Covid, WFH, Musk, The fall of Twitter, Netflix plateau, Reddit Blackout, Crippling interest rates, Trump, Decentralisation, Tech Antitrust, Ukraine
Adding in Edit: AI, Climate Crisis, Nazis, Fascism, Democratic backsliding, automation, mass unemployment, rising homelessness, wild fires
How are you feeling these days?
We sure do live in interesting times
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I guess we’re transitioning from the fuck around to the find out stage
The annoying thing is that those who fucked around aren’t the ones suffering from finding out. They prospered while the rest of the world suffered from the consequences.
We gotta start paying more attention to the French way of doing things
I like the way they think
BURN THEIR HOUSE DOWN WITH THE
LEMONSFRENCH
I humbly protest as someone finding out for someone else’s fuck around.
i am tired
This, more than anything. But I do try to fight that because I know that’s apart of the strategy to keep people docile. (In a non conspiracy theory way?)
It’s not a conspiracy theory. This is exactly what’s happening.
To be perfectly fair, the world has always been screwed up in a hundred different ways at any given time. It’s just more immediately visible to every single person these days
True, at least now more people are taking notice. But those working against the populous are more brazen than ever too
I think the main difference is that now we have the technological power to fuck things up irreversibly (hope we still have chance against climate change, but im not sure a mass extinction could be prevented and not just moderated at this point)
(Verse 1)
Covid pandemic, life’s tragic,
Work From Home, no more traffic,
Elon Musk in the space race,
Twitter falling from its grace.Netflix plateau, lost its glow,
Reddit blackout, a serious blow,
Interest rates, an upward hike,
Donald Trump, another strike.(Chorus)
We didn’t start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world’s been turning,
We didn’t start the fire,
No, we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it.(Verse 2)
Decentralisation, global reformation,
Tech Antitrust, digital conflagration,
Ukraine crisis, world’s at bay,
In this whirlwind, we lose our way.Artificial Intelligence, the next experience,
Climate crisis, deadly seriousness,
Nazis, Fascism, old fears return,
Democratic backsliding, when will we learn?(Chorus)
We didn’t start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world’s been turning,
We didn’t start the fire,
No, we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it.(Verse 3)
Automation, job annihilation,
Mass unemployment, rising desperation,
Homelessness in the city streets,
Wildfires burning, the heat repeats.(Chorus)
We didn’t start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world’s been turning,
We didn’t start the fire,
No, we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it.(Bridge)
From the pandemic to the space frontier,
Through the crises that we all fear,
From the ashes, we’ll still rise,
In our hearts, the human spirit never dies.(Chorus)
We didn’t start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world’s been turning,
We didn’t start the fire,
But when we are gone, will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on…(Outro)
We didn’t start the fire,
But we hold the power, in this defining hour,
We can tame this fire,
Though we didn’t light it, we have the strength to fight it.It’s scary how greed has made the world so hostile. It’s hard to stay ignorant about these issues because it’s just one search away on a phone. Yet, people still choose ignorance. I feel a little lost and hopeless sometimes even though I try to do my part. Finding a safe space online seems crucial for my mental wellbeing. Glad I can be here
edit: grammar
Don’t blame people for choosing to be ignorat. Empathy fatigue does not make you a bad person. We didn’t envolve to process so much shit.
I try to focus on my local irl more. There I have some influence.Hello friend, I also struggle with feeling alone in a vastness of apathy and sometimes hostility. I’m glad we are here together to shine our candles in the dark - when everything else seems hopeless, one thing we always have within is our ability to choose our mindset and reactions. Sometimes it can help to focus on the things we can change in the here and now, rather than those we have no influence over. The difficulty lies in telling which is which. It is okay to be tired! But I hope you can find the strength to march on - together we can make the world a friendlier, kinder and better place :)
Notice how 90% of that are rich people causing or amplifying those situations to happen?
COVID - Trump sabotage any effort made to prevent the spread and we lost 1 million people due to that.
Climate Crisis - Oil Giants/Automobile industry sabotage the public transportation which would have a long term ramification to reduce oil consumption overall.
Nazis/Fascism - Rich People fund/outright purchase mass media to create chaos in public perspectives and polarize the political parties. Koch Brothers are funding far right politic and pushing hard for nazism. And of course, don’t forget about Sinclair broadcast.
Ukraine - Putin and the Oligarch
I could go on. Almost all of the problems begin and end with the rich people. #EatTheRich
I have been trying to mention this trend to people as much as possible when they bring up issue X. A divided populace is easier to control, and here we are with various “culture war” topics constantly on the news, more and more fear mongering etc etc. But for every divisive cultural issue, there’s a group of rich people who stand to gain, in one way or another, from the division itself and the fact that it keeps us (the poor-er majority) from solving real problems.
The fact is, if we fix the wealth inequality problem we fix a lot of others, and we would also be able to focus our collective energy appropriately at the others which may not naturally fall away.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t focus on everything – but our best bet for a livable future is to start eating the rich now.
Edit: a word
It really does sound like a new version of We Didn’t Start the Fire.
We didn’t start the fires, it was Shell and Exxon, BP and Mobil
History oft repeats itself. By reading a lot about the past, I feel more relaxed about the future.
A book I read recently was a history about a moral panic starting, how people became marginalized, how there were times of extreme terror, how a social movement started, and eventually entered the mainstream. Laws were reversed, the group of people became normal, and became part of greater society.
The goverment had gone from decade+ of progressivism with a opposition party in decline, to the accidental discovery of a powerful social tool to tap into the hate built into humans. They leveraged that tool to bring their party back to relevance in the face of declining power.
It’s victories were temporary though, and their very tapping into that hate was what undermined them. The boy that cried wolf couldn’t keep crying about it when people realized it was just a ruse.
Almost the exact same things are happening today. A similar moral panic kicked off. Someone is crying wolf and is trying to be the constant victim. Most people will be exposed to the alleged “wolf” (who turns out to be floofy and nice!) And America calms down again for another 20-40 years.
That sounds really hopeful. Where and when did the events covered in the book take place? Also, what was the name of the book?
It’s the Lavender Scare by David K. Johnson. See if your library has it! It’s kinda expensive on Amazon. It takes place in Washington DC, in 1940s-60s.
I read the hell out of that book and it’s one of the ones I continually have thought about since then. I had to keep checking the copyright page and years to make sure what was happening in 1954 and not a handful of decades later, lol.
https://www.amazon.com/Lavender-Scare-Persecution-Lesbians-Government/dp/0226401901
Thank you for this - these days it’s really hard for me not to be pessimistic about the future, and this reminder helps put me at ease. Nonetheless, things are absolutely scary right now - does that book go into detail about the damage done during said moral panic? Also, what book was it?
Yeah, it does go into the damage done. But it also sets up well for Stonewall and how everything was on the road to change. It’s the Lavender scare by David K Johnson! More about it in the comment above. :) https://www.amazon.com/Lavender-Scare-Persecution-Lesbians-Government/dp/0226401901
I believe trans rights are currently in 1954 ish. But unlike 1954, it’s much, mucher harder to fully slam the door on this one because being queer has been normal for so long, hateful people have a much more difficult time siloing people this go around. And this time, people aren’t ashamed, they’re fiercely protesting this, which is a healthy sign that we aren’t as authoritarian as places that have recently fallen, like Hong Kong.
The idea that it’s likely to repeat again even if it dies down is terrifying, I don’t get how people are finding that to be hopeful. Am I missing something here? ~Cherri
Sometimes I feel like things are just moments away from falling apart. I worry that the leaders are doing their best to cover it up, but one day it will fall apart and it will fall apart suddenly.
I often think about how, if there was a planet-killer asteroid on a collision course with Earth, it’s very likely it would be kept secret. At least if we had no way of stopping it.
I truly believe that if global warming is already past the point of no return, there would be a lot of powerful people out there with vested interests in keeping it under wraps. They’d definitely want to at the very least maintain their lifestyle while the boat sinks…
It would be so difficult to silence that news nowadays though, all it would take is 1 leak for scientists around the globe to start shouting about it, they couldn’t even stop snowden back in the 2000s from revealing the goverments attempt to spy on Americans and now we have youtube, the fediverse, more independent news sites then you could shake a stick at. Its crazy how fast info can travel now.
I’m sorry, I agree with you.
I didn’t need this in my head at 2 am. lol
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Not feeling optimistic, but trying to stay positive and do good in the world regardless.
Remember to use these hard times to focus on the things that really matter. Enjoy nature, have empathy for others, be kind and supportive, stand up for what’s right.
We’ll all endure, some how some way. Peace and love to y’all.
This! ❤️ Sending good vibes and love
This is true. If our days are really numbered, why spend them indoors doomscrolling and musing over what-could-be scenarios when we could just be living our lives the best we can while we have the chance?
To be honest, 2023 has feel relatively calmer than the past few, I guess covid being that all encompassing to life. Of the things on your list I do think AI is probably the first thing that comes to mind when I think of what we are “on the brink of”. This leap that happened the past couple years in LLM was shocking enough, wondering what the next couple are going to look like.
just try to keep my head down and focus on what I can realistically influence
It’s the only way to stay sane tbh.
I’ll often do a “digital detox” and remove myself from all events for a while. Unfortunately that’s not a privilege many are afforded
Best you can do to keep your sanity.
We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning since the worlds been turning
🎵Schools close, Tom Hanks, trouble in the big banks,
no vaccine, quarantine, no more toilet paper seen.
Travel ban, Weinstein, panic COVID-19,
NBA, gone away, what else do I have to sayyyyyy🎵
This was my reaction. There has always been a revolution brewing among the discontents. Everyone alive realizing they need to be part of it is late to the party, because the party started long before any of us were born.
Yup, but on the other hand as technology progresses the consequences for screwing everything up get more and more severe. If we don’t put out this fire soon, we’re gonna burn the whole house down.
Ah should have known someone would get there first!
It think we have cycles because people remember things that happen in their lifetime but fail to adequately instil that knowledge in the next and subsequent generations. The wealth inequality of the 1920s was the catylist for much of the economic turmoil of the great depression and laid some of the context for the New Deal era. The strong rules for antitrust and managing monopolies were put in place to prevent a repeat and while the generations who lived through the great depression were dominant they survived. As those older generations died out and as the following generations grew in influence those protections were weakened and eventually mostly dismantled, resulting in massive changes from the 70s onwards. Those protections were eroded and wealth and income inequality grew until we reached and surpassed the levels of the 1920s.
I think the same happens for other things like the idea that Nazis are bad or must be resisted, or that religious ideologies should ve kept seperate from the government, or healthcare is something we can help each other to gain, or that workers can have power by working together. What I find hopeful is hearing discussion of all of these ideas in fairly accessible places and people do seem to be studying history in order to avoid repeating it.
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Yeah, it seems likely to me that humans as a species will survive through the various climate crises, but I think the question is - at what cost? A lot of the scientific research and tech developments that might help us cope with or reduce the impact of climate change seem pretty reliant on our global system of trade / supply chain, and COVID showed how fragile that system is. I worry that by the time it gets bad enough that everyone is on board with doing what we can to reduce our impact, it’ll be too late because the systems that could create those new options will not be capable of operating at the level we assume is normal today.
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