sanity_is_maddening

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You’re in the awful moment after college. I’m 40 and this happened to anyone I know as well. Older people than me will tell you the same. It really sucks.

So, I’m gonna give a few suggestions where you don’t have to spend any money and don’t involve clubbing, which is not cheap either.

Plenty of group activities don’t cost anything and are the most fulfilling…

Just one quick note. Don’t concern yourself too much with age groups. People are organised by age groups in school. Everywhere else the organisation is mutual interests or common goals. And then you’ll go there and find people of all ages.

So…

Find projects of your interest where you can volunteer.

If you like animals, give some of your time to local animal shelters and animal associations.

If you want to give Nature a hand, volunteer to go plant trees on the weekend, plenty of groups outthere always asking for more to come.

Check the activities at your local library, most of them are state funded and free of charge to participate in.

The same goes for Cultural Associations. Plenty of them have state funded events that are free of charge to attend.

There are also amateur groups that you can join. Just find anything of your liking. If you like to draw, almost any place has a “drink and draw” event or an Urban Sketchers group. Nobody will care if you don’t consume at these events. And if you think you can’t draw, nobody cares. People of all levels of skill show up. I know this because I go to them and nobody cares how well you draw. As long as you like drawing, looking at drawings or watching people drawing you’re always welcomed at them.

If drawing is not of your interest but you like singing, there’s for sure an amateur singing group near you. My girlfriend met a group of funny and energetic elderly ladies this way. She loves their company. And nobody young or old is there to make it to a stage. They just enjoy singing and each other’s company.

If you don’t like singing but you play an instrument, plenty of Jam sessions around and in some the musicians that play don’t pay for their drinks. And the ones where they do, you can just not consume anything. They know you’re there to play. But there’s a few who even pay some musicians to be there. It’s a matter of finding out.

There’s dancing groups.

There’s film clubs.

There’s book clubs.

There’s poetry gatherings. A lot of the poetry there will be awful and that’s fine. It’s part of the charm.

And the reason why I know of all these events I suggested so far is because I go to them and I even help organise some of them with two of my local cultural associations. The next event I’m helping out on is an Animation festival that is now in its fourth annual edition. Although not all, some of the screenings are free. But the ones that aren’t are dirt cheap anyways.

These are some examples, there are so many more. And in almost if not all of them you’ll find people of all ages, including yours and younger.

Don’t go out looking for a romantic partner. Go look for a community. You’re also more likely to find a partner in a community of people anyway.

While you were in school, you were in a secluded and rigid environment.

Welcome to the shit.

Where everyone is as clueless as you probably think you are.

I wish more people thought like you.

And I wish I gave answers as swift and succinct as yours. I wrote a reply that is too looooong. Yours is better.

Well, the DVDs and Blu-rays do not have to be of American media, but if they are, they can be of the several European special boutiques and distributors that can merely license the media you specifically care for. Although I’m sure that there are many American Filmmakers and artists we all still want to support and even increase visibility amongst the current circumstances. This allows one to have that level of targeting and to have specific and personal input, instead of just contributing to giant conglomerates that screw the artists out of fair revenue before moving to screw their costumers at every turn, which is what streaming services are and do.

With physical media, one can also borrow or lend amongst each other at leisure, check them for free from libraries or buy them second hand. This is also about cultural sovereignty and increases the resiliency in communities when it comes to culture. And in times of instability and economic hardship it becomes even more necessary.

Media is like anything else, the more people owning it the better. We don’t want culture to be in the hands of just a few. That is the wrong direction for everything.

But I’m suspect because I’ve never stopped this habit and I prefer European cinema and World Cinema to American in the first place.

I also enjoy going to screenings in my local cineclub. There’s a wonderful sense of community and great discussions to have. And it’s so much cheaper and fulfilling than going to the Multiplex which is impersonal and encourages mindlesness.

If you’re more into TV series, the U.S. does have the monopoly of interest. But I assume this is much more about visibility and a failure of venues to publicise TV series of other places. The absence of TV Series Festivals like Film Festivals that can obtain visibility for them is partially the answer that is missing. But I still remember the craze with the Scandinavian output, which had hits like “Forbrydelsen” (The Killing) or Bron (The Bridge), and both got American Remakes that were quite disappointing in comparison. But the biggest hit that came out of that was probably Borgen. Wonderful show.

But even in English, I much prefer to watch shows coming out of Britain than the U.S. And with BBC, you only need a VPN to access their shows and documentaries for free. It’s public domain there. If you are from the U.k. than this is an unnecessary step.

Some people have suggested that we should push the E.U. to start a streaming service that would make content created by European Public owned Networks and Radiostations available to all countries in the EU for free. It’s already free. It just needs distribution. It’s a great idea. Although the BBC is Brittish and therefore not EU, a deal could probably still be achieved to include them.

Anyway, I will still always suggest for anyone to not get too stuck in algorithmic suggestions of Cinema, Music and Art in General. It gets stale, and doesn’t force us to challenge ourselves in any form and in any new directions. Part of the problem we have in civilization right now is precisely stemming from this lack of broadening personal horizons and challenging individual perceptions that comes with the feedback loop that algorithms reinforce and cause the so called “bubbles” and “echo chambers” that so many like to point out, but so very few actually enjoy breaking out of.

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I want to add that some of us went through this over here…

https://vger.app/profile/piefed.social/c/europe@feddit.org/comments/1069662

Yes! Thank you! I’ve been shouting this for over a decade.

And I keep saying that Gamergate should’ve been the moment to take notice of this. Even yesterday I included this in another comment. That was the gate that opened this flood. And that should’ve been the moment to shut down algorithmic incentive for engagement. People shrugged and moved on. Then came Snowden trying to warn everyone of the consolidation of power. People shrugged and moved on. Then it came the Cambridge Analytica Scandal. People shrugged and moved on.

There’s that phrase… “we always have the world we deserve”. I used to rebel against this statement. But I find myself agreeing with it more and more over time. I still don’t like it as a blank statement though. Too many don’t deserve the outcomes of it.

Thank you for the correction and the very good news in just one go.

And I apologise if I misrepresented the Australian national identity in the process. That wasn’t my intention. And it’s always good to know that this brand of populism is unpopular in some countries.

No, you’re not wrong. Someone else has also corrected me.

Apparently Dutton even lost his sit.

So, good news on that front at least.

I missed that one. Thank you for sharing it. The fact that they have the “wellness” as a spin is the really fucked up part. So…“Wellness camps” is how they’re going to sell the same thing like the “los indeseados” in Cuba. At least Fidel was honest in naming the nonsense he unleashed, I guess.

Is this a warning? I hope most of you have spotted this sooner than this article seems to have, because this has been going on for quite a while.

There’s even been articles uncovering far right groups financing influencers and youtubers as a way to sever through culture.

And I keep saying that “Gamergate” was the true opening of that avenue into the mainstream almost a decade and a half ago. That was the time to spot it. By the time that “kermit the frog impersonator” and the “no chin alpha” showed up on the public radar, the problem was already unfolding wide and around for a while.

And I have a suspicion that what started Gamergate was just some good old sport trolling that then turned into… well… the opening of the gates of hell.

Obviously that I have no way to confirm this.

But I still have some fun imagining those who were indeed just trolling for some dumb fun back then, now aged with their scruffy beard and hair greying, holding their knees in a fetal position muttering to themselves “What did I do?”- and yes, it’s kind of fucked that I find that funny.

But I also keep saying the same thing over and over…

This is not just an American problem. This is everywhere.

If you disagree, I suggest you take a stroll through Europe…

You can start with Portugal, and the ridiculousness with the party Chega and its circus of followers, moving next to Spain with Vox and their own clown show, then France and don’t tell me you haven’t even heard of Marine Le Pen. Just take a look up from their to Britain with good old Brexit and the tumour Nigel Farage with the cancer that is Reform. What about Italy? Anyone thinking that Georgia Meloni snuck up on Europe must’ve been in a coma during the Berlusconi years, because the orange blob as president is just a terrible American remake of that Italian classic. And Germany, did it elude anyone the fact that AFD scored the second place in the elections and is even polling in first now, apparently? I could keep going, but we should stop before we get to the Balkans, right?

“Well, that’s just Europe and the U.S. then.”

What about Australia, with Peter Dutton and the crazy brand of fascism they have going down under? Or Canada and what the hell is even Pierre Polievre who was all set to win? Yes, these two did lose but not by much and the type of fuel they ran on is still there to burn.

This is a problem that is everywhere. And what creates this madness is that there are grifters who are willing to say whatever it takes, that take problems that affect almost everyone except the elite class, but then single their message across to a particular subset of the public which is too uneducated to understand the rest of the conversation that everyone is trying to have. And because the indignation is something that so many others can join in on when there’s so much to feel angry towards, the menace spreads wider as a result of a compromise to meet the end they desire.

But this second wave of rage that joins in has the logic that if there’s things that need fixing in one’s household, the best is to burn the house down, apparently.

And the really sad part is none of this is new.

Socrates thought that elections were too important to be handed to a general public which was too ignorant to understand its functioning or its true value. And who was it that believed that there was a need for a lie to “deceive” the population into doing the decent thing? I can’t remember which of them said that. (If you do, please do tell) But that was what many found religion to be the method to accomplish it. As ludicrous as that might sound.

It’s just the same loop of the revolt of the idiots. “My pain is truer than yours” type of nonsense.

On and on.

But if anyone knows how to make the arrogant humble and the idiot know their idiocy, please do tell.

Because you would’ve made the greatest discovery in human history that would break this seemingly never-ending loop.

Uh, and what is this we’re on right now?

Not to mention Mastodon, Pixelfed federating with Mastodon already, Friendica, Peertube etc…

The powers that be don’t like the Fediverse. It’s not possible to control and averts direct monetization. They know that if it keeps growing, it keeps reverting the internet back to its initial potential that was stolen from all of us. They don’t like that.

Remember when the internet was a good thing and not the gated hell that it is? I do. If you don’t, they’d like to keep it that way.

They don’t want the general population to know that the internet can be from everybody to everybody. Then people might ask for tax funding to go to server maintenance to be cheaper or even better free to anyone who would want to use it. Like a highway? Yes? Remember when that was one of the analogies for the internet? The building of new highways that would connect us all?

“We can tax fund highways instead of gates and tolls” - they can hear it already. And oh they don’t like that. Not one bit.

They want American Social Media, but you know, European. The same but ours.

But if it mimics theirs it will be just as terrible, regardless of where it comes from. Look at how the U.S. is imploding. Does it matter the social media is “theirs”?

“But the E.U. has better regulations and will do a better job.”

Do we want the folks that brought us a hit like Troika to be in charge of the entirety of the platforms in which their direct citizens can express themselves? Do we want to give them direct influence to crush dissidence? Have we learn nothing?

Yes, I prefer the E.U to the U.S. The E.U. works better, because the countries that are part of it can actually check its influence. Well, when they can. But the true reason why the E.U. really works is because we have worse things to compare it to. And that is a terrible way to build a future.

We have to imagine a better version of the world if we’re to build it. And right now, we are in a sliver of the internet that shows that it is indeed possible. Regardless of odds and issues, it is possible.

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I’m not sure if the OP is trying to expose this article as an idiotic thing or not, but I can’t take this nothingness of an article seriously.

I’m 40 and I’m sure that I “gave” this supposed “stare” to both older and younger people several times this month alone. And we’re barely past midway through it.

Yes, it is smug and rude and most of the times uncalled for. But I don’t remember a time when this wasn’t around. I’ve given this look and received it since I’m able to remember existing. It’s not a generational feature, it’s not even a cultural one, as I’ve met people from all ages and places that do this my whole life.

And it’s not that the young are more rude, is that everyone is more rude now.

We all know that social exchanges took a turn for the worst since algorithmic social media really started to take off circa 2010, and it only got worse when everyone got locked with it as their only form of social exchange during covid lockdowns. This is not a GenZ problem, nor a U.S. problem, this is a problem for most people in most places now.

Blaming this on the young when they had no saying in establishing this mess and when they were obviously never in charge of any decisions that led us here is the typical nonsense to expect from the most idiotic reasoning of the establishment and legacy media.

“Oh, you know who we should blame for the shitty world we have? The people who were never in charge of anything and never had any saying in a single thing whatsoever. That’s who!!”

I’ve witnessed this nonsense too many times my entire life and I don’t know how people fall for something so easy to recognize as inconceivable. And not with just the youth. It’s always stupid to assign blame to the people with the least available agency in the room, or in the world.

And I hope you all catch it and stop it everytime someone is trying this nonsense in front of you.

This article deserves the very “stare” that is trying to attribute to GenZ. If they do indeed do it more than others, articles like this only re-enforce that they should keep doing it. Because it very much earns that reaction.

And how many people kept warning everyone of this and for how long?

I am a bit tired of the lack of foresight. In reactive vs proactive measures people only seem to understand reactive ones.

I’ve been telling people about the dangers of the lack of digital sovereignty, in relation to nations, communities and individuals for I don’t even know how long. As many many others have for even longer.

It’s as if one keeps telling someone to fix the fissures in the hull of their boat while on shore, but they only seem to understand what you mean when the boat is leaking through these same fissures at sea.

It’s only then that it starts to sink - pun very much intended.

By that point it’s too late. And the outcome might be a tragic one.

It’s the same with the environment.

It’s the same with their own health.

It’s the same with everything.

One doesn’t need to ponder about this for very long to pinpoint that this is because the absence of reference is what makes it harder to acknowledge it. Because one has a harder time understanding what one doesn’t have a frame of reference of, and then the subsequent dismissiveness ensues.

The great tragedy of all the proactive efforts is that when they are successful, something has been avoided, and therefore unseen.

We register rescue, not prevention.

And it’s only in the rescuing that the understanding of what could have been avoided starts to be perceived. Not everyone is like this, but most people seem to be.

But I don’t know how as one gets older, sees what might be a cliff ahead and finds only reasoning for a faint downslope.

And I no longer care to know if it is due to denial, laziness or ignorance anymore. Because I’m quite exhausted of this.

While I do share your deep frustration regarding how the attention scale tips a lot more for the frivolous in the face of calamity, I have to say the way you are commenting is just a good example of how to not communicate with others in behalf of a cause.

You could harness the enthusiasm of people for this cause and redirect their attention to other issues, by claiming that this is a good example in how we can indeed fight back against the many injustices that are reigned over us.

If you instead intend to belittle people into it, you’ll get nothing but what you are getting here, which is… well, you can see for yourself.

Not to mention that you might be successful in demotivating people even further.

I try to raise as much attention as I can to Permaculture and syntropy or the syntropic method, and try to promote movements such as Degrowth, Veganism, Zero Waste and I never shut up about Precision Fermentation. But there’s a reason why I don’t call myself an Environmentalist, a Vegan or a Zerowaster and so on… even though in practice I technically do practice all these things - well, not all, not Precision Fermentation because I don’t have the money or infrastructure to do it, otherwise I would, and that is why I probably can’t shut up about it. But I don’t use distinguishing labeling to describe myself that may generate a sense of otherness to others. There’s literally nothing different about me because I do or practice any single one of these things or all of them. Any person can choose to do any of them or all of them at any point, and the only obstacle might be that they didn’t have the knowledge as to how or they didn’t or don’t have time and support to learn it.

When fighting for the environment or fighting fascism (It’s literally the same fight against the capital influence that dictates these conditions because of the few that want to thrive at the cost of everything else), it needs to start with making people feel less alone in the face of it all, and then reaffirming their sense of belief that any difference that they can make is a difference worth making.

You’re doing quite the opposite here. And believe me when I tell you this. Because I am on your side. Even your feeling of anger and resentment is one I share when seeing the apathy and complacency in the people around me everyday. I just learned my lesson that the pessimistic attitude and outbursts got me nothing but alienation. And from time to time I still need someone to do the same for me as what I am doing here for you now, someone needs to snap me out of all the rage and loathing because it accomplishes exactly the opposite of what I want to happen in the world.

I apologise if my very long message feels condescending, or if it makes you feel like telling me to go fuck myself. If it does, remember this… I’m on your side. I really am.

Notice that my comment was meant as a compliment to him. And a dig to myself for not allowing the belief that this might just be a decent person. That was the joke. That we are almost all conditioned to have a pavlovian level of reaction towards politicians, in which they speak and we doubt them immediately.

I know two people that are members of political parties and they are genuinely two of the most decent people I know. But at the same time, they are not raising ranks within their respective parties. Which are also not the biggest parties to begin with. I don’t doubt that there are decent people that are trying to be decent politicians. I just think that the capital influence and its respective interests don’t usually allow these decent ones to reach actual positions of power and they even get actively placated as a result of their integrity hindering the consolidation of that very same capital influence.

What’s this?? A politician in a position of power taking a stand on a principle with integrity?? Especially these days?

How did he sneak in?

They’re usually not allowed in the establishment.

Hmm… Suddenly I can’t trust him anymore. That’s how fucked I am with the political class. Like, immediately it just pops “what’s his angle besides some PR glow?” - that’s where my mind goes instantly.

It’s exhausting…