We haven't even made it to January 20 (Trump inauguration). We already have major fires in our second largest city, terrorist attacks, talk of invading Greenland/Panama/Canada. almost no one talking about what we really need to do to cut carbon. Hospitals are full in my area and people talk about washing hands, but not about masking. I am already so weary. I don't know what is going to happen after January 21.
I've been sick for six weeks so all of January has been an endless round of trying to work, not being able to work, and going to the doctor for another note for work. I might have atypical whooping cough and am waiting for results. I do not have a cough but my immunologist friend tells me the spectrum of symptoms is wide, and it doesn't always include coughing. I am vaccinated of course. But yeah, 14 days of January of not being able to talk above a whisper is fun.
I found it a lot more peaceful once I started filtering out certain word combinations that indicate a ragebait bullshit headline. I considered just filtering out "trump", but I want actual news to come through, so here's the list:
..and repeat the list for Musk and Vance. Those verbs target the nothingburger headlines only meant to attract clicks. Basically, we learned 9 years ago that he says loads of stupid shit that doesn't deserve a headline. I might be interested if he signs something.
We need an AI agent that filters out all news articles that are just people flapping their pie-holes, whether that be the President-elect, or Twitter randos.
“Goes to war with” might not be a great idea to filter on, because that fuckin imbecile will very probably start an actual war with a country that can hit back, now that he’s emptying out all of the career + nonpolitical people in the state department, DoD, and alphabet agencies who stopped him from doing that last time.
My apologies if you happen to be a SLAMS/BLASTS/BREAKS HIS SILENCE bot and are just following your programming. It's just beyond tiresome because we know. We fucking know. It's a lazy and hyperbolic headline filler. But now we have lazy headline writing followed up with a lazy comment pointing out that the former is lazy.
And it's starting to break my mind in the same way "This" did on Reddit.
One more apology for me being bitchy tonight. It's not so much this comment, but every single identical one that came before it.
Focus on what you can control is pretty cliche advice, but it really is all you can do in situations like this. Something I've started doing is a "news diet" where I sit down on Monday and basically skim through the last week of political news. Then I just try and ignore political news as much as possible until the next Monday. It's not a perfect system, but it helps deal with the fire hose style news coverage the media gives to Trump.
This should be taught honestly. You can be a good person and want positive change without making everything your concern. It’s called compassion fatigue.
To my recollection, this feeling happens every January. I've seen posts like this for years and years. January is known as the most depressing month. Many people fast from alcohol, maybe fast from media til 1st Feb? I don't know if it'll make you feel good. It might make you feel less bad?
Once that inauguration is through, I am not going to pay a lick of attention to media. I'd like to not hear about Trump, I will skim over his name and to give anyone an idea as to how much I avoid Trump, I mute any video/audio before a word is uttered from that shitty mouth of his.
People need to understand that they don't control everything and everything is out of their control in some cases, like the wildfires. It's a tragic event, yes, but things are going about as they can be in such a time.
If I get too wrapped up in everything going around me that I have no control in and how the media loves to shove a particular individual or a group of corrupted individuals down my throat, life will look ten times miserable.
I'm waging a tiny, ineffectual protest whereby I almost never say his name, and avoid mentioning him at all whenever possible. It's never a good idea to give a raging narcissist the attention they crave. It's an interesting writing challenge, and makes me feel a little better, at least.
Well, I’ve had a bad case of the flu. It slow-walked through my family over the entirety of winter break, but I got it last and it’s mostly down to sniffles and a hoarse voice.
…. But somehow it turned into a relaxing time, letting me recharge. I still had nowhere near enough sick time to take but I spent the last week working from home and mostly taking it easy. I even got enough sleep some of those nights
Gotta focus on what you personally have control over. We can't directly influence the way other people behave, especially those we don't know. Refocus on how you can help (and be helped by) people in your own community and you will feel much better.
If you're not sure where to start just do an internet search for "mutual aid [your city/region]" and show up to an in-person event. That should get the ball rolling.
Carbon has never been a winning election issue. If anyone cared they would know that Harris would have carried on Biden's green energy. But it was the price of eggs and "it's the economy stupid" that won the election. No one will touch it in the next election either because the Dems learned all that matters is the economy. Do the math, in 4 years it won't be touched, then another 8 year cycle, means the soonest it may be run on is in 12 years. If Dems win they will focus on fixing everything from trump first, all you'll get is some stuff around the edges. (Inb4 Lemmy's famous misreading, I want it, but I know that no one will touch it because it loses them every election.)
Don't read too much bad news, it's bad for the general mood. But still expect everything to go to hell, because it absolutely will, and sooner than anticipated. But you can still enjoy some amount of non-hellish time. And then make some preparations for an upcoming fascist government, rising crime/vandalism, and for climate change hitting everywhere with full force. Existing systems might not stay functional. Start building up local communities to support each other. Make the best of any situation and make forward-looking decisions. Don't despair, but also don't have false hopes. It will get much worse before it will get any better.
The internet and the comments on these articles are not real life. Go live your life and if problems arise. You can deal with them then. No sense in worrying.
Chronically online people cannot grasp just how "normal" most every day of their lives will continue to be regardless of who is sitting in the oval office.
Obviously I know there will be effects on many people, but for the grand majority of Americans their daily life will continue on without much change as it did through the first Trump term and the Biden term.
The Republicans cried that Obama was going to ruin the nation both terms. The Democrats are terrified Trump will somehow end this country this time around when they lived through his first term just fine.
Basically whichever party loses acts like a cat that can suddenly see the bottom of their food bowl and they think they are gonna die.
Super duper duper not a religious person but one of my favorite pieces of literature is the serenity prayer. You cut out the last like 6 lines and it doesn't even mention shit about God but the rest perfectly outlines my approach to politics, everyday idiots, and not kicking little kids in the chest when they act like shitbags. (Discussion for another time but as of this comment I am batting 1000 for correcting child misbehaviors via swift kick to the chest vs kids who were given timeout after misbehaving lol /s)
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Its a horrible truth but life has not, is not and never will be fair. You will be beat down, fucked over, robbed, disrespected and overwhelmingly discouraged by what life throws at you. Life is a battle and victory is having the strength to continue fighting. When life is at its darkest, that is when you must be at your best.
Trump is going to be the greatest thing that happened to the planet. It has been promised that he will plunge the US into another series of crisises, estrange the US' closest geopolitical allies, and help the world wake up to the fact that the US is not #1. That the US is dangerous and shouldn't be a template to copy. That new alliances have to be forged and the US monetary hegemony broken.
With any luck, it'll rattle the lazy corpses in that country to finally do something to fix their broken system. Maybe people will realise that Bernie's words weren't just addle-brained mutterings from a communist-infested mind, but that he and many others speak the truth. Maybe enough people will want to rewrite the constitution and get rid of "winner takes all" vote counting, reduce the power of the president, add an age limit to governmental jobs, and so much more.
Things have to get worse before they get better for people to learn, because unless they aren't affected, they have a hard time understanding.