I hear ya. Lookit - step one, log off. Step two, get a good book or a project of some kind that doesn’t need any internet.

Step three: a very good beverage. I recommend a good root beer, but anything you like will work.

Finally, enjoy the beverage. It’s good. Good exists all over, it’s just not in feeds. Simple joys, y’know. Take ‘em. They’re everywhere.

Some things that helped me:

• online isn’t reality
• getting organized with a few people and volunteers helps a lot. It doesn’t need to be protests or direct action, something simple like mutual aid, food drives, meeting people can really flip the switch
• focusing on the good that does exist, because it’s there, whether it’s something small amongst friends or little victories here and there.

My therapist also says 2 things - 1) if it’s too big of a problem, break it down to manageable things. 2) if it’s too big that you can’t do anything about, then it’s better to focus your attention on things you can change.

Also, the world was always shit, and waaayyy worse. We’re just blasted by how bad it is 24/7.

Hmm. Do you want to be argued with on the details that aren’t actually that bad, do you want to receive some lifestyle advice, or is it enough to know that someone read this, you have been heard, and while we’re alone, we’re alone together?

Social, political, and economic collapse — slow and silent though it may be — is a grinding affair. More supports propping up business as usual and more masks for the orphan-crushing machine that is “progress” make the process more palatable, acceptable, and forgettable.

Those orphaned parts of society, those being crushed, were once institutions. They are replaced with commodities. As Trevor Noah recently said, we are being forced to “buy back the village.” Homes, carers, community events and spaces are all commodities now. Or, they are online where the data can be mined.

So, what to do? Fantasize about a future without an orphan-crushing machine. Complain online to an audience who already agrees. Recede from the world and watch it burn. I dont want a world that looks like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. It doesnt end well for Sam Lowry.

I have done/am doing all of these things. They’re the options available. I’m also teaching a high school class that fights against this dismay in the next generation. I’m pushing them to be made of sterner stuff. It’s not going well. There are a few who are building with me. There are a few more who seem like they were born giving in to the inevitable dreck. So, teaching keeps me going. Maybe, one day, I’ll do something else.

I have a misguided belief that I will survive this churn and be the chronicle of the misanthropic present. No benefits in that post-apocalyptic role.

I content myself to think that there is light and hope and strength in the places where people suffer the most. In Gaza, in Guatemala, in Ukraine, in Bangladesh, and in Congo; there are people who are good to each other, who support each other, and who treat each other with kindness.

If my problems are rising food and living costs where they have no food and no place to live, I can bear this for a while longer. If my problems are environmental, political, and social malaise and corruption, I have a power to act they can’t exercise — so I must.

The job of humanity is not pleasure — it is pain favouring own purposes. We find small jewels of pleasure along the way. If we’re lucky, we find others who share their strengths with us and we can enjoy our jewels together. Maybe that’s why I’m here, writing this, now.

welcome to depression

I feel this. But also, you aren’t the only one in your community feeling like this. And you aren’t wrong, there is a lot of horror out there. But there are also a -lot- of people who give a shit, and we need to talk to each other more, face to face. We need to be building movements locally and having more of a shared understanding.

I want you to organize a barbecue with your neighbors, start a club, join a band, listen to the middle aged poet at open mic, whatever it is, and start listening to people around you. You have more in common with them than you think, and as a group, you can level each other out, enjoy life, and maybe even help steer the boat away from the iceberg, just a lil bit 🤏

It’s not as bad as certain media would have you believe.

Don’t get me wrong, I am far, far from entertained by the shit-show south of us and by the very serious issues that exist worldwide. As a whole though, I think there is room for optimism. Not blind faith and not “damn, we are doing so great!” but optimism. People are still capable of amazing things and while things do seem dark and the narrative paints every challenge as unwinnable, remember that this the intention of groups that want things broken. Them saying so doesn’t make it so however.

I’m an old cynic but shit’s still not as bad as it seems.

Live locally and try your best to ignore the constant flood of information/disinformation from that internet beast that has put a chokehold on the truth and exists to get hate-clicks for money. I find that helping others gives me a good feeling of belonging to something human and not just be bandied about by “tech bros” and their overlords, who have no values that compare to the rest of society.

8 months ago, I told myself I’d never comment on the Fediverse again, but I feel the need to after reading your post. Your recent post and comment history is honestly concerning.

Taking a break from arguing about politics online has been amazing for my own mental health. I highly recommend ignoring all social media and news sites for a little while. At least give it a try before doing the whole violent revolution thing!

This was so me the past 5 years; doom spirally, no hope, escapism. It took the government black-bagging my neighbors during their commutes to kick me out of it. No one from up-top is going to help, but if you look to your real-world neighbors, I’d be surprised if you didn’t find a bounty empathy and solidarity beneath the layers of fear and desperation. Over here, things are extreme, but Canada and the UK are disturbingly close to joining Nazi Bell End Land too.

Ironically, this year has been the most hope I’ve felt in decades. Thousands over here have realized you don’t need to wait for someone to give you orders to start acting; you can… just do it. Grass-root networks are tracking our vulnerable, getting them legal counsel, and raising mutual aid funds for their families; neighbors are going out of their way to form new bonds, potlucks are becoming common; I live in an area with a lot of local farms and backyard gardens–we’re starting to collaborate and may be able to become a food independent neighborhood; potential pathway to become energy independent with solar and microgrids as well; there’s an ongoing campaign to curtail landlord abuses with a long-term goal of tenant owned properties; people showing up in mass to town halls and actually succeeding in getting our mayors to act; mass adoption of encrypted communication; and FOSS is gradually normalizing.

There’s a lot of hope out there, just don’t expect to see it broadcast. Shout out to all the mothers out there; you all have the least amount of time, but are still the backbone and brains to our communities.

is it possible your world view isn’t correct?

this would of course count as gas-lighting to you right?

you might be in a cult

Rise. Get organized. Yell it from the rooftops.

If I weren’t so fucked physically, I’d be out there screaming this in intersections.

I’ve recently been thinking more about ways humanity can survive even as this dumb house of cards that capitalism has built collapses. Small communities with the ability to produce their own food through means that they understand well and can control will persist as the collapse happens. The ability to make their own tools, practice the sort of farming that respects the limits of the land instead of pimping it up with ammonia, minimizing external dependencies that rely on fragile systems that define those of suicidal capitalism — those that prioritize short term monetary gains over long term resiliency — and instead find ways to create tools, techniques, and systems that endure, from the ability to make your own rake to till the soil to creating machineries that one can fix themselves. A community that understands their own stack of cards is one that owns it and thus control their own destiny, instead of sourcing their cards from sources that rely on long, fragile supply chains typically seen from companies that bank on the economies of scale to price themselves lower to subvert their competitors.

And it turns out there already are such movements; they just don’t neccessarily stand right in your face and market to you about it because not only is it still rather fragmented, it’s highly decentralized. Eco-villages, the Slow Food movement (RIP to their founder, who passed away just 3 days ago), Transition Towns, Hackerspace / Makerspace + the Open Source movement + Right to Repair, etc. They may not all be thinking that they’re building against collapse of the capitalistic system, but they’ll quite likely survive for longer. It doesn’t mean that it’ll be easy, that there won’t be a lot of suffering going around; there will be plenty, and there will likely be more violence (more wars, crimes, people finding desperate ways to gain food and resources from others), but resilience for those that are more prepared is the point.

When we know that the existing system that supports the world we live in is cracking and is showing no will of fixing itself, it’s important to remember thay we can still take matter into our own hands and help ourselves and those around us. We don’t have to give up on those we love and love us. And, this is cheesy to say, but tragedy is not the end; it’s the beginning of hope. At least that’s what I tell myself.

Hoping this would help give you some light in these dark times. Cheers.

I feel your pain, know Capitalism cannot last forever and it is coming to a tipping point. Why are you posting this on Lemmy and not something like facebook, reddit, or glob forbid X? You are taking a stand by not using those services. I am in the process of writing a letter to my MLA (like an MPP, MNA, or MHA I am in Saskatchewan so it is MLA), because last night my power was having difficulties staying on for a good hour SaskPower’s webpage just said it was down nothing more. Because my power was out my searXNG was not working so I was forced to use Google to search what others where saying. SaskPower has an X account that I guess they post notices to so I am going to firmly suggest they stop using the Nazi app and transition to Mastodon.

I realize I am in a unique position being in a province that is trying to hold on to its crown corps, so my MLA may have some power to push the power company off of X and try and introduce people to mastodon, this is true but maybe you can take up something like that. When something happens take a stand push for change.

Sasktel recently sent all their customers in my condo complex a letter via registered mail saying our service was going to be cut off because the condo board and/or property manager was not letting them in. I knew this line was a flat out lie, as soon as I found out I called my property manager to confirm it was a lie then I called Sasktel to ask customer support about it and they had no idea that this letter ever went out, there where no notes on the file nothing. A few days later when I was able to pick up my letter I scanned it and wrote a complaint to the CCTS, from my understanding the CCTS would file the complaint with Sasktel and than I would get notified within 20 days about what was going to happen then I would decide if I were going to do anything about it. Sasktel got back to the the CCTS a few days later saying this issue has been resolved we are installing the fibre soon so their dsl lines will not be cut citing some things as to how the CCTS had no authority to do anything. Whoever at the CCTS must not have been to happy with that response because I got no choice as to if I was going further with the complaint it was going to happen. I would have moved forward with this complaint even if the CCTS had asked me because I do not want to be pushed around, but that is not the point. Sasktel went from we are cutting your internet to we will not be cutting your internet in less than a week, they went from we do not know when you are getting fibre to you are getting fibre sometime between June 1 to 5th, in a matter of 2 weeks.

I am not saying pat me on the head and say good girl, what I am saying is there are things I do to push back, to keep my sanity. Maybe you can find something you want and push for it, do not let anyone say no keep pushing!

With my mortgage I do not have lots of extra money, so when Tim Cook started praising Trump all I could do was not use Apple services anymore I am stuck with my iphone and ipad, but luckily I was already getting into the hobby of homelabbing but again little money so I was using raspberry pi’s. The number of pi’s I have and the services I run on them has increased because of the boycott the US movement starting. If you want to start sticking it to the big capitalists may I suggest you start with one raspberry pi and install pihole and block a lot of ads and trackers! If you want to do that you could use a pi zero 2, if you want to go a little further you could get a pi 5 with 8gb ram and run searXNG and stick it to the big search engines. You could get by with less ram for just searXNG and pihole but once you get started you will want to push for more. I went from a couple pi’s to a few more pi’s, with goals for more. I am using these to push big tech out of my home providing less money to those who already have to much, I am but a small potato but the more people do it the more money the big rich do not get. Maybe you could do that? If you use Windows or MacOS, maybe look into switching to a Linux distro that appeals to you most of the things you can do from the paid for OS’s you can do from the open source OS’s. Take a stand with what you are using, and how you are using it.

I guess it was much worse in the past. It’s just that nowadays you get a lot of information.