As someone in the US it’s so easy to see so many depressing issues from the ravages of capitalism, to war, imperialism, and genocide. How can one care about these issues and hope for change without allowing themselves to be affected mentally?
I’ve been considering this for the past week, connecting it with Buddhist compassion towards the world and a need for mindfulness. But it’s so easy to fall into emotionlessness.
I’ve also thought through the world has always had issues and though some are getting much worse some are getting better.
I have gone to counseling before but they just make it an individual problem when it’s the world.
Edit: doesn’t have to be US centric. Just I’m writing from that pov
Watch the telly. Television tends to keep people somewhat informed but apathetic.
If they’d make people actually feel the horrors of the world, then people would stop watching. They know this so what they do is deliver it all in a way that promotes apathy. They do show you things but structure it so that the implicit message is: don’t worry, do watch but whatever you do, don’t worry, it’s all fine, business as usual. “New report comes out, humanity is destroying the planet faster than ever before, biodiversity is plumetting […] (jingle) there’s a genocide going on and we are supporting it […] (jingle) in other news: a baby panda was born at this zoo. […] (jingle) now for the weather. . […] (jingle) thank you for watching, see you tomorrow.”
What you’ll find is that despite you being somewhat aware of current events, most of the time it all feels like an abstract thing that doesn’t really worry you. Seldom does anything you see on the telly push you to do anything. “Some important news just reached me through the telly, that means that I will now do so and so…”, yeah right. I do nothing, maybe I walk to the fridge to get a soda, since ads do have calls to action. The news has a subliminal call to apathy. So I sit back down and continue to watch my entertainment.
Do something about it. I run an LGBT center and help homeless trans people get housing. You will be surprised how you can get stuff like this going just by talking to people (a lot, like every day, zealously). You don’t need to be rich.
I’m surrounded by people that give a shit every day. We’ve made a bubble that can’t pop.
Heavily filter what you consume. Following all news is not the morally correct thing to do, and you can cut back on it.
I’m fighting against this by staying off all social media other than Lemmy. All my news comes from a small number of curated sources, and only in RSS feeds (so I get them in time order rather than bullshit news site headlines prioritisation). I use a lot of keyword filters on Lemmy and in my RSS news (Covid, Trump, Biden, most American news, anything that is meaningless to me is blocked before it can show up on my screen).
TLDR news is a particularly good YouTube channel. They have really well presented news and pick out a few important events to report on. I find that’s more than enough for me for news consumption.
It’s indeed very difficult and my take is that the system wants us like this. To be depressed, full of fear and hopeless. Mainly of course through media.
What I considered one solution to fight back this is to discuss current events, solutions etc with a group of similar minded people. I don’t mean join a cult etc. No far from it. But finding people with same concerns by openly discussing them will bond them into bigger groups and this helps a lot. Gives a sense of fulfilment and hope.
No fear. Act.
You raised a very good point that I did not realize until now. In the past 8 years we actually stopped talking about politics to others, because it became so polarizing.
We absolutely need to talk about politics if we want to keep democracy. Hardliners likely won’t be converted, but at least, as you said, we should talk to like minded people.
Also, there’s indeed no point to worry about things outside of our control, and worry about things we can affect. Threat the things that happen, that we can’t control more as an obstacle that we have to deal with. Also support people who might have control and fight (governors, congress people, lawyers, judges, government employees, etc) so they know that aren’t doing it for nothing.
Correct. Also have in mind the all political sides, lefts, rights etc are all the same wearing different masks. True change comes from the base, from people, not from politicians placed by the system for people to vote. The base, the people when discuss and propose the most fit person to represent them , this is true democracy.
How do you find leftist groups? I’ve been to a couple local democrat meetings and I just can’t hang. It’s just older people that are okay with the status quo. And I want to break things.
See comment above. Don’t fall into the trap of lefts and rights.
Don’t fall into the trap of lefts and rights
That is a very important comment, thank you! We are just being played to perfection at the moment, peak divide and conquer. If we can refuse to play these games, maybe we can all learn and evolve.
I’m in love with Stanford Beer and his saying “The purpose of a system is what it does”.
So yes, if most of us are depressed and anxious then that is what the system is for.
I stopped using social media so much, the internet is moved by clicks and panic content gets them, but I find it overwhelming.
I get my news from here. If it is really important it will bleed into the periphery to places like this. My physical disability with social isolation makes this a best self health situation. The news is not real news any more, it does nothing to inform. It was changed to “news as entertainment” long ago.
That’s the neat part, you don’t.
Right? I’ve never believed that depression is a brain chemical issue. It’s an issue of being aware of the true nature of the world and species.
Edit: Take your pills the fancy drug dealer prescribed you for your “depression” and break your dicks. Numb yourself up to it all and live your best life, man. I don’t give a fuck. I drink, so it probably isn’t much better. Heh. Sorry I struck a nerve, but my perspective on this matter isn’t changing in my lifetime. This is the same industry that used to electrocute and shove ice picks into your brain. Now they do it with chemicals. Still just clueless throw shit at the wall and see what sticks nonsense that will never solve the real problem.
It’s both.
No other animal suffers from depression. If it were a brain chemical issue, where are all the depressed squirrels and buffalo? It’s a human problem. That brain chemical imbalance shit is a neat way for the pharmaceutical companies to push their expensive poison on us. Break your dick and ruin one of the few good things in life. Happy now? Pass.
Depressed? Congratulations. You’re more intelligent and aware than most.
No other animal suffers from depression.
Behind a paywall so I unfortunately can’t read it. These are animals being held in captivity and being tested on by their captors? Heh. Pretty apt comparison if that’s the case. I’m sure the solution is to give them pills to numb them rather than free them no doubt.
Unpaywalled
Of course animals suffer from depression. This isn’t something I need to prove to you. This comment just goes to show that you’re either not very observant in any context or you’ve never been to a zoo. And no dipshit, it doesn’t make zoo animals not depressed because humans cause it in the cases where it’s easiest seen. By virtue of us being human, of course those examples would be seen by us. Jesus Christ some people trip over themselves to hold an insanely wrong viewpoint.
Yeah, I’m sure being held captive by terrifying ape creatures isn’t what causes their mental issues at all just like the conditions that terrifying ape creatures inflict onto us isn’t what causes ours. It’s just a brain chemical imbalance you are born with, you see, and you have to electrocute the brain to solve everything… wait, no, shove this ice pick up your eye… well, that was problematic… take these chemicals! Hmmm… let’s try a dozen more until we find the “right” one.
Fucking hell no.
You seem like the type of person who cannot accept that things are complicated and multiple things can be true at once.
Only thing I need to know in this case is that I don’t trust that industry and find it terrifying that they have been given any credibility and legal power over others. Quacks with degrees in pseudoscience whose book of diagnostics was written by the same people on the pharmaceutical boards. I will have nothing to do with it.
You do you and follow your own beliefs and practices.
I think they’re 2 different things. being acutely aware of how totally an utterly fucked we all are doesn’t stop me from doing things I like.
I wanted to say there is some truth in what you’re saying but the more I read, the more clueless you sound. Depression is real, and drugs that fuck your sex life up are probably worse. I have a lot of bad days but good days, good art, and a well placed joint help. Just because a lot of the current understanding of depression is flawed or wrong doesn’t make it a fake made up condition. You probably aren’t depressed if you can say that. Being the kid who was always super sensitive, would cry for hours, and getting really sad just thinking about something briefly are all things I experienced which prove to me that depression is real. No one else in my family was suffering like that. And I could say I was of higher intelligence and that’s why, if I wanted to jerk myself off like you’re doing, but the truth is it’s a lot more complicated than that.
I’m curious. Have you always been a complete jackass?
Communism.
We are each just one person. We can’t save the world, and it would be unreasonable to carry that burden.
But we each can save a small piece of it. A kind word here, a forgiving of slights there, and work in some patience & understanding for others.
Little things can make waves. And if Six Degrees of Separation remains true, your little deeds affect more people than you realize.
One thing I do — and it sounds like you may have tried a version of this — is take media breaks (social media included). Go camping, read fiction, play video games or whatever floats your boat. You’ll almost always find that nothing major has changed and you were just dwelling on things beyond your control.
I’m not saying stick your head in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong. I’m more saying you can keep just as informed without wallowing in the news slop.
Get involved in direct action in your community. Linking up with an org or group that does real community service and solidarity can help prevent you from feeling helpless and falling into that depressive spiral.
Help at a soup kitchen, provide homeless care kits, work a food/clothing drive, work with a crew to clean up gang tags from walls, pick up litter, build bird boxes, etc.
Seeing your community get a little better can do a lot for your mental health.
Remember that dispite the horrors of our species, we have accomplished some pretty incredible things. Just 200 years ago, we were still putting leaches on people and not washing our hands before performing medical procedures.
Now, we just microscopic lasers to correct blindness, cure certain types or deafness by implanting magnets into skulls, we can deliver and grow infants that are born several months too early to full term with minimal complications, and we can treat scores of diseases that would have been a death sentence just 200 years ago.
The Capitalist scum would have you believe that nobody would have done those things unless they made money doing it, but that’s a lie and projection. They wouldn’t have done that if it didn’t make them money, because they are evil and without empathy.
But they don’t represent the human spirit, what we are truly capable of when we work together for the common good.
The greatest accomplishments of our species aren’t when we compete and fight each other. The greatest accomplishments happen when we cooperate with each other. Don’t let the rich and powerful convince you otherwise.
That’s my secret, I’m always deeply depressed and cynical.
Simple: I’m just naturally deeply depressed and cynical, so there isn’t a big difference
born of it, moulded by it…
Don’t fall into doomerism - news companies are companies, and negativity gets people on their platforms for much longer than positivity, it’s easy to get addicted to it. Set time limits or limit the amount of news you consume per day/per week.
Recognize that caring about something requires mental energy - if you had 1 friend who asks you to care about their hobby or learn a bit more, then you might agree, but if you have 20 friends with different hobbies asking the same thing, then there’s no way you can care about all of them. Similar thing applies to the news, recognize that you can’t care about everything and try learning how to stay informed without giving up lots of mental energy stressing about things you can’t really influence.
It’s admirable wanting to keep up with the news, but it also can be a bit of a trap and does require a degree of skill to not fall into what you describe in your post.
