371 Comments

No need to worry. The way things are going, life is going to get much, much harder. The system will right itself.

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I don't doubt that you're right.

I take a slightly different view however. IMO the degree of the carnage can be mitigated by helping to wake people up before it's too late.

After all it's necessary to expand ideas in order to narrow for solutions/impact.

I'd rather not fall into a self fulfilling prediction limited to one "narrow" outcome.

I mean I just hate falling into the apathy trap. Personally I think apathy can be a "cousin" to self-contempt.

That's exactly what totalitarians rely on. And precisely why it works.

I do think you're right to a degree though. So prepare if you want to avoid despair.

Just my two cents.

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As a percentage of population there are fewer and fewer people who know how things work. Think of all that is involved in manufacturing a computer, or a car, or even processing food. If we fail to maintain a critical mass of people who can keep it all working, it will all fail. Not just a little at a time, but all at once.

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Completely....but I think it's further reaching than just what we're talking about.

I posted this a year ago and I think it fits in nicely with the point you're making:

I think the underlying problem is this last few generations have no idea how things are made. Therefore they have no interest in making things because they have no experiencing working with their hands - they wouldn't even know where to start. That being the case; they can't make shit happen.

You'd have to think curiosity is lost when the two body parts with the most nerve endings (finger tips and brain)become disassociated. They are meant to work together.

It is what separates us from all other beasts and was most certainly the driving force in the evolutionary emergence of consciousness. We could be literally losing consciousness - and by extension conscience.

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Easy prosperous living and cheap products make just replacing them the way most go. But, those cheap products are barely reparable and the replacement parts are a major percentage of the total cost of buying anew one. The corporations built this principle into their products - all part of the plan. Yet we can still learn to use quality mad products and repair them if we decide to try. It is just that we might have to shop for them in the used, second hand, and thrift stores. How I wish cars and trucks would go back to roll down windows and dump most of the electronic wizz-bang crap. The radio in my 1960 Volkswagen beetle worked great and I just had to turn a dial for stations. It also got close to 40 mpg. so what have we gained. I could and did take apart the engine (in my '67 VW van and just order all the parts. The whole job cost about the same as having the AC refrigerant in my 2015 Chrysler 200 replaced at a dealer because they now have a refrigerant you can't replace yourself

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And we call this garbage progress.

What a joke!

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Another part of the problem is that even the trades are being degraded.

Used to be that a good mechanic could diagnose what was wrong with a vehicle from various metrics - including sound. (Remember when your mechanic used to ask you what a problem sounded like when you brought your car into the shop?)

Nowadays, "mechanics" usually hook up your engine to a computer to get a diagnosis. And then instead of actually repairing things, they just switch out parts.

You can't be truly independent when you work at that level.

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Just like doctors are now doing. Instead of new parts they give you a prescription for new meds.

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I'm a decent auto mechanic. I have a code reader. When my AC went out, I read the code, and it said the thermostat was faulty. I know enough to know that the thermostat has nothing to do with the AC. But I looked up an explanation, and it said the car's computer is programmed to turn off the AC if the car overheats. That takes some of the load off the engine and maybe keeps the engine cool enough. That made sense to me, except that I was sure the car wasn't overheating. So, I took the car to a mechanic I trust, and he also could see no way that the thermostat was the issue. He suggested that it was the temperature sensor that was faulty, and giving a false reading that the engine was overheating. Turns out, he was right. And that caused the computer to turn off the AC. There will never be a time when good, human experience and judgement is supplanted by software. Software does a lot for us, but we had best NEVER become fully dependent on it.

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"so what have we gained[?]"

Windows you can't wind down when you're submerged?

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I actually think about that occasionally!

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No doubt they will crash as you try to roll them down and you will get the blue screen of death.

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There is that!

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Agree

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Aaaand I’m back driving a stick shift. LOL. Beats a smart (spy) car.

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Jun 11Edited

There are no more TV repairmen anymore because it is cheaper to go buy a new TV at Wal-Mart than to repair an existing one. Everything is made to be disposable.

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Learned that with my built-in microwave.

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They built that model to make US the product.

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That is spot on.

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In this case, I'm not just talking about 'working with your hands'. We're only a generation or two into a manufaturing economy. Yes, manufaturing has been around for a lot longer than that, but it's been a relatively short titme that people buy nearly everything rather than make/grow the majority for themselves. The processes have grown very involved and are more fragile than ,most people ever think about. The processes aren't on 'autopilot', they need to be seen to constatnly. As people have mentioned here, more an more people accept all this 'stuff' as their right. That goes for our 'leadeers', too. When there aren't enough people who can and will keep it going, it will collapse.

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Humans think they are superior. EVERYTHING is done for the convenience of the race.

We are not superior.

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Exactly. Mother nature will "consume" us when she's well and ready.

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And yet, here we all are. Despite not testing every animal under the sun for bird flu since the fall of the Roman empire.

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"It is what separates us from all other beasts"

Reverend "Doc Brown" Jim Ignatowski posits a different hypothesis.

https://clip.cafe/taxi-1978/the-ability-of-two-men-put-on-gloves/

He would know. He was a Doctor _and_ a Cab Driver.

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Agree. I’m watching a father and his two sons remodel our bathroom, and they are doers. Learning from their hands, discussing with each other and getting it done. The trades are where it’s at, but we devalued those professions decades ago and we are suffering the consequences with quickly declining stores of valuable, practical knowledge . To me, the failing can be partly attributed to the idea “I want my kids to have it better than I did”.

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You nailed it

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One of the reasons Covid targeted the “elderly” useless eaters…cuz we know stuff!

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That, and you can see through the veneer of lies.

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I was listening to a podcast (Louise Perry on Triggernometry I believe) and the topic of discussion was birth rate decline in the West (and elsewhere).

It was all the usual talking points, then Perry mentioned the impact on technology, something I hadn't thought about. She said technological progress will basically peak in the next 5-10 years and then decline, as there simply won't be a big enough pool of engineers and other highly qualified people.

And she rightly noted that it's not just a numbers game. You can't expect India and Nigeria to step in and train up enough of their people to the same standard achieved in Western universities. Even China is losing population and will not be able to replace its current crop of highly skilled workers one to one.

So Perry's prediction is that none of these advancements that we keep hearing about will ever come to fruition, or at least not at scale, and not it a way that can be sustained. The AI revolution, space travel to Mars, self-driving cars... it will all in the end amount to nothing. In fact, our use of technology will go backwards -- exactly as you state -- since fewer people will know how to maintain existing systems. At some point, there will only just be enough engineers to keep the electrical grid going and other "basics" but you can forget about living in some amazing Smart Home in the year 2050 or perhaps even having a smartphone.

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"I mean I just hate falling into the apathy trap."

If you practice Apathy long enough, this is where you end up:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out,

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.”

― Martin Niemöller

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/65103.Martin_Niem_ller

--

We have to give a crap, as you say Ryan, before it's too late.

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AMEN

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From my perspective it is already too late.

The collapse is well underway. Not being a pessimist here. Just a realist.

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Don't give up hope. There's a whole community right here who give a crap.

Spread the word.

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Paradoxically, I think a collapse is what gives me hope. The current system is broken beyond repair. To begin anew we will have to rebuild from the ground up.

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*ponders* Perhaps not so paradoxically. Maybe a rebuild is in order.

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🔥 🔥 🔥 this is me at this point.

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Oh, I haven't given up! I just don't believe we can right this ship. The damage is so extensive...

That said, I continue to have faith.

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Cool. Because I was willing to remind you of some good things we still have, things still worth fighting for.

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Yeah I hear you. I have youngish kids...so I'm gonna give it the ole' college try

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And I have grandkids I need to hope they deserve better than this current administration and globalists

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Amen. We need people with grown children.

I actually think it's the difference maker.

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I'm not particularly apathetic, Ryan, or even down-hearted. Whatever happens here on Earth, the answers to life lie elsewhere. However, as someone says below, we are on the downward cycle and there's no point in denying it. As for trying to wake people up, I think that's a waste of time. Almost every day now there are (finally!) fresh revelations about how awful the lies behind Covid were. Same goes for the official narratives for Ukraine, Gaza, "Climate change". Yet the normies don't care. If they aren't awake now, they never will be. What's important is not to fret about the useless majority but to be part of the creative minority that will still be around when the brown stuff hits the fan. As you rightly say, being aware and getting prepared.

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I'm not trying to wake people up. Just continuing to alert them that they are dreaming. And regardless if they wake up or not, there will be pushback.

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This is the best way to say it

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a wonderful approach, jimmy! powerful and action-driven, as well as detached from the outcome wrt other people’s responses. this takes courage and confidence, and you’ve got it!

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well met, Steghorn.

except it's never taken a majority to change the tide. it always comes down to the few.

time will tell as you say.

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Indeed. I'm not sure if you ever saw the videos showing the downfall of the Romanian dictator, Ceaucescu in 1989. It all began him making his usual speech to a massive crowd as he had done a thousand times before. Then suddenly a few guys start heckling him. Then some more. A week later he and his wife were shot by firing squad.

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No I haven't...but I learned today!

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Have you been reading the Margarette Anna Alice Substack? Because you sound awfully chipper today.

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No. But my outlook could change by the afternoon

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Reading MAA has been a fine find for me.

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Haha, love MAA!

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There's a literary example of this. The premise of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series is that the galaxy is going to face a Dark Age one way or another -- the math says so -- but by the establishing the Foundation and its task, what is predicted to be 30,000 years can be shortened to 1,000 years. Here, the fall is also coming one way or another, but we likely can mitigate the severity of the carnage as you said.

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Ooh. That is a good example...or we could end up in A Canticle For Liebiwitz world

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Indeed, no one needs to hit rock-bottom to get out of a bad situation.

People been absorbing AA claptrap for too long.

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Great two cents, Ryan

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We are in the "weak men create hard times" period of the cycle. All that has happened before will happen again.

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I'm not sure that the weak men in question are even men.

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Kids today have it too easy. I died once when I was five and my mother made me walk it off. ;-)

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For real, when my husband (I’m a woman) broke his arm, his parents told him to go lie down until dinner was over.

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I played baseball for 4 games with a broken humerus. My parents kept telling me let's see how it is in the morning. I knew they cared, but we didn't have the money.

Eventually I got a cast for 8 weeks...

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While my mom was on vacation, my dad was looking after us kids. I was out skating outside and fell and fractured my wrist, but continued practicing piano the rest of the time my mom was gone. My dad claimed I was just trying to get out of practicing the piano.

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Or, maybe you were just "trying to get attention?" Remember that one?

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lol. sounds like my dad.

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It builds character!

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Heck yeah 👍🏼

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Ouch! Hubs had to go to school with a collapsed lung after getting hit with a baseball during his weekend game. They eventually figured it out and he had the surgery thank goodness ⚾️

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Thank goodness is right.

Sometimes western medicine is needed in cases like this for sure

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If only they would stick to what they're good at! Talked with an OBGYN this weekend who thinks the trans train is full on ridiculous but he knows the surgeons who turn penises into "vaginas" and they full on admit that it's because they enjoy the challenge.

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Oh my God! I heard there is an inordinate number of surgeons who cut off one of their fingers so they get lifetime disability of 1/2 what they were making for the rest of their lives!

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Haha yeah, if you’re not on fire, have not ingested any possible poison, or you were not blind, then you were probably good to go.

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Not bleeding then can’t be too bad

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We told our kids when home alone they could call us for fire, flood, or broken bones. After an apple peeling gone awry incident that resulted in stitches, we added copious blood. That was it.

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Same here. Both arms ripped off by an out of control combine harvester when I was 12. I just picked up the scythe with my feet and carried on working. :)

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You laugh, but I swear there is a true story from the 60s or 70's where this teenage kid on a farm did lose both his hands in a machinery accident while alone. He walked to his house, dialed for help using the bone sticking out of one of his arms, and then sat in the bathtub until help arrived because he "didn't want to get blood on the carpert"! Both hands were reattached in one of the first limb reattachment surgeries.

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Great, but did he finish his homework too?

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Here you go, not the 1960s but 1992. I remembered it because that stoy made headline all the way over here at the time.

https://www.agweek.com/business/whatever-happened-to-john-thompson-the-nd-farm-kid-who-had-his-arms-ripped-off-in-a-1992-farm-accident

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Lmao

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You poor thing 🤣🤣

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Lolol

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I am laughing so hard right now!!!

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😂

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I know. I had to stop reading more comments cause I can’t get my dinner eating from laughing at these

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Wow you're so lucky. I only got shot and had to walk it off when I was 7. Wish I got to die.

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Dying was easy. It’s the return that was a little rough. 😜

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Shit. Our brothers used to chase us through the woods and shoot us with pellet guns.

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was fun shooting my sister with a bb gun until she got to the house and told Mum.

Still, was a fun family story.

She recovered.

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Our brothers had us dress in layers. It stung, but didn't leave as big of a mark. My friend and I still laugh about it.

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I probably should've thought that through though. Was thinking that only one pump on the lever wouldn't be much velocity....

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Pellet guns? Luxury! Our father used to wake us up for work an hour before we went to bed then chase us around with a chain-saw and, having dismembered us, would dance on our graves.

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When I was being taught how to swim, my dad (a former VA Beach lifeguard) threw me forward about ten feet and told me to swim to him. He did pull me up when I was going down for the third time.

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Well bless him for not letting it get too out of hand. 😊

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I don’t think my dad was ever worried about me drowning in the shore break on the North Shore of Oahu during big wave season, but sometimes I wonder what he was thinking as he watched me get pulled out again for another pounding when I was literally 12 inches from his hand and he could have grabbed me if he wanted to. 🌊

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I love this. You are stronger for this experience. God bless your dad.

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Well, it turns out he wasn't too interested in maintaining a relationship later in life so sometimes I see this moment as an early sign of things to come, but in both cases, yes, it did make me stronger!

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*Mother points to phone against head*

*mouths* "Rub some dirt on it - I'm on the phone!"*

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Hahaha

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My mom broke the paddle on the counter, you see what you made me do.

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Mrs. Pi's Salvadoran. One of her college friends has this in their kitchen:

https://www.amazon.com/Beware-Chancla-Hispanic-Spanish-Panderia/dp/B0955Y3CJH

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I wish it was a chancla, a soft one. My biggest problem was my brother would laugh which of course pissed her off even more so she moved a little further down not just him but me too and I never laughed I was screaming bloody murder.

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I think Mamas and Abuelas have been able to strike fear in the youngins from way back.

It's not the Tool. It's the Craftsman.

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If I was called by my full name without hearing the cat, dog or my brothers name before mine that's all it took to put the fear of God in me. LOL

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Thanks for the LOL!

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😜

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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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Shorter bad cat: The Devil finds work for idle hands.

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Yes he does indeed... but there are lots of other truths that come out of this badcat post.

* I read recently some research that finds that experiencing a 'trauma' in early life is more likely to make you more psychologically robust than traumatised for life. (like it always is in tv/film dramas)

* people disappearing up their own ideological backsides is what Freud called "the narcissism of small differences"

* Yes struggle is essential to The Good Life

* and then there's that false goal "the pursuit of happiness" I wrote about this in this essay: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/are-we-making-progress

" For any reasonably educated, reasonably sane, citizen of any Western nation....it would be curmudgeonly not to recognise that life for us is pretty good. The more reflective might ponder however whether the quantity of human happiness does actually expand to fit the quantity of propitious circumstance or whether happiness is more in the way of a self-levelling constant."

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Thanks for calling out the "pursuit of happiness" BS. As I always tell my kids, happiness is something you get as a side benefit when you are busy doing something worthwhile.

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Stealing this 🙏

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Sportsnet is playing the "ACE" (Adverse Childhood Experience) ad this month.

I recall ACE becoming popular with the social workers about 15-20 years ago, which required more SW's to stomp out the ACE's.

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This is why I always thank my Savior for my many blessings, even when things ares rosy still better than many.

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*aren’t

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These kids are the modern day equivalent of those who protested the Vietnam War.... the beginning of Electromagnetic/Weather Warfare which has been perfected via the Israeli government's weilding of Lavender AI against the Palestianians (mostly women and children.)

So, the bad cat is chastising college kids for protesting against genocide? A better example couldn't be found? Disaster Capitalism via military force is intentionally established using SHOCK THERAPY (Covid-19 is the new version.)

This ongoing pilfering is not the Keynesian compromise (public schools, healthcare, utilities, forests, mining) we had in Canada. These kids are morally courageous to protest the Palestinian massacre because that AI war machine is coming for us next.

Agent Smith is already everywhere including in our bodies using the nanotechnology biosensors for surveillance under the skin via the Internet of Bio-Nano Things and the WBAN (Wireless Body Area Network IEEE802.15.6 in the terahertz band.)

It doesn't matter how much money you have because we are all the enemy under the Friedmanian economics of unfettered capitalism.

To understand what is happening (Covid-19) you must read "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by author, Naomi Klein.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/shock-doctrine/

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"So, the bad cat is chastising college kids for protesting against genocide?"

No, these kids couldn't even define genocide, nor do they know which "river" or "sea" they are chanting about. It's all empty virtue signaling that will result in no change, no results, NOTHING. It's all social posturing - "Look at me! I believe in something!". It is the ultimate action to justify inaction.

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Exactly.

Meanwhile, ethnic cleansing in Burma, chinese slow genocide of uighurs, Saudi Arabia's war in Jemen about to reach 500 000+ civilians killed so far, cultural genocide of Tibet, ministers of South Africa black governement openly talking about exterminating all whites, pakistani pogroms against anyone suspected of besmirching islam, slave trade perpetrated by AQiM in North Africa, and so on.

But none of their idols on social media has told them to be outraged about that, have they?

Possibly, the generation we are talking about is simply venting for having grown up in an environment where they haven't been allowed to be angry about anything, unless their anger was first authorised as valid and correct by authority.

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I don't know Angie, as I was reading it I was envisioning the Jewish kids who were claiming they didn't feel safe going to class. Somehow they turned protests against the Israeli government into perceived threats against their personal security. And naturally the media amplified that message of alleged danger.

And the picture of the girl holding the sign saying "I'm mad about something I never researched" had me thinking of all those screaming about how Hamas started this because they have no idea what the Zionists did to the Arab Palestinians in 1948.

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In his interview on Tucker, Thomas Massie said that he sent his kids to public school because he thought that 3 mile bus ride was an important cultural immersion experience.

My husband is an independent contractor but he does most of his work for one business, and so he's in that shop with the staff. The guy who owns the company is a dream to work for; he's honest, flexible, and laid back. There's a young guy that's been there a few years; he's bright enough but repeats mistakes, and then wanders off into self-reflection. Despite the absolute plum that is this job, he just quit so he can go swirl around in his thoughts and "find himself." It's been really interesting to watch. I like this kid, but I think his parents should probably kick him out for a while. I told my 18yo - you will always have a home here, but you have to leave before you can come back.

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In the '50s and early '60s, the Beat Generation rejected the materialism of the post-war boom. I liked that. I left home as soon as I could support myself, and never looked back. I am now nearly 80 with a couple of full-blown careers and many experiments behind me. Most of what my life was was self-inflicted, both the good and the bad. I regret almost nothing since I needed all of it to become the person I am today. I'm nowhere near perfect, but I am comfortable in my own skin and don't need any one or any thing outside me to validate me as "OK". And guess what? This is one of billions of versions of the same story. How does it end? I guess I'll just have to keep living it to find out...

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What a great way to live.

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