Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Fig Economy

@figgityfigs.bsky.social

13K followers 1.1K following 52K posts

Father of lots, earnest as shit, Regular and not too fancy, weird li’l guy enthusiast. He/him.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 7d

Every one of you: post at least once a day about some small thing that makes you happy that has nothing to do with politics. This is a hard and fast rule. I won’t be keeping a spreadsheet or anything but if you don’t do it, I’ll know.

Iris Meredith @iris-meredith.bsky.social · 7d

I think, for those of us on the political left, we need to address morale as a real and pressing issue that will fuck up our ability to fight if left unaddressed. We *need* to figure out a way to keep people feeling at least minimally good about things even in shitty situations.

11 24 130

Reposted by The Fig Economy

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 39m

Oh definitely, but like you’ve got to start cultivating the habits of mind necessary before you get there because there’s not some switch that’s gonna flip. If you haven’t disciplined yourself before you get to 100k, the audience that gets you to 100k isn’t going to *let* you.

3 3 12

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 30m

Happy to help, really. And I know the favor is returned when I’m wrong about something on here, and I’m glad to have the resources of so many people who know more what they’re talking about than I do.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 39m

3 3 12

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

Hey Ellie, just wanted to say the other day I took a shot or two that I think was more out of frustration than anything and was below the belt and I apologize for that.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

And like yeah, it’s not like I think follower count is some huge big thing that’s super important, but I understand that the higher it is the greater the likelihood that the things I say get catapulted farther and wider, and that implies responsibility that most don’t feel, I think.

1 2

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

I’ve been blocking (and blocked) a lot on this one.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

lol it’s absolutely not. I’m talking about the reply guy impulse to curry favor.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

I was like a 300 follower account on Twitter and then I posted an Easter picture my son drew and that like quintupled overnight, lol. The whole dynamic is completely alien.

1 6

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

Oh, not talking legal at all.

1 4

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

A bunch of the people who pull the smol bean routine would shit on Jon Stewart in the prime Daily Show days falling back on “I’m just a li’l ol’ comedian” when people would invoke his responsibility. It’s the same fucking thing.

3 6 50

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

I feel like what this means is that we have to develop a personal idea of what is good and right, and keep ourselves honest about it, because this place will validate whatever path we choose to walk, and the social incentives are mostly to walk really bad ones.

3 5 62

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

I’ve been blocking (and blocked) heavily, so that mostly disappears a bunch of the stuff too.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

Smaller than most people think, I think.

1 5

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

Yeah. I mean at the point where the things you say automatically get blasted out to a thousand people, I feel like you’ve got to grapple with what that means? I mean, “got to” in a conceptual sense, most people don’t at all.

1 16

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 1h

Yeah, I was using that more on the consumer than producer side, but it was ill considered and had connotations I didn’t mean but regretted, so I deleted it.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 2h

Places like this are a validation machine, where if you want to be a shithead, it can make you popular, and then you can curate your views so that you see like 90% people saying everything that you do is good and right no matter what it is.

2 10 90

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 2h

I think it fucking sucks that I got such pushback on the idea having a large-ish audience on a social media platform means you’ve got some responsibility for how you use it. I don’t think that pushback is representative of much beyond the people doing it, but it sucks that it’s as loud as it is.

12 12 170

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 2h

I think it’s possible that 30% are hard D/R partisans and 15% are soft D/R partisans and it takes more to turn that 15% into swing voters than we’ve seen recently, but it’s possible it can be done.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 2h

I keep coming back to this, and it’s the whole thing. A feeling being valid does not mean anything you do and justify by invocation of that valid feeling is productive or valid or cool.

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 4h

Got some more decorating to do and gotta paint the bricks, but this is pretty close to done.

2 27

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 6h

No, they definitely cannot trust them, I agree. But there is also little that they can do and they need to look like they’re working toward a goal.

1 3

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 6h

Pat answer would be “larger than me,” lol, but I think a responsibility kicks in much smaller than mine.

2 11

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 6h

We didn’t! I think the previous owner had just dumped some pumpkins over in the area and once the tree was down the seeds got full sun.

1 1

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 7h

I genuinely had not processed it that way but it would not be the first time my (a middle aged dude, obv) perception of a newer slang term was not laden with its full context to others.

1 5

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 7h

Like I don’t think Elizabeth Bruenig was a thirst trap poster but her reply guys clearly had a parasocial relationship with her that was based on her being an attractive woman.