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@Daojoan As always, a good read.

@Daojoan@mastodon.social Fully agreed. Also this ideological purity is always based on a very consumerist and individualist assumption. Large scale effective measures can only happen from political power, not from the magical thinking that everyone will individually do the right thing.

@Daojoan

"But the point isn't perfection. The point is intention."

💯

@Daojoan This is one I struggle with deeply. I’ve built a career on Microsoft technologies but I feel the tug to rebuild on open source. As Microsoft digs deeper into AI it becomes ever increasingly at odds with my love of nature conservationist tendencies. Which can be said of anything tech. To say nothing of the issues with US tech and how it is evolving especially under the current administration.

I feel like my entire world has become a moral quandary that I can’t solve.

@rlounsbury @Daojoan I'm in the midst of transitioning away from as much big tech as possible; it's definitely possible and not nearly as much of a compromise as it might have been a decade ago.

It isn't just an issue of morality, it's an issue of privacy, and an issue of being able to own your data.

Sure, trying to go 100% cold turkey is daunting, but you don't have to do it all at once. Setting up your own homelab or a hobby server outside the US has never been easier. If you can migrate away from even one big tech online service, you're one step closer.

The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

@soviut @rlounsbury

Absolutely, I used a lot of open source on Windows for years before I bit the bullet and swapped over to Linux and got rid of MS completely.
You don't have to do it all at once.

There's quite a nice site here: alternativeto.net/ that you can find your normal app, search for alternatives and filter for OS and licence etc.
It's not always complete, but it's a great start.

AlternativeToAlternativeTo - Crowdsourced software recommendationsAlternativeTo lets you find apps and software for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, Android Tablets, Web Apps, Online, Windows Tablets and more by recommending alternatives to apps you already know.

@chewie Well, my comment is more about career than finding software replacements. It would be a fundamental career shift to move away from Microsoft.

But yes, you are correct about finding replacement apps that are open source. :)

@rlounsbury
Ah sorry.
Yes, I keep trying.
I mostly work with Windows OSes and Cisco.
Now and again there will be some embedded devices and Linux servers that others are scared to touch that I can play with.

I've tried getting more people at various workplaces to use open source to fix problems, but a lot of people aren't willing to learn, which is annoying as they would have more marketable skills.

Maybe it's because they don't have it as a hobby too 🤷

@chewie @soviut @rlounsbury I’ve found a lot of really cool things on alternativeto. It’s been around forever, but I hardly ever run into anyone who knows about it.

@Daojoan

This is why iv go to live music as often as I'm able and buy the bands' DVD directly from their merch person instead of listening via streaming services

It's not perfect. Some venues take a percentage, but I enjoy chatting with the merch people and often get them signed

I also buy VIP when I can afford it because the US is so expensive to tour, and my little contribution helps

@Daojoan Thank you for spelling it out so clearly. Intention is important, self flagellation is not.

I think it's similar to food. I make an effort to eat a more plant based diet but I won't switch to plant milk for my coffee because I hate the taste (I tried multiple brands, it was different kinds of not tasty).

@spinni81 @Daojoan

It always boils down to coffee - and by that I mean "good" coffee. We have been transitioning to more plant based foods, but we draw the line when it comes to coffee and that really just comes down to taste.

@LiamEgan Another line I'm drawing is cheese. That one is actually a much harder line than the coffee one. I'd rather give up coffee with milk and switch to black tea (where plant milk is fine) than giving up cheese completely. I know there are plant based options but most of them are either boring (cream cheese alternatives or the stuff you put on cheap pizza) or just awful (feta, cashew based camembert, etc.)

@spinni81 @LiamEgan

I like tea. I only eat animal products because I eat what I'm served. I don't mind plant-based dairy substitutes./pos

@Daojoan In my experience, ideological purists have a limited understanding of how our systems and institutions work.

@Daojoan "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good"

@Daojoan

Thank you, that is well said. I see silky ideological purity arguments on other platforms when I lurk, and it has always bothered me.

You found the perfect words:

“If enough people tried—just tried, even imperfectly—things would shift. If more people opted for alternatives when they could, if more people supported independent platforms even three times out of five, if more people put even a fraction of their energy into challenging the defaults, it would matter.”

@Daojoan
Read more or less truh it, and of course things only work out a step at a time.

I can't see your negative evaluation on not using all those services and tools. I only experience benefits by not using the app store, by choosing every time I join or integrate a new tool or service. For me it's always a win-win because I skip the part of enshitification "they" always add.

And I do use google search and YT, but actually their service is declining in a way that I'll have to move ..

@Daojoan Very strongly agree with this. Thanks for putting into words, so eloquently, what I've had at the back of my mind for some time (on this current theme). And, probably, for many years in general.

@Daojoan this is great "Every step you take in the direction of your values matters. Every time you make a choice that reflects what you care about—even if it's small, even if it's incomplete, even if it feels incremental, marginal, unimportant—it reinforces something. Not just in the world, in yourself." 🙏🧡

@Daojoan

Your article is an excellent read that personally addresses a few issues I am dealing with. Thanks !

"But the point isn't perfection. The point is intention.

You don’t have to be all or nothing. You don’t have to make every decision a moral battlefield. You don’t have to sever every tie to every compromised system - and you sure as hell don’t have to do it overnight.

You have to engage. You have to stay aware. You have to keep questioning the default."

@Daojoan The easiest way to kill a movement is to lead it.

@Daojoan a very humane piece. I think most of us here on Mastodon have had the same thoughts and dealt with the same feeling of "hypocrisy". The border between an emancipated digital life and full-on corpo-bro is no fine line, it's a plethora of small practices and choices, and it must be walked, not jumped through headfirst.

@Daojoan Excellent! A little change is better than no change. One step at a time. And don’t judge.

@Daojoan

One interesting aspect of this is that the right demand purity from the left too. They're quick to reach for the charge of hypocrisy if you argue for better public transport but use a car - but if you give up the car they will charge you with 'virtue signalling' (even while they argue against public services while continuing to use the public roads).

The fact is we all have to live in the real world, even if we are working towards a better one.

@Daojoan i always like to think that anything is better than nothing, 1 > 0, as long as one keeps pushing as much as one can obviously.
nice piece

@Daojoan Thank you - this text really helps, and of how many texts I read today or this week can I say this?

Thant you for your words on how to kill a movement @Daojoan

One of the best tactics of #Counterinsurgency is to make you belief that they have no chance, or, even worse: that it is too late for #resistance

Because if it is too late now - it means you are guilty. Because you have not done anything before

Do not let them do that to you

You can always #resist

And if it is just to change your breathing pattern to annoy them

Find people to connect with, to build an #analogue #network

@Daojoan Recently I was following a thread on r/anticonsumption about shopping at local stores with questionable (or unknown) hiring practices, political contributions, etc. vs national chains that are more transparent. It was really interesting to see just how many things are taken into consideration by a group of people who tend, individually, to think about the complexities of consumption.

@Daojoan there's an old saying I wish more people would get: "don't let perfection get in the way of progress"

@Daojoan Yes, yes, and yes. You read my mind. There are several people out there pushing for a certain ideal and demeaning those who can't or simply won't change for whatever reason, and that attitude won't help any positive change.

Small and steady steps will lead the journey, because that's what life is in many aspects (including our relationship with tech): a journey.

@Daojoan "But you can't be Shakespeare and you can't be Joyce, so what is left instead?"

Lou Reed - Magic And Loss (The Summation)