I think about this all the time, Michael. You and I are the same age, so we are in the same stage of life where youthful optimism seems to be exhausted, and it's difficult to know what to do with that. I don't have children, but I work with college students, and I certainly don't want to be a pall on their hope for change. I want them to believe and fight the good fight, but I can't see the way forward anymore, and I can't help but think they'll come to that place in their lives too. Even ten years ago, I genuinely believed it mattered to keep yourself informed. Now keeping informed means being constantly angry and terrified. I used to believe that the government was capable of making good decisions if the right group of people were in power. I can't believe in that anymore either--not when everything that was achieved just before we were born (Civil Rights, Roe, etc.) is being systematically stripped away. Thank you for this essay. It's good to know I'm not alone in feeling lost.
Feeling the exact same way. Thinking about having a purpose in this world. Could it be true I was born for a reason 73 years ago, at the beginning of the destruction, or am I just part of the destruction? And anyway, what could my purpose be, to spread hope, to sound the alarm? I had dreams when I was young about a revolution, with drones and prison camps. Drones didn't exist then. The camps were liberated by the end of the dream. I've always been an optimist and an artist, lately adding in pessimism. Can you be a pessimist and an optimist at the same time? I switch from day to day. If I connect with someone it makes me happy. Didn't someone fiddle while Rome fell?
My wife and I finally got around to watching Don't Look Up this week, and it just kinda reminded us about the bleakness of the world we're living in at this moment (especially living in AZ where the water is pretty sparse).
I have to fight against my own fatalism about the present and future everyday. Most of it comes from seeing politicians take any stance, no matter if they actually believe it or not, that allows them to hang on to or increase their own amount of power and influence. And they all want more power.
When asked about why he doesn’t try to advocate for more environmental regulation even though he now admits to believing in human-caused climate, Mitch McConnell said this: “The American people are clear about their priorities. Environmental regulation is a 3% issue.” Taking any meaningful action towards reducing climate change would put his power in jeopardy and he can’t have that.
His constituency remains willfully ignorant of the ubiquitous and readily apparent evidence of climate change. If they were to accept it, their beliefs and world view would have to change dramatically and that’s not acceptable. They’re comfortable in fearing what they can easily attack: the lives of people they’ve chosen to hate.
Thoughts of societal and ecological collapse have been weighing heavily on my mind since my college days in the late 80's when I first started paying attention. I've always been a big reader of doom and gloom pop-sci books so that doesn't help. Definitely my love of good comedy helps me forget what's going on. Late present to me, never watched The State until last year! It held up nicely.
John Michael Greer of The Archdruid Report has interesting takes on planetary and civilization collapse. One book of his that I liked was Collapse Early, Avoid the Rush. It talks about ramping down expectations so that when the collapse eventually happens it won't be so shocking. Less prepper, more humans will just enter another dark age like every civilization before us. Kind of soothing but doesn't make me happy about now.
For that, I try to pretend everything is hunky dory and cook a nice dinner while having a drink and listening to a podcast.
See the movie Don’t Look Up. To paraphrase Jonah Hill’s character…”Do we get a partial refund for this blog subscription if the world ends before subscription is up?”
I feel the same way. We're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Hopefully the next shoe-drop will at least be exciting (e.g. aliens as opposed to a new pandemic), even if it eventually brings us closer to our doom.
I think about this all the time, Michael. You and I are the same age, so we are in the same stage of life where youthful optimism seems to be exhausted, and it's difficult to know what to do with that. I don't have children, but I work with college students, and I certainly don't want to be a pall on their hope for change. I want them to believe and fight the good fight, but I can't see the way forward anymore, and I can't help but think they'll come to that place in their lives too. Even ten years ago, I genuinely believed it mattered to keep yourself informed. Now keeping informed means being constantly angry and terrified. I used to believe that the government was capable of making good decisions if the right group of people were in power. I can't believe in that anymore either--not when everything that was achieved just before we were born (Civil Rights, Roe, etc.) is being systematically stripped away. Thank you for this essay. It's good to know I'm not alone in feeling lost.
I am at that point. I have started smoking and it helps! 🤸🏻♀️
Feeling the exact same way. Thinking about having a purpose in this world. Could it be true I was born for a reason 73 years ago, at the beginning of the destruction, or am I just part of the destruction? And anyway, what could my purpose be, to spread hope, to sound the alarm? I had dreams when I was young about a revolution, with drones and prison camps. Drones didn't exist then. The camps were liberated by the end of the dream. I've always been an optimist and an artist, lately adding in pessimism. Can you be a pessimist and an optimist at the same time? I switch from day to day. If I connect with someone it makes me happy. Didn't someone fiddle while Rome fell?
My wife and I finally got around to watching Don't Look Up this week, and it just kinda reminded us about the bleakness of the world we're living in at this moment (especially living in AZ where the water is pretty sparse).
I have to fight against my own fatalism about the present and future everyday. Most of it comes from seeing politicians take any stance, no matter if they actually believe it or not, that allows them to hang on to or increase their own amount of power and influence. And they all want more power.
When asked about why he doesn’t try to advocate for more environmental regulation even though he now admits to believing in human-caused climate, Mitch McConnell said this: “The American people are clear about their priorities. Environmental regulation is a 3% issue.” Taking any meaningful action towards reducing climate change would put his power in jeopardy and he can’t have that.
His constituency remains willfully ignorant of the ubiquitous and readily apparent evidence of climate change. If they were to accept it, their beliefs and world view would have to change dramatically and that’s not acceptable. They’re comfortable in fearing what they can easily attack: the lives of people they’ve chosen to hate.
Yeah, for me the apathy is really starting to take hold lately.
Thoughts of societal and ecological collapse have been weighing heavily on my mind since my college days in the late 80's when I first started paying attention. I've always been a big reader of doom and gloom pop-sci books so that doesn't help. Definitely my love of good comedy helps me forget what's going on. Late present to me, never watched The State until last year! It held up nicely.
John Michael Greer of The Archdruid Report has interesting takes on planetary and civilization collapse. One book of his that I liked was Collapse Early, Avoid the Rush. It talks about ramping down expectations so that when the collapse eventually happens it won't be so shocking. Less prepper, more humans will just enter another dark age like every civilization before us. Kind of soothing but doesn't make me happy about now.
For that, I try to pretend everything is hunky dory and cook a nice dinner while having a drink and listening to a podcast.
See the movie Don’t Look Up. To paraphrase Jonah Hill’s character…”Do we get a partial refund for this blog subscription if the world ends before subscription is up?”
I used to be disgusted, it now I try to be amused.. sometimes.
🎶 🎶
I feel the same way. We're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Hopefully the next shoe-drop will at least be exciting (e.g. aliens as opposed to a new pandemic), even if it eventually brings us closer to our doom.