Every day.
Every day.
Every day.
It's really not. At least no more than it has been in the past
Yeah, there are tons of things to make better and improve on, but things could be a lot freaking worse. (For more people, anyway, for too many people it’s already terrible currently, e.g. Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, Haiti … )
Yeah standard of living overall is factually better than at any other point in the last few hundred years.
Medicine alone has made getting to or living past your mid-30’s far less hard or filled with pain - even for those in poverty.
And hell I’d argue that if the original commenter really believes it’s a dystopian shit-show…it’s crystal clear how to make your own lot better.
Yeah standard of living overall is factually better than at any other point in the last few hundred years.
Really depends on who you are and where you live. I'm watching my Houston ISD getting torn apart before my eyes. Police were running around UH campus clubbing students and dragging them into squad cars just a few weeks ago. The derecho that blew through downtown knocked out 5-10% of the windows in various buildings and killed the power for a few days. Electricity costs have doubled in the last ten years, while summer heat is up a sold five degrees Fahrenheit on average.
Is my standard of living better than it was for someone living in the city a generation ago? Doesn't look like it. But hey, we've got weird new AI and the stock market is very up. Is it better than someone living in Houston in 1824? Yeah... I guess? But so much of that seems to hinge on having electricity and running water. And the more pipes keep bursting and lines keep getting knocked down, the less reliable these services seem.
Medicine alone has made getting to or living past your mid-30’s far less hard
Average life expectancy has been over 60 years of age since at least the 19th century. A lot of that came entirely out of the advent of vaccinations.
Good think we're not having trouble convincing people to get vaccinated in the modern era, I guess.
People in the ukraine are like: man this is great, imagine living in the 30's
The same people that quote that these are the least violent and most progressive times we live in will turn right around and say we're in an ever increasing dystopian hellhole despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary.
They will continue to bemoan mainstream media and social media pushing propaganda on them they continue to link on THEIR better social media.
You'll then be yelled at for Green washing and unironically saying that progressives are in the democratic party for a reason despite saying all politicians are the same from their useful idiot basements while pretending to be a Bernie Bro despite him endorsing Hilary, and Biden lol.
The world looks like a horrible place, barely hanging on by a thread, until you step outside and see that society and the people in it are generally pretty chill.
Of course, that said, I don't live in the states. Everything could be literally on fire there for all I know.
It's a pleasant surprise every time I visit how chill the US is, you see so much news and fear mongering but it's super friendly and nice everywhere I go.
Except now there's nukes, end stage capitalism, and climate change... Sure up until like 100 years ago shit sucked hard for just about everyone, but at least there was no way they could literally end all life on earth
I think this vision usually comes to be when people aren't aware of how much worse other people have it, or how much worse was in the past.
Sure nowdays there are a lot of terrible things happening, but we have the best tools ever to fix them.
The world needs a bit more of optimism, the only way we can start fixing our problems is acting like we can.
How do you know how bad many of the people have it here? Also, in general, I reject the premise of your comment.
Just because people may be suffering more elsewhere, doesn't mean we don't have a right to be frustrated by our current systems. This is especially true in a society that allows absurdities like billionaires to exist.
It is Nice not having to worry the black lung.
It's always been terrible, this the best we've had, and it's still still terrible.
Reminded me of this:
https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better
I'm still to pessimistic to feel hopeful by this, but maybe someone else can :)
That whole article you linked is about convincing you to be optimistic.
Yes, the world is awful. But it is so much better than it ever was before, and we have proven that we have the means to make it so much better still.
Even if all we did was get everyone up to the standard of living where they experience first-world problems, that still means making the world so much better than it was. And we can make the world even better than that. Even if you're pessimistic, you should still be optimistic.
In a lot of ways yes this is the best humanity has ever had, but it's also the first time we've had the means to completely eradicate life on earth, and still seen to be barreling towards it. (If you consider the last 80 or so years to be "now")
I'd argue we peaked between 25 and 50 years ago, and now we're sliding back down the hill.
I'd argue you're not very familiar with recent history. Also, who is "We"?
Can't even plant a tree because someone "owns" the land.
Yes, this system absolute madness only equaled by the madness of the mass tolerance of it.
And NOT the fun weekend bender kind of madness I haven't had time for in years due to capitalist exploitation.
Potential convicted felon president with many active indictments looking to give himself blanket immunity for all crime and appointing himself dictator president for life. All while every year is the hottest year on record, there isn't enough housing, actually nazis feel safe to actively demonstrate in public, a million less Americans are alive post COVID and all of the world's wealth is split between 7 people and all the world's companies owned by 4 parent companies...
What the fuck are you talking about dystopian?
Those in that million category were probably the lucky ones, the afterlife's probably pretty dope.
What’s the other option?
People all over the world have agency.
Moving on from class society
No. I'm familiar with history. It is normal.
And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?Fellow members
Club "We've got ours"
I'd like to introduce you to our host
He's got his and I've got mine
Meet the decline
NOFX - The Decline
This song, by a comedian, is a showcase of the hopeless, fucked up, irredeemable, state of humanity.
These 2 particular lines brings a tidal wave of emotions:
20 thousand years of this, seven more to go
The quiet comprehending of the ending of it all (Actually, the whole song, the whole album gets me)
That Funny Feeling ~ Bo Burnham
Stunning 8K-resolution meditation app. In honor of the revolution, it's half off at the GAP. Deadpool's self-awareness, loving parents, harmless fun. The backlash to the backlash to the thing that's just begun.
There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling
The surgeon generals' pop-up shop, Robert Iger's face. Discount Etsy agitprop, Bugles' take on race. Female Colonel Sanders, easy answers, civil war. The whole world at your fingertips, the ocean at your door.
Live-action Lion King, the Pepsi Halftime Show. 20 thousand years of this, seven more to go. Carpool Karaoke, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul. A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall.
There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling
Reading Pornhub's terms of service, going for a drive. And obeying all the traffic laws in Grand Theft Auto five. Full agoraphobic, losing focus, cover blown. A book on getting better hand-delivered by a drone.
Total disassociation, fully out your mind. Googling "derealization", hating what you find. That unapparent summer air in early fall. The quiet comprehending of the ending of it all.
There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling
Hey, what can you say? We were overdue But it'll be over soon, you wait Hey, what can you say? We were overdue But it'll be over soon, just wait, ba-da-da, ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da
This the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
T.S. Eliot - The Hollow Men
About a year after it came out, I was singing along with it during a depressive episode and realized 'seven' wasn't accurate anymore. It freaked me out, but I realized that part of the nature of the song is the impending doom, and I have to change the lyrics when I get to that part.
..Four more to go.
One of my favorite songs of all time. I revisit it once a year or so but have to be careful because as much as I love it, it can put me in a dark place. I've urged a lot of friends to give it a listen while paying attention to the lyrics but that seems to be quite a commitment for most people 😂
Only moron and genius would fight a losing battle against the super ego.
People are not acting, they are desensitized... we all are in some capacity, the difference being the few who can recognise this😅
I'd say it's less about being desensitized, and more about the fact that the world has never been a utopia. This "dystopian" stuff has always been happening.
do we tough?
maybe get off the internet and enjoy your life a bit.
Yes we do live in a dystopian nightmare. It's just that most people posting here, including myself, live a fucking privileged life, where we don't have to share the same worries that about 80% of the world population have, including a large part of even the US population nowadays.
We (the privileged people) are the baddies from all those dystopian stories.
Doesn’t help when an over privileged brat with full access to devices and the internet then just posts weak ass generalist complaints like this.
Movements make a difference by targeting problems with specific details. Not just whining about them with general, diluted, unintelligible babble designed around some indescript, unnecessarily abstract problem forever just out of grasp.
This was a dog whistle for indifference and hopelessness. This was bait and it does fuck all to do with fixing any real problems.
We do. I've got friends who are harassed because of who they are, or what they look like. I've had friends almost die because of police kneeling their neck because he defended family from an abuser, friends who've been threatened and nearly attacked by homophobes and transphobes, I've experienced cops do everything they can to escalate situations to justify violence.
So yeah we really do live in a dystopian era where basic rights and securities are not afforded to the people who need it most.
Literally gives me anxiety to the point I need meds
With you.
Nice that meds exist though.
Please, for the love of God step outside and connect with your community.
I definitely do.
You either find a way to cope or live your life worrying about something ultimately out of your control. As long as I'm voting and spending my money thoughtfully then I believe I'm doing enough.
https://www.jamesmollison.com/where-children-sleep
We are privileged. Gratitude is hard.
We are, but also why can't we make things better? Money is made up and billionaires hoard it all. They should be dangled over shark tanks until they fix everyone's life.
Like I said, gratitude is hard.
It is hard to have gratitude when there is inequality
It is hard to have gratitude when competition is encouraged and enshrined by people who benefit from it
It is hard to have gratitude when the constructs in which we live seem unjust
It is hard to wake up and look around and find something to be grateful for
It is hard to be grateful when all you can see is what you don't have
Being genuinely appreciative of what you do have leads to a quieter mind and a happier life. We have one life.
It comes across as some stupid bullshit, I know. But the resentment and frustration aren't useful. Clarity of mind and purpose is, and is more sustainable than passion and anger.
My 2c.
That's how it always happens, unfortunately. "Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me."
What other dimension can we go to?
We live here
Soulists can travel to other realities. http://soulism.net
What they said :
"Soulists can travel to other realities. http://soulism.net"
What I heard:
"Choose delusion or the mental anguish of reality"
Okay but what can humans do?
Bro you need to touch grass like a lot haha
Yes.
Maybe they would have been scared of the society in the past.
Depending on where you stand in a socio economic racial stance, yes they would have a right to be afraid of the society at almost any time before now and even now. Amazingly a lot of people in this situation would not go compare things generally like this but explicitly tell you where things are problematic. Everything from micro aggression to abuse of power in great detail.
And then you have the people who may have always been privileged but occasionally something bad happens to them. So they will incur a lasting trauma to something happening to them and decide nothing good ever happens to them and would discount anything good.
And then you have the do good doomer gloomer. They will surf the internet for material to strengthen their resolution and decide every video where there’s questionable material hasn’t been staged and is the absolute truth. They’ve decided the world is ending. They claim what they are doing is for the better. ‘Open your eyes sheeple’ . But they do absolutely nothing but post general bait like the OP did just to get a reaction.
But then you have the 15yr old gamers who have all the technology and privilege at their hands and have no gauge to measure suffering. So they decide the moment someone merely doesn’t clap for something they just posted and compare it to being oppressed/holocaust/dystopian nightmare. And of course you can’t possibly know the exact detail they are talking about they would never give it up. You can’t possibly understand their ‘suffering’.
First world graffiti-mask-profile-picture cringe.
This is the most Lemmy ass shit I’ve seen all day.
All the time
UhOh did mum forget to buy Doritos when she went to the shop and you’re comparing your life to the holocaust ..again?
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that many commenting can’t be bothered to look up the definition of dystopia. The laziness and failure to learn is what makes this dystopian.
A Brave New World...
Pretty much all the time no big deal
Then make things better
What kind of bootstrap conservative rhetoric is that? I'm powerless to stop oil companies and billionaires and whatall.
Then keep complaining. Someone else might do it instead
its because there are no communities anymore. capitalism posioned the nuclear family and communities.
That's an interesting word, hedonic.
That's a common trope in dystopian settings.
The youngest people in the society don't understand that anything is even wrong. The rich folks have a vested interest in people being more afraid of foreigners and domestic terrorists than any government malfeasance. And the working class is so occupied with simple survival that they see no real opportunity to revolt... until something really falls off the rails, at which point the military moves in to suppress dissent with maximum bloodshed.
In those dystopia settings however, they never seem to have all the literature describing dystopia. We do here
Eh, it depends on the author. I've seen a lot of modern Post-Apocalypse/Cyberpunk stuff make comedic quasi-self-references by way of media-within-the-media (A piece of modern literature in the Fallout setting describing a "dystopian" world in the self-proclaimed utopian Vaults, for instance).
But the point of the media-within-the-media is often to illustrate how we fixate on the drama of dystopia without acknowledging the banality of social evils.
1984 literally has a manifesto describing what's happening.
In fact, the brainwashing of the kids in 1984 to report on their parents having / reading / discussing "controversial media" is a major element of the dystopia. Those media are not explicitly named, but I don't think they have to be.
I feel like this describes pretty much every western society since we moved beyond tribalism.
I don't think tribalism was the apex of greatness people seem to think it was.