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Karen Leiher's avatar

This may be the most impactful Signal Fire post you've ever written, and one I'm sure you could have never foreseen having to write when you founded this magical space to share your creativity and talents.

We are only months into this presidency but it somehow feels like years. The damage, likely irreparable, that has already been caused by these megalomaniacs is terrifying to say the least. I am scared for what is to come. And I'm not even American.

The chaos is far-reaching; most of the world is collectively holding their breaths and waiting for the next punch to the gut. Please know we are standing beside you and the rest of the good guys, praying to whatever Deity/Universe that there is an end to this. That someone with enough reason will step in and peacefully bring things back to whatever sense of normalcy remains in this dystopian nightmare.

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

Karen, thank you so much for this. I never thought I'd have to go down these roads, but I just realized, if I'm not using my platform to speak up and speak out against atrocities, I am part of the problem too. Thanks for seeing this, thanks for being here.

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Kevin's avatar

Tyler, thank you for this. Your thoughts on trolls and how to manage their damage are spot on. And you offer the best advice with the reminder; “As much as words are powerful, so is their absence”. Yes, we face more than a culture war on the internet. The few trolls of the past have become millions of “bots”, spewing out disinformation, hate speech, and negativity for the simple purpose of sustaining our primitive attention online. Hate, anger, and fear in the internet are what water is to the desert in our mind. What started as the nihilistic and anarchical nature of the few online in the 1980’s has become an automated network of psychological manipulators made to improve the data that ranks both viewer time and interest. I no longer see the situation as us versus them, because “them” has essentially become “us” with the magnificent seven’s enabling of unlimited algorithms to find and manipulate our human emotions. If you have experience in marketing, you may know about the “clam-plate orgy” advertising techniques of the 1980’s. The bots are just a more recent and insidious version of subliminal manipulation. Designed to ignite the same human nature of “fight or flight” as much as a hidden desire. Your list of “life-hacks” for dealing with them are extremely helpful. I prefer to actively counter, but respect the self-preserving need dis-engage with the sites and organizations that utilize these methods and tactics. Indeed, as a “child of the 60’s”, I witnessed the visceral power that public opinion and presence as a powerful and effective counter weight to any “campaign of pain” they wage on us. Remember that their goal is not to change the culture, but to exert control and gain money. Behind every political or marketing campaign is self interest.

The crisis is now

There, In the back of our throats

We can feel it catch

What we thought we knew

Now has been turned upside down

Winning has escaped

They win only by

Raising fears of the unknown

Only if we accept

It’s a lesson learned

Be careful what you ask for

You might just get it

Politics is called

“Artful negotiation”

Or it used to be…

“I serve the people!”

But my vote is re-served, for

the highest bidder

It should be called “lies”

When they lie and we lay down

Stand up and be heard.

Don’t let the liars

Approach you without consent

and lie with a smile.

Words that hurt are weak.

It’s harder to fix problems

Than just to destroy

If you look beyond

Projected words and division

There’s self interest

I guess we know now

There are no simple answers

To our hard questions

Our complex world needs

An imperfect consensus

Just to move forward

Answers must contain

Less of me and more of us

Inconvenient truth

Start by showing up

Presence is stronger than words

The will of the people

Even if we stand up

But are told we must sit down

And then to shut up

If we only serve

to enrich in our own interests,

We have lost our way.

We cannot go back

To simpler times of yes/no

When we all ask why?

In a world of trolls

We must be willing to stand

Or live in our knees

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

My friend, thank YOU for being here, for this. I couldn't allow the absence of My words about all this any more. I couldn't sit quiet and pretend all things were just flowing along like normal when so much is happening. With a platform comes a responsibility to use it for GOOD, and I intend to. I will not be quiet with what we're facing. I cannot.

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Taylor Juarez's avatar

This is a great piece. And I’ve already shifted where I spend my time online this year. I’m really getting into Substack and all the incredible writers, artists, thinkers, and journalists who are on here. Jessica Yellin is another incredible journalist who I like to get my news from. It’s important who we choose to follow and I am always looking for ways to stay informed, but also educated in a way that makes me feel empowered.

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

You're so amazing and we're so lucky to have you here. I Hope you see this, and I hope this community warms you, as you do it.

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Laura Marsh's avatar

You’ve brought up a lot of important points here and some good small solutions, for both Americans and Canadians, who are dismayed at what we see happening south of the border and hoping that the trolls in Canada aren’t given the power to do the same. I am often tempted to respond to unproductive and nasty online comments but refrain. Our election is April 28- crossing my fingers and toes that we do not elect someone who in some ways mirrors the Trump mindset.

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

I'll start with small solutions, and start with using my voice here, and everywhere it reaches, for good. That's all I can do. I hope things go well for you all, I truly do.

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Kit Williams's avatar

Even here in Australia we are watching and worrying. The success of one set of trolls emboldens others, and with our own election in 2 weeks, I worry about the outcome.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. As always, I value them.

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

The trickle down is intense, and it is swift. Evil begets evil and it spreads. I so hope all is ok for you down under.

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Michaelynn's avatar

I’ve got to admit, I am disappointed that politics have now invaded “my” Signal Fire—one of my chosen “healthier communities”. I have chosen to hang out here, with this, in order to not hang out there, with that. I don’t want politics to find me here…and if political commentary starts to become more frequent and commonplace here, this too will become a place that I will avoid. Of course I realize this is not “my” page at all, but I beg of you, please take the high road Tyler. 🙏🏼

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Laura Marsh's avatar

I don’t mean to be disagreeable by disagreeing but I believe that Tyler IS taking the ‘high road’ by speaking out. It’s not mere ‘politics’; it’s our values.

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

Speaking up for my community, for vulnerable communities like our LGBTQIA+ friends and family, for people being illegally deported and sent to concentration camps, it's the way we keep "healthier communities" actually healthy. For too long we've all taken the "high road" and been polite and calm and restrained and we've turned the other cheek while those who are perpetrating such atrocities get louder, and louder, and more brazen, and worse. SO many communities are under attack right now, so many people that exist in THIS community, myself included, and this is not about politics, this is not about Republican or Democrat, this is about human beings, this is about humanity itself. To sit silent and acquiesce is to allow these atrocities to continue, and if this turns this place into a place you have to avoid, I am sorry that you feel that way, and I will wish you so very well as you find somewhere else. We will still be here, still pushing kindness, still trying our very best to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, and if that means ruffling feathers along the way, I suppose that's a price I am (quite literally as I rely on this income to even keep Signal Fire alive and going) willing to pay.

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Katy's avatar

THANK YOU TKG. We must speak up. This place is safe. Refuge and renewal. The monsters are loud and big however, I truly believe they have not won. They are the snake encircling the earth swallowing itself on the other end and in turn it will consume itself. NOT US. We are light. I know we stand together and there are SOOO many more of us! Keep faith! Hold fast!

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

You're so entirely welcome, as always. This place is safe, this place is haven. We must be loud, we must be kind, but we must be LOUD. Stand together, hold fast. We're here.

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TracyB's avatar

Tyler, I love how you will say THE THING that no one else has the guts to say. No one. We need more people like you , like this community, these supporters who stand up for injustice, who don't fall for the lies and deceit. More of this please!!

And thank you for always being the one who says the things, always! <3

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Tyler Knott Gregson's avatar

I will always, I promise you that. Even when it costs me, literally, my income, in doing so. I love you all.

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Tori's avatar

I’ve been off most forms of social media since February. I’ve started engaging in discussions with many people in my life who have very different views than me. And while it’s been extremely challenging and emotional, what I’ve found is that I have a lot more in common with people who believe or vote differently than me than I imagined. It’s a fine line to stand for your values while listening with a true desire to understand as others share about theirs. But what I’ve found is that I’m filled with much less rage and hatred than when I made the assumption that we either agreed or disagreed with no middle ground.

It’s not perfect. There are still things that frustrate me or scare me or disappoint me. But it’s also been really beautiful learning how to discuss and debate ideas that are fueled by my own thoughts and values and not what the internet tells me I have to think, say, and believe. It’s also been really beautiful going through each day with so much less anger. The internet wants us to be angry. It wants us to be divided. It makes money off our pain. But learning to discuss, disagree, learn, and grow with people in my life who are both similar and different from me has shown me opportunities for unity where the internet says there can’t be.

A lot of growth happens in the in-between spaces and I’m grateful to be learning how to navigate them.

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