RetroFedIs life really as awful as politics and the Internet make it out to be?
I (23M) am becoming increasingly aware that my regular exposure to political content seems to be incompatible with my own mental well-being.
I was raised by two narcissistic parents, one of whom was violent. I have very few positive or loving memories. My trauma turned my brain into a 24/7 threat detector. I’m constantly thinking about everything and everyone that could kill me or take everything I have.
The Internet has taught me that the world is less awful than the hellish place I came from. But I’ve hit a wall where I can’t get better because I am constantly being reminded by well-meaning people that everything in the U.S. is going to shit.
My trauma narrative eats this stuff up. It sees fascists on the streets, impending financial and ecological crises, the dangers of cars, widespread hyperindividualism, the decline of third spaces, and constant phone and social media use. Then it says, “Nobody can be trusted because capitalism makes everyone shallow and selfish. Going outside is dangerous because of cars and fascists. Most people don’t want to socialize because they are too busy. There are no good places to meet anyone. Everyone who does socialize is just a fair-weather friend because support is outsourced to paid therapy and the eroding welfare system. I’ll never be good enough for a partner because I can’t build a stable life and dating apps are designed to not work. Any job I get won’t last long because of the collapsing economy. Going to college is too financially risky. There is no stability. Nothing good ever lasts. My progress will be wiped out by systemic forces far beyond my control.”
It seems like U.S. politics is about instability and collapse at this point, and because I have so few positive memories, it feels like life itself is about instability and collapse. Your money, your job, your social circle, your health, everything you’ve worked for – all of it could just go up in smoke tomorrow. I can’t take anything for granted or have any confidence in the future. I can’t fully enjoy anything because I’m too busy thinking about how I’ll cope with its inevitable loss.
Is this really what life is? Just watching every good thing disappear? Being born into a mostly-functioning society just to watch it fall apart? Knowing you’ll have to weather every struggle alone because people only care about themselves? Being promised a stable life and career all throughout school only for the rug to be pulled at the last minute?
There has to be more to life than this.
Is staying on the Internet really worth it?
(Also yes I go to therapy, I’m working on myself but that shit is hard af sometimes)
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I’d say if you are able to maintain steady income, friends, interests, don’t live in an active war zone or other disaster area, and have a few other lucky circumstances like that, you can (at least for now) have a reasonably happy existence. You don’t have to ignore or deny the terrible stuff going on elsewhere. There have always been wars and poverty happening, but it’s ok to respond more to your sense of your immediate surroundings (where things are going ok) than to your sense of bad stuff happening in remote times and places.
The internet and political news reminds us that bad times may be coming for everyone due to global warming, AI propaganda from encroaching dictatorships, and all that stuff. Don’t ignore that. Oppose it if you can. But, don’t let it overcome your hopefully-reasonably-good existence in the present.
Certainly, if spending all day on the internet makes you neurotic, then try to cut back on it. Some people choose to eliminate it completely from their lives, at least for a while. I haven’t done that so don’t know if it helps.
It all depends on what kinds of privilege you have access to. If you’re a cishet (or at least bi and in a straight-passing relationship) white dude with a decent job, you’re probably doing just fine right now, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Barring some major catastrophe like war, there’s very little that politicians will do to disrupt the day-to-day lives of someone in that kind of demographic. It’s important to remember that “being able to disengage from politics because no policies will target you regardless of who is in power” is a form of privilege, and a rather large one at that.
As an American who has had to flee states due to political persecution, my saying of late has been:
“You can ignore politics. Politics will not ignore you.”
Don’t forget being straight and white, otherwise you’re persecuted by religion and the government
There’s a lot of responses here already… But if it ever feels hopeless or overwhelming, I recommend just go to a nearby park, sit on a bench, and watch nature and life going by. Compare what you’re seeing, with what you’re feeling. Do they match up? Or is there a difference there?
This is what I would recommend also. You really need to be in nature, in forests, feel the sun and observe how you are feeling.
You have to learn to watch the circus, as I call our society, from outside instead of believing in what it’s telling you.
Think about your emotional state a lot and figure out what makes you feel good. And do that.
Sit? They took away the benches. Funding cuts.
Install new ones on a moonless night. When they tear those out?
DO IT AGAIN.
Yes and no.
Yes, in that it does and will affect you, and you do need to take an interest. You need to vote in every election you can, you need to stay involved, you need to make a stand. Without that we will lose everything we care about. Those in power have shown that they are happy to chip away at things, but as soon as any opposition is shown they start backing down.
No, in that your life is your own, and you can’t let politics dictate your life. As someone with a ton of anxiety, I cannot read the news daily, I do not subscribe to the news communities, I have to stay away from it. I choose to live my life and make the most of it, living day to day. My family and friends are the most important to me, and I spend my time enjoying them. I came very close to crumpling into a deep depression due to the news, and then got help. It was a hard lesson in learning I cannot personally change everything, and I cannot hold myself responsible for everything that has happened.
Confused? Good. It’s a personal journey, you have to pick and choose yourself, and draw your own lines and figure out where your responsibility is and when you’ve done your part. I stay educated, I know what’s happening, I know who I’m voting for, I know when to stand up. That does not mean I need to stay glued to my computer and doomscroll. You’ll have to draw your own line.
Just a note about voting in some places, it may not matter anymore. I’m not saying don’t vote, most people still should but how shall I put this…
Billionaires and private equity bought Dominion and all the other voting machine manufacturers. The “changes” to election integrity departments of the government are also… Notable.
Yah. I don’t have a solution but chances of voting our way out drop by the day
I’ve read enough in my life to know that I’d rather be alive now than any other time in human history. I also acknowledge that I’d rather be living where I am than a pretty decent chunk of the rest of the world.
But I also acknowledge that with all the advancements in science and technology things should be a whole hell of a lot better/easier than they are, but they aren’t because of the greed of a relatively small percentage of our species preventing us from accessing those advancements and preventing us from achieving further social progress. Things really don’t need to be this much of a struggle in the 21st century.
There’s no such thing as utopia, but we absolutely have the means to be lot closer to it than we are and that’s supremely frustrating. Especially if you’re like me and accept that you’re not going anywhere other than the permanent void after you take your last breath.
It feels like we’re 2 feet from the finish line but our feet have been nailed to the asphalt by assholes who’ve placed bets against us crossing it.
The bottom line is you have to do what’s best for your mental health so you don’t suffer every minute of every day. The strategy for that is different for everyone. For me it’s keeping close tabs about what’s going on in the country/world during the work week when I’m stressed/pissed about being at work anyway, then totally checking out completely on weekends. No social media. No news. Nada.
Personally, I don’t think it’s right to bury your head in the sand completely. The truth is that if you live in the U.S. we ARE going backwards. Our rights ARE being infringed. Our quality of life WILL decline if we remain on the path we are currently on. But everyone checking out will only accelerate the decline and push us past a point of no return.
Find your strategy. Force yourself to unplug on some sort of recurring schedule so you get the framework of the awful shit happening but maybe not the non-stop gory details. You don’t necessarily need every detail in order to maintain your moral compass. And you certainly don’t need every detail if you want to keep your sanity.
No, life is both. Within it is the most grandiose beauty you could ever imagine, alongside unspeakable horrors. Both heaven and hell take their inspiration from the mortal plane.
That last line is pure poetry.
Get a hobby. Find people in your area that share that hobby. Form social groups around that.
You do realize that, as an adult, you can just start a club, right? Why do you think your high school had all those clubs and activities in it? The hope was that you could keep doing things like that as an adult. Every aspect of schooling is meant to serve as practice for adulthood.
Hell, you could start a “third places” club. Get a number of people together. Every Saturday afternoon, on a rotating basis, someone’s home becomes a “coffee shop” that everyone goes and hangs out at. Don’t even need to plan a lot of programming. You don’t need to worry about any kind of business license, as you’re not running a business. It’s just a friend group that holds rotating social gatherings.
The Universe gave you an imagination for a reason. USE IT. Find something that interests you or some need in your community. Find others with that passion or interest. Find something that brings you joy and meaning, something within the limits of your talents and resources. If it doesn’t exist, will it into being.
Build the world you want to see. The labor will buy your sanity.
Im over 50. I generally been good at school after the early grades. I grew up at a time when someone could still get a job with a high school degree and at least do alright for themselves. Afford a place to live on their own and pay their bills and be able to get around. I thought if I did well in school I would be able to afford the middle class american dream. support a modest home, wife, and kids. Over time a single income became increasingly impossible to support a household on. I did relative well compared to my peers but my wife has medical issues so we have had to live a very lean lifestyle to get by on one income with higher than normal medical costs. I am not in my 50’s and two years out of work living off shrinking savings that are supposed to help us get through retirement. We are kinda lucky we were saving to get some remodeling done to make it easier for my wife. Basically make it more handicap friendly. In addition we wanted to get some more energy efficient appliances especially the hvac system. That is pretty much what we are burning through along with doing some dangerous things like not getting the hvac a checked up and such. We are essentially as belt tightened as possible. So personally. From my experience. Life has gotten worse for people like me (americans). My father was able to own and pay off an admidately ramshackled house but looking at it from modern times it was a freaking mansion. 5 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, a full basement, sep living, dining, kitchen, breakfast nook. He never went to high school. Let me reiterate. Its not that he never graduated high school. He never graduated junior high. He never went to high school at all. We generally had two cars. Used sure but two. He payed for a household of 7 kids and a wife and himself and had plenty saved for retirement. I have a stem bachelors dual majored with a masters degree and worked extensively in the field. I am looking at eventually losing my two bedroom condo before retirement which also does not look good even if I got a job tommorrow unless I can make a ton in the next ten years. So anyway take that what you will but for my life and experience stuff has gotten worse as far as day to day life pretty much my whole life.
No, it’s not entirely awful. There are awful things in it for sure, but there are also amazing things, which is how it’s always been.
People growing up today live under the threat of climate change, fascism, rampant inequality etc. These threats are real. But there’s a lot of good stuff happening too - crime rates are falling constantly, and we’re on the verge of some big medical breakthroughs such as being able to treat cancer with CRISPR and Oncolytic viruses to give a couple of examples. We might be about to double the lifespan of cats.
Every generation grows up under some sort of threat - nuclear annihilation in the 80s, WW2 before that, WW1 before that etc. Mad kings, dictators, plagues, wars… you’re dealt the hand you’re dealt. But everything is cyclical - fascism flares up and then gets squashed, the economy booms and busts, politics swings right, then left again. Because of that, sometimes the cycles line up so that a few things suck at once. But nothing is permanent.
That’s not to say everything will be fine, or that we’re doomed. Most likely some people who don’t deserve it will suffer and die, some people who don’t deserve it will live charmed and privileged lives and learn nothing, and some people will just be fine. As it has always been.
It sounds like you used the Internet to figure out that your home life sucked and life is better out there. But now the Internet is literally having the opposite effect. My advice at this point is literally spend less time on the Internet. Think of the Internet as the person who helped you to realize there are better things in life. But then that friend starts to drag you down. You get rid of the friend. That sounds harsh, but that’s just how life works.
I don’t know if you live in a big town or a small town, but I would say think of something or some things that you enjoy. Join clubs or groups that do those sorts of things. I saw this comment the other day on another post. It isn’t about quantity. It is an about quality.
One really good friend is The equivalent of 100 average friends or just acquaintances.
I’m not saying don’t have average friends or acquaintances, I’m saying look for the ones who are good friends.
A good friend is the one who you can call at two in the morning and say “ Shit, I just put my car in the ditch, I’m probably legally drunk, And if the cops find me, I am screwed” . That really good friend , he’ll be there.
A good friend is the one who you call when you find out your significant other is cheating on you, and understands the best course of action or at least can help you find the best course of action. Pro tip keying the cheaters car is not the best idea.
Acquaintances will simply say oh man I’m so sorry but then you don’t hear anything more from them.
Look for the good friends in those groups. And yes, I know what you’re saying , It’s hard to find people to hang out with. But that’s why I’m saying find clubs find organizations that do what you enjoy.
Here’s a really good example of what I mean by the Internet can bring you down. People in Scotland were afraid to come to the US because of what their media was saying about the US. What their media was saying how we treat other people. Go on YouTube and look at World Cup soccer fans from Scotland and you will see people who are amazed at how they got treated. How well they got treated.
And that’s going from Scotland to the US. I went from Minnesota to Washington DC a couple of years ago. As a tourist. I was concerned that everybody was gonna be cold and distant. Because that’s what I’ve always been told. That the people in DC are basically cold assholes. You couldn’t be more wrong about that statement. Everybody That I ran across was very nice. And it didn’t matter if it was in a restaurant if it was on the street if it was in a museum, it didn’t matter. People in general were and are quite pleasant.
The media loves to fear monger. And you see a lot of that on the Internet. But the reality is most people are actually very nice.
A lot of what you see online is people making the perfect the enemy of the good, intentionally divisive foreign propaganda, and extremists trying to get you mad about their thing. Houses really are a lot more expensive than they were in the middle of the 20th century but compared to the rest of human history that period was the outlier, now things are just returning to ’normal’.
I’m a bit older and much of my life was lived before the Internet. Social media has changed us all for the worse and you’ll do yourself well for staying off of it as much as you can. And yes, there is much more to life than what you’re aware of right now in your life.
There’s some good advice here, one thing I’ll say is that if you feel bad about the state of the country/world, the best way to get over that is by organizing. There’s studies talking about people who get involved are more optimistic about the future. Being around people who are actively trying to make a better world can do wonders for combatting doomerism. Join a leftist cause or a mutual aid group (not a charity) and build something.
Yes and no—depends on your proximity to the catalysts. If you’re ridiculously privileged, like I am, the world has never been safer.
But, imo, it’s important to hold two truths:
a. The US is as about as safe as it’s ever been
b. Shit, on the whole, is absolutely fucked
We are all part of society and we owe it to each other to at least maintain awareness of the goings-on.
Find your personal balance—don’t simply pretend everything is rainbows.
Depends. Is your family rich?
Column A and Column B. There are people out there where life is doing alright but could be better of all political persuasions. The issue is that the powers in charge are working to making it actively worse for everyone. As people have said form looking through here, organize.
I’m something of an existentialist at heart, so I truly believe that life is what we make it. Nothing more and nothing less.
There are real problems and challenges in the world. Good and evil both exist. Some days you will be happy and at peace and other days you will be consumed by pain and sorrow.
All of these things are part of life, and the universe itself is ambivalent to us.
Figure out what your philosophy on life is and live.
You would probably appreciate developing direct personal connections. Could be irl or on the internet, just not super anonymous text based stuff like Lemmy.
Humans are a product of their circumstances, they can change over time, there is diversity within a community. Overly broad brushing can lead to a despair like you’re describing and it’s good to remember it’s not accurate. At the same time it is good to be aware of tendencies and patterns because the risks you mention are real in various pockets and subsets of society. The best protection against them is relationships with everyone else, and particularly those who are opposed to and organize against, for example, fascists.
This is a hard one and I think you’re asking the wrong question. This post reads to me like you’re trying to prevent getting into the same situation you were in as a child by thinking through everything.
Notice the underlying assumption that people will always act selfish ("capitalism makes everyone selfish”, “a partner only wants to enjoy your stable life"), are unreliable ("people are only fair-weather friends”, “people don’t want to socialize") and are always out to get you ("going outside is dangerous, because people want to run me over and fascists will kill me”, “someone wants to wipe out my progress").
And (apart from your parents) is that how people in your life have behaved? (Like e.g. People in school, early childhood friends, teachers or even strangers)
You wrote that your brain is “constantly thinking about everything and everyone that could kill me or take everything I have”, but I think it’s also what your assuming everyone WANTS to do.
So, is the internet useful? Well depends on how you use it.
You can choose to see the fascists in the streets and get confirmation. Or you can choose to notice the protestors, the actions people are taking against the fascists.
But, if left alone, the internet will reinforce what you already believe, be it true or not. You can use the internet to challenge your assumptions, but it takes as much questioning, soul-searching and conscious effort as doing that in the real world.
And changing a survival mechanism and belief that kept you alive during childhood is one of the toughest things one can do. It’s not impossible, but it requires a lot of uncertainty and finding a lot of little assumptions that were only useful during childhood.
This is a REALLY good point. I think I might be projecting a lot here. And, no – as sad and confusing as it is, not one person in my life has acted nearly as antagonistic or vindictive towards me as my actual parents, even the kids who bullied me at school.
I know this sounds fucking insane, but my parents threatened to kill me, abandon me, or take things from me all the time and still do. I still live with them because I’m chronically ill, disabled, and depressed, but I’m working on getting out.
In fact, I stood up to them earlier today at dinner, telling them that their words and tone of voice were hurtful, and they literally laughed in my face, called me an “ungrateful piece of shit,” and said they weren’t going to buy me food or drive me places anymore, which prevents me from getting routine medical and dental care. So indeed, they take away basic support if I criticize them. But I realized that nothing will change if I continue to fear them. Every day I become less afraid, and their threat level has risen in tandem.
Truly, there is no hate like their love.
So I guess I treat life like an extension of my parents, where I am emotionally abused, neglected, and in constant danger of being physically hurt or losing basic privileges if I make any wrong move. It feels like I am constantly living under their contemptuous gaze, starving for warmth and acknowledgement, and people will punish me or withhold resources from me if I express my honest feelings or fail to meet expectations.
Thanks for pointing out that pattern. I feel a little less lost than before.
More than ever before, life is truly what you make of it.
The very affluent can live among the very poor. The darkest skin tones with the lightest. The happiest among the depressed.
Beware of garbage in and garbage out.
Your thoughts will become your words, those words will become your actions, and those actions will become your world.
It is truly a blank piece of paper.
(Unless you wear certain tshirts, bring your children to school in the usa, etc)
The world is changing very rapidly, and the future will be a rough ride for many, but the art is to understand that there are things that you can change and things you must accept.
And it’s a rare show. We’ve never had environmental collapse overlap with the fall of an empire before on Earth. Only death is certain (yes, even for you Elon)
I feel much the same as you. I’m quite a bit older too. I’ve lost all faith in our systems and actively hate most of the people around me. The only thing keeping me sane is my small group of best friends. Without them, I’d have snapped a long time ago. Things definitely look bleak and if they don’t change quickly and dramatically I doubt we’ll make it. I wish I could help more, but I know misery loves company.
There are lots of things going on at once and all of them are valid. I struggle, too. My life is pretty good, from a global standard, while many, many others’ lives are much worse. Happiness is wildly unevenly distributed.
In 1960 the minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average US home cost $11,000.00
Yeah, things are pretty bad right now
in 1960 civil rights didn’t exist yet and lead was in everything.
And there wasn’t even a gay rights movement for people to hate on yet. And if you wondered something, but didn’t know the answer, you maybe would just never know the answer. Your TV cost as much as your car, a new outfit cost as much as a 21st century TV, and the Soviets were, more likely than not, going to nuke America in the next few years.
Sure, some things have gotten worse. Others, not so much.
As people have stated, some things are good, some are bad.
The most important factor for anyone answering you is are they even aware of their privilege or lack thereof.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned, is the fact that based on the wealth and progress of the world, basically none of the issues that remain, should.
This is the absolutely unbelievably infuriating part, and it’s made worse because people will come into forums like this, and say “bruh I have a mini computer that does everything and the 60s didn’t even have civil rights”. That’s a complete false equivalence that means NOTHING.
Unfortunately, right now oligarchy is rampant, fascism is categorically and indisputably on the rise, and a few billionaires are actively deploying all the money and losers they can to keep shit shifting wealth, and power in their direction.
If we do not stop them soon, they will quite literally burn the world down for a fucking dollar.
It’s great to take advice here and exist in a bubble, but society is not a bubble.
In other words “I don’t care about politics” or “I can’t look at it because of X reason” are really great thoughts, but politics absolutely gives a shit about you and it will decide your future with or without your input.
Yes and no.
But no, all the stupid shit in the US is not normal. Obama was normal. Biden was approaching normal. Hell, Bush was pretty “normal” but we also had this comfusing time becsuse the US suffered a huge attack on our own soil unlike anything before. Like Pearl Harbor, maybe, but that was active war. This was just unprovoked death.
FWIW, I am mid 40s, I was at college during 9/11, so its not like I was a toddler.
I was feeling really optimistic about the world from like, 2006-2016, and even then I was still optimistic that dumbfuck Trump would just be a blowhard do nothing. But then he wasn’t. Then we went screaming back. Its not normal.
Awful shit in the news every fucking day for basically 12 years+ now is mentally draining. Personally, I don’t give a shit anymore about anyone or anything. I hate that I feel this way, but I can’t just blissfully ignore it.
This probably doesn’t help you much.
Zoom down to a niche or the local level. E.g., following news about mountain biking or the latest on your city council can fill the same desire that you currently try to do by following up on the senate.
There will be intersections with federal, but much less toxic.
I currently find some balance in having a few things that disconnect me. Each day I do something artistic to get away from the bs cycle. Even if it’s just 15 minutes.
I would highly recommend it and that you approach this as something you do for yourself only. Don’t set any goals to please others. This one’s about what you want from it.
As you spend time on this project (whatever you pick) you’ll find pride and healing in what you accomplish.
This is long and rather rambling and I have no idea if it makes any sense at all…
I grew up in a home where I was isolated from almost everyone outside my family (it was normal to go days or weeks without leaving my house as a child) and had an abusive parent. I have actual (not self diagnosed) PTSD from it.
I escaped my family to marry too young into what I thought was a good relationship but ended up being to a manipulative person who could be good to me but who treated me poorly most of the time, dismissed my feelings, and gaslighted me until I genuinely thought I was losing my mind (the actual form of gaslighting, not the reddit version). That relationship went on way too long.
I escaped that and had to start over with a few hundred dollars in my bank account in my 30s. Right as I was getting my feet under me Trump 2.0 happened and I got swept up in the negativity and panic.
I felt like I had to be glued to the news all the time to avoid being complacent. I felt like if I wasn’t aware of everything going on I was abusing my privilege to not be aware of things that weren’t affecting me.
My mental health was already destroyed from all the bad things that happened to me and this shit sent me far deeper into the spiral and prevented me from ever getting out.
So I stopped.
I don’t ever want to be complacent, I don’t ever want to stop standing up for what is right, but feeling so crushed by the world that I can’t even get out of bed on my days off isn’t helping anyone.
I only scan local news websites now and whatever global news pops up on Lemmy, but I rarely click on it. I occasionally pop over to propublica because I think their work is excellent.
I started making an effort to have more real conversations with people around me, and not doom and gloom conversations, but conversations like “what hobbies do you have?” and questions about who they are as people and what life experiences they are. I’ve even told a few people “my life has been rough and I never really got to have hobbies and now I’m trying to find things I like, what are your favorite things to do?” It’s led to some really good conversations and some people in the real world really do suck but a lot are really cool people!
My mental health has improved so much. I obviously am less aware of what’s going on in the world because I’m not dialed in constantly to the news headlines, but I don’t feel any more complacent and I still feel completely ready to stand up and defend what I believe is right. I’m still going to go vote in every election, but I don’t need to overwhelm my mind with things I can’t control to the point that I’m useless to step in when there is something I can control.
It does feel like I’m doomed and that one day I’ll end up jobless and homeless, but you know what? Fuck it. I’ll go down swinging. I have a job and an adorable little apartment and all of that is so fragile and I could lose it so quickly but right now it’s still mine and every time I go to bed I’m filled with gratitude that I have a home and food in my fridge and I am doing this myself. I can only control what I can control.
Today I went for a walk near my home and found a turtle. I also found a bumble bee crawling around in the road and I picked it up and moved it before it could get run over and got to take a moment to enjoy the fuzzy little bee crawling up my arm. Enjoy the little moments. Stop and breathe and smell the flowers. Log off and go literally touch grass.
It’s ok to take a break. You need to come first, because if you don’t find your own oxygen mask you’ll suffocate before you can put on anyone else’s. And don’t forget to be grateful for what you do have and maybe some day you’ll have all the things you lack.
Why do you only post in asklemmy?
All things end. It’s the price of existing. But new good things come. There’s danger, but there’s also plenty good.
Go out, try to make some friends and when you fail try again until you succeed.
There’s good in this world and it’s worth fighting for.
I’m 48. Grew up without Internet, without cell phones, without fox news.
When 9/11 happened fox became one of the hottest news outlets. I started watching it all the time. Then I started listening to Rush, Glenn Beck, And Michael savage. It was literally changing my thought process. To the point I didn’t recognize myself. With that self realization and some friends and family commenting that I turned into a asshole.
I shut that shit off permanently and it took awhile but I finally recognized myself and vowed to do better.
Fight for the causes you believe in. Everything else tune out as much as possible it’s the only thing that has kept me sane since Trump’s second term. I limit myself to 30 minutes of world news a day.
Don’t click or read anything that outrages you, you can always find a summary on reddit or here without giving the right wing media views.
20 plus years of fox News has destroyed this country. And nobody seems to remember a time when most headlines weren’t rage bait or just fkn gossip
The unfortunate reality is that Fascist regimes are inherently unstable, and fascist regimes run by drug fueled narcissist’s are the worst of all (in terms of stability).
Since the Neo-Nazi party is in charge in America, the short answer is that its very likely that the US will collapse.
That said, the Roman Empire “collapsed” over the course of several generations (200 to 300 years).
Kinda?
So there is a quote that I think is pertinent here. (Michael Parenti from his book Fascism in a Pinstriped Suit)
“The concentration camp was never the normal condition for the average gentile German. Unless one were Jewish, or poor and unemployed, or of active leftist persuasion or otherwise openly anti-Nazi, Germany from 1933 until well into the war was not a nightmarish place. All the “good Germans” had to do was obey the law, pay their taxes, give their sons to the army, avoid any sign of political heterodoxy, and look the other way when unions were busted and troublesome people disappeared. Since many “middle Americans” already obey the law, pay their taxes, give their sons to the army, are themselves distrustful of political heterodoxy, and applaud when unions are broken and troublesome people are disposed of, they probably could live without too much personal torment in a fascist state — some of them certainly seem eager to do so.”
Assuming there is not a massive change in the next election, it seems likely that Fascism will win in America. But as noted above, you can live under fascism for a decent amount of time as long as you keep your head down and dont complain too loudly.
As to this one
Republicans are only some 40% of the population.
There are people out there you can make friends with, who will genuinely care for you, and the manosphere has lowered the bar for men so far that just not being a raging asshole is enough to make you noticeable to women. You dont have to be wealthy to get a girlfriend, im moderately successful (I have a solo apartment, and my car is paid off, but im hardly rich), and I have managed a more or less steady string of girlfriends for the past 10 years or so.
If you can manage to avoid the manosphere, the mens rights people, the redpill idiots and the Christians, you can actually be a decent person, and that’s honestly all it takes nowadays. You arent going to jump into bed with a supermodel just being a decent person (probably), but as long as your standards are reasonable, its not that hard to find a relationship (as long as you avoid advice from the above groups).
people who razor focus on how awful everything is because of politics and such, are usually only doing that as a coping mechanism for their own personal misery with their life.
they are not well people, or happy ones. hence their need to hyperbolize the negativity around them.
you also have the flip side, folks who can’t cope with anything negative in life or in the world, who just deny it exists, this is the toxic positivity folks.
well-adjusted folks realize their limits and focus on controlling what they can, acknowledging what they can’t, and not investing emotional energy in things outside their control. they also tend to break problems down into attainable steps/goals, rather than catastrophize or engage in optimistic delusion like unwell folks do.
And a lot of those specific calls are coming from inside the Lemmy house. Beware, OP.
Things ARE bad right now. We have a horrible wealth gap, we are deep into late stage capitalism, enshittification is rampant and climate change looms on our horizon
That said: do yourself a favour and learn more about terrible times in human history and the things people did to survive.
People have lived through horrible awful times and still found a way to continue on, find joy, survive, have small victories. I stopped spiraling out about how depressing the future looked when I learned more about the past… it shows you we are resilient. We are adaptible. We find a way. We WILL find a way. Just dont allow yourself to give into the despair–find the things you need to ground yourself, find your small victories, genuinely smell the roses and enjoy what you can. Look into taoism and concepts like finding inner peace among chaos. It helps a lot, trust.
Stay angry and stay vocal about our circumstances but dont let it steal the time you have on this earth, there is a lot here still to spark happiness and contentment.
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No.
No it isn’t. It is fucking great.
Life is good, if you work hard at it.
That’s just not a fact.
You can bust your ass forever and end up with nothing.
If you think there is something wrong with the world then try to change it. Life is worth living when it’s meaningful.
You know where you can find people who generally don’t suck and are less likely to be shallow capitalist boogers? Organizing spaces. Find someone doing something good locally. Get into social spaces that are “woke” where people are awesome and accommodating to mental health concerns and generally just want to make the world a better place. Importantly, make sure you find local folks and get out of the internet a bit.
It’s getting two birds stoned at once, you do something good in this world that is, for the most part, going to shit, and you also gain friends, make nice memories, and hopefully start to heal.
those places are shitshows. do you even participate in any of that?
they are full of messed up folks who make things worse more often than they make them better. tons of volunteer and non-profit orgs are complete shit shows full of awful abusive folks who are exploting the org and people in it for their own personal gain.
i’ve worked in the space my entire life. it’s incredibly niave to assume it’s all good and wonderful and employering. it’s often awful, traumatic, and can suck your soul out.
then again I was also never a drive by volunteer who showed up to get my postiviity jollies and bailed, which is sadly what most volunteers do. very few folks commit to the work.
Almost nobody that posts about this kind of stuff does. But it blows my mind a little that you could seriously post what OP did, if you haven’t at least dabbled one weekend when it was convenient.
Not the types of places I’m talking about, but yes I run a grassroots organization, volunteer with several others and have also volunteered at bigger non-profits for many years. I can see where you’re coming from at non-profit orgs but when you’re in a completely volunteer run organization, depending on what it is, it’s absolutely a different environment. Yes, there’s always interpersonal conflict, but you move on because you have to. And of course there’s burnout but that’s why you take breaks.
As foe the mental health thing, its the only thing that pulled me out of a deep depression and I have other friends that have said the same. If it’s not right for you, it’s not right for you, but for some people it works.
yeah until the all volunteer org starts making an significant money… and then everyone’s behavior changes because they all decided they want to get paid for what they do.
typically it only works if it’s lean and mean and there is no big pot of money.
Until there’s the inevitable ugly split, which retraumatises OP.
Organising might be some kind of duty, but if you’ve done much of it, you know it’s terrible for mental health.
Stay away and don’t support right wing states, corps, people and life is pretty great.
Example spend your money in NY instead of Florida etc
Don’t go to places that are anti “some minority” becuase they are filled with angry shitty people
You’ve lived for 23 years and still don’t know if life is shit?