NGL, collapse is pretty scary and traumatizing. What are some things keeping you going?

For me, it seems like we are seeing the dying tantrums of a corrupt empire falling. The US-controlled West is flailing and lashing out irrationally, meaning it is delusional and its attempts to attack its enemies will probably end about as well as its wars in the Middle East and Vietnam. Except this time they want to pick a fight with China, who they are vastly underestimating. This could be a humiliation that the US won't recover from, a loss against what you could say is a superpower. The US is starting to crumble internally. People are not happy, they are overworked, underpaid, are stuck renting. The infrastructure is old and failing, not being renewed due to constant tax cuts for the rich and whatever taxes are left being funneled to the military and police (who are increasingly unpopular). The people are divided, alienated and angry. The US is constantly under threat of civil war. It's also losing international allies. China is in a far better position to win any conflict the US starts.

Speaking of China, they are making great progress in environmental efforts.

A replacement plastic made out of seaweed is in the works. Pretty cool. Also there is a water plant that is easy to grow that sucks more carbon out of the air than any other plant we know of. If we can get capitalism to fuck off, then maybe we can get our future back. Our planet back. This could be the story of how we destroyed capitalism and saved the world. Crazier things have happened.

The ozone is also almost fixed. Hey people older than 25, remember CFCs? Well we banned those and thats why the ozone layer is almost fully repaired. Looks like even the smallest regulations fucking work! Goes to show just how much the 'free market' has expanded their power since then, good luck trying to get them to regulate anything like that again in 2023. Imagine what we can achieve when they are gone.

However, one thing working against the ruling class in 2023 is their own ego. In the past, there was a certain mystery surrounding the rich. It was easier for people to fill in the gaps and assume that these people were simply rich because they were better than everyone else. Surely the wealthy must be intelligent, elegant, extremely hard-working, wise and in control. They were almost unknowable and god-like. However Twitter, reality TV, and so on have shined an unfiltered spotlight on how these people actually live and think.

Suddenly the rich are making fools of themselves for everyone to see. Suddenly we see what their so-called 'work day' involves. Sure, some people will still defend them, and they still try to hold on to that god-like mystique, but a there are a lot more people thinking "How is this person a billion times richer than me, when they basically don't work, spend their riches on wasteful/boring things that benefit no one, and don't even know things I learned as a child?" They're seeing Elons shit handling of Twitter and are thinking "Hell, even I could do better than that!"

The glamour is fading from the West. Very bad things will happen and are happening as they always have under capitalist imperialism, but this collapse also leaves a vacuum for change. The 2020 BLM protests let us know that people can overwhelm the police state when they want to. As material conditions worsen these protests will happen more frequently and violently and then who knows what might happen.

A better future is possible. Imagine every evil and injustice you see today being held accountable. Hold on to that catharsis.