English or history. They were both subjects in high school where I could not even study and just wing it with walls of text. As long as spelling and grammar and shit were good and in the case of history, being able to refer to key things from the text book occasionally, I was scoring in the 90s. I’ve gone a bit feral in that regard over the years since then but if my path was to be a teacher, I think that’s what I would’ve gone for.

Just want to add that a big deciding factor in that as well is how cool my english and history teachers in high school were. A married couple that I honestly credit with helping shape certain good parts of who I am. I was honestly borderline anarchistic (definitely anti-authoritarian) in my writings and I think they liked it and nurtured it a little bit.

One moment that stuck with me that I never realised the significance of was my history teacher bringing up how schools have a hidden curriculum. How beyond being taught how to behave in society, it also enforces cultural things like one race’s set of norms and standards or teaching boys to behave like boys and girls to behave like girls (which is a line I even specifically remember him using). And I remember being a little bit outraged about the idea of a hidden curriculum and this fucking guy smiled and kept the conversation going and told me more.

Here’s to you Mr. and Mrs. Owen. They’d be pretty old if they were still alive. I’d be either an english or history teacher because of them.

Or the right wing way is just to say one thing and do another thing. Honestly to me as a non-American, it’s pretty weird that the right wingers have latched onto this ‘free speech’ thing and that everyone just goes along with it because to me, things like free speech and freedom of expression always seemed like liberal or left wing ideals.

These guys talk about free speech, then burn a pile of schoolbooks that spread the ‘librul’ agenda and call for anyone that isn’t white and Christian to be removed from their sight. The only small part of free speech that they’re interested in is being able to call groups of people subhuman and they don’t just want that sort of free speech, they want freedom from consequences too and act like getting punched in the mouth for saying the wrong thing in the wrong place isn’t a thing in real life either. And more than that, based on the extreme pearl clutching when the ‘tOlERanT lEFt’ ever comes down from their high horses, they want that free speech for themselves and themselves only.

Basically they’re liars, bad faith trolls and people that actually believe that their bigotry means that they stand for ‘freedom’. They also ‘care about the kids’ but want to marry and fuck them and send them to the mines. So isn’t it obvious by now that everything is opposite day with these people?

I’m only a day in of trying to get away from this, and I’m mostly talking about Lemmy right now (but it would also work / help on Bluesky), but something that’s already made a huge difference for me personally since yesterday, is separating the feeds. I woke up this morning and scrolled through content that didn’t make me want to start a revolution first thing in the morning and I’m already having a pretty good day for it.

I decided to cut most news and politics out of my subscriptions, other than maybe some small communities that don’t show up on ‘All’ on a 24 hour cycle. So from now on, my subscriptions will be only things that interest me and not enrage me. And ‘All’ is still there if I happen to feel like indulging in the rage for a little bit.

Also, finding a server that’s more tailored to what you personally vibe with adds a 3rd option in the ‘Local’ tab for a feed that doesn’t destroy your soul piece by piece.

So the ‘Reddit’ experience is still there in the ‘All’ tab, for everything. From rage to cool shit you haven’t subscribed to yet. But you don’t have to spend all day there. You can fill the other two tabs with stuff that makes you smile or learn or that aligns with your interests / career / philosophy or whatever. And spend more time there.

I was doing the same when I gave Bluesky a try, making use of different feeds for different things. Keep the news and politics in its own tab and only go there when you feel like catching up, or if you’re specifically in the mood to rage against the machine.