2016 US elections was a ridiculously sobering moment for realizing that we had not progressed nearly to the extent that I nievely thought.

I might not have been a raging, bleeding-heart, anti-capitalist liberal had Trump not gotten elected in November 2016. Until then I might have considered myself apolitical with no strong political ambitions. Seeing riots opened up the world to me, his election wasn’t a stupid joke but an injustice on all the people Trump essentially campaigned on fucking over.

Another crazy moment was the second time I got high on weed. I was super panicked at first, but when I went to bed, all of a sudden abstract art made sense to me as I had visions and felt a connection to their work even if I didn’t know their name. That high had residual effects the next day and I had felt changed somehow.

Probably being on welfare for an extended period of time. It kinda beat the techno-libertarian out of me.

Most of my big internal changes were done through years of struggling in communities and therapy though

The run up to the start of the war in Iraq. Anyone who was paying attention knew that Afghanistan was already a disaster, a complete failure for everyone but arms dealers, and everyone also knew that the gwb regime was completely full of shit. Massive rallies worldwide saying no, yet they did it anyway. Fucking murderous assholes.

Ohh, the lockdowns showed me how all of you motherfuckers really are. It was VERY enlightening.

Being treated for cancer in hospital (in remission now, thank you) during COVID lockdowns gave me lots of time to reflect on my life. Realised that probably I was the asshole all these years; and also came to the realisation that I’m autistic and socially awkward. Reading David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs helped me to understand all the corporate games and garbage that I’d been part of for most of my career.

When I think about my life, it’s divided into pre-cancer diagnosis, selfish workaholic and part of corporate life; and post-cancer remission, unemployed, living off my savings, kinder to the people and the world, but unable to find a job that resonates with the new me.

GWB publicly condoning torture.

I grew up during the tail end of the cold war. Torture was something the Soviets did. We were better than that.

And sure, I knew the CIA did stuff like that under the table, but it was never OK.

It’s what got me interested in politics, and why I feel that we shouldn’t try to hide the bad things we’ve done when we teach history. Knowing what we’re capable of is necessary to keep ourselves from repeating the mistakes of the past.

The left wing party of Australian federal politics decided that treating refugees inhumanly was acceptable.

That moment changed how I view politics and how I view people. It made me realise just how irrelevant empathy for others was in most public and political discourse. It made me more cynical about “the system”, changed the way I voted, and transformed the face of my own advocacy to put empathy for others at the forefront.

COVID-19. People simply refused to do the absolute minimum to stop the spread of the virus. At least in my community, everyone was still socializing with friends and family (without a mask, of course), going out to eat, taking part in recreational activities with other people. Something as simple as “stay away from other people until we get this under control” was too hard for the American public. It certain changed my view of the people around me.