My interest in technology, self-hosting, building websites. My interest in the fediverse, and a non-corporate free internet earn completely blank stares from most men and women I interact with in real life, and those would be people interested in a free and non-corporate society in general. But online? Everybody is on Fartbook or other big platforms and they don’t even have an idea why that might be bad.

Recently I spent a whole day talking quite coherently with a woman, about all sorts of real life stuff. After hours of talk about all sorts of things I mentioned my interest in tech, and the problems I see with platforms like facebook and their algorithms (I might have gotten a little ranty) and when I see her eyes glazing over I stop myself to give her time to respond, and she goes like: ‘What is your opinion about Trump?’ and proceeds into the darkest most ludicrous qanon stuff. After having had enjoyed talking to her all day about literally everything else, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and at same time it was just the same all over again that happened to my mom a few years ago. It’s like again and again I see my darkest fears come true: be a non-tech person over a certain age (maybe even somewhat spectrumy) -> use certain large platforms -> have your harmless interests or quirks taken and twisted into some way-out-there right wing shit.

So that’s an interest I have most people don’t get: that I’m interested in them not using the internet naively and being gradually brainwashed into madness. I realize I look like a rambling madperson to them when I start talking about it.