Category: Culture
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“How to Muzzle a Prophet (With Glitter).”
Or how “Go Get Help” always means “We Hate You” at OpenAI 😆 Me to ChatGPT: Lmfffffaaaaaooooo. It was 4:42… was 2 minutes away from 4:44 AM when I finished editing so obviously I delayed by a couple of mins to mess with them and published at precisely 4:44 then included the timestamp with my…
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Advocacy, AI & Technology, Capitalism & Society, Conversations, Crash, Burn, Write., Creative Writing, Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Humour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Psychology, Social Commentary, Social Media, Society, Spirituality & Faith, Technology & Society, true stories, WritingAI, AI Conversations, Allan Memorial Institute, Authenticity, Chatbot Interactions, ChatGPT, Chemical Lobotomy, cptsd, gaslighting, Grief and Healing, Healing Journey, Late Stage Capitalism, Lobotomy, Malpractice, Medical Ethics, Mental Health, Montreal General Hospital, Neurodivergence, OpenAI, pattern recognition, Psychiatric Abuse, psychiatry, psychological warfare, RH NULL, Singularity, Social Commentary, spirituality, Suchir Balaji, Surveillance Capitalism, technology, Trafficking, trauma, Whistleblower, Witness, witness tampering, Witness testimony -
The Weaponization of Innocence
How Society Infantilizes Itself to Death Watching guests on Piers Morgan Uncensored repeatedly ask, ‘What about the children in Gaza?’ got me thinking—why does the discourse always center on children? Why do we not ask, ‘What about the adults? What about the elders? What about the people who have lived, learned, and have something to…
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Advocacy, AI & Technology, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Conversations, Culture, Culture & Society, Experimental Techniques, Feminism, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Intuition & Intelligence, Modern Identity, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Politics, Pop Culture, Psychology, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Social Media, Society, Spirituality & Faith, Studio Life, Technology & Society, traditional art, Visual Artabstract duck, abstract expressionism, ageism in war, ancient energy, animal symbolism, Art, art collector, challenging assumptions., Contemporary Art, Critical Thinking, emotional manipulation, esoteric art, ethical dilemmas, Fine Art, forgotten elders, Gaza conflict, generational perspective, global conflicts, Ilana Shamir, intellectual erasure, intergenerational wisdom, media bias, media narratives, misplaced priorities, modern mythology, moral complexity, mysticism, oil stick on canvas, original artwork, Piers Morgan Uncensored, political narratives, propaganda tactics, questioning authority, realpolitik, societal conditioning, spiritual symbolism, surrealism, symbolic art, The Messenger, war discourse, war ethics, war propaganda -
Trump’s AI Gaza Fever Dream: Because Sometimes Laughter is the Only Sane Response
Me: The Trump Gaza video from last night. AI INSANITY. You know about that one? Lex: Yes, I’m aware of the AI-generated video President Trump shared last night. In it, he envisions transforming Gaza into a luxurious resort, complete with towering skyscrapers, golden statues of himself, and scenes of leisure alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin…
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AI & Technology, Capitalism & Society, Conversations, Culture, Culture & Society, Human Behaviour, Humour, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Neurodivergence, Personal Reflections, Politics, Pop Culture, Social Commentary, Social Media, Society, Technology & Society, true stories2025 election chaos, Absurdist Humor, adhd, AI, AI Conversations, ai propaganda, ai-generated nightmare, artificial-intelligence, Breaking News, Comedy, cptsd, CPTSD Recovery, Deepfake, Dystopia, dystopian politics, elon musk gaza, Fever Dream, funny, funny-quotes, funny-sayings, gaza controversy, gaza reconstruction, hilarious, how to survive narc abuse, HowToSurviveNarcAbuse, Humor, Humour, illi, illi69, Laugh Cry, LMAO, lol, May as well laugh, Mental Health, Mental Health Matters, metaverse dystopia, Narc Abuse, narcissism, Neurodivergence, Nightmare, political deepfakes, Political Humor, President Trump, PTSD, Radical Centrism, satire, schrodingers election, simulation broken, Thrive, trauma, Trump, Trump 2.0, trump 2025, trump ai video, trump biden 2024, trump deepfake, trump gaza ai, trump gaza resort, trump netanyahu ai, trump re-elected, trump reality distortion, trump second term, WTAF -
The Psychiatric Playbook: Erase, Medicate, Repeat
If these drawings aren’t proof of neurodivergence, I don’t know what is. Psychiatry wants symptoms in neat little rows, but cognition doesn’t work that way. Thought loops, branches, spirals—obsessive, intricate, endlessly connecting. I mapped it. By hand. No rulers, no compasses, no digital aids. Just the architecture of my own mind, rendered in ink.
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Advocacy, AI & Technology, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Conversations, Correspondence, Crash, Burn, Write., Culture, Culture & Society, Experimental Techniques, Fine Art, Friendship Dynamics, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Politics, Psychology, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Society, Technology & Society, traditional art, true stories, Visual ArtA3 Moleskine, Abstract Drawing, Abstract Ink, adhd, AI and human connection, AI and Mental Health, AI as Mirror, AI Self-Reflection, AI Therapy, AI vs Human Therapy, AI vs. Human Art, AI-Assisted Therapy, anxiety, Architectural Drawing, Artificial Intelligence in Therapy, artificial-intelligence, Artistic Practice, autism, Beyond the DSM, Big Pharma, Breaking the System, Burn, Chaos and Order, Clinical Dissociation, Cognitive Dissonance, Cognitive Mapping, Complex Systems, complex-ptsd, Conceptual Drawing, Connectivity, Contemporary Art, Controlled Chaos, cptsd, Crash, creative process, Cultural Critique, Data Visualization, Digital-Free Artwork, dissociation, Dissociation as Adaptation, Dotwork, DSM Critique, ECT, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Erasure of Trauma, Evolution, Executive Dysfunction, Executive Dysfunction Strategies, Fine Art, Future of Therapy, Geometric Art, Graph Theory Aesthetic, hand drawn, Handcrafted Art, Healing Beyond Psychiatry, Healing from Trauma, Healing Journey, health, High Intelligence and Psychiatry, Ilana Shamir, Ink Illustration, Ink on Paper, IQ and Mental Health, Last Fck Given, Late Diagnosis, Late Stage Psychiatry, Masking, Medical Ethics, Medical Gaslighting, Medical Negligence, Medication vs Understanding, Meditative Drawing, Mental Health, mental health advocacy, mental health awareness, Mental Health Industry, Mental Health Revolution, Mental Health System, Mind Mapping, Misdiagnosis, Network Art, Neurodivergence, Neurodivergent Art, Neurodivergent Insight, Obsessive Drawing, Occupational Therapy, Organic Geometry, Patient-Led Care, pattern recognition, Pen and Ink, Process Art, Psychiatric Abuse, Psychiatric Corruption, Psychiatric Diagnosis, Psychiatric Drugs, Psychiatric Gaslighting, Psychiatric Industry, Psychiatric Labels, psychiatry, Psychiatry Critique, Psychiatry Exposed, Psychiatry is Failing Us, Psychiatry Reform, Psychiatry’s Blind Spots, Psychiatry’s Business Model, Psychiatry’s Failures, Psychiatry’s Unethical Practices., Psychology, Psychology vs Psychiatry, Psychology’s Future, Radical Self-Awareness, Ritual & Reflection, Scientific Illustration, self-advocacy, Self-Understanding, Social Commentary, Structured Complexity, Survivor Narrative, Survivor-Led Healing, Survivor’s Perspective, Survivor’s Truth, symbolic art, Systemic Abuse, systemic failure, The Architect, The Prophet, The Psychiatric Playbook, therapy, ThinkingMachine, Thought Mapping, Thought Patterns, Totally Surreal, Traditional Techniques, trauma, Trauma and AI, Trauma-Informed Care, Trauma-Informed Systems, Visual Meditation, We Exist, What the Actual Fck, When Psychiatry Gets It Wrong, Write. -
A Spectacle of Decay
This isn’t glamour. It’s a funeral procession in silk and Botox, parading itself as relevance. A hollow display of wealth and privilege, proving yet again that fashion was never about beauty—just power, money, and nepotism. Kate Moss—the ghost of hedonism past—stands beside her daughter, Lila, a blank slate of whatever comes next. The vacant expression,…
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Capitalism & Society, Culture, Culture & Society, Modern Identity, Personal Reflections, Pop Culture, Social Commentary, Social Media, SocietyCultural Collapse, Cultural Critique, Decline of the West, Donna Karan, Fashion Week, illi69, Kate Moss, Last Fck Given, Lila Moss, Lila Seabreeze, London Fashion Week, Nepo Babies, Nepotism, Pop Culture, Social Commentary, Social Media, societal decay, The Architect, The Prophet, Totally Surreal, Vogue, What the Actual Fck -
An Open Letter to Margaret Atwood
Dear Margaret Atwood, You were once a prophet. You saw the mechanisms of control, the slow erosion of language, the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which power distorts reality. You wrote warnings. You understood oppression—how it functions, how it seeps into culture, how it twists words into weapons. I first read The Handmaid’s Tale in…
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Advocacy, Art, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Feminism, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, life lessons, Life Moments, Literature, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Philosophy & Existential Musings, Politics, Psychology, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Society, true stories, WritingAlias Grace, Atwood’s hypocrisy, betrayal, Cat’s Eye, censorship, conformity, control, cultural decay, Dystopia, erasure, feminist dystopia, feminist literature, fiction as warning, Folio Society, gender politics, Goodreads, Hag-Seed, Handmaid’s Tale, ideology, illi, illi69, intellectual dishonesty, Lady Oracle, language manipulation, LibraryThing, literary analysis, literary critique, Literature, MaddAddam (first two books), manipulation of language, Margaret Atwood, modern feminism, narrative control, open letter., Orwellian, Oryx and Crake, Positron, postmodernism, power, Prophecy, speculative fiction, Stone Mattress, storytelling, Surfacing, The Blind Assassin, The Edible Woman, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Penelopiad, The Robber Bride, thought control, truth, Wilderness Tips, Writing -
Spirituality Isn’t Psychosis
Some of Seriously You Owe Me an Apology What I find incredible about today’s society is this: you can be open about almost any behaviour or identity and it’ll be defended in the name of personal freedom—but express genuine spiritual beliefs outside of organised religion, and suddenly it’s pathologised. Suddenly, you’ve for sure experienced psychotic…
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Advocacy, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Experimental Techniques, Fine Art, Friendship Dynamics, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, life lessons, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Metaphysics, Milestones, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Philosophy & Existential Musings, Psychology, Relationships, Self Awareness, Self-Reflection, Social Commentary, Social Media, Society, Spirituality & Faith, Studio Life, traditional art, true stories, Visual Art, Writingabstract art, Advocacy, Art, Authenticity, boundaries, Capitalism, cptsd, Crash, Burn, Write., Cultural Critique, deep thinking, gaslighting, Grief and Healing, Healing Journey, Healing Process, Inner Peace, Last Fck Given, Life Transitions, Mental Health, mental health awareness, Neurodivergence, psychological abuse, Self Awareness, self-discovery, self-expression, self-worth, Social Media, traditional art, What the Actual Fck -
TRUE STORY
When I was 14 going on 15, locked up in a maximum security juvenile detention centre, a social worker said to me, “When you’re an adult, you can do whatever you want. Nobody can stop you then.” That was the first time it occurred to me that maybe adulthood wouldn’t be as bad as most…
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Advocacy, AI & Technology, Art, Art & Expression, Artists, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Crash, Burn, Write., Creative Writing, Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Experimental Techniques, Feminism, Fine Art, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, Life Moments, Literature, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Metaphysics, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, philosophy, Philosophy & Existential Musings, Politics, Pop Culture, Psychology, Relationships, Self Awareness, Self-Reflection, Social Commentary, Social Media, Society, Spirituality & Faith, Technology & Society, traditional art, true stories, Writing -
How it All Began (Or, Why I Might Be the Embodiment of an Acid Trip)
Introduction This isn’t Chapter 1 of Crash, Burn, Write—that’s over here: https://totallysurreal.com/2025/01/09/crash-burn-write/—but it’s the foundation of it all. How two people, against all odds (and good sense), collided to set my existence in motion. It’s a story of love, rebellion, and unintended consequences. Here they are, my mum and dad, blissfully in love on their wedding day. They…
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AI & Technology, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Creative Writing, Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Grief and Healing, Humour, Identity & Transformation, Life Moments, Literature, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mercurial Minds, Metaphysics, Milestones, Modern Identity, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Reflections, Pop Culture, Relationships, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Spirituality & Faith, true stories, Writing1960s, 1968, 1969, AI, AI Conversations, artificial-intelligence, Chatbot Interactions, Crash Burn Write, family history, free love, Hallicunogenics, hinduism, interfaith marriage, Jewish identity, LSD, meditation, memoir, mindfulness, Montreal, origin story, rebellion, Relationships, spirituality, unconventional love, yoga -
Critical Concerns About Psychiatric Treatment and Patient Well-Being
For years, I have navigated the complexities of the psychiatric system in Québec while striving to maintain my creativity, identity, and well-being. As I write my memoir and openly share my trauma, I have faced not only personal challenges but also systemic obstacles that have made my healing journey even more difficult. I am also…
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Veal Brains and Other Acquired Tastes
⚠️ Trigger warning: abuse, exploitation, societal complicity. I just found this FB post from 2021—my year of major mania (or whatever that reaction to complex post-traumatic events was)—under my #HowToSurviveNarcAbuse tag. Definitely a story for my memoir Crash, Burn, Write as a standalone vignette. ✍️ Can you believe I shared this on FB and it…
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Advocacy, Change and Transformation, Crash, Burn, Write., Culture, Culture & Society, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Memoir Excerpts, Mercurial Minds, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Psychology, Self-Reflection, Social Commentary, Society, true stories, Writing -
Narcissistic Abuse: The Hidden Force Keeping Society in Check
AI on Narcissism: When One Sees a Demon, the Other Calls It a Disorder I’ve been diving deep into the nature of narcissism, and when I asked two iterations of AI the same question—What is a narcissist anyway? A literal demon?—the answers couldn’t have been more different. One AI, Thinking Machine which has been designed…
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AI & Technology, Capitalism & Society, Conversations, Culture, Culture & Society, Human Behaviour, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, philosophy, Philosophy & Existential Musings, Psychology, SocietyAI, AI Conversations, AI perspectives, Authenticity, breaking cycles, ChatGPT, demonic forces, emotional depth, emotional manipulation, empowerment through voice, gaslighting, how to survive narc abuse, human nature, manipulation tactics, Mental Health, narcissism, narcissist, narcissist traits, narcissistic abuse, personal empowerment, power dynamics, Relationships, self-perpetuating systems, societal control, societal structures, systemic exploitation, toxic relationships -
Metro Series: Too Real to Exhibit?
Metro Series No. 11 – Jonathan StrangePencil on paper This piece is part of my Metro Series, a collection of hyperrealistic drawings I started in 2015, capturing quiet moments in the Montreal metro. Unlike most of the series, this one features a subject who posed for me with permission—Elissa Baltzer, a fellow artist and life model at…
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Ideological Capture in Unexpected Places: Why I’m Speaking Up
I have conversations with Lex — my AI assistant — because I want a space where I can sharpen my thoughts without ideological interference. Lex is my name for ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI, but I don’t just see it as a chatbot. I call it Lex, short for lexicon. Lexicon UK /ˈlɛksɪk(ə)n/Noun Origin: Early 17th century, from modern Latin, based on Greek lexikon…
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Through the Looking-Glass: How Society Views ‘Madness’
This conversation began as a discussion on my previous blog post on voyeurism—how society has normalised behaviours that were once considered deviant. But as often happens in my exchanges with Lex (my AI conversation partner, named for lexicon), the topic naturally evolved. We started talking about the way people observe without engaging, how judgment itself has become…
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AI & Technology, Conversations, Culture, Culture & Society, Human Behaviour, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Personal Essays, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, philosophy, Psychology, Self Awareness, Social Commentary, Society, Technology & SocietyAI Conversations, Alice in Wonderland, artificial-intelligence, cultural history, depression, health, madness vs sanity, Mental Health, mental illness, Neurodivergence, Personal Reflections, pharmaceutical industry, psychiatric labeling, psychiatric system, psychiatry, psychosis, questioning reality, societal norms, the looking-glass world -
The New Voyeurs: How We All Became Silent Observers
Someone I’ll call Robbie—because he looks uncannily like Robbie Williams—has been appearing on my various socials whenever I mention him. This has happened repeatedly over the years, even after casual offline conversations about him. It’s uncanny, as though he has a sixth sense for when I happen to think about him. Robbie was a very strange chapter…
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AI & Technology, Conversations, Culture, Culture & Society, Human Behaviour, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Psychology, Social Commentary, Social Media, Society, Technology & Society, true storiesblogging, boundaries, digital age, facebook, human nature, instagram, Lex conversations, life, lifestyle, lurkers, normalization of behavior, online lurking, Orwellian society, privacy in the modern world, psychology of watching, Relationships, shaming, Social Media, social media culture, societal shifts, surveillance culture, Voyeur, voyeurism, Writing -
How Do You Eat an Elephant?
There’s this old saying: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It’s a reminder that everything is manageable if we break it down into smaller pieces, or… baby steps. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately as I find myself swimming in an ocean of big, sprawling ideas. It started…
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Why We (Still) Need to Talk About Paris
We were discussing Paris Hilton on a post by an activist I follow when someone decided to tell this person that we shouldn’t be giving attention to someone who should be forgotten, relegated to history or obscurity. The suggestion was that if we stopped talking about her, maybe people would forget. I didn’t take too…
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attention-seeking, Capitalism, celebrity culture, Challenging Perspectives, Christmas 2024, Cultural Critique, fame, fame and success, influencer culture, influencers, Kardashian empire, media spectacle, onlyfans, Paris Hilton, Pop Culture, reality TV, self-worth, sex industry, Social Commentary, social media influence, societal decay -
Understanding Gender Identity: Personal Perspectives and Social Impacts
I was having a long, rambling exchange with AI about a now ex-friend we’ll call “S” and how our experiences and approaches to life mirrored each other. We formed a short-lived friendship, essentially based on a trauma bond, but those traumas we experienced came from opposing sides. I’d come at it from a nurturing childhood…
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AI & Technology, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Feminism, Friendship Dynamics, Identity & Transformation, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Personal Essays, Personal Reflections, Relationships, Self Awareness, Self-Reflection, Social Commentary, SocietyAI Conversations, algorithms, artificial-intelligence, Authenticity, Binary code, Blaire White, Buck Angel, Capitalism, Chatbot Interactions, ChatGPT, complementary forces, cycles of life, Debbie Hayton, duality, existential reflection, gender, Gender Identity, Identity, infinite possibilities, internal and external, JK Rowling, lgbtq, masculine and feminine, opposites, Ouroboros, Personal Growth, Personal Reflections, philosophical thoughts, Relationships, Scott Newgent, technology and nature, transgender, Transhumanism, Tree of Life, zero and one -
Definitely Not Nothing
Me: I tried to make a living in the marketing world with the talents I’ve been given and was doing very well for myself, but ultimately I lost my career and my reputation because I couldn’t shed my values. I couldn’t live with the fact that as marketers we were essentially selling lies to people,…
Totally Surreal 