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Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#41

[dead]

Coming across this article at an earlier more disaffected point in my life would likely have just pushed me towards the MRA side of things and away from what the author wanted.

> And then the dog just ignores it. Because he can. That’s the privilege that comes with having fur, with being a dog in Ohio. He doesn’t have to think about it. He doesn’t have to live daily with the cold. He has no idea what he’s talking about, and he will never, ever be forced to learn. He can keep making the lizard miserable until the day they both die, and he will never suffer for it beyond the mild annoyance of her complaining. And she, meanwhile, gets to try not to freeze to death.

This paragraph in particular is just calling me out directly as a clueless white male. And the next sentence just basically says be better, believe people. I’m not sure who the audience is that this is going to land for that needs to hear it.

Privilege is of course a real thing but, the discourse around it is entirely one sided. There is feminine privilege and black privilege, but if you’re a young man you won’t ever see any discourse regarding privilege framed in that manner even if they’re plainly apparent to you. The author only brings up male lack of sexual attention to demonstrate how oblivious men are to women’s issues.

In my opinion bringing up the concept of privilege does very little to further the significantly more important underlying progressive values of empathy compassion and understanding. Telling men they’re bad and clueless isn’t the way to way to win them over to progressivism.

This isn’t just limited to the concept of privilege but is pervasive through the progressive discourse and is why it appears young men are flocking to red pill and conservatism in droves.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#42
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cracked had some amazing articles

This is a great article, but arguably the world doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to accept this as the status quo. Learning to both realize this that this article is true then reject this as “ok” and acceptable is the next step. Sure, other people might not care about all these things, but you can make the world less shitty if you care about those things.

It really does.

How should the world change so that your "thoughts and prayers" make meaningful impact? They are meaningless things that religious people tell themselves make an impact, when it's the people handing out food that stops starvation not "thoughts and prayers".

Why the hell should I hire you when you want to learn Python but haven't done anything, when I can find people who can show they understand the fundamentals by making a hobby project or went to night school?

Why should the pretty girls talk to you just because you were safer than a bear in the woods?

It's exactly the same conversation that keeps coming up. They didn't destroy 3rd spaces so you don't have any friends. You don't go to those 3rd spaces that exist, or your being too lazy to create the 3rd space.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the link. That’s a great reminder for how to live.

Living in a car and eating dog food? Maybe I'm too tired and missed the point, but usually when I read things about living more simply and not keeping up with the Jones, it's presented in a more romantic way than sleeping in the back of a $1,000 car and dog food. Is the point to make the reader feel better about the stress they have, because they don't want the stresses of the alternative?

>>Stoic meditation with reference to being homeless. Written to myself at a particularly low point; like many, I take comfort in considering how things could be worse.

Right at the top of the article... and putting your own shitty life in perspective doesn't hurt and can help to keep your sanity. Eating dog food in a trashy car is still better than drowning in the Mediterranean or in the Gulf or staying put in a war torn country.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#45

I've bookmarked a few articles that I usually read one each week. This is updated and am planning to squeeze to the best single digit number of articles that I want to re-read often. So, like the top/best 9 articles that I want to re-read. https://notes.oinam.com/awesome/articles

Your notes site is really nice. How do you like VitePress, and have you written anything about your workflow?

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#46
post #38
post #36

I cannot find it or remember who wrote it, but learning to recognize when things are out to get you (his example was Facebook). Nearly an hour into my first encounter with TikTok, memories of that post made me realize that probably needed to be my last encounter with TikTok.

Curious to read this when you think of it.

The Facebook-specific, rather long one: https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/against-facebook/

The more compact one that gives a good mental model for deciding how to engage with something that seems like might be a trap (or obviously is a trap, but you have to engage with it, anyway): https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/out-to-get-you/

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#48
post #45

I've bookmarked a few articles that I usually read one each week. This is updated and am planning to squeeze to the best single digit number of articles that I want to re-read often. So, like the top/best 9 articles that I want to re-read. https://notes.oinam.com/awesome/articles

Your notes site is really nice. How do you like VitePress, and have you written anything about your workflow?

I wanted something where my documents (plain-text written in Markdown) are organized in folder and files, without the need for frontmatter, etc. The thinking is to be able to own the content but use any tool that serves the purpose.

I started these notes with Jekyll, then went to Retype, and now with VitePress. Seems to be just working pretty much out of the box. I had to have one plugin that generates the menu structure from the folder. Otherwise, nothing special or interesting.

I haven't written anything specific to a workflow (I think, I should) but these two articles should give an idea of where I'm going;

https://brajeshwar.com/2022/plain-text/

https://brajeshwar.com/2021/brajeshwar.com-2021/

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#50
post #41

[dead]

Coming across this article at an earlier more disaffected point in my life would likely have just pushed me towards the MRA side of things and away from what the author wanted. > And then the dog just ignores it. Because he can. That’s the privilege that comes with having fur, with being a dog in Ohio. He doesn’t have to think about it. He doesn’t have to live daily with the cold. He has no idea what he’s talking abo…

The struggle I have having many white male friends who express their particular struggles that I might even agree with are a problem is that 1) Many of the expressed issues are problems brought about by them that I can't do anything about. Literally. They need to get their own camp to change it 2) where #1 doesn't apply, I find that they're not willing to take part any kind of advocacy work. Even just, you know, speaking plainly that this sucks and I hate it. Why did I have to pull this knowledge of out you. The struggle of other groups is well known even if they are berated for having that struggle. 3) Often times, when #2 doesn't apply they get upset that people don't immediately fix it. And then I get to look like thr asshole who points out that other groups take a decade to accomplish one agenda item. You trying once isn't gonna cut it.

It's not that I'm not sympathetic, but it just feels like my white male friends really disregard the timeline of how these rights other groups fought for came about. That's part of the privilege of the dominant culture used to having their wants tended to in a year or two, not over a generation.

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