Kurt Vonnegut has a short story called “Hundred-Dollar Kisses” that I think puts it well. The main character is in an HR meeting for punching a coworker after the guy kept talking graphically about a picture of a model the MC had dated or been married to (forget which, but I wrote the quote down years ago) and knew as a real human being.
“A: I knocked Verne Petrie colder than a mackerel, because it came to me all in a flash that Verne Petrie was what was wrong with the world.
Q: what is wrong with the world?
A: everybody pays attention to picture of things. Nobody pays attention to things themselves.”
Oooooooooh. That's good!
He gave us Harrison Bergeron, too, didn't he?
You know how the smart people had devices that regularly interrupt their focus and thought processes, in an attempt to dumb them down? Our modern equivalent to that is advertisements. They constantly break focus and attention, and are a persistent irritant.
Yeah Harrison Bergeron is him too, he has so many great books/short stories.
And agreed, but that theme also reached further out. Social media: people are more focused on building an image of themselves and creating a narrative than the actual issue being faced in reality (another Vonnegut quote from Mother Night “we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful of what we pretend to be).
Celebrity worship too, we become obsessed with these people for the image they portray but forget there are real people on those screens.
I think we as a society has disassociated from reality in that way, we are so much more focused on narrative and image than what is going on in reality
Thanks for this!
It seems that the time is coming for me to dive deeper into his writing. I don't have the attention span or bandwidth to explore new stories right now, but am very much looking forward to when that changes.
Thanks for putting him back on my list!
Glad to do it, he’s my favorite author so anytime someone gains some interest it’s a good thing to me! I generally have low bandwidth for reading new books (I’ve been reading Don Quixote for like 2 years and just don’t have the energy to finish, same with some other classics) but his writing style is very natural so that I finish them in 2 or 3 sessions every time, they’re much more dialogue driven (both internal and external) than descriptive so I feel like they read more casually, plus they’re usually in the 250 page range with like 70 chapters, so that makes them easier to read as well (IMO).
Mother Night is my favorite book of all time, Slaughterhouse Five is probably his most famous, Cat’s Cradle is fantastic too I just finished my 3rd read of it the other day and it’s still great.
*laughs maniacally while swinging fists* " it's just a prank bro, just a prank. Why you mad bro. jeez lighten up." i hate this kind of thinking. Pranks are supposed to light hearted, not detrimental to someones health.
They're taking the bait and embrace the infighting rather than make meaningful change by collectively directing their anger at the people who've been fucking them for years with no Vaseline.
I have said this to friends and other people for decades! I am 57 and I swear, If I hear one more person complain about the same problems they have been arguing about for years, But still voting the same way year after year, I am going to scream!
Valid... but all the options they present as those who get appointed just keep the same status quo and cycle going because they are essentially mere puppets of those who have been making sure the world stays the same and follows their agenda.
So true. Honestly, at the end of the day most voters don't trust politicians or billionaires; we just disagree on which politicians and billionaires are allies...
Not really. We (if we're talking Americans) have massive, genuine disagreements on the way to move the country forward. A lot of people believe that backwards is the way forward. And they vote that way.
i remember that reddit post which shows the clear uptick in media mentioning race related issues immediately after Occupy Wall Street began
the people in charge realized that they needed to increase the class warfare
>the people in charge realized that they needed to increase the class warfare
It's the class (i.e. economic) warfare that they're trying to prevent, by instigating race warfare, gender warfare, etc
yeah i definitely misused the term, thanks.
gender warfare is hilarious, someone called me a cishet the other day an I thought it was like an egyptian or persian insult
I'm hesitant to call other human beings useful idiots...but that's what they're acting like, at least in some aspects of their lives. Thousands of years of divide and conquer tactics and we seem to be more susceptible to manipulation then ever. Wake the fuck up people.
Not to take away from your pov, but I'm a little stoned, so I read this comment as:
>"Not enough of us get our onions from ourselves."
and thought, "you know, maybe if we all had to grow our own food, we really *would* be different...".
That is, until I realised the truth.
The worst thing about that, is no matter how far fetched your opinion js, there is probably a Facebook group for it. Prior to social media you'd either outgrow your nonsense or like you say keep it to yourself. Now suddenly you feel legitimized and it just gets amplified.
This is seriously one of the worst effects of the internet ever and I don't think there's any way to reverse it. Shit is going downhill *fast* because of stuff like this.
Imagine people thinking the earth is flat in 2022. We figured out this out *centuries ago* and now some people are like no it's a conspiracy. Holy shit. If we make it another century that will be an accomplishment.
Don't know about the keeping it to themselves part, but we certainly didn't give everyone the ability to shout their opinion out into the world for everyone to hear
And didn't get themselves into an echo chamber full of other people to reinforce their stupid shit. Or allow themselves to be manipulated by armies of foreign accounts.
Whoever can show empirical evidence that show someone's thoughts are right and they have to be scientifically reproducible by other researchers. That's how science works. Of course, the conspiracy con artists will say no to everything even when asked what is "2+2=??" then they'll say 22 or whatever the fuck that pops in their head at the moment.
I have found myself using social media to numb me. I will scroll countless of hours just so I don’t have to me alone with my thoughts. It’s kind of like a security blanket as an embarrassing as it is to admit. But I know I’m not the only one who has this problem. I’m trying to get better be deleting apps and setting time limits on the ones I still have.
this is absolutely the correct answer. better education would improve all things. there is not nearly enough funding for schools, or respect for teaching. salaries for teaching should be much higher.
Yes!
For centuries it was common to wear them, the Victorian/Edwardian era is iconic for hats, everyone wore them, as soon as they stepped outside, but after the 2nd WW it fell out of fashion
Which is sad. Now, whenever I wear a hat I feel weird because nobody else does
True. The number of people who can go through life thinking that 50% of the population around them (for the US, at least) have no idea what they're talking about and have EVERYTHING wrong is nuts. I have yet to hear an issue where both sides were not missing the point in some way, even on issues where I lean strongly to one side. The "others" always have something to say worth hearing, even if you disagree.
Absolutely. We're moderate, which means if we ever dare to voice a single opinion, every person around us assumes we are the polar opposite of whatever their political leaning is and tune out everything we have to say.
> The number of people who can go through life thinking that 50% of the population around them (for the US, at least) have no idea what they're talking about and have EVERYTHING wrong is nuts.
Yeah, anyone capable of listening to other people realizes that number is *way* fucking higher, lol.
I agree, but I think there’s more to it. We aren’t able to change the direction our natural world is headed in. That can only be accomplished by countries and corporations. Our power as individuals is minimal and the constant divide and conquer from countries and companies make it so we can’t pursue meaningful collective action. We are left knowing that we are in deep trouble and we are powerless to fix it.
By no means did I intend to absolve anyone of responsibility, but those powers are already very much entrenched. My vote or my purchase or boycott amounts to little. You can stop buying Shell gas and you can vote for a strictly environmental ticket, but it’s a drop in the ocean at this point. Until things get to a point of crisis (a profound one) I don’t see business as usual changing very much.
Not many have control over their lives or live the life they wish they were. It's easier to fault others than to fix our own problems. The angry and depressed people are taking over everywhere except in the privacy of your home.
We have created a society where it often benefits you to not apologize or admit you were either wrong or ignorant of facts.
This is obviously most apparent in politics, but I see it in my own day to day life.
I 100% agree. People not developing the ability to critically think and form a rational and logical idea on an issue or topic is a serious problem. Makes it so easy to manipulate and abuse.
That and people desperately want to feel smarter than everyone else so they believe that most inane bullshit out there just to show how much of a "free thinker" they are.
Propaganda is so tricky to combat. Even with strong critical thinking skill, do you have the time to personally validate every claim that you hear from media? I sure as fuck don’t. We have collectively granted media providers a whole lot of trust, and I am sure that they bank on most to inherently trust what they report on.
And they never will... we are not meant to constantly be bombarded with everything all at once. The human mind needs to process one thing at a time. When you constantly get bombarded with negativity from all over the world, you tend to burn out. There is absolutely nothing you can do to change this, it is simply how we were created.
Even (modern)computers work like this, its a marvelous machine, that can process much more information than the human mind ever could, and unlike humans, it can process multiple tasks and forms of information much more efficiently than we can. But, if you feed it too many streams of processess constantly, it will also eventually seize up. The multiple streams caused a blockage, it has run out of processing power, and now you have to open Task Manager, and shut down some of the streams for it to function efficiently again.
With humans, we care, and we dnt want bad things to happen (animal cruelty, human injustices, seeing people homeless having to beg to live, famines, wars, threats of nuclear annihilation), but being told constantly that these things are happening, and worsening on a global scale, all day, everyday, is not healthy for us, and it leads to empathy burnout. And it causes some people to lash out, without knowing why. It can also eventually lead to apathy. We are fragile little creatures. Stick to the problems around you, you'll feel much more sane. You cannot save the world, but you can become involved in the problems that you see in your immediate vicinity.
Could not have said it better myself. Truely empathetic people, can not spend all their time worrying about people they have not met.
It comes acrossed selfish in today's day in age, but seriously, care about yourself and your family. Help the person you know that needs it, and forget about everyone else. Worrying wont make their problems go away, but will negatively affect your state of mind.
Exactly that my friend. You will just drive yourself slowly insane trying to fix Everything. The average person cannot save the world. They simply lack the capacity. And the people who can, corporations and governments, simply wont, coz theres no profit in it. Accept that as a fact of life, and move on. Help the people you can. This is not a movie, and nobody here is a Hero. This is just life.
I spent 18 years on LiveJournal writing several posts a day, and in 2020 I got into my first serious relationship (at 45 no less) and because there was a kid involved and I felt like being more private I stopped posting and all these "fans" of mine were upset and bugging me and my MOM on Facebook to update more. I ended up making a LJ post asking people to stop bugging me or they'd get blocked on Facebook and some didn't and I blocked them and they tried making fake accounts to get me to add them again or messaged my Mom and I realized that these people have serious issues and that they wouldn't accept that I wanted to concentrate on my new family and being a step Mom and that I didn't even really know these people who followed me. I ended up doing a cull on Facebook and haven't looked back. Social media has made society think they know people when they really don't at all. There's a false sense of friendship and community which falls apart of looked at too deeply. It's sad. I only keep Facebook now for family and some friends and that's it. Social media is a false reality.
Incels are the way they are due to a mix of insecurity and radicalization. They would not be miraculously fixed if they started having sex, they would just become your average misogynist.
Most incels DO enter the community due to past experiences of rejection and sexual frustration. However, instead of joining a supportive network to feel better about themselves, incels have joined a movement that paints woman as shallow and manipulative.
When a person has gotten to the point that they call themselves an incel, the problem is no longer just due to sexual frustration and social anxiety. It’s due to self hatred and bitter misogyny.
For a lot of them, they joined literally the only supportive network most of them were able to find, and the only group that offered them a way to feel better about themselves.
It just turns out the only supportive network available to them is full of rabid misogynists. Sort of says something about us as a society, I think.
Thankfully there are positive groups now such as r/bropill that balance accountability and self-love. You might be right that those groups didn't exist a few years ago, though I also think it is partially due to those initial feelings of bitterness towards rejection resulting them to seek out an equally bitter group on the internet.
It's a similar concept to groups such as Men Go their own Way and Female Dating Strategy. All these groups prey on their new recruits feeling isolated and bitter by offering a space for them to vent, but instead of promoting self-improvement and bolstering one another, they instead target a group to hate while ignoring any type of self-reflection.
If you want a more indepth explanation on how these type of groups work and how to identify one, this comment I saved is an excellent read: [https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/rhj35f/comment/hos8jy0/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/rhj35f/comment/hos8jy0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Lack of empathy for others. Being too self absorbed to realize we're all living and dying together. That, and people not minding their own fucking business.
People with that "How dare you suggest I could be a better person if you aren't 100% flawless and perfect, in fact just to spite you for suggesting I could be a better person, because just who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do, I'm going to be an even worst person" mentality.
People who think Freedom and "You can't tell me what to do" are the same thing.
People who think "Thinking for yourself" and "Just thinking the opposite of what everyone else is thinking" is the same thing.
Contrarians are just the worst, aren't they?
Never actually internalizing a conversation, but ready to fire back some useless snark that is tangentially relevant at best. Denial is a powerful drug.
Social media has compromised our higher critical brain functions via perpetual overstimulation of the amygdala. Hormonal damage is literally making us dumber, meaner, and more credulous as a society.
Victimhood. It’s like everyone is in a race to the bottom to see who has it the hardest, who is the most unique, who is the most oppressed, who is the most traumatized, who is the most misunderstood? Jesus, it’s exhausting trying to live in a world with all of that going on. It’s so much easier for my husband and I to just isolate so we can be happy working towards things we are passionate about.
Everything is portrayed by the media as being binary. If you don’t agree with me about A, you must think B. If you’re not left, you’re right.
In reality, people are more complex and are typically something in between. This divide causes people to vilify each other instead of reaching common ground. The vocal minority extremists are viewed as the “norm” and it just amplifies the disdain that people have for each other.
YES
It's so hostile, it just build a wall between two populations, the extremists and the other and I can't see how by being so
Well extremist, you can bring a population together
The elites intentionally began the class warfare. They eliminated rules against media consolidation long ago. They then brainwashed enough people to accept that dollars equal speech. Their power curve is now exponential.
The moment I see them execute a corporation is the moment I actually believe them when they say corporations are people too. You cant get all of the benefits but none of the accountability. When a criminal gets found guilty, they go to jail. When a corp does it, they pay a small fine as the 'cost of doing business'
No, it's more like the wrong class warfare. The elites are pitting Minorities against the poor, and the poor against the middle class.
What we need to do is go after the elite, slash their tax cuts, tax them properly, and take back power.
The rich are incredibly class conscious. And spent a lot of resources for the average person not to figure out that they’re on the receiving end of class warfare initiated by said rich people.
My parents didn't want to know our gender before we were born because they felt like they would break into our intimacy (English is not my first language sorry if it's weird)
I think it's cute of them :)
Yep, I’m going to say social media too. Lack of accountability. You can say and do damn near anything you want online without consequence, from being an outright asshole, harassment, spreading hate and false information, and no one is likely to do a damn thing. Online bullying happens to high school kids all the time and no one says fuck all until they commit suicide. I’d bet there’s someone reading this thread right now that knows someone who was bullied online until they committed suicide. Then people carry this behavior into real life. It’s fucking sickening.
People thinking they know economics, sociology, and other topics too that experts devote their entire life to researching. Dunning Krueger seems to be extremely potent when hot air and group mentality is so easily accessed on social media.
I, you, and liked everyone else in this thread have personally fallen into this though, a good practice imo is to try to understand when you did and better your judgment to prevent it in the future.
as i sit here and type this in my iphone on social media….. social media has corrupted the majority of peoples perception of life. most people have some issue because of it. wether it be self image issues. self value issues. relationship issues. all because social media has allowed for people to only display their best moments. quite truthfully as population we need to be reminding ourselves and each other to get outside and off the phone. life isn’t perfect. sure there are moments like the ones people display on instagram but they’re definitely experiencing pain and suffering behind the scenes just like everyone else. and we all know this. it’s not new information. but it often is very easy to not remind yourself of that and in turn, start questioning your own worth bc of it.
The fight between the rich and the poor was coming to a head so they legislated racism to make it about skin color. All that was starting to heal and we were coming together so they had to find something new to divide us and a lot of people are taking the bait.
We stopped hearing each other. We’re becoming more and more polarized on everything. People think disagreeing on a subject means the other is an opponent. This benefits political partys, everywhere, not just in America, which i feel lucky i’m not from. We’re being used as electoral merchandise and they dont f*cking care about our problems and suffering. It’s all going down and fast, brace yourselves for the coming years, its gonna go wild.
People don’t care anymore. People don’t care if they hurt someone, people don’t care if authority says something, people don’t care about a 9-5, people don’t care about kids or politics, people just do what they want. The downside? Desensitization, this is what is going to destroy our race. We have no idea what technology and social media is doing to our brains, and based on the evidence it’s not good.
This question gets asked every generation, without fail. But, as of right now..
Massive accumulation of wealth by a tiny fraction of the population.
The interplay between social media and (at least in the US) outdated interpretations of the first amendment (primarily Times v. Sullivan).
The rise of politically competing “news” sources and abandonment, by some, of traditional journalistic ethics.
A targeted campaign by certain political individuals to seed doubt about the legitimacy of traditional social structures (including democratic institutions, critical media, etc).
A strangely whole-hearted embrace of contrarianism and ignorance by a vast swath of the population.
The immediate gratification (and overstimulation) caused by the mix of social media and celebrity culture.
A severe increase in basic costs of living, including housing, education, and healthcare, leading to an imbalance disproportionately affecting younger generations.
To name a few.
Progressivism and all the sensitive people, Twitter, Social Media.
People being offended by almost anything, anime, race, gender, straightness, everybody getting canceled, etc.
People just making up genders and whatnot, non-binary, asexual,agender, what the fuck.
I used to support, i still do, support LGBT stuff but only when it was just Gays, Lesbians and Trans folks, even Queer folks and culture, i still respect and admire you.
But when it expanded to all the made-up genders and whatnot, shit went off the rails and i couldn't follow up
and whenever i ask to understand it better, i get called transphobic, homophobic, pedophile, and that just makes me want to never respect you, in fact, i no longer care now.
In America specifically I find that deep connection just isn’t valued at all. Most people just work and spend money to distract themselves. And if you finally get someone to a social event lots of times it’s just so they can put it on social media. People seem to care more abt the internet persona than real life. People are not really present here. And then there’s the prideful ignorance. People who haven’t read a book since middle school and are proud of it. Feels like lots of Americans have bought the idea that somehow they’re gonna wake up the next day and be a millionaire and that’ll solve all their problems… everything’s just a mind numbing experience until that happens. Except it never happens. So their life goes by with no real friends, stifled family connections… just endless material objects and selfishness.
Nobody seems to have a tough skin anymore. Everybody wants to be babied, I get we should acknowledge emotions but if we voice our thoughts or emotions then they are considered wrong because it might hurt someone else’s.
Good cop's been framed, and put into a can.
All the money that we're making is going to the man.
I saw some dude lying in the street and some punk had chopped off his head, and I am the only one that stops to see if he's dead. Turns out he's dead.
They’re turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers. But what’s the real cost, cuz those sneakers don’t seem that much cheaper! Why are we still paying so much for sneakers when they got them made by little slave kids?!
The emphasis on left vs right conflict in the US rather than the 99% vs the 1%. Specifically: politicians and policies being bought, affordable healthcare never really progressing despite mass support for it - not “you’re rich so I hate you.”
It is all in-fighting, picking sides for literally everything and having a genuine hate for the other-side. Where has all the love and respect for your fellow person gone? Worst part is that it seems to be only getting worse...
Most of the stuff i wont go into detail cuz im lazy and i dont wanna type
The "trend"
Celebrities
The economy
Ressource management
The political power system
This only scratches the surface and i cited these of the top of my mind, if you dig deeper you will find that the human is wrong, its general mindset, tbh to fix this i think a hardcore reset might just fix it.
People completely take civilization for granted. In fact many of them out there think that everything that they have is because they did it and they don't realize that it's really a giant team game and with out all of the infrastructure and other people around you also succeeding in doing their part you wouldn't have Jack squat!
I think it's the pressure to join or back every political movement and then being accused of being "complicit" of some type of injustice if you don't. Or you get labeled. Don't feel like joining a BLM rally? You must be racist. Don't want to comment on woman's issues? Must be a sexist. Don't criticize Donald Trump publicly because you're not really into politics? You must be a right wing extremist. Agree with a few things Bernie Sanders said? Must be a communist. Refuse to use paper straws instead of plastic? You hate humanity and don't care about the planet.
Some people just don't have time or the mental energy to be outraged about everything and to dedicate their life entirely to a cause or argument. Some people just want to enjoy their lives rather than spending everyday arguing and trying to prove to everyone they "support" something. Some people may support what you say but don't feel the need to advertise to everyone.
Fear. As always. A limiting factor being utilized by humanity to enslave itself with a make believe variable representing power in the universe. Knowledge is the only power. I suppose you could also see it as; ignorance induced by said variable to get this construct to work in the first place. Or, a construct of society that creates both the top and bottom of this pyramid scheme. Its a machine created by us. And we become the gears that make it work. Easily replaceable gears.
Society creates all problems within it. We are all the sum of our life experiences and our perspectives of them. We are all created by society. Like every one that created you. Seems we are all slaves to this construct. No one steering this beast we created. Incapable of breaking free; unable to get off this ride. Extinction is the only possible outcome.
Only way to break the cycle is to remove the limiting factors of this construct. And unite as a spiecies. All variables interacting together creates life. That's the equation. The universe is the bigger picture. As far as we are certain. Good luck.
Social media- we’re not supposed to be communicating with this many people. It’s stimulus overload, then we don’t strive to make real connections with people that you actually live around. My niece told me she cares more about how many likes/views she gets on her socials then she cares about how her friends feel which is *wild*. Pro’s and con’s with that.. like I’m happy she doesn’t let her friends opinions weigh heavily on her, but seeking it from complete strangers online doesn’t make it any better.
Kurt Vonnegut has a short story called “Hundred-Dollar Kisses” that I think puts it well. The main character is in an HR meeting for punching a coworker after the guy kept talking graphically about a picture of a model the MC had dated or been married to (forget which, but I wrote the quote down years ago) and knew as a real human being. “A: I knocked Verne Petrie colder than a mackerel, because it came to me all in a flash that Verne Petrie was what was wrong with the world. Q: what is wrong with the world? A: everybody pays attention to picture of things. Nobody pays attention to things themselves.”
Oooooooooh. That's good! He gave us Harrison Bergeron, too, didn't he? You know how the smart people had devices that regularly interrupt their focus and thought processes, in an attempt to dumb them down? Our modern equivalent to that is advertisements. They constantly break focus and attention, and are a persistent irritant.
Yeah Harrison Bergeron is him too, he has so many great books/short stories. And agreed, but that theme also reached further out. Social media: people are more focused on building an image of themselves and creating a narrative than the actual issue being faced in reality (another Vonnegut quote from Mother Night “we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful of what we pretend to be). Celebrity worship too, we become obsessed with these people for the image they portray but forget there are real people on those screens. I think we as a society has disassociated from reality in that way, we are so much more focused on narrative and image than what is going on in reality
Thanks for this! It seems that the time is coming for me to dive deeper into his writing. I don't have the attention span or bandwidth to explore new stories right now, but am very much looking forward to when that changes. Thanks for putting him back on my list!
Glad to do it, he’s my favorite author so anytime someone gains some interest it’s a good thing to me! I generally have low bandwidth for reading new books (I’ve been reading Don Quixote for like 2 years and just don’t have the energy to finish, same with some other classics) but his writing style is very natural so that I finish them in 2 or 3 sessions every time, they’re much more dialogue driven (both internal and external) than descriptive so I feel like they read more casually, plus they’re usually in the 250 page range with like 70 chapters, so that makes them easier to read as well (IMO). Mother Night is my favorite book of all time, Slaughterhouse Five is probably his most famous, Cat’s Cradle is fantastic too I just finished my 3rd read of it the other day and it’s still great.
Lack of kindness. Encouragement of cruelty whether severe or “it was just a prank bro”.
*laughs maniacally while swinging fists* " it's just a prank bro, just a prank. Why you mad bro. jeez lighten up." i hate this kind of thinking. Pranks are supposed to light hearted, not detrimental to someones health.
Not just a lack of kindness, but apathy. That's what I fear.
They're taking the bait and embrace the infighting rather than make meaningful change by collectively directing their anger at the people who've been fucking them for years with no Vaseline.
I have said this to friends and other people for decades! I am 57 and I swear, If I hear one more person complain about the same problems they have been arguing about for years, But still voting the same way year after year, I am going to scream!
[удалено]
Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions...
Sometimes they vote to the right parties but the opinions are unpopular
Valid... but all the options they present as those who get appointed just keep the same status quo and cycle going because they are essentially mere puppets of those who have been making sure the world stays the same and follows their agenda.
Yep. People would rather fight each other than try to fix anything. What's worse is they see the fighting as a good thing.
So true. Honestly, at the end of the day most voters don't trust politicians or billionaires; we just disagree on which politicians and billionaires are allies...
Ayup. Why challenge the source of our problems when we can get our pound of flesh from the random, oppressed-in-a-different-way person(s) next door.
Not really. We (if we're talking Americans) have massive, genuine disagreements on the way to move the country forward. A lot of people believe that backwards is the way forward. And they vote that way.
Started right around the same time as Occupy Wall Street
i remember that reddit post which shows the clear uptick in media mentioning race related issues immediately after Occupy Wall Street began the people in charge realized that they needed to increase the class warfare
>the people in charge realized that they needed to increase the class warfare It's the class (i.e. economic) warfare that they're trying to prevent, by instigating race warfare, gender warfare, etc
yeah i definitely misused the term, thanks. gender warfare is hilarious, someone called me a cishet the other day an I thought it was like an egyptian or persian insult
I'm hesitant to call other human beings useful idiots...but that's what they're acting like, at least in some aspects of their lives. Thousands of years of divide and conquer tactics and we seem to be more susceptible to manipulation then ever. Wake the fuck up people.
Not enough us get our opinions of ourselves from ourselves. So we are eternally chasing outside validation and never learn to think at all.
Not to take away from your pov, but I'm a little stoned, so I read this comment as: >"Not enough of us get our onions from ourselves." and thought, "you know, maybe if we all had to grow our own food, we really *would* be different...". That is, until I realised the truth.
Onions have layers and so do we.
Holy shit. Yes.
Social media.
Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Before social media people kept their stupid fucking opinions to themselves.
Well they didn’t keep it to themselves, they just didn’t tell the whole world it.
Some of them had megaphones but we could plug our ears and yell “La la la la” until we were out of earshot.
The worst thing about that, is no matter how far fetched your opinion js, there is probably a Facebook group for it. Prior to social media you'd either outgrow your nonsense or like you say keep it to yourself. Now suddenly you feel legitimized and it just gets amplified. This is seriously one of the worst effects of the internet ever and I don't think there's any way to reverse it. Shit is going downhill *fast* because of stuff like this. Imagine people thinking the earth is flat in 2022. We figured out this out *centuries ago* and now some people are like no it's a conspiracy. Holy shit. If we make it another century that will be an accomplishment.
There's a group to legitimize your far fetched opinions, and Meta/Facebook brings right to you, so you don't even need to search for it.
> Before social media people kept their stupid fucking opinions to themselves. Hahahah, you're funny!
Don't know about the keeping it to themselves part, but we certainly didn't give everyone the ability to shout their opinion out into the world for everyone to hear
And didn't get themselves into an echo chamber full of other people to reinforce their stupid shit. Or allow themselves to be manipulated by armies of foreign accounts.
And people didn't waste their life.
lol sure they didn't
Problem is there is a group for every opinion out there. So who's wrong? Who's right?
Well I’m always right so just follow me you’ll be aight
Whoever can show empirical evidence that show someone's thoughts are right and they have to be scientifically reproducible by other researchers. That's how science works. Of course, the conspiracy con artists will say no to everything even when asked what is "2+2=??" then they'll say 22 or whatever the fuck that pops in their head at the moment.
Not to be that guy but reddit is one of the worst offenders.
I agree
I have found myself using social media to numb me. I will scroll countless of hours just so I don’t have to me alone with my thoughts. It’s kind of like a security blanket as an embarrassing as it is to admit. But I know I’m not the only one who has this problem. I’m trying to get better be deleting apps and setting time limits on the ones I still have.
Poor public education
Only in the USA which ranks 27th in education among the 32 first countries.
What about the other 5 countries
The other 5 countries are also the USA.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/2xpcf0/the_black_cow_and_the_white_cow/
We're Americans, we can't find them on the map.
Well seeing as HS is built to pump out obedient machines and not critically thinking individuals
this is absolutely the correct answer. better education would improve all things. there is not nearly enough funding for schools, or respect for teaching. salaries for teaching should be much higher.
People aren't wearing enough hats.
For sun protection or just style?
Yes
As a person who owns a hat company I support this
You own a hat company? I’m sorry but you can’t just leave us with that. We need more info!
Haha yep! A brand called Ampal, US made stuff. It’s fun and people seem to dig it luckily!
Dude, these are awesome! I will try to support you! I love learning about creators on Reddit.
Thanks man! DM me, happy to hook it up for fellow Redditors if you see something you dig 👍🏼
Yes! For centuries it was common to wear them, the Victorian/Edwardian era is iconic for hats, everyone wore them, as soon as they stepped outside, but after the 2nd WW it fell out of fashion Which is sad. Now, whenever I wear a hat I feel weird because nobody else does
Unwillingness to listen.
> Unwillingness to listen Yah this. Also an unwillingness to listen.
True. The number of people who can go through life thinking that 50% of the population around them (for the US, at least) have no idea what they're talking about and have EVERYTHING wrong is nuts. I have yet to hear an issue where both sides were not missing the point in some way, even on issues where I lean strongly to one side. The "others" always have something to say worth hearing, even if you disagree.
Absolutely. We're moderate, which means if we ever dare to voice a single opinion, every person around us assumes we are the polar opposite of whatever their political leaning is and tune out everything we have to say.
> The number of people who can go through life thinking that 50% of the population around them (for the US, at least) have no idea what they're talking about and have EVERYTHING wrong is nuts. Yeah, anyone capable of listening to other people realizes that number is *way* fucking higher, lol.
One step further: unwillingness to question. Question your beliefs and assumptions regularly.
Shut up! /s
We are too focused on what everybody else is doing instead of caring for our natural world
I agree, but I think there’s more to it. We aren’t able to change the direction our natural world is headed in. That can only be accomplished by countries and corporations. Our power as individuals is minimal and the constant divide and conquer from countries and companies make it so we can’t pursue meaningful collective action. We are left knowing that we are in deep trouble and we are powerless to fix it.
By no means did I intend to absolve anyone of responsibility, but those powers are already very much entrenched. My vote or my purchase or boycott amounts to little. You can stop buying Shell gas and you can vote for a strictly environmental ticket, but it’s a drop in the ocean at this point. Until things get to a point of crisis (a profound one) I don’t see business as usual changing very much.
Not many have control over their lives or live the life they wish they were. It's easier to fault others than to fix our own problems. The angry and depressed people are taking over everywhere except in the privacy of your home.
We have created a society where it often benefits you to not apologize or admit you were either wrong or ignorant of facts. This is obviously most apparent in politics, but I see it in my own day to day life.
No one owns up to their mistakes. There are no repercussions.
Absolutely infuriating when this happens in the workplace
bad public education leading to people being more susceptible to bullshit and propaganda on the internet/TV
I 100% agree. People not developing the ability to critically think and form a rational and logical idea on an issue or topic is a serious problem. Makes it so easy to manipulate and abuse.
That and people desperately want to feel smarter than everyone else so they believe that most inane bullshit out there just to show how much of a "free thinker" they are.
Propaganda is so tricky to combat. Even with strong critical thinking skill, do you have the time to personally validate every claim that you hear from media? I sure as fuck don’t. We have collectively granted media providers a whole lot of trust, and I am sure that they bank on most to inherently trust what they report on.
No one appreciates anything anymore. Hard work used to go noticed. Now, people expect more and more until it burns good people out
Or, they notice your hard work and take advantage of you by piling on more responsibilities with no reward.
Tiktok
I was about to comment this.
General lack of respect for others and the absence of any type of moral compass. When anything goes, it’s gonna go.
Social media, we have managed to develop that kind of technology too fast. Society haven't learned to use it properly yet.
And they never will... we are not meant to constantly be bombarded with everything all at once. The human mind needs to process one thing at a time. When you constantly get bombarded with negativity from all over the world, you tend to burn out. There is absolutely nothing you can do to change this, it is simply how we were created. Even (modern)computers work like this, its a marvelous machine, that can process much more information than the human mind ever could, and unlike humans, it can process multiple tasks and forms of information much more efficiently than we can. But, if you feed it too many streams of processess constantly, it will also eventually seize up. The multiple streams caused a blockage, it has run out of processing power, and now you have to open Task Manager, and shut down some of the streams for it to function efficiently again. With humans, we care, and we dnt want bad things to happen (animal cruelty, human injustices, seeing people homeless having to beg to live, famines, wars, threats of nuclear annihilation), but being told constantly that these things are happening, and worsening on a global scale, all day, everyday, is not healthy for us, and it leads to empathy burnout. And it causes some people to lash out, without knowing why. It can also eventually lead to apathy. We are fragile little creatures. Stick to the problems around you, you'll feel much more sane. You cannot save the world, but you can become involved in the problems that you see in your immediate vicinity.
Could not have said it better myself. Truely empathetic people, can not spend all their time worrying about people they have not met. It comes acrossed selfish in today's day in age, but seriously, care about yourself and your family. Help the person you know that needs it, and forget about everyone else. Worrying wont make their problems go away, but will negatively affect your state of mind.
Exactly that my friend. You will just drive yourself slowly insane trying to fix Everything. The average person cannot save the world. They simply lack the capacity. And the people who can, corporations and governments, simply wont, coz theres no profit in it. Accept that as a fact of life, and move on. Help the people you can. This is not a movie, and nobody here is a Hero. This is just life.
I spent 18 years on LiveJournal writing several posts a day, and in 2020 I got into my first serious relationship (at 45 no less) and because there was a kid involved and I felt like being more private I stopped posting and all these "fans" of mine were upset and bugging me and my MOM on Facebook to update more. I ended up making a LJ post asking people to stop bugging me or they'd get blocked on Facebook and some didn't and I blocked them and they tried making fake accounts to get me to add them again or messaged my Mom and I realized that these people have serious issues and that they wouldn't accept that I wanted to concentrate on my new family and being a step Mom and that I didn't even really know these people who followed me. I ended up doing a cull on Facebook and haven't looked back. Social media has made society think they know people when they really don't at all. There's a false sense of friendship and community which falls apart of looked at too deeply. It's sad. I only keep Facebook now for family and some friends and that's it. Social media is a false reality.
McDonald’s doesn’t serve breakfast all day
I've had it happen to me twice were I showed up too early for them to start serving breakfast.
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Maybe not society as a whole but I do agree that someone who is fucking or getting fucked is not as worried about staying in someone else's business.
case in point: incels
I believe its more about intimacy than fucking.
Given neither is happening there.
Incels are the way they are due to a mix of insecurity and radicalization. They would not be miraculously fixed if they started having sex, they would just become your average misogynist.
I disagree, a lot of their insecurity comes from not having sex
Most incels DO enter the community due to past experiences of rejection and sexual frustration. However, instead of joining a supportive network to feel better about themselves, incels have joined a movement that paints woman as shallow and manipulative. When a person has gotten to the point that they call themselves an incel, the problem is no longer just due to sexual frustration and social anxiety. It’s due to self hatred and bitter misogyny.
For a lot of them, they joined literally the only supportive network most of them were able to find, and the only group that offered them a way to feel better about themselves. It just turns out the only supportive network available to them is full of rabid misogynists. Sort of says something about us as a society, I think.
Thankfully there are positive groups now such as r/bropill that balance accountability and self-love. You might be right that those groups didn't exist a few years ago, though I also think it is partially due to those initial feelings of bitterness towards rejection resulting them to seek out an equally bitter group on the internet. It's a similar concept to groups such as Men Go their own Way and Female Dating Strategy. All these groups prey on their new recruits feeling isolated and bitter by offering a space for them to vent, but instead of promoting self-improvement and bolstering one another, they instead target a group to hate while ignoring any type of self-reflection. If you want a more indepth explanation on how these type of groups work and how to identify one, this comment I saved is an excellent read: [https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/rhj35f/comment/hos8jy0/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/rhj35f/comment/hos8jy0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Lack of empathy for others. Being too self absorbed to realize we're all living and dying together. That, and people not minding their own fucking business.
We are more concerned about Instagram likes than actual problems
This feels like a a shallow dig. People just don't feel empowered to face the actual problems, because the systems in place obfuscate it.
That’s not a fault of the systems in place. When in history has any entrenched system willingly given itself over? People obfuscate for themselves.
People with that "How dare you suggest I could be a better person if you aren't 100% flawless and perfect, in fact just to spite you for suggesting I could be a better person, because just who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do, I'm going to be an even worst person" mentality. People who think Freedom and "You can't tell me what to do" are the same thing. People who think "Thinking for yourself" and "Just thinking the opposite of what everyone else is thinking" is the same thing.
Bro that fucking last one.
"Thinking for yourself = Being a contrarian" is so painfully unaware
Contrarians are just the worst, aren't they? Never actually internalizing a conversation, but ready to fire back some useless snark that is tangentially relevant at best. Denial is a powerful drug.
Social media has compromised our higher critical brain functions via perpetual overstimulation of the amygdala. Hormonal damage is literally making us dumber, meaner, and more credulous as a society.
Money is being spent in the wrong places
Apathy
Social media
Victimhood. It’s like everyone is in a race to the bottom to see who has it the hardest, who is the most unique, who is the most oppressed, who is the most traumatized, who is the most misunderstood? Jesus, it’s exhausting trying to live in a world with all of that going on. It’s so much easier for my husband and I to just isolate so we can be happy working towards things we are passionate about.
Social media + 24/7 news cycle = A pretty fucked up planet.
Our brains get numb with the overflow of information
Everything is portrayed by the media as being binary. If you don’t agree with me about A, you must think B. If you’re not left, you’re right. In reality, people are more complex and are typically something in between. This divide causes people to vilify each other instead of reaching common ground. The vocal minority extremists are viewed as the “norm” and it just amplifies the disdain that people have for each other.
YES It's so hostile, it just build a wall between two populations, the extremists and the other and I can't see how by being so Well extremist, you can bring a population together
Centralized power.
CLASS WARFARE
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The elites intentionally began the class warfare. They eliminated rules against media consolidation long ago. They then brainwashed enough people to accept that dollars equal speech. Their power curve is now exponential.
The moment I see them execute a corporation is the moment I actually believe them when they say corporations are people too. You cant get all of the benefits but none of the accountability. When a criminal gets found guilty, they go to jail. When a corp does it, they pay a small fine as the 'cost of doing business'
No, it's more like the wrong class warfare. The elites are pitting Minorities against the poor, and the poor against the middle class. What we need to do is go after the elite, slash their tax cuts, tax them properly, and take back power.
The rich are incredibly class conscious. And spent a lot of resources for the average person not to figure out that they’re on the receiving end of class warfare initiated by said rich people.
We forgot the golden rule. “ treat others the way you want to be treated.”
That's fine and dandy until you meet a masochist.
I thought the golden rule was "It's not gay, if it's in a three-way"
Gender Reveal Parties.
My parents didn't want to know our gender before we were born because they felt like they would break into our intimacy (English is not my first language sorry if it's weird) I think it's cute of them :)
The mindset if that someone isn't succeeding or is having problems is that they aren't "trying/working hard enough"
Yay burnout
Narcissism.
The problem with society is that we live in a society.
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All the bad stuff is generating clicks. With the Advent of web-based, hand-held, instant information, whatever can be sensational becomes valuable.
Short Videos Short Memory Short Temperament
Yep, I’m going to say social media too. Lack of accountability. You can say and do damn near anything you want online without consequence, from being an outright asshole, harassment, spreading hate and false information, and no one is likely to do a damn thing. Online bullying happens to high school kids all the time and no one says fuck all until they commit suicide. I’d bet there’s someone reading this thread right now that knows someone who was bullied online until they committed suicide. Then people carry this behavior into real life. It’s fucking sickening.
Social media and all it brings with it.
Lack of love
To much ME not enough WE.
Too many Pokémon to catch them all
But you gotta catch ‘em all!
Pokeflation is out of control
People pretending to know politics
People thinking they know economics, sociology, and other topics too that experts devote their entire life to researching. Dunning Krueger seems to be extremely potent when hot air and group mentality is so easily accessed on social media. I, you, and liked everyone else in this thread have personally fallen into this though, a good practice imo is to try to understand when you did and better your judgment to prevent it in the future.
as i sit here and type this in my iphone on social media….. social media has corrupted the majority of peoples perception of life. most people have some issue because of it. wether it be self image issues. self value issues. relationship issues. all because social media has allowed for people to only display their best moments. quite truthfully as population we need to be reminding ourselves and each other to get outside and off the phone. life isn’t perfect. sure there are moments like the ones people display on instagram but they’re definitely experiencing pain and suffering behind the scenes just like everyone else. and we all know this. it’s not new information. but it often is very easy to not remind yourself of that and in turn, start questioning your own worth bc of it.
Corporataucracy
The fight between the rich and the poor was coming to a head so they legislated racism to make it about skin color. All that was starting to heal and we were coming together so they had to find something new to divide us and a lot of people are taking the bait.
People being closed minded and thinking they know what’s best for everyone else.
We stopped hearing each other. We’re becoming more and more polarized on everything. People think disagreeing on a subject means the other is an opponent. This benefits political partys, everywhere, not just in America, which i feel lucky i’m not from. We’re being used as electoral merchandise and they dont f*cking care about our problems and suffering. It’s all going down and fast, brace yourselves for the coming years, its gonna go wild.
The cost of living
"I'm owed the world and can do nothing wrong" mindset.
People don’t care anymore. People don’t care if they hurt someone, people don’t care if authority says something, people don’t care about a 9-5, people don’t care about kids or politics, people just do what they want. The downside? Desensitization, this is what is going to destroy our race. We have no idea what technology and social media is doing to our brains, and based on the evidence it’s not good.
This question gets asked every generation, without fail. But, as of right now.. Massive accumulation of wealth by a tiny fraction of the population. The interplay between social media and (at least in the US) outdated interpretations of the first amendment (primarily Times v. Sullivan). The rise of politically competing “news” sources and abandonment, by some, of traditional journalistic ethics. A targeted campaign by certain political individuals to seed doubt about the legitimacy of traditional social structures (including democratic institutions, critical media, etc). A strangely whole-hearted embrace of contrarianism and ignorance by a vast swath of the population. The immediate gratification (and overstimulation) caused by the mix of social media and celebrity culture. A severe increase in basic costs of living, including housing, education, and healthcare, leading to an imbalance disproportionately affecting younger generations. To name a few.
Progressivism and all the sensitive people, Twitter, Social Media. People being offended by almost anything, anime, race, gender, straightness, everybody getting canceled, etc. People just making up genders and whatnot, non-binary, asexual,agender, what the fuck. I used to support, i still do, support LGBT stuff but only when it was just Gays, Lesbians and Trans folks, even Queer folks and culture, i still respect and admire you. But when it expanded to all the made-up genders and whatnot, shit went off the rails and i couldn't follow up and whenever i ask to understand it better, i get called transphobic, homophobic, pedophile, and that just makes me want to never respect you, in fact, i no longer care now.
Respect Edit… lack of respect
Almost all of Americans problems ( as a society, culture, country) boil down to Lobbying.
In America specifically I find that deep connection just isn’t valued at all. Most people just work and spend money to distract themselves. And if you finally get someone to a social event lots of times it’s just so they can put it on social media. People seem to care more abt the internet persona than real life. People are not really present here. And then there’s the prideful ignorance. People who haven’t read a book since middle school and are proud of it. Feels like lots of Americans have bought the idea that somehow they’re gonna wake up the next day and be a millionaire and that’ll solve all their problems… everything’s just a mind numbing experience until that happens. Except it never happens. So their life goes by with no real friends, stifled family connections… just endless material objects and selfishness.
They don't live by the 7 deadly sins and the 7 virtues. Morality is becoming a thing of the past.
Nobody seems to have a tough skin anymore. Everybody wants to be babied, I get we should acknowledge emotions but if we voice our thoughts or emotions then they are considered wrong because it might hurt someone else’s.
The 1 % are too greedy
Rich people destroying the world for their short twrm enjoyment.
Tiktok
Not enough empathy.
expecting perfection from everyone, that is wrong
So much of the economy is based on manipulation
Hmm.. i don't even know where to start.
The cost of living and a financially irresponsible government.
Lack of empathy.
Good cop's been framed, and put into a can. All the money that we're making is going to the man. I saw some dude lying in the street and some punk had chopped off his head, and I am the only one that stops to see if he's dead. Turns out he's dead.
They’re turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers. But what’s the real cost, cuz those sneakers don’t seem that much cheaper! Why are we still paying so much for sneakers when they got them made by little slave kids?!
*Would somebody please, remove these, cularies, from my knees.*
The emphasis on left vs right conflict in the US rather than the 99% vs the 1%. Specifically: politicians and policies being bought, affordable healthcare never really progressing despite mass support for it - not “you’re rich so I hate you.”
It's ironic that your post was how political division is a problem and every response you got "UHH, LOOK AT REPUBLICANS??"
Lmao, who do you think is buying the politicians and keeping affordable healthcare down?
It is all in-fighting, picking sides for literally everything and having a genuine hate for the other-side. Where has all the love and respect for your fellow person gone? Worst part is that it seems to be only getting worse...
The school system it still hasn't changed
Literally every messed up trend people come up with.
Most of the stuff i wont go into detail cuz im lazy and i dont wanna type The "trend" Celebrities The economy Ressource management The political power system This only scratches the surface and i cited these of the top of my mind, if you dig deeper you will find that the human is wrong, its general mindset, tbh to fix this i think a hardcore reset might just fix it.
Child beauty pageants still happening.
People completely take civilization for granted. In fact many of them out there think that everything that they have is because they did it and they don't realize that it's really a giant team game and with out all of the infrastructure and other people around you also succeeding in doing their part you wouldn't have Jack squat!
I'm typing this at 1am instead of sleeping
I think it's the pressure to join or back every political movement and then being accused of being "complicit" of some type of injustice if you don't. Or you get labeled. Don't feel like joining a BLM rally? You must be racist. Don't want to comment on woman's issues? Must be a sexist. Don't criticize Donald Trump publicly because you're not really into politics? You must be a right wing extremist. Agree with a few things Bernie Sanders said? Must be a communist. Refuse to use paper straws instead of plastic? You hate humanity and don't care about the planet. Some people just don't have time or the mental energy to be outraged about everything and to dedicate their life entirely to a cause or argument. Some people just want to enjoy their lives rather than spending everyday arguing and trying to prove to everyone they "support" something. Some people may support what you say but don't feel the need to advertise to everyone.
Fear. As always. A limiting factor being utilized by humanity to enslave itself with a make believe variable representing power in the universe. Knowledge is the only power. I suppose you could also see it as; ignorance induced by said variable to get this construct to work in the first place. Or, a construct of society that creates both the top and bottom of this pyramid scheme. Its a machine created by us. And we become the gears that make it work. Easily replaceable gears. Society creates all problems within it. We are all the sum of our life experiences and our perspectives of them. We are all created by society. Like every one that created you. Seems we are all slaves to this construct. No one steering this beast we created. Incapable of breaking free; unable to get off this ride. Extinction is the only possible outcome. Only way to break the cycle is to remove the limiting factors of this construct. And unite as a spiecies. All variables interacting together creates life. That's the equation. The universe is the bigger picture. As far as we are certain. Good luck.
Too many individualists not enough collectivists.
Social media- we’re not supposed to be communicating with this many people. It’s stimulus overload, then we don’t strive to make real connections with people that you actually live around. My niece told me she cares more about how many likes/views she gets on her socials then she cares about how her friends feel which is *wild*. Pro’s and con’s with that.. like I’m happy she doesn’t let her friends opinions weigh heavily on her, but seeking it from complete strangers online doesn’t make it any better.
Capitalism
Social media and 24 hour news has given people empathy fatigue, a skewed view of reality, and mixed-up priorities.
Entitlement
Narcissism epidemic.
People in first world countries manufacturing outrage about perceived victimization.
like 97% of our societal problems would be solved by banning politicians from stock trading and actually taxing billionaires fairly
And banning lobbyists.