• Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    187
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Legacy News Media: We literally have no idea why Gen Z has given up on literally everything, has decided to not save for the future, and instead is trying to live and enjoy their life now.

    Real World: Dearth of opportunities to make a life for yourself, every industry has reached is maximum zenith and now makes money by wringing pennies out of consumers, you need money to exist anywhere, there are no more places to just be, and the government is clearly corrupt and about to be taken over by a literal fucking fascist party because the other party is full of pussies who don’t want to “upset the status quo” and keep letting the fucking fascists get away with shit, because “we have to follow the laws, even the ones that clearly benefit the fascists, passed by fascists. It’s the law and if we don’t take it seriously, everything falls apart. Sorry that means the fascists will win.” Oh, and climate change is about to destroy our ability to even have a functional society.

    As a millennial, I’m ready for a fucking dirt nap. Things just keep getting worse and fuck nobody is coming to save me or anyone else. Everyone is so caught up in their own lives and problems no one has the time or effort to give anyone else, meaning we’re all suffering alone.

    Literally what is even the fucking point of struggling to the natural end of my life? There isn’t one.

    It didn’t have to be this way, but a lot of old selfish pieces of shit decided that it was more important to trash the planet and live the high life during their hayday, and then give all their children and grandchildren a swift kick in the ass and says “Children are our future! I just made that up! Now go fix the fucking messes we made for you! We’re not concerned with mass extinction, because we’ll be dead and it won’t be our problem! Good luck, or not!”

    • FraidyBear@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      89
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Fuckin preach. I’m 33 and have spent the last 8 years in near total isolation because I simply do not have time for anything other than work, chores, feed and bathe myself (if I have time), sleep. That’s it. It’s deepening my depression and sense of total desperation in ways that I’d never imagined. But hey, at least my company is making billions because that’s the truly important part. I’m ready to just say fuck it and go the way of Gen Z. I’ve saved and saved and worked my ass off, played by the rules, got my degree and it’s all been for nothing. I still have nothing. In fact I literally have less than when I was in my 20s. There’s nothing I can do to stop another economic crisis and I’m no where near having enough to survive one so fuck it. I’m ready to just do what I want and if that gets me fired or Im in debt because I finally decided to just take the hit and travel wherever I want then so be it. There’s nothing we can do, we’re on the ride, the clicking of the chains has already started and we are buckled in. Time to just enjoy what we can I guess, even if it sucks the entire time.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        73
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        40 here. Yep.

        I had an existential crisis in my early 20’s based entirely around how futile existence is. We live, and work and make babies, so that the next generation can live and work and make babies… Etc. What’s the point? There’s no long term plot line of humans that I know enough about or care enough about that I’d willingly subject myself, or my offspring to a life of existence in this, just to further.

        Nearly decided to off myself right then and there.

        Last year, finally purchased a house, with help from the resulting life savings of my father (may he rest in peace) and with my brother and his wife. Four fully grown adults in one house, just to afford to live. The only cherry from the whole thing is that interest rates skyrocketed immediately after we signed our fixed mortgage, so we dodged that bullet and we have two more years (as of now) for them to come down before we need to arrange for renewal or something.

        But we all eat, sleep, work, repeat. That’s it. The only nice thing I have going for me in all this is that we now have a definite timeframe for when our housing will be ours and costs will finally taper off. In another 24 years. I’ll be 64. If I manage to get underpaid little enough, who knows, I might have some retirement savings by then. Freedom 75.

        The corporations have turned multiple generations of people into wage slaves, jacking up the prices for consumer goods while keeping wages stagnant or even reducing wages. It’s fucking disgusting, on top of that, they’ve not so slowly destroyed the planet with pollution. The entire time acting as though they’re the victims and getting bailed out with our tax dollars for mismanaging their respective organizations, prioritizing CEO pay and dividends and stock prices over employee health (especially mental health), employee pay and livable wages. They get all the benefits from automation, computerization and mechanisation and what did we get? Nothing. This fancy machine does the work of 20 workers and will do so forever, and only needs 2 people to run, and only costs 10 people’s salary for one year to pay for, and one person’s salary to maintain, where did the extra money go? Well, the CEOs third yacht isn’t going to pay for itself.

        Eat the rich.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        50
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I’m just glad that millennials and Gen Z are educated enough to be killing off organized religion.

        A big component of earlier generations accepting how bad things are is expecting them to get better in the afterlife.

        “It will be fine as long as I’m forgiven of my sins and go to Heaven! Why would I worry about Earth?”

        Thank fucking goodness there’s enough education for people to see through that absolute horseshit, a lie fed to the working populace to keep them compliant until the day they die.

        (To be clear, nothing against general spirituality. Mostly issues with organized religion and promising eternal life after death, which not all of them do.)

          • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Interesting stuff! I’d say the main difference is children are able to be controlled, while we’re dealing with adults who are cunning and willing to stop at nothing to change the system to benefit them and only them. In other words, their Extinction Bursts are capable of being effective, and Just Doing It Harder may work. Especially when “doing it harder” is cheating the system.

      • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s been the last 25 years for me. Just work… Gotta pay the bills so I can live, so I can… go back to work.

      • banana_meccanica@feddit.it
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        You can be positive at end because you have save something with your work. I have your age, never work a single day of my life, I don’t have a bank account, I’m just living with my 70yo parent and keep going with his money that is the wage of essential worker. Where I am going? Enjoy what? What ride? I only see that probably I have to work like a slave in future, and that’s it.

      • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I feel you. Just got my letter what kind of pension I can expect. If it ever happens. Let’s just say it’s not looking good. It does make you wonder why you didn’t just chose a much easier job when the stress and additional hours net you ~100 € more that won’t save you from being meh financially at best anyway.

        One friend of mine was lucky enough to get a real good job. He was able to buy property and have a family. The rest of my friend group, we all worked just as hard. But we weren’t lucky so no family or peace of mind for us I guess. It’s demotivating.

    • crimsonpoodle@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      1 year ago

      Maybe eventually when time marches on and we become the majority (I’m 23) we can make good positive social change. In some ways, while living through it is bad; the hardship and unfairness of the system is preventing the usual trend of people becoming more conservative as they age; so perhaps there is hope for things getting better in the future. We just have to keep trying; we can’t give in to cynicism.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        1 year ago

        The problem is it is not a generational issue. It’s a class issue. Rich millennials, and Gen Z will be no better than the rich Boomers. They will die believing they are just more special than everyone else and that is why they deserve so much more.

        Generations won’t change shit about who is in charge, sadly.

      • daltotron@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        I dunno man, I’ve met some of my peers. The vast majority of them are just normal people, right, living their lives, totally nice, but then some of them are really fucking stupid or mean, and I kind of wonder if this narrative that gen Z will save the world is true at all, or if it’s just that same sort of nonsense, that all we’ll have to do is wait and things will somehow get better.

      • Khotetsu@lib.lgbt
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Studies have apparently shown that the trend of people becoming more conservative as they grow older isn’t even true. The data says that the Boomers were just as conservative when they started voting as they are today. If anything, people consistently become more conservative as they get wealthier.

          • Khotetsu@lib.lgbt
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yup. I imagine that’s the kind of reason why they started that myth in the first place. So they could avoid taking the blame by claiming they were more liberal when they were younger.

    • psud@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      You know all this is worst in America, and I think it’s the systems.

      The rest of the British colonies used highly conservative parliaments, where parliament is diverse and consensus is needed

      America’s system was different, giving veto rather than encouraging consensus, focusing all power into two parties, removing the diversity

      My country gets green policy by the green party gaining enough seats in parliament to makes it worth the bigger parties negotiating with them, that can’t happen in a two party system

      You can’t have a bold party on the left because you have no room for a new, different party (that’s why the conservative side changed rather that a brand new party forming)

      We are protected by the more stupid ideas the greens have, as the greens must negotiate to get any of their ideas up

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Look I was alive and paying attention when carbon dioxide passed a threshold that is impossible to go back to. (Over 400ppm in the atmosphere.)

        That was ten years ago.

        Every climate scientist on the planet predicts society will collapse in the face of climate change.

        But sure, keep your head buried in the sand by calling other people “doomers” because you can’t be fucked to look up publicly available scientific research.

        I hope you are young so you get to see exactly how bad it gets and to question if maybe you were a dumb fuck to ignore it.

        Because yes. Yes you were.

        • saigot@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          The idea that nothing can be done and the world is already ended is literally oil company properganda.

  • qwertyWarlord@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    99
    arrow-down
    26
    ·
    1 year ago

    Alternate viewpoint: We’re forged in the fires of adversity. No longer are things easy or handed to us, we make our own road. We learn, teach ourselves, work our passions and figure things out against all odds. We’re stronger, wiser and ultimately happier for it, despite outward appearances

    • cals11@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      38
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah thats cool. But I’d rather be a white dude growing up in the 60s. 🤷‍♂️

      Life on easy difficulty.

    • QueriesQueried@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      1 year ago

      Good take, but I think it ignores a lot.

      We’re stronger, wiser and ultimately happier for it, despite outward appearances

      Mainly here. Yes everything people are getting is from their own actions, but it completely ignores the people that haven’t gotten anything from the struggle, which is a growing number of people. It also disregards people that don’t have the opportunity to carve their own way at all.

      There is still a bar that needs to be met to get anywhere, and it is just getting higher in may places. Sure once you hit the bar, you’re in a better spot and can see that the struggle paid off, but if you never get to the bar, if you never get to the point of “keeping your head at the water”, there is no payoff. These people just get to struggle. That’s all there is, and there is only so much of that before the struggle isn’t worth the payoff anymore.

    • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Thank you for that speech (sincerely). Tho it feels like the sort of words a commander gives to the troops to rally them & face a battle they will not survive with some dignity and a sense of pride.

      Are we not just a buffer for the next gens to get a chance at inheriting any freedom, to get a chance to lead at the right age & change things?

      • Marin_Rider@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        1 year ago

        sort of, but we (at least the older millenials) experienced some of the good times before everything went to shit. the younger gens cannot have the experiences we had as children and in some cases young adults. we mourn what we lost, but probably look like “old man yells at clouds” to those who don’t know what they never had

        • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh, yeah, I member the times of hope & the promise of a bright future. But that was late 80s & 90s, when I was still native & didn’t understand the global macroeconomics & geopolitics … and human selfishness … and thought that boomers once wealthy would not only stop working (which they did) but also let younger gens make decisions (so like board members, politicians, investors, landlords etc).

          But now I despise all that anyways, so much consequences for others just for a yacht & a fancy car, instead of wanting to help build a good world.

      • ChewTiger@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I believe that is our destiny as millennials, to turn the tide and act as brakes on the growing insanity in the world. I also believe that we can do it.

        • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Still holding out hope that myself.

          I’m proud when I see active protests, unionizing etc, like we finally realized we have nothing to lose but our exploitation.

    • Smokeydope@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      34
      ·
      1 year ago

      Unironicaly fantastic take.

      My philosophy is that you can either bitch and whine and moan about how hard and unfair life is, while wallowing in self pitying victim complex forever.

      Or you can stop crying yourself a river, roll up your sleeves, and get to work on doing something about it. To make the best of you’ve got and work on improving the parts of life you aren’t satisfied with one step at a time with a relatively clear and focused end goal in mind.

      These two approaches are a choice of personal philosophy.

      • 11181514@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        50
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        Unironically bullshit take.

        8 hours of work, commute, getting ready, etc takes literally half the day. Sleep takes another 8 hours. So what the fuck am I going to do with my free 4 hours to “do something about it”? My sleeves can’t be anymore rolled you sanctimonious piece of shit.

        Oh sorry I guess it’s my “choice” that gun violence is so prevalent, or that the government is becoming more fascist, or that my countrymen are rejecting science and spreading disease.

        I make a six figure salary and I still need a roommate just to rent. My county is actively supporting a genocide. The second in line to the presidency is a religious freak. The supreme Court is stacked to the regressives.

        But go on, please tell me again that this is all because I’m not doing something about it.

        Go. Fuck. Yourself.

        • CanofBeanz@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          11
          ·
          1 year ago

          We live in a time where overall there is less violence, less crime, a better state of living, more rights for minorites and lbtq people than any time in human history. Im sorry you feel so wronged.

        • Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          20
          ·
          1 year ago

          My recommendation is to pick one problem and focus on it. Don’t feel like you need to fix everything in the world, just make a small part of the world better. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, clean up litter, canvas for a ballot measure you care about. Doing nothing while agonizing over how much is to be done helps nobody.

          • dsc0rd@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            22
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Ah yes, the “dust up your apartment while the apartment complex is burning” approach. Might as well say “This is fine” while you’re going at it. :-)

            • Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              11
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              1 year ago

              So instead do nothing and circlejerk how miserable you are?

              And at no point did I advocate for doing something trivial. I said pick one thing that’s important to you and put your effort into that. Do you think poor people deserve homes? Volunteer your time on weekends to build them through organizations like Habitat for Humanity. Do you think that’s just a bandaid over a societal wound? Find a group of like-minded people and try to fix that deeper wound.

              • dsc0rd@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                7
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                NGL I’d rather circlejerk than be a “holier than thou” bastard who goes around people who are most likely mentaly and/or physically drained to go minimal or zero improvement actions like volunteer or clean up the streets.

        • Smokeydope@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          34
          ·
          1 year ago

          8 hours of work + commute, six figure salary, still need a roommate? Sounds like somebody didn’t make good life choices and is now stuck in a hole living just below their means while paying off massive debt. Blaming everything but themselves for their financial/living situation while doing little to improve it. but hey you work and commute and sleep so how can you be responsible for building up your own life when your so busy making 6 figures and paying rent, right? It must be the rotten society and world to blame for your failures to be financially stable without working non-stop.

          No it isn’t your ‘choice’ that society has ugly aspects that contribute to a lot of individual suffering with no easily fixable solutions. It is your choice to focus on those worst possible aspects of your country while actively ignoring all the good aspects of it and your personal life as a whole. It is your choice to be a pessimistic prick, paint yourself as a shakespearean character living out a tragic existance in a dystopian hellscape, blaming society for everything thats gone wrong in your life while making no efforts to improve anything.

          You don’t like the idea you are responsible for the satisfaction or lack there of you get out of your existance? Too bad, its the truth. No amount of blaming corrupt politics or society or human ignorance undermines the control you have over your decisions, your emotional state, your personal interpretations, and your progress towards lifestyle goals. Start focusing on yourself and working towards a better tommorow instead of the news cycle. Live well below your means, pay off your debts even if it means moving into a cheap van and paying yourself ‘rent’ for a while, stop thinking you’re special for working a full time job and commuting for long periods of time with little to show for it. Start learning how to effectively save your money towards things that will actually improve your life. Smell the roses and be happy to just be alive. Stop wanting trinkets and convinences and cool things to impress people who don’t really care.

          • 11181514@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            19
            ·
            1 year ago

            You took one sentence I said out of the entire comment and threw in so much of your own bias and hatred out that it’s honestly impressive.

            This isn’t about my finances. I’m not unhappy with my life. I am unhappy that the cards are so stacked against people that just surviving is a goal. I am unhappy that we live in a representative democracy that only represents a small fraction of the population. I am unhappy that when people talk about how shit things are, assholes like you come in and talk about personal responsibility. So, again, go fuck yourself.

            Also,

            Smell the roses and be happy to just be alive. Stop wanting trinkets and convinences and cool things to impress people who don’t really care.

            What in the actual fuck are you talking about? What trinkets? What the fuck?

          • hackris@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            13
            ·
            1 year ago

            Exactly the narrative all the shitty politicians are trying to push. Own nothing, work like a slave, be happy. I would say “fuck you”, but I made the personal choice of making the world better by not swearing on the internet. It will definitely help all the Palestinians, Ukrainians, people dying from hunger, end climate change, and tax all the billionaires. I hope I proved worthy to you :)

      • skulblaka@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        23
        ·
        1 year ago

        The parts of life I’m not satisfied with are the facts that my country is rapidly sliding into becoming a fascist ethnostate, our tax code is fucked six ways to Sunday, corporations are unaccountable to the law, I can barely afford food anymore because of corporations being unaccountable to the law and our tax code being fucked, my society is being actively destroyed by religious fanatics and schools can no longer be trusted to educate anyone.

        So, yeah. Any ideas? I’m all ears.

        • InputZero@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          There’s a story Mr. Rogers used to tell, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” That’s what you need to do, look for the helpers, which for adults and politics means look for the grass roots organizers. Go ask the people putting in the leg work how you can help. Yeah alone you are powerless but in a group you become powerful, find allies.

        • Smokeydope@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          I will be geniune with you and put some thought into this reply even if you probably won’t agree with what I say anyway. I have no solutions for the flaws of our society and the world people have made. Societal inequality, corrupt politics, all controlling corporations. tThere aren’t any quick or easy solutions to those aspects of life, if any at all. People are flawed, self interested, sometime cruel and selfish I don’t have a solution to my countries problems, or your countries problems, or the worlds problems, or human nature problems that everything else ultimately stems from.

          I decided that it wasn’t worth worry about all the things I have no power over, that obsessing over all the unfair injustices of life would ultimately lead me to becoming a neurotic pessimist. I hold no illusion that I hold any power as an individual over the flow of society, and that whatever happens, happens. Unless you are rich and powerful, there isn’t much you can do with the system as it is. You can be angry with that truth, rage against it, or accept it and move on. I chose the latter and started focusing on the things in my life I do have power over. My own happiness over my own living situation, My flaws as a human being, my negative and hateful interpretations of the world, my passions unfulfilled and frustrations built that lead to my unhappiness and disatisfaction with life. What I might be interested in doing with my life that may bring a sembelance of personal meaning/fufillment to fill that emptyness, what my personal vision of a happy life looks like. I can’t control the world or even begin to know how to, but I can control how I interpret my existence and what I choose to do with it.

          How you experience and live has a lot to do with how you interpret yourself and your own life. Do you think you think you are a shakespearean character living out a tragedy full of pain and trauma and regret in an uncaring malevolent universe? That we live in the worst timeline possible and everything is beyond hope? That your country is the worst version of itself to possibly exist? That your living situation is hopeless with no way out no matter how hard you try? Then it is so, from your perspective.

          Do you think that even though life, society, and everything inbetween is unfair, and there is so much suffering in the world, even so there is still some beauty and goodness to be found in people and every day life? That while our timeline is subpar and things could be better, that there is still some hope for people as a whole and that things can be better? That you have the means and power to work towards a better, happier future for your self? That reality while unfair and sometimes cruel ultimately it has your best interest in mind? Then it is so, from your perspective.

          How we choose to interpret reality is more reflection of our individual psychology than reality itself. A smart person once said something along the lines of "the most important question a person can ask themselves is ‘is the universe malevolent or benevolent’ You have a choice in how you choose to see the world, you can either focus on the bad, rotten and unfair things on the outside that cannot be easily changed or you can focus on the bad, rotten, angry hateful things on the inside eating at your mind which can slowly be changed by contributing to the small acts of good that still happen everyday.

          Anticipates massive downvotes

          • QueriesQueried@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            1 year ago

            That’s a nice outlook you have, and I wish it could be more relatable. The things you’re “not worrying about because you can’t change them” are actively ruining that entire dealio though. You don’t need to be thinking about them all the time to do the bare minimum and simply acknowledge that they are current issues, and will remain to be issues until fixed. It also takes little to zero effort to be aware of the fact that “pulling yourself up” is not always viable, precisely because of these issues you’ve been “not thinking about”. The issues give zero fucks about if your or anyone else is thinking of them. They are still making simply surviving, its own problem.

            Crying about it doesn’t help anyone, but to say these people just need to “dust themselves off” when you are actively ignoring the issues that are preventing them front being happy or comfortable (not rich, literally just surviving not at the edge), is extremely rich. All that says is you got your piece, and think that means everyone can get theirs. It disregards the possibility of different external and personal conditions. Either of which can, and are, a significant blockage, to that path of progress you refer to.

          • skulblaka@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            I actually really appreciate the thought and effort put into your reply here. I will admit freely that my original comment was coming from a place of frustration, no small amount of depression, and desperation. And I think you’re absolutely correct that for the average person it’s probably more important to worry about your own immediate health and surroundings. It’s healthier that way.

            The part I disagree with, though, is the idea that just putting on your blinders and ignoring the things you can’t change is a fine way to live your life. We, as citizens, have a duty and a responsibility to keep our country in line. We, as human beings, have a duty and a responsibility to be good shepherds of our planet. We, as parents, have a duty and a responsibility to leave a better world behind for our children than the one we inherited. And I can’t, and won’t, just ignore all that. The universe is not malevolent but it also is not benevolent. It is vast and uncaring far beyond our ability to comprehend it as such, and it is up to us, the thinking, feeling creatures, to forge our future. If we do not act, there will be no action.

            Our situation was caused by thinking, feeling human beings, and it will be solved by thinking, feeling human beings and no one else. Or else we will die, and find ourselves as an evolutionary dead-end that tried real hard but didn’t quite make it.

            So my question then becomes, at the end of the day - if not you or I, then who? If we do not rage against the night, if we do not reach to the sky to pull ourselves out of the hole we’ve been dug into - then who is going to do it for us? Not God, that’s for sure. Not politicians, or soldiers, or celebrities. So who?

      • QueriesQueried@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        1 year ago

        Or you can stop crying yourself a river, roll up your sleeves, and get to work on doing something about it. To make the best of you’ve got and work on improving the parts of life you aren’t satisfied with one step at a time with a relatively clear and focused end goal in mind.

        Bold to assume everyone has the capability to do this. Maybe you got lucky with an area, maybe someone else got unlucky, but to pretend like any single person is in complete control of their life is an absolute joke. “Rolling up your sleeves and getting to work” stopped being a viable route a while ago, around the same time people started needing two or more jobs to afford basic necessities.

        You can make the best of what you got, but if all you got is 0 left over time, <2% extra money in your pockets after living expenses, and a “give’r your best shot” mentality, all you have is… no extra time to commit that effort, and no money to improve your conditions, which would have helped with the time bit. That also doesn’t even touch on the people with mental/physical disabilities, or mental health issues.

        Sometimes even if you try, the only areas you can sacrifice are the only things keeping you afloat. That’s just how it is. You can’t win them all. And some, can’t win the basics. That’s where we’re at now.

      • Lyricism6055@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Or you can whine enough that a politician embraces your viewpoint and try to get things on a silver platter while they print more debt

      • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Or you can stop crying yourself a river, roll up your sleeves, and get to work on doing something about it. To make the best of you’ve got and work on improving the parts of life you aren’t satisfied with one step at a time with a relatively clear and focused end goal in mind.

        The internationale gradually fades in

  • Steve@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    60
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    All of the baby boomers will be dead within 20 years, maybe then we can make some improvements?

    (Sorry mom & dad, nothing personal)

    • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      50
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Jeez you made me think about how much fucked up shit I’ve been through.

      1. Publicized school shootings on TV 90s
      2. Watching the second plane crash on live TV on 9/11
      3. Medical trauma 1: had testicular torsion ,went in 12 hours after it started, they tried to untwist it by hand while I was conscious, morphine ain’t shit
      4. Medical trauma 2: spontaneous pneumothorax, the ketamine they dosed me with didn’t work so that chest tube insertion fucked me up
      5. PMTSD related anxiety and depression
      6. 2 more pneumothorax
      7. 2008 financial crisis
      8. college went well, but first job out of college after I got my computer engineering degree payed a fucking grand total of $51k.
      9. 2016 election
      10. Hit 250lbs
      11. 2019 my highschool sweetheart wife cheated on me
      12. COVID-19
      13. Hit 280 lbs
      14. Jan 6 insurrection
      15. Stagflation
      16. Lost 70lbs because of cutting back on food spending and weightloss medication
      17. discovered my wife sexting the guy she cheated on me with after being in marriage therapy for 4 years
      18. hit 250lbs again

      Jesus christ, is this resilience, or are we all so burnt out that we just accept everything getting worse always.

      Like I get the joke in Russia is “and then it got worse.” But Jesus christ, it can’t get worse if it’s always bad can it?

      • settinmoon@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        17
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Not trying to dismiss your sufferings but I still think our generation had it way better than our grandparents, and probably better than 90% of the people in the world if you live in an advanced economy. For instance my grandfather went through the bloodiest war in human history, a bloody civil war, and a famine that killed millions of people. The problem right now is getting all the negative information that you have no control over from the internet, that’s why I stay away from tuning into any news these days.

        • rchive@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          22
          ·
          1 year ago

          2023 is literally better than every year in human history that came before it. People are just negative, it’s part of our nature to not be content and constantly push for improvement for ourselves and others.

          • astar26@ttrpg.network
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            1 year ago

            Depends. For my country we were on the verge on a civil war, and then a massacre started a real outwards war… Guess the silver lining is we won’t have a civil war anytime soon…

            • rchive@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              There are places that are worse, for sure, and I’m sorry to hear that. But the average is better. Just like the existence of really hot days does not disprove climate change, really terrible events in certain places do not disprove the overall trend of things getting better.

  • thorbot@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    53
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    Damn, there’s a lot of angry, self-harm promoting people in this thread. Take care of yourself people. Take it one day at a time. The Earth is still here, for now.

  • FastAndBulbous@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m a millennial, just trying to not let the world’s ills bother me now. Life is too short and what you make it.

    • Final Remix@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      1 year ago

      Same here. Recently went to a doctor for some internal stuff, and she’s like “well, we want to prevent x, y, and z from progressing too fast because…”

      And part of me wants to just interrupt and be like “what’s the fuckin’ point? Have you seen outside?”

      • foggy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        31
        ·
        1 year ago

        “I’m so sorry to hear your having these…”

        Type type type

        “Suicidal ideations. We’re going to recommend…”

        Type type type

        “A Psychiatric evaluation. There is one psychiatrist in the tri county are and they are out of network. The evaluations are in 3 30 minute sessions. The psychiatrist will be 45 minutes late at a minimum. The first two are $1200 each, and the third is $1600. I can get you in on…march 29th, 2025? Does that date work for you?”

        • Obinice@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          1 year ago

          Is this a nightmare where I’m dreaming that I’m in a hellscape where healthcare isn’t free

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Unfortunately, they probably have seen outside exactly how you mean it, they’re probably dealing with similar issues, and like you, they’re just at work, going through the motions, trying to get through the day, hoping to have a slice of it left over for themselves at the end.

        That’s the most insidious part of it, it affects so many of us that none of us has the time, patience, or effort to give others anymore.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      1 year ago

      They’ll do it again, I’m sure.

      And the government will take our tax dollars and bail them out again, I’m sure of that too.

      We’ll get nothing except the right to continue to work for minimum wage, and we’re expected to thank them for the “privilege” of having a job.

      It’s a wonderful life.

      • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        They can bail them out, but it won’t work. The 2008 financial crisis is directly related to this one.

        The difference? People might have jobs, but inflation (real inflation, not Fed reported inflation) is outpacing wage growth so much it’s creating homeless employed people.

        In my city, new development on the outer skirts of town is building around the new schools - 350k homes, 300k town homes, $1600/month 2 room apartment rental complexes. No stores in walking distance, so you need a car.

        it’s stupid. it’s unsustainable. at some point it will be so bad that people will just sit where they live because they know there will be too many other people unable to pay mortgage or rent.

        • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          The working homeless is not a class of people I ever really considered to be possible or exist until now. Sure, some people were in varying states of poor or missing housing sometimes especially when transitioning into a working role before now… That isn’t ideal, but it happened.

          But this isn’t that. This is working full time and being unable to have housing. Where its not transient, or temporary, it’s that you’re homeless and you have a job, but simply cannot afford to live in a home.

          Crazy thought.

  • mochisuki@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    39
    arrow-down
    12
    ·
    1 year ago

    Speak up, call your government reps. Your apathy is what they are counting on to avoid change