I think one of the most persistent and intractable problems with online discourses is that social media *structurally* takes the dialectical nature of discourse itself and massively amplifies it. Every correction becomes an overcorrection and discourse swings from one wild extreme to the other, so the "correction" to 2000s raunch culture was tenderqueers, and the "correction" to tenderqueer puritanism is Paglian gibberish and tradshit, and god knows what will "correct" that, and in every one of these wild cultural swings there is an opportunity for authoritarians and reactionaries to capitalize on people's genuine grievances and redirect them towards ideologies inimical to human freedom and self-expression. At this point I am not sure if anything actually good can come from the internet as we know it, it's a virtual prison yard with all the unhealthy social dynamics associated with such. However with the technologically mediated enclosure of every aspect of human sociality it is hard to even imagine an alternative.
i hate it so much i’m currently writing yet another piece on scepticism towards medical/psychiatric intervention and its place in far-right discourse… i really don’t think it gets the attention it deserves
Wow! Your writing here is so precise, clear cut, and heart wrenching. While this essay was written last summer, I feel as though the important ideas that you illustrated so beautifully are even more relevant today. Just this week, I’ve seen countless anti-therapy and anti-med articles on the Substack feed (I don’t follow this fascist type crap, but because I’m a girl who’s interested in psychology, apparently these alt right quacks pop up sometimes. After my initial horror, I try to block them.) Though I used to see the anti-med talk as a bugaboo of the far right, recently this dangerous rhetoric seems to be appearing more often among liberals as well. I’m terrified, but your writing helped me to feel less alone. The ableism and antisemitism inherent in this current wave of anti-therapy quackery is not lost on me. You wrote about the dangers of this anti med language so well, with deep empathy, fearlessness, and intelligence. A lot of people would not be here alive on this earth without the life saving benefits of antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and anxiety meds. I loved your line on the irony of how the lombotimized adolescent housewife is traditionally something the far right would salivate over. Right on! Thank you for speaking up about an issue that is near to my heart. I admire your courage to speak up! Access to medications and psychiatric help is literally a matter of life or death.
thank you so much, this is the kindest comment i have received in a good while! this horrid discourse has reared its head so much recently that i’m writing more on it which i’ll hopefully be publishing soon, but it really concerns me that this sort of sentiment has embedded itself across the political spectrum, whether it’s from outright fascists or leftists who post memes like “omg you people can’t do anything.” i think the latter need to engage their brains a bit more and think about the root of this rightward swing rather than just repeating it verbatim because they think it’s funny to get one over on mentally ill or neurodivergent people who they find annoying
This writing was very good. The way you explained the gentleness of the therapist talking to you got to me especially. Therapy speak may not be the root of the problem, but in a lot of the instances you mentioned, it’s a quick bandaid that is used to avoid having the deeper conversations that are needed.
One such discourse I heard recently that made my blood boil was that asking your friends for pick ups at the airport is free labor.
I think one of the most persistent and intractable problems with online discourses is that social media *structurally* takes the dialectical nature of discourse itself and massively amplifies it. Every correction becomes an overcorrection and discourse swings from one wild extreme to the other, so the "correction" to 2000s raunch culture was tenderqueers, and the "correction" to tenderqueer puritanism is Paglian gibberish and tradshit, and god knows what will "correct" that, and in every one of these wild cultural swings there is an opportunity for authoritarians and reactionaries to capitalize on people's genuine grievances and redirect them towards ideologies inimical to human freedom and self-expression. At this point I am not sure if anything actually good can come from the internet as we know it, it's a virtual prison yard with all the unhealthy social dynamics associated with such. However with the technologically mediated enclosure of every aspect of human sociality it is hard to even imagine an alternative.
okay thank you for bringing up the weird leftist anti-therapyspeak overcorrection... shit makes my eye twitch
i hate it so much i’m currently writing yet another piece on scepticism towards medical/psychiatric intervention and its place in far-right discourse… i really don’t think it gets the attention it deserves
oooh very excited to read that piece!!
Wow! Your writing here is so precise, clear cut, and heart wrenching. While this essay was written last summer, I feel as though the important ideas that you illustrated so beautifully are even more relevant today. Just this week, I’ve seen countless anti-therapy and anti-med articles on the Substack feed (I don’t follow this fascist type crap, but because I’m a girl who’s interested in psychology, apparently these alt right quacks pop up sometimes. After my initial horror, I try to block them.) Though I used to see the anti-med talk as a bugaboo of the far right, recently this dangerous rhetoric seems to be appearing more often among liberals as well. I’m terrified, but your writing helped me to feel less alone. The ableism and antisemitism inherent in this current wave of anti-therapy quackery is not lost on me. You wrote about the dangers of this anti med language so well, with deep empathy, fearlessness, and intelligence. A lot of people would not be here alive on this earth without the life saving benefits of antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and anxiety meds. I loved your line on the irony of how the lombotimized adolescent housewife is traditionally something the far right would salivate over. Right on! Thank you for speaking up about an issue that is near to my heart. I admire your courage to speak up! Access to medications and psychiatric help is literally a matter of life or death.
thank you so much, this is the kindest comment i have received in a good while! this horrid discourse has reared its head so much recently that i’m writing more on it which i’ll hopefully be publishing soon, but it really concerns me that this sort of sentiment has embedded itself across the political spectrum, whether it’s from outright fascists or leftists who post memes like “omg you people can’t do anything.” i think the latter need to engage their brains a bit more and think about the root of this rightward swing rather than just repeating it verbatim because they think it’s funny to get one over on mentally ill or neurodivergent people who they find annoying
Really enjoyed this.
This is really, really good
This writing was very good. The way you explained the gentleness of the therapist talking to you got to me especially. Therapy speak may not be the root of the problem, but in a lot of the instances you mentioned, it’s a quick bandaid that is used to avoid having the deeper conversations that are needed.
One such discourse I heard recently that made my blood boil was that asking your friends for pick ups at the airport is free labor.