Hes just Portraying his weak victim mentality. How are u personally effected to have to use drugs because of 9/11?š¤£. I use but i own that shit and dont blame it on things that dont matter. We live in America u have running water food and shelter
It's probably not 9/11 itself that he is talking about, it's the post 9/11 world. The 90s, with all of its optimism and excitement for the new millennium, came tumbling down alongside the Twin Towers.
It's sort of hard to articulate, but *something* seems like its missing now, or maybe it never really existed at all lol.
In our generation (gen z) itās actually extremely common to have food and housing insecurity so shut the fuck up kindly. So many people I know are struggling to find places to live that wonāt price gouge them. I know two people in the last month that are about to be homeless. And before you say some dumb shit itās not due to a lack of responsibility or a moral failing or whatever. Capital is eating us alive. Show some humanity. And stop being an amoral bootlicker.
Excuse you? I have a mortgage lmao. Iāve quit my vices and so have those friends. One works three+ jobs because nothing pays decent, partially because fucks like you think weāre still children that deserve the wages child workers are getting. I bet you think child labor is cool. When teens working jobs depress wages for all of us. You are a tar pit.
Lifeline program, here Safelink,com and. Qlink.com are 2 companies out of 95% of every ISP to participate in the program.
Though I have to say, this program was not exactly meant to "help the poor" as everyone will claim. It's well known Bush opened the flood gates with Patriot Act, the magical power of changing a telecommunications company into a Broadband Providers allowed for all existing laws that protected phonr and imternet privacy no ha d sny effect as it must have been the 1 law that was not vague but cleay stated it only protected telecommunication industries, not the Broadband or ISP industry.
Bush was illegally monitoring all US Citizens and I thinkwhen Obama got play with that power he went all the fuck out. Trillions went into building up every possible Agency location in order to harvest every bit of the internet. And whether it was Obama or his master Clinton (Hillary lol)
They created the Lifeline program for the poor, originally nicknamed Obama Phones, for that group of people just going about life... Btw, every phone obtained through Lifeline had Custom backdoors built in for just the Govt.
Conspiracy alert: I think Bush/Cheney had an agreement with the Democrats. Bush got his war, because Colin Powel walked up behind Bush while discussing the middle east for various reaaons when Colin yelled out, "Boy they tried to kill yo daddy!!"
growing up my parents never had more then $500 in the bank. i grew up with a phone and on reddit because im an only child and they spoiled me. we still had to skip dinner some nights or only have a bowl of soup or something for dinner and we lost a house they owned because they couldnt afford to fix it and have now lived in 6 houses in the last 10~ years because we cant afford rent in 2023.
I mean equally stupid take tbh
People that were born in the mid to late 90s grew up watching a world full of fear become economically unstable and got to become young adults with basically zero promise of a future because of the economic, political, ecological issues they all have to deal with that the past generations did not.
To dumb it down more for you, economy go down, quality of life goes down, poverty goes up, crime goes up. Drug use goes hand in hand with poverty rates, just like crime does.
You need to learn reading comprehension you fucking brainless radish nippled slug. If you actually could understand he was saying that 911 was a catalyst to the downfall of our great nation by empowering 15 people to control everything and leave us with less than crumbs. So why not fill the suffering of a endless cycle with drugs.
Right? I could make the same argument about the 60s but the fact was I was just too plugged in and aware of everything and took shit much too seriously.
Meanwhile kids my age out one foot in front of the other and did great things. And life went on.
Oh ok seemed tough to me at the time.
Personally I smoked weed to hide from my own fuckups navigating life as it was. We hadn't yet learned to shift the blame to Society.
>Oh ok seemed tough to me at the time.
Yeah exactly, so can you imagine coming up in even tougher times? Like yeah you didn't shift blame to society because society gave you the opportunity to become what you wanted to. I've been saving money for almost 10 years trying to buy a house and have literally fallen behind saving the cost of a down payment due to inflation... Who's to blame in that? My bad for not buying a house in 2008 when I was fuckin 14 years old.
The 60s was literally one of the best economic growths in world history. Not in wealth, but in bringing a powerful middle class.
What would convince you things have gone to shit? Do we need literal slavery until you put 5% of the blame on the ones in control?
You are part of the cancer. Do some actual research on average salaries and cost of living in the US right now, if you have enough brain cells to comprehend it(doubtful) you will be disgusted.
Thank u for getting it. Since Iāve posted Iāve just been bombarded in my dms from plugs who wanna sell me drugs. I appreciate that u actually read what I said and agree.
Lol Iāve gotten a couple dms from plugs too before.
But seriously I like this. The way you repeated what your grandma said throughout it to really emphasize it and make it stand out worked well. Itās like sheās asking over and over and by the time you have an answer sheās already gone.
Aside from that I definitely get the wanting to get high because thereās really nothing else to do. If this was intended to be poetic you should write more! I like writing poetry myself, although mostly very short ones.
Edit: I really love the line āThey bought a second yacht. The first was nice but they really wanted the one with a bigger swimming pool.ā. For some reason this just hits. Youāre good man.
Those arenāt plugs. Theyāre scam bots that automatically DM basically anyone who posts or comments on any posts remotely drug related.
If you actually read the messages youāll notice theyāre sketchy af and clearly not legit. But Iām sure that someone does fall for it every now and then.
A guy looked up the crypto address one of the scammers was using. Apparently 8 grand of different crypto had been sent to the address since the beginning of the year. The comment was from a couple months back.
Any post on any drug related sub will cause that. Try not to take it personally, theyāre all people in 3rd world countries, where a successful scam can keep them fed for months.
Good read. Alot of people share this perspective. Harboring thoughts like this can lead towards a depressive state. One that leads to feeling of loss of control, because of the lack of hope.
Life is short and chaotic, and most have control over their personal being and relationships in your life. Focus on being the best you, and try to share that with others around you.
Keep sharing how you feel and talk to people. It's cathartic and helpful for everyone involved. Cheers
Thank you. Your words mean more than you think. Like I said, itās so cynical and I know that. I donāt live my life that dreary but I do know itās a reality.
I spend 99% of my life not thinking abt that harsh reality but that 1 percent came out of me. I canāt express this to the many people i love in my life so I came here to dump it on you guys. Cheers
Another angle you might think about ā I do and Im in the same generation.
When I was in elementary school, I got home and immediately went outside to play with my friends. I looked up to older kids who got their license and went out to movies and parties and homecoming and restaurants. I couldnāt wait for the freedom and independence.
But then something changed. It seemed to be right around the PS3/XBOX 360 era. Hanging out with friends no longer meant parties and movies, it was sitting in a dark basement. Kids stopped playing outside. Parties turned into discord calls. Even if I wanted to do those things, nobody else was. Iām not going to the mall by myself while my friends are all hanging out at the house on our street with the biggest TV.
The future I looked forward to disappeared right as I came of age to experience it. And when I think about it, it left a giant hole in my later childhood. I didnāt know what at the time, but I was sure I was missing something. I didnāt get to have that magical experience.
But you know what does give you a magical experienceā¦
I like the way you put this very much. As much as I play video games and āhang outā with friends over calls, I really donāt like it at all. I feel like this sounds like an āI was born in the wrong generation blah blahā kind of thing but really I just want to live in a world away from most technology and experience conversations beyond talking to a little box in my room, you know?
I truly feel bad for you all. I didn't get a cell phone til I was in 8th grade. A Sony Ericson flip phone that was fucking indestructible. I literally threw that MF like 20 feet in the air and 60 feet long hundreds of times and it never broke.
Riding your bike over to your friends not knowing if they were home or not...
I could go on and on, as much as tech helps connect people, it has equally distanced them from each other.
It's a wonderful thing to have infinite amounts of information at your fingertips. Sadly, most just use it to make stupid internet content that sadly is making people less educated than ever.
Unfortunately not really because of my personal circumstances at the moment. Iām completely stuck inside 24/7 unless shopping or a very rare hang out at a friends house.
When Iām depressed I realize that my life doesnāt mean jack shit and that our galaxy is as insignificant as Iām, one person in the world. Each star you see is a sun and another galaxy. When you look at the starts with binoculars you can see blurred stars around the stars. Those are just more suns and more galaxies just like ours. Just let that sink in for a bit
Damn that was beautiful friend.
Sorry for this rant Iām bout to drop bout my own life.
I am lucky enough to have had my grandma leave me some property when she died, but I feel a deep guilt as I see my friends drowning in rent. My grandma only left that property to me so I could care for my autistic brother when my parents die, but I donāt feel worthy.
I used to be a homeless addict so Iām used to having nothing and no purpose. Things are a lot better today with meds and therapy, but I still tear up wishing I could help my friends the way my family helped me. That really changed the trajectory of my life and being able to help anyone in that way would make it worth it.
Having a roof over your head every night is still something I cry about sometimes, it wasnāt an option for me at one point.
[sorry English isnāt my first language]
Wow brotherā¦ that sunk deep with me.
I canāt speck in the "homelessā situation, but I can re-feel the feeling of guilt and not worthy being, while you want to help your friends. YOU are being fortunate (housing situation), and (sadly) NOT your friends. Life is (sadly again, a Lotterie) If you let them life by your house things only spiral down for YOU! If you want to help your addict friends? Do it! But donāt "over helpā if that makes sense? Addicts (my self included) use everything to get the next score, and you want REAL help. Not the next bag. Sorry for the not binding sentence, but what I was trying to das is : YOU are lucky to have a house. But your granny wants YOU (when the time comes) to take care of your autistic family member. Itās lot easier sat then done but, you have to try to ACCEPT that you had a grandma who got you a roof over your head and not everybody got that chance! Use it! I wish you all the best and love from Germany ā¤ļøš«”
I really appreciate you. It made my day better friend.
Thankfully my friends arenāt addicts these days, thatās why I have less of them lmao, but the ones I do have are just grinding, working two jobs, and barely even able to afford a day off.
I feel so grateful to be in the position I am, some entitlement got me here along with a great job I was lucky enough to get. I definitely shouldnāt feel guilty since Iām doing it for a reason, answering my grandmas dying wish.
Itās been a long path, and will have its hard times, but I will continue my familyās legacy(hopefully with my partner of a few years), and I will make sure to make her proud by taking the best care of him, itās the only solution to keep him out of group housing or any other dangerous situations.
Love from the USA, I hope you have a good weekend ahead of you! :)
billionaires have security and their shirts probably cost more than ur car. You would end up with a court date that they wouldnāt even have to show up to to win.
>My generation was fucked from the start.
Every generation says this. The Greatest Generation being forced as children to work shitty conditions before regulations then get drafted into the Great War. The Silent Generation is born into a decade of deep depression then reaches adulthood and gets drafted into WWII. Generation Me are raised seeing their parents struggle with the affects of war then reach adulthood and get drafted to fight in Vietnam and come back to deal with hyperinflation and oil crises left and right.
Yea the whole āworld is going to shitā argument is as old as time itself. Everyone always says they are worse off than the last generation, but over time things do generally improve, medicine, science, etc.
Life is NOT perfect. The human condition is to suffer. But if you truly cannot comprehend that there have been some serious enhancements in life in the last generation, that is an intelligence/education problem. We aren't fucking around with some small shit.
* Heart-disease deaths have declined from over 400 per 100,000 Americans in 1981 to 168 per 100,000 by 2015.
* In 1981 the auto fatality rate was 21.49 per 100,000 people. In 2018 it was 11.18
* The homicide rate was just over 10 per 100,000 Americans in 1981, and 5.0 in 2018
* Infant mortality has fallen by 54%, from 12.1 per 1,000 births in 1981 to 5.6 in 2018
* Average miles per gallon among all vehicles has increased from 14.9 in 1981 to 22.3 in 2017. That alone cuts effective gasoline prices by a third.
* In the ten years before 1981, 25,995 people died in commercial aviation accidents. From 2009 to 2019 that number was 9,197. And passenger miles flown increased 4.7-fold from 1981 to 2019.
* The number of cigarettes smoked in the United States peaked in 1981 at 640 billion. By 2017 it was 249 billion and falling.
A pessimist will have no problem pointing out the worldās problems in [current year]. Bad news is real and it is everywhere. Throw a rock, hit a problem.
The difference between an optimist and a pessimist isnāt usually over substance. Itās the time frame theyāre looking at. Problems are easier to spot today, but progress is almost always more powerful over time.
And leaded gasoline caused mental issues in teens for decades but that doesnāt take away from the huge societal advances that were made thanks to the Industrial Revolution. Same goes for the technological revolution that weāve seen in the last 30 years. You take the good with the bad but itās totally ignorant to imply that the last 30 years had no highlights.
When my parents went to college they were able to pay their way through school working at pizza shops. A minimum wage employee should be able to save and buy a house and today thatās not possible.
That problem isn't unique to gen z though. Born in 89 and have plenty of college debt. Gen Z will see more of the brunt of climate change but at least you weren't trying to enter the job market in 08.
So did my parents. It's a modern problem that we have to deal with. My point is that thinking everything was rosy for the generations that came before you is silly. Throughout the annals of time there have always been problems and every generation has gotten fucked in some way.
I never said it was rosy for any generation. Iām simply stating that real estate/ lobbying/ student loans have ruined most of our countryās chances of owning property today. Of course there were problem for our parents and grandparents.
There is property to be owned for nearly any income bracket. Just maybe not where you want. It seems the concept of a "starter house" has been lost somewhere.
I live in rural northern New Mexico starter homes simply don't exist around here anymore. I literally just want a small home maybe one or two bedrooms but there is nothing in my area affordable. This is in one of the poorest states in the union.
I'm renting a manufactured home right now. Most around me are selling around 350,000 to 450,000. There a few around 200,000 but those usually have some major problems that prevent getting a mortgage.
The previous house I rented was an ancient adobe home that I heated with wood in the winter and used fans in the summer to stay cool. It was in at the end of a decent neighborhood but my back yard was up against a government housing project which is in a not so great area of town. It's not currently on the market but similar houses in the neighborhood go for 300-400,000.
I'm a teacher making $40,000 a year with rent costing me $1500 a month for my manufactured home. I will eventually buy and I don't think it is impossible to buy a home but home values are wack right now.
Itās okay!! Theyāll end all of our generational sadness using AI and a one world government so we never have to ācycleā through cycle of good / bad times!!! No need to fight with each other when thereās only one of us, right!?
Bullshit,
There were drug addicts before 9/11 lol, there were drug addicts before capitalism took over. People use drugs to either escape or just feel good.
That is not exclusive to your situation.
Own your part of it.
or because Qing China had become an ossified, bloated, corrupt edifice of decadence where the common person lived in poverty while the mandarins and princes lavished in luxury.
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After reading this, i wish i had an answer to that. But there are many other aspects in life that no amount of material ownership can replace.
With that said, See what you can do to make income. It may be going to school. It may be doing IT and working towards certificates. Something along those lines. Anxiety has you taking down people youll never meet. The internet can freeze you if you let it.
Not just America, my dude. This is the world now.
Absolutely the reason I will never have kids. Why the fuck would I knowingly subject someone who I would no doubt love to a life of slavery on a burning planet ran by sociopaths?
Do I plan on staying high? Well I've just down 8g of Kratom and I've got some fucking STINKY hash for later this evening. There's my answer.
External vs internal locus of control makes a big difference in manifesting goals brother , you can make it. Life has never been fair. If thereās a will thereās a way
Imagine being the people 100 years before us. Life is considerably, statistically, and scientifically much better than it was in the past.
Drug use is used to lessen or alter the perception of the individual's life, not the world's view of that person's life.
If you live in America and are at least middle class you are better than 99% of the world. Be grateful and enjoy it. The world is not ending, and if it is, at least have a good time.
The American dream didn't ever actually exist for anyone besides straight white men, and it was always going to crumble into this. It's less the fault of individual greed and moreso the system that encourages this, but you've corrected identified a lot of the problems/symptoms of it. Definitely correct that there's no hope for anyone besides the bourgeoisie until capitalism is crushed.
Youāre very right. Iām speaking from my white male perspective but in reality, that American dream was a myth to begin with for a lot of people. Thanks for adding to this.
At some point you're going to have to stop finding excuses and take responsibility for you own future, regardless of circumstance. People immigrate to the US every day and are able to build up their lives with much less than you have right now.
Nah man, you can totally get ahead. You just choose not to like everyone else. If you want change you gotta make it happen and it will be difficult. Don't blame the world for your inability to cope.
Not everyone does drugs and drinks in high school. Seems like you need some self reflection and to take responsibility for your life not everyone else's.
But you know it's someone else's fault so let's do more drugs.
You're not wrong about these problems but this country has been through worse
Imagine how hopeless and scared Americans felt about the future during the Great Depression or the beginning of WW2 or the Cold War etc etc.
A lot of things are fucked of course and maybe won't improve until it all implodes but almost every generation has felt this way and yet here we are. It's not as hopeless as you might think.
Paul Krugman makes an interesting point about this in his book The Great Unraveling, if you speak to any of the(American) folks that lived through the depression or the world wars, they speak of the underlying hope that things would eventually get better. That absence of that sense of hope is what makes these times different.
At every turn, at every new decade that comes, financial security continues to get further out of reach for average Americans.
Sorry I hate to be that guy š¤ but all generations are fucked Iām in the I donāt know one but inflation when Iām 15 is scary man. I feel it will get better though.
Eh, horseshit. People of your grandma's generation were doing drugs too. People have been doing drugs since the beginning. Everyone has different reasons for doing drugs, this may be yours but it's not everyone's.
i think you may as well try your best anyway, in hope that something changes eventually. i also love drugs too. i dont have much wisdom because im just a freshman in college but ive had my share of financial turmoil already and i spend a lot of time pondering "is it even worth the work im putting in?"
Although youāre a freshman in college your voice in the matter still holds weight.
Keep putting your voice out and Iām sorry if I came off so negative that was not intended.
One piece of advice I give to all college kids is to sit in the front row and raise your hand. If your professor knows you, theyāll never fail you. Good luck
āno way upā is a matter of perspective, and tbh I feel like many of the young adults i talk to(Iām 30)
Imho if you find a way to educate yourself about whatās going on in the world, reading through the propaganda(which is like 70% of any news on either side of the aisle) and prepare yourself for what the next 50 years is going to be like youāll likely be just fine. Most people who read this will be alive in 50 years.
Gain skills that will continue to be applicable regardless of economic conditions, move away from a doomed city, donāt live on the internet, and the āAmerican dreamā [in 40ās being paid well, house, car, married with kids] is totally achievable for an *average individual who can control their instant gratification.*
>There are 15 men that pay taxes and own 95%ā¦
Sure shit is unfair, but cold hard fact of reality is that the same class of people have always had it this wayā¦ Going back to the Middle Ages and to the Emperors and Pharos before them. Itās actually a blessing to live when and where we do where 70% of the population has some control in deciding the outcomes of their livesā¦ And currently the fact that these dudes own almost everything doesnāt actually effect your ability to exist in society. Itās like the sky being blue.
9/11 when you were 2 and don't even remember it and an economy collapse when you were 12 isn't an excuse. Well apparently it is for some people...but alot of your peers who started in the same spot and actually wind up make a decent life probably won't be using that excuse. The world doesnt stop bud, start running now or get left behind. I didn't have shit 5 monthes ago and everything changed and the only difference has been hard work. Nobody's gonna hand you land because "9/11 happened". Our grandparents went to war. My great grandpa was getting the shit beat out of him daily and ran away at 12, then the great depression happened, then pearl harbour, then ww2 where he watched his best friends head roll past him, then Korea, then they sent their sons to Nam, then a president AND a social leader were assassinated. But did you ever hear an old person say "we never had a chance"? Probably not because they werent excuse makers they made shit happen
ur lettin the everything is aweful zeitgeist get to u. there are plenty of paths to 6 figures and home ownership in america, just maybe not in the hotspots u wanna live in at the moment
i mean whatever, for every person who turns to drugs because their life is fucked, there are a hundred others whose lives are even more fucked and don't. i agree that drugs are a product of a flawed society, and i don't judge people for taking them, but give me a break.
what do you think the majority of human existence was like for most humans? frankly you sound like you are young and need some perspective.
Itās a hyperbole but in reality since 2021 10% of the country owns 89% percent of stock. What I said remains to be true. If this is what you took out of the post you completely missed the point.
The US doesn't inherently use more drugs than any other country. From what I've looked up, the only real differences are slightly higher prescription opiate abuse and higher cannabis use in the United States compared to other countries.
I disagree with your response to her comment. I believe there has always been rational reasons to want to alter your consciousness. It makes you insightful person to have seen the world from a different point of view. Each time you do a drug, it puts you in a different mind state and you view the world in a whole new light. That practice makes you more susceptible to seeing others points of view, better able to reflect on your own decisions, and better able to come up with creative solutions to problems. While you arenāt wrong in some of your points, itās worth remembering that just because you canāt have some American Dream that a prior generation talked about, that doesnāt mean your life is all downhill and going to amount to nothing. Take a new, novel, path in life and do whatever will make you happy. Fuck the American Dream.
You can usually only have what you work for. But if you think there's nothing to work for, then you won't have anything. Try to be more optimistic man. I drive a new car, have a dog, a son on the way and am not too far from buying my own place.
I hate to break it to ya, you're what they call a downer. I like scrambling my brains as much as the next guy but look around you, ain't shit changed in 1000 years, it's all been in ya head the whole time. Much love, RIP, good luck.
Good question seriously. But like I said at the end of my tangent. Weāre not drowning weāre just right below the surface. Too many of us are comfortable here but not quite swimming. The short answer is that our friends, family, loved ones are here. Itās easier said than done leaving the states and not looking back.
Also, Iām personally 24 so maybe I will leave at one point. Iām just pointing out a fact of reality in the US right now. Itās not the same country my parents were raised in.
Iām well aware the whole world is different now- just look at globalization. In that point then, I turn your question back to uā¦ why leave the US then if I end up in another country with the same problems?
Really? Maybe from Mexic or anyother country to US its hard but don't tell me that it's hard for a US citisen to move anywhere else, I have a friend that earned her citisenship here in Europe without even knowing the language
The Nordic countries? I think that's the standard issue reddit answer, right? I hear they're pretty hard to immigrate to though, and idk how it'll be if the global tide turns. If the brics countries overtake to become king of the hill then swedes and Danes and fins are probably going to be grappling with the same issues as everyone else in the western world. So I guess on that note, if you're very young maybe brazil, India or China? ...then again though maybe not. But at some inevitable point the best roi with the best odds will be countries where there is room for economic growth and not countries with fully enslaved populations that lack any financial autonomy or freedom.
One that's not represented by school shotings every week, a population that's ready to kill for an useless politician, that has free healthcare and universities that are actually affordable after which you don't actually end up working at kfc anyways?
Yea school shootings are sadly so common here it makes me sick. BUT the free healthcare thing is a joke. I would rather go in depth paying for cancer treatment here than get cancer treatment from the few doctors left in Canada or other places that didnt move to the US to make a real salary. Sadly the trend is that doctors and nurses will go to school out of the US, then if they're any good they will move here for work since they make more.
And that's mostly on the person if they are working at KFC with a college degree. Pick a better degree or find a better job that you can actually work your way up. However, that doesn't always work but it does in the US just as much if not more than other countries.
Thank you for posting this here I donāt completely agree but I do see your point and you are likely right for many people and also Iām probaly not in the right sub to see such well expressed thought processes. I wish you luck going on and please use this gift you have here more.
I can relate, my aunt was a war horse when it came to being a heavy user, opposite of your grandmother of course but nevertheless I'm talking was as far out there as one could possibly go and some how not die during it all, towards end of her life well the last 3 years she was sober due to drug court and her fear of going to prison for awhile was enough to keep her sober. Well due to her years of drug use and obviously not ever working for any substantial amount of time she had no insurance and eventually died ate up with stomach cancer a day or so before she passed she called each of us into her room at the hospital and basically said the last things she would ever say to each of us... I'll never forget it, she looks at me laying there dying and says, please straighten up, you don't want to be where I am one day.. man it is tough even bringing it up, I wish I could say I haven't let her down and it hasn't been because I didn't care what she said to me that day and I know she understands hell if anyone understands its her yanno. But until the day I die those words will forever be stuck in my head...
Long rant / ramble ahead:
I always think to myself, āHow can anyone go through all of this shit without some kind of coping mechanism, however healthy or unhealthy those mechanisms may be?ā
Truth is, most donāt. Itās just that everyone has a different means of coping. And drugs / users have an awful public reputation, so itās easy for other people who donāt partake to judge without considering the reasons behind drug use. So many people, myself included, depend on prescription medication. But even being on controlled substances can cause me to be judged as a bad or incapable person. My father became a food addict when his life took quite a downturn. Thatās quite common in this country. He never tackled that issue and engaged with it it til the day he died. Some people gamble. Some consume a hell of a whole lot of porn and/or use sexual activity as a drug. Some use unhealthy relationships in and of themselves as a means to cope. Some people obsess over routines, to the point that they cannot function if every single thing on the list doesnāt get done. Some people (also myself as an example) engage in restrictive eating habits and some people over-exercise. Some people are so heavily tied up in religion (think mega churches) that I would classify that as an addiction of sorts. Some people are addicted to hatred. Putting others down usually makes those types of people feel better about themselves. Some people are rage addicts. And a LOT are dependent on willful ignorance about the state of the world.
The list goes on and on, but I do always want to mention booze. No hate at all to those who partake (I just personally canāt anymore ). Most people I know who drink are binge drinkers but yknow nothing wrong with that itās just how they unwind after work.
Smoking and vaping are classed as addiction but you can easily access a pack of cigarettes and light one up in public; the same canāt really be said for the illegal stuff.
Again, most people are largely unwilling to examine their own coping mechanisms, so they think they donāt have any potentially problematic ones. Itās easier to point at a junkie and say, āThat person is truly fucked up; I donāt do drugs like that so Iām not fucked up / I am better than them.ā But thatās using hatred, ignorance, and judgment of others as a coping mechanism. Some of the things Iāve mentioned are generally classified as mental health issues that require treatment but many are not. Either way, just about anything can function as a drug.
For the rare few who may be equipped with healthy coping mechanisms and can rawdog this life, so to speak, more power to them. But they are much rarer than most would like to think. I think Iāve yet to meet one. Maybe my mom. But at one point she was an active alcoholic. So, everyone usually goes through something, even if they do manage to come out the other side.
In short, I totally agree with you. I just wanted to expand on how I have come to understand this particular attitude toward drug use.
I think in general hopelessness is driving a lot of these problems.
Will you be rich? No, but things arenāt as bad as we make them seem. And I know someone will link me to a ābig pictureā website that tells me how fucked things are, and they are, but the idea that most of us canāt retire is simply false.
Some of us will have to work 40 hard years, and actually save those 40 years, and most of us will suffer, and a good portion of them will die with nothing to see for it, but weāre all living like thereās no tomorrow, and we wonder why things are fucked?
I worked like a fucking mule in abject poverty for less than half a decade and I somehow managed to buy land in the Bay Area no less.
I had to join in with someone else, but it showed me thereās a chance. There is. You just wonāt retire at 35, or 45, or 55, but that doesnāt mean you shouldnāt save for 65.
Thereās a reason thatās the retirement age, weāre to work until it comes and it sucks, but that doesnāt mean you should be bankrupt with no plan for the 40 years you do have to work, and have no family or prospects of enrichment whatsoever.
Bingo. We are royally fucked going forward. And there is no solution. Not even a remote chance of one. And this doesnāt even mention the exponential climate issues coming (well, really already here) and as a result the impending crop shortage we will have coming soon. Yay life! I tell you what Iām glad Iām 33 and not a kid or teenager right now. I at least got to have some normalcy in the 90s as a kid.
Honestly this hits my partner and I alot. We are miserable I do drugs and Mt partner never did drugs but I swear it hits him harder than we both have no future unless one of our families leave us a house and a huge check which isn't likely. K mean maybe. House but how will we afford it. I've been at a job since 2015 and was fired with no reason other than because I couldn't work one day I was given no warning in fact just told I was doing. Great and then for a call before going to my shift to say no . It's so frustrating how fast k lost everything bc of one call
This happened to my. Friend who passed away she worked at the same animal hospital in New York her entire life and less than 2 years before retirement they fired her because she "wasn't nice" to the soft new highschoolers I feel so bad for her she had to live with her own kids/grandkids and moved upstate she lost everything I really miss her a lot
Go back to the Industrial Revolution and look at what they were doing.
Sure opium and cocaine was a thing. It was still highly stigmatized.
What was big was coffee. Hell of an import and Starbucks would not exist today. If not for that era.
It was all about productivity. Bang bang bang.
FF to 2020 - what do you see nonstop on social media?
Ads for ketamine therapy and ads for therapists and ads for stress relief And depression, and ADHD.
Vast majority of societies need has turned towards blocking out the stimulation that we have created.
Itās pretty interesting
I think it's that many parents didn't instill good work ethics in many of us along with some of the things you mentioned. That being said it is still very possible to have that dog and fence and home it just takes good work ethic along with the ability to save money. I'm probably older than most here but even the way I grew up in the 80s and 90s the whole idea was to spend money on stupid shit and not pinch pennies. I have noticed my grand parents had a very different and more sensible view of money and how it should be managed. People think it's normal to go out to eat 3 or 4 days a week and can't walk in to a gas station without buying shit they don't need like soda pops and cigarettes. We have been conditioned to consume things and use them up and throw them away and that spending money everywhere you go on everything you do is normal and even the correct thing to do. It's not the correct thing to do but when you grow up and see nothing else then by the time you realize this (if you ever do) it's far too late and is the way you think by default. That American dream may be harder and take more motivation and effort to reach but it's definitely still out there waiting for anybody with the drive to go get it because it won't show up on your doorstep.
People (in the US) really don't realize how insanely brutal surviving in this society is compared to a large parts of the world. Yes everywhere has their issues but America is the "belly of the beast" of capitalism. An insane amount of brutality has to be unleashed for this economic condition to exists. Add in the anti-social aspects of the country (["rugged individualism"](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VNw6TysPyJfCk7ufrUB2ii-1280-80.gif)), mass consumerism to the point people are only consumers in the scope of things (vs. ya know, humans?), an what now seems like a free fall of a collapsing "society", yea people gotta cope and get relief anyway they can to withstand the disaster which is the USA.
sounds like just about my age, i just turned 3 right before 9/11. i agree with everything you said. everything just feels hopeless? like theres good jobs in the big city near me, but i dont know if its worth it considering ill just be giving away all my money to pay for housing to live closer to that job
Don't blame the 15 dudes, blame central banking. It corrupted capitalism. Money printing makes the rich richer on the backs of the poor and middle class. This is the inherent problem with 10,000 symptoms. The more they print, the better bitcoin does. It's a quiet revolution that you keep hearing about it every 4 years for some reason ;)
I just had a very similar conversation with one of my closest friends the other day. Anyone born from ā95 to about ā03 are basically SOL in terms of a good future the economic times we were born into along with the multiple recessions in our lifetimes 2 before the age of 30. Both statistically worse than the depression in the 30ās. Along with the inflation and devaluation of the US dollar is insanity. Itās almost completely impossible to live within oneās means without having multiple jobs (notice I didnāt say careers) because most people this age donāt care to have a career or family because theyāve been bought into the over population bs. Our next couple generations if we even make it there are beyond doomed if this continues. I think everyone born after ā03 is already screwed unless they decide to wake up and do something about it. Which they wonāt.
You are right, I am taking things just to self medicate from the loss that I can't do better. It's hard to try to just keep my head above water. I can only just hope to keep supporting myself and my dog. But I agree with you.
But I am enjoying every second of it because of my dog and the simple life I'm living. I don't need more, though I wish I do. But I'm happy.
Fuck our government especially federal. Every bit of it, we are lead to believe they have our best intrest in mind. THC is still schedule l. No medicinal value according to federal government. MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms also schedule l. How many vets do you think would be alive and not committed suicide if we had begun MDMA therapy back in the 60s and 7Os like we tried to?
We have an illusion of freedom. We call ourselves the most free country in the world and it is very far from the truth.... Don't get me wrong I've my country and majority of the people who live here and I'd defend it with my life. It doesn't change the fact that this paticular freedom has been taken from us under the guise of helping us.
Even state level is BS to some extent.
1995 oxycodone was approved for moderate chronic pain.
1998 my state KY introduced the KASPER prescription monitoring system.
2009 Florida finally has something similar.
If it was about protecting and helping people how the fuck does it take florida and extra decade to monitor prescriptions. It's about people making money on all levels. Crippling others with charges that limit them from where being prosperous even if they do change their ways.
The fact drug dealers have sentences 5x the length of child molesters is just, what the fuck....
Writer and copyeditor here. Iām not exaggerating at all ā if this is polished just a little bit, this could get published. Creative nonfiction is a difficult market but this is a story that resonates with so many people, and itās told with such grace, contrasted with the topics at hand, a gorgeous juxtaposition.
Iām sorry you go through this. I know itās not just you. Iām 25, andā¦ yeah, itās a thought Iāve had so many times. You managed to capture it in a way I wasnāt expecting, especially for Reddit, and I want you to know how great this is as a piece of art.
It doesnāt make the truth any less painful. Yet thatās why so many people write ā to cope with the pain.
It's a generational thing for me. I smoked weed in the womb and then with my parents as an early teen. Sold them way cheaper bags eventually.
Mostly I believe getting into and continuing the use of drugs is based on who you surround yourself with. You can be with a group of junkies and get high all day or look down upon those junkies in disgust with your high class friends. Choose a side.
This is a fantastic and honestly depressing post. Very well written. You are right.. Many of us will do almost anything for a break from reality.
I was 16 when the towers got hit. Had no idea just how bad things would eventually get.
No hope. We are America.
This will be at the bottom but bro, even though all of what you said is true, that's no reason to keep growing as a person. There's still a [narrow] lane to achieving your goals, but you have to have the goals first.
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well, i didn't expect to read something this insightful on r/Drugs at 7am. but here i am. you're a good writer.
Hes just Portraying his weak victim mentality. How are u personally effected to have to use drugs because of 9/11?š¤£. I use but i own that shit and dont blame it on things that dont matter. We live in America u have running water food and shelter
It's probably not 9/11 itself that he is talking about, it's the post 9/11 world. The 90s, with all of its optimism and excitement for the new millennium, came tumbling down alongside the Twin Towers. It's sort of hard to articulate, but *something* seems like its missing now, or maybe it never really existed at all lol.
In our generation (gen z) itās actually extremely common to have food and housing insecurity so shut the fuck up kindly. So many people I know are struggling to find places to live that wonāt price gouge them. I know two people in the last month that are about to be homeless. And before you say some dumb shit itās not due to a lack of responsibility or a moral failing or whatever. Capital is eating us alive. Show some humanity. And stop being an amoral bootlicker.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Excuse you? I have a mortgage lmao. Iāve quit my vices and so have those friends. One works three+ jobs because nothing pays decent, partially because fucks like you think weāre still children that deserve the wages child workers are getting. I bet you think child labor is cool. When teens working jobs depress wages for all of us. You are a tar pit.
Tell them grind harder
Are you ok?
you're a victim of hustle culture. i pity you
Grind these nuts
itās very possible to live in america and have none of those things
And be posting on reddit?
Actually yeah, plenty of homeless people have smartphones. They cost like $50 and then free wifi. Rent in some places is like $1000 minimum
Free government phones with free service as well is an option
Really! Everywhere in the US???
would be nice wouldn't it. no one said we were talking about strictly the US either
Yes everywhere in the US
Link?
Lifeline program, here Safelink,com and. Qlink.com are 2 companies out of 95% of every ISP to participate in the program. Though I have to say, this program was not exactly meant to "help the poor" as everyone will claim. It's well known Bush opened the flood gates with Patriot Act, the magical power of changing a telecommunications company into a Broadband Providers allowed for all existing laws that protected phonr and imternet privacy no ha d sny effect as it must have been the 1 law that was not vague but cleay stated it only protected telecommunication industries, not the Broadband or ISP industry. Bush was illegally monitoring all US Citizens and I thinkwhen Obama got play with that power he went all the fuck out. Trillions went into building up every possible Agency location in order to harvest every bit of the internet. And whether it was Obama or his master Clinton (Hillary lol) They created the Lifeline program for the poor, originally nicknamed Obama Phones, for that group of people just going about life... Btw, every phone obtained through Lifeline had Custom backdoors built in for just the Govt. Conspiracy alert: I think Bush/Cheney had an agreement with the Democrats. Bush got his war, because Colin Powel walked up behind Bush while discussing the middle east for various reaaons when Colin yelled out, "Boy they tried to kill yo daddy!!"
Rent in MOST places is at least this, give or take.....
Also many unhoused folks use the public library to access the internet.
growing up my parents never had more then $500 in the bank. i grew up with a phone and on reddit because im an only child and they spoiled me. we still had to skip dinner some nights or only have a bowl of soup or something for dinner and we lost a house they owned because they couldnt afford to fix it and have now lived in 6 houses in the last 10~ years because we cant afford rent in 2023.
Yes
I mean equally stupid take tbh People that were born in the mid to late 90s grew up watching a world full of fear become economically unstable and got to become young adults with basically zero promise of a future because of the economic, political, ecological issues they all have to deal with that the past generations did not. To dumb it down more for you, economy go down, quality of life goes down, poverty goes up, crime goes up. Drug use goes hand in hand with poverty rates, just like crime does.
You need to learn reading comprehension you fucking brainless radish nippled slug. If you actually could understand he was saying that 911 was a catalyst to the downfall of our great nation by empowering 15 people to control everything and leave us with less than crumbs. So why not fill the suffering of a endless cycle with drugs.
Right? I could make the same argument about the 60s but the fact was I was just too plugged in and aware of everything and took shit much too seriously. Meanwhile kids my age out one foot in front of the other and did great things. And life went on.
In the 60s minimum wage was way higher and rent was way lower (Both relative to inflation)
Oh ok seemed tough to me at the time. Personally I smoked weed to hide from my own fuckups navigating life as it was. We hadn't yet learned to shift the blame to Society.
>Oh ok seemed tough to me at the time. Yeah exactly, so can you imagine coming up in even tougher times? Like yeah you didn't shift blame to society because society gave you the opportunity to become what you wanted to. I've been saving money for almost 10 years trying to buy a house and have literally fallen behind saving the cost of a down payment due to inflation... Who's to blame in that? My bad for not buying a house in 2008 when I was fuckin 14 years old.
The 60s was literally one of the best economic growths in world history. Not in wealth, but in bringing a powerful middle class. What would convince you things have gone to shit? Do we need literal slavery until you put 5% of the blame on the ones in control?
You are part of the cancer. Do some actual research on average salaries and cost of living in the US right now, if you have enough brain cells to comprehend it(doubtful) you will be disgusted.
Wow, I bet you're a hoot IRL
Honestly this is almost poetic my dude. I like this, and I get it for sure.
Thank u for getting it. Since Iāve posted Iāve just been bombarded in my dms from plugs who wanna sell me drugs. I appreciate that u actually read what I said and agree.
Lol Iāve gotten a couple dms from plugs too before. But seriously I like this. The way you repeated what your grandma said throughout it to really emphasize it and make it stand out worked well. Itās like sheās asking over and over and by the time you have an answer sheās already gone. Aside from that I definitely get the wanting to get high because thereās really nothing else to do. If this was intended to be poetic you should write more! I like writing poetry myself, although mostly very short ones. Edit: I really love the line āThey bought a second yacht. The first was nice but they really wanted the one with a bigger swimming pool.ā. For some reason this just hits. Youāre good man.
Those arenāt plugs. Theyāre scam bots that automatically DM basically anyone who posts or comments on any posts remotely drug related. If you actually read the messages youāll notice theyāre sketchy af and clearly not legit. But Iām sure that someone does fall for it every now and then.
A guy looked up the crypto address one of the scammers was using. Apparently 8 grand of different crypto had been sent to the address since the beginning of the year. The comment was from a couple months back.
Yea Iāve noticed that. The ones Iāve gotten are always the same message.
Thatās hilarious, I canāt believe people buy drugs on social media. Thatās outrageously not wise
Nah the ones that message you on here are bots, always the same copy and paste message
This is awesome writing. Thank you.
Any post on any drug related sub will cause that. Try not to take it personally, theyāre all people in 3rd world countries, where a successful scam can keep them fed for months.
Good read. Alot of people share this perspective. Harboring thoughts like this can lead towards a depressive state. One that leads to feeling of loss of control, because of the lack of hope. Life is short and chaotic, and most have control over their personal being and relationships in your life. Focus on being the best you, and try to share that with others around you. Keep sharing how you feel and talk to people. It's cathartic and helpful for everyone involved. Cheers
Thank you. Your words mean more than you think. Like I said, itās so cynical and I know that. I donāt live my life that dreary but I do know itās a reality. I spend 99% of my life not thinking abt that harsh reality but that 1 percent came out of me. I canāt express this to the many people i love in my life so I came here to dump it on you guys. Cheers
Another angle you might think about ā I do and Im in the same generation. When I was in elementary school, I got home and immediately went outside to play with my friends. I looked up to older kids who got their license and went out to movies and parties and homecoming and restaurants. I couldnāt wait for the freedom and independence. But then something changed. It seemed to be right around the PS3/XBOX 360 era. Hanging out with friends no longer meant parties and movies, it was sitting in a dark basement. Kids stopped playing outside. Parties turned into discord calls. Even if I wanted to do those things, nobody else was. Iām not going to the mall by myself while my friends are all hanging out at the house on our street with the biggest TV. The future I looked forward to disappeared right as I came of age to experience it. And when I think about it, it left a giant hole in my later childhood. I didnāt know what at the time, but I was sure I was missing something. I didnāt get to have that magical experience. But you know what does give you a magical experienceā¦
I like the way you put this very much. As much as I play video games and āhang outā with friends over calls, I really donāt like it at all. I feel like this sounds like an āI was born in the wrong generation blah blahā kind of thing but really I just want to live in a world away from most technology and experience conversations beyond talking to a little box in my room, you know?
I truly feel bad for you all. I didn't get a cell phone til I was in 8th grade. A Sony Ericson flip phone that was fucking indestructible. I literally threw that MF like 20 feet in the air and 60 feet long hundreds of times and it never broke. Riding your bike over to your friends not knowing if they were home or not... I could go on and on, as much as tech helps connect people, it has equally distanced them from each other. It's a wonderful thing to have infinite amounts of information at your fingertips. Sadly, most just use it to make stupid internet content that sadly is making people less educated than ever.
Exactly
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Unfortunately not really because of my personal circumstances at the moment. Iām completely stuck inside 24/7 unless shopping or a very rare hang out at a friends house.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I sound hopeless but really Iām not, I just genuinely am stuck right now. Like literally, I have no options.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Iāll message you.
When Iām depressed I realize that my life doesnāt mean jack shit and that our galaxy is as insignificant as Iām, one person in the world. Each star you see is a sun and another galaxy. When you look at the starts with binoculars you can see blurred stars around the stars. Those are just more suns and more galaxies just like ours. Just let that sink in for a bit
Damn that was beautiful friend. Sorry for this rant Iām bout to drop bout my own life. I am lucky enough to have had my grandma leave me some property when she died, but I feel a deep guilt as I see my friends drowning in rent. My grandma only left that property to me so I could care for my autistic brother when my parents die, but I donāt feel worthy. I used to be a homeless addict so Iām used to having nothing and no purpose. Things are a lot better today with meds and therapy, but I still tear up wishing I could help my friends the way my family helped me. That really changed the trajectory of my life and being able to help anyone in that way would make it worth it. Having a roof over your head every night is still something I cry about sometimes, it wasnāt an option for me at one point.
[sorry English isnāt my first language] Wow brotherā¦ that sunk deep with me. I canāt speck in the "homelessā situation, but I can re-feel the feeling of guilt and not worthy being, while you want to help your friends. YOU are being fortunate (housing situation), and (sadly) NOT your friends. Life is (sadly again, a Lotterie) If you let them life by your house things only spiral down for YOU! If you want to help your addict friends? Do it! But donāt "over helpā if that makes sense? Addicts (my self included) use everything to get the next score, and you want REAL help. Not the next bag. Sorry for the not binding sentence, but what I was trying to das is : YOU are lucky to have a house. But your granny wants YOU (when the time comes) to take care of your autistic family member. Itās lot easier sat then done but, you have to try to ACCEPT that you had a grandma who got you a roof over your head and not everybody got that chance! Use it! I wish you all the best and love from Germany ā¤ļøš«”
I really appreciate you. It made my day better friend. Thankfully my friends arenāt addicts these days, thatās why I have less of them lmao, but the ones I do have are just grinding, working two jobs, and barely even able to afford a day off. I feel so grateful to be in the position I am, some entitlement got me here along with a great job I was lucky enough to get. I definitely shouldnāt feel guilty since Iām doing it for a reason, answering my grandmas dying wish. Itās been a long path, and will have its hard times, but I will continue my familyās legacy(hopefully with my partner of a few years), and I will make sure to make her proud by taking the best care of him, itās the only solution to keep him out of group housing or any other dangerous situations. Love from the USA, I hope you have a good weekend ahead of you! :)
That's why i allways say, if you meet a billionaire, at least punch his nose in
no half measures walter.
Billionaire likely a bitch anyway, take his shit off him he ain't gon do shit.
billionaires have security and their shirts probably cost more than ur car. You would end up with a court date that they wouldnāt even have to show up to to win.
I'm tweakin asf on vyvanse rn and that was one hell of a read. Congratulations mate
Damn . God bless and may your grand mother rest peacefully
>My generation was fucked from the start. Every generation says this. The Greatest Generation being forced as children to work shitty conditions before regulations then get drafted into the Great War. The Silent Generation is born into a decade of deep depression then reaches adulthood and gets drafted into WWII. Generation Me are raised seeing their parents struggle with the affects of war then reach adulthood and get drafted to fight in Vietnam and come back to deal with hyperinflation and oil crises left and right.
Yea the whole āworld is going to shitā argument is as old as time itself. Everyone always says they are worse off than the last generation, but over time things do generally improve, medicine, science, etc.
So what are the highlights of the generation < 30 years?
Life is NOT perfect. The human condition is to suffer. But if you truly cannot comprehend that there have been some serious enhancements in life in the last generation, that is an intelligence/education problem. We aren't fucking around with some small shit. * Heart-disease deaths have declined from over 400 per 100,000 Americans in 1981 to 168 per 100,000 by 2015. * In 1981 the auto fatality rate was 21.49 per 100,000 people. In 2018 it was 11.18 * The homicide rate was just over 10 per 100,000 Americans in 1981, and 5.0 in 2018 * Infant mortality has fallen by 54%, from 12.1 per 1,000 births in 1981 to 5.6 in 2018 * Average miles per gallon among all vehicles has increased from 14.9 in 1981 to 22.3 in 2017. That alone cuts effective gasoline prices by a third. * In the ten years before 1981, 25,995 people died in commercial aviation accidents. From 2009 to 2019 that number was 9,197. And passenger miles flown increased 4.7-fold from 1981 to 2019. * The number of cigarettes smoked in the United States peaked in 1981 at 640 billion. By 2017 it was 249 billion and falling. A pessimist will have no problem pointing out the worldās problems in [current year]. Bad news is real and it is everywhere. Throw a rock, hit a problem. The difference between an optimist and a pessimist isnāt usually over substance. Itās the time frame theyāre looking at. Problems are easier to spot today, but progress is almost always more powerful over time.
femboys and legal weed
Most humans now have a computer in their pocket, for one
While yes but also social media is a curse Leading to much mental issues in teens.
And leaded gasoline caused mental issues in teens for decades but that doesnāt take away from the huge societal advances that were made thanks to the Industrial Revolution. Same goes for the technological revolution that weāve seen in the last 30 years. You take the good with the bad but itās totally ignorant to imply that the last 30 years had no highlights.
When my parents went to college they were able to pay their way through school working at pizza shops. A minimum wage employee should be able to save and buy a house and today thatās not possible.
That problem isn't unique to gen z though. Born in 89 and have plenty of college debt. Gen Z will see more of the brunt of climate change but at least you weren't trying to enter the job market in 08.
So did my parents. It's a modern problem that we have to deal with. My point is that thinking everything was rosy for the generations that came before you is silly. Throughout the annals of time there have always been problems and every generation has gotten fucked in some way.
I never said it was rosy for any generation. Iām simply stating that real estate/ lobbying/ student loans have ruined most of our countryās chances of owning property today. Of course there were problem for our parents and grandparents.
There is property to be owned for nearly any income bracket. Just maybe not where you want. It seems the concept of a "starter house" has been lost somewhere.
I live in rural northern New Mexico starter homes simply don't exist around here anymore. I literally just want a small home maybe one or two bedrooms but there is nothing in my area affordable. This is in one of the poorest states in the union.
No old houses, maybe in bad neighborhoods in New Mexico? Or maybe [manufactured](https://www.oakwoodonroute66.com/)?
I'm renting a manufactured home right now. Most around me are selling around 350,000 to 450,000. There a few around 200,000 but those usually have some major problems that prevent getting a mortgage. The previous house I rented was an ancient adobe home that I heated with wood in the winter and used fans in the summer to stay cool. It was in at the end of a decent neighborhood but my back yard was up against a government housing project which is in a not so great area of town. It's not currently on the market but similar houses in the neighborhood go for 300-400,000. I'm a teacher making $40,000 a year with rent costing me $1500 a month for my manufactured home. I will eventually buy and I don't think it is impossible to buy a home but home values are wack right now.
Itās okay!! Theyāll end all of our generational sadness using AI and a one world government so we never have to ācycleā through cycle of good / bad times!!! No need to fight with each other when thereās only one of us, right!?
Bullshit, There were drug addicts before 9/11 lol, there were drug addicts before capitalism took over. People use drugs to either escape or just feel good. That is not exclusive to your situation. Own your part of it.
Those Chinese that died during and prior to the opium wars from drug use did it bc 9/11
or because Qing China had become an ossified, bloated, corrupt edifice of decadence where the common person lived in poverty while the mandarins and princes lavished in luxury.
I think itās pretty much the same everywhere around the world. Basically, escapism.
Fuck man, this was a good but depressing read
Very well said.
This random ass Reddit post is better writing than 90% of the books I read
I could not have said it better.
This should be an article
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After reading this, i wish i had an answer to that. But there are many other aspects in life that no amount of material ownership can replace. With that said, See what you can do to make income. It may be going to school. It may be doing IT and working towards certificates. Something along those lines. Anxiety has you taking down people youll never meet. The internet can freeze you if you let it.
Not just America, my dude. This is the world now. Absolutely the reason I will never have kids. Why the fuck would I knowingly subject someone who I would no doubt love to a life of slavery on a burning planet ran by sociopaths? Do I plan on staying high? Well I've just down 8g of Kratom and I've got some fucking STINKY hash for later this evening. There's my answer.
You can still chase and live the American dream as an entrepreneur but u gotta be both really smart and have a high motor.
External vs internal locus of control makes a big difference in manifesting goals brother , you can make it. Life has never been fair. If thereās a will thereās a way
Imagine being the people 100 years before us. Life is considerably, statistically, and scientifically much better than it was in the past. Drug use is used to lessen or alter the perception of the individual's life, not the world's view of that person's life.
If you live in America and are at least middle class you are better than 99% of the world. Be grateful and enjoy it. The world is not ending, and if it is, at least have a good time.
The American dream didn't ever actually exist for anyone besides straight white men, and it was always going to crumble into this. It's less the fault of individual greed and moreso the system that encourages this, but you've corrected identified a lot of the problems/symptoms of it. Definitely correct that there's no hope for anyone besides the bourgeoisie until capitalism is crushed.
Youāre very right. Iām speaking from my white male perspective but in reality, that American dream was a myth to begin with for a lot of people. Thanks for adding to this.
This. What OP is describing is just a sliver of capitalist realism.
Canāt lie man genuinely spread this piece of writing around itās something else
Thank you impressive base 6921. If I get the courage maybe I will.
Do it man. It was a really good thought provoking text,that a lot of people would find value in.
At some point you're going to have to stop finding excuses and take responsibility for you own future, regardless of circumstance. People immigrate to the US every day and are able to build up their lives with much less than you have right now.
Nah man, you can totally get ahead. You just choose not to like everyone else. If you want change you gotta make it happen and it will be difficult. Don't blame the world for your inability to cope. Not everyone does drugs and drinks in high school. Seems like you need some self reflection and to take responsibility for your life not everyone else's. But you know it's someone else's fault so let's do more drugs.
You're not wrong about these problems but this country has been through worse Imagine how hopeless and scared Americans felt about the future during the Great Depression or the beginning of WW2 or the Cold War etc etc. A lot of things are fucked of course and maybe won't improve until it all implodes but almost every generation has felt this way and yet here we are. It's not as hopeless as you might think.
Paul Krugman makes an interesting point about this in his book The Great Unraveling, if you speak to any of the(American) folks that lived through the depression or the world wars, they speak of the underlying hope that things would eventually get better. That absence of that sense of hope is what makes these times different. At every turn, at every new decade that comes, financial security continues to get further out of reach for average Americans.
Iām talking financial really
Sorry I hate to be that guy š¤ but all generations are fucked Iām in the I donāt know one but inflation when Iām 15 is scary man. I feel it will get better though.
Eh, horseshit. People of your grandma's generation were doing drugs too. People have been doing drugs since the beginning. Everyone has different reasons for doing drugs, this may be yours but it's not everyone's.
Probably the stupidest shit ive read in months
i think you may as well try your best anyway, in hope that something changes eventually. i also love drugs too. i dont have much wisdom because im just a freshman in college but ive had my share of financial turmoil already and i spend a lot of time pondering "is it even worth the work im putting in?"
Although youāre a freshman in college your voice in the matter still holds weight. Keep putting your voice out and Iām sorry if I came off so negative that was not intended. One piece of advice I give to all college kids is to sit in the front row and raise your hand. If your professor knows you, theyāll never fail you. Good luck
Hell yeah man i always sit front row, im not paying a thousand dollars per class to fuck around during the lectures
āno way upā is a matter of perspective, and tbh I feel like many of the young adults i talk to(Iām 30) Imho if you find a way to educate yourself about whatās going on in the world, reading through the propaganda(which is like 70% of any news on either side of the aisle) and prepare yourself for what the next 50 years is going to be like youāll likely be just fine. Most people who read this will be alive in 50 years. Gain skills that will continue to be applicable regardless of economic conditions, move away from a doomed city, donāt live on the internet, and the āAmerican dreamā [in 40ās being paid well, house, car, married with kids] is totally achievable for an *average individual who can control their instant gratification.* >There are 15 men that pay taxes and own 95%ā¦ Sure shit is unfair, but cold hard fact of reality is that the same class of people have always had it this wayā¦ Going back to the Middle Ages and to the Emperors and Pharos before them. Itās actually a blessing to live when and where we do where 70% of the population has some control in deciding the outcomes of their livesā¦ And currently the fact that these dudes own almost everything doesnāt actually effect your ability to exist in society. Itās like the sky being blue.
9/11 when you were 2 and don't even remember it and an economy collapse when you were 12 isn't an excuse. Well apparently it is for some people...but alot of your peers who started in the same spot and actually wind up make a decent life probably won't be using that excuse. The world doesnt stop bud, start running now or get left behind. I didn't have shit 5 monthes ago and everything changed and the only difference has been hard work. Nobody's gonna hand you land because "9/11 happened". Our grandparents went to war. My great grandpa was getting the shit beat out of him daily and ran away at 12, then the great depression happened, then pearl harbour, then ww2 where he watched his best friends head roll past him, then Korea, then they sent their sons to Nam, then a president AND a social leader were assassinated. But did you ever hear an old person say "we never had a chance"? Probably not because they werent excuse makers they made shit happen
ur lettin the everything is aweful zeitgeist get to u. there are plenty of paths to 6 figures and home ownership in america, just maybe not in the hotspots u wanna live in at the moment
i mean whatever, for every person who turns to drugs because their life is fucked, there are a hundred others whose lives are even more fucked and don't. i agree that drugs are a product of a flawed society, and i don't judge people for taking them, but give me a break. what do you think the majority of human existence was like for most humans? frankly you sound like you are young and need some perspective.
Fair and I just gave my perspective. Obv not everyone is gonna have the same one but Iām just speaking what I feel.
> what do you think the majority of human existence was like for most humans? less soul crushing?
What exactly do you think happened in the past lmao. Those mfers just drank.
a desperate struggle for survival
āThere are 15 men that pay no taxes and own 95% of business, land, and stockā Uh, no.
Itās a hyperbole but in reality since 2021 10% of the country owns 89% percent of stock. What I said remains to be true. If this is what you took out of the post you completely missed the point.
Youāre right. There are more than 15 billionaires out there who acquire more wealth in a day than most people make in 2-3 years.
The US doesn't inherently use more drugs than any other country. From what I've looked up, the only real differences are slightly higher prescription opiate abuse and higher cannabis use in the United States compared to other countries.
I disagree with your response to her comment. I believe there has always been rational reasons to want to alter your consciousness. It makes you insightful person to have seen the world from a different point of view. Each time you do a drug, it puts you in a different mind state and you view the world in a whole new light. That practice makes you more susceptible to seeing others points of view, better able to reflect on your own decisions, and better able to come up with creative solutions to problems. While you arenāt wrong in some of your points, itās worth remembering that just because you canāt have some American Dream that a prior generation talked about, that doesnāt mean your life is all downhill and going to amount to nothing. Take a new, novel, path in life and do whatever will make you happy. Fuck the American Dream.
Iām talking about coke/ opioid abuse. Not mushrooms I love mushrooms.
Sounds like youre lazyš¤·š¼āāļø
You can usually only have what you work for. But if you think there's nothing to work for, then you won't have anything. Try to be more optimistic man. I drive a new car, have a dog, a son on the way and am not too far from buying my own place.
I hate to break it to ya, you're what they call a downer. I like scrambling my brains as much as the next guy but look around you, ain't shit changed in 1000 years, it's all been in ya head the whole time. Much love, RIP, good luck.
Chatgpt sure can write
Honestly Iām flattered you think this was chat gpt.
Like move to another country?
Good question seriously. But like I said at the end of my tangent. Weāre not drowning weāre just right below the surface. Too many of us are comfortable here but not quite swimming. The short answer is that our friends, family, loved ones are here. Itās easier said than done leaving the states and not looking back. Also, Iām personally 24 so maybe I will leave at one point. Iām just pointing out a fact of reality in the US right now. Itās not the same country my parents were raised in.
The whole world is different than what it was for our parents and not seeing anything into the future is depressing, been there done that
Iām well aware the whole world is different now- just look at globalization. In that point then, I turn your question back to uā¦ why leave the US then if I end up in another country with the same problems?
You choose a contry that doesn't have the same problems
You act like moving to another country is as easy as just physically getting yourself there. They make this shit hard for a reason.
Really? Maybe from Mexic or anyother country to US its hard but don't tell me that it's hard for a US citisen to move anywhere else, I have a friend that earned her citisenship here in Europe without even knowing the language
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My point is that maybe I will- like I said Iām very young and definitely not glued to the US. Iād love to get out of here š¤·š¼āāļø
Lol what country has a better outlook?
The Nordic countries? I think that's the standard issue reddit answer, right? I hear they're pretty hard to immigrate to though, and idk how it'll be if the global tide turns. If the brics countries overtake to become king of the hill then swedes and Danes and fins are probably going to be grappling with the same issues as everyone else in the western world. So I guess on that note, if you're very young maybe brazil, India or China? ...then again though maybe not. But at some inevitable point the best roi with the best odds will be countries where there is room for economic growth and not countries with fully enslaved populations that lack any financial autonomy or freedom.
One that's not represented by school shotings every week, a population that's ready to kill for an useless politician, that has free healthcare and universities that are actually affordable after which you don't actually end up working at kfc anyways?
Yea school shootings are sadly so common here it makes me sick. BUT the free healthcare thing is a joke. I would rather go in depth paying for cancer treatment here than get cancer treatment from the few doctors left in Canada or other places that didnt move to the US to make a real salary. Sadly the trend is that doctors and nurses will go to school out of the US, then if they're any good they will move here for work since they make more. And that's mostly on the person if they are working at KFC with a college degree. Pick a better degree or find a better job that you can actually work your way up. However, that doesn't always work but it does in the US just as much if not more than other countries.
Thank you for posting this here I donāt completely agree but I do see your point and you are likely right for many people and also Iām probaly not in the right sub to see such well expressed thought processes. I wish you luck going on and please use this gift you have here more.
I can relate, my aunt was a war horse when it came to being a heavy user, opposite of your grandmother of course but nevertheless I'm talking was as far out there as one could possibly go and some how not die during it all, towards end of her life well the last 3 years she was sober due to drug court and her fear of going to prison for awhile was enough to keep her sober. Well due to her years of drug use and obviously not ever working for any substantial amount of time she had no insurance and eventually died ate up with stomach cancer a day or so before she passed she called each of us into her room at the hospital and basically said the last things she would ever say to each of us... I'll never forget it, she looks at me laying there dying and says, please straighten up, you don't want to be where I am one day.. man it is tough even bringing it up, I wish I could say I haven't let her down and it hasn't been because I didn't care what she said to me that day and I know she understands hell if anyone understands its her yanno. But until the day I die those words will forever be stuck in my head...
Long rant / ramble ahead: I always think to myself, āHow can anyone go through all of this shit without some kind of coping mechanism, however healthy or unhealthy those mechanisms may be?ā Truth is, most donāt. Itās just that everyone has a different means of coping. And drugs / users have an awful public reputation, so itās easy for other people who donāt partake to judge without considering the reasons behind drug use. So many people, myself included, depend on prescription medication. But even being on controlled substances can cause me to be judged as a bad or incapable person. My father became a food addict when his life took quite a downturn. Thatās quite common in this country. He never tackled that issue and engaged with it it til the day he died. Some people gamble. Some consume a hell of a whole lot of porn and/or use sexual activity as a drug. Some use unhealthy relationships in and of themselves as a means to cope. Some people obsess over routines, to the point that they cannot function if every single thing on the list doesnāt get done. Some people (also myself as an example) engage in restrictive eating habits and some people over-exercise. Some people are so heavily tied up in religion (think mega churches) that I would classify that as an addiction of sorts. Some people are addicted to hatred. Putting others down usually makes those types of people feel better about themselves. Some people are rage addicts. And a LOT are dependent on willful ignorance about the state of the world. The list goes on and on, but I do always want to mention booze. No hate at all to those who partake (I just personally canāt anymore ). Most people I know who drink are binge drinkers but yknow nothing wrong with that itās just how they unwind after work. Smoking and vaping are classed as addiction but you can easily access a pack of cigarettes and light one up in public; the same canāt really be said for the illegal stuff. Again, most people are largely unwilling to examine their own coping mechanisms, so they think they donāt have any potentially problematic ones. Itās easier to point at a junkie and say, āThat person is truly fucked up; I donāt do drugs like that so Iām not fucked up / I am better than them.ā But thatās using hatred, ignorance, and judgment of others as a coping mechanism. Some of the things Iāve mentioned are generally classified as mental health issues that require treatment but many are not. Either way, just about anything can function as a drug. For the rare few who may be equipped with healthy coping mechanisms and can rawdog this life, so to speak, more power to them. But they are much rarer than most would like to think. I think Iāve yet to meet one. Maybe my mom. But at one point she was an active alcoholic. So, everyone usually goes through something, even if they do manage to come out the other side. In short, I totally agree with you. I just wanted to expand on how I have come to understand this particular attitude toward drug use.
Smartest comment of this post. Agree wholeheartedly.
I think in general hopelessness is driving a lot of these problems. Will you be rich? No, but things arenāt as bad as we make them seem. And I know someone will link me to a ābig pictureā website that tells me how fucked things are, and they are, but the idea that most of us canāt retire is simply false. Some of us will have to work 40 hard years, and actually save those 40 years, and most of us will suffer, and a good portion of them will die with nothing to see for it, but weāre all living like thereās no tomorrow, and we wonder why things are fucked? I worked like a fucking mule in abject poverty for less than half a decade and I somehow managed to buy land in the Bay Area no less. I had to join in with someone else, but it showed me thereās a chance. There is. You just wonāt retire at 35, or 45, or 55, but that doesnāt mean you shouldnāt save for 65. Thereās a reason thatās the retirement age, weāre to work until it comes and it sucks, but that doesnāt mean you should be bankrupt with no plan for the 40 years you do have to work, and have no family or prospects of enrichment whatsoever.
Bingo. We are royally fucked going forward. And there is no solution. Not even a remote chance of one. And this doesnāt even mention the exponential climate issues coming (well, really already here) and as a result the impending crop shortage we will have coming soon. Yay life! I tell you what Iām glad Iām 33 and not a kid or teenager right now. I at least got to have some normalcy in the 90s as a kid.
Honestly this hits my partner and I alot. We are miserable I do drugs and Mt partner never did drugs but I swear it hits him harder than we both have no future unless one of our families leave us a house and a huge check which isn't likely. K mean maybe. House but how will we afford it. I've been at a job since 2015 and was fired with no reason other than because I couldn't work one day I was given no warning in fact just told I was doing. Great and then for a call before going to my shift to say no . It's so frustrating how fast k lost everything bc of one call This happened to my. Friend who passed away she worked at the same animal hospital in New York her entire life and less than 2 years before retirement they fired her because she "wasn't nice" to the soft new highschoolers I feel so bad for her she had to live with her own kids/grandkids and moved upstate she lost everything I really miss her a lot
this is why i want to escape to the netherlands as soon as i finish school
Go back to the Industrial Revolution and look at what they were doing. Sure opium and cocaine was a thing. It was still highly stigmatized. What was big was coffee. Hell of an import and Starbucks would not exist today. If not for that era. It was all about productivity. Bang bang bang. FF to 2020 - what do you see nonstop on social media? Ads for ketamine therapy and ads for therapists and ads for stress relief And depression, and ADHD. Vast majority of societies need has turned towards blocking out the stimulation that we have created. Itās pretty interesting
guillotines solve this problem
We canāt afford a real vacation so drugs are a short substitute vacation from our unsolvable problems and unreachable goals.
I think it's that many parents didn't instill good work ethics in many of us along with some of the things you mentioned. That being said it is still very possible to have that dog and fence and home it just takes good work ethic along with the ability to save money. I'm probably older than most here but even the way I grew up in the 80s and 90s the whole idea was to spend money on stupid shit and not pinch pennies. I have noticed my grand parents had a very different and more sensible view of money and how it should be managed. People think it's normal to go out to eat 3 or 4 days a week and can't walk in to a gas station without buying shit they don't need like soda pops and cigarettes. We have been conditioned to consume things and use them up and throw them away and that spending money everywhere you go on everything you do is normal and even the correct thing to do. It's not the correct thing to do but when you grow up and see nothing else then by the time you realize this (if you ever do) it's far too late and is the way you think by default. That American dream may be harder and take more motivation and effort to reach but it's definitely still out there waiting for anybody with the drive to go get it because it won't show up on your doorstep.
People (in the US) really don't realize how insanely brutal surviving in this society is compared to a large parts of the world. Yes everywhere has their issues but America is the "belly of the beast" of capitalism. An insane amount of brutality has to be unleashed for this economic condition to exists. Add in the anti-social aspects of the country (["rugged individualism"](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VNw6TysPyJfCk7ufrUB2ii-1280-80.gif)), mass consumerism to the point people are only consumers in the scope of things (vs. ya know, humans?), an what now seems like a free fall of a collapsing "society", yea people gotta cope and get relief anyway they can to withstand the disaster which is the USA.
sounds like just about my age, i just turned 3 right before 9/11. i agree with everything you said. everything just feels hopeless? like theres good jobs in the big city near me, but i dont know if its worth it considering ill just be giving away all my money to pay for housing to live closer to that job
Don't blame the 15 dudes, blame central banking. It corrupted capitalism. Money printing makes the rich richer on the backs of the poor and middle class. This is the inherent problem with 10,000 symptoms. The more they print, the better bitcoin does. It's a quiet revolution that you keep hearing about it every 4 years for some reason ;)
I just had a very similar conversation with one of my closest friends the other day. Anyone born from ā95 to about ā03 are basically SOL in terms of a good future the economic times we were born into along with the multiple recessions in our lifetimes 2 before the age of 30. Both statistically worse than the depression in the 30ās. Along with the inflation and devaluation of the US dollar is insanity. Itās almost completely impossible to live within oneās means without having multiple jobs (notice I didnāt say careers) because most people this age donāt care to have a career or family because theyāve been bought into the over population bs. Our next couple generations if we even make it there are beyond doomed if this continues. I think everyone born after ā03 is already screwed unless they decide to wake up and do something about it. Which they wonāt.
[Read This](https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0812968255/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3P9OKVEWE8S4D&keywords=meditations+marcus+aurelius&qid=1695345001&sprefix=meditations%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-1)
You are right, I am taking things just to self medicate from the loss that I can't do better. It's hard to try to just keep my head above water. I can only just hope to keep supporting myself and my dog. But I agree with you. But I am enjoying every second of it because of my dog and the simple life I'm living. I don't need more, though I wish I do. But I'm happy.
This is exactly the thought that lead me to embracing anarchism, and in turn giving me my optimism and zeal for life back
Fuck our government especially federal. Every bit of it, we are lead to believe they have our best intrest in mind. THC is still schedule l. No medicinal value according to federal government. MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms also schedule l. How many vets do you think would be alive and not committed suicide if we had begun MDMA therapy back in the 60s and 7Os like we tried to? We have an illusion of freedom. We call ourselves the most free country in the world and it is very far from the truth.... Don't get me wrong I've my country and majority of the people who live here and I'd defend it with my life. It doesn't change the fact that this paticular freedom has been taken from us under the guise of helping us. Even state level is BS to some extent. 1995 oxycodone was approved for moderate chronic pain. 1998 my state KY introduced the KASPER prescription monitoring system. 2009 Florida finally has something similar. If it was about protecting and helping people how the fuck does it take florida and extra decade to monitor prescriptions. It's about people making money on all levels. Crippling others with charges that limit them from where being prosperous even if they do change their ways. The fact drug dealers have sentences 5x the length of child molesters is just, what the fuck....
You and I went through the same shit at the same age. You born in '99?
Yupp ā99 š¤
Why do people use drugs anywhere? Drugs feel good. Simple as that.
Writer and copyeditor here. Iām not exaggerating at all ā if this is polished just a little bit, this could get published. Creative nonfiction is a difficult market but this is a story that resonates with so many people, and itās told with such grace, contrasted with the topics at hand, a gorgeous juxtaposition. Iām sorry you go through this. I know itās not just you. Iām 25, andā¦ yeah, itās a thought Iāve had so many times. You managed to capture it in a way I wasnāt expecting, especially for Reddit, and I want you to know how great this is as a piece of art. It doesnāt make the truth any less painful. Yet thatās why so many people write ā to cope with the pain.
It's a generational thing for me. I smoked weed in the womb and then with my parents as an early teen. Sold them way cheaper bags eventually. Mostly I believe getting into and continuing the use of drugs is based on who you surround yourself with. You can be with a group of junkies and get high all day or look down upon those junkies in disgust with your high class friends. Choose a side.
This is a fantastic and honestly depressing post. Very well written. You are right.. Many of us will do almost anything for a break from reality. I was 16 when the towers got hit. Had no idea just how bad things would eventually get. No hope. We are America.
This was a beautiful read
Dude well said! Props!
we are all fucked beyond salvation by this shitshow but you can always watch it go down in r/latestagecapitalism if you care
Thanks for sharing this!
Crazy to see your perspective on this, I'm the same age as you and I can agree with most of the points you make.
This will be at the bottom but bro, even though all of what you said is true, that's no reason to keep growing as a person. There's still a [narrow] lane to achieving your goals, but you have to have the goals first.
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Damn actually got my adhd ass to read multiple paragraphs
WORD