welcome to depression

It’s not as bad as certain media would have you believe.

Don’t get me wrong, I am far, far from entertained by the shit-show south of us and by the very serious issues that exist worldwide. As a whole though, I think there is room for optimism. Not blind faith and not “damn, we are doing so great!” but optimism. People are still capable of amazing things and while things do seem dark and the narrative paints every challenge as unwinnable, remember that this the intention of groups that want things broken. Them saying so doesn’t make it so however.

I’m an old cynic but shit’s still not as bad as it seems.

Social, political, and economic collapse — slow and silent though it may be — is a grinding affair. More supports propping up business as usual and more masks for the orphan-crushing machine that is “progress” make the process more palatable, acceptable, and forgettable.

Those orphaned parts of society, those being crushed, were once institutions. They are replaced with commodities. As Trevor Noah recently said, we are being forced to “buy back the village.” Homes, carers, community events and spaces are all commodities now. Or, they are online where the data can be mined.

So, what to do? Fantasize about a future without an orphan-crushing machine. Complain online to an audience who already agrees. Recede from the world and watch it burn. I dont want a world that looks like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. It doesnt end well for Sam Lowry.

I have done/am doing all of these things. They’re the options available. I’m also teaching a high school class that fights against this dismay in the next generation. I’m pushing them to be made of sterner stuff. It’s not going well. There are a few who are building with me. There are a few more who seem like they were born giving in to the inevitable dreck. So, teaching keeps me going. Maybe, one day, I’ll do something else.

I have a misguided belief that I will survive this churn and be the chronicle of the misanthropic present. No benefits in that post-apocalyptic role.

I content myself to think that there is light and hope and strength in the places where people suffer the most. In Gaza, in Guatemala, in Ukraine, in Bangladesh, and in Congo; there are people who are good to each other, who support each other, and who treat each other with kindness.

If my problems are rising food and living costs where they have no food and no place to live, I can bear this for a while longer. If my problems are environmental, political, and social malaise and corruption, I have a power to act they can’t exercise — so I must.

The job of humanity is not pleasure — it is pain favouring own purposes. We find small jewels of pleasure along the way. If we’re lucky, we find others who share their strengths with us and we can enjoy our jewels together. Maybe that’s why I’m here, writing this, now.

Hmm. Do you want to be argued with on the details that aren’t actually that bad, do you want to receive some lifestyle advice, or is it enough to know that someone read this, you have been heard, and while we’re alone, we’re alone together?

Some things that helped me:

• online isn’t reality
• getting organized with a few people and volunteers helps a lot. It doesn’t need to be protests or direct action, something simple like mutual aid, food drives, meeting people can really flip the switch
• focusing on the good that does exist, because it’s there, whether it’s something small amongst friends or little victories here and there.

My therapist also says 2 things - 1) if it’s too big of a problem, break it down to manageable things. 2) if it’s too big that you can’t do anything about, then it’s better to focus your attention on things you can change.

Also, the world was always shit, and waaayyy worse. We’re just blasted by how bad it is 24/7.

I feel this. But also, you aren’t the only one in your community feeling like this. And you aren’t wrong, there is a lot of horror out there. But there are also a -lot- of people who give a shit, and we need to talk to each other more, face to face. We need to be building movements locally and having more of a shared understanding.

I want you to organize a barbecue with your neighbors, start a club, join a band, listen to the middle aged poet at open mic, whatever it is, and start listening to people around you. You have more in common with them than you think, and as a group, you can level each other out, enjoy life, and maybe even help steer the boat away from the iceberg, just a lil bit 🤏

I hear ya. Lookit - step one, log off. Step two, get a good book or a project of some kind that doesn’t need any internet.

Step three: a very good beverage. I recommend a good root beer, but anything you like will work.

Finally, enjoy the beverage. It’s good. Good exists all over, it’s just not in feeds. Simple joys, y’know. Take ‘em. They’re everywhere.

Live locally and try your best to ignore the constant flood of information/disinformation from that internet beast that has put a chokehold on the truth and exists to get hate-clicks for money. I find that helping others gives me a good feeling of belonging to something human and not just be bandied about by “tech bros” and their overlords, who have no values that compare to the rest of society.

This was so me the past 5 years; doom spirally, no hope, escapism. It took the government black-bagging my neighbors during their commutes to kick me out of it. No one from up-top is going to help, but if you look to your real-world neighbors, I’d be surprised if you didn’t find a bounty empathy and solidarity beneath the layers of fear and desperation. Over here, things are extreme, but Canada and the UK are disturbingly close to joining Nazi Bell End Land too.

Ironically, this year has been the most hope I’ve felt in decades. Thousands over here have realized you don’t need to wait for someone to give you orders to start acting; you can… just do it. Grass-root networks are tracking our vulnerable, getting them legal counsel, and raising mutual aid funds for their families; neighbors are going out of their way to form new bonds, potlucks are becoming common; I live in an area with a lot of local farms and backyard gardens–we’re starting to collaborate and may be able to become a food independent neighborhood; potential pathway to become energy independent with solar and microgrids as well; there’s an ongoing campaign to curtail landlord abuses with a long-term goal of tenant owned properties; people showing up in mass to town halls and actually succeeding in getting our mayors to act; mass adoption of encrypted communication; and FOSS is gradually normalizing.

There’s a lot of hope out there, just don’t expect to see it broadcast. Shout out to all the mothers out there; you all have the least amount of time, but are still the backbone and brains to our communities.

8 months ago, I told myself I’d never comment on the Fediverse again, but I feel the need to after reading your post. Your recent post and comment history is honestly concerning.

Taking a break from arguing about politics online has been amazing for my own mental health. I highly recommend ignoring all social media and news sites for a little while. At least give it a try before doing the whole violent revolution thing!

We keep electing wolves in sheep’s clothing who win our votes on fake promises to help us then turn against us and double down on policies that make life more difficult and increase our level of misery.

You’re expecting a perfect candidate. This is not how politics works. You need to reject the worst party at every turn until they’re dead, and the window shifts a little more toward “dispensing collected resources as per the wishes of the people” kind of management. It’s not gonna happen overnight.

But if you’re suggesting it’s all fucked regardless of whom we elect, then I suspect you’re in one of those areas who get gaslit a LOT and are used to politicians immediately going back on everything after the election. Lougheed wasn’t the first and he definitely wasn’t the last. I bet you don’t have a coastline.

Right now, voting is more “harm reduction” than “great strides”, even if the latter’s required. We’re just not getting that kind of leader, so our choice is between “harm reduction” and “faux-ristocracy”.

At least we can protest the one we got over the idiot idea of the week.

I feel the same way all the time. I don’t have a real solution but something that helps me cope is having friends who support me and vice-versa. We hang out pretty much every weekend and try do fun things. If someone needs help there’s almost always one or more of us who’re happy to head out and assist however we can. It doesn’t help with the broader societal problems but it does give me something nice to think about looking forward to whatever we have coming up and knowing there are people who care about me and have my back. Together we can just try and make the best of it.

Now hear you here, you hear? You are being very negative I think, and feeling bad about how bad shit is. And I wanted to let you know that yeah I came to basically the more or less same conclusion over decades and you are right we’re not going to make it everything is fucked and we are past the point of no return, and we are all going to die either violently or in pain and despair and the best we have to hope for is for it to be as quick as possible, besides that no notes.

I guess it was much worse in the past. It’s just that nowadays you get a lot of information.

Rise. Get organized. Yell it from the rooftops.

If I weren’t so fucked physically, I’d be out there screaming this in intersections.