Good Morning Digital Neighbors from across Locals! Happy Saturday Refugees, Phamily and Triggeratti! Hey there Early Birds, Later Dayers, Dawn Patrol, Day Walkers, Fascinating People, Conversants, Lurkers and of our course you Beautiful Bigots!! Love you all, good attracts good and paywalls help keep out the cheap trolls at least.😉 Communities of discussion and healthy disagreement are good for our hearts but more and more difficult to discover and maintain.

Locals offers the opportunity to discover communities of discussion more readily than most experiences of social media. Who would have thought that paywalls would keep out the majority of the free ranging trolls who come only to tear down since that is their on-line sport. I know there are enclaves of good discussion on other platforms, but unless you can exercise direction over your smaller intentional communities, the presence of trolls and shit-posters can kill many communities.

The fracturing of communities, relationships and families is more and more commonplace. The give and take of relationships is further strained when we can find solace in technology and distraction. Reconciliation is not an easy process and sometime impossible to achieve since it requires the intention and goodwill of all involved parties. One can forgive an @-sshole, but one cannot be reconciled to one. You can also be a sorry @-sshole, but sorrow without a real effort to change attitude and actions is empty. The Master recommends 77 or 7 x 70 times, (there seems to be a discretion in some translations, either way it is a lot) but most can't get past one offense let alone 7 or more. Some baseball people are fans of the 3 strikes and you are out, but whatever it is, everyone has their threshold of patience and forbearance.

When venturing for on the inter-webs, be it at Locals or other forms for on-line communities I try to keep a few things in mind. Not in any particular order.

1. Engagement with strangers whose first move is personal attack get blocked, muted, ignored almost immediately. I don't think I have seen or experienced this at all on Locals, but my engagement is limited.

2. With people you get to know through posting and perhaps chatrooms, live streams or ZOOM calls sooner or later you may have to agree to disagree. Many people cannot seem to fathom that someone else may not only not hold dear your most beloved convictions, they may vehemently disagree or even attack or mock your beloved convictions. If you can't agree to disagree or learn to deal with the said topic with patience or kindness, a parting of ways may well happen. Sometimes really good relationships are lost because of such crossroads. Everyone is intolerant of something

3. The inter-webs is not for the faint-hearted and easily offended. If you are among the easily offended, perma-offended or trigger-happy immatures, step lightly on-line. Facts aren’t the only thing that don't care about your feelings, most of humanity doesn't. Finding people who do is one of the real joys of friendship.

3A. I don't have the right to not be offended. I have the power to get over it.

4. Online conversations about topics or convictions of personal importance will rarely persuade others to change their mind. The whole "pilling" phenomenon is very personal, everyone has the critical moment that caused a shift in attitudes, a re-examining of convictions, a potential wake-up call to another way of thinking or at least the realization that others may have good reasons for disagreeing or at least varying from yourself.

5. Being curious about others and their experiences will bear more fruit than always looking for offense. I think the WOKE tend to see the world as broken and busted as they are. Many seem to need to attack you, break you down, make you confess your past offenses and then rebuild a new "sanity" to replace the old mindset. The new sanity will not lead you down the path to healthy relationships or even a healthy understanding of self. It will be a very lonely departure from your "offensive" past and the subjugation of your self as your join the group-thinking and herd-feeling "enlightened." The WOKE will always have Tic-toc I guess. Choose wisely - it will make for a better life.

6. Support creators you appreciate, be it subscriptions or just a kind word. It can go a long way. Happy Saturday my friends!

Spring Time Barn Photograph by Kevin Pugh