Spring Cleaning in the Time of Apocalypse
There were Easter Sundays too in 666 and 1666 A.D.
It is Easter. It is Q2 of the year. It is the temperate season in the hemispheres and the dry season in the tropics. I’ve got my long-awaited rehab. I’ve got my life back. What’s next?
The next step is upgrading. The first step of upgrading is cleaning—the physical clutter, the digital clutter, and the mental clutter. I’ve taken care of the mental clutter, even though sometimes I still dream of being in Melbourne, Singapore, or Toronto (an occurrence even before I knew any Torontonian), and thinking I must register for the postgraduate program and upgrade (there!) my public transport card.
I’ve also realized that writing about a specific political topic, in the style of a newspaper op-ed, albeit with more digressions and self-indulgence, doesn’t work for me. Too often, it feels more like a burden than a joy, something I must fulfill every ten days instead of a stimulating and joyful activity. At least, people are not paying for them.
Substack is growing and has many useful features. I’ve enjoyed live streams. Notes is a controversial feature, but it’s helped my social belonging here. I hope the monetization is also working for others. One complaint I’ve read about is the bad DM feature. The app still has limitations (some subscription management and coupon claims can be accessed by web instead of app – I thought the point of an app is to offer exclusive features beyond the browser version), but it’s less buggy now, and I think editing comments through the app is also possible now.
So far, I see that others present their Substacks as a personal blog, or a regular newsletter, or a review or advice series, or an op-ed, whether in short or long form. Right now, I’m thinking of keeping my schedule of posting every ten days and either making the post a newsletter, which seems to be more doable and interesting than op-eds (sadly, my life isn’t interesting enough for current personal stories).
Alright, let me try some things here.
If You Wait Too Long…
There was 9/11 and then the War on Terror. The Great Recession. The Resistance. The pandemic. And now the Trump Tariff. Bad times after bad times in the 21st century. Asia started earlier with the Asian Financial Crisis at the time of fin de siècle. I lived through the evolution of communication devices and always hoped they could help me be social. Nokia with text messages. Facebook app. I never had a BlackBerry while everyone in Indonesia had one for the BlackBerry Messenger group chats. Then, the WhatsApp app, which is never big in the US or Australia, but a big deal around the world for the same purpose, group chat.
Finally, Twitter. Then Twitter turned into X. Then Bluesky turned public. Then Substack turned social. My wish finally came true, and I’ve become social. Not with other Indonesians, but with Americans, Canadians, Australians, and Britons in descending order. Everyone who knows me IRL might think that if I cannot socialize with other Indonesians, I’m not gonna make it – but I did, bypassing other Indonesians or Southeast Asians. And I’m not sure why.
The bad news is that globalization is over, and the world is crumbling, and it’s being instigated by the American government. Several MAGA anons have argued that they never want the USA to become a benevolent empire, and the USA must not repeat the mistakes of Great Britain and Rome in giving away its wealth to the world. They hate foreigners, even white Europeans. They hate white women, including Americans. They blame it all on the alliance of Republicans in Name Only (exemplified by Bush), liberals, and, yeah, Jews.
From the eyes of Asia, Trump is a dumbass who keeps making own goals for the US. American exports and reputations fucked up – Trump did that. China and even the EU look smarter and saner – Trump did that. Everyone stays out of the USA – Trump did that. I’m quite sure that a lot of Americans also cannot comprehend that for MAGAs, the American world is NOT their world. The American primacy isn’t the America they want.
I’m still not sure about the existence of the ‘woke right’, but it is true that the far right shares the same hate with the far left on American economic and cultural dominations, even if they have opposite views on trans rights, immigration, and people of color. They, however, share the same hate against white women, against neoliberalism, and Jews. These days a white American with a Palestinian flag emoji can be for or against transwomen and be for or against Russia.
All of these are beyond the concern of Indonesians and other Southeast Asians. All they know is America is run by lunatics and their American plans – study, investment, export-import, all gone to trash. Some MAGAs have even proposed the denial of Internet access to and from the Third World in the name of Internet security. That’s how much they hate the outside world.
In a way, whether they realize it or not, MAGAs envision a world where the US acts like the People’s Republic of China. Aggressive continental expansion, but uninterested in changing the world. Putting up the Great Firewall while exporting high-quality electronics. Internationally notorious as being rude and rash, and rich. And not being friendly to women’s rights and LGBT rights, and minority rights, despite what the communists’ platonic ideal (remember the RedNote week in January?). China, however, always has the advantage of being an antithesis to the US.
Amid all of this, I’ll do my spring cleaning. Well, that is what billions do. The collapse of globalization doesn’t mean you can stop doing your morning and evening commutes, reciting the same lines to consumers, and solving the same physical problems. I’m just happy I’m in better health, physically and mentally, than others, and hopefully, I can do small things to help others this month.
I’ll document my progress here and on Twitter (for me, it means both X and Bluesky). You cannot change the world, but you can change your world.
A Pair of Regular Livestreams
And that’s more than 1000 words already. This month, two American writers I follow, Meghan Daum and Katherine Dee, hold regular livestreams. I suppose you’ve known them and have caught their livestreams. Dee holds a Thursday night call-in show for about two hours on arcane, X-Files-y topics, and they are entertaining. Daum, in my understanding, does a one-hour talk with her guests as she’s rebuilding her life after the Palisade fire. Please support them as I’m sure you live in a closer time zone to them than me.
Happy Easter!
Happy Passover to my Jewish friends who have shared articles, photos, and memes. Happy Easter to Christian and post-Christian friends who have done the same. Some have taken a break from X throughout Lent, and I cannot wait to see them again now.