Yup. It seems that whenever you stop being quite as inconvenient to neurotypicals, suddenly “you’re fine, you just need to apply yourself”.

Man, that’s exactly how I got diagnosed again as an adult. I was taken off of medication and all that when I was 12, so I thought I didn’t really have ADHD. Years later, I’m watching a video of “you might have ADHD if…” for laughs and it went something like:

“LAWL.”

“LOL”

“lol”

“… ah, beans.”

To call America a fascist state is just dishonest. To call the EU fascist is unhinged. Where America is certainly struggling internally with a legitimate attempt at a fascist takeover, too many fundamental principles of the republic remain intact to honestly define the country as a fascist state. There are plenty of things to criticize about the US government, it being fascist isn’t one of them.

Russia, however, is literally doing an old school imperialist invasion right now. Like, shaky casus belli and everything. They’re even throwing in a whole host of red flags indicating a genocide. Their “elections” are consistently used as textbook examples of rigged elections using statistical analysis. Political enemies of Putin are assassinated, jailed, and suppressed. The state sponsors a narrative campaign of a fictitious idealized Russian ethno-state. Public dissent is actively and harshly suppressed by the state. There are re-education camps to indoctrinate certain demographics with Russian supremacist propaganda. Russia is a fascist state. The tankies that rush to defend Russia online are defending a fascist state. That is directly contradictory to leftist principles and is, quite frankly, fucking stupid.

So to reply to someone pointing out how ridiculous it is for tankies to support a fascist state like Russia with “hurrdurr libs support fascist usa/eu” is yet another dishonest strawman wrapped in a red herring. And, certainly no surprise to anyone paying attention, just serves as another example of a tankie talking point that refuses to engage the actual argument.

Yeah, the support of a blatantly fascist/imperialist state like Putin’s Russia by self-described leftists is absolutely wild to me. I’m not convinced they’re serious people. Like, yeah, there’s some silly infighting between leftists online, but from my experience, it’s usually tankies saying some smug bullshit blanket statements and defending authoritarian douchecanoes.

I think this is a great question because it absolutely gets the point. The enemy is the system, not the people. This informs you both who and how you fight back. So when someone is saying something bigoted for religious reasons, the problem isn’t necessarily that particular person, but the religious system that brainwashed them. In fact, it was a specific flavor of that religious system.

I think a more clear distinction can be found in feminism. Feminism isn’t about fighting men, but fighting patriarchy. So, sure, there are men who are dickhead misogynists, but they are also potential allies that are also hurt by patriarchy. It’s the system and those who specifically aim to perpetuate said system. Social philosophers tend to point to systems rather than people constantly, because it’s so common for people to point out symptoms rather than the cause. So when we know to identify patriarchy rather than misogynists, yeah, we’ll still call out misogynist men for sure, but also women that perpetuate patriarchy.

So if I’m blaming the system rather than the person, maybe I’m recognizing the religious person’s commitment to truth and appealing to that rather than labeling them the enemy and writing them off completely. I think something that gets lost in all the polarizing bullshit as of recent is recognizing that a great way to make another bigot not exist is to persuade them to not be a bigot anymore. The enemy isn’t people, it’s the fucking system. Like the great poets have said: “Don’t blame it on the Needy, don’t blame it on the Poor, don’t blame it on the Jew, blame it on the system. Blame it on the fucking system.”

Well, I appreciate your vote of confidence. I’d like to point out that OP started the post asking for advice and continues to engage with everything despite appearing to only want to rant. It’s possible that what I’ve said is indeed not what they want/need, but it’s also possible that it’s exactly what they want/need. Whether or not they’re receptive isn’t up to me, but whether or not I try is. And that’s exactly my point.

Oh, okay, now you’re just assuming things about what I have or haven’t been through? That’s extremely arrogant of you. I don’t know you and I don’t know what all you’ve been through, so I do my best to not make any assumptions, I’d appreciate it if you’d extend the same courtesy back.

Regardless of what happens to any one person, they have control over their reaction to it. You keep comparing your life to others, but what good is that? You got dealt a shit hand while others do evil and thrive, it happens every day. Hell, story of my life, too. The difference is what you do about it. You know what I do about it? I do my best to help others never have to go through the same bullshit. Whether or not I fail is not up to me, but whether or not I try is.

Can you just stop?

What I find interesting is that you started this post and are free to disengage whenever you want, yet you haven’t. Why is that?

Oh hey, engagement. I’m sorry that I’m unable to think of a way to articulate that without sounding sarcastic, but I do sincerely appreciate actual engagement.

Stop caring

Uh, no. While I believe I didn’t even suggest such a thing, I will also acknowledge that it’s possible I didn’t adequately articulate my primary point. In no way will I ever say to just stop caring, as that’s unrealistic, counterproductive, and just plain silly. My primary point, especially as it relates to the original post, is to accept reality as it is-WITHOUT inserting an opinion. Your feelings will happen no matter what. You can’t let them dictate your response, but you also can’t make them go away. The point isn’t to stop caring, but to redirect what you care about with full cognitive intent. The point is to focus on what you control and to use what you control to influence your desired outcome.

Get therapy

I mean, maybe? I thought my mentioning of therapy was more of a presentation of an option rather than a primary point, but once again I acknowledge that communication is a two way street and I must do my best to clearly articulate my point. To be clear, I don’t think therapy is technically necessary and I didn’t directly suggest it as I had considered a similar point as to what you have made about the monetary cost. Honestly, what they would ultimately be doing in therapy is to try to change the way you frame things by focusing on what you control. There are multiple approaches, but it usually involves figuring out what core beliefs you have that lead you to the targeted bad outcomes and challenging those core beliefs. This is certainly something you can do on your own, but therapy can help build the skills and awareness to do it effectively. But, once again, therapy isn’t technically necessary for such a thing.

I think it’s important for me to reiterate in a manner I believe to be very clear: The point is to engage with reality. The point is to confront your feelings. The point is to self-reflect with honesty. You don’t control what happens to you, but you do have control over your reaction to it. If your focus is on the circumstances, then you will forever be a victim to those circumstances. Yes, things happened to you, just and unjust, but what are you going to do about it?

Okay, it’s obvious you either don’t care about getting better or you’re just the worst troll. You won’t actually engage with a single point I’ve presented. While I certainly wish you would listen, that’s not up to me, is it?

That’s a very silly take that I can’t help but notice you didn’t back up with any sort of reasoning. If you can legitimately demonstrate harm, by all means, present your evidence.

I’m not convinced you even care about getting better with that attitude. Changing the way you frame things isn’t some bullshit like being better just because you belive, but actually grappling with the reality in front of you. It usually takes time and therapy, all of which is up to you whether or not you honestly engage in it. I’m not gonna bullshit you with validating what you originally posted on evil people prospering compared to you, because that shit doesn’t matter. You’re better than that. You must focus on what you control. The ladder is there, you just have to climb it.

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Of course, but it’s never truly guaranteed for anyone, is it? I’ve been in poverty before, starved and homeless. Today I’m a Punk that got lucky, and I recognize I could just as easily lose it all tomorrow. Ultimately, it’s not up to me what life throws at me at any given moment. I only have control over my reaction. I can tell you from personal experience that material security is not what primarily builds up stability of the mind.

I’m not some jackass that’s going to tell you that basic necessities don’t matter at all, rather that you’ve got to accept that they’re never guaranteed. I won’t spew some bullshit that evil people doing evil things isn’t really all that bad, but rather that you need to accept the reality we all share. Life will throw bullshit after bullshit at you, but it will never dictate how you react to the bullshit. Your material conditions are forever a slave to circumstance, but your mind cannot be conquered by anyone but you.

Framing. That’s all it is.

Evil will thrive for a time, good will thrive for a time, ultimately that’s not up to you. What others do and how they are or are not rewarded is not up to you. What does it matter anyway? Those who successfully do evil will die and be forgotten anyway, their actions having as little consequence as anyone else alive today.

You say you do your best to do good things? Great, focus on that. Because that is up to you. Whether in poverty or in absurd wealth, what matters is what you do with what you have. Evil people do evil things, it’s to be expected. Why would you frustrate yourself with ignorant people acting as expected? And though it may be unjust, why compound it with anger over what you can’t control?

Afterall, wouldn’t you rather be governed by your commitment to bringing what good you can into the world instead of being consumed with frustration of evil acting like itself?

Speaking in a more meta-context, this is exactly it in the political world. In playing politics, you gotta play the political game. There are plenty of things to criticize the dems for, but man do most people in semi-recent history tend to oversimplify things. It’s just not as simple as throwing a filibuster at ‘the other side’ every now and then, you’ve gotta consider political capital, optics, legal maneuvers, precedence, etc. If you run up on the congressional floor and decide to filibuster all on your own with no support, you’re just a jackass wasting everyone’s time, likely harming your own cause in the process. Politics isn’t speeches back and forth with some money thrown around, it’s about building and wisely wielding social power. That includes knowing how to build solidarity with others in other constituencies.

Oh, your English is great and legitimately feels natural, because I think you’ve communicated your point quite well. I can’t really dispute much of anything without sounding like I fundamentally agree with you, but I do have a seemingly small/semantic distinction that I think is important; I don’t think America’s primary core issue has been education or overbearing religious douchebaggery, but this weird extreme epistemological weight given to every individual’s opinion. It’s similar to the bullshit fuzzy philosophy the nazis would use to justify their ideology by insisting everyone should respect their deeply held beliefs. While I don’t think your assessment is perfectly accurate, I do very much believe it shows you’re paying way more attention than the average American.

It really is just simplistic bullshit that seems to trip them up, isn’t it? As a passionate lover of philosophy, I’ve come to a pretty good understanding of the sheer magnitude of what it takes to be considered an “expert” in any subject. And, hoo boy, my radical commitment to what is true has only served to illustrate to myself how much I lack in understanding… pretty much anything. I’m not one of those jackholes who do that smarmy-ass “I know nothing”, so I’ll admit that I understand a hell of a lot more than the average person in political theory and general pragmatic governance. So it’s both infuriating and baffling to me how often the average ‘right-winger’ decisively demonstrates how little they understand any political subject they have no business holding such a strong and certain opinion on. And really, that also applies for most people willing to talk politics in America. Like, how the fuck are people’s opinions so fucking strong for how shallow their position is???

Right, climate change, the thing that boomers caused and definitely not these huge corporations perpetuating a system making humanity dependent on fossil fuels. It was a generation defined by generally common experiences and not some dickheads on the boards of fossil fuel corporations covering up and then spinning up a disinformation campaign against the overwhelming evidence of anthropogenic climate change. No war but class war; know your enemy.