going to preface this with, don’t worry about my immediate health or anything. i am not having a psychotic episode of anything like that, i am 100% sober…and…that’s honestly the scariest part for me.
there is a message that finally got through to me, woke me up (wait, motherfucker…is that where “woke” comes from???), something I’v been aware of for a long time now i think, but it got suppressed down for…10 goddamn years… for whatever reason, until now.
now that I’m aware of it, I see it damn near everywhere, almost every majorly acclaimed movie, song, book, poem, fucking everything…
and it’s not like this is some short-term problem either, it’s not going away when trump dies, it’s not even going away if trump dies and the establishment regains control (i have my doubts they can pull this off).
it’s the same goddamn cycle over and over (with slight variations), boom followed by completely deliberate bust, one privacy-overreach followed by another, the same playbook used over and over. and occasionally either end is some random organic act-of-god, which just works to obfuscate the intentional acts.
it’s so large and all encompassing you can’t even be sure which parts are apart of it and which are just…people still asleep just going about their lives.
and now, because this world seems to be ran by a bunch of fucking psychopaths, I’m even more paranoid sober than when I was having a actual mental breakdown
because how the fuck do I trust anyone now?
how do i seperate those that know from those that don’t?
psychopathic assholes from regular assholes?
friend from foe?
hell, how the hell do Ieven confirm that this is real, I know that everyone in my own immediate family is stuck in these little arithmetic bubbles too so i can’t bring it up with them, if i tried they would probably be worried I’m going crazy.
and because of past-me’s mistakes over the years I have no irl friends whatsoever to talk with either, so i guess all I have left is to send this out onto the internet and hope for the best?
it’s the same goddamn cycle over and over
This is the key. The people you can trust are the people who are going against that cycle.
Bringing up the Bible on Lemmy is generally a no-no, but I love Ecclesiastes. It’s a book about meaninglessness. Everything is the same as it has always been and there is nothing of true value; everything is meaningless. It’s the same goddamn cycle. While when it was written is debatable, it’s comforting and horrible to know someone thousands of years ago saw things the same way I do. Comforting, because I’m not alone in how I feel. Horrible in that people still feel this way after thousands of years.
The writer’s conclusion is to fear God and keep his commandments. The commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Loving your neighbor as yourself means being kind and empathetic. Kindness and empathy solve nearly everything.
So, even though it may achieve nothing, be kind and empathetic. Cling to people who are kind and empathetic. Be an oasis amid the hate.
My suffering is the same as my ancestors.
The suffering is a part of the cycle. It’s just our turn.
It is comforting once you realize. Doesn’t help truly, but it does bring comfort. Being kind to others also brings comfort.
Come on everyone, lets trauma bond
It’s sometimes easier to focus on solutions that would rebalance this imbalance of power.
IMO, wealth redistribution is the single most important policy for limiting the influence of the rich. A UBI funded by perpetually redistributing all excess wealth over a certain point would prevent anyone from gaining enough money to break the systems we depend on.
From the political power angle, removing representatives at any level and replacing them with direct democracy or direct influence from the people removes the opportunity for our representatives to be corrupt.
UBI funded by wealth redistribution and direct democracy, these are the tools that will allow humanity to break the wheel.
I’m unsure weather to recommend it because it sometimes seems like a kill-or-cure solution, but maybe read into philosophical nihilism. (Not the popular notion of nihilism, which is as connected to philosophical nihilism as popular conceptions of anarchy are to philosophical concepts of anarchy, which is to say almost not at all. Also, read the books, don’t try to watch youtuber attempts to interpret them.) Nietzsche and Henri Bergson are, for the most part, said to be approachable reading for a competent reader.
eh, skipped nihilistic dead end. went to Sartre
haven’t read much philosophy since though
Honestly, in my opinion, follow the money. In any situation, try to figure out who will be making money. That’s where the truth is today.
Politicians --> money
Corporations --> money
News --> money
TV/Music/Movies --> money
“the establishment regains control”? Bruh Trump is the establishment.
Anyway, figuring out what to trust can be tricky. That’s why I like to sometimes lean on rationalist practices. Learn what fallacies are, learn to how to spot them, and a lot of lies become apparent.
no, at this point Trump is a braindead puppet for whoever has his ear last.
The likes of Shumer and McConnel are the establishment.
Carter with Rockefeller’s congress, during the last (long) Dem super-majority…proceeded to tie the american pension system into the casino. acting as a regular wave of bagholding liquidity pumps.
Obama, during that short super-majority, passed Romneycare…a blank check for pharma and healthcare corporations to ratfuck public funds.
and of course while all that happens they’re all insider trading the whole time too, the greedy fucks
that is the establishment
obviously republicans are worse, but in a way they’re better…cause atleast you know they’re pieces of shit. meanwhile the dem side preaches Hope and Change to the public while reassuring their donors the status quo will be maintained
it’s fucking insidious
Trust is something that depends on repeat interactions - it’s earned and built, not freely given. Turn off the phone, the TV and the computer for a while each day and focus on the people around you. Your local community, your friends your family. The more you directly interact with somebody, the more potential is there for you to build up trust - maybe even mutual trust!
I give trust relatively easy, but if anyone ever abuses it or breaks it, they lose it forever. Though there are things i wont trust to anyone unless I ABSOLUTELY have to and then i’ll be very wary and anxious unless its someone i would trust with life of a loved one.
But i’d say start with people who are critical with the bullshit that is going on (and seem okay people in general, not the moon is made of jewish prezels wackos obviously). Try making friends with someone who supports lqbt rights for example, or someone who is concerned about loss of privacy, or someone who understands how shitty corporations are.
Most dont seem to bother even entertaining the thought of thinking about such things, why bother when there is new iphone whatever to be bought and new episode of some crappy reality tv to be watched, and news tell you what to think anyway. So its very understandable how you feel about this, especially considering how you have just recently awoken to the realisation.
For me, i’m on the stage of trying to not care and kind of looking forward to end of the civilization while simultaneously wanting to live current somewhat okay life even though its slowly getting worse too. I want to care, but since there is nothing i can do nor have any community that cares which i could try supporting, there is not much else to be done than fall into involuntary apathy.
Volunteer work might also help you, that way you would almost definitely find decent people and could also do some good. Though there are some pitfalls even with that one, like red cross is okay and all but its so big organization i dont think it has only helping in mind anymore, not with people on top getting paid big money or them suing other helper organizations (i have just heard they have done this, no idea if it has been justified or not. It just feels wrong if those other groups have actually tried helping people).
So far it has been quite lonely road, not wanting to tolerate all the shit that is going on in the world and watching people not able to even understand the existence of patterns of the reasons for that shit, or just not caring so much its the same thing.
I hope you can get at least something out of this mess i wrote.
Read the book The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Or better yet, listen to Carey Elwes (Westley from The Princess Bride) read it on audiobook. It tells all about charlatans and conmen, and how to be skeptical and detect their bullshit. It’s the kind of book you can skip around in too, so it’s an easy read, not too weighty, but with lots of great info and stories.
Carl Sagan was amazing.
The way I go about trust is that if there’s a big name within 500 yards of something, don’t trust it.
Look at everything, never limit your information diet to things that back up your opinion. Challenge everything. If its true, it will hold up to scrutiny. If its bullshit, you’ll find a fuck load of people calling you an asshole, but never explaining why.
Welcome to the Internet. Hopefully, I read as a good person. I am not a bot.
I lived as a young adult through Bush II. 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Halliburton, Blackwater, and loads of corruption. It was tough to trust anything then. The goal was pure profit.
Apparently, Dubya was the warm-up presidency for this shit.
First, let me share a clip from Margin Call, 2011.
As long as the prevailing mode has been capital, there has been speculation. As long as there has been speculation, there have been lying liars who exploit the system.
The last few pump and dump bubbles he mentioned (1987, 1992, 1997, 2000, and 2008) are all market crashes I can remember. The market is a casino. Crashes since '08 include 2010 (Flash Crash), 2015 (sell-off), 2018 (cryptocrash), 2020 (Covid), 2022 (Ukraine War), and 2025 (tariffs).
These were once “once in a lifetime” events.
Second, everything in the world is designed to generate more:
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self-serving, self-centered, selfish
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short-term-focused
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extroverted, charismatic, vain
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action-oriented
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thoughtless
psychopaths and sociopaths. This ethos runs things because of profit motives, monopolies on the exercise of violence, and the development of contemporary morés rooted in exploitation, expropriation, and (deemed) externalities of colonialism. Identifying some humans as “the other” makes much more inhumanity possible.
So, I’m here to tell you, it’s real alright. What you’re feeling is real. What you’re feeling against is real. We are immersed in it. Algorithms are doing their best to lock it in.
Finally, what to do and who to trust.
Establish your own moral center. Decide what matters to you. Find those who are telling the most truth, especially when tested. Demogogues fall apart under examination. Lies fall apart when questioned. The unchallenged authority is no authority at all. Get the receipts; find primary sources as often as possible. Seek those who share at great personal cost.
For me, it started with Star Trek. Then, hip-hop. Then, journalists I could trust. Even films that challenge prevailing narratives. I read a lot of books from many perspectives.
20 years later, Chris Hedges, Naomi Klein, Jeremy Scahill, Henry A. Giroux, Amy Goodman, Arundhati Roy, and Noam Chomsky have never wavered. Films like The Insider, Erin Brockovich, and The Corporation light a fire in me. I’m rewatched David Simon and Barry Levinson’s Homicide: Life on the Street and, hilariously, Murphy Brown.
Challenge the prevailing narratives. You’re not alone.
when you look at the S&P hundred year chart, none of those events materially changes the slope.
Don’t sell on a downturn and you’ll be fine
ph yeah, I’m not worried about $ anymore…I think that’s part of why this all came together for me tbh.
been messing with that actively for last year/year and half, very conservatively, and someone finally took pity on me I guess, and let me on the open-secret about the various speculation markets we monkeys seem so fascinated in.
I proceeded to make more in the last 2 months than I could working my day job for entire year (not counting OT), not worrying about bills/rent frees up a lot of thought-time I guess…and this wasnt some “first ones free” luck shit either, 100% certain of the outcome (well 99%, with hedge for if line turned against me)
What is that ‘open secret’?
basically just that shits fucked, and it aint no accident/coincidence.
others on here have expanded on it, some clearer than I was expecting given what I posted so i guess it really is true, more or less.
I’m insanely curious, what was the open secret that your benefactor taught you that led to such success?
idfk, just a book that (in my eyes, considering it’s age and how well it still applies to today) showed beyond any shadow of a doubt the whole thing really is bullshit.
moreso than any movie/drama saying the same thing which I’d probably seen a dozen times over the years, a dusty century old book laying it all out there removed any doubt whatsoever for me. especially when cross-examined to peculiar differences I noticed comparing US financial markets to others around the world (which generally favor stability), and who ultimately benefits most from those peculiarities.
which ultimately means that it isnt gambling/speculation…if you utilize proper risk management and know (all of) the rules to whatever imaginary line your betting on, whose moving what, what they want, and how you best make $ off their $
until, eventually, your port is large enough that your the one actually moving things. at which point certain strategies just don’t scale up as well as others (recall seeing a Buffet interview saying as much to some reporter).
Just…idk…the flippant way these motherfuckers fuck with the economy, all to just make their lines go up. and how deeply entwined that is/has been with the US government, going back a good…100-125 years atleast. like how government farming subsidies have been used to rig various agricultural futures markets…with the food just being destroyed anyway after uncle sam pays for it, all to “keep prices stable” while americans are starving.
extrapolate this out to all the other shit we’ve turned into speculation, like the homeless crisis and housing speculation. various drug/healthcare problems and our fucked up healthcare/pharma industry, all sorts of appalling health/safety regulations, nonexistent labor protections etc. etc.
and behind every single one of those issues…ultimately just some greedy motherfucker trying to make their lines up go
shit is fucked
i’m not completely batshit crazy, I dont really believe (yet) that there is some uninterrupted conspiracy chain going all the way back to fucking moses or something, just that we’ve seemingly built our economy around one generation of psychopaths breeding another to replace themselves, in some fucked up game of fake-oneupmanship.
and all thats before you take into consideration Trump and Co. (and more stressful to me, the fundamentalists behind them, which got Nixon, Reagan, both Bush’s elected…they’ve been very successful in establishing the christofacist paradise they want so badly, these last couple decades. there is a direct line of connection between the people behind the Moral/Silent Majority shit and P2025)
Am also interested in the book, dm me if you don’t want to write it publicly
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
the tldr is you have to follow the fundamentals of investing AND just bet against humanity. The real ROI starts when the human rights and environmental regulations stop.
So whats the book?
the tldr is you have to follow the fundamentals of investing AND just bet against humanity. The real ROI starts when the human rights and environmental regulations stop.
Betting on chaos, destruction, reconstruction costs, insurance payouts/denials, and instability for a growing segment of the population made many people rich in the 15th to 21st centuries.
When you are both the cause and the beneficiary of this exercise, that is Disaster Capitalism — an extension of the Shock Doctrine.
The doctrine itself can capitalize on accidents, natural disasters, political instabilities, and economic downturns.
Disaster capitalism foments “accidents” (see: Beirut explosion), natural disasters (see: climate change denialism), political instabilities (see: School of the Americas), and economic downturns (see: the Big Short).
For real, not a very open secret is it
the tldr is you have to follow the fundamentals of investing AND just bet against humanity. The real ROI starts when the human rights and environmental regulations stop.
Noam Chomsky is an Epstein collaborator.
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You’re touching on the idea of a “truth baseline” as I call it. How do you know what’s real vs bullshit?
My truth baseline is that maintaining the habitability of Earth is good. From that, I can deduce the following:
- excessive carbon dioxide in atmosphere is bad
- reliance on fossil fuels is bad
- clean renewable energy is good
- people who rail against renewables are bad
- political part(ies) that do the same are bad
- news figures that normalize that are bad
Etc. See where this is headed?
The ambiguity of whether someone is good or not is due to goodness being a subjective quality. There is no such thing as objective good. The closest thing to objective good we can attain is sustainability.
The same can be said about truth. If you want something objective, that’s called fact. Truth is a subjective perception of facts. Thus… there is no one correct truth. Just an openness to adjust to new information while dismissing those who are opposed to your truth baseline.
You seem to have an inherent trust in scientific consensus. Some actors are also trying to weaken this and misinformation is rampant. Some figures seem to support far right ideas until they get put into perspective by people who are well informed on issues. These people rarely get enough funding, attention or time.
I think one of the most important ideas is to spend your attention on things that you can influence for the better. That often means struggling to accept that our impact is limited but worthwhile.
You don’t need to trust consensus to observe global average temperatures and infer that we’re in uncharted territory in regard to the climate.
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Find a hobby that will get you out of the house and around people. Isolation is how they limit your thinking. Other people expose you to new ideas, experiences, and perspectives.
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Now that you’re “woke” you need to come to terms with the fact that people wake up at their own pace. Just because you’ve seen the light doesn’t mean you can pull the wool from other’s eyes.
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You need to curate a list of reliable sources. For me, I don’t really take any sensationalist science or astronomy news seriously until I hear established voices I’m familiar with talking about them. With politics its a little less straight forward, but the same principle applies.
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Educate yourself. Learn about the mechanisms that these cycles operate on top of. Learn methods of critical thinking. Learn the scientific method, learn the basics of money over time, learn how stocks/mortgages/bonds/real-estate functions. If you know nothing about how the world actually works than you’ll never be able to discern a liar from a valid source.
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Focus on building and contributing to your immediate community. It will help ground you in more ways than I can describe.
Understand psychology and marketing, as well as crime and geopolitics.
…crime like Mafias and Cartels and even street gangs. …because it’s all the same whether is mainstream or in the street.
I might add, start good trouble. This follows from 5. above.
Hold your state and federal representatives’ feet to the fire. Protest injustice. Demand transparency and equity. Understand how your local community works. If it doesn’t work, build on that.
Definitely this. Right now americans are confused as to why their fat cat democrats have been unable to prevent a clearly incompetent gaggle of morons from burning the house down. Americans stopped holding democrats accountable and gave them too many free lunches. Now dems have no teeth and the only solution is to primary the vast majority of them asap.
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Touch grass… and make local friends. People you know in real life; know their families. Most people are not nearly as bad as the world makes it seem at the moment.
I feel there is a curve there. A stranger seems bad, once you know them they seem good, once you really know they you understand they are bad again.
There is a lot of facade in people’s relationships that can hide the true faces of people as soon as you get close to them.
The classical example is the group of people going together to a party and having fun all together but when they return to their homes they start gossiping and thrashing on each other on their backs.
Sometimes I think that the deranged behavior we use to see online is more true to the true nature of people than in-person social iterations. As Oscar Wilde said, people are the most true to themselves when they are behind a mask.
At the end of the day the world is full of misery. And this misery is caused by people. People whose close friends and family surely can swear on how “good people” they are.
I suppose some people could feel comfort in the facade. Believing is real and letting it soothe you. But maybe OP has reach a level of awareness of the truth in human nature that they will just see through that facade and won’t be able to feel comfort in the play.
You said world, but I assume you meant internet. Social media is hate and fear factory. Main stream media went that way as well. Which in turn affected American politics, and is now doing the same elsewhere. Meanwhile, in the real world, everyone is just being normal. Having fun with friends, moaning about the weather, looking forward to holidays, or movies, or parties, or whatever. Its all very normal when you turn off the hate machine.
The only thing you can trust are your own Critical Thinking Skills, so start there. Don’t fully rely on any media for your information Use them to identify the main stories (even that isn’t reliable), and then consult original sources as much as possible - don’t listen to what someone told you what was in a speech or a statement, go watch the speech or statement yourself. Don’t listen to someone’s interpretation of a poll, go look at the poll and decide for yourself. If you have to rely on the media for information about a story, consult several sources, and try to triangulate the truth.
It can be difficult, but at least you aren’t relying on the Conservative Propaganda Machine, or whatever else Democrats think passes for messaging, mostly sternly worded statements. You are finding the information in as objective a state as possible, and creating your own narrative, not relying on someone else’s, someone with an agenda that they want you to support.
