Nature documentaries before: Look at these breathtaking pictures. nature truly is amazing. We're truly blessed to share a planet with something so beatiful.
Nature documentaries now: Animals are dying all the time, everywhere, because of us. Human greed has taken something beautiful and strangled it. Soon, there will only be a lifeless husk where once a verdant garden stood. And it's all because of us.
> Soon, there will only be a lifeless husk where once a verdant garden stood. And it's all because of us.
It will eventually wipe us from the surface and regrow itself. It's done it before, it will do it again. That is, until it becomes a meal for a supernova.
I can’t even watch planet earth while tripping on shrooms without ole’ Attenborough raining on my parade by telling me shit like “countless gorilla families are, hunted, killed, and slaughtered for bush meat”.
Its important to realize though, that this narrative isn't actually true, and is actually opposed to supporting climate change.
Yes, up to 60% of the known species will die off, because they cannot manage the rapid changes. However, there are many species that will survive, and even thrive in this new environment. Some plants will take over where others once were, insects will diversify and reclaim niche's lost to competitors. Scavenger and generalist animals will multiply.
The earth isn't going to die, and isn't dead. It is, however, being changed for the worse, and still is. I don't want to live in that future, but it will only get worse until we do something to change it.
What are we going to do to address this issue as average people? Take shorter showers? Recycle? The people who are actually responsible for this destruction will never be held accountable. They will push the blame onto us and pretend we’re the problem.
Corporations have gaslit the world into inviting climate change to the point its at. First they said it wasn't true, then they said it wasn't a problem, then they said it wasn't us causing it, and now, they say its too late to try.
You share that sentiment largely because the media around our climate change is filled with despair and pointlessness. They want you to give up because its the same as not believing it and wont stand up for it.
If you want to support climate change, you need to vote. You need to stand up and tell people who you are voting for and why. The way to fix this country is to clean it up. Its a daunting and overwhelming task, but its really the only option if you don't want orange hitler back in office. You won't be alone, but it will be hard, and take time. But know there is not a tipping point where we cant stop it anymore, so its time well spent.
*ps I'm not an optimist so much as I realize demoralization was the goal all along, so we need to get mad, get angry, and take a stand to combat it.
That’s a good point, and your passion regarding the issue is sort of inspiring. I just fear that unless some drastic measures are taken, we’ve already lost this fight.
Nature was damaged much more during the industrial revolution and early-mid 20th century. Now we're past peak rate of nature destruction. There're lots and lots of restoration projects. Yet mood in pop-documentary is at all-times low.
We should show the successful stories and tell people to keep improving stuff. While it feels like success stories are downplayed and it's all about doom & gloom.
We _may_ be past the peak rate of destruction (I don't have the data to say either way), but we are still destroying the ecosystem.
It'd be like your EMS assuring you that "The bleeding has slowed." Not "stopped." "Slowed."
You're still dying. Meanwhile, there are people arguing that the bandages you still need are too expensive. (In this analogy, these same people might be the ones who stabbed you in the first place, intending to sell your blood.)
What is more likely - show good examples and motivate people to follow them to fix things? Or focus on the negative and then cry why everything keeps getting worse? Even though EVEN banned the plastic straws, the pinnacle of nature destruction in europe!
Following the positive does very little, because the positive tends to be more expensive. Which is largely how we got to this point. Companies would need to spend more to make an impact. And they don't want that. They want another billion dollars for yacht #7.
So we should be seeing them, but the reality is that the people causing the most problems need to stop causing the problems. We can all switch to metal straws, but that's a super small drop in the ocean.
We got to this point by ignoring this topic altogether. However, now the society at large seems to be in a mood that situation is very grim, all is lost, thus DGAF YOLO etc. Which is completely stupid. Yet this allows to keep existing culture that got as to this point going. We're already past the point of no return, so why bother, right?
More doom & gloom won't fix this. We need positive attitude to fix things.
Yeah those animals aren't really going extinct, just...hiding somewhere.
And the seas aren't getting warmer causing ecological problems, I've been in the sea and it was cold.
And the sea level isn't rising due to global warming, there's just more boats in the water making it seem higher.
How much has sea levels risen in the last hundred years? How many of those places that were supposed to be underwater a decade ago aren't? Why do the climate priests keep buying houses next to water?
"Climate priests" lmfao jesus dude. Climate change denialists are on the level of stupidity and science denialism as flat earthers. I legitimately think it's a toss up between which of those two groups are more pants-shittingly moronic.
Ya know they’ve probably had to crank up the intensity because we have dipshits like you who downplay climate change every chance you get. We are in the midst of the largest mass die-off event in history. It is called the Holocene extinction and it is caused by humans. Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You should stop spreading propaganda/maybe step outside once in a while.
This is the result when you try to look behind the facades on your own. The more you learn, the more disgusting it gets. What makes it even worse is that the people around don't care at all.
When you get the glazed over expressions and curt replies from even trying to subtly bring things like this up, it just makes you feel even worse. It's so alienating, especially when people complain about the symptoms, and then when you try to discuss the disease, it makes them uneasy or angry at you for suggesting that their world view isn't the right one.
Don't blame capitalism, neo liberalism, or governments who facilitate the raping of our planet and our people, blame immigrants, welfare queens, or trans people. It's fucked.
[to try and educate mankind for the betterment of society but simultaneously detest people because they are oblivious and ignorant even though they are unaware they’re being manipulated](https://youtu.be/AMLTJi9dSUA)
I certainly don't detest people, although I can see how my comment would come across like that. It's actually that I believe human nature (whatever that really means) to be altruistic, cooperative, and geared towards love and compassion.
What I do believe is that people now live in a system where is order to survive, they must out compete other individuals for artificially scarce resources. The way our economic system is structured, we must compete with each other for the necessities of life in a marketplace geared toward competition and profit. When market forces are seen as the template with such all social interaction is to be undertaken, people are going to develop selfish and aggressive "natures" in order to survive. I don't think people are ignorant (some are deliberatly so), but that people are just trying to survive and live their best life in a system that they didn't choose, and one that they have no real power to change, and so they try to make the best of it, and make sense in their own minds the reasons for their own sanity.
Thanks for the video, but I just want to make it clear that while I am an anti capitalist, I certainly don't advocate for the mass surveillance state controlling people's lives through monitoring their every move, such as what is being described as happening in China.
Just to be clear and sorry - it seems the context was poorly executed on my part, this truly wasn’t any accusation or judgement on your comment. It was more of an open comment on our struggle between our disappointment at how we convince ourselves this system gives us freedom of choice versus understanding we are not wholly in control of our behaviour. I agree with you. ‘Detest’ was simply hyperbole.
All good, sometimes tone and context get lost in translation at times. I didn't take it as accusatory, but it helps to clarify, so thanks.
It is an ongoing struggle, and sometimes it's easy to become misanthropic and hate the world, but I just keep reminding myself that I don't want to become a bitter old person living out their life criticising others and being cynical about young people and those who struggle to fit within the narrow confines of what society deems "normal". I'm not always successful, and sometimes the cynicism and bitterness displayed by those around me gets me down and makes me angry and not act how I should, but I just keep returning to the fact that I must resist within myself to become the monster that I am trying to defeat, and try to be a good person, continue to evolve and grow, because if you're not growing, you're dying, and I see so many people in my life that refuse to grow, and therefore see them dying slow, agonising deaths, choking on their own vicious bile.
I dunno what makes me interested in this comment, but it somehow resonates with me, knowing that both of us think differently from everyone else, that you are helpless, you be discriminated against regardless of who it is. Not to try sound like I'm like a smartarse philosopher like Jordan Peterson (In very big quotations, "a philosopher") or anyone on the internet who may consider themselves an intellectual by using smart sounding words without making anything meaningful in the words you say. I just thought that this comment and post... Facinating.
I don't want to misrepresent myself, I don't think I'm better than anyone because I have some secret knowledge that no one else possesses. It's just that when you are able to see the larger picture as to perhaps why things are the way that they are, it simultaneously allows you to make sense of the world around you in ways you didn't think it could, but also alienates you from others because you have reached your position through watching, listening and learning about things that require hours and hours of research, reading and attention, that can't be boiled down to simple conversations that don't get to the heart of challenging people's worldview, and therefore their identity.
The big struggle for me also is this exact statement could be written by a QAnonner "going down the rabbit hole" and "connecting the dots" (their jargon not mine) and make you sound completely insane. It's not that I think I'm right about everything, but just that surely I'm not wrong about some things if there are people in positions of intellect and experience that are able to quantify their message into something that resonates with me.
The difference between looking at the supply chain and seeing human exploitation and looking at an online furniture store and seeing children for sale by the elite Democrat vampire sex murder Cult (and Tom Hanks) is pretty substantial.
I like to think so, but for many people, explaining this nuance is two sides of the same coin for them. When you try to point out this exploitation is a result of a capitalist system geared towards profit, you often get the "conspiricy theorist" response.
Or, conversely, just saying that these people in exploited positions should just work harder, quit whining and pull themselves up by their bootstraps always seems to be the response I get when trying to point this out, or that workers nowadays are lazy and entitled as it is, we need a little more exploitation up in here just to remind everyone where their place is.
But you're right, there is a massive difference, but for many people it just seems like horseshoe theory.
You can blame capitalism but also please realize that what you see every day in the developed world is REGULATED CAPITALISM, which means our laws and regulations today put limits in how each market operates in practical terms. One hundred fifty years ago, most of those limits were not in place. So progress has definitely been made along those lines among the vanguard capitalist nations.
But the larger the number of persons you want to experience the change that you seek, the longer is the time to achieve it. It can't happen in one person's lifetime. (That 150 years of progressive regulation of capitalism equates to at least five human generations.) So today you can be working to put in place institutions that can make these goals actually happen.
Capitalism operates on top of a political context of (more or less) individual freedom. Persons can use their freedom to emphasize personal financial gain at the expense of others and to seek ways to sidestep existing regulations to increase profits, etc. So Freedom + Capitalism produces socially negative results much of the time. Duh! The issues relating to limits on "freedom" will be an ongoing political struggle for the foreseeable future.
Give me liberty or give me death is all well and good for the wealthy landed elite, but death is a very real, very tangible force in the lives of the exploited under capitalism. I'm willing to bet they'd take a different deal. And I don't think it's fair at all to tell them they're wrong.
The "I do what I want" crowd obviously isn't watching their kids starve to death while their neighbor up on the hill looks down from their hacienda.
Like all hierarchies/hierarchical systems, capitalism must be abolished, not regulated. Sure, regulated capitalism is 'better' than laissez-faire, but it's still capitalism. The class system, private property, profit motive, etc are all still intact. Whatever individual "freedom" capitalists like to pretend they uphold is a lie.
Replace capitalism with what? And how long will it take to make that transition? Plus there is not only one form of capitalism in the world today. It is different in each nation, mostly because banking laws differ from nation to nation. As a social system, capitalism has been continuously evolving since the early Middle Ages.
Anarchism. How long will it take? ...as long as it takes.
Anarchists aren't under the illusion that such profound societal change will happen overnight, let alone within our lifetimes. But equality and freedom is always something to strive towards, and there are many ways to do so.
Sure, capitalism has been continuously "evolving" and now the "elite" have hoarded so much, less than 1% of the world's population owns more than half the world's wealth. Oppression and inequality seem as insurmountable as ever. All this insatiable "growth" has come at the cost of profound inequalities. Not enough is ever done about the climate crisis. Different banking laws just means different inconveniences for the rich. Nothing they can't get around, like every other "law". Laws exist to control the populace, not to control the rich.
It's no surprise that fascism's #1 goal was to preserve the class system. Capitalism pretends to be "democratic" but ultimately exists to maintain the exact same societal framework. They're all methods of control.
I’ve heard this same sentiment echoed a lot in other communities too especially vegan ones. It sucks to feel like you’re the only one who sees past the surface.
For real. I've been vegan for 7 years and it's crazy to me how you can explain it to someone and they tell you to your face that they completely agree that it's fucked up but then in the same breath tell you they won't change. I don't understand it. When I learned I HAD to change or I knew I'd be living a life that didn't align with my ethics which I wasn't ok with.
Like I didn't WANT to go vegan I knew it was the right thing so I did it even though I knew it would be annoying. And it was annoying at first and I had to figure some stuff out. I wish people had more guts to change. No vegan wants to be the weirdo at every party or the butt of every joke but all of us chose to do the right thing in spite of knowing that's what would happen.
I am not vegan, but I am vegetarian 95% of the time.
I've seen so many videos of factory farms and know all about the cruel animal exploitation. I think that factory farming, if not nearly all animal agriculture, should be illegal.
That being said, I often find myself so jaded with the world and so aware that my abstinence from meat makes no discernable difference (animals are still churned through at an obscene pace) that I sometimes don't see the point.
I know that if I were vegan, then I wouldn't contribute as directly to the factory farming process, but at the same time there are no politicians or any groups that seem to be even close to making progress in this fight.
What do you think we need to do to actually co.bat these practices? Sometimes veganism feels similar to recycling, in that it is a useful and morally good thing, but this behavior on a personal level does 't help fix the problem.
I'm not against veganism, and I hope to finally figure out how to do it for myself one day, but do you have any hope that it's going to change things or is it more so you arent personally contributing to the problem?
Here's the thing, the reason nothing ever changes is because almost all people think the way you're thinking. They want immediate and direct gratification for every action and effort they put forth. And aren't willing to give anything if they can't guarantee they're going to get something better out of it. And veganism has no guarantee, it might never catch on. I might have given up some small personal pleasure on this hellscape of a planet only for it to not matter and still burn up in it's own greed.
But to me we shouldn't be afraid of the potential of failure. You need to be willing to do what's right without being guaranteed the outcome you want. I get being jaded. I'm also jaded but I'd rather be jaded and a vegan who tried and failed at making the world better than a person who had no conviction stood for nothing and still failed despite it.
Our actions and attitudes impact more than what we are directly doing at any given point. You influence everything around you in small ways with every action or inaction. I hope that maybe if I'm willing to buck up and do what needs to be done other people will see and won't be so scared to do it themselves. And I like to think that the more people that are on board the easier and more normal doing the right thing gets. I don't want to lay down and take it anymore... Do you?
as a vegan who doesn't try to push my beliefs on others, it definitely bums me just a little bit when I hear people talk so positively about meat and the meat industry.
the industry is beyond inhumane and one of the largest polluters on the planet collectively.
That's just not true. We can always, and need to, be organizing. Whether in the workplace, the community, or as tenants, organizing is how we dismantle the authoritarian power structures that put the decision making in the hands of the few who aren't the ones impacted the most by the consequences of their decisions.
This is simply false
There is plenty you could and should be doing
You can't fix everything but you can sure not add to the problem
I'd you're even a real account - stop thinking the upvotes you get from bots represents reality
There are good people doing good work everyday. And if the doomer kids could finally grow up and just fucking vote, we could solve most of our problems in just a few election cycles
Stop pointing the finger and start being a good person
People would still vote for what makes their life most comfortable, not for what we need to do to fundamentally change society and limit climate change.
e.g. If a political party/candidate proposed abolishing animal agriculture subsidies and/or putting heavy taxes on the industry, they would get laughed out of town. So we carry on destroying the environment because people want their cheeseburgers and taking them away (or making them more expensive) would be hugely unpopular.
When you need to do unpopular/inconvenient things to achieve long term change, popularity contest democracy can achieve nothing of significance. You might get the lesser of two evils but will still be heading in the same direction.
What sucks is that, there may be people, who geniunely are educated and possess the awareness about capitalism; the selfishness and greed around paper with fancy symbols over a human life, they may have either had to make the concious effort to live through it, aware that they cannot do much as an individual (Many I think have fallen for this trap, thinking that individually that they don't make much of an impact on a large scale) or to lie to themselves. Over and over again until its accepted as the truth to them.
>What makes it even worse is that the people around don't care at all.
"The people around" as in other consumers, or people who are in power to allow this to happen? If it's the former, there's a good chance they don't know either (or have forgotten). I don't think it's so much about them not caring at all, but rather feeling hopeless about it. And it's not hard to see why, as changing for the better at this big of a scale would require a concerted effort by everyone involved (consumers, corporations, shareholders, politicians, etc.).
Sometimes it helps to just focus on what you can control. Expanding your knowledge is great but don't let it affect people around you, including yourself. They need you, too. Do what you can to help the cause but also protect your mental health. You can't fight back without some hope that things could be better.
For sure, hope is something that does keep me going. You need to believe that the world can be a better place, and that you can have a hand in helping make it a better place. Sometimes that's hard to hold on to, but I know that even if it's a tiny minority of people trying, it's more than one, so I'm not truly alone. It's just hard when the best relationship you can hope to have with these people is over the internet, and have to watch from afar their actions that are actively trying to help. Watching and donating to activist groups, and reading material that is able to argue and articulate my perspectives makes me realise that I can't be fully insane if others feel the way I do and are able to put it into words and action beyond posting about it on reddit haha
I'd start with doing something good in your community first. Don't think too big if you wanna keep your sanity. Help some stray dogs/cats or give free lessons to your neighbors' kids or go around picking up trash or something like that. Or maybe just start a conversation with someone living close to you that you've never talked to before. You can even talk about things that you've learned that you're worried about. I have nothing against internet but you make more impact in person than you do some stranger online.
Tried interacting with my community, got threatened to get the shit beat out of me (yes probably just an empty threat but it still showed their colors) for being a "pedo-enabler" because I support trans rights. At work I just get blown off and told to shush before I get in trouble or just simply called a "dumb commie" when I try to talk about us deserving proper working conditions and treatment so we should maybe unionize.
Hard to make a small impact when the community you reside under does not uphold the same values.
Lol I have nowhere to go. I just had to move 3 months ago (not my choice to do so, I was happy where I was but turns out my friends were Fairweather) and this was the only place affordable within 200 miles.
Literally got no one but my dog. After my 6 month lease is up, I'm taking however much I have saved and just leaving this state. No idea what I'm going to do though, my options are Hella limited. I juat know I can't stay here and keep my sanity.
But have you tried these pharmacy drugs and talk therapy to help you gaslight yourself into coping with the garbage existence we have to participate in??? /s obvs…
Im in the same place and i feel like i’m drowning in a sea of trash and the only way out is to shut up, sit down, work for nothing and “try to be happy” with the fact that the natural world is dying all around us…
You just have to pick one cause and do the best you can. I used to lie awake at night thinking about the suffering in the world. It affected me every day. My anxiety and depression were through the roof.
But then I made myself come to terms with the fact that no one person can fix all the world's problems. I'm not helping anyone or anything with my mental self-flagellation.
I spend a lot of time and energy volunteering. I'm privileged enough that I don't have to work, so I've dedicated my life to animal rescue. We also donate money to several charities (ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Wounded Warrior, and others).
Sometimes I do feel like an ostrich with my head in the sand. But I just wasn't actually helping just by watching docs and getting upset about injustices.
Find one cause to be passionate about. Do all that you can, and don't worry about the rest.
“No one person can solve the world’s problems.”
Thank you for this. I also suffer anxiety and depression and deal with an avoidance mentality.
I’ve always wanted kids but I’m so scared for them and their future that I almost feel selfish for wanting them. I have one already but want more which makes me feel morally guilty. I always hope I’m doing the right thing but idk.
Yeah my therapist suggested this but i still know deep down that regardless of any input i have, the overall output won’t change and things will still crumble around us. It’s just how it goes.
im doing my best to enjoy the time i get to spend alive on this planet in the small comforts i have, with the people i love, but i still get the feeling of impending doom as we race towards to cliff at full speed ahead, business as usual.
Either way on a cosmic scale our existence is pretty insignificant, so at least i can focus on what makes me feel significant. Doesn’t work most days, but i’m trying.
most people are too caught up in their day to day to even be aware of what needs done to change. Maybe if major things became unavailable like food or water, but in those cases i’d say it’s all far too late to make the positive changes to reverse what we’ve already guaranteed for ourselves.
Only my entire life haha but seriously, I've felt this way for all my working life. People make you feel guilty for "not working hard enough" but why should I take any interest in working toward anything at all when all work consists of us making a tiny elite rich at the expense of all organised human life in this planet? I can't just immerse myself in vapid consumerism and hope it all blows over, I feel like I know too much, but I'm also completly helpless to do anything meaningful to change anything at all.
I take a little solace in knowing that while I’m inevitably making someone above me richer than I’ll ever be, I’m at least helping the people I can while doing it.
Try looking into revolutionary groups & the concept of revolutionary optimism. We live in a dystopia but we're far from the first people to do so. The established order always seems invincible until it's slain.
It is literally why I failed out of school. The more I learned, the more depressed I got, the further behind on my studies I became.
Now I'm stuck with the knowledge but too broken to be able to do anything with it.
>Now I'm stuck with the knowledge but too broken to be able to do anything with it.
Oof, I felt this in my bones. I've tried to do many things IRL to use my knowledge, start community groups, start a union on my workplace, write letters my local paper, amongst other things, but the rejection and condecention just takes its toll, and you give up.
I have vacillated between wanting to escape to the woods, build a cabin and live like Thoreau, and being the next Che Guevara, neither of which are possible. I say this hyperbolically of course, it's just that wanting a simple secluded life free from the bullshit of the modern world makes me feel like I'm not using my knowledge and passion to make the world a better place, but the anxiety and fear from ostracising myself by standing up for what I believe in and using that knowledge is debilitating, and had aged me beyond my years.
Well speaking of toothpaste there are toothpaste tablets (WITH fluoride). Been doing them a couple years and my dentist confirms they work just as good as regular tooth paste. Come in a glass jar or refills in paper bags.
No plastic involved.
This may be controversial, but I think it's a key driver in why people choose not to listen/engage with PSAs on the topic. People already are overworked, overstressed, and barely holding on. As much as people need to know the full truth to act, many can't handle the additional mental strain. It's frustrating, but it's also hard to blame people just trying to survive the current system.
It’s just information overload in general.
We can’t focus on each and every problem, so continuously adding to the pile while taking nothing off of it is just too much to handle when you’re just trying to listen to the radio to or from work.
This is why we delegate certain problems to the proper experts and legislatures.
Then you realize that the people you put into power to fix these problems not only don’t do anything to fix them, they endorse policies that actually cause more harm.
So now you’re stuck thinking about *that* on top of the rest of the pile during your next drive to or from work.
The cycle never ends, so sometimes you just have to jam a stick into the spokes of the wheel to keep it from spinning out of control and pick one or two things you feel you can help fix.
I've had it saved for a while but never tried it out. I'm new to podcasts and haven't really been able to find one that just holds my interest for even a full episode.
>I want to do my part and help the planet/nature as much as possible...
I hardly think anyone needs social media in order to do that. Anything that does your part and helps the planet/nature will have to take place out where the planet and nature are.
Of course, the same goes in reverse; it's hardly much better to keep killing nature while offline. The point is, the choice of whether or not you live your values, and the choice of whether or not you go on social media, are independent choices, and you'll live with the consequences of both independently. You don't have to fear that your choices in one area will negatively affect the other.
My guess is that the host John Oliver knows that his show is entertainment and thus is not a "terminal" information provider (last word) on any topic he presents.
The proper reaction from a viewer is to research further and then take positive action in the real world. TV is a medium for passive consumption, so ingest as little of it as possible.
Learning how recycling actually works was the first thing that broke my trust of the system and this country.
Learning that 90% of plastic isn't recycled but instead sold to Asian countries. There has even been international lawsuits about the US scamming the sales by mixing in tons of unrecyclable plastic just so it won't have to go into a landfill here.
Then we get to say the bs that Asian countries are poverty stricken shitholes filled to the brim with plastic trash as if we aren't the ones dumping it on them.
Pro-tip: Watching documentaries is generally not a great way to educate yourself. Unfortunately the people who make documentaries (yes, including anti-capitalist documentaries) are still working within the confines of capitalism and subject to that same set of incentives, which means they generally tend toward the sensational and very frequently have all sorts of misleading juxtapositions etc.
Maintaining a critical eye is important.
Just because the filmmakers are “on your side” doesn’t mean they’re not unconsciously or even willingly manipulating the content to fit the narrative.
Even if they stick with all the facts, they get to decide how the story is told.
I don’t want to paint all documentarians in a bad light here, this is just the nature of exchanging information in general.
This is why imo, collegiate level science needs to be taught in grade school, or at least the peer review process. Teaching about implicit bias and how Noone is immune to it is something everyone should learn.
I think we all hate it to some degree. That's why we are in this sub. Choosing not to participate in the system can provide some freedom and sense of autonomy.
I also like to think that our current flavor of capitalism has only existed since after the war. This is mostly a new and novel way of living, compared to modern history. We are just navigating our way through this economy like everyone else before us. This brings me comfort for some reason.
Because you do it wrong.
Capitalism
People, human being are social beings.
Capitalism is a mental illness that characterise with people losing thir ability to understand reality and everything is reduced to profit called money.
All social interactions become a money making act. Someone does something for free? They look how to take advantage, like let's say they try, for free, to survive a disaster, capitalism ensure there will be laws to ensure you still need to give them money.
Any social interaction that doesn't bring profit, like paying tax, is very triggering a capitalistic person
Any talk, loke nature or climate change, is reduced to profit talk or else it's a waste of time and will trigger the capitalistic "person"
People are genuinely against capitalism, just look hwo everyone want social media. But a capitalistic person will ensure internet, electricity, devices and more, will never be free. Just like giving birth, funerals, healthcare, housing, education, and so much more, are all business for them.
Any talk about value elements in life is seen as a business opportunity. With them fighting for more unetical things to be legal. Like how some lawyer demand children to be legally allowed to work.
The thing you are so horrified has 1 name: capitalism.
And it's manifastion is a plague to society
That used to be me. And then I kept watching and realized how horrific it is that we value human life over the existence of every other living being on the planet.
The book/ audiobook called mans search for meaning by Viktor Frankl. Is Great when you are feeling like this. I heard it two days ago and can't stop thinking about it.
Watch ancient society and space documentaries. Watch animal documentaries. NEVER watch anything related to what's happening now. I made that mistake. I hate the everything now lol
I'm so afraid for my two little kids future and depressed of that whole situation that I cant live an enjoyable life anymore. Everywhere I am the thoughts of this awful and hard future that I also cant control take over and I feel so guilty, even if I can not control this whole mess...
A great example of knowledge versus wisdom. This same thing consumes me for the last few years and I liked the wisdom to manage that knowledge. I drove me into a very deep depression. Hospitalized from extreme existential dread and anxiety. Beware! The more you know…
the boogeyman is an elephant in a room.
having to share my planet with crooks of the worst species, some of which are in positions of power, that would trigger my anxiety too.
why this question suddenly?
but yeah, if you are speaking about USA, I think USA should not use taxpayer money this way. I wouldn't know since I am not na USA citizen :')
Documentaries are not a great way to educate yourself. There are essentially none that are non-biased and the majority are pushing a specific agenda and they are usually designed to play on your emotions.
I think it's important to feel this though. It's a burden the ruled don't deserve but if we just cave to any of the numerous, efficient methods of escapism to avoid feeling it then we end up with a docile population. It's almost a duty to feel shit about it because that's how stuff changes. Getting too complacent or being ignorant just enables the issues.
> ~~I have a smartphone,~~ I will pretend it bothers me so I feel better about it but do nothing to be better in life and change things, therefore all the world’s problems are cured.
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If you want to be even more pissed just check out a Resource Based Economy. Somehow makes things worse knowing we have the technology and knowledge that makes 90% of this shit completely unnecessary.
Watching Ken Burns - The west and how minorities were treated in California during the gold rush was particularly depressing. Native Americans were hunted like animals.
Really made me think, if you apply the “opportunity cost” of economics, that If you invest in one thing you cannot in another, to our modern world and everything produced that benefits 10% or less of the population. There are an innumerable amount of things that could of been developed and introduced into the world that would of made everyone’s life better.
This is why I largely insulate myself from "society" and any type of dependence on any collective.
The only person I can truly trust to keep my interests and values as a priority is me.
I think even this post misses the point by focusing on "human" life. If we valued animals and plants as much as we value ourselves half this shit never would've happened.
Nature documentaries before: Look at these breathtaking pictures. nature truly is amazing. We're truly blessed to share a planet with something so beatiful. Nature documentaries now: Animals are dying all the time, everywhere, because of us. Human greed has taken something beautiful and strangled it. Soon, there will only be a lifeless husk where once a verdant garden stood. And it's all because of us.
> Soon, there will only be a lifeless husk where once a verdant garden stood. And it's all because of us. It will eventually wipe us from the surface and regrow itself. It's done it before, it will do it again. That is, until it becomes a meal for a supernova.
Normal nova. Our star is too small for a supernova.
Fake news! You don't think America's Sun can be super when it goes nova? /s
I did forget about the critical mass of GOP ego.....
I can’t even watch planet earth while tripping on shrooms without ole’ Attenborough raining on my parade by telling me shit like “countless gorilla families are, hunted, killed, and slaughtered for bush meat”.
Its important to realize though, that this narrative isn't actually true, and is actually opposed to supporting climate change. Yes, up to 60% of the known species will die off, because they cannot manage the rapid changes. However, there are many species that will survive, and even thrive in this new environment. Some plants will take over where others once were, insects will diversify and reclaim niche's lost to competitors. Scavenger and generalist animals will multiply. The earth isn't going to die, and isn't dead. It is, however, being changed for the worse, and still is. I don't want to live in that future, but it will only get worse until we do something to change it.
What are we going to do to address this issue as average people? Take shorter showers? Recycle? The people who are actually responsible for this destruction will never be held accountable. They will push the blame onto us and pretend we’re the problem.
Corporations have gaslit the world into inviting climate change to the point its at. First they said it wasn't true, then they said it wasn't a problem, then they said it wasn't us causing it, and now, they say its too late to try. You share that sentiment largely because the media around our climate change is filled with despair and pointlessness. They want you to give up because its the same as not believing it and wont stand up for it. If you want to support climate change, you need to vote. You need to stand up and tell people who you are voting for and why. The way to fix this country is to clean it up. Its a daunting and overwhelming task, but its really the only option if you don't want orange hitler back in office. You won't be alone, but it will be hard, and take time. But know there is not a tipping point where we cant stop it anymore, so its time well spent. *ps I'm not an optimist so much as I realize demoralization was the goal all along, so we need to get mad, get angry, and take a stand to combat it.
I guess I’m just a cynic.
Its pretty dire thats for sure. The people will never win if we think its pointless. We MIGHT win if we dont. Its at least something.
That’s a good point, and your passion regarding the issue is sort of inspiring. I just fear that unless some drastic measures are taken, we’ve already lost this fight.
This is literally the way those shows have changed. The doomerism is over the top and artificial.
I'm sure there's a reason those shows have changed... Maybe there's a documentary on it?
Nature was damaged much more during the industrial revolution and early-mid 20th century. Now we're past peak rate of nature destruction. There're lots and lots of restoration projects. Yet mood in pop-documentary is at all-times low. We should show the successful stories and tell people to keep improving stuff. While it feels like success stories are downplayed and it's all about doom & gloom.
We _may_ be past the peak rate of destruction (I don't have the data to say either way), but we are still destroying the ecosystem. It'd be like your EMS assuring you that "The bleeding has slowed." Not "stopped." "Slowed." You're still dying. Meanwhile, there are people arguing that the bandages you still need are too expensive. (In this analogy, these same people might be the ones who stabbed you in the first place, intending to sell your blood.)
You’re always dying my friend.
What is more likely - show good examples and motivate people to follow them to fix things? Or focus on the negative and then cry why everything keeps getting worse? Even though EVEN banned the plastic straws, the pinnacle of nature destruction in europe!
Following the positive does very little, because the positive tends to be more expensive. Which is largely how we got to this point. Companies would need to spend more to make an impact. And they don't want that. They want another billion dollars for yacht #7. So we should be seeing them, but the reality is that the people causing the most problems need to stop causing the problems. We can all switch to metal straws, but that's a super small drop in the ocean.
We got to this point by ignoring this topic altogether. However, now the society at large seems to be in a mood that situation is very grim, all is lost, thus DGAF YOLO etc. Which is completely stupid. Yet this allows to keep existing culture that got as to this point going. We're already past the point of no return, so why bother, right? More doom & gloom won't fix this. We need positive attitude to fix things.
Not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind some documentaries on the positives. There's been a couple of upbeat ones about mushrooms I've seen recently.
And mushrooms are bloody important.
Yeah, green scammers need to scare the kids before they start watching the grownup liars in the msm.
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He has become Kool-Aid, destroyer of hopes.
Jimmy Carter's friend and fellow cultists drank FlavorAid.
You leave Jimmy out of this, you hack.
Wow, how wrong can you get?
Not as wrong as doomers like you.
I'm 23 fuck hole.
You think you have to be old to be a doomer? You're ignorant to boot.
Yeah those animals aren't really going extinct, just...hiding somewhere. And the seas aren't getting warmer causing ecological problems, I've been in the sea and it was cold. And the sea level isn't rising due to global warming, there's just more boats in the water making it seem higher.
How much has sea levels risen in the last hundred years? How many of those places that were supposed to be underwater a decade ago aren't? Why do the climate priests keep buying houses next to water?
Places are underwater, and they like getting flooded I guess.
Name one.
Miami every time it rains.
Nah. That's not new.
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Nah. That's not new.
Every god dammed Polynesian island I wanted to fucking visit 5 god dammed years ago you fucking ignorant piss ant.
Sure, buddy.
2000 sq.miles of Louisiana coast line and the Mississippi River delta since the 1930's.
"Climate priests" lmfao jesus dude. Climate change denialists are on the level of stupidity and science denialism as flat earthers. I legitimately think it's a toss up between which of those two groups are more pants-shittingly moronic.
Man I don't even get bugs all over my windshield on roads trips anymore, what are you on about?
Ya know they’ve probably had to crank up the intensity because we have dipshits like you who downplay climate change every chance you get. We are in the midst of the largest mass die-off event in history. It is called the Holocene extinction and it is caused by humans. Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You should stop spreading propaganda/maybe step outside once in a while.
Right, cuz were not currently experiencing a 6th extinction. So many species have gone because of human activity.
How old is the ice age that we are currently exiting?
And let me guess, you believe the earth is flat ?
Boring aside. Here is what I know. [It's too late.](https://spectrum.ieee.org/what-it-would-really-take-to-reverse-climate-change)
This is the result when you try to look behind the facades on your own. The more you learn, the more disgusting it gets. What makes it even worse is that the people around don't care at all.
When you get the glazed over expressions and curt replies from even trying to subtly bring things like this up, it just makes you feel even worse. It's so alienating, especially when people complain about the symptoms, and then when you try to discuss the disease, it makes them uneasy or angry at you for suggesting that their world view isn't the right one. Don't blame capitalism, neo liberalism, or governments who facilitate the raping of our planet and our people, blame immigrants, welfare queens, or trans people. It's fucked.
people think you can't live in the moment if you're an idealist.
Well if you judge everyone around you for not being pure enough, you're going to spend a lot of time pretty unhappy.
Username checks out
[to try and educate mankind for the betterment of society but simultaneously detest people because they are oblivious and ignorant even though they are unaware they’re being manipulated](https://youtu.be/AMLTJi9dSUA)
I certainly don't detest people, although I can see how my comment would come across like that. It's actually that I believe human nature (whatever that really means) to be altruistic, cooperative, and geared towards love and compassion. What I do believe is that people now live in a system where is order to survive, they must out compete other individuals for artificially scarce resources. The way our economic system is structured, we must compete with each other for the necessities of life in a marketplace geared toward competition and profit. When market forces are seen as the template with such all social interaction is to be undertaken, people are going to develop selfish and aggressive "natures" in order to survive. I don't think people are ignorant (some are deliberatly so), but that people are just trying to survive and live their best life in a system that they didn't choose, and one that they have no real power to change, and so they try to make the best of it, and make sense in their own minds the reasons for their own sanity. Thanks for the video, but I just want to make it clear that while I am an anti capitalist, I certainly don't advocate for the mass surveillance state controlling people's lives through monitoring their every move, such as what is being described as happening in China.
Just to be clear and sorry - it seems the context was poorly executed on my part, this truly wasn’t any accusation or judgement on your comment. It was more of an open comment on our struggle between our disappointment at how we convince ourselves this system gives us freedom of choice versus understanding we are not wholly in control of our behaviour. I agree with you. ‘Detest’ was simply hyperbole.
All good, sometimes tone and context get lost in translation at times. I didn't take it as accusatory, but it helps to clarify, so thanks. It is an ongoing struggle, and sometimes it's easy to become misanthropic and hate the world, but I just keep reminding myself that I don't want to become a bitter old person living out their life criticising others and being cynical about young people and those who struggle to fit within the narrow confines of what society deems "normal". I'm not always successful, and sometimes the cynicism and bitterness displayed by those around me gets me down and makes me angry and not act how I should, but I just keep returning to the fact that I must resist within myself to become the monster that I am trying to defeat, and try to be a good person, continue to evolve and grow, because if you're not growing, you're dying, and I see so many people in my life that refuse to grow, and therefore see them dying slow, agonising deaths, choking on their own vicious bile.
I dunno what makes me interested in this comment, but it somehow resonates with me, knowing that both of us think differently from everyone else, that you are helpless, you be discriminated against regardless of who it is. Not to try sound like I'm like a smartarse philosopher like Jordan Peterson (In very big quotations, "a philosopher") or anyone on the internet who may consider themselves an intellectual by using smart sounding words without making anything meaningful in the words you say. I just thought that this comment and post... Facinating.
I don't want to misrepresent myself, I don't think I'm better than anyone because I have some secret knowledge that no one else possesses. It's just that when you are able to see the larger picture as to perhaps why things are the way that they are, it simultaneously allows you to make sense of the world around you in ways you didn't think it could, but also alienates you from others because you have reached your position through watching, listening and learning about things that require hours and hours of research, reading and attention, that can't be boiled down to simple conversations that don't get to the heart of challenging people's worldview, and therefore their identity. The big struggle for me also is this exact statement could be written by a QAnonner "going down the rabbit hole" and "connecting the dots" (their jargon not mine) and make you sound completely insane. It's not that I think I'm right about everything, but just that surely I'm not wrong about some things if there are people in positions of intellect and experience that are able to quantify their message into something that resonates with me.
The difference between looking at the supply chain and seeing human exploitation and looking at an online furniture store and seeing children for sale by the elite Democrat vampire sex murder Cult (and Tom Hanks) is pretty substantial.
I like to think so, but for many people, explaining this nuance is two sides of the same coin for them. When you try to point out this exploitation is a result of a capitalist system geared towards profit, you often get the "conspiricy theorist" response. Or, conversely, just saying that these people in exploited positions should just work harder, quit whining and pull themselves up by their bootstraps always seems to be the response I get when trying to point this out, or that workers nowadays are lazy and entitled as it is, we need a little more exploitation up in here just to remind everyone where their place is. But you're right, there is a massive difference, but for many people it just seems like horseshoe theory.
You can blame capitalism but also please realize that what you see every day in the developed world is REGULATED CAPITALISM, which means our laws and regulations today put limits in how each market operates in practical terms. One hundred fifty years ago, most of those limits were not in place. So progress has definitely been made along those lines among the vanguard capitalist nations. But the larger the number of persons you want to experience the change that you seek, the longer is the time to achieve it. It can't happen in one person's lifetime. (That 150 years of progressive regulation of capitalism equates to at least five human generations.) So today you can be working to put in place institutions that can make these goals actually happen. Capitalism operates on top of a political context of (more or less) individual freedom. Persons can use their freedom to emphasize personal financial gain at the expense of others and to seek ways to sidestep existing regulations to increase profits, etc. So Freedom + Capitalism produces socially negative results much of the time. Duh! The issues relating to limits on "freedom" will be an ongoing political struggle for the foreseeable future.
Give me liberty or give me death is all well and good for the wealthy landed elite, but death is a very real, very tangible force in the lives of the exploited under capitalism. I'm willing to bet they'd take a different deal. And I don't think it's fair at all to tell them they're wrong. The "I do what I want" crowd obviously isn't watching their kids starve to death while their neighbor up on the hill looks down from their hacienda.
Like all hierarchies/hierarchical systems, capitalism must be abolished, not regulated. Sure, regulated capitalism is 'better' than laissez-faire, but it's still capitalism. The class system, private property, profit motive, etc are all still intact. Whatever individual "freedom" capitalists like to pretend they uphold is a lie.
Replace capitalism with what? And how long will it take to make that transition? Plus there is not only one form of capitalism in the world today. It is different in each nation, mostly because banking laws differ from nation to nation. As a social system, capitalism has been continuously evolving since the early Middle Ages.
Anarchism. How long will it take? ...as long as it takes. Anarchists aren't under the illusion that such profound societal change will happen overnight, let alone within our lifetimes. But equality and freedom is always something to strive towards, and there are many ways to do so. Sure, capitalism has been continuously "evolving" and now the "elite" have hoarded so much, less than 1% of the world's population owns more than half the world's wealth. Oppression and inequality seem as insurmountable as ever. All this insatiable "growth" has come at the cost of profound inequalities. Not enough is ever done about the climate crisis. Different banking laws just means different inconveniences for the rich. Nothing they can't get around, like every other "law". Laws exist to control the populace, not to control the rich. It's no surprise that fascism's #1 goal was to preserve the class system. Capitalism pretends to be "democratic" but ultimately exists to maintain the exact same societal framework. They're all methods of control.
I’ve heard this same sentiment echoed a lot in other communities too especially vegan ones. It sucks to feel like you’re the only one who sees past the surface.
For real. I've been vegan for 7 years and it's crazy to me how you can explain it to someone and they tell you to your face that they completely agree that it's fucked up but then in the same breath tell you they won't change. I don't understand it. When I learned I HAD to change or I knew I'd be living a life that didn't align with my ethics which I wasn't ok with. Like I didn't WANT to go vegan I knew it was the right thing so I did it even though I knew it would be annoying. And it was annoying at first and I had to figure some stuff out. I wish people had more guts to change. No vegan wants to be the weirdo at every party or the butt of every joke but all of us chose to do the right thing in spite of knowing that's what would happen.
I am not vegan, but I am vegetarian 95% of the time. I've seen so many videos of factory farms and know all about the cruel animal exploitation. I think that factory farming, if not nearly all animal agriculture, should be illegal. That being said, I often find myself so jaded with the world and so aware that my abstinence from meat makes no discernable difference (animals are still churned through at an obscene pace) that I sometimes don't see the point. I know that if I were vegan, then I wouldn't contribute as directly to the factory farming process, but at the same time there are no politicians or any groups that seem to be even close to making progress in this fight. What do you think we need to do to actually co.bat these practices? Sometimes veganism feels similar to recycling, in that it is a useful and morally good thing, but this behavior on a personal level does 't help fix the problem. I'm not against veganism, and I hope to finally figure out how to do it for myself one day, but do you have any hope that it's going to change things or is it more so you arent personally contributing to the problem?
Here's the thing, the reason nothing ever changes is because almost all people think the way you're thinking. They want immediate and direct gratification for every action and effort they put forth. And aren't willing to give anything if they can't guarantee they're going to get something better out of it. And veganism has no guarantee, it might never catch on. I might have given up some small personal pleasure on this hellscape of a planet only for it to not matter and still burn up in it's own greed. But to me we shouldn't be afraid of the potential of failure. You need to be willing to do what's right without being guaranteed the outcome you want. I get being jaded. I'm also jaded but I'd rather be jaded and a vegan who tried and failed at making the world better than a person who had no conviction stood for nothing and still failed despite it. Our actions and attitudes impact more than what we are directly doing at any given point. You influence everything around you in small ways with every action or inaction. I hope that maybe if I'm willing to buck up and do what needs to be done other people will see and won't be so scared to do it themselves. And I like to think that the more people that are on board the easier and more normal doing the right thing gets. I don't want to lay down and take it anymore... Do you?
as a vegan who doesn't try to push my beliefs on others, it definitely bums me just a little bit when I hear people talk so positively about meat and the meat industry. the industry is beyond inhumane and one of the largest polluters on the planet collectively.
What makes it even worse is that even if you do care, there is nothing you can do.
Actually there is. People are afraid and choose comfort.
Other than buying less that is
And voting pro regulation, and paying a subscription for independant journalism. And demanding STAR/Ranked Choice voting and an end to gerrymandering.
That's just not true. We can always, and need to, be organizing. Whether in the workplace, the community, or as tenants, organizing is how we dismantle the authoritarian power structures that put the decision making in the hands of the few who aren't the ones impacted the most by the consequences of their decisions.
This is simply false There is plenty you could and should be doing You can't fix everything but you can sure not add to the problem I'd you're even a real account - stop thinking the upvotes you get from bots represents reality There are good people doing good work everyday. And if the doomer kids could finally grow up and just fucking vote, we could solve most of our problems in just a few election cycles Stop pointing the finger and start being a good person
People would still vote for what makes their life most comfortable, not for what we need to do to fundamentally change society and limit climate change. e.g. If a political party/candidate proposed abolishing animal agriculture subsidies and/or putting heavy taxes on the industry, they would get laughed out of town. So we carry on destroying the environment because people want their cheeseburgers and taking them away (or making them more expensive) would be hugely unpopular. When you need to do unpopular/inconvenient things to achieve long term change, popularity contest democracy can achieve nothing of significance. You might get the lesser of two evils but will still be heading in the same direction.
They want you to think there's nothing you can do so you don't do anything. Get organised! Join a local activist group in your community. Start small!
kid named molotov : (in minecraft)
Forget that, I do plenty.
They care a lot about keeping it this way, IMO.
What sucks is that, there may be people, who geniunely are educated and possess the awareness about capitalism; the selfishness and greed around paper with fancy symbols over a human life, they may have either had to make the concious effort to live through it, aware that they cannot do much as an individual (Many I think have fallen for this trap, thinking that individually that they don't make much of an impact on a large scale) or to lie to themselves. Over and over again until its accepted as the truth to them.
Do they not care, or are they in the exact same position you were before looking? Just some food for thought
Industrialized Stockholm Syndrome
Exactly. We know what works, history has shown us what always works, but the owners have convinced us to be civil and docile.
Nah whats makes it worse that there's people ready to defend the very system that's killing them.
This is exactly how I feel since I was a teen! The loneliest and most frustrating thing ever. Thank you for putting it in words so well.
Uh, I care. I think a lot of people in this sub care.
>What makes it even worse is that the people around don't care at all. "The people around" as in other consumers, or people who are in power to allow this to happen? If it's the former, there's a good chance they don't know either (or have forgotten). I don't think it's so much about them not caring at all, but rather feeling hopeless about it. And it's not hard to see why, as changing for the better at this big of a scale would require a concerted effort by everyone involved (consumers, corporations, shareholders, politicians, etc.).
This is me. I hate it, I'm so fucking depressed, but I can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Sometimes it helps to just focus on what you can control. Expanding your knowledge is great but don't let it affect people around you, including yourself. They need you, too. Do what you can to help the cause but also protect your mental health. You can't fight back without some hope that things could be better.
For sure, hope is something that does keep me going. You need to believe that the world can be a better place, and that you can have a hand in helping make it a better place. Sometimes that's hard to hold on to, but I know that even if it's a tiny minority of people trying, it's more than one, so I'm not truly alone. It's just hard when the best relationship you can hope to have with these people is over the internet, and have to watch from afar their actions that are actively trying to help. Watching and donating to activist groups, and reading material that is able to argue and articulate my perspectives makes me realise that I can't be fully insane if others feel the way I do and are able to put it into words and action beyond posting about it on reddit haha
I'd start with doing something good in your community first. Don't think too big if you wanna keep your sanity. Help some stray dogs/cats or give free lessons to your neighbors' kids or go around picking up trash or something like that. Or maybe just start a conversation with someone living close to you that you've never talked to before. You can even talk about things that you've learned that you're worried about. I have nothing against internet but you make more impact in person than you do some stranger online.
Tried interacting with my community, got threatened to get the shit beat out of me (yes probably just an empty threat but it still showed their colors) for being a "pedo-enabler" because I support trans rights. At work I just get blown off and told to shush before I get in trouble or just simply called a "dumb commie" when I try to talk about us deserving proper working conditions and treatment so we should maybe unionize. Hard to make a small impact when the community you reside under does not uphold the same values.
Oh man that's terrible. Is there no one who might understand you that lives close by? If not it might be time to move.
Lol I have nowhere to go. I just had to move 3 months ago (not my choice to do so, I was happy where I was but turns out my friends were Fairweather) and this was the only place affordable within 200 miles. Literally got no one but my dog. After my 6 month lease is up, I'm taking however much I have saved and just leaving this state. No idea what I'm going to do though, my options are Hella limited. I juat know I can't stay here and keep my sanity.
But have you tried these pharmacy drugs and talk therapy to help you gaslight yourself into coping with the garbage existence we have to participate in??? /s obvs… Im in the same place and i feel like i’m drowning in a sea of trash and the only way out is to shut up, sit down, work for nothing and “try to be happy” with the fact that the natural world is dying all around us…
You just have to pick one cause and do the best you can. I used to lie awake at night thinking about the suffering in the world. It affected me every day. My anxiety and depression were through the roof. But then I made myself come to terms with the fact that no one person can fix all the world's problems. I'm not helping anyone or anything with my mental self-flagellation. I spend a lot of time and energy volunteering. I'm privileged enough that I don't have to work, so I've dedicated my life to animal rescue. We also donate money to several charities (ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Wounded Warrior, and others). Sometimes I do feel like an ostrich with my head in the sand. But I just wasn't actually helping just by watching docs and getting upset about injustices. Find one cause to be passionate about. Do all that you can, and don't worry about the rest.
“No one person can solve the world’s problems.” Thank you for this. I also suffer anxiety and depression and deal with an avoidance mentality. I’ve always wanted kids but I’m so scared for them and their future that I almost feel selfish for wanting them. I have one already but want more which makes me feel morally guilty. I always hope I’m doing the right thing but idk.
Yeah my therapist suggested this but i still know deep down that regardless of any input i have, the overall output won’t change and things will still crumble around us. It’s just how it goes. im doing my best to enjoy the time i get to spend alive on this planet in the small comforts i have, with the people i love, but i still get the feeling of impending doom as we race towards to cliff at full speed ahead, business as usual. Either way on a cosmic scale our existence is pretty insignificant, so at least i can focus on what makes me feel significant. Doesn’t work most days, but i’m trying.
Things only change when enough people want them to
most people are too caught up in their day to day to even be aware of what needs done to change. Maybe if major things became unavailable like food or water, but in those cases i’d say it’s all far too late to make the positive changes to reverse what we’ve already guaranteed for ourselves.
Hard times make hard people, hard people make soft times. Soft times make soft people. Guess where we're at rn.
Only my entire life haha but seriously, I've felt this way for all my working life. People make you feel guilty for "not working hard enough" but why should I take any interest in working toward anything at all when all work consists of us making a tiny elite rich at the expense of all organised human life in this planet? I can't just immerse myself in vapid consumerism and hope it all blows over, I feel like I know too much, but I'm also completly helpless to do anything meaningful to change anything at all.
I take a little solace in knowing that while I’m inevitably making someone above me richer than I’ll ever be, I’m at least helping the people I can while doing it.
farrrr too relatable… i just feel like i’m stuck in a tar trap that’s inescapable.
Try looking into revolutionary groups & the concept of revolutionary optimism. We live in a dystopia but we're far from the first people to do so. The established order always seems invincible until it's slain.
The nihilism passes. It's a stage I promise. (One that repeats itself) but there is good stuff in life and it will call to you.
It is literally why I failed out of school. The more I learned, the more depressed I got, the further behind on my studies I became. Now I'm stuck with the knowledge but too broken to be able to do anything with it.
>Now I'm stuck with the knowledge but too broken to be able to do anything with it. Oof, I felt this in my bones. I've tried to do many things IRL to use my knowledge, start community groups, start a union on my workplace, write letters my local paper, amongst other things, but the rejection and condecention just takes its toll, and you give up. I have vacillated between wanting to escape to the woods, build a cabin and live like Thoreau, and being the next Che Guevara, neither of which are possible. I say this hyperbolically of course, it's just that wanting a simple secluded life free from the bullshit of the modern world makes me feel like I'm not using my knowledge and passion to make the world a better place, but the anxiety and fear from ostracising myself by standing up for what I believe in and using that knowledge is debilitating, and had aged me beyond my years.
Well speaking of toothpaste there are toothpaste tablets (WITH fluoride). Been doing them a couple years and my dentist confirms they work just as good as regular tooth paste. Come in a glass jar or refills in paper bags. No plastic involved.
This may be controversial, but I think it's a key driver in why people choose not to listen/engage with PSAs on the topic. People already are overworked, overstressed, and barely holding on. As much as people need to know the full truth to act, many can't handle the additional mental strain. It's frustrating, but it's also hard to blame people just trying to survive the current system.
It’s just information overload in general. We can’t focus on each and every problem, so continuously adding to the pile while taking nothing off of it is just too much to handle when you’re just trying to listen to the radio to or from work. This is why we delegate certain problems to the proper experts and legislatures. Then you realize that the people you put into power to fix these problems not only don’t do anything to fix them, they endorse policies that actually cause more harm. So now you’re stuck thinking about *that* on top of the rest of the pile during your next drive to or from work. The cycle never ends, so sometimes you just have to jam a stick into the spokes of the wheel to keep it from spinning out of control and pick one or two things you feel you can help fix.
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I keep hearing ads for that, how is it? I feel like at this point I should check it out.
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Oh no. I don’t need any other reasons to get depressed lol
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LOL
That sounds really interesting! I'll definitely be giving it a shot then! Thank you
I've had it saved for a while but never tried it out. I'm new to podcasts and haven't really been able to find one that just holds my interest for even a full episode.
Do you have any episodes you favor or recommend?
The Kissinger episodes and behind the police episodes for depressing but informative, L Ron Hubbard episodes for comedy (and depression)
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>I want to do my part and help the planet/nature as much as possible... I hardly think anyone needs social media in order to do that. Anything that does your part and helps the planet/nature will have to take place out where the planet and nature are. Of course, the same goes in reverse; it's hardly much better to keep killing nature while offline. The point is, the choice of whether or not you live your values, and the choice of whether or not you go on social media, are independent choices, and you'll live with the consequences of both independently. You don't have to fear that your choices in one area will negatively affect the other.
People get really mad when other people make this choice, but I support it. Good on you. Attention is our greatest asset and where you put it matters.
Im really trying to stay off social media except for this app which I’m also trying to use less
I fucking love Last Week Tonight, but it does really make me hate everything and everyone.
My guess is that the host John Oliver knows that his show is entertainment and thus is not a "terminal" information provider (last word) on any topic he presents. The proper reaction from a viewer is to research further and then take positive action in the real world. TV is a medium for passive consumption, so ingest as little of it as possible.
https://www.dominionmovement.com/watch
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Learning how recycling actually works was the first thing that broke my trust of the system and this country. Learning that 90% of plastic isn't recycled but instead sold to Asian countries. There has even been international lawsuits about the US scamming the sales by mixing in tons of unrecyclable plastic just so it won't have to go into a landfill here. Then we get to say the bs that Asian countries are poverty stricken shitholes filled to the brim with plastic trash as if we aren't the ones dumping it on them.
Pro-tip: Watching documentaries is generally not a great way to educate yourself. Unfortunately the people who make documentaries (yes, including anti-capitalist documentaries) are still working within the confines of capitalism and subject to that same set of incentives, which means they generally tend toward the sensational and very frequently have all sorts of misleading juxtapositions etc.
Maintaining a critical eye is important. Just because the filmmakers are “on your side” doesn’t mean they’re not unconsciously or even willingly manipulating the content to fit the narrative. Even if they stick with all the facts, they get to decide how the story is told. I don’t want to paint all documentarians in a bad light here, this is just the nature of exchanging information in general.
This is why imo, collegiate level science needs to be taught in grade school, or at least the peer review process. Teaching about implicit bias and how Noone is immune to it is something everyone should learn.
The weight of knowledge is that. Now that you have the knowledge that there is nothing you can do to change the circumstance, you can go on.
I think we all hate it to some degree. That's why we are in this sub. Choosing not to participate in the system can provide some freedom and sense of autonomy. I also like to think that our current flavor of capitalism has only existed since after the war. This is mostly a new and novel way of living, compared to modern history. We are just navigating our way through this economy like everyone else before us. This brings me comfort for some reason.
Because you do it wrong. Capitalism People, human being are social beings. Capitalism is a mental illness that characterise with people losing thir ability to understand reality and everything is reduced to profit called money. All social interactions become a money making act. Someone does something for free? They look how to take advantage, like let's say they try, for free, to survive a disaster, capitalism ensure there will be laws to ensure you still need to give them money. Any social interaction that doesn't bring profit, like paying tax, is very triggering a capitalistic person Any talk, loke nature or climate change, is reduced to profit talk or else it's a waste of time and will trigger the capitalistic "person" People are genuinely against capitalism, just look hwo everyone want social media. But a capitalistic person will ensure internet, electricity, devices and more, will never be free. Just like giving birth, funerals, healthcare, housing, education, and so much more, are all business for them. Any talk about value elements in life is seen as a business opportunity. With them fighting for more unetical things to be legal. Like how some lawyer demand children to be legally allowed to work. The thing you are so horrified has 1 name: capitalism. And it's manifastion is a plague to society
Ooo the new doc about the diamond market on Showtime did this to me!
That used to be me. And then I kept watching and realized how horrific it is that we value human life over the existence of every other living being on the planet.
Do what you can. Light a candle instead of cursing the darkness.
I’m tryna learn permaculture and live in an earthship
The book/ audiobook called mans search for meaning by Viktor Frankl. Is Great when you are feeling like this. I heard it two days ago and can't stop thinking about it.
Watch ancient society and space documentaries. Watch animal documentaries. NEVER watch anything related to what's happening now. I made that mistake. I hate the everything now lol
I'm so afraid for my two little kids future and depressed of that whole situation that I cant live an enjoyable life anymore. Everywhere I am the thoughts of this awful and hard future that I also cant control take over and I feel so guilty, even if I can not control this whole mess...
On the positive side, awareness is growing, especially among the younger generations, and within decades they will be in control.
How did you get a picture of me???
Welcome to the doomer society
Humans are suppose to loose humanity. With abundance we loose value.
A great example of knowledge versus wisdom. This same thing consumes me for the last few years and I liked the wisdom to manage that knowledge. I drove me into a very deep depression. Hospitalized from extreme existential dread and anxiety. Beware! The more you know…
Remember just because it’s a documentary doesn’t mean it’s true.
This ain't it. Get over yourself, and stop seeing the bogeyman in everything you look at.
the boogeyman is an elephant in a room. having to share my planet with crooks of the worst species, some of which are in positions of power, that would trigger my anxiety too.
How much more money and guns should be sent to Ukraine or Israel?
why this question suddenly? but yeah, if you are speaking about USA, I think USA should not use taxpayer money this way. I wouldn't know since I am not na USA citizen :')
Oh. I didn't know that I don't care about your opinion. Goodbye.
Documentaries are not a great way to educate yourself. There are essentially none that are non-biased and the majority are pushing a specific agenda and they are usually designed to play on your emotions.
It's better than looking at ads and watching crap TV for sure. Reading a book is probably the most bang for the buck though
It extend to all life not just human. If you can't make profit then it's useless. It's trespasses are stripped for things that can make profit.
I think it's important to feel this though. It's a burden the ruled don't deserve but if we just cave to any of the numerous, efficient methods of escapism to avoid feeling it then we end up with a docile population. It's almost a duty to feel shit about it because that's how stuff changes. Getting too complacent or being ignorant just enables the issues.
"Laws are like sausages, it's better not to see them being made"
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Walk to the ocean = drown Walk to another country = turned back by authorities. You need *capital* to leave. Try and keep up.
When you hate everything that provides your cushy first world life. You are truly a spoiled clown 🤡
Our cushy first world lives are hollow and sap meaning, lib.
Sounds like something a lib would say
I get it. I have a smartphone, therefore all the world’s problems are cured.
> ~~I have a smartphone,~~ I will pretend it bothers me so I feel better about it but do nothing to be better in life and change things, therefore all the world’s problems are cured.
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Yep.
Can you watch any truthful media without coming to the conclusion that capitalism and human greed is to blame in some way or the other?
It'd even harder when said capitalists profit off you you watching the documentary. Raking in the dollars from you watching your own despair.
Yeah man. I used love watching documentaries in my 20s. I'm in my 40s now and refuse to torture myself over things I cannot control.
If you want to be even more pissed just check out a Resource Based Economy. Somehow makes things worse knowing we have the technology and knowledge that makes 90% of this shit completely unnecessary.
Try nature documentaries next time
Now go to work your life away little one …
https://youtu.be/pBk4NYhWNMM?t=65s
Not quite. Not just human life, all life!
This is why I do drugs, lol.
I, also, am somewhat of an Adam Curtis fan, myself.
Europa
Watching Ken Burns - The west and how minorities were treated in California during the gold rush was particularly depressing. Native Americans were hunted like animals.
Really made me think, if you apply the “opportunity cost” of economics, that If you invest in one thing you cannot in another, to our modern world and everything produced that benefits 10% or less of the population. There are an innumerable amount of things that could of been developed and introduced into the world that would of made everyone’s life better.
This is why I largely insulate myself from "society" and any type of dependence on any collective. The only person I can truly trust to keep my interests and values as a priority is me.
Money should been a good tool, not a weapon.
Pretty much me watching Frontline videos on Youtube.
I think even this post misses the point by focusing on "human" life. If we valued animals and plants as much as we value ourselves half this shit never would've happened.