Literally the next post under this one, sorting by 1d top posts, has 147 comments

Maybe part of it is the whole “greatest country on earth” stuff as well. In other words, a lack of humility

In the European countries I’ve lived in, pride like that wasn’t really encouraged. And if you’re too boastful or what not to the point of arrogance, you tend to get the stink eye

And this applies to patriotism as well. Here in Norway for example, despite us having a stronger claim for stuff like “greatest country”, very few people, if any, really feel like being “proud” of one’s own country is something that one should be doing, or it being honorable at all. The best I see is that people enjoy living here and, if they see another Norwegian out there or Norway mentioned, they just get happy to see a fellow Norwegian, just because we are relatively small

Honestly, most Norwegians I’ve met complain about Norway’s problems more often than not lmao, despite, all things considered, you can hardly find better countries to live in, except some other European ones depending on your own preferences

There really is just, no culture of like, arrogance. Something that I feel like is very different to the US with its super heavy emphasis on individual capitalistic success

Maybe that’s a large part of it as well. A consequence of American culture being so extremely individualistic

I mean, if you’re going through tough times you do end up with a lot of personal experience with mental health struggles. That is experience you can then pass onto others

No, I live in the EU, the same capitalistic problems exist here, they’re just slowed down a bit due to social democracy. But don’t get me wrong, the fundamental issues are here just as much as anywhere else on the globe

Capitalism is not directly an ideology by itself, no, but it is a massive fundamental part of a given ideology. There’s a reason most ideologies revolve around the economic system, because it’s so pervasive in everything we do. From the things we do every day, to the way we interact with others, to the way we get access to resources and services we need and want, to where we live, to how we think

What you need to keep in mind, is that under capitalism there will always be a profit incentive to undermine the system for even further profit. This is what collapses civilizations, this is what makes society fall apart in the long run

Making a capitalistic economy work for the benefit of everyone, for the people, is like trying to swim upstream all the time, forever. It would be much much more internally consistent to just have a river you swim downstream with. In other words, an economy based on cooperation, not competition. A civilization based on competition is almost an oxymoron, civilization itself is fundamentally a cooperative environment. Why do we tack competition on top of that?

Regarding the capitalism part

I’d say that what we see today is the logical conclusion of capitalism. In a way it’s a broken system, it just takes time to collapse. But growing wealth inequality and consolidation of power are inherent problems in capitalism, and we were always going to see times like this. I mean, for further example, look at climate change and how it’s damn near impossible to actually solve the problem

It’s more that there is little political will for an alternative system, but don’t get me wrong, if humanity wants to survive in the long run, there is no easy way out. I seriously do think that, either humanity makes a global economy that serves people, and not capital, or we will self-destruct due to systemic incentives of the profit incentive

No, but people were much less alienated from their labour, so it likely didn’t feel nearly as soul-crushing as it does today

Or anything else really

It’s hell to try to understand something someone gave you if they don’t label things properly. It’s like “I can see there is a number here, but what the fuck does the number mean”

Why should legality matter? What are laws? It’s rules that the government put down for everyone to follow. And what happens if someone controls all aspects of the government?

Legality is meaningless in the face of fascism, because the fascist government will be making the laws. it’s like asking why it wasn’t illegal to do genocide in nazi Germany. Or asking why it wasn’t enforced by law to hide jews from the nazis to protect them

Legality is not relevant. Legality is not morality or a foundation for ethics. Legality is just the will of the government, for better or for worse. It is not something that necessarily serves the people’s beat interests

That’s fascism for you. That’s where the US is headed

Gotta love that capitalism’s “efficiency” that everyone keeps mentioning as a positive

“this was eye opening”

Bro if this was eye-opening your level of political analysis is high school level

I can’t say I’ve ever had a relationship or friend that made me want to do sexist jokes about them

In my experience it’s much easier to be a similar “perfect” in the long run. My parents were shit and they’re forever miserable, because they’re not willing to do the hard work for happiness. Meanwhile I’ve been at it regarding the hard work and, sure, while exhausting, I feel far better for it and it feels so much more sustainable.

I could go on and elaborate but idk if that’s too necessary

I’ve seen a lot of articles that were like “scientists do this!!” And never link to the actual study (not including this article)

What happened to citing your sources?

Is it okay to support Ukraine shooting Russians?

Violence is inherent in our systems. Violence is inherent in politics. States are literally founded and upheld through violence (the military and the police). Believing anything else is just closing your eyes to the violence that happens every single day, and making you powerless against injustice.

Gotta have better sleepovers then. Ones where vibrators are welcomed, not shamed

It’s always endlessly frustrating when people don’t realize, or don’t want to realize, what you wrote

Not entirely true, there is the thermoelectric generator too. Though it’s not very practical

Genuine question, what’s wrong with stock footage? What else should they use?

Reminds me a little of this short text adventure https://direkris.itch.io/you-are-jeff-bezos