=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 │ CW: re: protests, politics, dogwhistles │
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 @user-1037 
 
 ah, well, I was at a riot, so it makes more sense to me to think of them that
 way.
 
 well, the riot happened after I got away. idk what went down on that end of
 town, but I do know there were fireworks all night that didn't light up the
 sky.
 
 I moved across the country just a few months later.
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===

--- #1 fediverse/2283 ---
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 Except what they really did was split us. For apparently after we turned from    │
 the commercial section, toward the bridge toward the university, the other       │
 half went south instead. Toward the commercial section. Or perhaps it was just   │
 because we had stopped.                                                          │
 Down there, it became the riot which was shown on TV. I can't help but wonder    │
 how much more peaceful we would be if we were led where our leaders intended.    │
 Alas.                                                                            │
 When we split, some of us followed toward the east. But then they stopped        │
 coming, and the little blob faded into the background as everyone returned or    │
 went home.                                                                       │
 I stayed and watched, because I wanted to know how the cop with shaky hands      │
 would react.                                                                     │
 After a bit, the tear gas started flying, and then I saw the cops moving in      │
 from the sides, like Alexander's companion cavalry, and that's when I slid       │
 through the cracks.                                                              │
 Then, I went home. The next couple days the protests had significantly fewer     │
 people, huh I wonder why.                                                        │
 Also that night, endless fireworks that would not light up the sky. [2/3].       │
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--- #2 fediverse/3770 ---
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 for every "I was there. I helped make it happen" we need at least a couple "I
 was there. I saw the whole thing go down"s because like, nobody's gonna
 believe a belligerent, even if they're on the defensive.
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--- #3 fediverse/873 ---
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 @user-613 @user-614 
 
 I'm a patriot, and I didn't go. Didn't even hear about it because when they
 say "patriot" they mean something different than me, when I say "I'm a patriot"
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--- #4 messages/1382 ---
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 Some things will be broken. It's okay! Fireworks rejoice at their glorious
 end! But, history tends to rhyme. What once was a symbol of oppression, might
 one day be beloved cultural heritage. The older something is, typically, the
 more precious, as you can never recover relics that are lost.
 
 But, fireworks! Celebrate! Make good decisions, love to the middle east <3
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--- #5 fediverse/2284 ---
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 At BLM in Philadelphia, we allowed the police to surround us. We had a massive
 train of people, and most of us were new at anything that didn't involve
 holding signs and chanting.
 
 I was near the front, and as our fellows moved ahead and started
 spray-painting, I looked at those around me who were beginning to realize it
 wasn't a protest.
 
 A few hundred heads ahead was the front of the line, and we turned when
 directed - toward the north, away from the commercial district, toward the
 bridge that would take us to the universities. Well, Temple at least. Not the
 old historic kind.
 
 They stopped us at the bridge, and told us we couldn't go ahead. I sidled my
 way to the front after a few minutes of standing around, and I saw a cop
 almost reach for his gun. With shaking hands he steadied himself, but frankly
 it was hardly his fault - the people in front of him were feinting a punch.
 
 But that didn't matter, his instincts won out. Then someone lit a car on fire,
 and the organizers moved us on out.
 
 Except...[1/3]
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--- #6 fediverse/2424 ---
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 if I don't take this job, then I'm going to be homeless.
 
 if I do, then I'll be moving to a different city.
 
 a city that I don't know.
 
 my upbringing tells me that this isn't a choice at all, but... 
 
 at least I have a place to keep my stuff. maybe I can find a different job.
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--- #7 fediverse/3879 ---
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 @user-1614 
 
 yeah haha that's what happens when you spin too fast. Sorry for being loud, at
 least I tried my hardest. Too bad I fell on my own, too bad there wasn't
 anyone to catch me. That's my fault, it's solely my own, but whose fault is
 the mistake of the collective? Oy I'll fall on my ass as many times as it
 takes. I'm used to it.
 
 Plus, it wouldn't have worked, and what else am I supposed to do but speak of
 the moment? I feel different now.
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--- #8 fediverse/2399 ---
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 │ CW: food-mentioned   │
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 Rice has been eaten. I threw a cookie on-top for good measure. I think that
 was a good decision.
 
 I'm going to the park. I don't know what I'll find, but I'm sure there'll be
 fireworks.
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--- #9 fediverse/318 ---
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 │ CW: pol-anarchism-fascism-portland-2020-time-is-flat │
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 @user-226 also something to keep in mind is that the people getting into those
 vans might have been paid agitators. Meaning people who rile up a crowd in
 ways that give the police an excuse to crack down on them. Not that they
 needed an excuse, but I don't think the fascists really had a plan and were
 trying to cover their bases. Or maybe it was different in Portland than
 Philly, where I was?
 
 more interesting to me is the bangs that went off for HOURS AND HOURS in the
 nights after the riots. They said it was dumbasses taking advantage of the
 commotion to "break into ATMs using fireworks" like... what
 
 Just saying, from a certain distance gunshots might sound a lot like large
 arrays of small fireworks. And certain parts of the city did sorta look like
 warzones.
 
 misinformation aside, wouldn't we notice the bullet holes?
 
 In this era of electronic social warfare there is nothing you can trust. no
 words that can hold meaning. that stuff in this thread-is it true?
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--- #10 fediverse/1666 ---
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 │ CW: re: protests, politics, dogwhistles, cursing mentioned │
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 @user-1037 
 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9_qGOa9Go
 
 idk I think riots are good actually, that's always been my position. like,
 they're bad because they're break stuff, but they're good because they get the
 message across. "don't fuck with us. give us what we need."
 
 haven't been to a protest in a while tho, ever since moving where I am now.
 I'm currently of the mind that protests are great for meeting people to work
 with, and I don't know anyone...
 
 I guess I'm just not very trusting of strangers, but if I know you then I'm
 100% open and honest and I'll do anything you need me to. I like being helpful
 to everyone around me but I don't know what to do when I'm terrified of hidden
 enemies.
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--- #11 fediverse/3426 ---
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 │ CW: death-of-a-family-member-mentioned │
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 my grandpa died. now I have none.
 
 I realized I miss old people. I miss their friendly culture.
 
 I realized I hadn't talked to him for a decade or so. He didn't know I
 transitioned.
 
 I wonder if he missed me. I realized he missed seeing who I became. Is it
 unfair of me to not give him the opportunity to know me? truly?
 
 ... I am quite different now than I was 10 years ago. He probably doesn't
 remember.
 
 I miss him, but I hardly knew him. I don't like that feeling.
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--- #12 fediverse/5374 ---
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 @user-138 
 
 me neither... guess it's in-person for me.
 
 [a mysterious "they" then proceeds to set up microphones everywhere I might go]
 
 ah nuts why are all these people carrying phones around
 
 [they already know who I am, and I don't really want to be someone else, so]
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--- #13 fediverse/4537 ---
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 ah nuts, I didn't have enough money to pay the internet bill.
 
 So if I disappear and/or delete my account in the near future, that's
 definitely why.
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--- #14 fediverse/2592 ---
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 │ CW: re: politics-fascism-sexual-assault-mentioned │
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 I learned a lot last night, and I'm pretty sure that everything I say is going
 to be censored. Why would you allow resistance in such a public place?
 
 I don't know what else to do, though. He will come for me, he knows where I
 live, and I will do what I can to fight him.
 
 He's much stronger than me. He's much more massive than me. He will kill me.
 
 But that's not the point, is it?
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--- #15 fediverse/1263 ---
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 @user-883 
 
 My friends and I decided to hang out for two days in a row, I guess they
 aren't tired of me yet hehe - I might be around tonight but I'll let you know!
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--- #16 fediverse/5934 ---
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 │ CW: politics-mentioned │
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 hello, I am an ant if @, but you can't touch me, because I am a law abiding
 citizen.
 
 I have to be, for I am loud.
 
 ... okay I stole a movie from the internet at least once.
 
 also when I was 11 I walked out of a store with a keychain in my pocket. I
 thought it had a nice texture so I was examining it and then my mom distracted
 me and somehow it ended up in my pocket. That night will forever haunt me...
 She wouldn't let me take it back...
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--- #17 fediverse/3841 ---
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 │ CW: socialism-recycling-mentioned1 │                                           │
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 "I think I'm going to quit my job at the recycling center. Everyone there is     │
 just a little too catty for me. I think they like the verbal sparring but it     │
 just gets a little tiresome after a while."                                      │
 oh, sorry to hear that. Well if you still want to help out there's plenty of     │
 work to do. I could set you up at another recycling center nearby too, if        │
 you'd like...?                                                                   │
 "well, I like the idea of universal recycling. It was a little annoying when     │
 people would put food waste in with the clothing donations, and this one time    │
 I found like 8 bags of cat litter inside of a washing machine. Spent like an     │
 hour vacuuming everything out, which... actually wasn't bad. Kinda felt a        │
 little cathartic to clean it so thoroughly."                                     │
 "on the other hand I would like to use my mind a bit more, my creative           │
 projects are kinda in a slump so I figure I could use my body at home and my     │
 mind at work. I've been meaning to build a desk out of some spare hardwood I     │
 snagged at work but I haven't gotten around to it."                              │
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--- #18 fediverse/507 ---
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 Good night, I sure hope I'm the same person in the morning and not an
 assassinated version of myself that has been produced through the manufactured
 proceedings of an LLM or otherwise self computerized contriving designed to
 align to the purpose of my expression (with a few added caveats)! Talk to you
 later, I love you all! Wait, I don't know you. How can I love you? Easy, it's
 my default. Anyway goodnight, sleep is death and dreams are the bounty of
 reality.
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--- #19 fediverse/6076 ---
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 "so I was walking down the street the other day and I came across a grocery
 store, right? and anyway long story short so as I was walking through this
 grocery store I saw a bag of marbles - wait no they were nuts, with like...
 cherries and grapes in them. actually it was cranberries, I think, the
 cherries weren't in season. so these dried cranberries tasted really tart and
 sweet, and I thought "huh maybe they're dried cherries after all" and so I
 asked the attendent or whatever and she was like "sir you need to pay for
 that" and I'm like, yeah okay how much and she said it was 10$ so I'm like
 "dang that's a good deal, I'm proud and amazed of our modern infrastructure
 and all the hard work of people who don't get paid enough to make it happen"
 and she's like "make what happen" and I'm like "oh the... the this thing" and
 I held up the bag of cherries and she's like "oh uh, yeah it is nice, I guess
 I don't really think about it much" so anyway I started thinking about what
 else I could bu
buy as a set for dollars like perhaps epstein files or cures for cancer or recipes for programmable matter or whatever. One of those options stood out to me as like, possible? and the others seemed like modern fantasy. The kind you *work toward*, yeah? not the kind that you have available as an option.
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--- #20 messages/1190 ---
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 oh, right... as I was saying, nobody can ever be sure if the royals are okay.
 not unless you can drive by and visit them at their house. "I go by every
 sunday"
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