views / values

I want to avoid definitive fixed checkpoint lists about my opinions because they aren’t my vibe. They seem like they’re supposed to show off medals of good performance or what team you’re playing on, or makes it seem like your identity. That’s not my intent though.

I’m not here to argue about them; while I am always open to change my mind and accept new information, I prefer to do that via real life discussions, not someone sending me a huge monologue and 50 links in an email.

I do want to document where I stand on some things, mainly to sort my thoughts on some contemporary issues, but also to find common ground with people. I don’t want them to seem like exclusionary, holier than thou virtue signalling, which makes it difficult to find a suitable format.

Well, let’s take a stroll through my mind.

I'm against animal abuse; that doesn't just mean food. It means any other purchases, hobbies and aspects of life that I can reasonably control. I'm vegan.

I prefer renewable energies such as solar and wind. I’m not a fan of nuclear power; I know the arguments, but they haven’t convinced me, and I don’t feel like it takes disposal and war/terrorism safety into account enough.

I dislike cars (especially SUVs), and push for more car-free streets and safe, bike-friendly cities. I use public transport except for extremely long hour drives. I wish public transport was expanded upon and very affordable, so even rural parts can use it and car dependency lessens. I think EV’s are a good compromise for when a car is needed and I generally have a positive view of self-driving cars if they’re based on LiDAR sensors and not cameras. I’d love to try a Waymo some time. Public e-scooters don’t belong to a good transportation network for me and they just seem like a lot of e-waste lying around; I prefer bikes. I don’t own a car or even a drivers license and I refuse to learn it :)

I’m very grateful to live in a walkable city with forests and parks and recreational areas. This and environmental work is important to me, which is why I am in the environmental team at work and in a Zero Waste organization. I am also a Planet Wild member, and I own Fahlo bracelets whose profits go to the animal organizations. I love it when people gift donations to good causes - our friends donated some money to Goats of Anarchy for our wedding, for example. I make ethical, eco-conscious and fair purchases whenever possible and sensible because I am in the position to do so; for example, my wedding ring is made of recycled sustainable gold, and I prefer to sew clothes than to participate in fast fashion. I avoid online purchases when possible and I get my books secondhand.

I’m very okay with being part of the EU. It has added a lot of value, safety and convenience into my life, but to be fair, I haven’t known a life without it. While there will always be things I’ll disagree with, I’d say overall, my interests are represented okay-ish for now. The things I take the most issue with are the obviously the ones that threaten FOSS, encryption, privacy and security, and other decisions against my values.

I hope the EU will further decouple from the reliance on US products and services and prioritize consumer rights and environmental protections. I want the EU, its government bodies and member state governments to use their own European tech solutions and stop relying on US solutions, so I support a switch to openDesk and EU OS at some point in the future.

I’m interested in decoupling myself from US products and services as much as is realistic. I tend to prefer FOSS alternatives over Microsoft and other proprietary things and Big Tech. I also love modular tech and tech that is easy to repair or mod and has no vendor lock; that’s why I like to see projects like the Fairphone, the Framework Laptops, the Steam Deck and more. I am still stuck on Apple products at the moment, and I vastly prefer it to other smartphone brands and Android, but I also support projects like GrapheneOS and similar.

I have no Meta services (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, Oculus), no X, no Snap, nothing by ByteDance (TikTok etc.). I avoid using Google products (Search, Chrome, Gmail, Maps, Drive, Docs, etc.; phones, Android, no YouTube account, watching with adblocker) and I don't use Microsoft services outside of work (Windows, XBox, Office365 stuff) except for GitHub, which I wanna switch away from. I have no Amazon accounts (Prime, Twitch or Audible). Unfortunately I cannot control the AWS and Azure dominance online (shrug). I use Discord, but have cancelled my subscription and I’d love to switch to Matrix or Revolt one day. I don't pay for anything by Disney because I leech Disney+ for free and I have no Netflix account. I cancelled my Spotify subscription in 2025 and stopped using the service altogether.

I’m supportive of piracy and of copyleft licenses and other licenses that allow free use. I think intellectual property law needs a rework. The entire topic is a bit more delicate with AI, a kind of “no, not like this” moment. I find it hard to make clear to people that with piracy and disregarding IP, I want access to education and influential works for everyone no matter location and income, I want fan projects to be legal and I want proper archiving of media without legal risk to the projects - not enabling billion dollar companies and industries to extract value of the (free or not) labor of small people and projects to make even more money and put a variety of services and people out of business. I think piracy is only fair if it’s the only way to truly own something in a lot of cases nowadays - everything is licenses that can be revoked and a subscription that can be lost and an account that can be banned and a catalogue that it can be removed from. Many things in streaming services can’t even be bought even if you wanted to. Other things are so old they are not sold anywhere anymore. If these issues persist and giants like Meta are allowed to steal copyrighted material via torrents to train AI on it and make millions with it, it should be no problem for the average person to download 26 episodes of a Netflix show they previously paid for. I applaud creators that support piracy by uploading their works on torrents themselves, knowing that when people like the pirated material and can afford it, they will go back to pay for it later. Many people pirate first to see if they like it and check performance before committing. Embrace it.

I’m critical about AI. I see some benefits for accessibility and ease of creation, but for now, the cons outweigh the pros for me. I don’t use it on this blog; I have used it in the past to learn how to code and debug it, and I have some blog posts on this blog where I detail trying out specific use cases and judging how well it works or not. I tend to use it as a last resort if I really cant find what I’m looking for thanks to search enshittification, but that only happens every couple months.

As for work, I’m your typical spoiled European. I love flextime, I support the 4 day work week, a high minimum wage, unlimited PTO, no concept of sick days, long and paid parental leave and all that. No loyalty, no overt sacrifice, no unpaid overtime - work is work, not my family. Work life balance and family time is big at my employer, so I get to enjoy a lot of freedoms that I am grateful for. If you don’t want to work or cannot work, I support that as well; that’s how our system of solidarity works. You deserve to have access to healthcare, good food and a suitable home no matter if you work or not.

Healthwise, I support us getting sterilized if we want to, accessible birth control and plan B, getting abortions, getting the hormones and surgeries we desire. I fully stand behind helping trans kids and doing DIY hormone therapy, since countries choose to gatekeep safe and legal access or outlaw it altogether. I said what I said and I won’t budge on this; my cis teen life was helped by testosterone blockers and it is awfully hypocritical to deny trans teens this. I am also in favor of assisted dying and plan to die such a death myself between 60 and 70. I am aware that creating a safe way to do so without paving the way for mostly marginalized and poor to die to get rid of them is difficult, and I have no easy answer for this, but I want this for myself and anyone who is forced to suffer while awaiting their death who wants out with dignity, integrity, and while they can still make decisions. I don't want to waste away in a home while shitting myself and unable to eat on my own or notice the world around me.

Moving on, I think landlords are extortionists and it’s unethical to hoard land for money or see housing as “investment”. It’s awful that as a tenant, you pay off someone else’s home while getting denied trying to get your own. I feel sick about the fact that there are homeless people while rent becomes unaffordable and apartments are empty due to greed and scaling back safety nets and help programs.

I support Ukraine and Palestine. My relationship to borders and countries is a bit two-fold; I align more with anarchist values, and borders and countries are not that important to me and frankly, shouldn't exist; everyone should be free to move, no one is illegal in my eyes, and fuck organizations like ICE. I don't feel patriotic at all, don't care for my nationality and cannot relate to any who do; this is surely connected to the country I live in and its history, but that leads to me side-eyeing everyone who identifies strongly with their nationality - especially Americans that condemn it all but still call themselves a "proud American".

Even though I'd prefer no borders in an ideal world, obviously that's not the world we are living in, and awful wars are fought over country lines and the right to exist. As long as these borders and regions exist, I am obviously against the invasions and genocide happening there, and will be on the side of the people defending their right to stay and exist. I know this might seem hypocritical to some, but this is just a matter of ideal vs. practicalities. It would be extremely unwise and insensitive to justify occupations and invasions because "countries and borders shouldn't exist". It's not "If you don't think countries should exist, why are you for Palestine?" it's "Borders are immoral and I am against violent regimes expanding their power and reach through questioning them.".

In general though, I do not understand or relate to patriotism, any kind at all, no matter where or which country. I don't have any in me. This is surely because of the past of my country and I think that's valid. I will always find it weird to honor a flag, salute to a flag, pledge allegiance, and all that other crap. I think it's pathetic if you are patriotic or even nationalist, ascribing qualities to a piece of land and yourself for being born on it. I guess I can understand if it you are under attack, but otherwise, it's loser behavior to me, because you had no hand in being born there, so it is worthless to be proud of that. I think people from the USA are especially pathetic for this, and I really look down on you if you say you "disagree with what's happening right now" but are "still a proud American". There's nothing to be proud of, absolutely nothing. You all always try to hit me with "What if I said this about your country?" and do not understand that I do not have feelings about my country at all. Say what you want about it, it's probably true. I just live here, it's not my identity and I don't make it my personality like you do. The fact that you take criticism of your country as personal criticism against you says a lot about your life.

I don't invest, especially not in war, weapons, oil, etc. that's usually included in index funds and ETFs. I also hold no crypto.

If I can think of more, I’ll add it.

Published 24 May, 2025