There is no use in getting overwhelmed. I am merely getting more practiced in drinking larger and larger amounts of whiskey and smoking larger and larger amounts of cannabis to deal with it.
We all have a process
And hopefully, at least most of us will survive.
If not, for all of you fascists: I have a plan to destroy all of you that involves an enormous amount of pee. Like, so much, you can’t fucking imagine. An absolute cavalcade of pee.
Don’t try me
#PeeStrong
After the election, I gave myself permission to become an alcoholic if I wanted. I don’t see a great future ahead.
Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. It makes you bitter more often than numb. It’s better for your mental health to channel your frustrations into something useful. Get involved somehow, make yourself useful for others. Collaborate with some direct aid org. Start making content on the internet where you speak your mind and talk about how you see the world, you might end up turning a few people.
The thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of the alienation we feel is because most paid work doesn’t really touch people. It’s either too abstract (office work that only helps your company make money by servicing other companies so that they can make money) or direct servicing of disgruntled customers in a hurry (most customer facing work, like barista, cashier, call center, etc.). Really there’s few jobs where you feel like you do something worthwhile, so try to get involved in something for your soul, something that contributes to directly building the world you want to build.
I appreciate it. Even though my drinking has increased, I’ve actually become a community organizer in my city and it’s been therapeutic for me to hear people thanking us for organizing events where we build community and give people an outlet for their frustrations with the administration.
I’m also living my life at this point with as much substance as I can have. I have health issues and when they roll back ACA protections, I’m really screwed. So I figured if I don’t have the luxury to grow old, I will do what I can for my community for the greater good.
You seem like a really good person. Have a great day.
The future is still not written. There’s no reason to give up in advance as we really don’t know how things will shake out, there’s so much stuff happening. Make sure to make connections you can fall back on for rainy days. Hang in there, friend.
Appreciate the kind words, you seem like a good person too.
Alexei Yurchak who was a professor of anthropology coined a term for this: Hypernormalisation.
From Wikipedia: “He introduced the word in his book ‘Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation’, which describes paradoxes of Soviet life during the 1970s and 1980s. He says everyone in the Soviet Union knew the system was failing, but no one could imagine any alternative to the status quo, and politicians and citizens alike were resigned to maintaining the pretense of a functioning society. Over time, the mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with everyone accepting it as the new norm rather than pretend.”
This is where I feel democratic leadership is at right now. The fact no one is stepping up, rallying a cause, spearheading any sort of movement including “let’s protect what we’ve already got” just absolutely no leadership from the left seems like they just can’t fathom reality being anything other than what it is right now. I’ve been incredibly disappointed by the disappearing act both Harris and Walz have pulled and consider them failures due to this lack of leadership when we need it most, they ran for leadership of the opposition party but clearly have zero interest in actually leading in any form beyond titles/formally and this explains why, although does not excuse their behavior
We aren’t, we are simply adapting and continuing on with our human existence. It’s not normal but humans will always adapt. We invented air conditioners and populate a literal desert in opulence. We literally created flying machines to get from one side of the world to the other in 24 hours. None of that stuff was normal either. We are inventive and adaptive.
And pay the overwhelmed fee, no thanks.
Even when things aren’t all fascist, we’re still disposable wage slaves for the elite. And somehow that’s what we’re supposed to be working to maintain.
It’s that or go full on regular slave. Even if we maintain the old status quo, we’re still losing.
I think we have to start respecting ourselves, respecting others, and teaching those concepts to people who are receptive. To me, it seems like the only way to break the cycle called slavery.
They can dress slavery up with benefits all they want, but they don’t even care to anymore. Everybody knows it’s a raw deal and they are trying to scare us into thinking we have no power.
Let’s not be stuck in fear and hate, in subservience and denigration, and be sovereign and resolute in the change we want to see in the world.
I don’t need an external authority to tell me what I should believe and hope for. I don’t need somebody to curb my expectations and tell me change is impossible, that we actually need to compromise for no real reason, that it is too “costly”, or that it will take an extremely long time. I don’t want to be told ANY of that when change is possible — these people simply gave up before they even started. No more am I going to be gaslit, and I hope others feel similarly.
If you can’t imagine a world where comprehensive solutions manifest imminently to ease suffering, you probably aren’t fit for leadership. We need change now, this is absolute insanity. FUCK the perceived costs — it’s infinitely more costly to continue the current state of affairs while many, many countless individuals suffer and our precious and irreplaceable planet goes up in flames.
It’s nearly dissociative. It’s utterly unreal.
It requires a strong will, lots of courage, and a strong stomach to face and accept the state of the world. I’m still working on all that, but I feel like I’m getting closer and closer by the day.
I can face it. I will not accept it.
I didn’t mean provide consent or bow down — most certainly not. I just meant mentally coming to terms with reality and accepting what needs to be changed.
Aah, ok. We’re on the same page.
Bro, I have just seen so much bad shit happen for months and all my girlfriend will say is, “Something’s gonna happen, something is coming, I’m believing and praying and everything is gonna work out and be okay” and inside, I’m screaming like Atreus from God of War (2016), “HOW DO YOU KNOW?!”
Watch she doesn’t fall victim to a cult or something with that mindset.
When the weight of the world feels overwhelming, remember this: Everything humans have ever done, every building, road, machine, and moment, makes up only a tiny fraction of this planet’s mass. We are small creatures, clinging to the surface of a vast, ancient, quietly turning sphere. The Earth itself is not in crisis. It simply is. Steady, silent, and endlessly patient. If human noise becomes too much, just place your hand on the ground. Feel the stillness. Let it remind you that you are connected to something far older, far larger, and far more enduring than any headline or heartbreak. The Earth will hold you.
Everything humans have ever done, every building, road, machine, and moment, makes up only a tiny fraction of this planet’s mass.
Oh boy do i have news for you
… but i agree with you. Even if humanity ceases to exist for whatever reason, both the planet Earth and life/evolution will go on just fine. We’re a merely given a chance, but if we can make it, depends on us.
But what about the animals that are going to die?
Or any number of innocent beings caught up in the worlds problems. I get you, but this is purely an immediate way to ground yourself when you’re feeling overwhelmed. It’s like the quiet giant under your feet all the time that you can connect with whenever you need to :)
I don’t care about a rock, that’s meaningless. I care about the animals.
I mean, let’s be real.
It’s gonna get a whole lot worse.
I hope you’re wrong. I really, really hope.
Hey, at least you (still) have hope!
Hope is something that we all can have, we just have to nurture it and ground it into reality. If you can’t nurture it, you’re not broken or lesser.
Personally, the fediverse has given me a lot of hope.
This. I am prepping for such a worse outcome than where we are at right now.
This weekend I built a shed in my back yard, which was a nice bit of father-son bonding, and stockpiled ammo in case civil unrest causes widespread violence to break out in our neighborhood.
Definitely a strange vibe.
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The real question is what can we do about it
Society has a lot of inertia.
“We live in a dystopia”
Said the dude
With access to running water
Food
Medicines
Rights
Technology
Opportunities
Privileges
That 99% of the whole world population doesn’t have and won’t ever have access to, even in their wildest dream
This dude doesn’t need to worry about being sold into slavery
Or leaving his country just to avoid persecution be it political or otherwise
Or working 24/7 non stop
Or being caged just to be a source of entertainment for others
Having his limbs chopped for food.
Being used as a tool to relieve sexual stress
Being extorted into war and crime just to save his family lives
Being forced to murder and rape perks just to not be murdered himself
Or being used as a human shield against his will or else
Having his organs harvested to pay debts
Murder his own family and children to avoid them the pain of being abused and tortured to death
All things that happens daily in our current world
And yet he says he lives in a dystopia nightmare
while sitting on his couch
At his parents or his own house, owning property
Stoned out of his mind
On his latest generation phone that he probably got to pay for on easy installments or was gifted to him
Having had breakfast and a good night sleep
While having access to the sum of the whole world knowledge at his fingertips
And working a couchy desk/customer service job which requires zero skill whatsoever
Yes we hear you and feel so sorry about your pain. Let us commiserate together about how bad YOU have it.
I’d like to think people like this are not real, but in case they are, I just wish them to experience the most slowest and agonizing of lives
You do realize that most people don’t know the truth, right? That the world doesn’t need to be the way it currently is? That we have the empathy, technology, and ingenuity to solve these issues with awareness and action?
Lists all the terrible awful things going on in the world.
How dare you complain about the suffering of others, shut up and be happy you get to have the privilege which is built on said suffering.
What a fucking take.
Yes we all are sure now that you don’t understand that is not the standard of living for everyone in the planet, hence hardly qualifying for a dystopia kennel
The fact that those things happen at all makes this a dystopia. No matter if you’re the person they happen to or not.
The fact you don’t understand that those who don’t have to deal with the horrors of the world are still angered, hurt, and tired of them, even if they don’t deal with them directly, is very telling.
The people you’re describing are bitching because their internet is slow, they’re observing the collapse of the American Empire as innocent people get whisked away to fucking death camps.
They’re tired of the evils of the world, and they’re even more tired of said evils encroach on even more peoples daily lives.
This shit isn’t rocket science.
That’s a “yet you live in a society” level meme right.
When has it ever been any better? There’s plenty we can say about class exploitation, racism, lack of healthcare for the poor, low wages, war… but was any part of that better in any other era of history? You could make a tenuous argument that some of these were marginally better a decade or three ago, but in the grand schemes of things, the only thing that’s gotten worse during our history is environmental devastation. And even on that score, we are rookies. The cyanobacteria fucked this ball of slime UP long before it was cool.
I’m not saying everything’s great. I’m saying it’s only been worse as you look back.
The nineties were good. Less racism, less pandemics, no social media to make the world collectively dumber. Just silly clothes and hair we had to deal with.
Way worse homophobia, though.
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Yeah I’ve been feeling bizarre as the US falls into fascism and ill just be at work like any other day
