Been getting pretty doomerpilled lately, especially after watching the media go into overdrive promoting the Afghan occupation. I need guidance from the wise minds of hexbear.net
I watch YouTube documentaries on advancements in China and think about how they are about to overtake the US as the dominant world power.
I think that will only make the Americans more bitter and hostile to the Chinese at time goes on. Look at how salty and ugly people are towards China online already. Hope I’m wrong though.
The reason why this is hopeful, to me at least, is that we will very soon have a responsible country led by a communist party leading the world instead of the US. It will likely be bad for Americans, but hugely beneficial to people around the globe.
I think the conclusion is thankfully, that doesn’t really matter all that much with respect to actual power relations
Perhaps for some people it becomes a competitive thing as they swallow tons of propoganda, but for others who see their material conditions deteriorating while china's conditions rise, they may more and more see a model to emulate, even with the third red scare propoganda. Imagine if during the entire cold war the US were in neoliberal decline instead of social democratic boom.
We are all dead man walking anyway, might as well help others :heart-sickle: i think carrying the weight of the whole world is impossible for anyone, nor is it true for anyone
I got off twitter so I don't have to read shit takes from garbage rags and my mood is a little bit better. Understand that the political conversation is lopsided on social networks towards major news outlets (my timeline before my suspension was filled with people rightfully dunking on people like David Frum or whatever, is this not still major outlets controlling the conversation you're allowed to see?) and perhaps tune them out a little bit.
hey I wish I was better at distilling it but the cushvlogs are good for this, he regularly confronts this issue and what can I say it has helped
Tbh the cushvlogs have only made me more doompilled. I love listening to Matt talk but if anything, the message I’ve gotten from his vlogs are that all avenues to change have been foreclosed on, the labor movement has been killed, and that all we can do now is wait for the system to collapse or an economic crisis (whenever that may be). Perhaps I’m interpreting it the wrong way, though.
He seems to be very good at diagnosing the problems but he’s at his weakest when it comes to possible solutions, which I don’t blame him for.
That makes sense, it's like reverse psychology to preserve your sanity
Yeah Chapo really strikes me as doomer. After Bernie ate shit the podcast just fell apart.
I unironically don't, I have literally no faith anything will get better. If climate collapse is all it's cracked up to be we're beyond fucked.
The only thing keeping me going is that this reality isn't actually "reality" and there is something beyond this mortal coil, but I kind of doubt that too.
I've just become fairly detached from it all. I think having reflected so much on death in the past year has given me the perspective that nothing really matters. If the materialist conception of metaphysics is indeed correct, we just simply stop existing one day, and it's all like a dream that won't be remember because the whole that made up "you", and everything else that came with it is gone. I think that makes the immense suffering under capitalism a little more palatable, even if eternal oblivion is in and of itself a terrifying proposition
I focus on helping people that surround me. Family, friends, neighbors. I have no control over the world at large, I do however a level of control with people I know. Having no faith in the world does nothing to help my situation or the situation of others, it only brings me down and makes me feel grouchy.
If magically the empire crumbled over night, I'd be doing the same exact thing as I'm doing right now and helping out anyone I can. There are millions of people that'd do the same thing. I don't hate humanity but I also won't pretend it isn't severely fucked. I picked up gardening, canning food and learning how to preserve food. I learned how to wrench on my car. It's just things that fill a void when feeling helpless about how absolutely chaotic and evil things are, I at least have a small sense of control of what is around me at least.
I believe in the existence of a Silent Majority, who either consciously or subconsciously despise capitalism and are open to alternatives to it, held back only by the state monopoly of violence and the lack of imagination we call capitalist realism
This is a Long War friends, the goal in times of rightward expansions should be to secure yourselves, so you can help secure others, wallowing in the death of social democratic revivalism is not something that should break your faith in humankind
Even with the resources of the world, these parasites still feel the need to devote entire industries of cultural production to squash our ideas and philosophies, that's because they're scared, we spooked them, all that effort for little old us, we won the debates and they know if we ever got the chance to pull a global Sankara on their ass it would be over for them
That people are so heavily a product of their conditions. There's a glut of sociopathic lib assholes, yes, but this is not human nature, it's a function of socioeconomic conditions and self-propagating culture.
And it will implode on itself so long as the third world can stabilize, something that China will likely be delivering. And then you will see different "kinds" of people, people we will radicalize, people who will be like us if we fight hard to win them.
It's admittedly not the most optimistic, but here's my take
Let's get the bad news out of the way first: In my opinion at least, odds are things on a a global scale aren't going to truly start to get better until after they reach a breaking point and there's a collapse. Alot of innocent people are gonna get hurt, alot of innocent people are gonna die. To put it lightly: It's gonna suck fuckin' ass. And it might not even happen in our lifetimes.
But despite all that horror, pain and bloodshed that's sadly yet to come, I really do believe in my heart of hearts that after the worst is over and humanity is picking up the pieces of our ruined world, we'll work together and achieve a Star Trek-like utopian future.
It's just that you and me had the bad cosmic luck of being born too early to live in that future ourselves, and that can be an incredibly tough and bitter pill to swallow sometimes. Trust me, I know.
So basically, and I know this is far easier said than done: Just try to accept the big things that are out of your control/ability to change, not overly worry about them and focus on the things you can control and change. Carve out whatever little slice of happiness you can in our shitty world with the people you love, help and care for eachother and hopefully, despite not living in that Star Trek future, you'll still be able to overall have a decent enough life despite it all.
Things were pretty shitty in Russia/China/Cuba before a revolution happened. Sure, it didn't work out in Russia, but fuck, things got a lot better in China and Cuba.
The work we perform today is part of an unbroken chain all the way back from our ancestors. Yes, things have gotten bad, but if we give up now then the revolution is literally impossible. Believe, if only because we can't tell the future. Believe, struggle, and survive.
Sure, it didn’t work out in Russia
It did work out, for a long time. Anything that didn't collapse under its own weight is a success story.
Very true. I wanted to focus on the now and the future, but you're right that it was a success.
I don't think humanity as an entity will get better in my lifetime, but I think groups and individuals will, and I'm going to try to be in their orbit
Cute animal videos :meow-hug:
I'm also pretty happy that capitalism is the weakest it has been in a looong time. I know lots more people IRL that are openly anticapitalist than I used to
Speaking to real people often helps.
This may be dependent on where you are but I find there are still enough people in the world who do care about this stuff.
Don't overwhelm them with politics, but do point out consent manufacturing, imperialism, and contradictions. This gives them a framework to think critically for themselves as well.
For real, log off as much as possible. The last year especially has pushed people more online, more virtual existence. Social media and the internet is literally designed to be addictive and encourage obsessive, neurotic behavior. I know this basic shit, but it really helps your mental state to unplug
🇨🇳 I don't think china is going to hit full comunism in our life time, maybe ever.
I do think they will keep the torch going into whatever world and whatever people are left after climate change limits our ability to pollute more.
Knowing someone will reach the goal eventually is a comfort.
