It suddenly dawned on me today that there is a parallel here.

Those who survive abuse have to learn, later in life than most, how to grow up into adults and become self-sufficient and stable. They are damaged because those upon whom they depended were not only their providers, but also their abusers. This creates major psychological conflict. (I'm not an expert so I'll leave to others to expand on that generality.)

We, in western society, have lived for decades under the rule of a government-media-corporate "elite" upon which we had no choice but to depend for our information, our jobs, our "national security", and more. But those who held those positions abused the power they held over us. No, they didn't kill us (at least, most of us), but neither did they truly care for us the way a provider should. Instead they lied to us and put us into deep psychological conflict, calling us "conspiracy theorists" whenever we started to understand the wrong things they were doing. They even got us to call each other names, and abuse one another, because we were angry and "They" were out of reach.

So now, as we are casting off their overlord status, we find ourselves in a parallel situation to physical abuse survivors. Although we are biological adults, we have to learn how to provide for ourselves like adults in this information age. Our early efforts are rather awkward and clumsy, pock-marked with disinformation sources we've naively accepted as legitimate truth-seekers and corporate shills we've mistaken for rebels. We've made these mistakes because we have never done this before.

We are only now beginning to try to truly live as free people, and we still have a long way to go before we fully "get it". The bumps and bruises we're going to keep experiencing will be painful, but necessary. So extend leniency to others, but keep pushing forward. Listen for new ideas -- or old ideas rediscovered. Experiment. Dabble. Question. Suggest.

"May you live in interesting times."

--Chinese assholes