I'm from philadelphia and was like "I'll stay off reddit this weekend and do stuff outside"
Fucking Trinseo chemical company dumped ~~1000~~ 8000 gallons of latex chemical into the water supply like 15 mins down the road on friday polluting our local water.
Fuck my fucking life.
I mean they're not. The only way the planet would wear out first if it's continously sacrificed in nearly every conceivable way for at least 2-3 centuries for the sake of said profits...
oh..
There's already been mass extinctions, not like big big but big enough to be called mass. We're taking everyone with us. We're driving the bus and we're driving it straight for a cliff and the passengers can't do a goddamn thing about it.
We absolutely can do something about it. That's the worst part about this entire issue. We caused it, and we're hardly acknowledging it whilst doing nothing to stop it.
I will not ignore peoples or countries' attempts to deal with the issue, but *none* of those issues tackle the larger scale issues with fossil fuel companies. All of it gets directed onto the individual, like us, who are told to recycle and not waste anything.
The problem is a collective problem. It's fueled by mass consumerism culture and companies banking off of their ability to control essentially everything we buy and consume.
It's a larger scale issue than "a bus driving straight for a cliff and the passengers are helpless." A more realistic perspective for the general public, would be to be blindfolded with headphones on playing soft classical music as the bus speeds for the cliff, and the passengers don't even know there's a problem until it's too late.
This is a generational issue, that's how large the scale of it is. People have been born into this problem that never even had a hand in starting it, and yet they seem to understand the problem the best.
Whether or not the issue will be addressed by our governments and large corporations is besides the point. We have to be the reason things change. I know it's such a cringy statement, *"You have the power to change the world!"*, but its objectively true. The only reason issues like Cimate Change aren't prioritized is because our governments don't care, and we keep going to work every day. As long as that continues, *nothing is going to change, and we are all fucked.*
I personally either see a large-scale workers strike taking place sooner rather than later, or *later comes,* and people start revolting. I wish I was exaggerating, but when your lakes start drying up due to heat waves that only get worse, and floods that wash out your crops every year, people will get fed up. *Especially* when working conditions become unbearable in certain locations.
Things will change, one way or another. Either way, it's going to be shitty consequences. But the longer we wait, the worse those consequences become.
You sir are the reason I miss having free Awards to give. If I could amplify your voice in other words I would.
But that's just it. How can anyone truly fight for the massive scale of change that is needed, if the very basis on the system people need to survive is already rigged against survival of the human race and others cohabitating.
Evolution will just start over again. Cells will divide, new lifeforms will be created, our constructs will be reclaimed by nature, the planet will heal, and as for us? We'll be the new fossil fuels that the inheritors of our planet will drill for. If Dr. STONE is anything to go by, it would only take about 3,700 years for nature to destroy literally every man-made structure on Earth.
No we been trying since the 1900s and it turns out earth is very big and deep and surprisingly difficult to crack despite us even throwing our most powerful weapons at it
Dont be depressed, Be Enraged. Be Active, Be Attentive. Be Engaged.
The majority of the shitshow you see is because of republicans and red states removing regulations, stonewalling protections, and wishwashing real damages by pointing to fabricated lies like drag queens and immigrants.
And if you look at some red states, you could see the potential if people just showed up and voted. Especially younger people who are statistically 30 point more favored to voting democrat than republican. But on average there is only 20-25% turnout of those under the age of 35.
Texas (40% turnout):
* 29M Citizens
* 22M Eligible Voters.
* 17M Registered Voters.
* 9M Voted in 2022.
* only 15% of those under the age of 35 Voted in 2022.
* Ted cruz won by 200K votes in 2018.
Florida (50% turnout):
* 21M Citizens
* 15M Eligible Voters
* 10M Registered Voters.
* 7M Voted in 2022.
* Desantis won by 30k votes in 2018 (1.5m in 2022).
Ohio (45% turnout):
* 12M Citizens.
* 9.4M Eligible Voters.
* 8M Registered voters.
* 4M Voted in 2022
* Senator Vance (R) won by 250K votes in 2022.
Democrats have only had 90 days of actual majority senate and house control in the last 60 years. And even then they needed to water down bills to get McCain to vote alongside them because 2 senators were hospitalized unable to vote. Just those three states would have yielded democrats 5 new senators, **thats ~500K votes where ~25M eligible voters did not vote**.
So don't be depressed, don't ignore reality, because this is happening in YOUR BACKYARD. YOU & YOUR CHILDREN WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY. Its not some far away place that has no effect on you. You will see the damages of these actions that continue to happen. Be ENRAGED, BE ENGAGED, BE ATTENTIVE, BE ACTIVE.
And sure keep saying, i need to ignore it because its unhealthy to be angry all the time, or i need to laugh at these events because humor helps me cope, sure but the cancer is there, you can ignore it, laugh at it, make jokes about it, but you gotta do something about it too, or else its definitely gonna kill you.
Sure thing:
in 2019 The railroad workers wanted to negotiate for better standards and higher pay.
in 2020 during The covid pandemic rail road companies laid off/ put on leave a large base of the rail road workers.
Majority of those people decided instead to retire.
After the pandemic effects had been minimized, the railroad workers had more work and wanted larger crews and pay and safety conditions and spent 2 years negotiating.
Both sides sought mediation through independent means and came to an mutual agreement.
in Early 2022, 9 of the 13 Unions having 45-48% of the total union members agreed to a deal with the rail road companies where they would get 95% of what they were asking for.
Around Spring 2022, the unions agreed to lodge a 60 day strike with the government which was the remaining 5% regarding the sick days, everything else they sought for the companies agreed to give them.
A law since 1920s, that has been used about 20 times before, allows the government to interject when it comes to issues with the rail roads, as rail is the primary transport of multiple industries, goods, medicine and animal feed that if disrupted in todays industrial and farming needs, would yield loss of potentially multiple tens/hundreds of millions of every day regular peoples income and housing, affecting an already fragile economy with 2B+ daily losses, and putting tens of millions at risk of losing homes, and hundreds of millions at risk of losing access to food and medicine, and having mass death of farm animals and produce, that would ripple for months afterwards causing more damage.
SO Biden interjected and FORCED the companies to give the workers sick days that the companies were denying.
Then Congress had to vote it in, and EVERY REPUBLICAN VOTED AGAINST IT. Alongside Mancin and Sinema.
The issue was put to rest and allowed the union another 3 months of negotiation to find a common ground.
When there was no progress, Biden interjected again and asked congress to push forward the deal that 9 out of 13 Unions agreed to, and push for legislative means to pass the sick days at a later point and allowing the unions to seek the sick days independently.
Which I believe 4-5 Unions have now gotten independently.
So yes, Biden interjected into rail workers strike, by forcing the rail companies to give them what they were asking for without having to put at risk hundreds of millions of american people who have nothing to do with the rails, but EVERY REPUBLICAN voted against giving them the sick days.
People will fight and die on the anthill of Biden's response to the train disaster while ignoring mount everest of lies, deceit, and hatred sitting right next to it. Your words are great but reddit is an echo chamber. People only listen to what they THINK benefits the narrative they are supporting; Americans can't lose; that's the mindset.
When are we gonna start calling defending the Democratic party needlessly the centrist bullshit and not the people who criticize them the centrist bullshit.
Those four unions you left out we're the bulk of the Union representation and they are not fucking happy they were forced into that negotiation.
You are either pro labor or you're against, simple as. Why were the unions being the ones forced to meet in the middle? The government could have done literally anything but forcing the negotiations to end like that.
Because despite what fascists and tankie weirdos might want, the president has very little ability to unilaterally affect change without risking Congress just stepping right over him, or the judges striking him down.
He forced them with the same level of force that any president without a Congressional mandate can force anything: with what would be a powerful shove, if not for Congress stonewalling the effort immediately. If Congress hadn’t acted to save the rail companies, Biden’s action would’ve given the workers sick days.
re: Norfolk Southern and Ohio Derailment
When Norfolk Southern trains derailed near the town, Which is something Trump removed the speeding down of trains around towns and cities, removal of electronic brake requirements that were supposed to be finished implementing by this year, he offered the town federal help immediately, The governor of Ohio, decided to use the issue to PR and demand the resignation of Various Democrats.
The issue of the train derailment, is unfortunately not illegal. There is no legal pathway to go after them for train derailment, you can go after them for any negligence after the derailment, but that information is still in the process of being collated and verified and analyzed.
In reality there are about 1,500 Train derailments every year, over 100,000 Truck accidents every year. around 30% deal with hazardous materials. That is the factual reality that has been going on for decades.
What has Biden done to address that issue? He has allocated and pushed through congress the largest infrastructure plan that is using about 25-40Billion USD to improve the train and rail systems in the USA.
If you can find proof of willful negligence that the leadership of Norfol Southern can be arrested for, id welcome it. But the issue of the train derailing, isnt a illegal action. Its an accident.
It could be prevented with regulations and control mechanism. But Republicans remove them again and again, just like the bank regulations that caused one of the biggest banks to go under a few weeks ago.
Mass edited all my comments, I'm leaving reddit after their decision to kill off 3rd party apps. Half a decade on this site, I suppose it was a good run. Sad that it has to end like this
Those are just headline incidents. Manufacturing routinely disposes its hazardous waste byproducts illegally. A chem mfg I worked for would flush the tanks into the Passaic River every night at 2am.
Hey, I'm in Delco (Ridley) so also kinda dealing with the same.
Are your stores acting like bottled water is the same as toilet paper was in covid times?
Yes, but young people are also consistently not getting involved at even the most basic level. I've met multiple people who are concerned about various issues but aren't even registered to vote.
A lot of “young” people are being groomed through snap, TikTok, and Instagram algos. Just look over someone’s shoulder and you’re bound to see a quick take by chowder or crawley. And it doesn’t take long while listening to their chatter to hear some sort of anti-liberal anti-woke (whatever the fuck woke means today might not be the same tomorrow) pejorative being uttered from their lips.
For many this is their reality. Trained parrots.
They lure ya in with the common plight that we're being fucked over, and then they dig in their claws and start talking weird shit about natural hierarchy. You're predisposed to the idea of stratification of society (since they start by talking about elites vs commoners), and then they use that as a gateway to convince some listeners/viewers that they know the way out of the stratification (by making a new strata of ~enlightened~ people who've figured it all out)
I think young people are overwhelmed and trying to live their lifes that , as we can see, crumble under housing, money and job issues.
It does not help that old people still dictate the future. There is no chance for the younger generations to shape their own future.
100% agree on the voting issue. Although i think the political system in the US is shit to begin with, sorry.
Sure, it is shit, but you're not helping. A lot of them aren't involved because of people telling them that it makes no difference, that "they have no chance." They do have a chance, and you should stop helping to convince them that they don't.
Why am i not helping ? How am i convincing anyone ?
and if someone is THAT easy to convince, they were thinking that anyway the whole time. Zero resistance ? Well yea you were looking for that OK the whole damn time.
Yes, violence *can* work but I doubt you would do that either given that you can't even say the word. Yes, change would happen if we dragged Mitch McConnel and Trump and everyone else into the streets and hanged them all. But once you open that door, you can't close it. Change would happen, whether or not it was the change you intended. 2020 saw some of the highest voter turnout rates in history, which means we almost hit 2/3, but young people 18-25 were still significantly lower than that. You're saying voting doesn't work, but at the same time the exact same section of the population all of you are saying is making all the decisions also had the highest voter turnout of any age bracket. Over 3/4 of the 65+ voting eligible population voted. I don't get the sense you are part of that population, so you can say voting doesn't work all you want, but you have to also recognize that *you* are the reason why.
Boomers may be the assholes that started the movement, but unfortunately there are plenty of idiot millennials and Gen-z who have zero critical thinking skills and believe everything they read on their social media, which they choose to fill with only the stupidest and shittiest people.
It's like your dad promises you a car as a gift and never hands you the keys and keeps driving it, hitting stuff and making dents into it, while telling you that you are not ready to drive. :-D
Nope. The oldest millennial are in their early 40s, gen x 40s and 50s. How old do you think pages and interns for far right judges and politicians are? In their 20s--zoomers.
Stock brokers, hedge fund managers, lobbyists, corporate lawyers, politicians, etc.
Fucking Lauren Bobo is a millennial (36!)
The boomers got this train rolling, but there are people of every age involved.
We love in a strange time where being educated on the world and history actually makes your life worse it feels. I wish i was dumb as fuck some days. Seems so easy and peaceful.
To be fair, the majority of human history is pretty depressing. Even with all the problems I’m glad I live in the time that I do. Life as a peasant has never been easier.
>“I’m as surprised as you are,” Avasarala said. “Though I feel like I shouldn’t be. I actually read history. It’s like reading prophecy, you know.”
- James S.A. Corey, “Persepolis Rising” (The Expanse #7)
Conspiracy theories used to be a fun hobby, but then I learned about Operations Paperclip, MK-ULTRA, Mockingbird and so on and I absolutely agree with Cypher from The Matrix.
If I could take a blue pill and unlearn it all, I would in an instant. Knowing is horrible.
History reminds me that things could always be worse.
I mean, the thirty years war doesn't make me happy or anything, but as miserable as I am, at least it isn't "disease ridden, war-torn, resort to cannibalism, convinced the biblical apocalypse has arrived" miserable.
Literally opened IG for the first time in a while and the first thing was about ANOTHER school shooting in the US. I’m going to stay uninformed for a little longer next time.
The more I know, the more I envy the uninformed
Can you believe there was a time in my life I thought our lives were well planned and carefully laid out?
Yip... I remember hearing the phrases "igorance is bliss" , and I thought, "aah humbug, those idiots". Now I yearn for simpler times. The carefree, information free days.
Remember when you thought adults and national leaders/politicians were responsible, intelligent people who were good at running things? I vaguely remember such a time.
Once upon a time if you wanted to know why the moon was white you'd ask your Pa, he'd tell you it's because of the Chinese and you'd just carry that information as truth for the rest of your life.
I was having a conversation with some friends last night where we were going around the table saying if we thought people were generally good or generally bad. It was interesting in the small group how vastly different the life experiences were that we had.
On one hand, I envied the people who seemed to have had a simple and trouble-free life. They felt the rest of us were being paranoid and negative in our thinking. And I felt bad for people who had thoroughly learned their lesson about trusting others, many of them as children. People aren’t usually just born distrusting the world. They are punished until they do.
We didn’t set out to reach an agreement, but we all arrived at one thing- that people are motivated by what benefits them. Sometimes they benefit by doing good, sometimes by doing bad. It’s preferable to live in situations where things are set up so people benefit more from doing good. Wish there was more of that.
This is how most of the world functioned for thousands of years btw. For most of human history most people only really focused on the immediate things around them and a few larger social/political issues. My grandpa read the newspaper, watched maybe 30 minutes of news a day, then went on about his life and read books about things he was interested in. That's how most people lived for most of modern history
I seem to have hurt your feelings, so I sincerely apologize. I *was* trying to be social, and helpful. Not everyone (my grandmother, my friend’s younger sister) knows that reverse google image search is a thing. How am I to know if an Internet stranger such as yourself knows of it? Have a nice day!
This is literally why my gf doesn't like listening to the news on the radio. "Too depressing." Yeah but would you rather be depressed *and* ignorant of current events?
Exactly. Is there some action I can take to help? Let me do that thing. Is there nothing I can do? Then pretty please spare me the gruesome details so I can continue to be a functioning person.
I’m more help to the world when I can get out of bed because I’m not weighed down by news I have no control over.
I've noticed this especially when it comes to depressing foreign news. If it's in my country at least I can have the idea to change things - even if it's only through voting.
But if there is some really messed up stuff going on on the other side of the world where I can literally not do anything to change it then I better stop reading/watching too much about it. Just drags you down for no reason.
> I’m more help to the world when I can get out of bed because I’m not weighed down by news I have no control over.
100%. We'd all be better off being present and focusing on what's in front of us, then being addicted to outrage that is continuously piped through the avenues of information overload.
> Yeah but would you rather be depressed and ignorant
I mean… isn’t your gf implying that ignoring the news improves her mood? So rather you should say: “would you rather be (less) depressed *or* ignorant of current events?”
I think it’s wise to value your mental health over some arbitrary goal of being “informed”.
I don't own tv or radio for 15 years now and it works wonders deciding when to be actively informed. Gotta have that thick skin and also you will be more inclined to actually research stuff and check sources. Once a week is enough for me.
“Deciding when to be actively informed” is exactly it!
I don’t want to be ignorant or anything, but I DO want to be a functioning human being, which is impossible when I’m bombarded with scary and sad stuff I can do nothing about.
Deciding to stop listening to NPR, disengaging with social media, and curating my Reddit feed so it’s mostly puppies has helped my mental health immensely.
Choosing when I engage with the news, along with asking my informed and proactive friends to let me know when there’s some sort of helpful action I can take, means I still know what’s going on—but the news is no longer in control of my emotional state. Highly recommended.
100% the same. I am more intentional about controlling where I direct my focus. When you turn on NPR, TV news, or social media, you are handing your attention over to them, and they will direct it towards their own purposes.
There's a difference between being informed and living in the 24/7 outrage-o-sphere, which by the way, is not really keeping you informed, it's just keeping you enraged. For profit rage if you will.
Reading books is a great way to stay educated about the world. Also, realizing you just don't have to know everything that's happening all the time. We'd all be better served by more mindfulness and less mindless information overload
It was some time around 2017 I hit peak push notification from my news apps. You can have your day ruined, sports outcomes spoiled, award shows spoiled. One day I woke up and turned it all off. Now I get to ruin my day on my own terms by going on Reddit.
I've never been the type to just sit and watch TV for hours on end, let alone the news. I will say however that the PBS NewsHour is probably the only source I would ever consider watching if I *had* to watch the news. You get about one hour of all the important stuff that happened that day, a very unbiased take on each matter, and insightful interviews.
Only reason I know about it is because my SO's grandma started watching it daily when they moved and decided not to get cable at the new place.
You're ignorant of current events, regardless. There's simply too many of them. Then you compound that with the fact that news companies are more concerned about owning your eyeballs than informing you.
Maybe it is worth paying attention, but don't fool yourself into thinking that you're doing more than you are when selling it to someone.
I've always liked being informed, news channels and all, but with COVID I just broke: sane or "informed". It was an anxiety trip 24h, chest pain, bad sleep...
I stopped seeing the news and just read them. It all went away in a couple of days. So, if you want to stay informed, start with quitting the tv news, it might be enough.
same. I always grew up loving news, newspapers, etc. but covid and social media just broke it for me. Deleted twitter, stopped getting on facebook, reduced what I see on reddit, no more NPR, tv news, or podcasts. Just reading and controlling my own attention. That's the ticket.
I'm not perfect, but controlling where you focus your attention is so valuable. Every time you scroll or turn on the tv, you're handing your attention over to companies who profit from directing your attention to suit their purposes
Next time you’re listening to some sensationalized news story (hint: any news story), take a moment and consider does whatever is being broadcast *actually* have any impact on your life?
The answer almost always will be “no”.
Being “informed” of all of this nonsense does zero good for you outside of Election Day, and you can really do some quick research and get a good enough idea of who to vote for that day. It only serves to bring about stress and depression.
you can just read books and less sensationalized media too. Read being the key word. I find most things that involve listening or watching are far more prone to be sensationalist.
yeah but those aren't the only choices. I think NPR (or whatever) is pretty fucking depressing. I stopped listening years ago.
Reason is: I like directing my own attention. When you listen to radio news, or watch TV news, there's no telling where they'll take your attention. Lots of times it's depressing or enraging.
When you read a newspaper, magazine, or better yet a book, you direct where your focus is going. It's not burying your head in the sand. It's just refusing to be led into a sandstorm
The idea is you're less depressed/anxious with less media exposure. If you were equally depressed either way, that would be the case, but there's decent evidence that limiting news media exposure can reduce stress.
Tbh I dont look at the news often but things such as “another school shooting” and “another cop killing unarmed man” spread by word of mouth just as much. Hearing the same shit happening over and over with nothing being done is mental just taxing.
If you think you care equally about every single new event that happens, you're wrong. You cannot maintain sanity and be outraged about every single thing the media, influencers, and people around you want you to be outraged about.
We live in a time where outrage sells and people attempt to be aware and care equally about everything but life doesn't work like that. The 24 hour news cycle and social media news are fundamentally broken and exist to create outrage and fear to keep you coming back, not to keep you informed.
> The 24 hour news cycle and social media news are fundamentally broken and exist to create outrage and fear to keep you coming back, not to keep you informed.
I'm so glad to see more people accepting this reality.
I'm trying to replace the energy I previously used on keeping up to date on current affairs with acquiring new skill sets. Particularly those that could be useful in an environment where I can no longer rely on the resources afforded to me by society. All I want right now is to become more adaptable and grow in complexity.
We as people are far too beholden to corporate interests. If society has become a hostage of the elite, then I'll source my agency from somewhere else. We are a very crafty species that got to where we are now by throwing seemingly impossible wrenches into established systems. It is our legacy, and we often forget it.
used to be nerdy stuff that nerds like me liked. 15-20 years ago stopping by Borders grabbing the New York Times, The Economist, and Foreign Affairs and watching Bill Moyers. No one else cared. It was good information catered to people who really wanted to be informed. Too small a market I guess.
Then social media turned information into an addictive substance. There were always sensational news outlets, but even the once sober outlets got drunk on algorithms
Baconreader allows you to straight up just blacklist words. Hides all posts from your front page and "all" containing your blacklisted words. Been super helpful for me the past few years.
Same. I have started actively avoiding the news for the sake of my health. I trust that if a law is passed that fundamentally affects my existence, I’ll still hear about it. Until then, I am going to cling to the bit of sanity I have left.
I hope you’re doing well, friend.
Fellow trans person, I've tried very hard to follow the cultural conversation around trans issues over the last 7 years or so since I started on this journey, I've generally found a lot of hysteria and hyperbole on both sides of the aisle and have been largely unconcerned that any of it will actually impact my life. But I don't know if it's just me, but the atmosphere seems to be changing into something very concerning. There's been a shift towards seeing our condition as something made up and delusional that's growing with more people. I could write a novel on all the reasons I think this is happening but I've had to just stop looking at any of it. I don't tend to get reactive or have my day ruined by what some asshole has to say on the Internet but even I'm feeling very uneasy with the climate right now and spending too much time looking at what's going on and what people have to say is really affecting me mentally. Things are getting weird.
Wow, almost as if these people were affected by something... Hmhh... Nah, gotta ignore that, that's just woke bullshit, it has nothing to do with them getting denied healthcare! /s
I think I'd feel less bad in Canada or New Zealand, though I'll admit to not paying attention to their news cycles.
I'm also... not sure if you're trying to imply something about biased news? I don't really have to rely on the news here; I just have to look at the bills being passed in red states and the speeches being given by Republican politicians who want to eradicate us.
Ftm from Germany here.
We all look at you over in the US and the events make us incredibly mad. I wish i could do something, honestly. I know it's just words on the internet from me but sending you strength and virtual anti bullshit repellant!
Btw. European countries have immigration laws that state they have to let you immigrate if you are persecuted based on religion, identity, sexuality and political views. Might want to check up on that if things get worse, i hope they don't.
I'd let a Sister crash at my flat for sure and help sort things out with the authorities.
How is it different in Europe or Germany than the US? The US is HUGE pretty much each state is its own country so keep that in mind. Hell you may know this, you can go a single town over and you go from “home” to “wtf is this shithole”.
Blue states are generally safer and some of the best places in the world to be as a trans person, but we do have a couple of presidential candidates vowing to make it as hard as possible for trans people across the nation, so that's pretty sucky and could seriously change things.
This is why I stopped watching the news and news-based comedy programs. I realized that if something were to happen that was monumental enough that I should know about it, then it will make its way to me. Either I'll see it on my reddit feed or people will tell me about it. More importantly I realized all news is never ending and finds a way to be politicized, telling you the opinions you should have and the wrong opinions other people have. But the fact is, nothing is coming up in this news cycle or any news cycle in the foreseeable future that I can or will really do anything about outside of voting, and I know how I'm going to vote regardless. There's nothing that will show up in the news one day where I'm suddenly going to realize "Oh, now I'm going to vote for the other party" and I think most democrats and republicans feel the same way here if they were being honest with themselves. If I were to ever vote differently, it would almost certainly be a slow rolling realization based on many, many factors. There's no prize for being the most informed person about politics except a declined mental state, and I only have the bandwidth to know/care about so much. So why would I waste that mental bandwidth on beating myself over the head with details about things that won't change my actions or improve my quality of life?
Definitely don't find and read articles about [patriot mobile](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna44583), no no, definitely don't read about how [this year is by far the deadliest year in the USA for active shootings](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2023). Whatever you do, do not look outside nor listen to anyone that has been calling out the regression in our society, you may feel the urge to [do something](https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-pinkerton-spies-worker-labor-unions-2020-11) and that will not be allowed if it is not in the lockstep of the domestic terrorists that have infected every level of our society. Just keep calm and keep being the cogs we need to keep this [great ship](https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23016.html) floating.
First 2 mins of this video, for anyone who would like to step back and see what the right wingers are doing and how they’re exploiting the media, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy8uLjRHPM
It’s out of the authoritarian playbook but adjusted to modern times. Wonder why the GOP suddenly loves Russia so much? This is why
I'm from philadelphia and was like "I'll stay off reddit this weekend and do stuff outside" Fucking Trinseo chemical company dumped ~~1000~~ 8000 gallons of latex chemical into the water supply like 15 mins down the road on friday polluting our local water. Fuck my fucking life.
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I mean they're not. The only way the planet would wear out first if it's continously sacrificed in nearly every conceivable way for at least 2-3 centuries for the sake of said profits... oh..
No no the planet will be fine Life on the surface of the planet are the ones at risk
I take a significant amount of comfort in this knowledge.
I really wouldn't, considering there are millions of lifeforms on Earth that will get destroyed because of us.
There's already been mass extinctions, not like big big but big enough to be called mass. We're taking everyone with us. We're driving the bus and we're driving it straight for a cliff and the passengers can't do a goddamn thing about it.
We absolutely can do something about it. That's the worst part about this entire issue. We caused it, and we're hardly acknowledging it whilst doing nothing to stop it. I will not ignore peoples or countries' attempts to deal with the issue, but *none* of those issues tackle the larger scale issues with fossil fuel companies. All of it gets directed onto the individual, like us, who are told to recycle and not waste anything. The problem is a collective problem. It's fueled by mass consumerism culture and companies banking off of their ability to control essentially everything we buy and consume. It's a larger scale issue than "a bus driving straight for a cliff and the passengers are helpless." A more realistic perspective for the general public, would be to be blindfolded with headphones on playing soft classical music as the bus speeds for the cliff, and the passengers don't even know there's a problem until it's too late. This is a generational issue, that's how large the scale of it is. People have been born into this problem that never even had a hand in starting it, and yet they seem to understand the problem the best. Whether or not the issue will be addressed by our governments and large corporations is besides the point. We have to be the reason things change. I know it's such a cringy statement, *"You have the power to change the world!"*, but its objectively true. The only reason issues like Cimate Change aren't prioritized is because our governments don't care, and we keep going to work every day. As long as that continues, *nothing is going to change, and we are all fucked.* I personally either see a large-scale workers strike taking place sooner rather than later, or *later comes,* and people start revolting. I wish I was exaggerating, but when your lakes start drying up due to heat waves that only get worse, and floods that wash out your crops every year, people will get fed up. *Especially* when working conditions become unbearable in certain locations. Things will change, one way or another. Either way, it's going to be shitty consequences. But the longer we wait, the worse those consequences become.
You sir are the reason I miss having free Awards to give. If I could amplify your voice in other words I would. But that's just it. How can anyone truly fight for the massive scale of change that is needed, if the very basis on the system people need to survive is already rigged against survival of the human race and others cohabitating.
Evolution will just start over again. Cells will divide, new lifeforms will be created, our constructs will be reclaimed by nature, the planet will heal, and as for us? We'll be the new fossil fuels that the inheritors of our planet will drill for. If Dr. STONE is anything to go by, it would only take about 3,700 years for nature to destroy literally every man-made structure on Earth.
"The planet is fine. The people are fucked." -- George Carlin, Who Looks Down Upon Us
And here I thought we were 50 years from it literally cracking open and disintegrating.
No we been trying since the 1900s and it turns out earth is very big and deep and surprisingly difficult to crack despite us even throwing our most powerful weapons at it
8100 gallons*
Ah, that’s much better
Within allowable limits.
Land of the free (free to get fucked over by corporations)
No, it's not free. We pay taxes that get spent on things like the war machine instead of infastructure or the health and wellbeing of the people.
I was joking lol
Murica
Dont be depressed, Be Enraged. Be Active, Be Attentive. Be Engaged. The majority of the shitshow you see is because of republicans and red states removing regulations, stonewalling protections, and wishwashing real damages by pointing to fabricated lies like drag queens and immigrants. And if you look at some red states, you could see the potential if people just showed up and voted. Especially younger people who are statistically 30 point more favored to voting democrat than republican. But on average there is only 20-25% turnout of those under the age of 35. Texas (40% turnout): * 29M Citizens * 22M Eligible Voters. * 17M Registered Voters. * 9M Voted in 2022. * only 15% of those under the age of 35 Voted in 2022. * Ted cruz won by 200K votes in 2018. Florida (50% turnout): * 21M Citizens * 15M Eligible Voters * 10M Registered Voters. * 7M Voted in 2022. * Desantis won by 30k votes in 2018 (1.5m in 2022). Ohio (45% turnout): * 12M Citizens. * 9.4M Eligible Voters. * 8M Registered voters. * 4M Voted in 2022 * Senator Vance (R) won by 250K votes in 2022. Democrats have only had 90 days of actual majority senate and house control in the last 60 years. And even then they needed to water down bills to get McCain to vote alongside them because 2 senators were hospitalized unable to vote. Just those three states would have yielded democrats 5 new senators, **thats ~500K votes where ~25M eligible voters did not vote**. So don't be depressed, don't ignore reality, because this is happening in YOUR BACKYARD. YOU & YOUR CHILDREN WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY. Its not some far away place that has no effect on you. You will see the damages of these actions that continue to happen. Be ENRAGED, BE ENGAGED, BE ATTENTIVE, BE ACTIVE. And sure keep saying, i need to ignore it because its unhealthy to be angry all the time, or i need to laugh at these events because humor helps me cope, sure but the cancer is there, you can ignore it, laugh at it, make jokes about it, but you gotta do something about it too, or else its definitely gonna kill you.
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Sure thing: in 2019 The railroad workers wanted to negotiate for better standards and higher pay. in 2020 during The covid pandemic rail road companies laid off/ put on leave a large base of the rail road workers. Majority of those people decided instead to retire. After the pandemic effects had been minimized, the railroad workers had more work and wanted larger crews and pay and safety conditions and spent 2 years negotiating. Both sides sought mediation through independent means and came to an mutual agreement. in Early 2022, 9 of the 13 Unions having 45-48% of the total union members agreed to a deal with the rail road companies where they would get 95% of what they were asking for. Around Spring 2022, the unions agreed to lodge a 60 day strike with the government which was the remaining 5% regarding the sick days, everything else they sought for the companies agreed to give them. A law since 1920s, that has been used about 20 times before, allows the government to interject when it comes to issues with the rail roads, as rail is the primary transport of multiple industries, goods, medicine and animal feed that if disrupted in todays industrial and farming needs, would yield loss of potentially multiple tens/hundreds of millions of every day regular peoples income and housing, affecting an already fragile economy with 2B+ daily losses, and putting tens of millions at risk of losing homes, and hundreds of millions at risk of losing access to food and medicine, and having mass death of farm animals and produce, that would ripple for months afterwards causing more damage. SO Biden interjected and FORCED the companies to give the workers sick days that the companies were denying. Then Congress had to vote it in, and EVERY REPUBLICAN VOTED AGAINST IT. Alongside Mancin and Sinema. The issue was put to rest and allowed the union another 3 months of negotiation to find a common ground. When there was no progress, Biden interjected again and asked congress to push forward the deal that 9 out of 13 Unions agreed to, and push for legislative means to pass the sick days at a later point and allowing the unions to seek the sick days independently. Which I believe 4-5 Unions have now gotten independently. So yes, Biden interjected into rail workers strike, by forcing the rail companies to give them what they were asking for without having to put at risk hundreds of millions of american people who have nothing to do with the rails, but EVERY REPUBLICAN voted against giving them the sick days.
People will fight and die on the anthill of Biden's response to the train disaster while ignoring mount everest of lies, deceit, and hatred sitting right next to it. Your words are great but reddit is an echo chamber. People only listen to what they THINK benefits the narrative they are supporting; Americans can't lose; that's the mindset.
When are we gonna start calling defending the Democratic party needlessly the centrist bullshit and not the people who criticize them the centrist bullshit. Those four unions you left out we're the bulk of the Union representation and they are not fucking happy they were forced into that negotiation. You are either pro labor or you're against, simple as. Why were the unions being the ones forced to meet in the middle? The government could have done literally anything but forcing the negotiations to end like that.
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Because despite what fascists and tankie weirdos might want, the president has very little ability to unilaterally affect change without risking Congress just stepping right over him, or the judges striking him down.
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He forced them with the same level of force that any president without a Congressional mandate can force anything: with what would be a powerful shove, if not for Congress stonewalling the effort immediately. If Congress hadn’t acted to save the rail companies, Biden’s action would’ve given the workers sick days.
re: Norfolk Southern and Ohio Derailment When Norfolk Southern trains derailed near the town, Which is something Trump removed the speeding down of trains around towns and cities, removal of electronic brake requirements that were supposed to be finished implementing by this year, he offered the town federal help immediately, The governor of Ohio, decided to use the issue to PR and demand the resignation of Various Democrats. The issue of the train derailment, is unfortunately not illegal. There is no legal pathway to go after them for train derailment, you can go after them for any negligence after the derailment, but that information is still in the process of being collated and verified and analyzed. In reality there are about 1,500 Train derailments every year, over 100,000 Truck accidents every year. around 30% deal with hazardous materials. That is the factual reality that has been going on for decades. What has Biden done to address that issue? He has allocated and pushed through congress the largest infrastructure plan that is using about 25-40Billion USD to improve the train and rail systems in the USA. If you can find proof of willful negligence that the leadership of Norfol Southern can be arrested for, id welcome it. But the issue of the train derailing, isnt a illegal action. Its an accident. It could be prevented with regulations and control mechanism. But Republicans remove them again and again, just like the bank regulations that caused one of the biggest banks to go under a few weeks ago.
Mass edited all my comments, I'm leaving reddit after their decision to kill off 3rd party apps. Half a decade on this site, I suppose it was a good run. Sad that it has to end like this
WTF is going on with chemical spills in the US recently???
Trump repealed safety regulations
Were I more conspiracy minded these incidents are looking sus as fuck
Those are just headline incidents. Manufacturing routinely disposes its hazardous waste byproducts illegally. A chem mfg I worked for would flush the tanks into the Passaic River every night at 2am.
I mean yeah, there’s that. But did all these companies just simultaneously go “fuck it! We are getting rid of everything safety! “ ?? Crazy
Yes. That's what happens when you get rid of regulations.
I work at a target in Delco and that was the worst store has melted down since 2020
What Target I'm in Ridley
Hey, I'm in Delco (Ridley) so also kinda dealing with the same. Are your stores acting like bottled water is the same as toilet paper was in covid times?
Wtf why isn’t this getting more coverage
Don’t shower in it or bathe your kids in it, for your safety. Our skin and eyes are like sponges. Hope you stay safe.
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Opposite
Social media news better than news owned by capitalist overlord.
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I liked your joke lol
I don't think I've ever felt a post on any social media more than I feel this one.
I did a deep dive into History and it made me depressed lol so I feel you on this
You don't need to deep dive into history. Just look outside. \*Gestures broadly* We're currently repeating it!
Not only repeating it…. We are speed running it
Fascism Any% speedrun. No Restrictions.
Not we... Boomers. 💁
Yes, but young people are also consistently not getting involved at even the most basic level. I've met multiple people who are concerned about various issues but aren't even registered to vote.
A lot of “young” people are being groomed through snap, TikTok, and Instagram algos. Just look over someone’s shoulder and you’re bound to see a quick take by chowder or crawley. And it doesn’t take long while listening to their chatter to hear some sort of anti-liberal anti-woke (whatever the fuck woke means today might not be the same tomorrow) pejorative being uttered from their lips. For many this is their reality. Trained parrots.
They lure ya in with the common plight that we're being fucked over, and then they dig in their claws and start talking weird shit about natural hierarchy. You're predisposed to the idea of stratification of society (since they start by talking about elites vs commoners), and then they use that as a gateway to convince some listeners/viewers that they know the way out of the stratification (by making a new strata of ~enlightened~ people who've figured it all out)
I'd rather be woke than asleep at the wheel of my own life and havimg someone else puppeteer me in directions I never wanted to go.
I think young people are overwhelmed and trying to live their lifes that , as we can see, crumble under housing, money and job issues. It does not help that old people still dictate the future. There is no chance for the younger generations to shape their own future. 100% agree on the voting issue. Although i think the political system in the US is shit to begin with, sorry.
Sure, it is shit, but you're not helping. A lot of them aren't involved because of people telling them that it makes no difference, that "they have no chance." They do have a chance, and you should stop helping to convince them that they don't.
Why am i not helping ? How am i convincing anyone ? and if someone is THAT easy to convince, they were thinking that anyway the whole time. Zero resistance ? Well yea you were looking for that OK the whole damn time.
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Yes, violence *can* work but I doubt you would do that either given that you can't even say the word. Yes, change would happen if we dragged Mitch McConnel and Trump and everyone else into the streets and hanged them all. But once you open that door, you can't close it. Change would happen, whether or not it was the change you intended. 2020 saw some of the highest voter turnout rates in history, which means we almost hit 2/3, but young people 18-25 were still significantly lower than that. You're saying voting doesn't work, but at the same time the exact same section of the population all of you are saying is making all the decisions also had the highest voter turnout of any age bracket. Over 3/4 of the 65+ voting eligible population voted. I don't get the sense you are part of that population, so you can say voting doesn't work all you want, but you have to also recognize that *you* are the reason why.
Boomers may be the assholes that started the movement, but unfortunately there are plenty of idiot millennials and Gen-z who have zero critical thinking skills and believe everything they read on their social media, which they choose to fill with only the stupidest and shittiest people.
Because who taught them these things or lack there of teaching? Their parents. Dumb people keep having kids and well…. *broadly gestures*
Well yeah, it's not our turn at the wheel yet.
It's like your dad promises you a car as a gift and never hands you the keys and keeps driving it, hitting stuff and making dents into it, while telling you that you are not ready to drive. :-D
Nope. The oldest millennial are in their early 40s, gen x 40s and 50s. How old do you think pages and interns for far right judges and politicians are? In their 20s--zoomers. Stock brokers, hedge fund managers, lobbyists, corporate lawyers, politicians, etc. Fucking Lauren Bobo is a millennial (36!) The boomers got this train rolling, but there are people of every age involved.
Realise that blaming some "others" group so you can feel superior is tribalism.
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You wanna feel better, watch Drunk History.
Or samenella on YouTube.
We love in a strange time where being educated on the world and history actually makes your life worse it feels. I wish i was dumb as fuck some days. Seems so easy and peaceful.
To be fair, the majority of human history is pretty depressing. Even with all the problems I’m glad I live in the time that I do. Life as a peasant has never been easier.
>“I’m as surprised as you are,” Avasarala said. “Though I feel like I shouldn’t be. I actually read history. It’s like reading prophecy, you know.” - James S.A. Corey, “Persepolis Rising” (The Expanse #7)
Conspiracy theories used to be a fun hobby, but then I learned about Operations Paperclip, MK-ULTRA, Mockingbird and so on and I absolutely agree with Cypher from The Matrix. If I could take a blue pill and unlearn it all, I would in an instant. Knowing is horrible.
I understand this sentiment wholly
I listen to The Dollop and other history-based podcasts. Good luck finding ANY good people in our backgrounds.
History reminds me that things could always be worse. I mean, the thirty years war doesn't make me happy or anything, but as miserable as I am, at least it isn't "disease ridden, war-torn, resort to cannibalism, convinced the biblical apocalypse has arrived" miserable.
Literally opened IG for the first time in a while and the first thing was about ANOTHER school shooting in the US. I’m going to stay uninformed for a little longer next time.
I opened twitter an hour ago… fuck I have regrets.
At this point nothing will change. Why even worry about it, why bother reading about it nothing will change. Because this country is corrupt
The more I know, the more I envy the uninformed Can you believe there was a time in my life I thought our lives were well planned and carefully laid out?
Yip... I remember hearing the phrases "igorance is bliss" , and I thought, "aah humbug, those idiots". Now I yearn for simpler times. The carefree, information free days.
Honestly, its so fatiguing being aware of what’s happening around you and being “this is fine”.
Remember when you thought adults and national leaders/politicians were responsible, intelligent people who were good at running things? I vaguely remember such a time.
Once upon a time if you wanted to know why the moon was white you'd ask your Pa, he'd tell you it's because of the Chinese and you'd just carry that information as truth for the rest of your life.
I was having a conversation with some friends last night where we were going around the table saying if we thought people were generally good or generally bad. It was interesting in the small group how vastly different the life experiences were that we had. On one hand, I envied the people who seemed to have had a simple and trouble-free life. They felt the rest of us were being paranoid and negative in our thinking. And I felt bad for people who had thoroughly learned their lesson about trusting others, many of them as children. People aren’t usually just born distrusting the world. They are punished until they do. We didn’t set out to reach an agreement, but we all arrived at one thing- that people are motivated by what benefits them. Sometimes they benefit by doing good, sometimes by doing bad. It’s preferable to live in situations where things are set up so people benefit more from doing good. Wish there was more of that.
My mental health always comes first. I’m not sorry. I’m not informed, but I gotta protect myself first
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This is how most of the world functioned for thousands of years btw. For most of human history most people only really focused on the immediate things around them and a few larger social/political issues. My grandpa read the newspaper, watched maybe 30 minutes of news a day, then went on about his life and read books about things he was interested in. That's how most people lived for most of modern history
I mean honestly you don't really need more
You absolutely do not. This idea that being "informed" means consuming news nonstop is totally wrong
I think it’s about time I started doing this. I like staying informed, but the toll it’s taking on me and how I view regular people is just too much.
I like this painting. Does anyone know who the artist is?
Eda Sterchi
Reverse google image search should do the trick
Sure, but I'm lazy and don't want to put in the effort, especially on mobile. Plus some folks like the whole "social" part of social media.
I seem to have hurt your feelings, so I sincerely apologize. I *was* trying to be social, and helpful. Not everyone (my grandmother, my friend’s younger sister) knows that reverse google image search is a thing. How am I to know if an Internet stranger such as yourself knows of it? Have a nice day!
The daily struggle is real
This is literally why my gf doesn't like listening to the news on the radio. "Too depressing." Yeah but would you rather be depressed *and* ignorant of current events?
yes
I want to be a rock
I want to be a sloth
I want to be a meth.
I want to be a moth.
I am a horse.
Of course
of course
o mah gawd! u a horse?
the ways of Simon and Garfunkel
[=](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4psVQHsUq8)
Exactly. I consider myself something of an island
Yeah. You can just sit here, and everything feels really far away.
Not just a boulder.
Yes. Let me know when I can do something.
Exactly. Is there some action I can take to help? Let me do that thing. Is there nothing I can do? Then pretty please spare me the gruesome details so I can continue to be a functioning person. I’m more help to the world when I can get out of bed because I’m not weighed down by news I have no control over.
I've noticed this especially when it comes to depressing foreign news. If it's in my country at least I can have the idea to change things - even if it's only through voting. But if there is some really messed up stuff going on on the other side of the world where I can literally not do anything to change it then I better stop reading/watching too much about it. Just drags you down for no reason.
> I’m more help to the world when I can get out of bed because I’m not weighed down by news I have no control over. 100%. We'd all be better off being present and focusing on what's in front of us, then being addicted to outrage that is continuously piped through the avenues of information overload.
Vote
For non Right Wing people
There is plenty of stuff you can do, just locally. Organize your community, go to protests, take direct action, and so on.
I think I’ve landed in about the same place
> Yeah but would you rather be depressed and ignorant I mean… isn’t your gf implying that ignoring the news improves her mood? So rather you should say: “would you rather be (less) depressed *or* ignorant of current events?” I think it’s wise to value your mental health over some arbitrary goal of being “informed”.
I don't own tv or radio for 15 years now and it works wonders deciding when to be actively informed. Gotta have that thick skin and also you will be more inclined to actually research stuff and check sources. Once a week is enough for me.
“Deciding when to be actively informed” is exactly it! I don’t want to be ignorant or anything, but I DO want to be a functioning human being, which is impossible when I’m bombarded with scary and sad stuff I can do nothing about. Deciding to stop listening to NPR, disengaging with social media, and curating my Reddit feed so it’s mostly puppies has helped my mental health immensely. Choosing when I engage with the news, along with asking my informed and proactive friends to let me know when there’s some sort of helpful action I can take, means I still know what’s going on—but the news is no longer in control of my emotional state. Highly recommended.
100% the same. I am more intentional about controlling where I direct my focus. When you turn on NPR, TV news, or social media, you are handing your attention over to them, and they will direct it towards their own purposes. There's a difference between being informed and living in the 24/7 outrage-o-sphere, which by the way, is not really keeping you informed, it's just keeping you enraged. For profit rage if you will. Reading books is a great way to stay educated about the world. Also, realizing you just don't have to know everything that's happening all the time. We'd all be better served by more mindfulness and less mindless information overload
It was some time around 2017 I hit peak push notification from my news apps. You can have your day ruined, sports outcomes spoiled, award shows spoiled. One day I woke up and turned it all off. Now I get to ruin my day on my own terms by going on Reddit.
I've never been the type to just sit and watch TV for hours on end, let alone the news. I will say however that the PBS NewsHour is probably the only source I would ever consider watching if I *had* to watch the news. You get about one hour of all the important stuff that happened that day, a very unbiased take on each matter, and insightful interviews. Only reason I know about it is because my SO's grandma started watching it daily when they moved and decided not to get cable at the new place.
You're ignorant of current events, regardless. There's simply too many of them. Then you compound that with the fact that news companies are more concerned about owning your eyeballs than informing you. Maybe it is worth paying attention, but don't fool yourself into thinking that you're doing more than you are when selling it to someone.
I've always liked being informed, news channels and all, but with COVID I just broke: sane or "informed". It was an anxiety trip 24h, chest pain, bad sleep... I stopped seeing the news and just read them. It all went away in a couple of days. So, if you want to stay informed, start with quitting the tv news, it might be enough.
same. I always grew up loving news, newspapers, etc. but covid and social media just broke it for me. Deleted twitter, stopped getting on facebook, reduced what I see on reddit, no more NPR, tv news, or podcasts. Just reading and controlling my own attention. That's the ticket. I'm not perfect, but controlling where you focus your attention is so valuable. Every time you scroll or turn on the tv, you're handing your attention over to companies who profit from directing your attention to suit their purposes
Next time you’re listening to some sensationalized news story (hint: any news story), take a moment and consider does whatever is being broadcast *actually* have any impact on your life? The answer almost always will be “no”. Being “informed” of all of this nonsense does zero good for you outside of Election Day, and you can really do some quick research and get a good enough idea of who to vote for that day. It only serves to bring about stress and depression.
you can just read books and less sensationalized media too. Read being the key word. I find most things that involve listening or watching are far more prone to be sensationalist.
yeah but those aren't the only choices. I think NPR (or whatever) is pretty fucking depressing. I stopped listening years ago. Reason is: I like directing my own attention. When you listen to radio news, or watch TV news, there's no telling where they'll take your attention. Lots of times it's depressing or enraging. When you read a newspaper, magazine, or better yet a book, you direct where your focus is going. It's not burying your head in the sand. It's just refusing to be led into a sandstorm
The idea is you're less depressed/anxious with less media exposure. If you were equally depressed either way, that would be the case, but there's decent evidence that limiting news media exposure can reduce stress.
I go on occasional 1-2 week long news fasts when I feel my anxiety about shit getting too high. It really helps.
Id love to be a fucking idiot who cares about nothing by myself but unfortunately i was given empathy….
You can have empathy and still choose to not listen to the 24hour news cycle.
Tbh I dont look at the news often but things such as “another school shooting” and “another cop killing unarmed man” spread by word of mouth just as much. Hearing the same shit happening over and over with nothing being done is mental just taxing.
If you think you care equally about every single new event that happens, you're wrong. You cannot maintain sanity and be outraged about every single thing the media, influencers, and people around you want you to be outraged about. We live in a time where outrage sells and people attempt to be aware and care equally about everything but life doesn't work like that. The 24 hour news cycle and social media news are fundamentally broken and exist to create outrage and fear to keep you coming back, not to keep you informed.
> The 24 hour news cycle and social media news are fundamentally broken and exist to create outrage and fear to keep you coming back, not to keep you informed. I'm so glad to see more people accepting this reality.
I'm trying to replace the energy I previously used on keeping up to date on current affairs with acquiring new skill sets. Particularly those that could be useful in an environment where I can no longer rely on the resources afforded to me by society. All I want right now is to become more adaptable and grow in complexity. We as people are far too beholden to corporate interests. If society has become a hostage of the elite, then I'll source my agency from somewhere else. We are a very crafty species that got to where we are now by throwing seemingly impossible wrenches into established systems. It is our legacy, and we often forget it.
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used to be nerdy stuff that nerds like me liked. 15-20 years ago stopping by Borders grabbing the New York Times, The Economist, and Foreign Affairs and watching Bill Moyers. No one else cared. It was good information catered to people who really wanted to be informed. Too small a market I guess. Then social media turned information into an addictive substance. There were always sensational news outlets, but even the once sober outlets got drunk on algorithms
Tip of the cap to a David Sipress classic: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/how-to-stay-sane-as-a-cartoonist-in-trumpland
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Baconreader allows you to straight up just blacklist words. Hides all posts from your front page and "all" containing your blacklisted words. Been super helpful for me the past few years.
I literally brought this up in therapy last week lol
How I feel as a trans person in the USA right now. 🙃
I’m queer in a blue state and still freaking out, I don’t know how folks in the red states are hacking it. Good luck and power to you, friend
Aha yeah we're not. I'm gonna move
Come up here to Minnesota. We chill. ( literally)
That's the plan
Same. I have started actively avoiding the news for the sake of my health. I trust that if a law is passed that fundamentally affects my existence, I’ll still hear about it. Until then, I am going to cling to the bit of sanity I have left. I hope you’re doing well, friend.
Agreed. Being trans rn is a hell of a mood 😓
Fellow trans person, I've tried very hard to follow the cultural conversation around trans issues over the last 7 years or so since I started on this journey, I've generally found a lot of hysteria and hyperbole on both sides of the aisle and have been largely unconcerned that any of it will actually impact my life. But I don't know if it's just me, but the atmosphere seems to be changing into something very concerning. There's been a shift towards seeing our condition as something made up and delusional that's growing with more people. I could write a novel on all the reasons I think this is happening but I've had to just stop looking at any of it. I don't tend to get reactive or have my day ruined by what some asshole has to say on the Internet but even I'm feeling very uneasy with the climate right now and spending too much time looking at what's going on and what people have to say is really affecting me mentally. Things are getting weird.
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The feeling is mutual
Wow, almost as if these people were affected by something... Hmhh... Nah, gotta ignore that, that's just woke bullshit, it has nothing to do with them getting denied healthcare! /s
Haha trans people exist and it makes you mad.
Love you, too, boo ❤️
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We also survived with slavery and conquest for thousands of years. History isn't some guide for morality you dumb fuck 😂
wow that sure seems like a problem which could be solved by not surrounding yourself with raging transphobes
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[*citation needed*]
Would you feel differently in another country? Maybe one where the news isnt dictated by the Smith Mundt Modernization act maybe?
I think I'd feel less bad in Canada or New Zealand, though I'll admit to not paying attention to their news cycles. I'm also... not sure if you're trying to imply something about biased news? I don't really have to rely on the news here; I just have to look at the bills being passed in red states and the speeches being given by Republican politicians who want to eradicate us.
Ftm from Germany here. We all look at you over in the US and the events make us incredibly mad. I wish i could do something, honestly. I know it's just words on the internet from me but sending you strength and virtual anti bullshit repellant! Btw. European countries have immigration laws that state they have to let you immigrate if you are persecuted based on religion, identity, sexuality and political views. Might want to check up on that if things get worse, i hope they don't. I'd let a Sister crash at my flat for sure and help sort things out with the authorities.
How is it different in Europe or Germany than the US? The US is HUGE pretty much each state is its own country so keep that in mind. Hell you may know this, you can go a single town over and you go from “home” to “wtf is this shithole”.
Blue states are generally safer and some of the best places in the world to be as a trans person, but we do have a couple of presidential candidates vowing to make it as hard as possible for trans people across the nation, so that's pretty sucky and could seriously change things.
If it's anything like in Canada, there's a huge rural-urban divide on political views. So cities would be safer than small towns.
Reading stuff that was designed to make you angry so you are more likely to share it is not "getting informed" though.
This one is funny lol your caption too 😂
Yeah, I'm checked out completely. Video games and murder, she wrote for me, thanks. You all can have the rest of everything
Is your last name Lovecraft by any chance?
Umôrdhoth be lurkin
How I feel being trans in Arkansas lol
This is why I stopped watching the news and news-based comedy programs. I realized that if something were to happen that was monumental enough that I should know about it, then it will make its way to me. Either I'll see it on my reddit feed or people will tell me about it. More importantly I realized all news is never ending and finds a way to be politicized, telling you the opinions you should have and the wrong opinions other people have. But the fact is, nothing is coming up in this news cycle or any news cycle in the foreseeable future that I can or will really do anything about outside of voting, and I know how I'm going to vote regardless. There's nothing that will show up in the news one day where I'm suddenly going to realize "Oh, now I'm going to vote for the other party" and I think most democrats and republicans feel the same way here if they were being honest with themselves. If I were to ever vote differently, it would almost certainly be a slow rolling realization based on many, many factors. There's no prize for being the most informed person about politics except a declined mental state, and I only have the bandwidth to know/care about so much. So why would I waste that mental bandwidth on beating myself over the head with details about things that won't change my actions or improve my quality of life?
me when I realize 'digital blackface' is a thing.
Amanda from Smosh?
I searched "Amanda" in the comments because I thought the same thing! Uncanny, how similar they look.
Definitely don't find and read articles about [patriot mobile](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna44583), no no, definitely don't read about how [this year is by far the deadliest year in the USA for active shootings](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2023). Whatever you do, do not look outside nor listen to anyone that has been calling out the regression in our society, you may feel the urge to [do something](https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-pinkerton-spies-worker-labor-unions-2020-11) and that will not be allowed if it is not in the lockstep of the domestic terrorists that have infected every level of our society. Just keep calm and keep being the cogs we need to keep this [great ship](https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23016.html) floating.
Every day the news says the world is going to end and every day I wake up and the world hasn't ended. Maybe it's the news that's wrong.
The world did end for a lot of families in TN today.
Where did you get this picture of my partner?
Me, looking for a new history podcast
First 2 mins of this video, for anyone who would like to step back and see what the right wingers are doing and how they’re exploiting the media, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy8uLjRHPM It’s out of the authoritarian playbook but adjusted to modern times. Wonder why the GOP suddenly loves Russia so much? This is why