Kids these days. They are nicer than when I was in school, and mine and their peers got much better education than I did (though that has declined again, there are like 20 consecutive years of kids who were better served by the school system that are just now young adults).
The rise of renewable energy marching on.
The drop in the birth rate. Not because I’m anti-natal, but because it seems like nature is working, that’s a much gentler means of reducing population than most.
The fact that insect life cycles are so short. The insect apocalypse is to me the most dire and frightening thing happening, but if we can address it at least the rebound wouldn’t take as long as with other creatures.
deleted by creator
One day the news will come that I have outlived Trump.
I think I’ll gather the crew and celebrate his death day.
Matter fact, might celebrate a few years early. Sing songs about how happy we are that he’s dead.
Joy to the world, that Trump is dead.
We barbecued his heaad.
And the rest of the body, we flushed down the potty.
We found him in the sewer, all covered in manure.
And that was the end of that fat orange bellend.Everybody now! 🙌👏🎶📣🔊
There are people who are actively protesting against hatred, against xenophobia, against racism, against LGBT-phobia, I live in a city that overwhelmingly voted against trump.
I don’t exactly talk to neighbors, honestly I have fear about strangers (dealing with depression and possible PTSD after a shitty police encounter), but at least I don’t have to worry about nazis that much. (There are still racists around here, but at least there is no lynch mobs)
I really felt moved by the anti-police-brutality protests after George Floyd was brutally murdered by some piece of shit cop. I was a victim of unjustified, and, in my view, an illegal arrest (but courts would see it as legal), and it was practically psychological torture. The fact that the entire nation protested against police brutality really brings me hope. I know that the fight is far from over, but I know that we the people have the spirit, we just need that spirit reignited. Perhaps, one day, the tyrants of the world would be defeated. Its gonna be an uphill battle, but I have hope, I have to. Otherwise I would lose my will to live. And I’m not ready to die yet. Its a rare roll of dice for me to even exist, I can’t give up just yet. I yearn for the day that I see the downfall of tyrants.
people being kind
my past successes
family & friendsMy kids. Even if we can’t fix the mess the world is currently in, they can
That there’s a bunch of stuff I don’t know and odds are that some of it is good.
A miss-heard name on Driving Miss Daisy.
That, eventually, humans will destroy humanity for greed.
Declining fertility rates
Microplastics are stored in the balls 👌
I’m working hard to get them all out.
The past wasn’t as great, and the future won’t be as bad, as we think they are.
I once believed the future will be good.
Living a principled life, based on humility, empathy and introspection, and seeing how that positively affects those around me.
Related philosophical pondering:
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
― Vaclav HavelKnowing that people are not evil. We’re just animals who conform. It’s too late for some to get better and be more empathetic but not everyone.
My uncle had to move states for work and he went from a MAGA tattoo trumper to a protester in the span of two years because he was isolated from his “friends” and met some fellas at work who took his ignorant ass in. Played pool in one of their garages every Wednesday and Friday with the rest of their friends. Found community. Doted on his coworkers trans daughter to the point where he pitched in a third for her first car. People are all the same but are easily tricked and will do anything to fit in. It gives me hope that love can spread too. Not just hate.
This is fantastic.
Thanks for writing it.
Yeah but why are some people doing the maga thing to fit in whereas others see no need to? If it’s all conformation pressure then surely it will go the other way and we’ll all be trumpers soon enough.
This is what troubles me. More abstractly - Why am I x and others y. I think things would be more good if more people did x, but I cannot discern any particular surefire reason(s) or principle that makes someone x instead of y. To me I can never imagine being y, it is incomprehensible. Some people randomly stop being y and start being x and vice versa, but there’s never a principle(s) that emerges that could be used as a basis of a theory, it seems chaotic, and it defies understanding. Are y misinformed? Doesn’t seem like it. Are y just evil? Are x just fundamentally better, smarter, more moral than y?
Well then that’s no good because that would mean people really aren’t all the same, and anyway such thoughts are unbefitting a systemic humanist view of being able to alter the world unto better outcomes that people will go along with if it’s made to be in their interest, like reducing poverty to reduce crime, and anyway that seems to hold true in data so it can’t be. Can we all be nietzchean "over"men?
And so I continue to think.
I listened to a podcast with someone who left the white power scene, and did some research. What I found in several sources is that extremists leverage your pain points. Feeling lonely? Unseen? Or did you grow up in a broken home? You can use that anger and redirect it towards the out-group of choice.
The wish to fit in is an important part, but I think it’s first and foremost seeking for community. And when you feel lonely and are in pain, you are very vulnerable to people recruiting you into a cult or extremist group.
It could happen to anyone, but I think emotional maturity and coping skills play a big part in being able to identify and resisting extreme ideologies.
Recently, not much
Protesting, volunteering, and finding other people who still have energy and hope that we can make something better.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think everything will suddenly get better but the more you do, the more you’ll find little wins here and there, and those small wins make it feel worth it.
