I cannot help but think that your decision to "leave X" (twitter) was a sign of confirmation to the *spirit* of cancel culture. Dodging the biggest spaces of debate can't be good. (Nor is calling adversaries 'fascists', style Chris Hedges, AOC, etc.) Are you loosing it?

I think there's a lot to say for Bon Jovi's "keep the faith". In fact, maybe people should memorize some of those songs, I find that quite powerful - I often have song phrases coming to mind when life gets hard. It's not just the song, it's the memory of what it once did to us, I guess.

Very optimistic in a world that looks like a warzone. (I'm exaggerating - I'm not really a pessimist... but still).

Schengen scares many Europeans because Islamist terrorism and general crime (mostly drugs) has not been tackled seriously by Europe. Moreover, radical leftism within Europe has supported Hamas (either directly or via double-speak slogans like "from the river to the sea") which horrified many of us.

I don't know what that list (or your own odd selection from it) is about, but the names Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Peter Boghossian, Helen Pluckrose go very well together as people with real expert understanding of world politics - this is not the case with the other names.

Did someone really suggest Putin would accept that?