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Reflection requires a degree of intention and concentration that's hard to develop in a world of weaponized dopamine hits. I've tried to avoid that stuff as much as possible but there's no way to completely opt out of those experiences or the degradation of intention they cause. Personally, I find it harder than ever to really engage with a challenging book, for example.

It's also emotionally difficult because so often politics is tied up with identity. The vulnerability necessary for peeling back your character armor is not the kind of thing that 2019's political discourse encourages, to say the least. Political critique is a blunt object; it's not the best tool for digesting personal experience.