St.Renato😇🧡🇳🇱DutchMartyr ♓🤓🍄🎱

I am so tired of the constant horror on Twitter. I remember when this was fun. I was a quiet undergrad who studied all the time. Popping onto this app was a way of saying all the things I thought but rarely said out loud. I mostly posted poetry, football, and music stuff. I loved hashtag games. The site was well moderated, so much of the racist and antisemitic stuff wasn’t here. You would see it sometimes, but then those accounts would be gone. The US has always been partisan, but in the past, politicians found a way to compromise. Zero-sum politics has ruined this place. Neither side is always right. Both sides lie, but there is also truth on both sides. My parents immigrated here from the Soviet Union in the late ’70s. They raised us to understand what a great country we live in. Even with all our issues, we have it better than most places. That’s why people still immigrate here, legally and illegally. This is a great country for people who want to assimilate into American culture. When anyone comes to a country, their goal should be assimilation. Otherwise, why come? My papa, who was born in the Soviet Union, loves the Beach Boys and the Cars. He is a die-hard Dodgers fan, and he loves X-Men. He is a proud American. He made me one, too. He taught me to live in my blessings, and for the most part, I do. But the voice this app affords me has me shouting things I regret. I am trying to reconcile the freedom it gives me to say anything with the knowledge that some things are still better left unsaid. Sorry for rambling. I’m up in the middle of the night, and my brain won’t be still. I know most people scroll past what I say here, and that’s okay. That’s the experience most people have here, so why would mine be any different? I’ve likened this app to being at a loud concert, yelling over the music. Only the people close to you will hear you. That’s okay because, in life, the people close to you are all that really matter. For almost half my life, I’ve been here yelling. I hope that someday I can find that happy, sweet spot again.