Does it feel like too much of current society is performative?

When you drive through a neighborhood and see a bunch of these signs, what do you think about said neighborhood?

To hear my biggest detractors talk about me — and there are many, for sure — I’m super pessimistic and engaged in a no-one-cares “war on woke.” Now, it is true I’m not generally a fan of wokeness, but I think the closer reality when talking about myself is I love people who say what they mean. Truth and reality are very hard for individuals, especially in a platform economy. I’m more truthful than a lot of low-grade writers you’ll find, and I’m sure it has restricted my audience, income, and relationships over time. But if I think managers are being idiots, or gender reveal parties do more to burn down forests than bring together families, I might go ahead and say that, sure.

So what I don’t love is the performative piece of it, which feels like the central piece today. A lot of times, these signs reside in neighborhoods with maybe 2–3 minority families at most — and if there was suddenly a legislative change whereby more minority families could come in at lower price points, even though this might be good for the children of the sign-poster (more diversity in the kids in the neighborhood, playing with people of different backgrounds and perspectives), the sign-posters would go nuts and start…