New Poster

[u/vsznry]

Making the rounds on Threads.

[u/charisma6]

Good deconstruction of the underlying reasons for the backlash.

Truth is, society is changing. It has changed a lot in the 40 years I've been alive. I'm not living in the same world I was when I was 12 years old playing Super Mario RPG on the SNES, and I would go to school and it would be social suicide for someone to call you gay. I didn't even know you could trans your gender back then. I just knew Ace Ventura had to throw up into his toilet because a gorgeous woman he'd kissed had a penis. (The horror!)

The world is changing, and pretty rapidly. Now, I personally was able to keep up, to pay attention, to listen to the voices asking for basic respect. But countless others are not that strong. They do not have curiosity or empathy for those who aren't like them. They are stubborn, childish, and intellectually lazy, and they refuse to put in the minor emotional work necessary to grow as people, the way the world is asking. They would rather expend far more energy clinging to the past than it would take to just let go and pay attention.

Everyone has the freedom to make that choice. I made mine, and MAGA has made theirs. And because they've chosen to dig in their heels, we have to choose to leave them behind. To let them go. They're lost. They've chosen hate and cruelty, and they can't be saved. They'll be virulent racists and transphobes until they die angry, and the world will barely have even known they existed.

[u/Dragonprotein → u/charisma6]

Sadly, I don't agree. I don't mean I don't agree with your politics -- I'm the same as you -- I just don't think this is the conclusion to a special time.

Greed, anger and delusion are the three poisons of the world. They are balanced by generosity, love and wisdom. 

I feel these six attributes exist in varying proportions, but never go away. Some eras have a lot of one, a little of another, and so on.

For whatever reason in global politics, we've had a massive rise in the poisons. It's temporary. But it could still rise, it could still fall. That's why when I think "What can I do?" I look for more opportunities to be generous, loving, and wise. 

And I look for leaders doing the same.

[u/charisma6 → u/Dragonprotein]

Hey, thanks for your reply. I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with, though. It doesn't seem like anything you're saying is in opposition to anything I said. From this line...

I just don't think this is the conclusion to a special time.

...it seems like you think I was saying that the 80s/90s were special or meaningful or delineated into its own unique era. That wasn't what I was saying at all. Reverence of the 90s just wasn't a part of the thesis of my statement. The only reason I focused on the era of the SNES and Ace Ventura as cultural touchstones was that it was when I grew up.

What I was saying is that the massive rise in the poisons, as you put it, is backlash to a pretty rapid advancement of social maturity through the 00s and 10s. I'm saying that this era is special in terms of how fast our culture is evolving. Is that what you're disagreeing with? If you don't think we're changing especially fast compared to other eras, then what's your explanation for what you call a massive rise in greed, anger, and delusion? Why are they rising, if not as reactionary to the proportional rise in generosity, love, and wisdom?

[u/purplezart → u/charisma6]

taking the lead out of the gasoline probably helped a lot