David Benfell, Ph.D. (he/him/his)<p>New instance, new <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/introduction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>introduction</span></a>. Edit: I have supplemented this introduction with replies to this post.</p><p>I see this instance has a *nice* *long* character limit for posts.</p><p>I have a Ph.D. in Human Science (2016, Saybrook University), which is about the experience of being human in social contexts. It is the mother of the social sciences but is now, at least in the English speaking world, and at least as far as I can tell, a dead field.</p><p>I studied <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/conservatism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>conservatism</span></a> for my <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/dissertation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>dissertation</span></a>. And yes, the <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Democrats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Democrats</span></a> are far too <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/conservative" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>conservative</span></a> for me.</p><p>Once upon a time, a very, very long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a computer programmer. It was the wrong career choice.</p><p>I am a <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/vegan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>vegan</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/LibertarianSocialist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LibertarianSocialist</span></a> (recovering <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/anarchist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anarchist</span></a>) mostly from the <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SanFrancisco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SanFrancisco</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/BayArea" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BayArea</span></a> in <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/California" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>California</span></a>, presently residing in <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Pittsburgh" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Pittsburgh</span></a>, <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Pennsylvania" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Pennsylvania</span></a>, hoping to move to <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/erie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>erie</span></a> </p><p>In <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/kyriarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>kyriarchy</span></a>, I mostly focus on <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/classism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>classism</span></a> and <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ageism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ageism</span></a>, but since arriving in Pittsburgh, have been confronted with blatant <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a> (and yes, many white people here do see it). But <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SocialJustice" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SocialJustice</span></a> has to be for everybody; to focus on any one identity, to the exclusion of others, is nothing more than to elevate that identity over that of the predominantly wealthy white males who are now in charge.</p><p>I oppose all <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/imperialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>imperialism</span></a> and <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SettlerColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SettlerColonialism</span></a>, not just U.S. and NATO imperialism and settler-colonialism. Having lived on the underbelly of <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/capitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>capitalism</span></a> most of my life, I am <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/anticapitalist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anticapitalist</span></a> and ferociously opposed to <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/neoliberalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>neoliberalism</span></a>. I oppose physical and structural violence.</p><p>Human beings have <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/HumanRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HumanRights</span></a>. These rights are not constrained by their governments' failures to ratify certain human rights treaties.</p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Borders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Borders</span></a> exist to mark off territory controlled by elites whose competition accounts for most if not all wars and to deny human beings on the "wrong" side of an arbitrary line rights and privileges available on the "right" side. This cannot be justified ethically. I am hostile to <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/xenophobia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>xenophobia</span></a> </p><p>Finally, I am pessimistic about the future of humanity. <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/COVID19" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>COVID19</span></a> and the <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> demonstrate our unfitness for survival.</p>