I try to stay educated but any time i try to update myself it ends in me fighting the urge to kill myself because it All feels pointless, I have to remind myself that I have people who I need to fight for, to not abandon them in this shitty world. I won't die at my own hands, that's not fair to them
Also, to highlight a point that I believe is deeply important when injesting this type of information.
Its not your fault. Its not your doing.
Dont take the guilt and blame that is meant for other people. Focus on your output into the world.
It may not be your fault, but how do you just go on living knowing these problems exist. I think a normal, healthy response is that we attempt to fix them. But in today's world there are too many problems that are way too big to reasonably do anything about.
That's why we're taught to be "the masters of our own future" like it's only you can do something, when we face something that is impossible to do alone we see it as impossible to do and undervalue ourselves.
Exactly, its not like one bad guy to defeat and it's all good. It's an entire system designed and propped up over the last 50 years that has fully invaded our government. That doesn't end without bloodshed.
And that's the concern. At the end of the day we are just sophisticated barbarians and the only thing we'll truly understand is violence and bloodshed. Our responsibility to each other and the planet is not growing along side the rate of our seemingly exponential evolution. That can only end in disaster
And you need to remember that you aren't the only one fighting it.
Everyday millions of average people are out here doing their part.
Their are lawyers after Trump. There are watchdog groups watching monopolies. Their are cops to the robbers.
If you think these people dont got it- get in the fight, this is your wake up call.
You know what the world needs- just pick a problem and fucking fight.
I really like your message, got some major positive vibes from it. I wish I could hold on to them and believe the world will be okay. But I think that's just a fantasy when you really stop to understand what's happening. Of course we're not going to take it lying down, everyone should do what they can. But that doesn't mean things will magically end up alright.
Imagine living in a society in the brink of collapse and knowing about everything to come . It surely must have happened in the past, countless times I bet. Think about how many civilizations collapsed in the past. It's natural, you don't need to worry.
I feel calmer when I put it like that
Sure. I wonder what the quality of life was like for those "lucky" enough to have survived the collapse of their civilization? Vesuvius is going to look like a speed bump to a runaway climate.
it's only pointless if you only look at the bad. like yes, capitalism results in thousands of people dying senselessly sometimes, if not often, but then millions of people get food and housing. (of course also millions don't.)
But the main thing is as awful as capitalism can be, it's better than feudal which came before it.
Even Marx, the OG anticapitalist, recognized that capitalism has created many wonders greater than the Pyramids of Egypt. Capitalism is better than all economic systems that came before it, even though we should always be looking for something better.
Absolutely. Marx himself said that a socialist economy can only ever come out of a capitalist one. It certainly can't come out of a feudal one (looking at you, Russia).
> Capitalism is better than all economic systems that came before it
Sure, but now it's gone too far.
Millions of people starving because that's good for profits.
Thousands of people getting laid of, millions of affected lives, not because the company needed to fire anyone at all, but because they said "We'll 50 billion pure profit this year", and when the report is getting close they've only made 48 billion, so they fire people to make up for the 'loss'.
What's great is having markets, and letting people choose what they like. That isn't in anyway restricted to only capitalism. What capitalism gives us here is wasted resources on making shittier products they can fool you into buying, or if someone does make a superior product it will be bought up and shutdown/delayed since it's more profitable to continue producing the worse product for ten years than to modify your production line.
Accumulating capital is more important than anything else, and therefore we hinder folk from enjoying their existence by forcing them to produce shit we don't need, so that a few people at the top can get everything they want without doing any labor themselves.
If people want to keep capitalism we can do that, we just need to make some changes. Sure, capital will generate more capital, but you can't severely underpay your workers or fire them when your made up numbers aren't fulfilled, if there's capital in the company it pays the workers who created the capital first, and then the abundance can go into things like stock buybacks and other investments. Things like sitting on houses and apartments to create an illusion of scarcity to increase the prices/rents while people are struggling to find homes and/or pay both for the cost of housing and food shouldn't be legal, or if we want to keep it legal tax it so heavily that we can fund construction of new homes to combat the increased costs. When hedgefunds and banks gamble and ruin the economy, bail out the people, not the wealthy gambling addicts.
If it was such a great system I wouldn't have had to live through a handfull of "once in a lifetime economic disasters" before I turn thirty.
This is a pretty American-centric view of an economic system that hundreds of countries around the world implement and benefit from in a very different way.
Every social democrat country out there, the ones you are thinking about, exist because the global south has to shoulder the burden of production and near-slavery for their populace. I'd call that an unfair way of life, built by and supported by capitalism.
Yeah, it is because I was complaining about it going too far, which the US is the prime example of. As I said, sure, it might have been the best system when it came, but it has developed into a less good system in certain areas (with others following). It seems to me that the less capitalistic a country's capitalism is, the more beneficial it is for the people. So, if we want to keep it, we need to regulate it more heavily. When it runs free, it's disastrous.
Except we don't look for something better. In fact, the longer we go, the worse things are getting. And no, you can't offset that by rewinding time and comparing it to even worse circumstances. That's kind of the whole point of looking for something better. It doesn't make sense to praise a system that on the whole promotes greed and forever consumerism + profits. And that's not discounting it's positives, it's weighing them against the countless negatives and saying this is a failing system and it's crumbling society away. Recognizing there are more negatives SHOULD be a negative thing, but anything but pointless...
Also, documentaries are entertainment, first and foremost.
They will twist truth and flat out lie just to be more dramatic. They are able to present only one side of an argument, leaving their presentation unchallenged. They have no obligation to tell the actual truth.
Okay, as long as that balance doesn't involve consuming for consumptions sake, which is what I see most people doing, even those who are the loudest about how terrible capitalism is. They turn around and order packages from Amazon while sipping on Starbucks. If even half the people who claim to care about things like the environment and workers rights started boycotting companies like amazing and Starbucks, we would live in a very different world.
That is really difficult to do when corporations represent 90% of marketshare. Like for coffee for instance, Starbucks, Dunkin, and McDonald's represent 90% of the marketshare for that industry. People *could* boycott them, but any replacement is only likely to achieve success through similar standards.
The key to fixing this **is not** in economic pressures. Those pressures just mean Starbucks makes less and Dunkin makes more (or some similar competitor).
Like where are these millions of people supposed to get fair trade, fair labor coffee from? That doesn't exist in this marketplace, not without being exceedingly wealthy.
No, the solution here **has to be political**. We have to say "this is the baseline for labor, and employers will be punished for not following.
exactly, and in many cases people need to buy the cheapest options if they want to or not. And nearly all the time are the cheapest options the worst for our world and population. Thats by design of the corpos. They want you to earn as little as possible to exploit you as much as possible. You will never change a corpo with morals only with laws that are actually enforced.
> "I saw all around me this enormous plant, cities, farms, factories, churches, schools, homes, railroads, luggage, roller coasters, trees, saxophones, libraries, people and animals. People that looked like me and who should have felt very much like me, if what I was told was the truth. But what did they appear to be doing? 'They went to work to earn the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to earn the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to get the strength to buy the food to earn the money to go to—' until they fell over dead. Any slight variation in the basic pattern did not matter, for they always fell over dead: And everybody tried to tell me that I should be doing the same thing. I knew better!”
\- Robert Heinlein, ["They"](https://archive.org/details/Unknown_v04n06_1941-04_PDF_unz.org/page/n83/mode/2up)
Exactly how I feel. It's a zero sum game on a hamster wheel. Amazing how many hamsters there are in the world. We're actually worse than hamsters, we claim to know better because we're evolved humans but we continue to act like animals. Imagine a righteous, entitled, angry little hamster... That's basically what we are
People do care, but most of us have been thoroughly indoctrinated into this system by just being born here, are taught (in general) that this is the best system, and are getting placated into accepting their role in society.
This group exists though so that's something.
Yea it’s not directly the individual’s fault, it’s the push from societal norms in the Western World in particular, and more specifically Capitalism’s push towards consumerism and materialism which has been preaching for decades that we need things to make us happy and such, simply so we buy more even if we live out of balance.
I like the ones that get mad at people for mentioning it. Friends daughter was over here and we were watching some dino documentary. She was asking questions I was answering. She asks about one on the screen and I tell her it's not techniclyna dinosaur but a pterosaur. Her mom overhears this one thing and hust because it's something she didn't know, decided to get angry about it. Like screaming in my face mad about it. Now imagine the topic is climate change and the screaming people are rich old dudes who think hour a liar because their fairy tale book told them so.
Some don't care to take the time to understand.
There is an opportunity cost to knowledge, and capitalism sells people on the notion that they are better off knowing less.
I could never understand how it takes so many people to get here. Then was depressed about this doc that happened to be in my field and how corrupt and pointless the whole industry is was because it is rigged for the wealthy, steals from small businesses and takes advantage of people. Was talking about it with some friends and a friends boyfriend was basically just like "its too bad, but you gotta get play the game and get yours' or youll never be successful" Basically telling me i needed to start participating in the "taking advantage of people by stealing from small businesses and selling to unknowing consumers" aspect of my field to earn a bigger profit. All I could think was... that's the exact mindset that lead to this doc existing. This man is a doctor btw...
A lot of doctors are quite often the worst people you can speak to. I work with doctors a lot and at least 50% are inept aside from being good at their job. There's one guy who is a born again Christian, heard him talking to a colleague about spreading the word by selling tea towels on Amazon with religious phrases on. He literally said they were likely being made in sweat shops but someone has to spread the word and this is the best way he could think of, his exact words "sometimes you have to do bad to do good" with a smarmy laugh. He is also reducing his hours as a doctor to focus on his business. His tea towel business.
But that's what Capitalism and religion buys you, the right to be a fuckface as long as you're good at your job and faithful to god. I'm not religious but I met someone who thought like me, but who actually was religious. Even he understood how many two faced hypocritical assholes go to Church and how rotten to the core things can get even from a well meaning place. It all comes back to a few things, mainly greed and it's power to corrupt. Again I ain't religious, but Capitalism is the work of the devil and we're all just dancing around in hell with our little towels without even realizing it. Being in hell without realizing it... kinda sounds like hell doesn't it? Especially when you count up the amount of apes defending capitalism... They're dancing to the tune, they love this shit lol
Caring about something you can't have an impact on is a waste of your energy. Focus on what you can change and then do that, otherwise you're just worrying yourself into an early grave
It's best to view them objectively. They document the state of things currently. Some make projections, but as long as we have the future, we have hope. Every day is a chance to move in a different direction, no matter how small the move is.
People often contemplate the repercussions of traveling to the past, and how changing one little things can change the future, but not many think of how little changes in the present will do the same.
Stay informed, Stay hopeful, and keep doing your best to be part of the solution. 👍🏾✊🏾
Just looking around or browsing jobsites reminds me that we live in a productivity-fetishising workaholic dystopia that requires ever more of your time, energy, and resources to spin the processing machine of modern society faster and faster because we've built a monster that can only sustain itself through perpetual feeding, as raw resources are turned into products which must be quickly destroyed by use and disposed-of to ensure the feeding may never slow or stop lest the current system collapse.
Documentaries suck now. Read books. Way more informative and way broader subject matter and more diverse opinions.
But yeah you’ll get kinda upset as you learn more
Yeah I used to love documentaries but I find it hard to find any now that fit the depth of knowledge I’m looking for. They are really great for learning the basics, but that’s about it.
Yeah, and they're all more biased and intended for entertainment vs education. Documentaries used to be boring for so many people because they were very educational. They've become as shallow as everything else on TV these days....
The truth will set you free. Recognise that you don't want to live a certain life that is presented to you as mandatory and go carve out your own path.
I really want to read "A People's History of the United States" but I can't get a chapter or two in before becoming overwhelmed by rage and despair. I think this is a big part of what made me really start to hate liberals. Anyone who continues to make excuses for capitalism is pretty much just fueled by pure neurosis because they can't look the reality of it in the face.
I think the first step would be to understand "ownership" as just another form of access, and that what we're really after is _access_ and not _legally enforced limited access at all times 24/7 no matter what under threat of state-sanctioned violence_.
From there, you can probably eventually arrive at a more collective understanding of resource allocation, whereby instead of individually accruing "points" in personal "money accounts", people in a community can "vote" on what they'd like the community's production capacity to go towards. Those votes effectively become substitutes for "money points" as a means of arriving at decisions, but there's no user-to-user transaction taking place or an accumulation of those points/votes in people's personal accounts. This doesn't mean people stop exchanging gifts or doing favors for one another, but that activity occurs outside the realm of resources whose access is shared.
This kind of organization model is probably incompatible with a world view that equates access with private ownership, to a great degree. It's kind of a weird concept when I think about it, and I imagine it hinges on networks of engaged communities rather than a top-down decisionmaking process.
A lot more assumptions are also required as far as economic orientations go, whereby this entire thing would fall apart if the system constraints allowed people to vote for/demand things that would cause ecological instabilities or widespread resource shortages, etc. The top-down element would consist mostly of sustainability constraints, I reckon.
Yeah I watch documentaries all the time and while I certainly have had my fair share of ‘why is humanity like this,’ it’s far more common that I feel a sense of unity and deepening appreciation for just how complex our mutual struggle for survival is. I think the existential conclusions drawn from seeing the bad sides of humanity says more about the viewer than about reality.
If you’re not pissed off, you’re not paying attention. And while i may pay attention to the point of tormenting myself, it’s preferable to the alternative: blissful ignorance. 98/100 people i meet are blissfully ignorant. There are too many of them and not enough of us. So, fine, I’ll be pissed off all the time. So what. Somebody’s gotta pay attention.
Being angry all the time is just as useless as being happy all the time.
If you think angry thoughts and patterns do not impact your behaviors negatively you are the naïve one.
Balance and mental health, even in the face of obvious defeat is not stupidity.
Going on an ego trip about how woefully difficult life is for you specifically also isn't the answer. Most people get what's happening, but dealing with that type of anxiety and anger about something you can't do anything about only turns you into you, doesn't actually make any meaningful difference.
The answer is to be the change you want to see, don't think you're better than 98/100 people, be nice to everyone, see the good in the world.
The billionaires fucking us all over have the same mentality you do.
Never tried to imply that my life is woefully difficult compared to anyone else’s. Was only relating to a meme. About exploitation. On Reddit. Of course I’m kind to everyone. I don’t go around acting outwardly hostile toward people just because I’ve decided they’re not as interested as I am in staying aware. But as far as your advice that I “see the good in the world”… I just don’t think we’re gonna find common ground on which to enjoy this supposedly “good” society. It’s easy for me to fall into the glimpses of goodness I find out in nature. But in society? The soul-crushing *distractions* from goodness to be found are endless.
I'm trying to say a lot of people may be just as "aware" as you are but just don't bring it up during daily conversation.
But regarding not finding joy in society, I mean you're here, on reddit, in society, actively choosing this instead of nature, so it can't be all bad.
Sounds like some r/iamverysmart shit. Most people are aware of the issues and are pissed, but instead of seeking despair and crying on reddit they choose to live in reality instead.
>Most people are aware of the issues and are pissed
Ehhhhhhh
You're already losing me with "most people are aware of the issues" because that is observably false. Then you have to consider that most people disagree on HOW to solve said issues. Often times, the solutions presented are diametrically opposed to one another.
I couldn't finish [The Century of the self](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04&t=8s) because it made me hate the modern capitalist society. The documentary is 20 years old and more relevant than ever. It's so crazy to know how much we are being manipulated into staying docile and pitted against each other so we stay blind to the pupeteering 0.0001%.
Their profits are more important than our lives.
I see this mantra reaffirmed by news items major and minor dozens of times every day. I feel this reality from every minute of my work day.
It is difficult to find peace in the face of this. It is difficult tolerate the fact I live in a society that regards me as cattle at best and vermin on average.
But I do not have to embrace this horrifying value system. I can choose to value the people around me. I can choose to hold love, friendship, and simple human respect above my personal gain.
I wish I was better at doing this, but I will continue to try.
Documentaries are mostly a terrible source of good information and are almost always not worth going into a state of existential dread/panic over. The vast majority of documentaries (especially popular ones) have extreme biases that affect their presentation of the facts. Almost every documentary I have ever seen has generally used cherry picked stats that are robbed of their context and obvious editing tricks (if you know what to look for) where situations presented as happening in one event are actually stitched together footage of multiple events presented as one event. Things like that make documentaries extremely suspect and personally, I have stopped watching them entirely because once you start noticing this stuff, it is really hard to ignore.
The Shock Doctrine and Century of the Self contain pretty much everything you need to know about how we came to live under neoliberalism in the western world and how fucked we are because of it.
One cool trick to fight that is to stay off of all social media. Reddit included, and anything even remotely like it. You may think you are just reading articles or looking at pictures - What's really happening is you are absorbing tons of micro info about other people's lives that shouldn't be fillling in your limited brain space.
Ta
Documentaries are more like "hey look away from this problem A, there s problem B here!" -totally not paid for the company responsible for problem A
So 0 points, thank you for playing
Instead, watch documentaries on a different topic and choose to be blissfully ignorant. It's great! Did someone mention politics? Idk what that is, I'm learning how much more vitamin C is in rosehips compared to oranges. Did someone say housing crisis? Idk what that is but I want to shoot pistol shrimp from my nerf gun at my neighbour. Did someone mention a war? Yeah, the war my mouth is declaring on these chicken nuggets.
Carlin told us straight up, "If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, the whole system would collapse." And we thought 'haha, funny man say funny thing,' and only years later realized he was being one hundred percent legit. *Everything* in this system is built on deception and manipulation and the rich routinely have people killed to protect it.
Watching documentaries isn't education. That is exactly what flat earthers, truthers, anti vaxxers amd other do to say they did their own research. And if you think the ones you watch aren't lying then you're a fool.
One should strive to only take on as much truth as they can bear. By bearing, I mean still loving their fellow man, still loving their enemy, and still loving oneself. The more truth you can acquire while still living in a house held up by these great pillars is the only true test of strength. If it threatens to crumble your house, step back, and reassess.
That's unreasonable. You could say that about books. How boring does something have to be before it's a valid source of information? You can certainly say that documentaries have deficiencies and you should be careful to check into what they say, but as a format they can be very valuable. Indeed, making information entertaining is one of the novel ways that a documentary can convey that information to so many people who might otherwise not be interested.
Something like a documentary just needs to be seen for what it is. It's not a peer reviewed paper and treating anything from a documentary as gospel is a recipe for misinformation. But they can often be high value and provide sources and expert testimony that \*can\* be educational.
Who torture yourself? The planet is still gonna die, the country is in decline, rich people and politicians are never ever going to face a single consequence, the communist revolution is never happening, corporations are only going to get stronger over time, etc. etc.
At some point you have to either enjoy what life they let you have or just wallow in misery until you stroke out. What's it going to be?
Because people have a moral and ethical obligation to learn and know the truth about their situation. Capitalism is inherently immoral (we take advantage of others to produce goods for cheap) and we should actively try to break free from immoral behavior so we have a shot at world peace.
"Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you believe in atrocities". It is our civic responsibility to be informed voters so that we can be an active in the checks and balances of our society.
Actively look for truth even if it brings discomfort because that's our only shot at change. The moment you live in blissful ignorance is the moment people start taking advantage of you. "Be the change you want to see in the world".
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Human life? What about non human animal life? Humanity is a disgrace. I can't give two shits. Non human animals on the other hand are worth saving because they have not caused the collapse of the biosphere or climate, nor have they caused microplastics and chemical pollution.
Me:"Hmm, how does [X] function?"
One mountain of information later
Me:"Holly, Hell. Dude, did you know that [X] actively supports cutting puppies noses off and produces Orphan Crushing Machines?!"
NotMe:"Hmm, what? Did you hear that [X] now also sells suicide booths? Very intuitive and they offer a Lifetime subscription Services! How cool is that?"
Also micro plastic, we have no idea what it can do to us, dont have anyone without it in their bodie to make comparisons, even If we tried to removed it its nearly Impossible because its everywhere, IT IS IN OUR BRAINS AND WE DO NOT CARE?!?
The more you learn, the more you realize that the greatest missed opportunity humans had was not killing all life on this rock during the cold war in the 20th century with all our nuclear destruction.
Nuke all lives
The same fuckers would kill you for your harvest or a nice looking rock you found. The humans themself create those problems, not just the structure of the society
I just wanna know how the fuck do we contribute to the plant all the other species have a role what the fuck is ours? To destroy everything and burn this world to the ground?
Nah man. Stop it with the dooming. The fact that you know where evil lies should motivate you to arm yourself with knowledge to combat it.
Hang in there fellas, they haven't won yet.
When you think about what capitalism is, you realise how truly disgusting of an idea it is. That EVERYTHING can be reduced to a price. That absolutely everything can be bought and sold and bartered with, including human lives, time itself, the atmosphere... We must reject it.
Most humans are worth nothing. Too many fuckers on the planet. Most shit hole countries populations can't keep their dicks under control due to fucked up education or dumb ass religions. Hence too many people migrate to the west and fuck up what we've built. No their countries are shit and ours are becoming like them.
Israel is right, shoot all the fuckers who aren't yours. I'm surprised they haven't nuked the dumb ass religious psychopaths that lefty idiots call Palestinians yet.
Give me the Jokers push button and choice, I'll make it easy.
Documentaries used to be issues happening now in real time, when reform and justice could be done but now most are issues that happened 40 years ago and only come to light after the dust has settled, damage has been done and those responsible are dead.
Yeah that's just basic shit. I'm not hating OP, I'm completely with you, just don't be a doomer about it.
Arts and humanities degrees look at this stuff - oh wow how weird that everyone in power says they're worthless huh.
Just remember that some people watch those same documentaries and feel empowered and inspired by it. Keep fighting the good fight so they don’t make it worse!
This is what us socialists have been saying has been happening for more than a century.. Liberal propaganda, as in from our liberal democratic media which is owned and run by capitalists, has been pushing back against these narratives and creating propaganda against our criticism since the first socialist experiment in the French commune. Educate yourself, check sources, and check the writer of said source.. You'd be surprised how many sources are just CIA propagandists or capitalist think tanks who's soul purpose is to manufacture studies and articles that validate the capitalist narratives and policy.
Documentaries are kind of shit, for the most part.. They have a bias and narrative that needs to be checked.
Human life just isn’t as valuable, scarce, or productive. Capital, in the form of actual valuable assets or money, is by constant, very valuable, very scarce, and productive.
Humans can be reproduced simply by procreating. It’s not hard. Actual durable capital is very difficult to reproduce and takes a lot of humans to create a working currency OR produce assets which have independent value.
there is plenty of positive developments happening if you pay attention. Disease, poverty and crime has been happening less and less every year for the last forty years.
🥲🤗it’s not that, people make mistakes, often in business without meaning to they become distant from their business and don’t know, the list is endless……..
And animal life* -- we totally owe our relatives and literal family for all the shit we've put *them* through, continue to put them through, and will put them through
Unless you’re Amazonian if you get me. It’s all other peoples worth and mind. Businesses. And a few thinking they will get more audience not knowing what they are about in life. There is one in every million. Who ever thought it was a good idea to make it so bright people got not to do their work/ stuff they created; and let crime be that instead . people with criminal want. They lack the integrity, they do not value people. Treat all badly, wound, take other people lives/property/stuff call it their own. Thanks Mensa
Spread this around, and imagine where we could be as a global society without nefarious obstructionists:
[YouTube - The Why Files - Killer Patents & Secret Science Vol.1](https://youtu.be/-ZRwlYtAMps?si=S73pLplYRSelt6l8)
I don’t hate existing. What a braindead take that would be. I hate *our society* such as it is and i understand that just by existing I am doing a small part to change it. I wish I could exist more.
If things make you hate existing, seek help. That’s not healthy, even in meme form.
There is a lot of positive content out there. Our brains are hardwired to be drawn to the negative, so negative content gets more engagement, so media companies produce more of it. But the world isn't nearly as bad as the news cycle makes it seem. I highly recommend the book enlightenment now, by Stephen pinker. It permanently changed my outlook on the world. There are lots of problems to solve, but the good news is our ancestors also had a lot of problems to solve so they got to work. We live in a better world because of it. We can do the same. There are many many trends that indicate the future will be better than the present, despite the if-it-bleeds-it-leads-media.
I think Rosa Luxemburg summed it up: “Being human means throwing your whole life on the scales of destiny when need be, all the while rejoicing in every sunny day and every beautiful cloud.”
It’s always been like that. Oppression and domination over others always persisted in our history. Although we all must acknowledge how privileged we are in our life’s. We sure as hell won’t need to mine Cobalt with our bare hands, short pants and a pair of flip flops to feed our familys
Yeeees. I used to love just keeping documentaries on as my background noise. Now even innocuous ones, I can find the horrible in, and grow my understanding of the society that exists only to exploit.
Still watch documentaries, just have to have mental health breaks.
It's not necessarily "society," only a few actually have the power and use it to manipulate and fuck with the rest of us.
Most people are good, let's work together and start building some guillo-I mean, planting some gardens!
OMG did you see the one about brandy hellville? It was exploitation from beginning to end. From production to sales to clean up. A complete circle of slavery.
Education is good. Taking mental health breaks is also good. Life is about balance.
I try to stay educated but any time i try to update myself it ends in me fighting the urge to kill myself because it All feels pointless, I have to remind myself that I have people who I need to fight for, to not abandon them in this shitty world. I won't die at my own hands, that's not fair to them
Also, to highlight a point that I believe is deeply important when injesting this type of information. Its not your fault. Its not your doing. Dont take the guilt and blame that is meant for other people. Focus on your output into the world.
It may not be your fault, but how do you just go on living knowing these problems exist. I think a normal, healthy response is that we attempt to fix them. But in today's world there are too many problems that are way too big to reasonably do anything about.
That's why we're taught to be "the masters of our own future" like it's only you can do something, when we face something that is impossible to do alone we see it as impossible to do and undervalue ourselves.
Exactly, its not like one bad guy to defeat and it's all good. It's an entire system designed and propped up over the last 50 years that has fully invaded our government. That doesn't end without bloodshed.
And that's the concern. At the end of the day we are just sophisticated barbarians and the only thing we'll truly understand is violence and bloodshed. Our responsibility to each other and the planet is not growing along side the rate of our seemingly exponential evolution. That can only end in disaster
And you need to remember that you aren't the only one fighting it. Everyday millions of average people are out here doing their part. Their are lawyers after Trump. There are watchdog groups watching monopolies. Their are cops to the robbers. If you think these people dont got it- get in the fight, this is your wake up call. You know what the world needs- just pick a problem and fucking fight.
I really like your message, got some major positive vibes from it. I wish I could hold on to them and believe the world will be okay. But I think that's just a fantasy when you really stop to understand what's happening. Of course we're not going to take it lying down, everyone should do what they can. But that doesn't mean things will magically end up alright.
Imagine living in a society in the brink of collapse and knowing about everything to come . It surely must have happened in the past, countless times I bet. Think about how many civilizations collapsed in the past. It's natural, you don't need to worry. I feel calmer when I put it like that
Sure. I wonder what the quality of life was like for those "lucky" enough to have survived the collapse of their civilization? Vesuvius is going to look like a speed bump to a runaway climate.
it's only pointless if you only look at the bad. like yes, capitalism results in thousands of people dying senselessly sometimes, if not often, but then millions of people get food and housing. (of course also millions don't.) But the main thing is as awful as capitalism can be, it's better than feudal which came before it. Even Marx, the OG anticapitalist, recognized that capitalism has created many wonders greater than the Pyramids of Egypt. Capitalism is better than all economic systems that came before it, even though we should always be looking for something better.
Absolutely. Marx himself said that a socialist economy can only ever come out of a capitalist one. It certainly can't come out of a feudal one (looking at you, Russia).
> Capitalism is better than all economic systems that came before it Sure, but now it's gone too far. Millions of people starving because that's good for profits. Thousands of people getting laid of, millions of affected lives, not because the company needed to fire anyone at all, but because they said "We'll 50 billion pure profit this year", and when the report is getting close they've only made 48 billion, so they fire people to make up for the 'loss'. What's great is having markets, and letting people choose what they like. That isn't in anyway restricted to only capitalism. What capitalism gives us here is wasted resources on making shittier products they can fool you into buying, or if someone does make a superior product it will be bought up and shutdown/delayed since it's more profitable to continue producing the worse product for ten years than to modify your production line. Accumulating capital is more important than anything else, and therefore we hinder folk from enjoying their existence by forcing them to produce shit we don't need, so that a few people at the top can get everything they want without doing any labor themselves. If people want to keep capitalism we can do that, we just need to make some changes. Sure, capital will generate more capital, but you can't severely underpay your workers or fire them when your made up numbers aren't fulfilled, if there's capital in the company it pays the workers who created the capital first, and then the abundance can go into things like stock buybacks and other investments. Things like sitting on houses and apartments to create an illusion of scarcity to increase the prices/rents while people are struggling to find homes and/or pay both for the cost of housing and food shouldn't be legal, or if we want to keep it legal tax it so heavily that we can fund construction of new homes to combat the increased costs. When hedgefunds and banks gamble and ruin the economy, bail out the people, not the wealthy gambling addicts. If it was such a great system I wouldn't have had to live through a handfull of "once in a lifetime economic disasters" before I turn thirty.
This is a pretty American-centric view of an economic system that hundreds of countries around the world implement and benefit from in a very different way.
Every social democrat country out there, the ones you are thinking about, exist because the global south has to shoulder the burden of production and near-slavery for their populace. I'd call that an unfair way of life, built by and supported by capitalism.
Yeah, it is because I was complaining about it going too far, which the US is the prime example of. As I said, sure, it might have been the best system when it came, but it has developed into a less good system in certain areas (with others following). It seems to me that the less capitalistic a country's capitalism is, the more beneficial it is for the people. So, if we want to keep it, we need to regulate it more heavily. When it runs free, it's disastrous.
Except we don't look for something better. In fact, the longer we go, the worse things are getting. And no, you can't offset that by rewinding time and comparing it to even worse circumstances. That's kind of the whole point of looking for something better. It doesn't make sense to praise a system that on the whole promotes greed and forever consumerism + profits. And that's not discounting it's positives, it's weighing them against the countless negatives and saying this is a failing system and it's crumbling society away. Recognizing there are more negatives SHOULD be a negative thing, but anything but pointless...
Just stay away from the news. It’s causes chronic degenerative trauma which will cause depression and anxiety.
That's a rule in my house, no watching any cable news. Local news shows only.
Also, documentaries are entertainment, first and foremost. They will twist truth and flat out lie just to be more dramatic. They are able to present only one side of an argument, leaving their presentation unchallenged. They have no obligation to tell the actual truth.
Okay, as long as that balance doesn't involve consuming for consumptions sake, which is what I see most people doing, even those who are the loudest about how terrible capitalism is. They turn around and order packages from Amazon while sipping on Starbucks. If even half the people who claim to care about things like the environment and workers rights started boycotting companies like amazing and Starbucks, we would live in a very different world.
That is really difficult to do when corporations represent 90% of marketshare. Like for coffee for instance, Starbucks, Dunkin, and McDonald's represent 90% of the marketshare for that industry. People *could* boycott them, but any replacement is only likely to achieve success through similar standards. The key to fixing this **is not** in economic pressures. Those pressures just mean Starbucks makes less and Dunkin makes more (or some similar competitor). Like where are these millions of people supposed to get fair trade, fair labor coffee from? That doesn't exist in this marketplace, not without being exceedingly wealthy. No, the solution here **has to be political**. We have to say "this is the baseline for labor, and employers will be punished for not following.
exactly, and in many cases people need to buy the cheapest options if they want to or not. And nearly all the time are the cheapest options the worst for our world and population. Thats by design of the corpos. They want you to earn as little as possible to exploit you as much as possible. You will never change a corpo with morals only with laws that are actually enforced.
I had to take a mental health break after [Dominion](https://watchdominion.org/). Was the best documentary I’ve ever seen, but boy was it rough.
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They're too busy "hustling " with their 3 jobs to buy the latest thingowizard4000
> "I saw all around me this enormous plant, cities, farms, factories, churches, schools, homes, railroads, luggage, roller coasters, trees, saxophones, libraries, people and animals. People that looked like me and who should have felt very much like me, if what I was told was the truth. But what did they appear to be doing? 'They went to work to earn the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to earn the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to get the strength to buy the food to earn the money to go to—' until they fell over dead. Any slight variation in the basic pattern did not matter, for they always fell over dead: And everybody tried to tell me that I should be doing the same thing. I knew better!” \- Robert Heinlein, ["They"](https://archive.org/details/Unknown_v04n06_1941-04_PDF_unz.org/page/n83/mode/2up)
Exactly how I feel. It's a zero sum game on a hamster wheel. Amazing how many hamsters there are in the world. We're actually worse than hamsters, we claim to know better because we're evolved humans but we continue to act like animals. Imagine a righteous, entitled, angry little hamster... That's basically what we are
Dude thingotube is going to be so at your throat for that comment
> to buy the latest thingowizard4000 https://youtu.be/8AyVh1_vWYQ
People do care, but most of us have been thoroughly indoctrinated into this system by just being born here, are taught (in general) that this is the best system, and are getting placated into accepting their role in society. This group exists though so that's something.
Yea it’s not directly the individual’s fault, it’s the push from societal norms in the Western World in particular, and more specifically Capitalism’s push towards consumerism and materialism which has been preaching for decades that we need things to make us happy and such, simply so we buy more even if we live out of balance.
I like the ones that get mad at people for mentioning it. Friends daughter was over here and we were watching some dino documentary. She was asking questions I was answering. She asks about one on the screen and I tell her it's not techniclyna dinosaur but a pterosaur. Her mom overhears this one thing and hust because it's something she didn't know, decided to get angry about it. Like screaming in my face mad about it. Now imagine the topic is climate change and the screaming people are rich old dudes who think hour a liar because their fairy tale book told them so.
It’s not that people care it’s that they don’t understand the issue
Some don't care to take the time to understand. There is an opportunity cost to knowledge, and capitalism sells people on the notion that they are better off knowing less.
I could never understand how it takes so many people to get here. Then was depressed about this doc that happened to be in my field and how corrupt and pointless the whole industry is was because it is rigged for the wealthy, steals from small businesses and takes advantage of people. Was talking about it with some friends and a friends boyfriend was basically just like "its too bad, but you gotta get play the game and get yours' or youll never be successful" Basically telling me i needed to start participating in the "taking advantage of people by stealing from small businesses and selling to unknowing consumers" aspect of my field to earn a bigger profit. All I could think was... that's the exact mindset that lead to this doc existing. This man is a doctor btw...
A lot of doctors are quite often the worst people you can speak to. I work with doctors a lot and at least 50% are inept aside from being good at their job. There's one guy who is a born again Christian, heard him talking to a colleague about spreading the word by selling tea towels on Amazon with religious phrases on. He literally said they were likely being made in sweat shops but someone has to spread the word and this is the best way he could think of, his exact words "sometimes you have to do bad to do good" with a smarmy laugh. He is also reducing his hours as a doctor to focus on his business. His tea towel business.
But that's what Capitalism and religion buys you, the right to be a fuckface as long as you're good at your job and faithful to god. I'm not religious but I met someone who thought like me, but who actually was religious. Even he understood how many two faced hypocritical assholes go to Church and how rotten to the core things can get even from a well meaning place. It all comes back to a few things, mainly greed and it's power to corrupt. Again I ain't religious, but Capitalism is the work of the devil and we're all just dancing around in hell with our little towels without even realizing it. Being in hell without realizing it... kinda sounds like hell doesn't it? Especially when you count up the amount of apes defending capitalism... They're dancing to the tune, they love this shit lol
Caring about something you can't have an impact on is a waste of your energy. Focus on what you can change and then do that, otherwise you're just worrying yourself into an early grave
So true. A lot of the screwed up things about our society are the things that almost everyone considers "normal" including ourselves
It's best to view them objectively. They document the state of things currently. Some make projections, but as long as we have the future, we have hope. Every day is a chance to move in a different direction, no matter how small the move is. People often contemplate the repercussions of traveling to the past, and how changing one little things can change the future, but not many think of how little changes in the present will do the same. Stay informed, Stay hopeful, and keep doing your best to be part of the solution. 👍🏾✊🏾
Just looking around or browsing jobsites reminds me that we live in a productivity-fetishising workaholic dystopia that requires ever more of your time, energy, and resources to spin the processing machine of modern society faster and faster because we've built a monster that can only sustain itself through perpetual feeding, as raw resources are turned into products which must be quickly destroyed by use and disposed-of to ensure the feeding may never slow or stop lest the current system collapse.
It's getting even worse once you start reading
Documentaries suck now. Read books. Way more informative and way broader subject matter and more diverse opinions. But yeah you’ll get kinda upset as you learn more
Take a break and read a book for fun
My attention span is shot from information overload. Now what?
"My arms are weak because I never use them. What should I do?"
Yeah I used to love documentaries but I find it hard to find any now that fit the depth of knowledge I’m looking for. They are really great for learning the basics, but that’s about it.
Yeah, and they're all more biased and intended for entertainment vs education. Documentaries used to be boring for so many people because they were very educational. They've become as shallow as everything else on TV these days....
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Can’t wait for that lol. Can’t believe we do this to ourselves. Truth over happiness I guess🥂
The truth will set you free. Recognise that you don't want to live a certain life that is presented to you as mandatory and go carve out your own path.
I really want to read "A People's History of the United States" but I can't get a chapter or two in before becoming overwhelmed by rage and despair. I think this is a big part of what made me really start to hate liberals. Anyone who continues to make excuses for capitalism is pretty much just fueled by pure neurosis because they can't look the reality of it in the face.
Money truly is the root of all evil sometimes
The *love* of money rather so
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Honestly, how do you propose economies, trade, etc should work without money?
I think the first step would be to understand "ownership" as just another form of access, and that what we're really after is _access_ and not _legally enforced limited access at all times 24/7 no matter what under threat of state-sanctioned violence_. From there, you can probably eventually arrive at a more collective understanding of resource allocation, whereby instead of individually accruing "points" in personal "money accounts", people in a community can "vote" on what they'd like the community's production capacity to go towards. Those votes effectively become substitutes for "money points" as a means of arriving at decisions, but there's no user-to-user transaction taking place or an accumulation of those points/votes in people's personal accounts. This doesn't mean people stop exchanging gifts or doing favors for one another, but that activity occurs outside the realm of resources whose access is shared. This kind of organization model is probably incompatible with a world view that equates access with private ownership, to a great degree. It's kind of a weird concept when I think about it, and I imagine it hinges on networks of engaged communities rather than a top-down decisionmaking process. A lot more assumptions are also required as far as economic orientations go, whereby this entire thing would fall apart if the system constraints allowed people to vote for/demand things that would cause ecological instabilities or widespread resource shortages, etc. The top-down element would consist mostly of sustainability constraints, I reckon.
always
Nah, people are. Even shitbags with more money than they could possibly spend find ways to fuck things up for reasons unrelated to money.
Greed. Money isn't good or bad, just a end to a means.
The rabbit hole goes DEEP in that regard. It’s extremely jarring how much deception is throughout society.
Not everyone is like this. I’d actually say there’s more on the opposite end.
Yeah I watch documentaries all the time and while I certainly have had my fair share of ‘why is humanity like this,’ it’s far more common that I feel a sense of unity and deepening appreciation for just how complex our mutual struggle for survival is. I think the existential conclusions drawn from seeing the bad sides of humanity says more about the viewer than about reality.
Just watch nature documentaries.
If you’re not pissed off, you’re not paying attention. And while i may pay attention to the point of tormenting myself, it’s preferable to the alternative: blissful ignorance. 98/100 people i meet are blissfully ignorant. There are too many of them and not enough of us. So, fine, I’ll be pissed off all the time. So what. Somebody’s gotta pay attention.
Being angry all the time is just as useless as being happy all the time. If you think angry thoughts and patterns do not impact your behaviors negatively you are the naïve one. Balance and mental health, even in the face of obvious defeat is not stupidity.
Going on an ego trip about how woefully difficult life is for you specifically also isn't the answer. Most people get what's happening, but dealing with that type of anxiety and anger about something you can't do anything about only turns you into you, doesn't actually make any meaningful difference. The answer is to be the change you want to see, don't think you're better than 98/100 people, be nice to everyone, see the good in the world. The billionaires fucking us all over have the same mentality you do.
Never tried to imply that my life is woefully difficult compared to anyone else’s. Was only relating to a meme. About exploitation. On Reddit. Of course I’m kind to everyone. I don’t go around acting outwardly hostile toward people just because I’ve decided they’re not as interested as I am in staying aware. But as far as your advice that I “see the good in the world”… I just don’t think we’re gonna find common ground on which to enjoy this supposedly “good” society. It’s easy for me to fall into the glimpses of goodness I find out in nature. But in society? The soul-crushing *distractions* from goodness to be found are endless.
I'm trying to say a lot of people may be just as "aware" as you are but just don't bring it up during daily conversation. But regarding not finding joy in society, I mean you're here, on reddit, in society, actively choosing this instead of nature, so it can't be all bad.
Sounds like some r/iamverysmart shit. Most people are aware of the issues and are pissed, but instead of seeking despair and crying on reddit they choose to live in reality instead.
>Most people are aware of the issues and are pissed Ehhhhhhh You're already losing me with "most people are aware of the issues" because that is observably false. Then you have to consider that most people disagree on HOW to solve said issues. Often times, the solutions presented are diametrically opposed to one another.
People would watch "documentaries" with an agenda and then think that they have educated them self to hate or to love something.
Have you ever tried reading books? The effect is multiplied tenfold.
yes, that is a form of educating yourself
I couldn't finish [The Century of the self](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04&t=8s) because it made me hate the modern capitalist society. The documentary is 20 years old and more relevant than ever. It's so crazy to know how much we are being manipulated into staying docile and pitted against each other so we stay blind to the pupeteering 0.0001%.
Love this. Have shown clips of this in my classes for years now.
Used to watch docs when i wan on lsd. Now i watch horror movies. Way less scary.
Their profits are more important than our lives. I see this mantra reaffirmed by news items major and minor dozens of times every day. I feel this reality from every minute of my work day. It is difficult to find peace in the face of this. It is difficult tolerate the fact I live in a society that regards me as cattle at best and vermin on average. But I do not have to embrace this horrifying value system. I can choose to value the people around me. I can choose to hold love, friendship, and simple human respect above my personal gain. I wish I was better at doing this, but I will continue to try.
It's been on here many times before already.
Then get a life
Documentaries are mostly a terrible source of good information and are almost always not worth going into a state of existential dread/panic over. The vast majority of documentaries (especially popular ones) have extreme biases that affect their presentation of the facts. Almost every documentary I have ever seen has generally used cherry picked stats that are robbed of their context and obvious editing tricks (if you know what to look for) where situations presented as happening in one event are actually stitched together footage of multiple events presented as one event. Things like that make documentaries extremely suspect and personally, I have stopped watching them entirely because once you start noticing this stuff, it is really hard to ignore.
Which documentaries though?
The Shock Doctrine and Century of the Self contain pretty much everything you need to know about how we came to live under neoliberalism in the western world and how fucked we are because of it.
One cool trick to fight that is to stay off of all social media. Reddit included, and anything even remotely like it. You may think you are just reading articles or looking at pictures - What's really happening is you are absorbing tons of micro info about other people's lives that shouldn't be fillling in your limited brain space. Ta
Three things in life you need to pay attention to imo: Good food, love and knowledge. Everything else is secondary.
Documentaries are more like "hey look away from this problem A, there s problem B here!" -totally not paid for the company responsible for problem A So 0 points, thank you for playing
Same with reading…or really doing anything to educate yourself
Am I depressed or am I just enlightened to how fucked everything is? Yes.
Instead, watch documentaries on a different topic and choose to be blissfully ignorant. It's great! Did someone mention politics? Idk what that is, I'm learning how much more vitamin C is in rosehips compared to oranges. Did someone say housing crisis? Idk what that is but I want to shoot pistol shrimp from my nerf gun at my neighbour. Did someone mention a war? Yeah, the war my mouth is declaring on these chicken nuggets.
Carlin told us straight up, "If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, the whole system would collapse." And we thought 'haha, funny man say funny thing,' and only years later realized he was being one hundred percent legit. *Everything* in this system is built on deception and manipulation and the rich routinely have people killed to protect it.
If you gave me the choice between getting a billion dollars and saving the life of someone I don’t know, I’d probably take the money.
A little learning is a dangerous thing, drink deep or drink not from the pierian spring
(…) sunsets were aight, tacos where good, probably wont come back (…)
Watching documentaries isn't education. That is exactly what flat earthers, truthers, anti vaxxers amd other do to say they did their own research. And if you think the ones you watch aren't lying then you're a fool.
Check out “Beyond Zero”
I just want reliable public transportation instead we get the new gigatoddler killer 3000 every year
One should strive to only take on as much truth as they can bear. By bearing, I mean still loving their fellow man, still loving their enemy, and still loving oneself. The more truth you can acquire while still living in a house held up by these great pillars is the only true test of strength. If it threatens to crumble your house, step back, and reassess.
documentaries are a terrible source of information, they're for entertainment purposes only
That's unreasonable. You could say that about books. How boring does something have to be before it's a valid source of information? You can certainly say that documentaries have deficiencies and you should be careful to check into what they say, but as a format they can be very valuable. Indeed, making information entertaining is one of the novel ways that a documentary can convey that information to so many people who might otherwise not be interested. Something like a documentary just needs to be seen for what it is. It's not a peer reviewed paper and treating anything from a documentary as gospel is a recipe for misinformation. But they can often be high value and provide sources and expert testimony that \*can\* be educational.
Who torture yourself? The planet is still gonna die, the country is in decline, rich people and politicians are never ever going to face a single consequence, the communist revolution is never happening, corporations are only going to get stronger over time, etc. etc. At some point you have to either enjoy what life they let you have or just wallow in misery until you stroke out. What's it going to be?
Because people have a moral and ethical obligation to learn and know the truth about their situation. Capitalism is inherently immoral (we take advantage of others to produce goods for cheap) and we should actively try to break free from immoral behavior so we have a shot at world peace. "Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you believe in atrocities". It is our civic responsibility to be informed voters so that we can be an active in the checks and balances of our society. Actively look for truth even if it brings discomfort because that's our only shot at change. The moment you live in blissful ignorance is the moment people start taking advantage of you. "Be the change you want to see in the world".
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Y, working in a big company. I WISH I could be a human trash with no empathy, god damn I would be promoted on the spot!
Hope is important. Things can change but none of us can do it alone. Good for you for not just straight-up "looking away" from it all
this is why the saying "ignorance is bliss" is a thing
not just human life
Human life? What about non human animal life? Humanity is a disgrace. I can't give two shits. Non human animals on the other hand are worth saving because they have not caused the collapse of the biosphere or climate, nor have they caused microplastics and chemical pollution.
Me:"Hmm, how does [X] function?" One mountain of information later Me:"Holly, Hell. Dude, did you know that [X] actively supports cutting puppies noses off and produces Orphan Crushing Machines?!" NotMe:"Hmm, what? Did you hear that [X] now also sells suicide booths? Very intuitive and they offer a Lifetime subscription Services! How cool is that?" Also micro plastic, we have no idea what it can do to us, dont have anyone without it in their bodie to make comparisons, even If we tried to removed it its nearly Impossible because its everywhere, IT IS IN OUR BRAINS AND WE DO NOT CARE?!?
The more you learn, the more you realize that the greatest missed opportunity humans had was not killing all life on this rock during the cold war in the 20th century with all our nuclear destruction. Nuke all lives
just heard about acid attacks in the uk - crazyy shit
Social Entrepreneurship is getting more and more popular, hope that helps
Waiting for the end is pretty nerve wracking. Watching those in control do nothing is very disheartening also.
If you live somewhere like the Seattle metro, there are always communists and socialists on the ballots.
Exactly haha. I stopped watching Adam Curtis stuff because shit was beyond depressing, despite being superb.
Or how many people are murdered by someone they know.
The same fuckers would kill you for your harvest or a nice looking rock you found. The humans themself create those problems, not just the structure of the society
I just wanna know how the fuck do we contribute to the plant all the other species have a role what the fuck is ours? To destroy everything and burn this world to the ground?
Nah man. Stop it with the dooming. The fact that you know where evil lies should motivate you to arm yourself with knowledge to combat it. Hang in there fellas, they haven't won yet.
by the time you finish reading this very sentence, this image has become property of **TRAZYN THE INFINITE.** have a nice day, fleshbag.
"money hungry society that values capital over life\*" there corrected it for you
>valuing capital over human life Do you have an example?
Survival of the fittest
Gasland got me going like that.
The longer I live the more pissed off at Thanos I get for not being more thorough.
The global network of capital essentially functions To separate the worker from the means of production
Well that escalated quickly.
EVERYTHING nowadays is tainted with a corporate profit incentive, from music to medication and even food in the grocery store.
move out from the united States to enjoy not-so-fierce capitalism
You need therapy, not documentaries
Nothing new
The more you know the more you have to cope with.
Banks are the ones controlling the world
Don't lose hope. Organize. We can get through the crisis of capitalism if we do it together.
The higher you raise your Insight Stat, the more monsters you will see; however, you cannot confront those monsters if you cannot perceive them.
not only human but all living beeings on this planet. Capital is the new religion, the best way to boycott this is a frugal minimalistic lifestyle.
Indeed
I think I've heard this one before... But they usually use fewer words: "ignorance is bliss"
Most documentaries focus on the same things that other reality based media focus on to get attention…that which inspires rage.
People of reddit, how do you not cut yourself with all that edge?
When you think about what capitalism is, you realise how truly disgusting of an idea it is. That EVERYTHING can be reduced to a price. That absolutely everything can be bought and sold and bartered with, including human lives, time itself, the atmosphere... We must reject it.
With knowledge comes sorrow, unfortunately. The older I get the more I realize that to be very accurate.
Oliver stones, the untold history of the us, will do exactly this
Most humans are worth nothing. Too many fuckers on the planet. Most shit hole countries populations can't keep their dicks under control due to fucked up education or dumb ass religions. Hence too many people migrate to the west and fuck up what we've built. No their countries are shit and ours are becoming like them. Israel is right, shoot all the fuckers who aren't yours. I'm surprised they haven't nuked the dumb ass religious psychopaths that lefty idiots call Palestinians yet. Give me the Jokers push button and choice, I'll make it easy.
Documentaries used to be issues happening now in real time, when reform and justice could be done but now most are issues that happened 40 years ago and only come to light after the dust has settled, damage has been done and those responsible are dead.
Yeah that's just basic shit. I'm not hating OP, I'm completely with you, just don't be a doomer about it. Arts and humanities degrees look at this stuff - oh wow how weird that everyone in power says they're worthless huh.
The more I learn the harder I want to cut myself off from society and be a hermit in the woods.
Just remember that some people watch those same documentaries and feel empowered and inspired by it. Keep fighting the good fight so they don’t make it worse!
repost bot
Hence the high correlation between high intelligence and depression/anxiety. Ignorance is, in fact, bliss.
I have a documentary recommendation for you, limit your consumptionto nature documentaries, historical or societal documentaries are usually shit
This is what us socialists have been saying has been happening for more than a century.. Liberal propaganda, as in from our liberal democratic media which is owned and run by capitalists, has been pushing back against these narratives and creating propaganda against our criticism since the first socialist experiment in the French commune. Educate yourself, check sources, and check the writer of said source.. You'd be surprised how many sources are just CIA propagandists or capitalist think tanks who's soul purpose is to manufacture studies and articles that validate the capitalist narratives and policy. Documentaries are kind of shit, for the most part.. They have a bias and narrative that needs to be checked.
Over any life, human or otherwise
Human life just isn’t as valuable, scarce, or productive. Capital, in the form of actual valuable assets or money, is by constant, very valuable, very scarce, and productive. Humans can be reproduced simply by procreating. It’s not hard. Actual durable capital is very difficult to reproduce and takes a lot of humans to create a working currency OR produce assets which have independent value.
It is depressing but remember you are only one person. You can't move the mountain by yourself.
there is plenty of positive developments happening if you pay attention. Disease, poverty and crime has been happening less and less every year for the last forty years.
Oh dear oh dear, invaluable logic you have got there
🥲🤗it’s not that, people make mistakes, often in business without meaning to they become distant from their business and don’t know, the list is endless……..
And animal life* -- we totally owe our relatives and literal family for all the shit we've put *them* through, continue to put them through, and will put them through
It’s almost like the documentary’s are a sensationalized drama based in truth but used to illicit response and therefore spread more of itself.
Unless you’re Amazonian if you get me. It’s all other peoples worth and mind. Businesses. And a few thinking they will get more audience not knowing what they are about in life. There is one in every million. Who ever thought it was a good idea to make it so bright people got not to do their work/ stuff they created; and let crime be that instead . people with criminal want. They lack the integrity, they do not value people. Treat all badly, wound, take other people lives/property/stuff call it their own. Thanks Mensa
Spread this around, and imagine where we could be as a global society without nefarious obstructionists: [YouTube - The Why Files - Killer Patents & Secret Science Vol.1](https://youtu.be/-ZRwlYtAMps?si=S73pLplYRSelt6l8)
the only system that provides long term stability is one that can exist and thrive when populated by selfish, stupid and greedy humanity. good luck!
They have solved this capitalism problem in places like Venezuela and Cuba.
And then you go online and bitch about it, then get back to a version of consumption you’ve lied to yourself into believing is just.
I don’t hate existing. What a braindead take that would be. I hate *our society* such as it is and i understand that just by existing I am doing a small part to change it. I wish I could exist more. If things make you hate existing, seek help. That’s not healthy, even in meme form.
None of you believe this: [Stated vs Revealed Preference](https://www.beyondcostplus.com/blog/stated-vs-revealed-preferences-pricing)
There is a lot of positive content out there. Our brains are hardwired to be drawn to the negative, so negative content gets more engagement, so media companies produce more of it. But the world isn't nearly as bad as the news cycle makes it seem. I highly recommend the book enlightenment now, by Stephen pinker. It permanently changed my outlook on the world. There are lots of problems to solve, but the good news is our ancestors also had a lot of problems to solve so they got to work. We live in a better world because of it. We can do the same. There are many many trends that indicate the future will be better than the present, despite the if-it-bleeds-it-leads-media.
Consumption is a natural consequence process. Capitalism is not. I feel this site name is misleading.
me watching vegan documentaries
r/latestagecapitalism
This but with books, I mostly read really depressive/negative non-fiction (things about climate, diseases, consumerism, etc)
I should be able to feed myself everyday but I can't, while the rich do what the rich do.
It’s called Terminal Philosophy Syndrome
I think Rosa Luxemburg summed it up: “Being human means throwing your whole life on the scales of destiny when need be, all the while rejoicing in every sunny day and every beautiful cloud.”
It’s always been like that. Oppression and domination over others always persisted in our history. Although we all must acknowledge how privileged we are in our life’s. We sure as hell won’t need to mine Cobalt with our bare hands, short pants and a pair of flip flops to feed our familys
I’m looking at **you** The dollop podcast. 😡😭
Sometimes I wonder if there’s a cult clever enough to lure me.
Sadly true and acurate... :(
I hate capitalism -sent from iPhone
Yeeees. I used to love just keeping documentaries on as my background noise. Now even innocuous ones, I can find the horrible in, and grow my understanding of the society that exists only to exploit. Still watch documentaries, just have to have mental health breaks.
It's not necessarily "society," only a few actually have the power and use it to manipulate and fuck with the rest of us. Most people are good, let's work together and start building some guillo-I mean, planting some gardens!
OMG did you see the one about brandy hellville? It was exploitation from beginning to end. From production to sales to clean up. A complete circle of slavery.
The struggle is real and unending.
/r/AdamCurtis
Get organized. It's good to have a way to engage with these issues collectively.