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submitted 1 week ago by sarah2653@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I remember my childhood mostly as a happy, oblivious one, affordable food, the usual disagreements between liberals and republicans, but nothing unhinged (say taxes, migrants or abortion). At least it looks reasonable today.

Now it's like everything is unhinged: politics seem to be based on purely emotional reactions and the other side is hell bent on destroying the country: texas starts heavily gerrymandering to secure 5 extra republican seats at the next midterms? california starts lobbying for doing exactly the same and dismantling an independent redistricting commission texas never had.

When I was younger it seemed politics were more rational and cruelty never seemed to be the point of doing nothing. Now we execute people with nitrogen gas, meaning a conscious person has to breathe something he knows its going to kill him during 4 minutes. This is somehow not cruel and unusual. And nobody bats an eye.

I still don't get how populists can be so popular now, they simplify complex issues most people without a degree in the matter, cannot grasp. This includes me.

I'm now 35 and wonder if I'm already talking like an old person who misses his young days so hard. I see that in people in their 60s and hoped never to become one of them, but here I am. To a younger person I may look like one of those old guys who lives to rant.

Am I going to feel even more detached and depressed with each passing day?

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[-] Lemmchen@feddit.org 2 points 1 week ago

Why not both?

[-] DancingBear@midwest.social 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

25 years ago the internet was still easy dial up and smart phones were coming out like you’d go to the library with your friends to check your email

MySpace lol

[-] manuallybreathing@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

Every major event i spend a lot of time rolling my eyes at real bougie people doing an emotional 'omg everything is suddenly so hard!', but the more things change, the more they stay the same, first as tragedy, second as farce

we're arguably a lot better off today

[-] daannii@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Wages are not keeping up with inflation. The middle class is disappearing.

Fascism is on the rise everywhere.

Basic Education has declined and higher education is less accessible.

Climate change. Worse storms. Lots of animals are extinct or nearing extinct.

Big Companies own everything.

No one can afford a house.

Subscriptions for everything.

Life saving maintenance drugs are insanely expensive. A subscription to live.

Women's rights being removed.

Natural resources all owned by companies with no oversight.

it's getting bad.

However. It's worth noting that the cause of all of these things isnt new.

This is the inevitable outcome of policies from as much as 100 years ago. (200 years ago? Capitalism)

Also. For some groups of people, things used to be much worse in many ways.

So some things are better. But the quality of life over all is probably declining.

Late stage capitalism and the dead internet.

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this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2025
221 points (100.0% liked)

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