When I was growing up the internet was a place to be liberated from the world say what you want to say, be whoever you want and form genuine communities with shared interests. Now the internet feels like a tool to enslave the mind with identity echo chambers and any deviation leads you to being banned and blocked shunned and silenced within a void that is inescapable. Novel unique websites coded manually by hobbyists running servers for free in the commons allowing people access to the free flow of information under the banner of “information should be free” has largely gone away with corpratisation. I miss the days when the internet was populated largely by nerds aiming to make a better world not this controlled censored hell hole of profiteering.

  • ricecake@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Regardless of your opinion. Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you think is right, even if it means disaproval or social pressure.

    The Man in the Mirror
    by Dale Wimbrow
    When you get all you want and you struggle for self,
    and the world makes you king for a day,
    then go to the mirror and look at yourself
    and see what that man has to say.
    
    For it isn't your mother, your father or wife
    whose judgment upon you must pass,
    but the man, whose verdict counts most in your life
    is the one staring back from the glass.
    
    He's the fellow to please,
    never mind all the rest.
    For he's with you right to the end,
    and you've passed your most difficult test
    if the man in the glass is your friend.
    
    You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum,
    And think you're a wonderful guy,
    But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
    If you can't look him straight in the eye.
    
    You can fool the whole world,
    down the highway of years,
    and take pats on the back as you pass.
    
    But your final reward will be heartache and tears
    if you've cheated the man in the glass.