Some positivity for your day!
Some positivity for your day!
Things have gotten better and progress has been made from times past, it just seems worse now because we have more access to information. We've come far, and have further to go!
The poverty rate stuff is pure bs. The world bank just lowered the stated official poverty line without actually improving living conditions.
https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2019/2/3/pinker-and-global-poverty
Jesus Christ this thread. The technicalities aren't the point. You are allowed to find happiness where you can in an imperfect world that contains suffering. It doesn't mean you'll be complacent to injustice. Fighting against injustice can be done without thinking the world is hopeless dogshit. There's satisfaction that can be justifiably had, through means other than smug superiority at knowing all the depressing truths of the world, or the sympathy of others for your problems. We feed ourselves so much rage and sadness via the internet, can we not have a palate-cleanser like this without chewing it up and spitting it out, and then going back to gorging on more?
Wealth inequality is possibly the highest it's ever been in history.
I wouldn't be surprised if food wasted (food that goes straight to the trash) nowadays is also at peak numbers, or close to.
During the Bolsonaro years (2019-2022), Brazil saw a drastic increase in extreme poverty, made worse by the pandemic. Poor people were literally scavenging carcasses for anything that could still be eaten. We're still trying to recover.
Do not take any of those good things for granted, they can be very easily reverted by a small number of psychopath assholes.
While "technically" true. We all know the average lifespan was brought down by a high infant mortality. So comparingbthat to when peopke retired is meaningless. That said, it dies seem worse because with more information we realize how much better it could be. 100 years ago, the average american had no idea how common slums were outside the US. And those that knew considered those slum people less than human. So what we have really done is expanded who is considered human, and who matters. That certainly does make it look worse.
The average American didn't die at age 51. And, while the average life expectancy might have been 51 years, that's a Spiders Georg moment.
The life expectancy was thrown off by all the child mortality. If you lived past 10 years, you were likely to live to 70.
If the only positive things you can come up with are lies and half-truths, maybe keep it to yourself.
The extreme poverty one is laughable especially when criteria to define extreme poverty is ridiculous. Extreme poverty in places where you earn less than $1.90 but can still have subsistence farming and community doesn't make sense - also if living in San Francisco and earning $2/day isn't extreme poverty... I don't know what is.
Poverty shouldn't be tied to capital but to standards of living - that would be a completely different story.
The environmental problems are critical, though. And it's what ultimately will decide the fate of our species. There is room for optimism in some aspects of our society, but that is not an indication that in the end everything will be alright.
I don't really care about any of that. All that matters is that I'm constantly having to fight to keep wfh, it's impossible to get health issues diagnosed and I just keep wasting hundreds of dollars on trying, I've resigned myself to staying untreated for adhd and whatever else, I am sick of having to work a job where I need to interact with people, and all the foods I enjoy the most make me incredibly sick and I'm sure are gonna kill me one day. If I had a choice I wouldn't have been born. I am very lucky, I have no money problems, didn't have to buy my house, have a good long term stable relationship, not having to deal with having had kids, quiet neighborhood with no crime... but things should be a lot better than this. People can shove their head in the sand and pretend things are not going to end very badly for humankind and I personally don't care. I live my life and enjoy what I like and either I'll be dead or will witness the glorious end of humanity. I just hope my AC keeps up with climate change lol!
If you like this post maybe read The Progress Paradox. It goes in much more detail than this meme, it then poses the question but then why aren't we happy. Without giving answers it does point to possible paths. It's a good book.
Oh, look, a bastardization of statistics to defend the status quo wrapped up in "positivity" bullshit so if you call out their nonsense, you look like an asshole.
There's a special place in hell for people like @Godric.
You know what? I did like this post, thanks.
Im as cynical as they come and I want to see more posts like this.
I still have an urge to be cynical, but less so.
It really is easy to lose track of how far we've come until we look back. Thanks for this!
Glass half full guy 😂
factfulness
...someone read Pinker.
I think that things are going to be okay as long as we allow them to be okay