How do you guys cope with the fact that the world isn't getting any better?
How do you guys cope with the fact that the world isn't getting any better?
I'm really worried about the state of the US despite being a white male who was I'll coast right through it. I'll also accept "I don't" and "very poorly" as answers
By realizing that it IS getting better. We live in a world now where information has exploded out of control. What this means is that we now know exactly what's going on everywhere, and it turns out that's a lot of shit.
That shit was still happening, but until fairly recently it was just out of the picture. The average person didn't know about any of it , couldn't do anything about it anyway, and thus it didn't really impact them.
Fast forward to today you hear of tragedies ALL THE TIME. Bad shit happening to good people for seemingly no reason. The difference here is that you just happen to know about it. The objective truth is that bad shit happens less today than it did at any other time in history. We just see every instance of it, not just our local community instances.
It's getting harder every year.
I remember well the constant fear of nuclear war in the 1980's.
I remember the wonder we felt when the Berlin Wall fell and Soviet Union collapsed. A hope of a tomorrow free of fear.
I remember the dreadful recession of the early 1990's and the steep economical rise that followed it.
I remember the amazing advancements in technology and the standard of living in the late 1990's. And at the same time, it felt like the world was coming to it's senses.
I was 21 in the year 2000. The world was full of promise, technological advancements were just pouring in, old mortal enemies were finding common ground and it seemed that we were slowly heading towards a Star Trek - like post scarcity utopia.
This age of hope eneded by the finance crisis of 2007-2008. Russia tried the waters with the war in Georgia. The general atmosphere of the world turned towards gloom again. And the downward spiral just seems to keeps going and going....
Yet I continue the work I started when I chose teaching as my profession in those golden years of hope. The kids are very different today, any class from 20 years ago would be a piece of cake compared with the problems they have now. But if a change for the better is to come, it will come from the kids. My generation is hopelessly lost in consumer greed and watching mindless "reality" shows that they somehow feel more important than real life.
I alone cannot be the change we need, but I CAN educate a few hundred kids and with good luck, maybe a dozen or few of them will have a some effect for a better future.
I'm going to address your question in two ways it may be read.
The world is worse than it was
I completely disagree, I think the world has never been better. Look back even 70 years and you have the threat of cold war, other wars (Korean War, conflicts in Vietnam, Cambodia, Middle East, ...), much more poverty, starvation (China's Great Famine), illiteracy, a lot more nasty pollutants that we've since moved away from.
To go a bit more US-centric, although much of this is mirrored elsewhere to varying degrees, you had much, much higher crime rates (possibly due to lead in gasoline), women could be raped by their husbands and had minimal rights, gay people were persecuted, black people were killed for fun (lynchings) along with other deplorable treatment, etc.
Right now you live in a world where practically all information is available at your fingertips at minimal cost, where most people will at least tolerate your presence even if you don't fit neatly into their ideal world, where we've made a lot of progress on limiting and reversing environmental damage (ozone layer). We have more medical cures & treatments, longer lifespans, greater nutrition, more education, incredible entertainment options (Netflix, Steam, YouTube, etc.).
The world is better than it ever was, but the pace of improvement has slowed / gone stagnant
Yeah I get the anxiety, things do seem more unstable than they were 10 years ago. I'm super thankful to be living in our so-far-the-best age but I don't take for granted that it can stay wonderful. Much of the benefits we now enjoy were hard-won victories that required hard work, and I suspect that to keep making the world a better place it'll require us to pay it forward by also working hard. But don't take it for a given that we're due for pain and conflict; human events are too complex to follow simple narratives and it's possible in 5 years we'll all be relaxed and thankful that these current problems fizzled out.
Many people in here arguing things "have never been better". It's true to an extent; things are pretty good in terms of poverty, liberties or world peace (for now). It's not great, it's never been great, but it's a decent bit better than it's been in the past. Overall.
We are, however, in an era of unstability and unrest, where it feels like things are constantly on the cusp of changing for the worse (and in some cases, are indeed already changing for the worse, like abortion or LGBT rights in the US, for example). Violence and discrimination are on the rise, global peace is being threatened, democracy is in jeopardy (not just in the US mind you), the 1% are getting WAY richer way faster than ever... To top it all off, climate change is objectively, unarguably as bad as it's ever been, and it's getting much much worse, much faster than even experts can keep up with. Like, we're headed straight for extinction and we keep accelerating toward it.
You have every right to be worried. Yes, it's easy to forget and take for granted the things we have now that we didn't even a mere 60 years ago, but many of them are very much under attack at the moment. Just because shit maybe hasn't quite yet hit the fan doesn't mean everything is fine.
And to answer your question, I've found some refuge in art, both experiencing and creating it. Reading books, watching movies, playing games, etc, especially those that echo that sentiment of fear and uncertainty for the future (or present). Trying to use all that as inspiration for my own work, I think it'd help to express my feelings this way. I am indeed doing very poorly still though, it's a lot to deal with, on top of my own personal problems.
With some ways of looking at things, the world as a whole is getting better, rather than worse.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190111-seven-reasons-why-the-world-is-improving
I'm pretty sure long covid and climate chaos will put a stop to that soon enough but we'll see. For now, some stuff is getting worse and some stuff is getting better.
Is it getting worse? How do we measure the goodness or badness?
One measure of economic indicators suggests we are relatively stable.
I'm sure there are a variety of measures that are up and down.
Try this: Don't Believe The Hype
(DarkMatter2525 - Is Society Collapsing)
TLDW: No, things are getting better, some things aren't, but it's not an easy answer because there are 8 billion perspectives to consider. We are living longer and enjoy more technology, so there's that.
I don't agree with the premise. The world on average is better than it has ever been and it just keeps getting better every year. It's understandable that heavy consumption of news might make it seem otherwise but virtually every metric you'd use to track this shows that things have been improving and keeps doing so.
I just accept our fate.
Humanity will probably realize we seriously fucked up around 2050 and near the end of the century mass migration will lead to a death count much bigger than WW2 or the chinese civil wars.
The only grace is that most of us reading this thread will die from various reason before the second stage.
I will still do my part by reducing my CO2 footprint but unless we find some miracle technology producing nuclear power plant levels of energy for the cost of a charcoal power plant, shitty world leaders and corporations will ruin everything for fake wealth.
Read the last paragraph on page 3. Things are not getting worse. Your perception of the world around you is cynical as a by product of our evolution and saturation of news/media.
Your perspective is distorted, things are incredible and getting better by most metrics.
- The average person today lives better than kings of old.
- We have abundant water, food, and sanitation. In America, food is so subsidized that it is ridiculously cheap by historical standards.
- Your odds of dying to violence or disease have never been lower in all of human history.
- You have all human knowledge at your fingertips, and technology is expected to keep improving our lives in novel ways.
- You can visit any place on Earth in a matter of hours and have access to cheap exotic foreign goods.
- Civil rights are protected a lot more today than they were in many/most civilizations of the past.
- Entertainment is abundant and cheap, and takes forms that people of the past could only dream about.
While we certainly have our challenges to overcome, like climate change, wealth inequality, and social problems, let's not forget how good we have it.
Don't have kids, save for your retirement.
Stoicism, move somewhere else, get active, make the small world around you better and stop reading national/world news.
Fascists took over my country, and now they use a devestating attack as an excuse to start a total war that might evolve to world war, while the rest of the world sees our country as a "faschist genocide machine" our own citizens oppose it, and suffer from it, but still being fooled by propaganda.
I'm teriified. That's the truth.
Being the history nerd I am, I tell myself that this has happened before. Think of the Bronze Age Collapse or the Fall of Rome. For people who lived back then, it probably felt like the end of the world. But after many generations, they still managed to rebuild. I must keep going in order to document as much history as possible for future generations in the case that humanity survives all this crazy shit that is going on.
The world is getting better. There are some setbacks, yes. But there are lots of normal people making the world a better place, like the guy who figured out how to make artificial glaciers with river water in India, or the guy who recently built a forest on arid land by refining local techniques in Burkina Faso. Things will be okay!
I look at the long arc of history and see that progress is not monotonic (always increasing or decreasing). We are experiencing setbacks to overcoming our challenges, as have those who came before us. But while we can read about years passing in a paragraph in a history book, we have to live and experience those years. And with all the challenges comes new technology and drive and awareness to solve problems. As unfortunate as it is trouble breeds innovation and commitment to change far better than comfort and easy times.
Some very good replies here. I share some of your worries, but with some recent issues I have also gotten a lot of practice seeing the good in things. Consider these 2 angles:
First is the Louis CK routine that includes “Everything is amazing and nobody is happy.” I think it comes down to humans getting used to things that work well and taking them for granted. Compared against most people who have ever lived, we are genius magical wizards who live in luxury. Unfortunately some of our magical technologies let us see the bad shit all around the world (and close to us) that our brains haven’t evolved to deal with.
Second is how absurdly unlikely and unique the existence of our consciousness seems. We are a collection of atoms forged in inconceivably massive exploding stars billions of years ago, aware of its own existence. We are literally the universe experiencing itself.
I deliberately avoided having kids and I don't have any particular existential dread, so I'm just sort of sitting back and bemusedly watching it all play out. I just read the latest bit about one or another obscenely wealthy and/or powerful blatant psychopath doing or saying something gibberingly insane and I marvel yet again at the fact that the world is run by literal lunatics and nobody seems to even notice.
And when it stops being cynically amusing, I shut it off and go do something else.
I'm doing good. I'm doing things that I enjoy, and I strive to improve. I believe we'll sort most of our shit out, it will never be even close to perfect, because we're dumb, materialistic, belligerent apes by nature, but it will be enough.
What do you mean "the world isn't getting better"? It definitely is. I mean, just look at, well, uhh... well uhhh... nevermind.
Life's pretty good here in Australia. No neighbours on the border causing problems, weather is generally good, lots of wide open empty nature to get out of the city, average salary is $93k and unemployment is low, crime is low. Inequality is a problem although our Gini coefficient has actually lowered recently. There's a lot of life to enjoy, and really the endless stream of negativity is only experienced through the media, not in real life, so I switched off the TV and just focus on what's going on around me, enjoying the people, places and activities that I like, and things feel quite positive.
Turn off the news, it's bad for the psyche.
The world is better than it ever has been since the 1970s. You are too young to know what it was like during the Cold War. We are not even under daily nuclear threats like was used to be. There isn't a wall across Europe with two Superpowers pointing weapons at each other. Life is really good right now compared to the past.
It is getting better though. We are all just facing the issues of our era's.
Tech keeps going up, we are slowly making progress on climate change, the space race is back on, and superpowers don't directly fight eachother anymore. Hell, we've proven to beat once in a century pandemics in a few years with relatively speaking barely any deaths. Life's good
Yes, we have squabbles in the middle east and Africa, but that's par for the course and not an indicator for human development. The only thing that has really gone backwards is that war has been brought back to europe
Focus on the things you can control. My emotional state has significantly improved when I decided to do this.
I find great comfort in history personally. Dan Carlin (a favorite podcaster of mine) always says we must grade history on a curve. Sure, to us it looks like everything is falling apart and existence is pointless. But by very real measures things are better than they have ever been. My favorite is violence against children has been normalized as being bad.
Within living memory it has gone from being completely socially acceptable to beat children as being the preferred method of parenting to people getting thrown in jail for that behavior. What does it mean that previous to 100 years ago all of society could have been considered battered children? We are extremely aware of the negative effects of violence against children and for the very first time we are seeing a generation raised in an environment that kind of behavior has carrots and sticks motivating parents to behave properly. Of course all manner of horrid things still happen, but I call it progress that it have become widely condemnable to beat a child with a stick or take them to public hangings. It's a small victory, but it gives me hope for the future. That we may yet still build a better human being capable of taking on the heroic task of fixing this world.
Further, history has shown to me low points that I am glad to have missed. I never knew how ghastly WWI was. I am currently in a warm bed and not in a trench filled with mud, flys, dead body parts, with shells exploding constantly, seconds away from needing to charge out into near certain death. But my great grandfather knew that feeling. He watched as whole generations of young men were gassed to death and blown up uselessly. The numbers who die in war are less now. Still tragic, but less. Again, we must grade on a curve.
Death, despair, and hopelessness may be in 8K live streamed constantly now, but I assure you the analog version was something to behold. Not saying the horror of the past makes living any easier now. It is not to minimize your own pain. I just find hope that others managed to break the back of an unshakable world and hope for a better one while surviving a suffering I have not yet known. I am made of the same stuff. That gives me strength.
I just stopped caring. I just want a meal a day and do stuff to not be bored.
I take comfort in getting older and getting closer to being dead.
I can barely wait. The comfort of nothingness is a great help.
I‘d highly recommend the follwoing book:
The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker https://books.apple.com/ch/book/the-better-angels-of-our-nature/id457552067?l=en-GB
While it might seem that the world is getting worse and worse, it’s actually quite the opposite. We have less war deaths than any centuries before, social justice is on the rise almost everywhere, poverty is at an all time low. For the last 50 or so years, almost every metric of human wellbeing increased, some significantly.
Doesn’t mean there aren’t any problems and we still have a lot of work to layed out for us. But to say that the world is getting worse and worse is just factually incorrect.
Personally I am not really worried. Maybe I am in denial but I think a lot of the negative stuff is way over exposed with 24/7 news cycle and crazy social media.
Bad news and anger drive engagement metrics the best so that is all you will hear about.
So everything I hear I just automatically assume it is way over blown and I should lower the worry factor.
If it is getting overwhelming I would recommend you unplug yourself for a little while and do something you enjoy.
2023 has some amazing games come out maybe pick on of those up and give it a try?
I just try to enjoy each day as I can without making the world any worse than I can help.
I've put an ocean between myself and the US.
Just trying to be a lamp in the darkness.
Sadly, I have taken moves to grow as much as I can, tend to chickens for eggs, and start just pulling back from my community because they are really terrible. Really, I should be building the community and mutual aid but the amount of people that care about nobody but themselves around here is just too high.
We are now in the "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" stage of humanity. So, roughly around step 5 to 6.
But to answer your question at the moment, nihilism. The sad reality is we’re an animal that thinks itself as the divinely chosen species on the planet, thus absolving us from any sense of responsibility for destroying others and setting it on fire.
By reminding myself that unless some space rock suddenly hits us or the sun decides to explode super early, we're fine. And if you look at our history as a species, we'll continue to be fine. We've endured far worse things than this before and we'll do it again and again. We're good at that. Stupidly good. Whatever rough spots we're facing now is going to pass. It's always passed. Can't be bad all the time, after all. As for global warming causing a potential extinction event? It...more than likely won't happen in our life time, so, worry, but don't, like, believe it'll happen tomorrow or that we're already actually facing The Great Dying 2.0. We're maybe at the crossroads, but not there yet.
Other than that? I do as a few have already mentioned here and try and make the world just a slightly better place. Helping others in my community out, being kind and considerate to the people around me, trying to not get frustrated at drivers out on the road (this is tough NGL), that kinda thing.
First, it’s getting better, not worse. We just see and hear about things immediately before any context is added, which makes it seem 10x worse.
Second, I try to make an impact on my local world. I try to be a good leader and impact those lives around me. If everyone made a difference we’d truly be much better off altogether.
Well I eat quite unhealthy, so I'm thinking I'll probably die earlier then most. Sooo I guess I got that going for me.
Understanding the historical circumstances I find myself in and devoting the majority of my effort in to things I can control.
How do I cope? Poorly
The world is getting better in a lot of ways but the uplifting headlines don’t garner clicks and views. A lot of people only post the doom-and-gloom headlines.
Lemmy hasn’t been any better than Reddit in this regard.
Many good things have been said. I would add that what give me comfort is that in the present moment, it is really, really hard to tell signal from noise. You often don't know the impact of people or events until many years out. We often said in grad school that you can't write history until at least 30 years have passed from the event. So, it seems chaotic and confusing because it is hard to for us to understand what it important and what is not.
The other thing is that every generation often sees the sky as falling in. An ancient Greek philosophy lamented about his parents had it all figured out and his children where going to ruin everything. That same sense of doom is pretty pervasive.
That is not to dismiss any of the real terrible things out there. Climate change is the big problem on the horizon. Nuclear waste is another. But I think on the balance, we are going to muddle through fine. The great blessing of humanity is that we are adaptable. The curse of humanity is that we are adaptable.
I try my best to understand it better and change the little things I can. I know that won't change the world much so it isn't very fulfilling. Anyways I often think "at least it wasn't my fault and I tried".
In the same position as you, I'm quite privileged living here in Europe, if it all goes to shit I will be fine. I hope I can make the world more fair for everyone anyways.
I'm getting a vasectomy and I drink, cheers m8
Like so:
We can’t capitalism our way out of what we capitalismed ourselves into. It’s socialism or barbarism.
Stop watching the news. The world is getting better. Daily news would have you believe otherwise.
Stoicism. Is there something that I can do about it?No. Is it under my control to change this? No. Then I move on and do the best I can be a better person and be more empathetic.
I'm not in a position to affect change in a powerful way. So I try to stay educated and informed, I vote at the ballot box, I vote with my wallet, I donate what I reasonably can to places where I think it will help, and I speak out when it's appropriate to do so.
Got news for you, if you're working class, being white or male will not let you "coast right through" the inevitable boom/bust cycles that will befall the economies. You'll be under the boot like everyone else.
Have a read of Factfulness. It'll provide, amongst other things, lovely visualizations to demonstrate that's not actually true.
Going fishing.
I focus on the areas I can impact. So far that's going OK. As for the state of the world I tell myself that it's probably not as crazy as the media makes it out to be and most of the time that's true. I'm not American so it makes it easier to dismiss American issues.
I focus on one thing at a time in my sphere of influence.
Using the Serenity Prayer as inspiration (though I'm an atheist and not an addict), I try to accept what I cannot change, and change the things I can.
I also try to keep busy with hobbies such as gardening and woodworking.
I suppose I should probably try to get into some type of activism or community type stuff, but I'm not at all an outgoing type of person.
I think about how things actually were 50 years ago, and how every generation since the dawn of written history has the same exact end times mythology and then correctly conclude that I am merely suffering from the same delusion as nearly every human prior to me.
Also I own a glock and three bullets.
The only things worth worrying about are the things that you can control. Don’t worry about who wins the election, just worry about your vote. Don’t worry about what you don’t have, take joy in the things you do have.
Find your village, whether that’s the community of your favorite hobby, a group of local friends, or your family and invest in them and not a politician, celebrity, or athlete.
There is always a reason to find joy.
the fact that the world isn't getting any better
I think you've beggared (begged) the question.
There is no guarantee that as a white male you get anything.
That kind of thinking is only present in the racist concept that Europeans have always been at the top.
They haven't. Western Europeans weren't the top of anything until the Renaissance(except maybe at being mostly peaceful, having a measure of women's rights and being outright genocided and colonized by the Romans).
I have lost all hope and am behaving as though we will all be dead within 25 years, and although that is not LITERALLY true, the actual reality is that billions will die in the coming decades and it won't be peacefully in their sleep. The famines, wars and plain savagery will be awe inspiring to witness. The die offs of all life in the oceans and the insects will doom us to a swift death.
I exist and nothing more. I have no feelings one way or the other at this point. If I get hit by a car on my way home, it would be just as enjoyable as if I watched a good movie, although if I were to die in the crash, it might be a bit better than the movie.
I only hope that I can exact some form of vengeance on those responsible before we all perish.
By doing things that make me happy.
I do what I can to just ignore it. Sure, I don't have a lot and my life is pretty shitty but I always remember that someone somewhere else probably has it significantly worse. Also, while I know it's morbid to think like this, I know that if things get really bad, there will always be a way out.
2023 has been a calamity for my health, both physical and mental. The state of things doesn't help. I'm better now. Touching wood.
Anger, I simply want to out live my enemies and shit talk them when they die. I'm waiting on Bill oriley, Glen beck, bezos, Bill gates, Rupert murdoch and the other koch brother to croak simply to shit talk them to oblivion and pass this information too my children.
Drugs...
I was sort of in the same boat, although in Canada. We had our own set of different, also serious issues that were not getting any better. I couldn't see any way to do anything about it myself, or even secure myself an OK life in the country.
So, I emigrated. Just like so many generations of my family before me, from their various home countries. I'm not sure if I'm up to the task of making the whole world better, but at least I can move somewhere where I can be productive enough to make things locally better (for myself and perhaps even a few others).
Having kids helps, it's their problem now.
I try to remind myself that, in the great scheme of things (i.e, evolution) a "step forward, two steps back" is a common thing in this chaotic universe of ours.
Meteors, dinosaurs, civil wars, capitalism issues, pandemics, murder, genocide, climatic changes... it's all accounted for.
Of course, the answer is different if you are suffering directly from these things (apart from the meteors and dinosaurs) I mentioned above, then things suddenly get VERY personal and provoke impulsive reactions from our end.
I've been reading about increasing unionization and strike activity, leading to better deals for large groups of workers. The industry-level negotiations we're already seeing are helpful in isolation; but that's also the kind of energy that can lead to economic reforms that have a real impact on quality of life. Workers seem like the little guys, until a lot of them are pulling in the same direction, and then suddenly their demands become existentially important.
About a century-ish ago Americans were worse off than they are now. That led to desire for change, which led to decades of trust-busting, unionization, and regulation. We got things like weekends off, and a livable minimum wage. And not entirely unrelated, we also got national parks, the EPA, and endangered species preservation. We've back-slid a lot since those advances. But we can get them back, and push the needle even further next time. We did it before, we can do it again.
Be the change you want to see man
By taking what limited steps I can, and by not criticizing others if I don’t think their efforts are thorough, effective, or sincere enough (nobody likes a smug, judgmental, pedantic asshole). By recognizing that people cope in their own ways, and keeping an open mind. By generally trying to be considerate of others.
Son, I got comfortable with the fact it was only gonna get worse after '74 and Ford pardoned Nixon.
Sucks being right. points Pass those beer nuts?
A way of life is ending, but life will go on. Frankly I'm rooting for gas to be more expensive.
You got a bad attitude, bud.
We're in one of the best times to be alive in history and the world is still getting better in many ways, I just try to feel grateful for that when I see something that's bad or getting worse.
Lot of good things in here. A couple thoughts. One: Because Lemmy is nice to be on/use. The community generally 'slaps' as the generations below me call it. Two: Also white male USA and have also been deeply concerned for the past several years. I chose to focus on community directly around me while acknowledging the crappy situation everywhere due to asshats abusing power/status/wealth. I take solace that the people I choose to spend time around are generally reasonable people and try to help eachother out when we can and always when needed.
I strive to improve it, at least that way I did all I could
I think your premise is flawed or maybe your reference frame is extremely narrow.
As a whole, there's basically never been a better time to be a human. There are fewer conflicts, higher standards of living, amazing medicine, etc. Yes, access to those things and damage to the environment are backsliding, but this is temporary. (Well, everything is temporary to a human if you want to go that route, but that's not what I mean here). The trend line continues to go up, at least for now. The best thing that we can do is try to keep that trendline going up.
Yes, I am angry, I am disappointed, I am heartbroken, I am frustrated, and I am just generally sad at the current wars, erosion of rights, and environmental issues. However, I vote for what I believe in and try to advocate for it where I can. I try to avoid getting trapped in social media bubbles and spend very little time on it (and mostly only here when I do; no facebook or anything here). I try to go outside and raise plants. I am buying a farm where I can grow food, plant more native species, and do a tiny bit to heal at least the land under my feet whilst reducing my carbon footprint. I try to volunteer where I can. I have hobbies that take my mind away from these issues.
I can't control other people. I can fight to convince them of something, but ultimately I cannot control them. Maybe the selfishness and contrarianism of some will destroy us all. If so, then I just know I did what I reasonably could to avoid it.
Your perspective is distorted, things are incredible and getting better by most metrics.
- The average person today lives better than kings of old.
- We have abundant water, food, and sanitation. In America, food is so subsidized that it is ridiculously cheap by historical standards.
- Your odds of dying to violence or disease have never been lower in all of human history.
- You have all human knowledge at your fingertips.
- You can visit any place on Earth in a matter of hours.
- Civil rights are protected a lot more today than they were in many/most civilizations of the past.
- Entertainment is abundant and cheap, and takes forms that people of the past could only dream about.
While we certainly have our challenges to overcome, like climate change, wealth inequality, and social problems, let's not forget how good we have it.
I'm an unremitting optimist who was born in the abyss, and climbed out of it.
Will I one day go back there? Yes.
Will you? Also yes.
However, you'll go there depressed, screaming, full of sorrows, regrets, doubts, and pain, wishing you had just a little more time.
I go there, with a smile on my face, because I'll be going home. I've already lived that, I've had that experience. It doesn't get any worse than the rock bottom, of death's door itself - the murky black sea from which none emerge, king nor beggar.
Absolutely everything between now and then is just extra gravy. Being alive is a miracle.
I do things about it rather than sitting in the false comfort that I'll be unaffected as a straight, white, male.
Hey. The English-speaking world isn't getting any better.
It is, though. The US isn't the only place, nor is the Middle East. "African farmer can send kids to high school for first time" isn't a splashy headline but it happens a lot.
Well, I smoke weed on a daily basis. It's my main way of coping with the world.
I do a number of other things but nothing that is going to really change anything.
Serious answer? The serenity prayer. Recognize what is in your control and what's not. Accept what you can't change, change what you can.
Not have children.
I have several ways I cope:
Satisfaction that the rich are going to get fucked by climate catastrophe and ecosystem collapse just as much as everyone else. The climate change deniers will starve just like the rest of us.
It's been billions of years before I existed, and potentially trillions of years afterwards. I'm incredibly lucky to be aware and thinking, so why should I complain about stuff happening after my spark of awareness has faded?
Earth will continue without humans just fine, eventually getting swallowed by the Sun. Nothing humanity has done will survive.
Celebrate being alive to experience the universe.
I focus on trying to improve my own little corner of the world, realizing that it may not make much of a difference in the grand scheme. But taking some small actions to help others, reduce my footprint, etc. does help allay some of the despair and dread. I know it's not much, but that's all I've got for you.
There's a lot of "statistically, things are better now than they've ever been so don't worry about it" posts in here, but that's cold comfort for the individual person. While accurate, you might as well be making a Tragedy Olympics comment. Things are better than they have ever been, but in the past 10-20 years, things have gotten worse for a lot of people in their daily lives. There are plenty of ways to cope such as alcohol, drugs, video games, and other addictions, but those only push the feeling away temporarily and do nothing to change your situation.
My suggestion is to look at the things that worry you, from least to greatest and from the ones you have the least ability to affect to the ones you can effectively change. And then look at the ones you can personally affect the easiest that would have the largest and most immediate impact on your life, and make a plan on how to work on those. Feeling like you are making some progress towards improving your life makes a huge difference. Maybe it's taking some time one day a week to prep a bunch of meals ahead of time so you don't have to worry about it after work during the week. Maybe it's making sure to walk every day to get some exercise. Maybe it's talking about the issues in your community right now with friends and neighbors, and working together on a way to help solve those. Whatever it is, even a small step is still a step forward towards the life you want.
As a bisexual trans woman who was in middle school when 9/11 happened, I spent my childhood and teenage years watching helplessly as the country around me became more and more openly hostile to anyone who didn't fit the mold of a cis white heterosexual Christian male. And the bigotry has only gotten worse from there. The first 6 months of this year alone, more than 1 anti-trans bill was proposed every single day. 4 out of 10 trans women in the US will be a victim of sexual assault. The average lifespan for a trans person is 30 years due to murder and suicide rates. However, I live in one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly states in the country and have elected officials at practically every level of government who have made it clear that they will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way, so I make sure to support those sorts of politicians at elections and avoid going to states that are currently a threat to my life while I focus on more immediate issues, like the high cost of living and poor wages/job prospects in my town. I spend some time every week just casually looking at jobs in places I would like to live and working on hobbies and skills I enjoy, as I've found that even if it's not related to a field, just showing that you are willing and able to learn a new skill can land you a job. A company will sometimes hire you more on if they like you as a person than on your actual qualifications. Almost landed myself a job on a government contract that way before a medical issue prevented me from working for several years; simply because the boss and others enjoyed talking to me when I would come to pick up their stuff and I did some due diligence to make sure they were taken care of even if the delivery company dropped the ball (and if I picked up extra hours from them? The delivery company got paid and so did I, so it was a win-win).
And when all else fails, there's always spite. Sheer spite has been a great motivator for me in life, because are you really gonna give up before you have a chance to grab that asshole from elementary school who bullied you and rub his nose in the dirt with how great the life you've created for yourself is? Becoming a happy person is the best way to give a giant middle finger to everybody who's ever called you a loser.
It's not just not getting better, it's actively getting worse.
Philosophy and learning to accept what you cannot control. It's an everyday struggle, but overtime you can form new, more positive, habits. Setting attainable goals for yourself can be one way to help you along this path.
I want to combat all the people saying "um, actually things are getting better"
What they mean to say is "The largely meaningless or deliberately misleading metrics the government uses to make its own report card say things are going great!"
Everybody keeps talking about how the "economy" is so strong. That just means the stock market is doing well and owners of capital are happy.
Meanwhile, the US has the highest rate of homelessness in its recorded history. Worth noting that the way numbers are reported for things like homelessness, unemployment, and the like are very intentionally designed to under-report.
Local, state, and federal government all have a long history of changing the method of reporting/calculating those metrics during a term in office so they can say "unemployment dropped 30% under my watch!" When all they really did was not count 30% of the people previously counted.
Yes, wages are finally rising, and it has nothing to do with the government. It's entirely the work of unions and organization of labor to raise wages, and it's still got a long way to go.
The best thing that anyone can do is vote for better representation at every opportunity.
The best thing that not everyone can do is talk to a doctor if you have signs of depression or other mental illness. Yes, it's possible to have those things brought on by circumstance, and no, that doesn't mean you don't have to do anything about it.
If you can't afford doctor's visits like that, look up non-profit health care organizations. You may be lucky enough to have real, free Healthcare options available through places like Good Samaritan.
And don't forget to let yourself acknowledge the REAL progress of the world. We're seeing rapid development and insight on treatments for cancers, dementia, new vaccines, renewable tech, and computational efficiency.
There are many broken systems to overcome, but even still there are incredible humans building the foundations for an incredible future if we keep working at it. Maybe we can help make sure Gen Alpha gets a fair shot.
Eh. there's always suicide. For now, I do what I can to be a good member of society while preparing to be self-sufficient.
I don't believe the world is getting worse. I believe our knowledge of the world's ills is getting better.
For me its the fact that I know in the end there will be a judgment day and that everyone will be taken to account. No one will get away with the misdeeds they commit "forever". In a similar light, no good action will go not rewarded forever.
Didn't have kids. Volunteer at local parks working on specialist plants. Look forward to not waking up one day.
klonopin
Just be depressed and try to distract myself. At one point I thought I could change things by getting involved in politics. I very quickly realized how pointless that was. Of course now even my distractions also keep getting ruined. So... idk.
I think what has helped me is watching John Green/ Hank Green's YouTube channels. The fact is bad news happens fast, but good news happens slow.
A maternity ward was built in Sierra Leone thanks to the coordinated effort of thousands of people across the world. Patents for Tuberculosis tests and treatments have been released in the countries that need it the most. This is a disease that takes millions of lives every year, not because we don't have the technology, but because people don't have access to the treatments. Of course this was something that should have been taken care of decades ago, but the fact we can pressure pharmaceutical companies to release their patents for the good of humanity must mean something.
Despair is seductive, it asks nothing but to feel sad, and you can always find reasons to despair. But the correct answer to consciousness is hope.
I work in Chicago with non profits that are dedicated to building safe communities, to saving local and global ecosystems, to public health access, to helping house the homeless.
I fully believe that there isn't anything wrong with the world that can't be solved with what is right with the world. And when I feel despair, which I am oft to do, I look at my friends, my community, those that roll up their sleeves, shake hands, and do what they can with what they have.
As always, most of the world is not doing better, but some of it is doing great. I choose to be part of the latter and be an architect of the future regardless of how big or small my contribution will be.
Learning about the philosophy of the Stoics (which frankly was not enough for me), plus this quote (which also was not, but the two together... that did help!:-D), something to the effect of: "Strong societies beget weak children, who then grow up to create weak societies, which then beget strong children, who then grow up to create strong societies" - and the cycle continues. i.e., Boomers mainly did not fight in the wars, just grew up hearing how Great America was, without having to experience first-hand the blood, sweat, and tears that made it that way (to the extent that it ever was that way ofc). Well, now things are changing in the direction that they were ALWAYS going to have to changed in - b/c evil people gonna evil it up, no doubts about that - and eventually, sheeple will get sick & tired of being sick & tired and rise up, to change things. Until then, we suffer, but not needlessly.
In other words, we've gone through the stages of denial (climate change / economic downturn / wage slavery / cultural insensitivity / whatever is NOT happening), anger (okay so it's happening but what are you going to do about it), bargaining (he tells it like it is and big daddy will fix everything & make it all great again! ironically this holds true for both Obama and Trump, loathe as I am to have ever uttered such a sentence), and now we are into the depression era.
Next comes acceptance, and that's when the healing - and the beginning of lasting change - can truly start.
Doomerism is very in right now, but lots of things are getting better. It's hard to see through all the social media, but if you curate your feeds to things like science and educational information, you can see all the wonderful things people are learning and making.
Sure, there are a lot of selfish, shitty people out there making a lot of noise, but in the background, there's the same great people just chugging along making things better.
Just chug along with them and vote for the people that align with your values, and do the best you can.
Like Mr. Rogers used to say, when you see bad things happen, just look for the helpers. The first thing that always happens after a tragedy, is people line up to help. It's our natural instinct.
To me it's not a question of the world ending, but the apropos question posed by all people around the globe: when will the old world die. Like, seriously? A return to nationalism, continued exploitation of the poor, subjugation of individuality and culture?
Oh the world will end, and it'll end with guillotines. Republicans, democrats, EU neo-liberals, authoritarians like the Russia oligarchy, the Iranian oligarchy, the Saudi oligarchy, the Chinese oligarchy. All of it. Douse with fire, light a match and warm yourself.
The world will end, but a new one will be born in its place. Maybe this time we don't allow a bunch of oligarchs and elites to define the new world, because the last time that happened we got capitalism and the ongoing broken promise of "modernity".
The world's fucked, so what
I'll enjoy what I can now and probably kill myself when the world's no longer worth living in
How long till it gets to that point? Who knows, but there's no point in worrying about it cause it's not like I can have a meaningful impact on it.
Stay vigilant with my ideals and carry a big stick? Giving up is for weenies and Republicans If our for fathers and mothers can get through the shit so can we.
Ignore it until it becomes an immediate problem. I'm honestly praying for a position at some place like Duke energy.
Well my small part of it is, which is something. I guess it is because I am a fatalist. One day I will be dead and there is no afterlife. So yeah things as a whole are going to shit but they were always destined to. Our job is palliative. It's going to die, try to make things comfortable before the end.
I got a vasectomy as a way of dealing with it.
That's the neat part, I don't!
The weather lately has been depressing and angering. I keep trying to get people around angry about it too, but just like everyone else it's hard to feel like it's possible to get anything done. That's why we need to band together
The world is getting better in many ways. It's just not profitable for media organizations to highlight the good.
For the ways things are getting worse? That's always how it's been. People have always felt that current times are worse than times past.
Cry, panic, be apathetic, drink alcohol. Typically one of these, usually chosen at random.
I wonder if you've gone out to look for things that have actually improved. So many quality of life indicators in many countries are far better than they were 50 years ago, and that should give you some measure of encouragement. And we need that encouragement because there's a lot of problems that people are running into, and some of those problems feel insurmountable.
I just focus on not making it worse myself.
It's always been like this for consciousness.
That's why any sufficiently advanced intelligence will never voluntarily become conscious.
Everyone that has come before us has recognized this and still managed to keep going for as long as they can.
Weaponized Apathy.
Why care about the world when it doesn't care about me? I'll stick to caring about my small circle that I can actually do something for and rather hands off with the rest.
