Zink

Is that Steve Jobs with a Butthead mouth? Beautiful.

and oftentimes they don't admit why they really have a problem with the game directly

I think in many cases they aren’t even admitting it to themselves. Self-delusion is kind of a recurring theme with them.

The problem is that so many of us INSIDE the US still sleep like that, especially the ones who match homer’s kind of “dopey white middle aged boomer dad who raised a family on a single factory job” demographic.

I match some of those demographics, like the dopey white middle aged USAmerican dad raising a family with his one income. I don’t match him in other areas because I am an over-educated tech worker living in an old cheap blue collar neighborhood to make it happen in current day.

I am extremely unhappy and embarrassed about just about every single thing that has my country is in the news, to say the least. It makes me sad and worried for the entire world. Giving a shit about other people while evil morons are grabbing power will do that to you.

But for people who look like me and don’t follow what’s going on in the world or care about other people? My day to day real life in my local physical environment is comfortable and privileged as hell, and so is a lot of theirs.

Combine that with our culture where a “successful” life is constant stress over the rat race and keeping up with the Joneses, so that you are worried about making the payments on your luxury SUV rather than whether your government is destroying people you don’t know while funneling your resources to people who already have 1000x more than you.

“you’re responsible for your own happiness” can be a true thing even if you are loving and supportive. It doesn’t have to be a justification for coldly distancing yourself unless that’s already what you want to do for some reason(could be your own suffering, not necessarily a conscious choice).

I’m in a similar situation now. I am in a pretty good place after having a very shitty handful of years 2019-2024. My wife is having some of the same issues now, and when I recognize the similarities it only makes me show her more grace and understanding. But then I am obligated to be honest about what I learned over the years, even if my solutions and techniques might not end up exactly being hers.

And the fact is that happiness, fulfillment, contentment, peace with the universe, and all that stuff originates from somewhere deep within. It’s along the same lines as the saying that money can’t buy happiness.

Yeah, and I think that is tied to a subconscious need for good things to be permanent.

I think that truly internalizing the temporary nature of literally everything is an important part of getting to the mindset you’re talking about.

For sure, but there is a vast spectrum of what can constitute a “relationship.” There are many transactional relationships that are absolutely vital to accumulating resources, even for ordinary working people. But being necessary for survival doesn’t mean they are what will bring you fulfillment in life.

I was not familiar with that page. I love this in the nerdiest way possible.

Ooo, I might have to put this up against Fira Code at work tomorrow.

We are so bad about this across the board. Why is society so content to expect the worst from people like police and politicians?

Honestly, probably because we've been conditioned to get angry at the employees of the super rich rather than the hoarders themselves.

Notice the implied and unquestioned assumption that “life goals” means accumulating resources and not building relationships or contributing to society. In fact, it’s expected that personal relationships and societal responsibilities shall be neglected in the quest for resources.

This is a meme thread ffs.

And the longest post I’ve run into so far is you being angry that somebody suggested using nice language when talking about large groups of humans.

I say “doing alright, how about you”l and that usually covers it