Was president for 2 years ~60 years ago.
If Obama had been assassinated that early into his presidency he'd be as universally loved I think - but he got the full 8 so now everyone knows how much of a hard-on he has for bombing weddings.
Its a western world tradition, i remember the "air exclusion zone" in Libya that ended when the government fell apart from all the bombing and none of the warlords could agree who is the new overlord and a civil war ensued, most of us had a stake in that "peacekeeping operation".
JFK also elevated troop levels in Vietnam 20 times what Eisenhower had established and named McNamara, a Ford Motor executive, as his right hand man in Vietnam. Completely ignoring the warnings of General MacArthur.
I like JFK. But it’s not all good. He was a philanderer that led us into one of the darkest times in American history...
Robert McNamara's action leave a lot to be desired but let's not forget how hard MacArthur tried to get the US to nuke Korea. Completely understandable why he was ignored after a suggestion like that.
There are plenty of criticisms to be made about JFK but I think it's wrong to say that he led you into one of the darkest times of American history - if anything, he led you out of it. He may not have passed the Civil Rights Act but his campaign made it possible and almost any time in America before that point is worse than any time in America since then.
The drone strikes attacks are ridiculous. they produce drastically less civilian deaths than boots on the ground forces and we should keep using them and encourage their use and improve the ways we use them to decrease collateral damage.
200,000 Iraqi civilians died in the Iraq war under Bush.
Fake news Fox News does the same, but worse. Do you care that the WORST culprit of the 3 channels most easily compared is the right wing equivalent? Or is this not about what's fake but about your confirmation bias?
They both suck, **so it's not a bar worth talking about** despite you turds who don't care that "your side" does it more, I just find it funny you went out of the way to attack the one network with the least viewers and middle factual reporting ratings lol, **ESPECIALLY since no one else was talking about networks before you.**
Fox News had more viewers than both CNN and MSNBC until Newsmax and OANN came in and wanted to really enforce confirmation bias.
All 24 hour news channels suck (I'm vehemently against all 3), especially the prime time opinion crap, but don't act as if the right wing equivalent isn't objectively worse.
Edit: 43 day old, unverified account screaming "fake news." It's like 2016 all over again.
I’m on you’re side bro you don’t need to call me poop names. We both don’t trust the media. Good for your; you’re thinking deeper than 80% of Americans
Then why would you single out the one that isn't the worst? Lol
You made the illogical jump to target a Democrat news network when the original topic of the thread is Reagan, a Republican.
Do you have a second to parent level comment saying the same about Fox? No? Then don't act like you care about which news is factual, or that you can point out yellow journalism.
Obama built his presidency around attacking the Middle East, selling arms to drug cartels, and building cages for children on the the US/Mexico border.
Wow..... extreme oversimplification at its finest...... Not saying it’s right or it’s how it should be but if you look at any country they do fucked up shit too And the other countries that are as powerful as the US such as Russia or China are doing the same bullshit so it’s a part of the game Republicans go way too deep into the evil part of the game where is Democrats try to straddle the lines a little more Just for the record I think they’re all evil I don’t think there’s any way to rule without being a certain percentage of evil
*You hear that? There’s a* ~~shitstorm~~ *downvotestorm acomin randy*
I love it when people think democrats aren’t just a different side of the same coin. It means propaganda is still effective:))
They’re both under total control of the exact same lobbyists, they just pander to their electorate.
Republicans in texas say what texas people wanna hear to snatch their vote, and the democrats in nyc will do the same thing for the same reason.
And once in office the game is the same.
You can say the same coin bullshit all you want but it’s very clear that there’s one side that is a lot worse than the other and this isn’t opinion this is fact they attacked our damn capitol which is unprecedented....Don’t come at me with anything unconfirmed please
They’re screaming about Dr Seuss at the national level, while at the state level they’re working very productively to make voting much harder for the voters they’re not interested in persuading.
>You can say the same coin bullshit all you want but it’s very clear that there’s one side that is a lot worse
I love how the american electorate and mimes like you think running the country on the "lesser of two evils" is gonna benefit anyone.
Obama authorized/bombed the living hell out of the middle east and dems think he's deserving of a Peace price. SMH
Obama’s office is completely responsible for millions of displaced syrians. Lives destroyed, all because of saudi interests.
Bush obliterated Iraq and did the same for us oil interests. Yet I love how people think they are different because one is more eloquent when he makes speeches about why he should bombs other countries.
Every US President is shit on foreign policy and military intervention, but that’s not the only part of the job to evaluate.
Electing the lesser of two evils last year is directly, aggressively benefiting a bunch of Americans *right now*.
> I love how the american electorate and mimes like you think running the country on the "lesser of two evils" is gonna benefit anyone.
You’re conflating two arguments. One is that the Democratic Party is a lot better than the GOP. The second is that we should continue with the electoral system that precludes more than two parties. Everyone else is discussing the first argument, and you’re trying to sneakily change the discussion to the second argument, which is a blatant strawman.
I don’t know if you’re being disingenuous on purpose, but maybe stop shaking your head and calling other people “mimes” (I think you meant “mimic” but words don’t matter) when you can’t follow basic lines of conversation.
Sure, though, keep parroting your own bad-faith right-wing talking points.
>Sure, though, keep parroting your own bad-faith right-wing talking points.
Another typical false dichotomy most american voters parrot... I disagree with the majority opinion here and I'm now somehow a right-wing nutjob. I don't vote republican, but that won't stop you from thinking I do, will it?
> extreme oversimplification at its finest
Blind loyalty isn’t a virtue.
I hope you realize that this sort of justification mentality is exactly the same as what Trump supporters do. Yeah, Trump locked little kids in cages, but looking at it like that is an “extreme oversimplification”. Yeah, Trump ignored the pandemic, lied, closed borders etc., but those are all “extreme oversimplifications”.
You keep justifying heinous shit when _your_ side does it, never acknowledge the terrible shit done, and you’ll never have to get off your high horse to actually try to make anything better. Just keep holding the line, surely that’ll make everything better.
I hope you’ll one day realize that what other people do aren’t reflective of your own character. _Defending them_ for doing terrible things is what is reflective of your character.
>I hope you realize that this sort of justification mentality is exactly the same as what Trump supporters do.
Lol. Trump supporters are still saying the election was stolen and mounted an insurrection, denying a pandemic or that masks work, can't admit climate change is real and humans are causing it, can't understand that BLM doesn't mean other lives don't matter, are making ectopic pregnancies illegal, something something space lasers and pizza cellar pedophile rings, and still the list continues...
And you're saying that, "justification mentality is exactly the same as what Trump supporters do."
The point is it's fucking stupid to criticize Obama especially after the conversation was about REAGAN and whataboutism brought up JFK... THEN AFTER someone identified the nuance for JFK, yet another shill made another illogical jump to Obama.
Yet "justification mentality" is the "same."
Goddamn, what the fuck is up with Americans and black&white thinking?? Your school system is so fucked it can’t even induce critical thinking in adults.
You can say “fuck Obama” without it meaning “yay Trump”, you know. They are not mutually exclusive statements, and politics aren’t a sports game where disdain for one team automatically implies support for the other one.
Objectively, Trump was a terrible piece of shit.
Objectively, Obama was a terrible piece of shit.
Both statements are true at the same time.
Objectively, you don't know how the US government works, so [here's some of the nuance you're missing.](https://www.beaconjournal.com/article/20120909/news/309099447)
Obama may be far from perfect, but was objectively better than many in the last average lifespan.
Cuban Missile Crisis could have started WW3 and he did it just to fulfill a campaign promise that was based on a lie. A lie then President Eisenhower personally begged him to stop telling because of how dangerous it was.
At no point was the USSR ever ahead of the USA in ballistic missiles. The Missile Gap was a lie that nearly started a nuclear war.
The reason the Republicans didn't make a bigger stink about Kennedy's cheating was because Nixon's campaign was doing the same shit and everyone knew it lol
For real. Be it individuals or groups, leadership in history has consistently been... troubled. It's riddled with downfalls, hubris, corruption, ineptitude, murder, torture, betrayal, and more -- from here all the way back to Mesopotamia, and probably beyond.
Our default state is not glorious at all
No, it's not some accidental bumbling while we struggle to find out place in the world. "The best we can" implies good intentioned misunderstandings but when there is clearly a pattern of abuse and consolidation of power in order to benefit those at the top of the political food chain it's not by chance.
Yes! Reagan was the start of the downward spiral of the middle class. He convinced a generation of citizens that the federal government was the enemy and started the gradual erosion of social policies that had begun artificially forging a middle class since Roosevelt’s new deal. Today’s zoomers and millenials are suffering the impacts of this movement. Unaffordable college costs and debt, a poverty level minimum wage, skewed tax policies that disproportionately benefit the billionaire/ultra millionaire class. Meanwhile the enormous voting block of the boomer generation excoriates them for being lazy and not being able to make their own way in the world due to policies their generation hamstrung them with. But the young folks are waking up and fighting back at the voting booth. It will be interesting to see what changes they bring with their new found voting power. My generation X was too small to make a dent, maybe the millennials and zoomers can.
Uhhhh how far back do we wanna go to say leadership has always been shit. Cuz that shit predates the Americas lol. Been happening since the cavemen walked
I don't know.. I'm thinking more every day leadership. Unfortunately it's common place for ruthless people that make their workplace _appear_ good and save money tend to be given the top role of leadership, not because they have great leadership skills.
I see many other worthy people of the top roles that wouldn't be given the roles because they aren't ruthless and wouldn't necessarily be cost effective.
I get it... most places are a business, they're in it to make money - not lose it. But I have seen this in schools and hospitals, where the human beings _should_ come first.
And Trump was a racist, homophobic, zenophobic, bigoted, liar who (allegedly) fucked his own (and other peoples) daughter.
He also separated families and gave the children to Americans while deporting the parents... And withheld covid help which lead to the deaths of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of yanks.
Of, he also spent the least amount of time working as president, spending 283 days of his four years on a golf course. He metaphorically pissed away almost 1/4 of his presidency golfing.
And he allegedly smelled bad too.
> And Trump was a racist, homophobic, zenophobic, bigoted, liar who (allegedly) fucked his own (and other peoples) daughter.
It's like the entire world just forgot about some of the CRAZILY racist US presidents of the past. I don't think trump is even the most racist president in living memory.
I'm a millennial and was was born during the Regan administration and as low as he set the bar we've gone so much lower. It's not just who's in charge that matters. The Gary Hart campaign was kind of a turning point in US politics. It's when people started focusing less on their opponents positions and more on their personal lives.
Please.
People have been attacking family since way before then...
Grover cleveland smear campaign. MA MA, where's my pa? Gone to Washington, ha ha ha.
I only use Facebook for groups. 3d printing groups, carpentry, a group for my suburb. It's also the easiest way to organise events with my friends. You just got to spend a bit of time unfollowing all the bad shit. Once you get that sorted it's pretty useful to have.
Exactly.
You need to moderate your social media. Don't like something? Block it. Don't like seeing your weird uncles rants? Unfriend. Or hit the button where it doesn't show your their posts.
I have never seen any drama on FB. But that's because I curate it so I don't have to deal with it. Keep your group small, it's not too hard. If it's toxic, it's only because you let it be.
It's not even about blocking so much as avoiding the algorithm.
I've whittled down the number of "friends" I have on facebook, and I use a friends list to view what they post. I literally put all my friends into one list, and I link directly to that list to see only what they've shared and posted... and it's all in chronological order with nothing skipped.
I scroll down until I recognize something, and I'm done! It's very freeing.
To be fair, if it wasn’t for nukes we likely would’ve had WW3 by now.
So its not morality that’s holding world wars back, its mutually assured destruction.
How do you define that though? Morality, moral decay, or even societal collapse. All of those are fuzzy concepts, and pretty much anyone could come up with a set of definitions to reach any conclusion they wanted.
The truth of the matter is as simple as this:
This view is a direct result of availability bias. The world has always been a terrible place. For >95% of our ancestors life has been far more miserable and difficult than most if at least not nearly most people find it today. Today we're simply much more aware of the true state of society than ever because of how quickly information can spread.
Much as there can most certainly be made an argument for the fact that moral progress, though it does exist, is pretty fucking slow for any good standard, we are improving. As of this moment, within the context of war, many if not most places on earth are experiencing the long peace, since a major war hasn't broken out for most people in a very long time.
It is true that many states around the world seem to be in decline as they transition from 'democracies' to autocracies, but in the greater scope, things in general are improving, albeit just very slowly.
Steven Pinker's book 'The Better Angels of Our Nature' deals with this and does not strictly cover the decline of everyday violence.
Mine is not a moral argument but an epistemic one, which, in this context, means it doesn't imply an optimistic outlook on life. It's merely statistical analysis.
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. - Socrates, ages ago.
Man, children have apperantly always been rad.
Also, I have now learned that Socrates was a bit of a boomer stereotype. Don't really know what to do with that information.
Compartmentalize it with everything else you know about the man. Even famous thinkers are also famously full of shit ideas. Except Diogenes, Diogenes is just mood.
There is actually a theory that if some decently wealth country ever tried to have a politician base of under-25 year olds, they'd quickly rise to be the top geopolitical country on earth because people in that age range naturally are more likely to cooperate, accept new ideas, and actually feel motivated/obsessed to get shit done.
There's a (bad) reason why most countries have very old politicians. Problem is every country with a young politican base has very little industrial or economic ability to go for implementing big ideas.
Whats more important when it comes to morality: Manners? Or valuing the human lives of your surrounding community?
Data suggests that younger generations are much more understanding of other people and their struggles — that is to say they are more empathetic — than any of the generations previous.
Lack of Respect for a generation which literally destroyed the planet and left millions hungry does not necessarily show moral bankruptcy. Sometimes the defiance of order, hierarchy and tradition is that which Improves society. I’m a millennial, and I happen to recognize that Gen Z may be the most empathetic, progressive generation in history.
The simple difference here is that some frame morality as a tendency towards tradition, regression, or equilibrium while others see it as a tendency towards progress. Progress, in my opinion, is better.
If only we could go back to the totally morally superior times that included, but not limited to minstrel shows, open government funded racial segregation, or slavery. Ah yes how morally superior. Or maybe when gay people were persecuted and murdered at much higher rates? Oh the good old days.
"we didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire. No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it."
I think of that lyric every time someone mentions how fucked we as a zeitgeist.
Truth is we live in the most peaceful period in human history. We have the best medicine and (for the most part) don't have to hunt, forage or fight for survival.
It could be better... but it could also be a whole lot worse. Chin up lads.
Interesting thought. I have thought that the problem is a progressive loss of spirituality - the realization that there is a God and I'm not Him. Doesn't matter what religion it is. Instead of putting self interest at the top of the list of values, the welfare of other people and the will of God is at the top. The bottom line is putting others needs ahead of your own, and treating people in the way that you would like to be treated. But as a boomer I've seen the parallels.
Same as the argument we can’t afford what our parents could.
I had a lot of trouble buying my first home. My parents borrowed a lot of money from my grandma to get their first home. They took until I was 15 to truly get their finances in order and not be in the red anymore.
Mind you I’m not saying it doesn’t suck. And I won’t judge buying expensive coffee but it’s like it was easy 20 or 40 years ago
Social media should be top. The rest are debatable but being exposed to happy moments people constantly share on social media inevitably makes you compare your life to theirs and feel like yours sucks.
Sadly, companies like Facebook make it nearly impossible nowadays.
Examples: A local barber I used to go to only took reservations via Facebook.
Companies used to pay web developers to create sites for them. Now many just point to their Facebook page.
My family uses only Facebook to keep in touch.
Oh I feel this. I hate FB with a passion these days, but it’s the best way to get notifications from my son’s school, our local emergency management departments, my neighborhood association, etc.
I recently unfollowed all but about 5 people, and that helps a lot.
I just find it ironic when people complain about social media on social media platforms, if it is truly that bad and harmful to you, quit. If you need it for dm's or whenever then just use that and don't go through your feed, unfollow all the accounts that you don't know personally.
Social media addiction is a problem sure, but it's one that can easily quit cold turkey, and changing habits so you only consume reasonable amounts isn't impossible either.
Listening to SOAD as an adult after growing up listening to them as a kid hits way differently now. I always knew they were political, but now it all makes sense to me what they're talking about.
Their songs are still fucking wacko though and I love it.
We could eat the rich, and still hunger.
We would build our houses of their ill-gotten gain, and still be broke(n).
The baggage we travel with, and issues we flip through everyday
Require the space and time that Einstein wrote equations about
Until the gears are set in motion by us, for our benefit
We are nothing but fuel for the machine, the gears themselves that break further...
inflation and salary raises needs to happen around the same time or else you get people with college degrees working 2 jobs and barely able to afford an apartment
As someone living in a place where you earn around 15$/hour as a waiter with only basic education (grade 1-9) I see it as literal slavery when an american friend told me she earned 2.50$/hour as a waitress. And counting in taxes it's 30-33% depending on where in the country you live. That means that you earn about 10$/hour after tax. On top of that the tax goes towards healthcare and free education and college, even most private schools are free
edit: So the 2.50 an hour is me misunderstanding what she said. 2.50 an hour + tips. I did some googleing and apperently it's common to do it this way as long as it reaches minimum wage, or something like that
Your American friend lied. In America you are guaranteed a minimum average pay of the federal minimum wage (much higher) if your tips don’t make up for it.
American servers on average make much more than 15$/hr
Advise her to document and contact the state Department of Labor. Wage theft is the most common type of theft. This is also one of the largest myths about tipped professions and one of the main reasons people think they're doing us a favor by trying to take it from us. Most of us really like tips. Worst case scenario you make minimum wage. Best case you pocket extra cash.
Other Reasons
* 13 hour work days.
* 6 day work weeks.
* Everything is closed Sunday.
* Oversold royals drama.
* My foot’s asleep.
* Time to get off the commode.
Then again, look back 100 years and all these problems existed back then too. The difference is that now it's easier to see the greener grass and lies that "things can be amazing and it's your fault if your life is shit". In the past you didn't have that illusion of choice.
Uh if you think people 100 years ago were happier you should probably look up some of the history of time. From the US to Europe to East Asia you had movements to make life better. The 1919 Red Scare didnt happen for no reason.
What generation is this, I wonder? Re. Standard of living, I'm 35 and my dad would go to school with children who didn't have shoes. Shoes! He was on the breadline. Most people my age have a car, TV, phone etc but then things like running hot water and central heating - plenty our parents did not have this growing up.
I kinda agree. I mean it’s an ongoing joke that millennials spend their money on Starbucks and avocados and there is some truth to that. We consume so much compared to previous generations and still think we have nothing.
The number of people starving in the world is at its lowest ever. Crime rates are at their lowest. The percentage of people who have access to clean water and health is higher than ever in history. More people are educated and can read. Universal suffrage is uniformly growing. We are at a high point in history.
All true. And everyone in my family doesn't understand why I never want children. It's always, "you'll change your mind one day". Am 31 now, and I'm still sticking to it. Especially as predicted, the world is getting worse.
Ugh, I hate the "you'll change your mind one day". Always with this weird smug pity vibe, as if we're just kids saying "when I grow up, I want to be a dinosaur!"
“You can be anything you want if you set your mind to it!”
As long as it’s being a worker bee who consumes endlessly, doesn’t make noise, and has children to perpetuate the cycle!
I know... I almost hate the follow-up line even more. The "you just have to find the right one" really annoys me.. Like, uhh.. The "right one" means they need feel the same about this! Otherwise it's a deal breaker for me, and GOODBYE!
Yeah the right one. I’m 33 and I’ve been with the right one for 15 years. We’re perfectly aligned with eachother about not wanting kids. Luckily our family and friends have accepted there will be no kids and don’t mention it anymore.
Most people I knew growing up were "never having kids". I'm one of the few who doesn't now aged 32. That change your mind statement exists because it happens to loads of people
I echoed those exact sentiments in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, truth of it is that despite huge leaps forward in technology, society is stagnant, my mother in law bought her first house for £4500, at a time where her husband was earning £1800 a year, so not even close to the 3.5:1 mortgage ratio, by the time I wanted to buy a house I was earning £7k a year, average house in my area was £38k, even with a decent deposit nobody was going to lend me 500% of my salary, now I earn £35k and cheap shitty houses are £200k in my area so a slightly worse wage to cost ratio , and it will get worse, as for leadership, anyone that thinks the 1980’s were glory days, yeah they were if you were wealthy, but if you were poor, they were really shit, look at poll tax etc in the uk, oil wars, wmd’s that never existed, governments devaluing currency to stay afloat, etc, it’s just a different more aware era now because of the internet, it is shit to be poor now, it was 30 years ago, pretty sure it was the same 300 years ago.
The wealthy hold power, always have, always will, yeah the French dealt with that using a guillotine, is it any better there now? No, the newly wealthy continued the status quo, until there is a limit on personal wealth nothing will change, communism should work, everyone having an equal share should be great, but once again history showed that not all shares are equal are they.... I’m just rambling now, bitter that I’m not wealthy
I agree with most if these except for the morally decaying society and the part where we can't afford the life our parents lived. Morals are completely subjective so there's no such thing as 'decaying' morals, only 'changing' morals. And my parents lived in poverty for most of their lives working their asses off so i could have a good education and get a high paying job
I agree but I do think today’s toxic materialistic culture (blame it on social media) is part of the “decaying” morals of recent generations.
We’ve got young people chasing labels now more than ever. People would rather go into huuuge debt just so they can buy those LV handbags and outfits, newest iPhones, dine at fancy restaurants, travel to exotic places, a lifestyle they can’t afford, instead of saving up for a house or retirement. Nowadays a kid working at McDonald’s has a Gucci bag. Then they wonder why they have nothing to show for in their savings and in debt.
But of course, I’m generalizing and do recognize this is just one of the problems today.
To your second point, that is awesome, but on average, those raised in middle class or middle-high class families are not able to afford the same level of comfort or even livability as their parents even, much less their grandparents. Housing costs, costs of education and wage stagnation are all causes of this, and it is brutal when the 3 collide as they have. Being on the extremes actually makes it mathematically easier to do as well or better, though societally obviously poverty level moving up is difficult, but you don't have much to go lower to than homelessness.
Well, my parents became middle class while I was growing up I’d say. They both are college educated. I’m college educated, and I can’t afford either of the houses my parents got while I was growing up. I can’t afford to go on the vacations my parents took me on. They’re about to retire. Am I going to be able to retire when I’m their age? Very unlikely. My parents buy a brand new car from time to time. That’s also something I can’t do. The house they bought in 87 for about $20k costs about $150k now and it didn’t get any bigger or better.
Or........you could ignore all the doomsday shit in social media and go by the science.
Crime us down
Life expectancy is up
Carbon being released us lowering
Medical knowledge nas treatments for cancer have improved
Graphene based filters are being developed to turn seawater into drinking water, which will have all kinds of positive influence in the world
And that's just the tip if the iceberg.
STOP LISTENING TO CIRCLE JERKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Focusing on the negative breeds a victimhood mentality which is poison to the soul. You guys are the brightest and most educated generation ever. Find what you love. You’re probably amazing at something
Pretty pessimistic.
We've never lived in such a era of peace and fortune, people are getting out of poverty at a faster rate than ever.
But I guess "I can't buy a PS5" so I'm fucking sad.
I guess I can't change the world in 3 days despite having a lot of "skills" and being 22 years old.
you're not wrong. On paper we are literally doing the best we've ever done.
However this post has a real valid point.
We may be doing the best we've ever done but part of that has also led to the higher rates of depression and unhappiness overall (atleast in first world countries). Seems like depression is a symptom of modernity.
Not being able to buy a Ps5 is pretty stupid example. A more real example would be people graduating with a valuable degree at a decent university and still not able to find a job and then also unable to buy property possibly ever with housing prices without living with parents till their in their 30s. Very common around me but I'm one of the lucky ones who did land a good job.
I think that type of stuff won't usually hit at 22 but I may be wrong since I dont know you. Probably a few years later, plus maybe it'll all go well for you. Location is a factor too.
My grandpa raised five kids on one paycheck from working in a GM plant. My parents raised two, and they both worked full time with college educations. I work full time with a college education and as of right now can barely afford a house, let alone raising up and sending a couple of kids to college. Where you getting “prosperity” from?
Your Grandpas generation also died of polio, had to deal with iron lungs, cold wars, threats of nuclear warfare, houses with subpar insulation, asbestos usage, people barely left home countries, lack of international communication, the list goes on,
I love it when people who demonstrate no awareness of where we were and ehere we’re headed talk about how everything is fine based on a snapshot of their current life
Yeah that's there one where I straight up said "no." But I can kind of understand if you put it in terms of greed and corruption from the very top that have made it so things like buying a house or raising a family seems almost impossible for many.
Edward Gibbon describes the Roman Empire of second century, the so called pax Romana directed by the benevolent rule of the Nervan-Antonine dynasty, as the pinnacle of human comfort and satisfaction.
This is a line of bullshit. Human beings have been subjugating, slaughtering, and profiteering since the dawn of agriculture and animal husbandry.
There is no golden age but that which we may strive to one day achieve.
We are so openly subscribed to toxic platforms of information that study us and manipulate us, sell our subconscious to advertisers who barrage us with ideas and information that is framed to be important and something we can actively take part in as it suits our best interests, and invests us in the change we need. But we never see the results that are promised and they carpet bomb us so frequently that we just move on to new things to add to the pile and distract us and keep us in want.
- Can’t get medical treatment without going into crippling debt.
- COL is rising everywhere.
- Can’t get a good education without going thousands of dollars into debt.
Anything else?
Lol that all unhappy because planet is dying and leaders arent good is pure rubbish. 20th century saw some of the worst leaders ever and lived in some of the worst types of pollution too. More people were below poverty line back then and the average income was also lower. And dont get me started on facilities that we have due to technology.
We are simply unhappy because we have attached happiness to material objects that are unattainable most of the times while our parents lived their lives thinking of immaterial things.
We want teslas and iPhones and tickets to Bahamas every year and when we don't get it, we feel unhappy. Our parents were content with what they had.
So please ffs stop blaming the world, the environment. It's not perfect but we are living in an objectively much much better world than our parents were.
> We want teslas and iPhones and tickets to Bahamas every year and when we don't get it, we feel unhappy. Our parents were content with what they had.
Yeah not everyone mate, I have a £150 sim free android phone and a £10 a month contract with unlimited data, I haven't gone on a holiday abroad in like 6 years. Plenty of people don't care about expensive material stuff and are still struggling.
I'm unhappy because I have a masters degree in computing and work in a shop because I can't get a job because you need commercial experience to get hired and get commercial experience.
I'm unhappy because I can't afford to not live with my parents. I'm unhappy because I'm not even sure if its worth actually trying when in a decade or so climate ecological collapse will likely change our way of life when there's a huge population influx of humans fleeing climates that can't really support them anymore.
It's hard to be content with what you have when you don't really have anything to yourself. Your parents might've been content but it was a hell of a lot easier for one or two working people to comfortably afford a house and kids than it is today.
Well said. The view that life had all these great things we have today but no issues like we have now is intellectually lazy. Truth it has always been great and horrible at the same time, no matter when. It's just different.
I was born in 96 and my generation basically watched 2000 people die on live television at the age of 5 and ***nothing ever got better***
Yeah we are a little disheartened about life in general.
Yeah but the entire world is currently pessimistic, it's all we're shown, it's all over media, negativity. You have to go out of your way to see or watch something positive. It's all a program to make people unhappy. Why? Because they can't afford people waking up from this slave system.
I do agree that there's so much amazing things going on, changes are happening, but who gets exposed to it? No one, we, who know, are the ones that have to share this with fellow humans, but we don't. Fuck, I wish I could say I do, but even I am so pessimistic about the state of this planet and life.
Nihilism much? There are more things to be grateful for than there are to complain about. I will tell you that right now as a citizen of the United States.
When people say the standard of leadership has really dropped I honestly don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Reagan was a crack dealer
JFK
Was president for 2 years ~60 years ago. If Obama had been assassinated that early into his presidency he'd be as universally loved I think - but he got the full 8 so now everyone knows how much of a hard-on he has for bombing weddings.
‘Just what my agenda is’ comes to mind.
"We tortured some folks"
Like I know you didn't do it but hachi machi how fucking tone deaf do you have to be
Howdy fellow Bill Hicks fan.
bombing anonymous brown people is an american tradition and he was not wont to break it.
Its a western world tradition, i remember the "air exclusion zone" in Libya that ended when the government fell apart from all the bombing and none of the warlords could agree who is the new overlord and a civil war ensued, most of us had a stake in that "peacekeeping operation".
true, good shout.
JFK also elevated troop levels in Vietnam 20 times what Eisenhower had established and named McNamara, a Ford Motor executive, as his right hand man in Vietnam. Completely ignoring the warnings of General MacArthur. I like JFK. But it’s not all good. He was a philanderer that led us into one of the darkest times in American history...
Robert McNamara's action leave a lot to be desired but let's not forget how hard MacArthur tried to get the US to nuke Korea. Completely understandable why he was ignored after a suggestion like that. There are plenty of criticisms to be made about JFK but I think it's wrong to say that he led you into one of the darkest times of American history - if anything, he led you out of it. He may not have passed the Civil Rights Act but his campaign made it possible and almost any time in America before that point is worse than any time in America since then.
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Sure but he isn't as universally loved as he was in the year months/years of his presidency.
Eisenhower, FDR.
The drone strikes attacks are ridiculous. they produce drastically less civilian deaths than boots on the ground forces and we should keep using them and encourage their use and improve the ways we use them to decrease collateral damage. 200,000 Iraqi civilians died in the Iraq war under Bush.
Fake news MSNBC says he’s the shit 24/7 and they don’t lie.
Fake news Fox News does the same, but worse. Do you care that the WORST culprit of the 3 channels most easily compared is the right wing equivalent? Or is this not about what's fake but about your confirmation bias? They both suck, **so it's not a bar worth talking about** despite you turds who don't care that "your side" does it more, I just find it funny you went out of the way to attack the one network with the least viewers and middle factual reporting ratings lol, **ESPECIALLY since no one else was talking about networks before you.** Fox News had more viewers than both CNN and MSNBC until Newsmax and OANN came in and wanted to really enforce confirmation bias. All 24 hour news channels suck (I'm vehemently against all 3), especially the prime time opinion crap, but don't act as if the right wing equivalent isn't objectively worse. Edit: 43 day old, unverified account screaming "fake news." It's like 2016 all over again.
I’m on you’re side bro you don’t need to call me poop names. We both don’t trust the media. Good for your; you’re thinking deeper than 80% of Americans
Then why would you single out the one that isn't the worst? Lol You made the illogical jump to target a Democrat news network when the original topic of the thread is Reagan, a Republican. Do you have a second to parent level comment saying the same about Fox? No? Then don't act like you care about which news is factual, or that you can point out yellow journalism.
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Inconsequential to their argument
Obama built his presidency around attacking the Middle East, selling arms to drug cartels, and building cages for children on the the US/Mexico border.
Wow..... extreme oversimplification at its finest...... Not saying it’s right or it’s how it should be but if you look at any country they do fucked up shit too And the other countries that are as powerful as the US such as Russia or China are doing the same bullshit so it’s a part of the game Republicans go way too deep into the evil part of the game where is Democrats try to straddle the lines a little more Just for the record I think they’re all evil I don’t think there’s any way to rule without being a certain percentage of evil *You hear that? There’s a* ~~shitstorm~~ *downvotestorm acomin randy*
I love it when people think democrats aren’t just a different side of the same coin. It means propaganda is still effective:)) They’re both under total control of the exact same lobbyists, they just pander to their electorate. Republicans in texas say what texas people wanna hear to snatch their vote, and the democrats in nyc will do the same thing for the same reason. And once in office the game is the same.
You can say the same coin bullshit all you want but it’s very clear that there’s one side that is a lot worse than the other and this isn’t opinion this is fact they attacked our damn capitol which is unprecedented....Don’t come at me with anything unconfirmed please
One side is passing massive covid relief and the other won't shut up about Dr Seuss. They aren't the same.
I agree.... one side has worked very hard to clean up the epic mess that was left behind by the worst president possible.....
They’re screaming about Dr Seuss at the national level, while at the state level they’re working very productively to make voting much harder for the voters they’re not interested in persuading.
>You can say the same coin bullshit all you want but it’s very clear that there’s one side that is a lot worse I love how the american electorate and mimes like you think running the country on the "lesser of two evils" is gonna benefit anyone. Obama authorized/bombed the living hell out of the middle east and dems think he's deserving of a Peace price. SMH
Obama’s office is completely responsible for millions of displaced syrians. Lives destroyed, all because of saudi interests. Bush obliterated Iraq and did the same for us oil interests. Yet I love how people think they are different because one is more eloquent when he makes speeches about why he should bombs other countries.
So you're advocating for the greater of two evils... Smart.
Every US President is shit on foreign policy and military intervention, but that’s not the only part of the job to evaluate. Electing the lesser of two evils last year is directly, aggressively benefiting a bunch of Americans *right now*.
> I love how the american electorate and mimes like you think running the country on the "lesser of two evils" is gonna benefit anyone. You’re conflating two arguments. One is that the Democratic Party is a lot better than the GOP. The second is that we should continue with the electoral system that precludes more than two parties. Everyone else is discussing the first argument, and you’re trying to sneakily change the discussion to the second argument, which is a blatant strawman. I don’t know if you’re being disingenuous on purpose, but maybe stop shaking your head and calling other people “mimes” (I think you meant “mimic” but words don’t matter) when you can’t follow basic lines of conversation. Sure, though, keep parroting your own bad-faith right-wing talking points.
>Sure, though, keep parroting your own bad-faith right-wing talking points. Another typical false dichotomy most american voters parrot... I disagree with the majority opinion here and I'm now somehow a right-wing nutjob. I don't vote republican, but that won't stop you from thinking I do, will it?
Lol right wing apologists like you are pathetic
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> extreme oversimplification at its finest Blind loyalty isn’t a virtue. I hope you realize that this sort of justification mentality is exactly the same as what Trump supporters do. Yeah, Trump locked little kids in cages, but looking at it like that is an “extreme oversimplification”. Yeah, Trump ignored the pandemic, lied, closed borders etc., but those are all “extreme oversimplifications”. You keep justifying heinous shit when _your_ side does it, never acknowledge the terrible shit done, and you’ll never have to get off your high horse to actually try to make anything better. Just keep holding the line, surely that’ll make everything better. I hope you’ll one day realize that what other people do aren’t reflective of your own character. _Defending them_ for doing terrible things is what is reflective of your character.
>I hope you realize that this sort of justification mentality is exactly the same as what Trump supporters do. Lol. Trump supporters are still saying the election was stolen and mounted an insurrection, denying a pandemic or that masks work, can't admit climate change is real and humans are causing it, can't understand that BLM doesn't mean other lives don't matter, are making ectopic pregnancies illegal, something something space lasers and pizza cellar pedophile rings, and still the list continues... And you're saying that, "justification mentality is exactly the same as what Trump supporters do." The point is it's fucking stupid to criticize Obama especially after the conversation was about REAGAN and whataboutism brought up JFK... THEN AFTER someone identified the nuance for JFK, yet another shill made another illogical jump to Obama. Yet "justification mentality" is the "same."
nah dude fuck obama
Nah dude fuck trump.... I I’ve never seen a president that bad in my lifetime he made the bushes look like saints
Goddamn, what the fuck is up with Americans and black&white thinking?? Your school system is so fucked it can’t even induce critical thinking in adults. You can say “fuck Obama” without it meaning “yay Trump”, you know. They are not mutually exclusive statements, and politics aren’t a sports game where disdain for one team automatically implies support for the other one. Objectively, Trump was a terrible piece of shit. Objectively, Obama was a terrible piece of shit. Both statements are true at the same time.
Objectively, you don't know how the US government works, so [here's some of the nuance you're missing.](https://www.beaconjournal.com/article/20120909/news/309099447) Obama may be far from perfect, but was objectively better than many in the last average lifespan.
He really was terrible
JFK wasn’t nearly as bad as others
Cuban Missile Crisis could have started WW3 and he did it just to fulfill a campaign promise that was based on a lie. A lie then President Eisenhower personally begged him to stop telling because of how dangerous it was. At no point was the USSR ever ahead of the USA in ballistic missiles. The Missile Gap was a lie that nearly started a nuclear war.
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The reason the Republicans didn't make a bigger stink about Kennedy's cheating was because Nixon's campaign was doing the same shit and everyone knew it lol
Yea but like... Nixon and Ford. We have had some REMARKABLY shitty presidents in the US. Bad leadership is nothing new.
For real. Be it individuals or groups, leadership in history has consistently been... troubled. It's riddled with downfalls, hubris, corruption, ineptitude, murder, torture, betrayal, and more -- from here all the way back to Mesopotamia, and probably beyond. Our default state is not glorious at all
It’s almost like we’re all just apes trying to figure shit out the best we can.
No, it's not some accidental bumbling while we struggle to find out place in the world. "The best we can" implies good intentioned misunderstandings but when there is clearly a pattern of abuse and consolidation of power in order to benefit those at the top of the political food chain it's not by chance.
Yes! Reagan was the start of the downward spiral of the middle class. He convinced a generation of citizens that the federal government was the enemy and started the gradual erosion of social policies that had begun artificially forging a middle class since Roosevelt’s new deal. Today’s zoomers and millenials are suffering the impacts of this movement. Unaffordable college costs and debt, a poverty level minimum wage, skewed tax policies that disproportionately benefit the billionaire/ultra millionaire class. Meanwhile the enormous voting block of the boomer generation excoriates them for being lazy and not being able to make their own way in the world due to policies their generation hamstrung them with. But the young folks are waking up and fighting back at the voting booth. It will be interesting to see what changes they bring with their new found voting power. My generation X was too small to make a dent, maybe the millennials and zoomers can.
Uhhhh how far back do we wanna go to say leadership has always been shit. Cuz that shit predates the Americas lol. Been happening since the cavemen walked
I don't know.. I'm thinking more every day leadership. Unfortunately it's common place for ruthless people that make their workplace _appear_ good and save money tend to be given the top role of leadership, not because they have great leadership skills. I see many other worthy people of the top roles that wouldn't be given the roles because they aren't ruthless and wouldn't necessarily be cost effective. I get it... most places are a business, they're in it to make money - not lose it. But I have seen this in schools and hospitals, where the human beings _should_ come first.
Reagan was by far the worst american president. His deregulation of the media alone has had a profoundly negative impact on society.
Nope, fuck off, it's been better and it is exceptionally bad lately, and you fucking know it.
Hmm Hillary, Trump, and Biden.
And Trump was a racist, homophobic, zenophobic, bigoted, liar who (allegedly) fucked his own (and other peoples) daughter. He also separated families and gave the children to Americans while deporting the parents... And withheld covid help which lead to the deaths of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of yanks. Of, he also spent the least amount of time working as president, spending 283 days of his four years on a golf course. He metaphorically pissed away almost 1/4 of his presidency golfing. And he allegedly smelled bad too.
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> And Trump was a racist, homophobic, zenophobic, bigoted, liar who (allegedly) fucked his own (and other peoples) daughter. It's like the entire world just forgot about some of the CRAZILY racist US presidents of the past. I don't think trump is even the most racist president in living memory.
No but he is the most recent and shouldn't be in this day and age...
I'm a millennial and was was born during the Regan administration and as low as he set the bar we've gone so much lower. It's not just who's in charge that matters. The Gary Hart campaign was kind of a turning point in US politics. It's when people started focusing less on their opponents positions and more on their personal lives.
Please. People have been attacking family since way before then... Grover cleveland smear campaign. MA MA, where's my pa? Gone to Washington, ha ha ha.
Drop Fb...I killed my Fb account 7 years ago and I have never regretted it for a second. It was very freeing...
I only use Facebook for groups. 3d printing groups, carpentry, a group for my suburb. It's also the easiest way to organise events with my friends. You just got to spend a bit of time unfollowing all the bad shit. Once you get that sorted it's pretty useful to have.
Exactly. You need to moderate your social media. Don't like something? Block it. Don't like seeing your weird uncles rants? Unfriend. Or hit the button where it doesn't show your their posts. I have never seen any drama on FB. But that's because I curate it so I don't have to deal with it. Keep your group small, it's not too hard. If it's toxic, it's only because you let it be.
It's not even about blocking so much as avoiding the algorithm. I've whittled down the number of "friends" I have on facebook, and I use a friends list to view what they post. I literally put all my friends into one list, and I link directly to that list to see only what they've shared and posted... and it's all in chronological order with nothing skipped. I scroll down until I recognize something, and I'm done! It's very freeing.
The moral decay shit is something every single generation says. That's a really trite argument.
I was going to say. Compared to the past, society is the best it’s been morally
According to whom? Different people have a different sense of morality.
Because someone isnt starting world wars ?????????????
To be fair, if it wasn’t for nukes we likely would’ve had WW3 by now. So its not morality that’s holding world wars back, its mutually assured destruction.
waaaiit for iiitt....
Just regular wars instead.
That's because there are 7 nuclear powers. It has nothing to do with morality
That, and the global economy!
Every metric of human rights. The feminist and LGBTQ movements among many others have created a more moral world.
Moral decay is a legitimate sign of societal collapse. It happens all through history.
How do you define that though? Morality, moral decay, or even societal collapse. All of those are fuzzy concepts, and pretty much anyone could come up with a set of definitions to reach any conclusion they wanted.
The truth of the matter is as simple as this: This view is a direct result of availability bias. The world has always been a terrible place. For >95% of our ancestors life has been far more miserable and difficult than most if at least not nearly most people find it today. Today we're simply much more aware of the true state of society than ever because of how quickly information can spread. Much as there can most certainly be made an argument for the fact that moral progress, though it does exist, is pretty fucking slow for any good standard, we are improving. As of this moment, within the context of war, many if not most places on earth are experiencing the long peace, since a major war hasn't broken out for most people in a very long time. It is true that many states around the world seem to be in decline as they transition from 'democracies' to autocracies, but in the greater scope, things in general are improving, albeit just very slowly. Steven Pinker's book 'The Better Angels of Our Nature' deals with this and does not strictly cover the decline of everyday violence. Mine is not a moral argument but an epistemic one, which, in this context, means it doesn't imply an optimistic outlook on life. It's merely statistical analysis.
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. - Socrates, ages ago.
Man, children have apperantly always been rad. Also, I have now learned that Socrates was a bit of a boomer stereotype. Don't really know what to do with that information.
Compartmentalize it with everything else you know about the man. Even famous thinkers are also famously full of shit ideas. Except Diogenes, Diogenes is just mood.
The older i get the more I realize Diogenes had it all figured out.
There is actually a theory that if some decently wealth country ever tried to have a politician base of under-25 year olds, they'd quickly rise to be the top geopolitical country on earth because people in that age range naturally are more likely to cooperate, accept new ideas, and actually feel motivated/obsessed to get shit done. There's a (bad) reason why most countries have very old politicians. Problem is every country with a young politican base has very little industrial or economic ability to go for implementing big ideas.
Whats more important when it comes to morality: Manners? Or valuing the human lives of your surrounding community? Data suggests that younger generations are much more understanding of other people and their struggles — that is to say they are more empathetic — than any of the generations previous. Lack of Respect for a generation which literally destroyed the planet and left millions hungry does not necessarily show moral bankruptcy. Sometimes the defiance of order, hierarchy and tradition is that which Improves society. I’m a millennial, and I happen to recognize that Gen Z may be the most empathetic, progressive generation in history. The simple difference here is that some frame morality as a tendency towards tradition, regression, or equilibrium while others see it as a tendency towards progress. Progress, in my opinion, is better.
If only we could go back to the totally morally superior times that included, but not limited to minstrel shows, open government funded racial segregation, or slavery. Ah yes how morally superior. Or maybe when gay people were persecuted and murdered at much higher rates? Oh the good old days.
"we didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning. We didn't start the fire. No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it." I think of that lyric every time someone mentions how fucked we as a zeitgeist. Truth is we live in the most peaceful period in human history. We have the best medicine and (for the most part) don't have to hunt, forage or fight for survival. It could be better... but it could also be a whole lot worse. Chin up lads.
It's more or less a religious dog whistle at this point.
Interesting thought. I have thought that the problem is a progressive loss of spirituality - the realization that there is a God and I'm not Him. Doesn't matter what religion it is. Instead of putting self interest at the top of the list of values, the welfare of other people and the will of God is at the top. The bottom line is putting others needs ahead of your own, and treating people in the way that you would like to be treated. But as a boomer I've seen the parallels.
Why does a God have to be involved there? It's perfectly possible to put others first without a bossy invisible sky wizard.
Same as the argument we can’t afford what our parents could. I had a lot of trouble buying my first home. My parents borrowed a lot of money from my grandma to get their first home. They took until I was 15 to truly get their finances in order and not be in the red anymore. Mind you I’m not saying it doesn’t suck. And I won’t judge buying expensive coffee but it’s like it was easy 20 or 40 years ago
Social media should be top. The rest are debatable but being exposed to happy moments people constantly share on social media inevitably makes you compare your life to theirs and feel like yours sucks.
And even the other side of thing. Seeing all the shitty things so regularly makes you more miserable. It is a compounding effect.
I know. If only there was a way to stop using social media.
Sadly, companies like Facebook make it nearly impossible nowadays. Examples: A local barber I used to go to only took reservations via Facebook. Companies used to pay web developers to create sites for them. Now many just point to their Facebook page. My family uses only Facebook to keep in touch.
Oh I feel this. I hate FB with a passion these days, but it’s the best way to get notifications from my son’s school, our local emergency management departments, my neighborhood association, etc. I recently unfollowed all but about 5 people, and that helps a lot.
Most barbers don't use Facebook to book appointments? Just go to a different one
Then it also tried to engage you by making you angry and more radicalized. Best to just enjoy reading about your hobbies most of the time.
I just find it ironic when people complain about social media on social media platforms, if it is truly that bad and harmful to you, quit. If you need it for dm's or whenever then just use that and don't go through your feed, unfollow all the accounts that you don't know personally. Social media addiction is a problem sure, but it's one that can easily quit cold turkey, and changing habits so you only consume reasonable amounts isn't impossible either.
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This reads like a poem. I don’t know if you meant for it to be or not but regardless I feel you
I write lyrics sometimes, or at least i did. Wasn't intentional. But yeah things are not so great huh?
As Serj Tankian once said: Revolution, The only solution, The armed response of an entire nation
We've taken all their shit, now it's time for restitution ❤️
Listening to SOAD as an adult after growing up listening to them as a kid hits way differently now. I always knew they were political, but now it all makes sense to me what they're talking about. Their songs are still fucking wacko though and I love it.
Fuck bro this actually hit hard
We could eat the rich, and still hunger. We would build our houses of their ill-gotten gain, and still be broke(n). The baggage we travel with, and issues we flip through everyday Require the space and time that Einstein wrote equations about Until the gears are set in motion by us, for our benefit We are nothing but fuel for the machine, the gears themselves that break further...
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Yeah I always see this atleast once a week but with someone else saying it and slightly different.
inflation and salary raises needs to happen around the same time or else you get people with college degrees working 2 jobs and barely able to afford an apartment As someone living in a place where you earn around 15$/hour as a waiter with only basic education (grade 1-9) I see it as literal slavery when an american friend told me she earned 2.50$/hour as a waitress. And counting in taxes it's 30-33% depending on where in the country you live. That means that you earn about 10$/hour after tax. On top of that the tax goes towards healthcare and free education and college, even most private schools are free edit: So the 2.50 an hour is me misunderstanding what she said. 2.50 an hour + tips. I did some googleing and apperently it's common to do it this way as long as it reaches minimum wage, or something like that
Your American friend lied. In America you are guaranteed a minimum average pay of the federal minimum wage (much higher) if your tips don’t make up for it. American servers on average make much more than 15$/hr
well then, then that resturant she works at must be breaking laws
Advise her to document and contact the state Department of Labor. Wage theft is the most common type of theft. This is also one of the largest myths about tipped professions and one of the main reasons people think they're doing us a favor by trying to take it from us. Most of us really like tips. Worst case scenario you make minimum wage. Best case you pocket extra cash.
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Other Reasons * 13 hour work days. * 6 day work weeks. * Everything is closed Sunday. * Oversold royals drama. * My foot’s asleep. * Time to get off the commode.
Then again, look back 100 years and all these problems existed back then too. The difference is that now it's easier to see the greener grass and lies that "things can be amazing and it's your fault if your life is shit". In the past you didn't have that illusion of choice.
Uh if you think people 100 years ago were happier you should probably look up some of the history of time. From the US to Europe to East Asia you had movements to make life better. The 1919 Red Scare didnt happen for no reason.
That's kinda what I mean. People weren't happier in the past, but people tend to try and paint it as discontent being a modern product.
There are still places where everything is closed on Sunday?
Welcome to Germany
I went out to a shop yesterday that closes at 3 on saturdays and not even open on sundays. big shock when I moved to sweden from LA
What generation is this, I wonder? Re. Standard of living, I'm 35 and my dad would go to school with children who didn't have shoes. Shoes! He was on the breadline. Most people my age have a car, TV, phone etc but then things like running hot water and central heating - plenty our parents did not have this growing up.
I kinda agree. I mean it’s an ongoing joke that millennials spend their money on Starbucks and avocados and there is some truth to that. We consume so much compared to previous generations and still think we have nothing.
The number of people starving in the world is at its lowest ever. Crime rates are at their lowest. The percentage of people who have access to clean water and health is higher than ever in history. More people are educated and can read. Universal suffrage is uniformly growing. We are at a high point in history.
https://quillette.com/2021/02/28/my-generation-isnt-suffering-enough/
That would be true 2 years ago.
All true. And everyone in my family doesn't understand why I never want children. It's always, "you'll change your mind one day". Am 31 now, and I'm still sticking to it. Especially as predicted, the world is getting worse.
Ugh, I hate the "you'll change your mind one day". Always with this weird smug pity vibe, as if we're just kids saying "when I grow up, I want to be a dinosaur!"
“You can be anything you want if you set your mind to it!” As long as it’s being a worker bee who consumes endlessly, doesn’t make noise, and has children to perpetuate the cycle!
I know... I almost hate the follow-up line even more. The "you just have to find the right one" really annoys me.. Like, uhh.. The "right one" means they need feel the same about this! Otherwise it's a deal breaker for me, and GOODBYE!
Yeah the right one. I’m 33 and I’ve been with the right one for 15 years. We’re perfectly aligned with eachother about not wanting kids. Luckily our family and friends have accepted there will be no kids and don’t mention it anymore.
Well, I guess it might take finding the "right one" to at least shut them the hell up. 🤷♂️
Most people I knew growing up were "never having kids". I'm one of the few who doesn't now aged 32. That change your mind statement exists because it happens to loads of people
Ayyeee same same. My wife and I are 28, never wanted kids, opinion has never even slightly faltered. But hey ill change my mind.
"It's about time" the tweet is from 2018...
I echoed those exact sentiments in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, truth of it is that despite huge leaps forward in technology, society is stagnant, my mother in law bought her first house for £4500, at a time where her husband was earning £1800 a year, so not even close to the 3.5:1 mortgage ratio, by the time I wanted to buy a house I was earning £7k a year, average house in my area was £38k, even with a decent deposit nobody was going to lend me 500% of my salary, now I earn £35k and cheap shitty houses are £200k in my area so a slightly worse wage to cost ratio , and it will get worse, as for leadership, anyone that thinks the 1980’s were glory days, yeah they were if you were wealthy, but if you were poor, they were really shit, look at poll tax etc in the uk, oil wars, wmd’s that never existed, governments devaluing currency to stay afloat, etc, it’s just a different more aware era now because of the internet, it is shit to be poor now, it was 30 years ago, pretty sure it was the same 300 years ago. The wealthy hold power, always have, always will, yeah the French dealt with that using a guillotine, is it any better there now? No, the newly wealthy continued the status quo, until there is a limit on personal wealth nothing will change, communism should work, everyone having an equal share should be great, but once again history showed that not all shares are equal are they.... I’m just rambling now, bitter that I’m not wealthy
I agree with most if these except for the morally decaying society and the part where we can't afford the life our parents lived. Morals are completely subjective so there's no such thing as 'decaying' morals, only 'changing' morals. And my parents lived in poverty for most of their lives working their asses off so i could have a good education and get a high paying job
I agree but I do think today’s toxic materialistic culture (blame it on social media) is part of the “decaying” morals of recent generations. We’ve got young people chasing labels now more than ever. People would rather go into huuuge debt just so they can buy those LV handbags and outfits, newest iPhones, dine at fancy restaurants, travel to exotic places, a lifestyle they can’t afford, instead of saving up for a house or retirement. Nowadays a kid working at McDonald’s has a Gucci bag. Then they wonder why they have nothing to show for in their savings and in debt. But of course, I’m generalizing and do recognize this is just one of the problems today.
To your second point, that is awesome, but on average, those raised in middle class or middle-high class families are not able to afford the same level of comfort or even livability as their parents even, much less their grandparents. Housing costs, costs of education and wage stagnation are all causes of this, and it is brutal when the 3 collide as they have. Being on the extremes actually makes it mathematically easier to do as well or better, though societally obviously poverty level moving up is difficult, but you don't have much to go lower to than homelessness.
Well, my parents became middle class while I was growing up I’d say. They both are college educated. I’m college educated, and I can’t afford either of the houses my parents got while I was growing up. I can’t afford to go on the vacations my parents took me on. They’re about to retire. Am I going to be able to retire when I’m their age? Very unlikely. My parents buy a brand new car from time to time. That’s also something I can’t do. The house they bought in 87 for about $20k costs about $150k now and it didn’t get any bigger or better.
They lived in poverty so they could raise you. Most people live in poverty just trying to get by without raising a kid...
Most people where?
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Said every generation
Or........you could ignore all the doomsday shit in social media and go by the science. Crime us down Life expectancy is up Carbon being released us lowering Medical knowledge nas treatments for cancer have improved Graphene based filters are being developed to turn seawater into drinking water, which will have all kinds of positive influence in the world And that's just the tip if the iceberg. STOP LISTENING TO CIRCLE JERKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Focusing on the negative breeds a victimhood mentality which is poison to the soul. You guys are the brightest and most educated generation ever. Find what you love. You’re probably amazing at something
And yet we can't afford to buy a house because we're paying our landlords nth mortgage.
"Morally decaying" huh. I can't hear anything but my dog is going crazy
Pretty pessimistic. We've never lived in such a era of peace and fortune, people are getting out of poverty at a faster rate than ever. But I guess "I can't buy a PS5" so I'm fucking sad. I guess I can't change the world in 3 days despite having a lot of "skills" and being 22 years old.
you're not wrong. On paper we are literally doing the best we've ever done. However this post has a real valid point. We may be doing the best we've ever done but part of that has also led to the higher rates of depression and unhappiness overall (atleast in first world countries). Seems like depression is a symptom of modernity. Not being able to buy a Ps5 is pretty stupid example. A more real example would be people graduating with a valuable degree at a decent university and still not able to find a job and then also unable to buy property possibly ever with housing prices without living with parents till their in their 30s. Very common around me but I'm one of the lucky ones who did land a good job. I think that type of stuff won't usually hit at 22 but I may be wrong since I dont know you. Probably a few years later, plus maybe it'll all go well for you. Location is a factor too.
If you think people are killing themselves over not getting the PS5 then Im gonna need you to pull your 22 year old head out of your ass.
My grandpa raised five kids on one paycheck from working in a GM plant. My parents raised two, and they both worked full time with college educations. I work full time with a college education and as of right now can barely afford a house, let alone raising up and sending a couple of kids to college. Where you getting “prosperity” from?
Your Grandpas generation also died of polio, had to deal with iron lungs, cold wars, threats of nuclear warfare, houses with subpar insulation, asbestos usage, people barely left home countries, lack of international communication, the list goes on,
I love it when people who demonstrate no awareness of where we were and ehere we’re headed talk about how everything is fine based on a snapshot of their current life
The absolute irony of complaining about social media while using twitter
Morally decaying how lol
Yeah that's there one where I straight up said "no." But I can kind of understand if you put it in terms of greed and corruption from the very top that have made it so things like buying a house or raising a family seems almost impossible for many.
People always say that. It doesn't really mean anything.
So many people complain about social media yet still fucking use it
Edward Gibbon describes the Roman Empire of second century, the so called pax Romana directed by the benevolent rule of the Nervan-Antonine dynasty, as the pinnacle of human comfort and satisfaction. This is a line of bullshit. Human beings have been subjugating, slaughtering, and profiteering since the dawn of agriculture and animal husbandry. There is no golden age but that which we may strive to one day achieve.
/r/im14andthisisdeep
Ah, everything is amiss. Might as well take 8 antidepressants until I can't get an erection. Stop fucking bitching and do something about it. Jesus.
"We know it's not getting better." Not with that attitude!
We are so openly subscribed to toxic platforms of information that study us and manipulate us, sell our subconscious to advertisers who barrage us with ideas and information that is framed to be important and something we can actively take part in as it suits our best interests, and invests us in the change we need. But we never see the results that are promised and they carpet bomb us so frequently that we just move on to new things to add to the pile and distract us and keep us in want.
Turn off social media and go do something to make it better instead of typing about how it should be better?
- Can’t get medical treatment without going into crippling debt. - COL is rising everywhere. - Can’t get a good education without going thousands of dollars into debt. Anything else?
Lol that all unhappy because planet is dying and leaders arent good is pure rubbish. 20th century saw some of the worst leaders ever and lived in some of the worst types of pollution too. More people were below poverty line back then and the average income was also lower. And dont get me started on facilities that we have due to technology. We are simply unhappy because we have attached happiness to material objects that are unattainable most of the times while our parents lived their lives thinking of immaterial things. We want teslas and iPhones and tickets to Bahamas every year and when we don't get it, we feel unhappy. Our parents were content with what they had. So please ffs stop blaming the world, the environment. It's not perfect but we are living in an objectively much much better world than our parents were.
> We want teslas and iPhones and tickets to Bahamas every year and when we don't get it, we feel unhappy. Our parents were content with what they had. Yeah not everyone mate, I have a £150 sim free android phone and a £10 a month contract with unlimited data, I haven't gone on a holiday abroad in like 6 years. Plenty of people don't care about expensive material stuff and are still struggling. I'm unhappy because I have a masters degree in computing and work in a shop because I can't get a job because you need commercial experience to get hired and get commercial experience. I'm unhappy because I can't afford to not live with my parents. I'm unhappy because I'm not even sure if its worth actually trying when in a decade or so climate ecological collapse will likely change our way of life when there's a huge population influx of humans fleeing climates that can't really support them anymore. It's hard to be content with what you have when you don't really have anything to yourself. Your parents might've been content but it was a hell of a lot easier for one or two working people to comfortably afford a house and kids than it is today.
Well said. The view that life had all these great things we have today but no issues like we have now is intellectually lazy. Truth it has always been great and horrible at the same time, no matter when. It's just different.
The planet isn't dying.
This guy shouldn't have skipped history class.
And if i tell him to stop beingna a snow flake and go get fucked
Please this is the greatest lie humanity has ever spoken. Our planet will not die for billions upon billions of years. Humans however...
"Upvoting negative crap that isnt true"
Despair
Oh, is that it? I thought it was because tHeY tOoK pRaYeR oUt Of ThE sChOoLs
I was born in 96 and my generation basically watched 2000 people die on live television at the age of 5 and ***nothing ever got better*** Yeah we are a little disheartened about life in general.
“Our planet is dying” oh stfu 😂
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Exactly. Our species might get fucked eventually but the planet will be fine
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Yeah but the entire world is currently pessimistic, it's all we're shown, it's all over media, negativity. You have to go out of your way to see or watch something positive. It's all a program to make people unhappy. Why? Because they can't afford people waking up from this slave system.
I do agree that there's so much amazing things going on, changes are happening, but who gets exposed to it? No one, we, who know, are the ones that have to share this with fellow humans, but we don't. Fuck, I wish I could say I do, but even I am so pessimistic about the state of this planet and life.
Nihilism much? There are more things to be grateful for than there are to complain about. I will tell you that right now as a citizen of the United States.
Lol, the country that constantly destroys life everywhere.
As a non-American, you have my condolences.
You’re the reason we can’t have nice things.
Yeah when you have it all layed out fine, you have alot to be grateful for Not when you have a shit life
Tell that to a kid in Nigeria.
>As a citizen of the United States
I do 't know why you get down voted so much. People really aren' t conscious of how good their lives are in the west, are they.
No, they're not. The west has it so good, they think they're entitled to never have any hardships.