Yesterday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Jacksonville City Council's request to stay a court-ordered district map.

I was excited to read this, and I wanted to get on Twitter and join in mocking Jacksonville City Council and the city's incompetent Office of General Counsel. I even downloaded Tweetbot back to my phone to see what the people I follow were saying and perhaps join in.

That's the power of habit.

I was disappointed because it seemed most of the people in my "local" list were tweeting about Kevin McCarthy and the Jaguars, two narratives with the power to swamp local politics.

So I didn't get the usual rewards I experienced when people I respected on Twitter validated my opinions by sharing ones similar to mine. I'm excited about the Jags, but I really don't give a shit about the Republican clown show in Congress.

To me, the most exciting news of the day was Jacksonville City Council once again being publicly humiliated and losing in court. That didn't seem to register over the then ongoing clusterfuck in the House of Representatives, and the contest for the AFC South.

The good news was Jacksonville will have new city council districts! They're not revolutionary by any means, and they won't overturn the Republican super-majority in a city that's roughly 50-50 in party affiliation. But they were drawn by citizens groups, not the faithless, selfish and self-interested Jacksonville City Council.

People talk about Twitter being the "public square," as if it's someplace where people discuss the news and events of the day. Maybe it is.

But maybe it's just a place where people like to get their opinions validated. The issue in question is secondary to experiencing the emotional satisfaction of feeling seen, or being part of a desirable in-group.

I remember when I left Facebook and Instagram a couple of years ago, it was something of a struggle at first because I felt disconnected from a lot of people it turned out I wasn't really connected to very much at all. Those connections consumed a lot of my time and attention, but what were they really serving?

Well, Facebook and Instagram mostly.

I felt those pangs of disconnection yesterday when I read about the court decision. And when I succumbed to habit, I found the connections I sought were all connected to something else.

As a political post, this would normally come from the underground. But it's mostly a personal post, so it's here.

I learned something yesterday, I think. Something I probably already knew, but had forgotten.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:33 Saturday, 7 January 2023