The Corrosion of Public Discourse
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
I’ve always valued people’s ability to have a healthy exchange of ideas and find common ground on social media. But that’s increasingly difficult to find these days. People increasingly: Share memes without checking to see if they are based on truth or misinformation Talk past each other rather than to each other Slice, dice and distort data points to fit their viewpoint Talk down to other people and confuse this as an act of virtue Mood Music: People on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum do these things, and this week I’ve begun deleting a lot of them from my frien ..read more
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New OCD Diaries Playlist on Spotify
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
Some readers have asked why I put mood music in my posts and how I go about choosing the daily selection. I use them because in my mind, music and writing go hand in hand. I used to require absolute silence in the room to do my writing. Now I can’t write without some noise. Some days, the music will fit the theme of what I’m writing about that day. Other times I use music that has nothing to do with the subject matter. I put it on there simply because I’m digging the song that morning. I also like to use this forum to promote local musicians I admire. I do consider the music to be a soundt ..read more
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Measuring Anxiety and Depression Through Color and Stages
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
As I work to keep my mind and body in check during the pandemic, two older tools have proven useful: the Anxiety Rainbow and the Five Stages of Depression. The idea is that by measuring what you’re going through, you can take steps to manage those feelings and stay in the game.* This isn’t a scientific breakdown, of course. It’s simply how I’ve learned to process what I feel. Mood Music: The Five Colors of the Anxiety Rainbow To get a better handle on anxiety, I try to label the different kinds of anxiousness based on the first five colors of Newton’s primary color system: Red.  ..read more
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Election 2020: The Damage Was Worse Than My Original Report
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
Update 2/26/21: After writing this, events took a dark turn. The endless attempts to litigate and derail the election — culminating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — made my usual, seasonal bout of depression much more pronounced. I woke up every morning the first three weeks of January with my guts in knots. My anxiety shot up and off the charts. I was a slave to every news report, reversing the progress I had made in recent years of not letting world events cripple my ability to function. I grew obsessed over things I couldn’t control. My anger was like lava racing down the side of a volcano ..read more
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To the Anxious This Election Day
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
Many of you fear what will happen in the days, weeks and months following this election. You’ve already been in a long depression, fed by dread about civil unrest and a million political and policy implications. There are Biden and Trump voters among you — sick inside over what might happen if the winner is the guy you opposed. You feel unhinged about all the yelling back and forth on Facebook and Twitter — a lot of people on there say some crazy shit — and what you see in the media. It seems like every newspaper and TV news show is yelling at you with opinions over facts. Some of you get ..read more
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Van Halen: Hacker Guitarist
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
I’ve always been a big Van Halen fan. The music is, among other things, a remedy when my depression is running hot, especially during the winter darkness. The songs capture all the feelings of summer, giving my brain the necessary jolt to keep going through the cold. Reflecting on that in the days since Edward Van Halen’s death, I’m reminded of something else I loved about the legendary guitarist: He reminds me of people I admire in the hacker community. Part of the hacker’s craft involves breaking technology to find and fix security weaknesses in software and hardware. They inspire me end ..read more
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We’re Better Than Our Online Personas
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
Amid despair over our broken civil discourse, I’ve found reason and perspective in recent American history. Mood Music: Buried beneath all the news about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and the resulting political chaos was an article about her friendship with then-fellow Justice Antonin Scalia before his death in 2016. Scalia’s son, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, described the friendship this way: They were both New Yorkers, close in age, and liked a lot of the same things: the law, teaching, travel, music and a meal with family and friends. They had a bond, I think, i ..read more
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Mental Shore Leave: A Remedy for Uncertain Times
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
Low energy. A lack of creativity that partly explains why I haven’t written in over a month. A deepening sense of dread. I’ve spent weeks trying to put a name or definition to the feelings and fatigue. I know the cause, and I know that I’m no special case. A lot of people are experiencing the same things, and the whys are many: We’ve had to hold our mental functionality together amid an unending pandemic, a breakdown of public discourse, civil unrest and now a looming presidential election where an unclear result and constitutional crisis are all but certain. I’ve finally found the proper ..read more
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Why We’ll Survive This
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
1M ago
Recently, my posts have trended toward the darker side, with laments over our broken political discourse and inability to coalesce around common goals. That doesn’t mean I’ve lost hope, however. Here’s why. Mood Music: When shit rains down in our communities, we continue to come together. That’s an old story, with such examples as people combing through rubble and tending to the injured at the WTC in the wake of 9-11 and the rescue missions immediately after Hurricane Katrina. As Mister Rogers once recalled his mother telling him, “The helpers always come.“ I’ve seen abundant examples dur ..read more
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Election 2020: The Worst Didn’t Happen
The OCD Diaries
by Bill Brenner
3y ago
I’m writing this exactly a week after the 2020 election. While there’s still much to make people anxious, no matter who they voted for, my hope for humanity is rallying. Mood Music: Uncertainty still abounds. There will be recounts and court cases disputing the results in several key states. Despite Biden’s more than 4 million lead, the final popular vote shows how divided Americans remain. Many of us continue to hold our breath, firm in the belief that this isn’t truly over. But those developments will work themselves out in time. For now, here’s what gives me hope that the vast majority ..read more
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