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Matthew Hahn

@matthewhahn.com

11K followers 170 following 1.6K posts

Former prisoner. Dharma student. Union tradesman. Program facilitator for Mindful Prisons & Boundless Freedom Project. Sober since 2005. Hobbyist photographer. San Jose, CA. Kicked a divot out of Stalin’s grave. https://linktr.ee/MatthewHahn

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Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · Jan 15

I am a former incarcerated firefighter. I served in a California fire camp from 2009 to 2012.

Misinformation is afire on the internet, so here are facts about the prison firefighter program, all in one place.

A thread.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

I know nothing about Substack but have considered starting one. What do I need to know here?

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

The results, generally speaking, were that my life got better, I started to experience less fear, and my heart became more joyous.

So, there's that.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

One thing I do know is that about twenty years ago I started running a bit of an experiment with my own life. I asked myself what would happen if I started doing the right thing even when it seemed to come at great personal cost.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

But I'm just musing over my cup of coffee. I don't have answers to any of this. I don't know.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

It would be much easier to galvanize people around issues like Gaza and Trump if we could temporarily set aside issues of Amazon and Starbucks and Bad Bunny and Twitter.

But, then, at the same time, all of those issues are interrelated.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

I sometimes wonder if we are stretched too thin. Like there are too many ethical choices. It's like walking into the supermarket and seeing two dozen types of ketchup for sale.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

There are so many causes and conditions that lead people to act in particular ways towards moral issues. One thing that comes to mind is the plethora of moral concerns available in the "market of moral issues".

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

Is that because they don't care about workers' rights? Does it mean they care more about animals than humans? I don't believe so.

They are typically just as struck by my lack veganism given my other moral principles.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

One thing that often strikes me is that I meet people that are very morally engaged with a particular issue - say animal rights, veganism - but don't bring the same energy to a different issue, like shopping at Amazon.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

He ended by saying something along the lines of, "I am comfortable with my level of moral engagement. This is where I choose to put my energy".

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

Randy said that he spends the bulk of his time thinking about ways of making the technology in a smart phone more ethical and a cause for good. He said that he understands the issues with smart phone manufactures, but that this wasn't his focus...

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

Someone asked Randy a question about a different moral issue of our time. I don't remember exactly what the question was, but it might've been something about the way that smart phones were manufactured and what his stance on it was.

I was struck by his answer.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

I once attended a workshop on 'smart technology as existential threat' with one of the founders for the Center For Humane Technology (Randy Fernando). His focus was on finding ways that social media, smart phones, internet, various techs, etc could be used for greater good, rather than harm...

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

So we must choose which moral issues are of the greatest importance to us. This isn't easy. We may vacillate between various moral compasses depending on the moment.

This doesn't mean that we have set aside moral principles, but it does mean that we have to decide where to put our energy.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

Nearly everything we engage with in our modern world has ethical concerns. Where we shop, which companies we buy from, when to call the cops or not, what jobs we should take...

Underneath all of it we understand that we are complicit in some degree of harm.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

For example, I think that racism is wrong and I also think that eating animals is wrong. I spend more energy trying to be antiracist than I do trying to be vegetarian (which I am not). This is a choice. Sure, I could do both, but I only have so much energy.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

With regards to having flexibility with certain moral issues, I think many folks do in fact have to choose where the bulk of their bandwidth is directed. In a world as ethically complex as ours, trying to find a "good enough" path forward often requires some degree of moral compromise.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 2d

I was once a person who wanted to do good but harmed instead. I was once a person who wanted to do good but did not because I feared the personal consequences.

I think a lot of people struggle with pragmatism on one hand and leading an ethical life with integrity on the other.

Chiral @c-hiral.bsky.social · 2d

I'm sorry but the more I think about it the more bothered I am about this whole concept of choosing whether or not you can be a good person is it different for other people do you just get to choose whether you're flexible uncertain things how can you live that way?

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 3d

What do you mean?

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 4d

For context: bsky.app/profile/matt...

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · Nov 13

I once burgled a home & stole a safe. I cracked the safe & discovered photos of the owner molesting a child. He reported the burglary to police. I turned the photos in. The cops called him in to discuss the burglary. He confessed. We both went to prison.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 4d

I was a burglar who discovered a horrific sex crime against a child and helped the police catch the man.

My sentence was more than three times longer than Diddy’s.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 4d

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison in case involving sex workers, violence and ‘freak-offs’.

A photo of Diddy

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 5d

As I’m working through the process of getting a new citizenship, I was just informed that in the European Union “moving and living with your spouse is a human right” and, thus, my wife’s entry and residency there is guaranteed.

I mean, that’s as it should be.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 6d

This is good, thank you.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 6d

In the introduction language for one of my groups, I added the sentence:

“No one is obligated to speak, and silence is as important a part of the conversation as are its words”.

Matthew Hahn @matthewhahn.com · 6d

Even when I notice the urge to share something “really important”, I try to stuff it until everyone has spoken. Another person might share the important thing anyhow, and that’s when I see the egoism / entitlement tied to my urge to be the one to share the important thing.