The image of Pluto from New Horizons gives me similar feels. People have been fascinated by Pluto since its discovery in 1930, and only a few years ago we managed to send extremely high res photos back from a probe that took a decade to travel there.

Most of the Cassini probe images of the Saturn system are incredible. One of my favorites

Granted, I think this post about the moon takes the cake, since humans have wondered about the moon for millennia.

That’s fucked. A VPN sounds like a good idea in that case.

US is a giant shithole with cruel laws and policies

It’s nice, maybe even incredible beyond a certain income level. Those below that level get glimpses of that reality when they drive past the nicer parts of town or see people with nice cars/houses/boats etc. Couple that experience with brainwashing that anyone can get there with sufficient hard work, and that this supposed mobility is the foundation of Freedom™ goshdarnit, then it is simple for many people to accept mediocre or bad living conditions. It is what makes capitalist exploitation so sinister: it converts direct, personal exploitation of past societies into indirect, impersonal exploitation based on the abstract logic of private property. (Das Kapital in a nutshell.)

All of that is to say, I think your point #1 is insufficient without a Marxist analysis, because merely identifying problems without understanding their causes can easily lead a liberal to fascist scapegoating of marginalized groups instead of actual solutions.

Don’t be needlessly cruel but don’t be “civil” for the mere sake of it. Many people on the internet are marginalized IRL (disproportionately true for spaces like Hexbear which are accepting of gender nonconformity and communism) and it can feel good to turn it on others when we’re all just usernames shouting into the void. Be the better person, always assume you are speaking to a relative, your past self, or future friend/comrade and not a mortal enemy.

Easier, practical solution: assume all internet activity (especially social media) is public and act accordingly. Even if you have an anonymous username.

Reactionaries being reactionary

m o r e s l o p

Hence “scratch a liberal and and a fascist bleeds.” Only the slightest inconvenience reveals fake leftists. Turns out leftism isn’t just rounding up tips for food drives.

I have the same experience as you. I think the difference is Trump and the increased polarization that started about when Obama was first elected. Liberals and demsocs felt safer to challenge the status quo when the status quo was ostensibly already leaning “left”. But then Trump got elected, and in the face of the extreme unity within the Republican Party behind Trump, the Democrats also had to push for extreme unity. And what this meant was severe rejection of anything other than the party line.