Hot take: corporatism and infotainment. You control money and information, you control the world.
Capitalism
Nope education is the downfall. Teach critical thinking well and you won't have such a malleable idiotic population that buys into either of those.
That's maybe a part, but not the whole story.
Your (and your parents', and your peers') real and perceived economic circumstances and opportunities have a lot to do with what you'll value and prioritize as an adult - how invested and loyal you'll be in society. Every poor person we generate due to greedy decisions has a very high likelihood of being a destructive force back to us.
Now consider how many poor people were generated by black slavery, segregation, and explicit racism in America, and how, in a society, we all just swim around in the same trauma soup, deflecting pain towards one another.
Education was destroyed by the same people who forced corporate news down our throats.
The question "Where did we go wrong?" being asked on 4chan in /b/ is funny to me.
Cue John Travolta looking around gif
Don't vote Conservative
Next year will mark my 16th year voting for democrats, all they do is kick the can and move the line. While I don't think there is anything wrong with saying don't vote conservative, I do think it's a bit like saying "CLOSE YOUR WINDOWS" when a tornado is coming. We're screwed regardless of who we vote for, the only thing that changes is the rate at which we're screwed; that is why Anon is sick of life.
Democrats are also conservatives. If you allow the oligarchs and aristocrats to choose who represents you then they will always choose candidates who rule in their interest. You can't change this system by playing within the ruleset you're given. Democratic power can only ever be wielded by unions of workers and communes of citizens. Those organizations combine and concentrate the power of regular people and can effectively wield this against the ruling class.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the system we've built to buy and sell products, owning, trading and hoarding capital? No, that can't be it...
Somewhere around 20 years ago/b/ was one of the first aggressively "us vs them" communities I was ever exposed to, and it only got worse from there.
You’re crazy, /b/ wasn’t around 20 years ago… I mean, it only recently started in the early ‘00s!
…oh no
Where did we go wrong? We stopped killing fascists. Appeasement never works when one party has no interest in concession.
BINGO.
The reconstruction of the south shouldn't have ended until 1960, giving near a hundred years to set things right. Instead chickenshit halfhearts let the south return to political power and return to treating POC like slaves. Then they let their grandchildren build fucking monuments and statues to slavemongers.
Everything is about money, not about having an actual human experience.
Human experience is still there, everywhere. You have to make the effort to get out of your burrow and do things outside with physical people.
It's hard to make an effort when all your energy goes into survival. Wasn't the point of "civilization" to not have to worry about all of that?
Human experience has been almost entirely privatized. If you're poor, you're denied most of it.
Welcome to being poor .... I mean poor poor ... not the kind of poor where you can't afford a Lamborghini ... the kind of poor where you no longer have any luxuries like being able to go to the movies.
Where life is a constant hassle and struggle to survive. And where you constantly have to fight to stay above water. A kind of life where someone is constantly either trying to screw you, is screwing you or has screwed you. A kind of life where you no longer trust the people you see, the people you meet, or the people you live with. A kind of life where you know from the time you are born that everything and everyone will be hard.
I grew up like that and it became a normal part of life.
I learned to make a bit of money and survive and I've done good but not great ... good enough to travel the world. It gave me the insight that the majority of the world is poor ... I thought that before but after traveling, I realized just how true that really is.
The world we're complaining about now is the world that most of the world already knows.
Welcome to being poor and hopeless.
I think this is less about being poor or struggling to survive, more about the struggle to find meaning in modern life.
I'm doing well in life. Could certainly be doing better (who couldn't), but my bills are paid, and there's food on my table. I don't worry about these things, and I don't struggle. But there have certainly been times when I've felt the sentiment of the OP. When your needs are met and you feel a sort of emptiness, trying to fill the boredom with the next best dopamine hit. I almost feel like I'm just floating through life, not yearning for, yet waiting for the day it all ends.
Of course, the big question with the line "I'm tired of being told to hate my fellow man" is whether they're referring to the constant fearmongering being pushed by conservative news and politicians against everyone who isn't in their in-group.
Or are they referring to non-conservatives calling out the bigotry being pushed by conservatives and doing that calling out is "pushing hatred on your fellow man" in this person's eyes?
Since a lot of 4chan is the latter while actively being a part of the former.
And then there's the idiots who try to use this reasoning to glorify a nonexistent nostalgia based version of "the good old times" when really capitalism is the problem
Is this supposed to be a "the world has turned into shit" take, even though it's been like this for ages (way before the 4chan poster, or anyone alive for that matter, was born)?
I've found that disconnecting helps. Leave your phone at home and go out. Chat with the guy you see every day at the grocery store. Go play chess or pétanque in the park with a friend. You don't have to do this too often, and you'll feel less like a product yourself.
My family wasn't rich and I didn't have many luxuries, but I still claim to have been much happier than many children who live in this hectic world where everything is so superficial. 90% of ordinary people don't even dare to have an opinion anymore if it's not exactly what the mainstream represents.
I’ve gone through a lot of crap to learn and really believe that happiness and contentment can only come from within. The outside world has a lot to offer, but it will never give you that.
Unfortunately the outside world and circumstances CAN make it pretty damn difficult or impossible.
It’s a cliche to think of a monk or philosopher saying stuff like “if you want to be happy, be happy,” but that’s a lot of how I I’ve come to see it. And obviously it’s not that simple, we are pretty damn complicated, but that’s the spirit behind it.
Turn off the news, and stay away from anything online that lets you or other people comment.
Lose Twitter, Facebook, reddit (or reddit alternatives) and the world will look like a much different place.
Sticking your head in the sand will do that. Nothing will actually change but it’ll feel like it’s not there.
More like "don't stick your head in a pile oft shit", ignoring these platforms is not ignoring the world, it's changing your point oft view, you won't miss anything of importance.
That's may be true for you, but a lot of these type sites are a great source for news and information about the world. Ignorance is bliss as they say, but the world keeps spinning whether or not you pay attention to it. I'm not saying you HAVE to get news from social media, but that's what I primarily use it for.
If it doesn't cause you to act, then the news is just entertainment
Covid vaccines made available was the last news that actually changed my behavior. That was like years ago. The rest is just entertainment written to make people scared and angry
It was leaving the trees that did it, really.
It's been far too long since the sociopaths were put in their place. Now they have all the money in the world and can hire sycophants to be their personal armies.
Hmm.
I think capitalism isn't the problem nor is liking and consuming a product or experience. We have great products turned into entire experiences here in the US, and I'm not terribly upset anymore about it.
The problem is the late stage unchecked capitalism running rampant. I think allowing individuals the freedom to pursue their ideas and allow others to even build livelihoods from it works great. But there's gotta be checks and balances, its what the USA was founded on.
What you are referring to is called socialism. And yes, it's a good thing.
We consume pseudo-food, watch pseudo movies and participate in pseudo sports, heck even pseudo politics. Why pseudo? Because everything is made as cheap as possible and to distract us from the suffering that capitalism brings us so that we won't rise up.
Examples:
Hit the gym and touch grass every so often. It's that simple to feel better. The hardest part is finding consistency. But being chronically online and doom scrolling is what makes the world feel so bleak.
Edit: gonna copy and paste my other comment
I mean, I'm simplifying it for me, but I realized at one point I'm just tired of being tired. Doesn't have to be physical activity, but it's really just finding your niche and not getting into your head too much. Easier said than done, but I really just woke up one day and decided that change is only going to come if I force myself to get up and do something. Otherwise I just get depressed and all "woe is me, woe is the world". If life sucks anyways, I'm going to find ways to enjoy it my own way.
I hate to break it to people but when it came full circle to me, it became as easy as "I'm a depressed right now, well I don't want to be so I'm going to put a little effort into something. That way, I can at least be proud of myself if not the world".
I can keep complaining about the world, or I can toughen myself up for myself and be proud of the person I am. I wouldn't call it ignorance to the rest of the world, I just don't give a fuck anymore. It never gave a fuck about me in the first place. I'm doing it all for myself.
This carries "Just don't be sad bro" energy
While yes, being physically fit is a good thing generally. Going outside especially within the US just makes me feel worse. Everyone is just as miserable as me, it's too hot, it smells like smoke and gas, I can't hear shit because the 4 lane road's noise is deafening, and those who aren't miserable are blissfully ignorant towards the horrible shit people go through in a country that doesn't give a shit about them.
I've managed to disconnect more, work on my hobbies, and find the will to live. My diet in improving and my fitness is also improving, but I just fucking hate the place I live and do not have the means to pick up and leave. The MOMENT I look into it I'm berated with product after product, and expense after expense. We as a society have cultivated an unsustainable model of operation and it's finally falling apart. Like the oil fields, we too are being sucked dry.
I wish I could be ignorant. But I just can't bring myself to that point.
