Like I don’t really use any other social media, but sometimes (like this past week) I venture outside of my hexbear bubble and I browse twitter, or reddit, or instagram, or tiktok, and holy shit I just browse those websites for a minute or two and feel worse about myself, worse about the world, it honestly seems like everyone on those sites is completely insufferable and every post is designed in some CIA laboratory to make me irrationally angry. Like look, sometimes we can all get annoyed at each other here, and I am no exception to that, and nowhere is perfect, but wow this place is 1000% better than like the majority of the internet, I honestly don’t know how people go through life at this point browsing the regular internet.
Honestly, I am used to the unpleasant feelings I receive, and I have no idea how to use this site, despite using Reddit. I often ask myself, “How do I find Discord Communities here” or “How do I ask around here”. “How do I talk about my special interests?”. “How do I do anything without feeling like I might step on a landmine?” I am honestly lost, but this site is good, even with my great amount of confusion.
This really is such a breath of fresh air.
I was just telling a lib friend tonight who said they are constantly disappointed in other people not thinking for themselves or seriously engaging with anything, that I have found this corner on the internet where I can enjoy reading the smartest most thoughtfull and well sourced takes on pretty much everything. And that it has greatly increased my life quality and mental health. It’s like the discussion club I never had, even though I rarely take part. I love reading the discussions here.
Also great shitposting.
Piss
it honestly seems like everyone on those sites is completely insufferable and every post is designed in some CIA laboratory to make me irrationally angry
When you’re immersed in that sort of background radiation of liberalism and chuddery you develop a resistance to it, or even the ability to tune it out. So when you go on Hexbear for a long while and your resistances to that sort of thing drop, if you try and go back on Reddit or Twitter or whatever, the little dogwhistles everywhere very quickly get to you and drive you up the wall. To the people on those sites it looks like you’re totally overreacting to certain sentences or phrases or words, but you’re now educated enough about these sorts of quirks that they instantly raise your blood pressure. I genuinely, physically roll my eyes whenever I see a word like “authoritarian” or “totalitarian” or “regime” now because, thanks to e.g. the Masses, Elites, and Rebels essay, I know what these libs are doing, whereas before, I could just tune it out and keep going. I know that these people are smug nationalist Americans who denounce any attempt to break free from US hegemony, rather than merely a dude harmlessly expressing their opinion on the internet.
Nobody is trying to sell you something
There are no Nazis
There are no smug liberals
There is no homophobia and transphobia
The only racism there is is the background radiation you get from growing up in a racist society and even that is being minimised
There are almost no debate lords
There are nobody bragging about their perfect lives
Is Hexbear even a proper online community?
