stux⚡

Recently I am more and more angry with Presidents acting like dictators, billionaires who wreck the planet in front of our eyes and another two books full..

I've been told to "'not worry about things you cannot control" over and over

But I cannot make peace with that, and my reply is:

"No, I keep worrying and fighting until I am in a way of control so I can do something about it"

The feeling of "no control" is what they want so they can get away with everything

Jun 29 at 11:08pmWeb
Show threadCatherine is not complacentJun 29
@stux there are two kinds of people in the world.
The ones who throw up their hands and say “what can I do?”
and the ones who roll up their sleeves and ask “what can I do”.
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJun 30
@CatDragon @stux
I'm feeling stuck in between those, myself.
Show threadSu_GJun 30

@CatDragon @stux

I love this response to Stux’s existential crisis (which I & a lot of other people share if this interesting thread is anything to go by!): 🙂

“there are two kinds of people in the world.
The ones who throw up their hands and say “what can I do?”
and the ones who roll up their sleeves and ask “what can I do”.

Stux: thank you for kicking this great discussion off! What did we learn from this? You are not alone! We are not alone!
Hugs to all! 🙂

Show threadpapirisJul 1
@CatDragon @stux The key to social progress is getting more people to move from the former to the latter
Show threadKnut 🏳️‍🌈 🇳🇴🧸Jun 29
@stux lil buddy...when I was in school...I was called "uncoachable". I frequently made horrid jokes about my P.E teacher and pleasing his wife...right to his face...for wanting me to "be a team player". And I got away with it. You know why? Because you can't control me. I control myself. That's why I'm "uncoachable". Being uncontrollable is a power to itself. Make them give you your own PE class for the credit. Be uncoachable!!
Show threadPedro OliveiraJun 29
@stux I feel the same way 🙏
Show threadNazaniJun 29
@stux Well put.
Show threadMark T. TomczakJun 29
@stux Good energy. I think "don't worry about things you cannot control" may be, in this era, a call to find where the levers are.
Show threadlakeladyJun 29
@stux I'd say as long as you're turning your anger into action you're fine. Just don't keep it inside and let it eat you up.
Show threadpluszysta 🧸🪴Jun 29
@stux "Don't worry about things you cannot control" always made me so angry. How is it even remotely comforting? This is my life, of course I will be worried if I have no control over it.
Show threadstux⚡Jun 29
@pluszysta Kinda yeah, maaaybe it's an issue if so many ppl think that way
Show threadAlpha Male Martha Stewart 🍉🌈Jun 30
@pluszysta @stux The issue with this axiom is it is sound philosophically but is where philosophy fails to move society forward. You personally can feel better, get things done, reach enlightenment, etm by only focusing on what you can control. But enlightenment doesn't kill nazis, bullets do. Read Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Aurelius, Seneca, Descartes, (maybe not Dostoevsky or Kafka they bum me tf out) but also get your "range time in" how ever that looks for you
Show threadMatilda LoveJun 30

@stux i keep thinking more and more about how the actions of a few hundred human beings are something we, the other eight billion folks on the planet, "have no control" over

and how much that makes it sound like folks see these people as gods

Show threadmike805Jun 30

@matildalove @stux They are more dependent on the infrastructure than the rest of us, by a huge multiple. They use more fuel, power, and labor than the normal person by a factor of 10 to 1000.

If society collapses, well then they are made out of meat like everyone else.

So the argument that the elite are engineering a collapse makes no sense. Elites don't fare well in a true collapse. And most of them do NOT plan well. French and Russian revolutions being obvious examples.

Show threadMatilda LoveJun 30
@mike805 dunno how that's relevant to the thread but i agree with the part where rich people are bad at planning (and, typically, at nearly everything they try to do)
Show threadËtikēmikJun 30

@matildalove @mike805 Klein and Taylor’s article on “end times fascism” describes how the likes of Musk, Thiel, and Bannon are trying to end the ruling class’s losing streak. Unlike aristocrats past, their outlook is explicitly apocalyptic, and not just in the sense of foreseeing physical catastrophe. They have a (pseudo-)religious sense that they’ll be revealed to be the worthy ones, precisely by escaping it. So, they *need* the world to end.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk

The rise of end times fascism

The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them

The Guardian
Show threadRuby S.Jun 30

@stux I had the good fortune to stumble upon a series called Facing Collapse Together. There's one more live session left but I believe the past ones were recorded. I highly recommend checking it out. https://www.deanspade.net/projects/facing-collapse-together-study-group/

We're not alone, and solidarity is the only way we might survive.

Facing Collapse Together Study Group – Dean Spade

Show threadmvarioJun 30
@stux
Show threadbouriquetJun 30

@stux None of us is as powerful as all of us.
They just want to keep us divided.
Just look what Solidarity accomplished in Poland, that reverberated throughout eastern Europe. It took time and effort. Our struggle in America will also not be easy nor as quick as the way our country was taken over this year.

https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/polands-solidarity-movement-1980-1989/

Poland’s Solidarity Movement (1980-1989) | ICNC

Summary of the political history, nonviolent strategic actions, and ensuing events of Poland's Solidarity Movement from 1980-89.

ICNC
Show threadaustralopithecusJun 30
@stux
Yeah, "don't worry about things you can't control" should really be "don't spend your energy worrying about things that are BEYOND control," like supernovas or blackholes, not "when the going gets tough, abandon ship".
Show threadstux⚡Jun 30
@australopithecus I love that one!
Show threadstienceJun 30

@stux

"Don't accept what you cannot change.
Change what you cannot accept "

Show threadmonkeyflower jelly beanJun 30
@stux yep, also a lot of the issues are related to choices people have been making repeatedly for years, and people don't want to admit it.
Show threadNick Silkey🎙️N5ILK 🪓🪵 🪣💧Jun 30
@stux wait until folks realize where all power that is all around us, everywhere, that we were born into comes from. 👀✌️💙
Show threadCarol CookJun 30
@stux Boy you describe how I’m feeling as well. And I’m old enough to have gone through the 60’s and protests. It proved that people can make change. 🇺🇸
Show threadSu_GJun 30

@carolcook @stux

Thank you so much for that reminder - from recent history! - that people can make change! 🙂

Show threadSpread The TruthJun 30
@stux right...just worry when trouble comes to your door & by then it's too late...my husband says the same thing & I know it's just him feeling like he has no control but I doggedly continue on & he's coming around...my part in getting someone's head out of the sand
Show threadretechJun 30
@stux Paper does not survive being buried for long. No one can way with any certainty that they lacked a highly advanced administrative system. Perhaps they had billionaires too. Perhaps one of them was hell-bent on an apocalypse and started a rocket company and struck a near Earth asteroid, knocking it off course. Eventually that caused it to be pulled deeper into Earth's gravity well, striking the Earth, thus fulfilling their desire for the end of their epoch.
Show threadsi_iriniJun 30

@stux

💯

Show threadOffbeatmammalJun 30
@stux presidents and politicians work for us, but have managed to make sure we forget that. Their power and the money they spend comes from us. They need to be reminded they serve at our pleasure, not think they are some sort of elite
Show threadSu_GJun 30

@Offbeatmammal @stux

So true - I’ve been struck by how many ‘activists’ are urging people to contact their elected representatives to express their views & needs for their lives in the future… HOW COME THEIR ELECTED REPS aren’t asking the people how they - the reps- should act?

“presidents and politicians work for us, but have managed to make sure we forget that. Their power and the money they spend comes from us. They need to be reminded they serve at our pleasure, not think they are some sort of elite”

Show threadknackJun 30
@stux
We don’t have “no control”, we (myself included) lack a willingness to accept the steep consequences of personally fighting.
Show threadTheNovemberFella ✊🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦☸️🛰️🚀Jun 30
@stux 👍💯👍
Show threadToni AittoniemiJun 30

@stux I’m with you there!

Democracy was supposed to be about everyone having a bit of control.

If you don’t have even that that little bit of control, however small, then it’s not really a democracy is it?

Show threadSu_GJun 30

@gimulnautti @stux

Ohhhh…. this is a great way to think about it!

“Democracy was supposed to be about everyone having a bit of control.

If you don’t have even that that little bit of control, however small, then it’s not really a democracy is it?”

Nail on the head!! Thank you! 🙂

Show threadShadeRunnerJun 30
@stux 💯 agree with you. Seems that they liked the role of dictator, cause it's so easy to manipulate with your army from the basement, as if you're playing generals in real life. Disgusting.
Show threadH4Heights 🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦Jun 30
@stux United we stand, divided we fall
Show threadProf Prof Prof Dr Dr Sophia✔Jun 30
@stux I think it's a balancing act. Feel responsible, stand up for what you believe in, but also stay healthy. If you worry too much, melt in front of a screen, that shows horrible news all the time and don't find ways to digest it all, then you take away your own power, when power is what you need to have, especially when you want to be able to form a healthy opinion. You can't torture yourself with too much information and you need to take care of yourself, if you want to do something about the problems in the world, but then again it's not good to look away. It's a balancing act.
Show threadFemme MalheureuseJun 30

@stux "I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept." — Angela Davis

I'm confident you'll find ways to tackle the things you can't accept. More of us need to ask ourselves what is and isn't acceptable, and then fight against the unacceptable.

Show threadT2RJun 30
@stux we can also eat the rich.
Show threadMyrddinJun 30
@stux well said,it does matter so stay with it
Show threadTofu GolemJun 30
@stux
We greatly outnumber them.
Show threadAlpha Male Martha Stewart 🍉🌈Jun 30

@stux We, the plebs, are the ones in power we just have to convince each other of it. Let's follow the example of the Black Panther Party and make the government irrelivant. Let's feed each other, home and clothe each other, protect each other, defend each other.

The most important thing we can do right now is be a pain in the ass. Be the sand that binds the gears, the barely missed deadline or like @praetor the fucker of the P.E. teachers wife.

Show threadRhinos Worry MeJun 30

@stux

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
- Alice Walker

Show threadAnalog AIJun 30
@stux As I recall, there is a song to that effect in "The Sound of Music" (a great anti-nazi film, not just a romance).
Show threadcrazyeddieJun 30

@stux There's a difference between caring and worrying. Worrying is more obsessive. It's also not that productive because you're worrying instead of acting.

There also is a difference between what you can and cannot change. Worrying about things you can't change blinds you to the things you can. Take god out of it, and the serenity prayer is actually profound even if simple.

You do have to quite that little demon that says you are not worthy or have no control though.

Show threadAndrocatJun 30

@stux That's the stoic ethos, misunderstood and twisted.

Like, you can't control what your neighbor does, but you can control what you yourself do, and that includes reaching out and building networks of people who think alike, and who are willing to work with you to achieve large-scale change.

Show threadJasnaJun 30
@stux Pardon the observation but, from personal experience, worrying and fighting just leave you in a negative frame of mind, or angry or tired. Then, when you can see sth you can do, the action is likely to come from that negative place - this may mean it'll have a negative impact.
Do what's in front of you. Pet the cats. Live in line with world-embracing ethics that no one can argue with. Then, anything you do will make the world a better place, no matter how small.
May you be well. <3