Remember that the world used to be filled with feudalistic absolute-monarchist nations where the Emerperor/King always got away with doing immoral shit, and most people who worked for the monarch can fuck up your life with zero repercussions.
Today, at least sometimes the leaders can get punished.
South Korea just Impeached their president. And the president will likely get convicted and removed from office and go to prison, just as with one of the presidents before.
Brazil is now investigating their former President for an attempted coup.
The US isn’t there yet, but at least we tried. Eventually, the president will be held accountable, maybe not in 10 years, but eventually we’ll evolve out of this shit. The US had slavery, and got rid of it (for the most part). We had Jim Crow and got rid of that. It used to be only white male landowners could vote, and eventually Black Men, then Women, also got the right to vote. Progress happens even if it looks very slow.
Back then there was also no modern medicine, a small flu can kill you. If a family had 2 children in any country that’s even slightly developed, both children likely survive. But before modern medicine, you need like 8 children and maybe 2 of them will survive.
Back then there were no entertainment on demand, if you are bored, you are just bored. Now we can just go on Youtube, Netflix or whatever and have a billion things to watch.
Back then, you didn’t have a 40 hour work week, you were on a farm and had to constantly work. Any bad weather and crops died you’re starving. Or if it post industrial revolution, you could be at a factory with way longer hours and much worse conditions than today.
People think “this is so bad” but it was way worse before.
Try really hard to ignore all evidence against the afterlife.
I say “thank goodness I don’t live in China, or worse.” Then I go back to trying to improve my life.
China, while isn’t great, isn’t actually that bad, just look at North Korea, or Taliban controlled Afghanistan, and that’s what bad really means.
Yeah I did say “or worse” but I clearly draw the line of superiority between capitalist hellholes and an actual fucking dictatorship.
Dreaming about becoming a billionaire?
projecting?
Lol because China doesn’t have them, is that what you think?
Preparing myself for the world Titor predicted. Small communities.
Learning to homestead as best I can as a renter. Lots of raised beds and planter bags.
I only buy things to support my hobbies. Saving up for land and a prefab home so I can go completely independent.
I don’t want to worry if critical food gets expensive again.
SERN will take over the world.
The Organization is on to me now.
El Psy Congroo
I would have tried this so hard a long time ago but there is basically 2 things keeping me in the shackles: dentists & hospitals.
How do you deal with that?
Now there is a name I haven’t heard in awhile.
I organize and build relationships in my community. Everyone has something to offer and something they need. It isn’t always immediately obvious what those things are, so it’s nice to have an existing network when you figure it out. Get together. Have potlucks. Share your skills, knowledge, tips, tricks and resources.
I doubt you actually do any of that. Lovely vague community esque language. Oh have a potluck and effect great societal change! Give me a break. Hapy olidays!
I mean, I can’t prove it to you so you can just believe it or not. I definitely didn’t mean to imply that I’m making some “great societal change”. That’s not an attainable goal. The question was about how I deal with the state of the world. For me, my anxiety was peaking in the early days of the pandemic and the political situation in the US. I was just doomscrolling all day. Finally I decided that I just needed to do something/anything. I contacted a local mutual aid group in my area and started helping distribute hot meals around my area. I did that for about 2 years, twice a week. I have gone on to do more organizing (food, politics, skill shares) with some of the people I met there, and have expanded my network of like-minded friends. It has helped my mental health immensely.
Weed.
Underwork when I can, especially if I feel underpaid and under appreciated. Humanity is doomed to destroy itself, so I don’t worry all that much about things. Hell, at this point I would enjoy watching it end. But until then, I’m gonna chill, smoke weed, make music and spend time with the good folks around me.
I act like this is not a drill. We’ve put together an emergency kit. We have a reverse osmosis water filter. I’ve been stockpiling seeds, personal care items, first aid supplies, and shelf stable food. I spend my time reading, playing board games and doing puzzles with my spouse. We’re spoiling the heck out of our pets. Trying not to spend money unless absolutely necessary. Towing the line between staying informed and doom scrolling. Some days better than others.
I should probably be more active. I shouldn’t drink at all, but I still do on occasion. I should be eating healthier and engaging in my community. But I only have so much energy and to be honest I’m barely holding on. Secretly praying for a Hail Mary because I can’t believe this sham of an election is going to go through. I just can’t.
Butt stuff
T H A N K Y O U
H
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I don’t. I’m literally on suicide watch trying new psych meds and wondering if the emotion storms are triggered by news, or the new drugs. Whee.
When the entire country is tilting day by day over the precipice about to fall into the abyss of fascist, one-party autocracy, it feels like the night before the Martians emerge with their tripods and heat rays. I feel like Fiver seeing the notice board portending the disaster of Sandleford Warren. I feel cursed for slighting Apollo somehow.
People are carrying on as if there’s nothing wrong or nothing we can do, and I can’t understand how they continue to function.
Good luck in your journey fellow human. I don’t have anything else to offer but that someone read your words and you created thoughts in my head. Truly hope you best of everything. Cheers.
Thank you.
So long as Federal shennanigans don’t accelerate my situation (say by killing Social Security) then I should be okay.
But yeah, I’m super vulnerable like brain surgery during a hurricaine.
Vintage non-internet connected devices, self hosting open source services, buying used clothes, while I slowly prepare my retirement as a hermit in the mountains of west virginia
I chose not to participate.
I joined the military as soon as I graduated high school, got a solid 20 years of free food, free shelter, free college education, free travel, and plenty of life skills/experiences, all while collecting a solid income. Then I retired at 38 years old, collected a pension and a 100% VA disability check for the rest of my life (which includes free medical/dental for life), and inherited my childhood home in the countryside when my father passed away this year.
I do what I can to help out my local community, but I’m not working and have no need to contribute to capitalism. I make my own schedule each day, do whatever hobbies/goals I have the energy for, then call it a day whenever and start again the next morning.
My wife gets the same VA benefits, although she didn’t serve long enough to collect a pension; she was medically discharged. So we’re both just enjoying a quiet life in the countryside, no jobs, just focused on whatever makes us happy each day.
This is the life everyone deserves to have, and I’m upset that capitalism is basically the opposite of this lifestyle. They preach that if you’re not working, you’re a drain on society. Because the fewer workers they have, the less money that’s generated for the rich elites running the capitalist regime. That’s why our retirement age keeps going up. The longer people live, the more time they have to be productive members of “society” (read: capitalism). No thanks; I retired at 38 and I’m happy enjoying my youth while I still have some semblance of it.
EDIT: I just want to point out that military life was basically democratic socialism, with all our needs met, the govt ensuring we had food and a home, education was free, most all work-related expenses paid for. (uniforms, travel, etc.) Our paycheck was basically just spending money for us. We didn’t have to worry about covering bills because we received a separate “allowance” to cover rent/mortgage and utilities. Food was another allowance on top of our paycheck. If we were reassigned to another base somewhere in the world, the govt would foot the bill for movers and they packed your house for you. And you basically had to break the law to be kicked out of the military, so job security was excellent. We all got paid based on our rank and time in service, so it didn’t matter if you were a geothermal physicist or just handing out towels at the gym; everyone got the same wage across the board. It was an ideal situation. You’ll be hard pressed to find something similar in the rest of America.
Wish I joined the military, sometimes. But my heavy conscience got in the way.
Currently? Mostly making shitposts about chaining CEOs to boulders and casting them into the Sea, advocating to build big bronze statues of cold-blooded murderers, and openly wishing for certain people to be struck by lightning. Some real Biblical shit.
It’s not a death threat if you just wish God does the dirty work!
US judicial system: Best I can do is 15 years jail with $100K bond.
Honestly, at this point, I think we need to admit the US cannot be fixed. It’s time to peacefully dissolve the US federal government in its entirety. Grant all 50 states independence, turn the lights off, and move on.
I think the last straw for me is the recent vote for House committee leadership among the Dems. Even the nominally liberal party is so utterly corrupt, so utterly surrendered to vanity, that it is incapable of learning even the simplest of lessons. Both parties have been so completely corrupted from the inside out by money, that they cannot be saved. The only people who can come into power are those who are utterly corrupted by corporate money, and they have zero incentive to repair the damage money has done to the system.
It is possible for a thing to be so thoroughly broken that it cannot be repaired. And we have passed that point as a nation. We simply don’t want to admit it.
The time has come to peacefully dissolve the US in its entirety. We need to grant all 50 states full independence. Then they can come together and form whatever new nation or nations they want.
This nation can no longer be saved. It is time to end the denial.
In EMS, there’s a saying: if you drop the baby, pick it up.
Dropping the baby is like the worst thing you can ever do, but for Christ’s sake, don’t just leave it on the ground, do something about it. I’ve gotten involved in local government. Local government is great because you can still affect change there, and you can affect change that can snowball into something bigger with other people in other local governments making those changes. I’m on the city’s bicycle commission, and I’m working with local organizations like the ‘Council for Leadership and Justice’ and ‘Strong Towns’ to try and make the world a better place than I found it. Is it futile? Sure feels like it sometimes, time will tell I guess, but the trying helps me feel better for a few reasons, not least of which because it puts me in contact with others who care enough to try too.
Exactly.
I’m probably generally more optimistic about the future than the average Lemmy users, but even if I were pessimistic about the broad big picture questions, I’d still have plenty of local bits of local optimism. I really enjoy the company of my friends and family. I’m excited about my kids growing into cool adults who will do good things, from the tiny and mundane (a piece of artwork, a joke that makes me laugh) to the medium (taking an interest in my interests) to the big stuff (making big moves to change the world for the better).
I can’t end poverty or hunger. But I can support the food bank in my neighborhood and volunteer/give to organizations that are doing good work at alleviating hunger and homelessness. And maybe feeding someone a single meal doesn’t change the systemic problem that made him rely on my charity, but you’d better believe that meal still makes a difference to him in that moment.
Same with getting local kids their school supplies, helping a neighbor raise funds to pay off some medical debt, getting someone work clothes so that they can go interview for a job, teaching people how to negotiate and organize for better pay, etc.
We have plenty of power, collectively. Let’s not waste it being miserable and unproductive.
In what way are you working with Strong Towns? I’ve gotten involved with local government too, but haven’t really connected with Strong Towns beyond espousing their principles.
A guy running a local chapter reached out to me because of a comment I left on a YouTube video. We’re collaborating on how to organize more people and push the city council to take aggressive measures like zoning reform, repealing parking minimums, robust public transit, comfortable bike lanes, etc.
50% socially acceptable self destruction (eating too much of the wrong things) and 50% dissociating while exercising (in hopes the collapse happens soon enough to make my physical fitness relevant.)
