I’ll never forget my first trip out to North Lawndale for work. So many people acted like I was headed into Fallujah or something.

In reality though, it was just another neighborhood with regular people trying to get by.

That college professors are turning young people into communists.

Dawg, I can’t even get them to read.

People in general are easily manipulated, and those who manipulate use the beliefs of the people they’re manipulating to do so.

Religion certainly is a something used for that, but it’s hardly the only one.

Personally, I like Simone Weil’s idea that total freedom of thought and expression are only truly possible in the absence of propaganda, political parties, and deception.

That is to say, it’s not really free thought if we’re just parroting what the party, news, etc. say.

The Reddit algorithm kept pushing me propaganda with messages of “be angry” and “be scared.” I could feel my mental health deteriorating in real time whenever I had the app open.

And, well, the world we live in is just angering and frightening enough without some corporation making it worse for me so they can make a buck off the clicks.

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Kenya. I have friends there, which would help.

I’d definitely be the obvious foreigner, given that I’m pale and ginger, but that’s worked in my favor when traveling before.

I’m also supposing here that there wouldn’t be quite so many other American expats to compete with.

Rereading Le Guin’s Earthsea saga.

Personally, I think she might be on par with Tolkien and actually surpasses him in a few ways. The 4th book (about a tired mom just trying to get by and care for people in a fantasy world) is the best one, but you need to work your way there.

I’ve been using the same net and tarp for like 15 years and on more trips than I can count.

No problems yet, just a few repairs that cost next to nothing.

That most camping gear is horrendously expensive and over engineered.

Get old and used gear, repair things, and make your own if you can.

A good bug net and a tarp are going to be just as effective as a modern tent, and breathe better.

For a backpack, those old aluminum a-frame packs are so easy to repair, and you can clip/tie things to the frame.

There are a lot of great answers here, but I’d like to add one that I think is often forgotten in these conversations:

Purposeful incompetence around supposedly non-masculine skills.

It drives me up the wall every time I hear some dude talk about how they don’t know how to do basic tasks of living because the women in their lives take care of it for them.

Guys who act like laundry, cooking, dishes, changing a diaper, gardening, grocery shopping, etc. require arcane knowledge they just don’t possess.