Into the Woods Again... (No Internet Month Diary 2017 - Part 13. Conclusion )
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The most powerful even I saw this year on facebook, which altered my perception the most dramatically was the 'Metoo' campaign, in which many women (actually the majority of women, it seemed) wrote 'me too' – attesting to the fact that they had experienced sexual harassment or abuse by men. Some went into details, telling their painful stories, others just wrote metoo – and that was enough. For anyone using facebook at the time, it was a dark and difficult few weeks, stirring up a lot of memories for a lot of people, and causing some very deep personal and societal introspection and a lot of discussion.
It changed my perception of how I viewed half of the human race and also my perception of what the social media is capable of achieving.
Of course, there were a few sceptics and cynics, who said it was just another marketing campaign – the latest viral goldmine to generate vast fortunes for advertisers, by striking on a highly emotive topic and exploiting people's natural willingness and need to share – but they were underestimating the true impact of the campaign. It was the metoo campaign, so Karly says, that defeated the sexual predator running for office in Alabama – and I believe her. There are real effects and they can be positive too.
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31st December
New Year's Eve – A decidedly ordinary day, here in the Holy Land – unless you live in the great metropolis of Tel Aviv, where there are no doubt parties and bars full of drunken revellers, spilling out onto the streets – kissing strangers and shouting 'happy new year!' to passers by.
Today was a regular working day, just like any other Sunday. Tomorrow will be just like any Monday. People in Tel Aviv may turn up for their jobs slightly worse for wear, but that's about as far as it goes.
In Eilabun, the town across the valley from here, there will be fireworks at midnight. They're mostly Christian there, so there'll be a bit more revelry than most places round here. I don't go very often to Eilabun. It's a bit of a drive to get there, so it's not really in my orbit. There is also some lingering bitterness and resentment from a massacre which took place there in 1948 – which although was long before I was born, I still feel somehow complicit in perpetrating – since it was carried out by 'my people' whoever they are.
Right now, it doesn't feel like I've got any people at all – apart from a few people on facebook who seem to get where I'm coming from and a few people who come to me if they want something made and don't mind a long wait.
It's a stormy night and I'm all alone out here.
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10:30 PM
Since it's new years eve, and since there is still one final test I must carry out in order to reach a scientifically accurate conclusion to this month's investigation – I have taken the remaining half of the acid tab. Actually, it was more like a third – but since my young, adventurous friend said that a quarter would be enough for a strong trip, then this should be more than enough to ascertain the strength of the substance.
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11:30 PM
Now I can finally conclude – as I suspected all along – the LSD today is nowhere near as strong as it was back in my day. I can feel it a bit, undoubtedly, but the strength, and effect is about equivalent to a cold bottle of beer on a summer afternoon. This is not strong acid by any stretch.. And so I will conclude this year's No Internet Month Diary, by stating the one and only fact I have discovered from this most exhaustive scientific investigation:
Kids today. They don't have a clue.
Now I feel like playing some slide guitar.
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2:22 AM
I take it back
This LSD is the real thing
And it's strong
Sometimes you might take a stroll in facebook...
Like little red riding hood you go, off into the dark, enchanted woods – and you get to grandma's house with your basket of strawberries to give to her – but she doesn't look quite right... What big eyes she has, and what big ears, and what big teeth... and you suddenly find that the carpet on her floor is swimming, and the walls are breathing... but still you go there...
Brave little child that you are, skip lightly, fearlessly through the forest. Change will come. It's happening all the time.
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You can read my 'No Internet Diaries' from 2015 and 2016 at:
You can read a historical account of the Eilabun massacre of 1948 at:
http://www.eilaboun.com/Eng/Massacre/
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Check out ecoTrain For the best and latest, original, mind expanding content:
https://steemit.com/nature/@eco-alex/the-best-of-ecotrain-2017-highlights
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Thanks for joining me on this trip.