A social manifesto

In the true spirit of Blygger, I’m starting a post about something that’s been on my mind and I’m going to try to edit this and develop it and turn it into some kind of full manifesto at some point. I’ll pin it at certain points to preserve how it develops. But let’s just get a few ideas down and I’ll come back to this.

Thesis: The decline of IRL activity is both a cause and a symptom of the decay of the US

Of course if you buy this, you have to buy that the US is in cultural decline. I resisted this for a while but I’ve become convinced that it is.

(I don’t know know why my line breaks aren’t working. Another problem to sort out)

If people get together more, that rebuilds the culture. The culture suffers when people aren’t interacting in person. The more they do, the stronger it is.

What especially makes it stronger is if people encounter people who aren’t in their natural group, age, social class, area of interest. That really builds connction.

• Social collisions are good.

Argument: People should really try to get people together

Every party is a little bit of rebuilding of society. It’s a pull request on culture.

People who think the culture is suffering should take leadership and do work to get people together. Off their phones and in person again.

Argument: It’s good for people to drop by and call out of the blue

The fact that we worry as much as we do about imposing or interrupting people is the sign of a fragile culture. Folks should have a coterie of people among whom dropping by is very normal. 

And, yes, my social life here in Southeast Kansas is terrible and I have no earthly idea what to do about it. 

This has been a stub. I’ll keep adding thoughts. I know this is a bad post but I’m embracing writing in public. Bear with me. 

—Brady Dale
October 1, 2026