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  • Hate drives engagement and can have multiple intersections with opposing view points. Take our algorithmic methods of serving content and you get silos of positivity with oceans of hate in between that fuel metrics of user engagement and view time. Drive your share price by those metrics and run the economy on those share prices. Viola hate becomes the new most important resource to generate and those who can spread it most effectively or direct that hate become those with the most power. If we want to break that grasp on power we need to break the cycle of engagement being tied to hate, find a way to drive engagement through positive action and understanding. I talk like I know how to do that but in reality that's one of the most difficult problems humanity has in general. Like greed is terrible but if you could figure out how to make positivity and mutual understanding more profitable than spewing hate and divisiveness you could channel those at the tops greed into positive feedback loops. Once you have more understanding, and equity in individuals understanding each other we can them finally work as a collective to start eliminating things like bigotry, poverty, etc.

  • Fascism is rising because the bourgeoisie is funding it to keep out Communism, Socialism, Marxism, and other things that explain why most people globally cannot afford a house, or why England pays such low wages, or why groceries are so expensive in America, or why Germany is undergoing an economic collapse. Once you understand Marxism even simply, these quotes will start to make sense.

    P.S. If you're going to say that fascism is rising in power, please just say that. I know that things are shitty because fascism is rising, but I hate when people are vague.

  • because theyve been laying groundwork and slowly infiltrating every corner of our society for over 50 years.

    The slow burn was for purpose, to keep people from noticing, and so that anyone that did notice and point it out would look like a crackpot.

    and, imho, I think they didnt expect the opportunity trump presented globally, in his first term, but they chose to come out of the shadows and try to exploit it regardless, which is why they've had the stumbling blocks they have had that has given opportunity to fight it.

  • Well. Lots of people drank the kool aid. As long as some people getting a feeling of Power (like shitting on minorities), they will take the blow from the ruling class.

    The last time that shit worked started WWII.

    But yeah. What will we do about it. There are days where I think we will make it through. But other days I just feel weak and powerless and think we're doomed.

    Fuck greed, eat the rich.

  • People are scared and angry and want action without thinking about the long-term gains only the short term. Creating fear is fascism 101 and how many rise to power

  • evil people have always been there, but we're in an era of many crisis's, it was easier to ignore it when it didn't personally effect you. Now i imagine in the next 10-20 years it'll start effecting everyone in ways we've yet to imagine. But I don't think its the end of the world or anything just that its probably time we start considering what we want our futures to look like and start making plans to survive or fight.

  • One aspect is that mass media is overall owned by those people and is propaganda. If you don't have ways of seeing what's happening on the ground, you miss a lot of the good news. Even your twitter/bs/mastodon feeds won't give you the full story, you have to (where possible) get involved in a real community organization.

  • @Mee it just seems like that. In reality, everything in the world has been just someone's interests - because that's how the world was built. In fact, good and evil are just subjective terms. What may be good for you, it might be bad for somebody else. Your evil might be someone else's good and vice-versa.

    I think you should think the things into more of what you care the most, what your values are, what is important for you overall. And then you'll see the bigger picture: people are just having different values than you, they think that the values you believe in are not theirs. And I am somewhat in the same situation as you - let me give you an example:

    Among the values I care the most are democracy, personal freedoms, the ability to voice out (politely) your own opinion; you'd think I am a normal person, that no sane person would be thinking otherwise. Well, what if I told you, you're wrong! There was a poll last year in my country where 40% of the people said they would agree with my country returning under a dictatorship. Forty freaking percent!!! This is mind-boggling, right? That's what I also think.

    What would be the solution to a problem like this be like? Well, you could join the crowd, that would be the most obvious, right? Be one with the majority, mindlessly agree on what they say, do what they do. But I bet you would never see your place in there. Instead, I think you should keep staying true to your own values and beliefs and look for people that share these. Speak to them, understand them yourself as well and who knows, maybe you can do something about it. 😁

    /my 2c

  • What you're saying is true, but we must also remember that construction is always slower than destruction. What this means is that slow, steady improvements are not newsworthy - and thus gets no airtime - compared to destruction which happens over night and is thus newsworthy.

    So there is also a lot of slow, steady improvements going on in the world that we never hear about. There's not enough of it, I don't think, to offset the big evils of greed, climate change, and fake news. But it is there, and we must not forget it.

  • Because we have been taking the high road. Time to play on their level. Have no shame!

  • It depends on perspective. If you look at the news, online on new sites or shareable news articles, it seems to rampant. If you avoid the news and look towards your community you’ll be far less likely to believe it. It’s the interconnectedness that leads this but at the same time you aren’t being educated and helping said evil. So it’s there, it’s not a populous as people think but definitely is there. Evil isn’t global, it’s the few. It’s the people outside that you interact with daily that aren’t evil.

    • Because you don't look at the news doesn't mean it isn't happening. Your perspective is deliberately limited if you ignore outside information. This is exactly what conservatives do when they willfully ignore scientific or objective facts in favor of what their echo chamber "community" anecdotal evidence tells them.

  • Because good natured people don't want conflict so they avoid it.

    Bad natured people actively seek conflict and engage with it whenever possible.

    Evil never sleeps. Peace does.

    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.

    • I felt so evil this morning that I drove my car. Fuck you Nature, I'm taking climate back

437 comments