IMO, good propaganda seeks to undermine critical thinking skills but again, that's hardly possible when fewer people seem to have them in the first place.
I recently made a post inquiring about where the idea that humans are innately kind came from and a lot of the responses referred to how cooperation was essential for survival in the prehistoric days.
We are obviously no longer in that time and I really do feel like Covid did something to our social instincts which reliance on AI could erode even further.
I guess I'm just wondering what's next if our social instincts disappear. I could never have imagined we'd seem to sink so low in our fellow feeling, appreciation of the common good, Etc., as we are now.
As an American, I worry about this a lot.
I think the pressure of keeping things together is really starting to get to me.
A week ago, my tub and toilet backed up, flooded and there was sewage in my home and water inches deep on my carpet. This is a studio apartment, the management folks aren't great and I have nowhere else to go.
The water's gone but there's nothing quite like pooping in a bag and peeing in a mayo jar and knowing just how low on the totem pole my life is.
A lady I barely knew said I could use her shower but failed to reach out to confirm things.
The tub's clear now but not my disappointment over just how unreliable--and downright useless--people can be sometimes.
I need a drink but feel like it could easily become a habbit and thus one more problem.
I like blueberries enough but they aren't my fave fruit. Would you need to eat like pints a day to get the health benefits?
Now that it's hot as hell, I need a towel that will help me feel dry at least a little bit of the time.
If you have towels that actually dry you off and aren't slippery in the same way pre-shredded cheese is, what are they made of?
There's no doubt that service to others can be enriching. However, I feel like the people who suggest it as a path toward finding deeper meaning in life are mostly 'not' relying on it for existential affirmation themselves.
It's like someone with a 401K, plenty of other options and lots of supportive frieneds and family suggesting that a person in need just go to a food pantry for help. We know that's where you can go but if you're not 'that' person, how often have 'you' had to visit a food pantry? I'd say not much so you have no idea what a hassle it can be.
TLDR, if you have help and plenty of support you really didn't have to 'earn' it's a little disingenuous to tell others who've never had that luxury that they should somehow prove their qualification for consideration through something like volunteering.
LIke I can see it for addicts in recovery who are supporting others in active addiction but not how someone working 3 jobs to make ends meet who's been going it alone for decades that's all ready running on empty is supposed to do it. How can you give what you don't have? Moreover, who is supposed to care if you live or die in the general sense? When the 'you are not alone' sentiment is tossed around, who exactly is it referring to that's there for anybody?
And if it's possible to ever basically be on your own in life for long stretches and have absolutely no support for any reason at all if one's not somehow hustling for it, why don't we just say that?
It's not an easy life but this idea that you've beeen condemned to it for not doing enough to prove you're right to be treated with dignity and worth is just not always true.
I feel like one of the reasons I'm just not good at being vulnerable with others is that they seem to have a hard time affirming me at all. Like why would it make sense to expose your soul in anguish to someone who gets put off by the idea of adequately acknowledging you?
It feels like I'm not seen by others unless they can get something out of it so again, why would I have ever learned it was safe to let down my guard?
IDK. It's confusing and I can't be the only one.
I mean this question legitimately and have thought about it for a long time. It's a hard call when you know people mean well, are trying to like bring you into the conversation, etcetera. However, the 'you're disabled, you would understand' thing is often just a way to trauma-dump masquerading as some type of camaraderie or bonding experience.
I'm in my 40s, only now beginning to learn about boundaries and the right to a sense of self and it's killing me that I gave so much mental territory to the struggles of people who otherwise had no interest and nothing to do with me.
It's hard enough without needlessly toting around other people's baggage. But I never did have a polite way of shutting that kind of thing down--and still don't.
Thoughts?
I recently listened to a thing about a couple from one state and a birthmother from another carrying out a brokered adoption with the help of highly-paid intermediaries in Utah.
It sounded sketchy as hell to me until I was reminded of a homeless lady I used to know here in Kansas. She was in active addiction and carrying a child destined for adoption into a family in California. It really bothered me thinking about this child being born addicted and the adoptive family maybe not knowing that's what they were signing up for.
I would just have imagined there'd be better ways to facilitate this stuff by now. Pregnant women from poorer states are actualy being sought out in a way that feels almost like 'recruitment' to move to Utah and then have and give up their babies.
Is this a troubling development or just how it's done?
My tiny apartment flooded and all though the people came with that water-sucking machine thing and got a lot of it up, the carpet is damp and still smells rank.
I think some part of being well mentally has like a sell-by date. In other words, it's not infinite. How do you protect or preserve it so it's there to rely on later in life?
This city is remarkable. I can definitely see why some people give up.
Inquiring about how these meds work and what the side effects, risks, Etc., are has nothing to do with who uses them but some people internalize things in a way I've never seen before.
I'd love to know more about what might be causing this.
People will say it's none of your business if they use these meds or not but then proceed to name-drop and tell you all about it, particularly about the positive aspects. They push for a narrative where there 'are' no risks or down sides but nothing is without risks. It's a little baffling so few seem to know what they are; or care.
Where does all the emotion come from? I truly don't get it.
I've been a tennant in different places for 20 years--here in the US--and never heard of this in my life. Like why would shitty landlords who don't care to keep things in proper order, own more properties than they can adequately manage and so on put you up in a motel?
I just can't see a person in my position possessing the power to 'force' such a thing; nor do I have the means to just leave temporarily.
If it has been done--and you again dont live somewhere swanky--I'd love to know how you managed.
Sometimes it feels like folks who've never dealt with this stuff in real life come off as smug for nothing.
But it's also true that there's a lot I don't know.