• @[email protected]
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        379 months ago

        Congratulations. You’re the favorite person of every oil company executive and petty dictator-wannabe. You think when the unions fought against child labor and 80+ hour work most people didn’t think they were crazy?

            • Queen HawlSera
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              19 months ago

              The world was a different place, a smaller place… A company that fires all their workers goes broke in the 20’s, in the modern day, there are enough hungry people who can be gaslit into “Pulling themselves up by their bootstraps”

              At this point, don’t try to change the world, just don’t let it change you… as long as you can be less twisted than the world, you’re doing okay for yourself.

        • Queen HawlSera
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          9 months ago

          We live in a world where I could be arrested or canceled for trying to contribute to it.

          Go ahead, make a YouTube channel that tries to bring to awareness the evils of sexual assault. You will be accused of having something to hide by the audience and you will be screwed by the network when they make you use the weirdest and most awkward euphemisms to describe these heinous acts, meanwhile Penis Prager can say the N Word as long as his show keeps the lights on…

          I’m 32, I am infertile, but that is for the best. The human race doesn’t deserve to continue, I can only hope that reincarnation is real and that we can be reborn as something else, something that won’t fuck it up quite so magnificently.

        • Zekas
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          59 months ago

          So just stupid then. The game is over dude.

    • @[email protected]
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      369 months ago

      I’m not sure what your you’re asking here.

      They should do something … but do it quietly, so you don’t have to hear about it again?

      Discussing the issue with parents doesn’t count as doing something? Have you considered that they are doing things and of the various avenues they’re pursuing, the part that hurts most is explaining the problem to their own parents? People who should have been on their side from the start?

      And what exactly to you propose they do? It seems like the current system is designed to exhaust prolatariat to the point where action is too difficult, and then crush anyone who tries. At least they’re posting memes to keep the memory of a better world alive.

    • @[email protected]
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      279 months ago

      Unless you are advocating for the mass slaughter of Republicans and Christian conservatives, I am not sure what you think is going to fix anything- because they have a lot of power for some reason, and aren’t keen on changing their mind on their whole, “The world is ending but that’s good actually” thing.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      Beau of the Fifth Column recently noted that there are people who believe they could survive the OceanGate submersible collapse or the cold Atlantic waters after Titanic sank. There are folks who believe they could win a fight with a grizzly bear in full hungry, fighting form.

      And he encourages such fearlessness among people who want to take up the mantle and fight for change to save civilization.

      I suffer from ASD and major depression. I was crushed underfoot by parents and kids alike (that is three at a time, each twice my size) and learned early the futility of fighting. I saw how efforts to fit in were useless and have the suicide attempts in my history to demonstrate my awareness that all is hopeless all around me.

      But you go!

      • @[email protected]
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        109 months ago

        There are people who have fought a hungry grizzly bear and won, against all odds, so, not impossible.

        • @[email protected]
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          129 months ago

          Sure, but those were extreme outliers.

          The oceangate thing is a better example. Like “I’d just hold my breath and swim to the surface, no big deal”.

          Except for the whole turning into ketchup in a millisecond or two part, ofc. Some people just don’t understand things like that.

          That kid on the sub was smarter than the rest of them combined.

            • @[email protected]
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              9 months ago

              No, but I’d have painful diarrhea, having both lactose intolerance and alpha gal allergy. Then ketchup.

        • @[email protected]
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          9 months ago

          And at least one person survived the Titanic.

          What happened to the rest of them? Possibly does not mean probable.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      I don’t think being “mopey” about the historical context you live in is necessarily self-defeating or nihilistic. Accepting things are shitty and feeling hopeless is what can motivate people to act against it together. In a time of hyper-capitalism, alienation, and commodification of all forms of “happiness,” being unhappy and embracing it can be an act of protest. When other people see you’re unhappy with the current state of things it can help them be comfortable with expressing the same feeling. The idea that expressing unhappiness is a bad thing prevents it from being a force to bring people together. Instead people feel like they should always be happy and hopeful and motivated, and that only losers are unhappy, but everyone is unhappy to varying degrees and not accepting it fully causes a lot of issues for people.

      I think if anything we live in a time where we’re struggling to find balance between these anxieties and hope for any potential change for good, but I think the two are more connected than most realize.

        • @[email protected]
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          179 months ago

          You can kindly go fuck yourself. By assuming people not only aren’t doing anything about the state of the world because they complain about it online but also assuming that they are in a position where they can do more, you are part of the problem. Especially by giving such polarized statements that simply shame people and have no clear, actionable suggestions on what to do. The system is designed to isolate people and prevent them from utilizing the power that they have to change things, and here you are, whining that people aren’t utilizing their power to change things. You’re just as bad as the people you’re complaining about. You’re not changing anything other than the number of people in the world who want to punch you in the throat.

          There’s a reason that historically, most protests in the US were centered around a core group made up of college age kids, up until the past 50 or so years. It’s because that demographic has (had) the most free time and least financial burden. It’s the reason that college is so expensive nowadays. It was retaliation against the college kids who protested against Reagan when he was governor of California. The lack of free time and financial pressure on the workforce ensures that we’ll be less able to exert our power to change things.

          If you actually want to help, you can help get people to the polls, especially for state and local level elections, or help aid groups that support striking workers. The reason old white people control so much of the state and local level government isn’t because people are sitting at home whining - it’s because their boss told them that they’ll be fired if they take the day off to go to the polls, and their district is so gerrymandered that it wouldnt make a difference anyways. The racist retirees are the ones who go to every town meeting and show up to all the hearings and community polls because they have all the time in the world while they live on their pensions. So, if you want to change the world, start by driving people to town meetings and to the polls on the local election days. Fight to ensure that people have the time and can afford to exercise their rights to make the world better. Or you can keep whining on the internet like a baby.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      It’s not whining. It’s not doomerism. We need to fight indeed. But it’s not for a better future. It’s for the future to not get too bad.

      And in a world where 60+ years old a more numerous than 25- yo, it is important to make them understand where their shitty usual vote is taking us. For us to have a chance, the 60+ need to change their vote or to stop voting.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      Work for the government. Civil service positions are always starving for people with skills and talent, because we do not pay as well as the private sector. It’s doesn’t offer the prestige of working for Google or Apple but you get better stability and benefits than most other jobs. I’m not saying civil service is for everyone. But if you’re struggling to build a future with your three part-time jobs plus driving rideshare on the side, we’re paying $23 / hour for entry-level IT work.

      I lived in poverty for most of my 20s and had no hope for the future. I told myself I’d never sell out and slave away in some anonymous cubicle. In my mid 30s I sold out, I work a predictable 8-4 schedule, I have health benefits, I have a retirement plan, and I’ve been able to leapfrog ahead from working one full time and two part time jobs and eating mostly peanut butter to having my nights and weekends free, AND being able to afford to go out and do stuff, AND being able to buy a home.

      Principles are great but man they’re expensive.

      • In my experience, civil sector jobs suffer greatly from the Peter Principle. Aside from bennies and pension, perks are shit (coffee? water? buy your own). And departments are heavily balkanized and have SERIOUSLY obsessive control freak issues. That’s before you get into the arcane paperwork. Oh, and in many cases, the general public is so anal about spending money that you should consider yourself lucky if you have a work party of any kind.

        • @[email protected]
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          89 months ago

          Aside from bennies and pension, perks are shit (coffee? water? buy your own)

          You are correct. It is definitely not a flashy career option. However, if someone is unable to get ahead financially, but then turns down that government IT job because “I have to buy my own coffee”, then they are their own worst enemy. They’re the reason they’re drowning.

          • @[email protected]
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            69 months ago

            Yup. I am an engineer and have worked government and private sector. Private sector pays way more and is more exciting because of the hugely reduced bureaucracy. If you have a fun career you love government can really kill the passion.

            But if your goal is stable employment with good work/life balance and guaranteed raises? Government is fantastic.

            • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
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              29 months ago

              I haven’t found a WFH government position, so even the work-life balance is terrible.

              • @[email protected]
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                19 months ago

                When I was in government my work life balance coming into the office two days a week was better than now when I am working full time WFH in private industry, so I guess that’s very subjective.

                At NASA they regularly told us, “the rocket won’t crash if you clock out at 40 hours. Go home to your families.” A lot of government positions you could literally just check out and sleep all day for weeks at a time and nobody will even notice.

          • @RandomPancake Okay, but the flip side is how long said person can survive in that environment. I lasted two months. 😂

            And it wasn’t things like no coffee or the “water clubs,” it was things like an inept manager, the nonsensical tasks, the sheer inability to get any resources, the butting heads with hoardy other teams, and the best part, the manager’s brain-numbingly boring meetings where she simply read from her own badly made powerpoints that put me to sleep.

            So it ain’t for everyone :)

            • @[email protected]
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              99 months ago

              an inept manager, the nonsensical tasks, the sheer inability to get any resources, the butting heads with hoardy other teams, and the best part, the manager’s brain-numbingly boring meetings where she simply read from her own badly made powerpoints that put me to sleep.

              That sounds like it could be just about any job, but it’s the opposite of what I’ve experienced in civil service. I’m glad you found someplace you like better!

        • @[email protected]
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          39 months ago

          Just like any other job, entirely dependent on your particular unit/department and manager. In the US Fed gov’t there’s a huge difference between working for CBP, civil Marines, and NASA, just to name 3 random agencies.

          The difference with the feds is that you get a basically predictable paycheck (as long as Congress does its damn job), health benefits that make life habitable, the best possible version of a 401k around (TSP), and you’re extraordinarily unlikely to get downsized.

          Last I checked, the plurality of civilian federal employees make GS-13, which in 2023 was between $98k and $153k depending on where you were located, and how long you’ve been at that pay-grade. It’s not an overwhelming plurality, butnit’s not unusual to promote into a GS-13, and then hang out there for most of your career.

          Retirement is a three-legged stool: your TSP (aka 401k), Social Security, and a small pension. People hired before 1985 were the ones who got the sweet fat pensions, but it doesn’t work that way anymore.

    • @[email protected]
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      79 months ago

      I am so tired of this self-defeating mopey shit. Claiming to be powerless is easy. Do something. Do anything. At very least, stop discouraging people.

      Say it again for the defeatists in the back.

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      I feel like there’s a large voting demographic that believes in “fuck you, got mine” and the last 20 years do not give me hope for a future where it is fixable

      Let’s say I raise an army, take over the world and kill anyone who shows signs of opposition.

      If I fix all of the world’s problems then what’s to stop someone from killing me so they can step into that role and ruin it? If I live to be 100, what’s to say my replacement puts the issues of the many above themselves?

    • @[email protected]
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      59 months ago

      My plan is going full hedonist and mock and laugh at fucking everything and encourage the collapse. Fuck humans. Y’all did this not me.

        • @[email protected]
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          79 months ago

          If we clean up the mess, then it shows that it’s okay to create one because someone will take care of it eventually. I want people who created the mess to suffer from it too. That’s why we need a messier mess.

    • @[email protected]
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      49 months ago

      I like the episode of Love Death and Robots where they come to earth and look at how different groups handled the end of the world

    • You wanna hear mopey shit, come back to yourself after your election.

      I’ve run for office, and I don’t plan on ever doing it again. Unless you’re already famous or have a huge local support network with lots of free time, stay home and save your money and time and sanity.

    • Firestorm Druid
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      39 months ago

      Going vegan is a start. I encourage everyone to at least give it a try. It’s not as difficult as it may seem at first and can have a huge environmental impact.

      Cheers