to ...