Ask Lemmy

the hard answer: the voting populace is the single stupidest form of combined intelligence to ever exist, im pretty sure 3 children under the age of 7 in a room would have a higher average IQ than any state in america when measuring the voting populace.

Voting is a joke. People don't take it seriously, it's all vibes based, and those vibes are horrendously unreliable and meaningless.

the soft answer: it is, for now. It will change, just give it time. It's inevitable.

Because the slow decay of the capitalist order that has been occurring since the neoliberal turn has reached the point where it's effects are being felt in the global North

Evil use to hide - but through Trump's no filter twitter postings, Musk's self-aggrandizing incompetence, and Russia's realization that they no longer have to hide their evil-doing, a lot of the evil these days is just out in the open.

Imagine a world where a competent president is hiding behind close doors planning a way to defund USAID and starve millions of people. Planning behind close doors cutting medicare by 1 trillion dollars, killing thousands of Americans, and using that money to fund a trillion dollar tax break for the mega rich. You wouldn't know any of that is happening.

Now it is front page news, and people are reacting by boycotting Amazon for one day on the 28th.

Because it is.

You probably feel that way because this is what it feels like when evil wins.

Doom sells, it makes money, its also great for missdirection

This is a people/societal issue. People's lack of willingness in investing in other people doing well.

1. Rampant unchecked capitalism of recent decades has created large wealth disparities akin to the earlier decades of the last century. It is no longer possible for one person in a household with a regular job to support a modest lifestyle for their family. All benefits especially medical for the whole family, being completely intertwined with the current job reduces mobility and further feeds into the wealth gap by keeping wages low. It’s easier to blame the powerless for this state of affairs than the powerful because the powerless cannot object.
2. The fear of the other has been accentuated by media and misinformation. Targeted algorithms feeding most of the information that is consumed has created echo chambers that reinforce existing beliefs and fears. The propaganda state has never had it easier.
3. The large military and police has given never before control to the state about what is allowed to be protested. Combined with the day to day struggles, it’s extremely hard to come together for what is right. The ruling class is able to maintain the fine balance between absolute misery and general dissatisfaction that it is still better to struggle through a thankless job than to say fuck it. Failures of recent large uprisings like Middle East and Hong Kong have reinforced the futility of standing up against the rulers.
4. Evil has many heads and there’s always one head that you can find alignment with. It could be the deregulation of businesses, lower taxes, anti abortion, racism, but as long as there’s one thing you can align on, the general sense of powerlessness makes it easier to overlook the other heads.
5. The line between evil and good has never been murkier, especially with globalization. If you focus on the betterment of your community, it would be considered good, but what if it leads to suffering of others outside the community. Is it also evil? What is community - is it the people in your neighborhood, your religion, your country, fellow business owners? The fuzzier these lines are, the harder it is to untangle them.

Because too many good people are doing nothing.

My thoughts are that China is no longer recycling their profits into US treasuries, and the BRICS countries seemed to be heading down the same path. The US cant sustain high interest rates and needs people to buy this debt, hence there is a lot of talk of tariffs and a "green new deal" type of tariff system on emissions in order to derive additional revenue without increasing taxes on citizens. Citizens want entitlement programs that are ponzi schemes that have already been spent long ago, but they dont want additional taxes, and so you need a scheme to get around their votes.

The same thing happened after the great depression where they rebased gold to a lower value after confiscating it, and some speculate it created an environment ripe for WWII. Our system of printing money tends to increase aggregate demand while misallocating capital, like houses in 2008, and thus it ends in suffering.

Because it is

when evil is winning on your nation's scale it feels like it's winning globally. is evil winning in rojava? in southeast asia? is evil winning in the spanish speaking world?

for that matter, what's going on at your state level, or at your city level?

A ruling class of ultra wealthy lording over the vast majority of people who are left with crumbs is a common sign that an empire is in decline. With the US having more global influence than any previous empire, the whole world will be feeling the effects in one way or another.

Just an hour ago I heard EmiliaRoig.com talking on the EuropeansPodcast.com (minute 28) and she said something that at first sounded naïve to me. But in hindsight, it may be true.

She said that "times are changing for the better (i.e. referring to the last 10 years or more.) and what we are seeing nowadays is just a shout of despair to that, being done by right-wing extremists, and is loud."

I can recommend all that she said afterwards, be warned: talks fast ;p

What would happen if capital succeeded in smashing the Republic of Soviets? There would set in an era of the blackest reaction in all the capitalist and colonial countries, the working class and the oppressed peoples would be seized by the throat, the positions of international communism would be lost.

I just talked to my superior about the most urgent thing EU countries are facing currently. I should add that he is 100% disabled but studied in CS and reads everything which is interesting to him and his world view.

When I said that social media dictates the discussions and the media, we agreed on the thought after a short period.

And if we could solve this issue we mostlikely would get awarded a noble price.

What I am trying to say: Social media is run by - at least - flawed people. And used by the evil ones to their maximum, putting the honest Ones into a position to explain.

We are loosing our discourse, we are mixing our cultures - or we split at our ethics.

Social media is a cancer with no current treatment. Civilians will be in favor of social media since it also benefits society directly. But we are diminishing other things with it.

Maybe there will be one more brilliant mind educated who may aid us in these times.

Extinction Burst.

Because sensationalism creates ad revenue. So the news you receive from any side of any story is going to try and make you as angry/scared as possible so you’re more apt to share it and spread the word- they then use the page bits and time spent on their sites to generate more ad revenue.

Stay away from tankie, far-left, liberal, democratic, conservative, republican, and MAGA-affiliated sites. They’re guaranteed to not be honest with you. Instead, stick with independent and unbiased sources like Reuters and Associated Press.