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Blessed are those that plant trees for the shade they will never see.
This mentality is why we are in the position we are today. If we all fail to try to build a better future today the next generation will suffer more than us and it will be our fault then.
Yeah blame the victims...
Google cycle of abuse.
Hum, that's on the people that make the next gen. I cut my tubes when I was 20 exactly because I think the world is too shitty. My bloodline ends with me.
We're more than just our genes. We have what we have not just because of our direct ancestors but the communities and societies before us.
...and that's why. You say "we have what we have" as if we had a good life. If you're rich good for you but my life suck
Things have been much worse and can be worse again. I didn't have to choose which babies to drown and which to feed and instead have the internet and family planning options, so pretty good for three generations of progress by those metrics.
YOU, that is the righr word. So it is about you because there are ppl having to choose
True and their future families will have them to thank for making it through the hard times. Hopefully our actions can be so sober as to help too
I’m sorry but no… sure we should try to make a better world. But we’re not in this shit because of failings of personal responsibility.
10 companies produce 80% of the pollution in the world. Research after research shows that in “democratic” countries the poorer 90% have basically 0 influence in politics. We literally have no power to make any meaningful change.
The world will die and it’ll be the fault of a handful thousand families. Not ours.
Sure, we could’ve stopped them before it got to this point. But when? It’s been like this for thousands of years.
I don't know if those statistics are correct, with the ten companies and poor 90%.
If it is, your conclusion is “we have no chance in this system”
Mine is “the solution can't be companies or politics then”
Man, the people still have the power. That's why political systems try to separate us as best as they can. Creating diversity instead of unity. Everywhere.
If we wanted, we could change the world within a month. We just don't want to. Because we are fed the most stupid stories and ideas, as many as possible. From diets to skin colors to countries being evil by nature.
Most of humanity are just normal people. A few million of them are megalomaniacs. And they managed to make us all believe that they run the show. But we are running it for them. :)
The numbers might a bit different but it’s close enough to illustrate the point.
My conclusion is not “we have no choice”, but “choosing within the system will never solve anything”.
And if you really think we have the power… please illuminate me. Give an example of this.
If you really think we’re in this shit spot because people are lazy or unmotivated, then you don’t understand systems at all.
People act the way they act because of the system. They do what they do because they exist within capitalism. All the structures around us exist to maintain it. From the moment you’re born to the moment you die, your whole existence is directed by the system.
From marketing to union busting, from war to elections. It’s all made to serve the system.
You speak very idealistically about being able to have an impact. But how would that actually look like in our physical material reality? What can we ACTUALLY do that would even make a change?
I don't know. The French revolution? Hippies? Homeless communities? Revolutions have been done countless times, and they always started with no real chance to succeed.
What do you want me to say here. A plan to save the world? I have no idea where you are and what your situation is. That's the point.
We have all the networking, but nobody connects. The world is in the best spot ever, technologically, but we use it to divide. Where are you? What's you biggest issue? Let's pool together and see if there is a way out?
We all divide into groups, splinter-groups and even smaller units. Especially so since about 20 years ago. We should unite. How hard can it be?
Would you try?
Or would you rather debate me, telling me it's not possible?
I'd guess you'd pick the latter. Why is that?
I don’t want to debate anything. But you are rejecting reality. Why do you think we are so divided and diving deeper and deeper into useless rabbit holes?
Sure the internet is “great”, but why do you think it was invented and spread around the world?
Neoliberalism and post-modernism created and shaped an infinity of tools to control and manipulate us into being atomic neurotic incapable shits.
I do what I can, and I am not saying to give up. But if you base your struggle on idealisms and reject material reality for what it was and is, there is no chance. We have to understand the world and the systems of power and control fully to even have a chance of doing something.
Hoping everyone just “wakes up” through hearing the “right ideas” and “rises up” in a glorious movement is just… fantasy, it’s silly. It will never happen.
We have to study what worked before, and how the world changed from then to now, and try to find a new path that is different. But being always grounded in the actual reality of things. Understanding we have massive hurdles, that never existed before. And how those will shape our struggle.
Im sorry. What possible way is there to compete against trillion dollar companies financing every aspect of politics? You can't play that game. And nobody is coming around to save us all. You can only reject it and rebell. That's how change works. Has always worked. and will always work. You just don't want it enough yet.
You are playing a rigged game and expect to win, and you say I'm rejecting reality. It's you who needs to accept that people still have the power. And tell others. That's how revolutions happen. From the bottom up. Always.
Rejecting “the game” only works individually. Sure a couple dozen people can fuck off into the woods and live like hippies. But it can’t fix society. And society is what you’re calling a “game”.
I don’t want to live in the woods and reject humanity. I want to help society be good.
None of that makes sense.
Who do those companies sell to? All money in politics does is advertising. Why aren't we better informed regardless? Why aren't we better organized to stop them? We act helpless about where we can work but indebt ourselves for bullshit. Faster widgets, more content to ignore the world with, more drugs to ignore ourselves with.
It would be bullshit to ignore the antagonistic role capital plays, but we have to act for change to actually happen and it maybe acting so that beyond our life times we effect meaningful change. That's all I'm saying.
We do have to act, but it’s not voting or “buying” right. Capitalism is self-sustaining through many avenues. Marketing is a big one. And when there’s one company that sells something, you don’t have a choice.
The system is the issue, and the only solution is a systemic one. But if you study even just a bit of the history of western colonialism and the US empire, you realize that trying to enact that systemic change is basically suicidal.
What do you do when if you try to do something that will have an impact they kill and jail you?
We’re in a completely different era of totalitarianism. The powers that be control the world in ways absolute kings in the Middle Ages couldnt even dream of.
What is an actual material action you think we could take that would actually be effective…?
How naive do you have to be to honestly think this‽ 😱🤦🏼♂️😶🤦🏼♂️
Blessed are those that plant trees for the shade they will never see.
Trees can grow very quickly and its not unreasonable to believe you'll get to sit under the shade of one in your lifetime.
I mean, definitely, you're blessed if you do this. But also, you could just be playing the (very good) odds of self-interest through doing things to make the world a better place.
This mentality is why we are in the position we are today.
I think folks underestimate how quickly a new policy can yield change. To put a darker spin on it, consider the advent of fracking in the prior decade.
https://impactful.ninja/the-carbon-footprint-of-fracked-gas/
Fracked gas has one of the highest carbon footprints of all energy types. Per kWh produced, fracked gas emits 490 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) on a life-cycle basis. It produces lower levels of CO2 than the other two fossil fuels, coal and oil, but still directly contributes to climate change.
Imagine if we hadn't planted that tree back in 2014.
Fracking is like the exact opposite of planting a tree. How did you even come up with that insane counter example?