I have started calling it "the seduction of everyday." I have spent 30 years reflecting on the fact that the day the war roared into my hometown, my parents got up, sent us to school, and then went to work. As if the country was not burning down all around them. - ThreadSky

azfaust.bsky.social • 10 days ago

I have started calling it "the seduction of everyday."

I have spent 30 years reflecting on the fact that the day the war roared into my hometown, my parents got up, sent us to school, and then went to work. As if the country was not burning down all around them.

Reposted from Drug Monkey

Many of us in academic science will default to “business as usual” as our response. We will feel that our power should be used to maintain a semblance of normalcy. To live to fight another day.

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ncweaver.skerry-tech.com•10 days ago

And those leading the institutions don't seem to realize the attacks just won't stop. And thus it is better to die on your feet than die on your knees.

browneyedgoil.bsky.social•10 days ago

Thank you. Your first-hand view of the very day the war arrived is exactly what I needed to move from “hmm we need a plan” to “tonight we are making a plan.” A blessing on your family and your hometown. 🕊️

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

Thank you - yep, everyone needs to develop a plan (and maybe a couple of plans).

Also, this is my hometown (Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina):

browneyedgoil.bsky.social•10 days ago

Beautiful!

sophygurl.bsky.social•10 days ago

I keep saying this - no one prepared me for how mundane the apocalypse was going to be. Everything is falling apart, and yes, still, the groceries need getting and the dishes need washing and the bills need paying, etc. Life goes on as it's ending and it's hard to come to grips with it all.

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

At the time, Sarajevo was getting pummeled by artillery and snipers non-stop. My father's childhood friends were gunned down on the streets of Bijeljina. My aunt's and uncle's families had escaped from Srebrenica and were living with us for goodness sake.

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

And yet, the pull of normal was too much.

Get up, go to school, go to work, make lunch, wash the dishes, watch the news.

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

For the last three weeks, my husband and I have had a revolving conversation. Do we know what our red line is? Do we know what we'll do if that line is crossed?

annawagnerschliep.bsky.social•10 days ago

We've been having this conversation, too, but haven't figured out how to know the line or exactly what we can do about it.

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

I agree, it's not easy. It doesn't have to be dramatic, which is what drugmonkey was saying in his original thread. My childhood example is extreme, but I think it illustrates the need to look around with sober eyes and be realistic about where the ship is headed.

loreleipatrick.bsky.social•10 days ago

My partner and I have been having similar conversations. The best we can come up with so far is we don't know...

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

We are just now starting to come to an agreement - after 3 weeks of having these conversations daily. Also, spare a thought for my poor husband who has to constantly deal with me making parallels between the fall of Yugoslavia and the US.

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

I know it's so much easier for most of us to just keep keeping on. Believe that some reversion to normal is a certainty. Focus on this paper, on this grant, on this lecture, on this experiment. It will all settle down somehow.

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

Except that certainty is a mirage. It's a product of your (our) history. We have a hard time imagining anything else because that is all we have ever experienced. Unfortunately, the past is not always predictive of the future.

Eventually, the black swan comes knocking.

How will you answer?

eyegah.bsky.social•10 days ago

It’s a survival mechanism also, yeah? I mean, some people carry on in their roles because they’re thinking people are counting on them, but also routines are psychologically grounding. It makes sense to me that people try to preserve them as much as possible even as things are falling apart.

metabodave.bsky.social•10 days ago

Very important insight. We saw a bit of this during COVID too, but yeh the draw of "normal" is very powerful.

azfaust.bsky.social•10 days ago

Absolutely. So much of COVID reminded me of this too - but the fact that a lot of the changes came from leadership removed some of the inertia of normal. Now, there will be no one to tell us when the line is crossed and what we do about it. We have to decide for ourselves.

metabodave.bsky.social•10 days ago

For me, the line has already been crossed and it's time to jump ship before it sinks.

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