Hatred or Indifference?
Just about everything is dead or dying. This is true both literally and metaphorically—massive extinction of plant and animal species combined with the decline in our most basic political and social ideas.
But still life goes on—the future is still there, and we are barreling towards it. But what ways still exist for us to meet the future with? Hope, peace, love, etc. are out the window.
It seems to me that there are two options—hatred and indifference. Both of them are correct. There is so little that is worth saving or valuing or respecting or appreciating—the more that technology pulls back the curtain on human nature, the less we like what we see. Has anyone’s opinion of humanity increased during the peak years of digital life? As we’ve seen more of each other, has anyone liked more of what they’ve seen than disliked? Has anything gotten better? Culture, entertainment, politics, dating, mental health, the social sphere as a whole, literacy, critical thinking, and on and on—there has been nothing but massive decline in all of these areas.
So there’s plenty to hate. And it’s no surprise that hate is rising, in various ways.
The other option it seems to me is indifference. A lot of people are choosing this option too. Maybe they’re more peaceful, or they lack the energy for hate.
It seems to me that if one has energy today, it will be directed towards hate—but if one doesn’t, you will just be indifferent. Energy levels among people seem to be going down—people seem exhausted—so I think indifference will increase over hate.
But I also think that indifference is a luxury—you have to have a certain level of comfort and security to even be able to be indifferent. At a certain point, the world forces you to be something other than indifferent, which you will have to be for a while, in order to resume being indifferent. That brief break from indifference will probably be a form of hate, to return things back to their previous level, so you can continue being indifferent, by using force to get things to settle down.
So those are basically the options for the future—you can go with hate or with indifference (but indifference will turn into hate at a certain point).
You often said the character limit made you a better writer. Hatred is like a limit that improves your ability to love. Love is a generative principle, and creation can only occur within strict clearly defined limits. The way you describe indifference sounds to me like a weakened form of hate, and the less I hate the more I see how the world has broken me towards capitulation. Hatred is healthy, do not give in to liberal canards on tolerance etc. Hate consistently, with clear definition and intent.