QuilotoaWe live in one of the best times in the history of humanity, but many are frustrated because the last generation had it better.
Lmao could you elaborate please.
Humanity has been around for around 300 000 years. For the first 95 % of that, we were hunter/gatherers - ravaged by disease, tribal wars, accidents, exposed to the elements, no running water, no toilets, no doctors, no electricity, no easy transportation, the average lifespan between 25 and 33 years. For the next 4.5 % the average human was a serf, serf-like or a slave - worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week(or more), no vacation, lived to about 50, had no doctors, no indoor toilet, no indoor water. Water was likely a long distance away and had to be carried by hand to your hovel. Worker’s rights were virtually non-existant. You had intestinal parasites with no health care to relieve you. You were at the whim of the wealthy. Up to half of children didn’t make it to the age of 5. 4 % of women died in childbirth. Women were treated as property. There were no cars, no planes, no electricity, virtually no leisure time. There was minimal heat in winter, no cooling in summer. It is only in the last 0.1 % of our history that we (on average) have had any kind of comfort. We are indeed fortunate to be living now.
AsofonPeople don’t know how good they have it. It’s ironic that being on Lemmy is likely to speak volumes about one’s level of luxury yet people here really, really don’t like to be reminded that they are probably doing way better than most people in the world. Definitely unimaginably better than most people in the world in all history.
Yeah the top 1% sucks and capitalism has to be reigned in but there’s a lot of people here who are only interested in wallowing in their self-pity with the occasional whimper about how Communism/Socialism/Anarchism etc. would be a totally better system if not for capitalism and if everyone just agreed to do it (and somehow they actually don’t see the problem with the argument). They make these posts and then pat themselves on the back about what good activists they are and then return to bitching about things happening half-way across the world but never give a single thought to doing something in their local community (because that would require actually dealing with real humans).
It’s kinda like the flip side of people who bitch about taxes not doing anything, while using infrastructure, probably in some level of safety, benefitting from public healthcare (if applicable) and schools etc. but because they’re just used to it, they don’t realize how big of a difference it makes. Most people on Lemmy have 0 concept of what it’s actually like living in an oppressive and corrupt regime. They are addicted to misery because it gives them the reason to be inactive and permanentley outraged. They buy into all the doomscrolling (on their luxury devices, during their luxurious amount of free time) about how much things suck and of course, this just aids the capitalistic system because passive people seething at home about the injustices in the world are always better than active people on the streets trying to actually make a change happen.
What people would need to do: consciously practice gratitude over what they have and especially who they have in their life, find LOCAL opportunities to engage in activism and connect with people (opportunities to practice what you preach too).
What’s easier to do: sit on your device, get angry about another injustice in the world, feel exhausted with “all the bad stuff in the world”, don’t do anything but post another meme that perpetuates the cycle.
Also, inb4 Mr. Gotcha meme. Yeah, go ahead, compare yourself to a serf who couldn’t even imagine the level of comfort you’re living in.
Totally. I don’t know if it’s unique to Lemmy (I’m not on other social medias) or a movement in general, but there seems to be some kind of satisfaction in being able to say how terrible like is. I’ve lived in a third world country and am a history author. We in the west have it really good in comparison.
「黃家駒 Wong Ka Kui」Lemmy is like “OMG MY INTERNET IN THE 90s! gOoD oL’ dAyS!”
I’m like: Bitch, my family didn’t even have internet till 2010 when we emigrated from China
And we had to boil water… was a culture shock to hear about just… filing up a cup water at the sink…