Fortress of Solitude

I recently got an email from a random stranger from a pseudonymous Proton Mail account that was most likely a burner address. They objected to the fact that I do not provide a comment form on my website. They also object to the fact that they can’t find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, or even Mastodon. They think I’m living in an “echo chamber” and that I’m “too hard to reach”.

This is arrant bullshit.

First, this is my website; I am under no obligation to offer strangers a platform at my expense. I don’t expect other people to provide a comments form on their website; if I have an opinion about something they’ve published, I’ll link to their website and quote with attribution. Other people are welcome to do the same with anything I publish here.

Second, if I was on any of the parasocial media platforms they mentioned, and they addressed me as they did by email, I would block them without a moment’s hesitation, and spare them neither remorse nor regret. As Jamie Zawinski advises, block early, block often, no mercy. That’s the Cobra Kai way to do social media.

I certainly do, and for a few simple reasons:

• You don’t get to hurl abuse at me, because I am no less a human being than you are.
• You don’t get to scold me, because I don’t answer to you.
• You don’t get to preach at me; I can captain my own soul well enough without you playing admiral.
• You don’t get to try to browbeat me into supporting a cause that does not serve me.
• If I see you being an asshole to others, I’ll block you before you can start giving me shit.
• You don’t get to demand charity of me while calling it “mutual aid”, when we both know that you would never help me even if you could.
• If you “follow” me and your profile suggests that you’re a bot, a spammer, a troll, or a neo-Nazi then I’ll block you before you can annoy me further than you have by your mere existence.

Third, what I’ve created for myself on the internet is not an “echo chamber”, simply because I don’t willingly shower in a firehose of right-wing propaganda. My website is a fortress of solitude. I might not be Superman or Doc Savage, but I still want one of my own. Hell, I’m not even the Count of Monte Cristo, but he’d still take some time for himself when he needed it. Why shouldn’t I do likewise?

When I wish to, I venture forth. I read other people’s websites. Some people express views with which I don’t agree. If I find their views particularly egregious, I might cease to visit their websites. But that’s certainly more tolerant than I’d be on social media, where I’d be tempted to bring such nonsense to the moderators’ attention precisely because it was placed in my feed without my consent.

Finally, this person was able to email me, so I can’t be that difficult to reach. Others have managed to reach me by email, too. Besides, and as cruel as this might sound: if somebody can’t be bothered to email me, then I probably don’t need to hear from them because they probably don’t have much of value to say.

Furthermore, it is not impossible to “follow” me online, even though social media isn’t my style. I provide RSS feeds precisely for this purpose. Even if I was unreachable, that too is my right, just as it is your right to not make yourself available to every random stranger who wants to contact you for whatever reason.

It is generous to be sociable, but it should not be obligatory. I’m on the open web, and not on platforms of any kind, because I value my own happiness and peace of mind. I get that it’s important to not ignore the world around me, but I reserve the right to withdraw and rest.

On a related note, this email reminds me of a Substack screed by Venkatesh Rao called Against Waldenponding in which he argues that we are all part of what he calls the Giant Social Computer in the Cloud, and that we have a duty to act as components of this so-called GSCITC so that it might better “compute the future”. Since I never asked to be part of this granfalloon, I have two words for Mr. Rao: non serviam. If he needs to brush up on his Latin, I’ve got four more words for him and anybody else who thinks I am doing myself or society a disservice by not participating online the way they think I should: fuck you, pay me. Perhaps I am not reading Rao as charitably as he might like, but I can’t help but suspect that Roko’s basilisk turned his brain into yogurt, and now he wants others to be as scared shitless as he might be that a billion years later some sentient supercomputer might clone his dead ass to be part of the supporting cast in a production of I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.

Or maybe I’m just being asocial, and an asshole, as usual. Both are my right, as long as I’m not hurting anybody in the process. And I’m OK with being disliked. I’m used to it; I got a lot of practice as a kid.

PS: You should be grateful I’m not a YouTuber or a podcaster. I’ve got a face made for radio and a voice made for print.

PPS: Healthy people have boundaries. I’ve built a wall.