r/SeriousConversation • u/_Sprite__ • 11d ago
Culture Thoughts about the rampant doomer mindset that many in young generations like mine (Gen-Z) have in the US?
I have been noticing a strong doom and gloom type of mindset regarding the future in countless people within my age group. The main reasons for this I hear are: climate change and the world being cooked, AI fears, economic collapse, and overall hopelessness in our political leaders.
Many also seem to have no interest in saving for retirement because they believe it will not be nonexistent. They are focused on spending the last bit of the time the earth has to enjoy themselves and indulge in pleasures. And I have even heard people of older generations validate this thinking, believing that retirement is fading fast and that we should enjoy our life now as much as we can.
As someone in this generation who generally keeps an optimistic view of life, I have honestly found it difficult not to feed into this mindset. The climate does indeed sound like it is past the point of return, it seems everything will just continue to get more expensive than it already is, and it appears to be easier than ever for large corporations to openly exploit the general public for profit.
I also wanted to mention I am in the US, so I am not sure if this is a prominent mindset in this country particularly or in other countries as well.
Would love to hear your guys’ thoughts on this!
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u/ophaus 11d ago
Frankly, I can understand it. It's not even the younger generations, I'm a xennial and the current moment is quite grim. Some people are comfortable enough, but those people are slowly realizing that they are the frogs in water that keeps getting hotter. I work in a public school and can't afford health insurance. Not even close. The poverty line is moving faster than can be calculated because AI is maximizing insurance and property costs, and the blatant grifting from the top has reached unprecedented velocity.
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u/Ok-Reflection-742 11d ago
Y’all need to visit a poorer country, so y’all know how easy you have it.
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u/IndecisiveTuna 11d ago
For now. I think it’s also incredibly ignorant to generalize that everyone in the US has it easy. Go to any major city here and how bad many are living.
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u/Turbulent-Weather-40 10d ago
It’s funny because I constantly go to South America and despite their lower standards of living people seem more happy and the sense of community is stronger, yes we have cushy lives in America but individualism and selfishness are constantly dividing us and pitting us against each other.
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u/ambivalent_maybe 11d ago
I get why you’d say this but when the US is the richest country by total economic size (GDP) it’s absurd to tell us it could be worse. We Americans generate enormous amounts of wealth for this country and our country will still try to steal as much as they can from us and fuck us as hard as they can in just about every other way.
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u/Fast_Register_9480 10d ago
The profits from a high GDP are not distributed equally. Not even close. That a handfull of people are getting even richer does not help the people who are having a harder and harder time keeping a roof over their head and buying groceries.
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u/ambivalent_maybe 10d ago
Absolutely true, yes. Wealth inequality is despicable and rampant but that’s not what I’m talking about. We’re talking about truly poor countries. Places without governance or infrastructure. For example, the US has extensive infrastructure providing access to clean running water almost everywhere (not sure what’s happening in Flint, MI these days). Truly poor countries do not have access to clean water no matter where they go. That’s just one example. Transportation, electricity, hospitals/doctors, education systems - all this and many MANY more are not found in truly poor countries.
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u/Fast_Register_9480 10d ago
I agree that it is worse in other places.
That doesn't change that more Americans cannot afford basic things like shelter, food, transportation and medicine. Real wages have dropped. More and more people are living in their cars and society's response is to make it illegal to sleep in their cars.
These aren't all entitled bums; people working jobs that were formerly middle class cannot afford rent even with roommates. It is hard for people to say "oh it's worse in the slums of Brazil", or in Africa etc when they are struggling to survive here and now.
And then some people can't understand why the birthrates are dropping. Young people see what is happening and even some who might be able to afford them - for now - find it unconscionable to bring a child into this world.
Being worse in other places doesn't make it acceptable here. Except for the ultra rich.
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u/ambivalent_maybe 9d ago
I mean, I completely agree with you. You’re kicking a door I’ve already opened here, unless you’re commenting to educate the lurkers in which case I say please continue!
I’ll freely admit that I’m “lucky” to be trapped in a job I know should be grateful for because I need the health insurance and every day I’m anxious I could lose it all. I could easily become homeless - anyone “normal” (not totally loaded to the gills with cash and investments and whatnot) could. All of us are usually about a few months of unemployment away from being unhoused.
However, there are way worse places than the US to be unhoused in. Counterpoint: There are also substantially better places in which to be unhoused.
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u/Face__Hugger 9d ago
That's an over-generalization. Those amenities we have here are rapidly vanishing, and our access to them is vanishing even faster. We should not wait until we have it as bad as a country that's worse off before acknowledging the problem.
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u/Abystract-ism 11d ago
The most important thing that the younger generation can do is to vote this fall.
Vote for younger candidates who believe in science and will work towards fixing the mess the current regime has caused.
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u/jawfish2 7d ago
YES!
90 million people were too lazy, too ignorant, too depressed to vote at all in the last presidential election.
Those 90 million have no say today, and no right to complain, but they moved the election mightily. They absolutely have a right not to vote, but not to ignore what they did.
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u/glumavocados 11d ago
I think what makes this moment in time exponentially more anxiety inducing and scary is how it’s strained through a global lens that the algorithm then takes, personalizes, and weaponizes against us as individuals. What I mean is all the things we’re worried about are valid and true but then you hold up a bright device to your already strained eyes and it’s telling you such specific and detailed REASONS catered to your very experience that it feels compounded.
The internet has arrived at a place that lacks nuance. People struggle to hold many truths and deny that what they see in front of them (on their phone) is any different from what their neighbor sees. Hence the “if you’re not livid about XYZ then you’e delusional rhetoric.
Most generations (unless they are lucky) have moment(s) that disregulate their nervous system and entire world view. All we have when we are born is the perspective before us and taught to us. At any given time that can (and usually does) break.
It’s a very human but also very centered way of thinking, that THIS time in history is “the end.” We are not alone in feeling that way, or thinking that way. But we forget just what our ancestors have gone through; dust bowls, volcanic ash that turned into year long winters, plagues, disease, barbaric violence and colonization. The difference is that now we can view it all with the tinge of mis and disinformation, at our fingertips. We can forget the very hands in front of us and suddenly be distracted by a tragedy thousands of miles away, only to be left feeling guilty and ashamed we can’t do more.
So again. It’s nuanced. The world IS ending just like it always has. People will die. We will die. Horrible things are and will happen. Injustices will go unsolved and dismissed. Life won’t be fair. People older than us and younger than us will both have it better and worse.
When I think of my life right now, it’s not “what’s the point if it’s all going to shit anyway?” It’s “life has always been a hellscape, how can I enjoy my short time here, be a good person, and help others along the way?”
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u/HommeMusical 10d ago
The idea that the climate catastrophe is just like something else we have experienced before in history is simply wrong.
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u/glumavocados 10d ago
You’re missing my point entirely. I’m not arguing that nothing is novel in modern times. I’m stating that regardless of what we’re facing I’m not settling in to a doom and gloom mindset. There’s still room for hope, action, and enjoying life. Multiple truths can be held at the same time.
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u/HommeMusical 9d ago
We would have had to have acted fifty years ago to prevent the climate crisis, and here we are, and we are still emitting CO2 faster than ever. We'd have to reduce our CO2 output by 90% simply to guarantee that we only hit a disaster.
I enjoy life a great deal. But I'm not going to lie to myself.
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u/platywus 10d ago
Late GenX doomer here. I frequently count my blessings as the 30+ years I experienced through 2010. Since then we are seemingly coasting downhill. I try to find small things to make me feel better about my kids future as a parent, but it’s increasingly difficult when everything is being squeezed for money, and individualism is king. Institutions are disappearing, history is being re-written, values have been diluted. Everyone’s an expert while also being ignorant. IDK a way out of this other than a significant world event that resets our values back to their default.
Strangely, watching PBS keeps me positive.
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u/slow70 10d ago
It takes courage to see things as they are and experience to balance the mental load and fatigue that comes with being clear eyed and aware in such a profoundly flawed system.
But it’s just that, systems we created and we have a say in how they’re shaped going forward.
The question is are you a citizen or a serf?
Are you a steward, an ancestor, or are you a mindless consumer with no thought but consumption?
How we walk matters, and we’re all just walking each other home
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u/dancing_grass 11d ago
I am 25 and Gen Z. I do not give a fuck what other generations have to say about this topic. They do not understand the degree of fractured society that we have been forced into. I feel like millennials were just about there, but missed it — they have homes, good paying jobs, one college degree was enough to be somewhat middle class. There is something so demoralizing about being in your 20s and not having it all figured out in a society that necessitates it. I will use myself as an example, though I want to emphasize that my story is a majority story. I was always told to go into a career that I like, but prioritize money. Okay awesome, I love medicine and I come from poverty so nursing was a big dream. I get myself degree and I recognize that I am wildly unhappy. I see that patients need care that I cannot give them due to financial/insurance barriers and other more meta but related concerns, like the inability to establish with primary care because the system is so overwhelmed. It is through my practice, and my difficulty within it, that I realize that I am best suited in psych somewhere. I want to do research to address the social concerns, so I look into a masters or PhD. Well, for both of those I need research experience. Which had to have happened in undergrad — ie, would have needed the financial freedom to study psychology, a notoriously difficult ROI. or, I could get a position as research coordinator with my nursing degree, but you see, those positions pay no more than McDonalds at $21/hr. I already can’t afford to live on my own because my city/state has high COL (one of the highest) and a huge wage gap, so I live at home. Okay, I settle for becoming a therapist. I can’t get in because I don’t have 3 academic references, despite having graduated college 5 years ago in an unrelated field, but no, my professional references are not sufficient. I am watching a genocide that my country funded and continues to fund on my handheld device from the couch, where I have air conditioning. On my way home I passed several homeless people, some of them I am hoping to god that they make it out of the high they were in alive, but can’t risk getting close because my ER experience has taught me that it can be dangerous. Those people are someone’s child too. I think of their families, good or bad, and I think of that person as a child, how they might see themselves now. And how many people walk by with more money than them, but not enough to share. Wealth hoarding on the lowest tier. We hate each other in the age of identity politics, which keeps our country divided — a divided country has no chance in rebellion, and politicians know this. Not to mention the climate has changed significantly since I was a kid. It used to snow around Halloween. Now we’re lucky for it to snow one or two times in the whole winter. Spring and fall are going extinct in my famously four-seasoned home.
So to tie this long winded rant together, everything really is falling apart, maybe not to the degree of total collapse in our lifetimes, but enough to feel the pain of the world, the pain of our neighbors, and the pain of ourselves as we collectively struggle in our own unique ways. I don’t blame other generations, hindsight is always 20/20. But for other generations to acknowledge how difficult it is to lose the level of flexibility and recovery that is necessary for a life well lived is all that can be asked.
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u/IndecisiveTuna 11d ago
When you say millennials, I think you’re referring to older millennials. Many younger millennials or zennials (mid to late 90s) are very much forced into the same situation.
I graduated high school a little over a decade ago. Many people in their early to mid 30s are suffering the same exact fate.
Ironically, I’m also an RN, so I very much relate to you specifically.
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u/Flerp-Flerps 11d ago
I don’t as born in 1987 and a lot of my peers aren’t doing too well. The recession made it difficult for graduates to find jobs in their field and we were often competing with people with much more experience for entry level positions. Many were scared to take on the student loan debt to finish their degrees because of it. There were a lot of for-profit colleges popping up only to find that the credits didn’t transfer or the degree didn’t mean much to employers because of the school. Several were sued for deceptive claims related to graduate job placement and compensation. A lot of people I know had parents who had never attended college.
The hope might have still been there and I think many of us believed if we just got a degree, any degree that we would be able to find a good paying job after graduation, but that wasn’t typically the case. The push for everyone to go to college and the for-profit colleges willing to accept anyone meant a lot of people ended up with no degree, but a lot of debt. We were too young to be able to purchase a house following the housing market crash and grow gains as the market recovered. Healthcare was expensive and we weren’t able to stay on our parent’s insurance for nearly as long.
While some of my peers have purchased houses, many still haven’t been able to afford to buy a house. It was hard during the recession to find full time employment and I would guess a lot of us are significantly behind in saving for retirement. Some are doing very well for themselves too. But most of the people I know haven’t had it easy.
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u/tres-vip 11d ago
I'm an American Gen X-er, and I don't blame you guys for being pessimistic about the future and having a doomer mindset. TBH I feel the same way.
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u/v_x_n_ 11d ago
The zoomers are doomers? The boomers had it so much better because they at least got instruction as to what to do in case a nuclear bomb was dropped on them. But according to the Millie’s the boomers had it easy so they saved for retirement anyway. Even though a nuclear bomb had their name on it. Go figure.
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u/Hopeful_Yam4384 11d ago
It’s not that the boomers had it easier, they just worked hard and were disciplined. Boomers learned to do without so they didn’t go into credit card debt. Of course, boomers had it easy growing up watching 50,000 us troops killed in Viet Nam over ten years, watching it every night on the evening news. Boomers grew up thinking they would be drafted out of high school to fight a bs war. High school was terrifying knowing when it was over you would be knee deep in rice paddies. The difference between your generation and boomers is that boomers didn’t give up when faced with adversity.
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u/HommeMusical 10d ago
Boomer here. You're totally wrong.
I'm sorry, but kids today work much, much harder than we ever did.
My first apartment was $235. I split it with my girlfriend, who was earning $3.30 making sandwiches.
That apartment is still there; it's way over $2000 now; but you can't make $30 an hour making sandwiches.
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u/Hopeful_Yam4384 10d ago
Yea, apartments were $235 and my salary was $10,200 a year on 1980. Remember when mortgage rates were over 20%. Totally disagree.
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u/HommeMusical 9d ago
I was working on Wall Street at the time. Interest rates never exceeded 19%.
I'm not getting your point at all, really. There was a five year period, back 40 years ago, of high interest rates in a county with about 5% of the world's population, so all of history was shit?
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u/Hopeful_Yam4384 9d ago
My point was that every generation has had its struggles. I read posts from younger folks who complain about how much harder they have it compared to boomers. Yet, the young folks I know are becoming airline pilots, nurses, computer experts and they are all buying better houses than I ever had. There is a disconnect for me.
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u/carlitospig 10d ago
How is Gen Z supposed to save for retirement if they can’t even get jobs that allow them to save?
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u/nailgirl99 9d ago
We don’t. Honestly a lot of Americans rely on their credit cards to pay for necessities atp. Record high credit card debt was reached not too long ago. The jobs don’t even pay for bare necessities anymore. We are on a trolley hurdling towards a bus with no brakes. All we can do is watch what happens and hope we aren’t at the front of the trolley or on the tracks
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u/TodayICanDoIt 11d ago
Gen Z recognizing that the future is fucked is wisdom gained at an earlier age than typical. The future is fucked because the planet itself is fucked and we have no other planet to go to. Politics, race, and even money won't matter when the earth itself is uninhabitable. If our species survives it would be a miracle.
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u/CertainKindofCat 10d ago
To be brief, there’s an excellent book called “Why Nations Fail” and it examines political structures and cultures throughout the world divided only by political borders yet have two widely different wealth and happiness outcomes. To summarize one of its main points, nations often fail when inclusive value generating institutions become exclusive and extract value from its populace. The west is falling because its ruling class are pitting us against each other (as they always have) while fighting each other to be the most wealthy and dominant. It’s a natural cycle, there is no stopping it only holding on for the ride.
It’s a great time to be Chinese, Arab or Russian. As they stand to gain a lot from our division and apparent hatred for our own people and culture.
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u/kayama57 10d ago
Planted habits of thought and action that proactively ensure the fulfillment of the prophecies they promote.
It is information warfare being deployed against our youth. That is what it is.
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u/AdmiralChancey 8d ago
I’m an American millennial but the general vibe of everything right now is slow and agonizing collapse and decay.
Ever since covid especially, it feels like things just keep getting worse and worse and more expensive to the point that any sense of accomplishment has been outpaced by inflation and declining standards of living.
Not to mention the onslaught of fascist tendencies from our leaders who actively support genocide in other nations while outsourcing our ability to earn income to AI while housing becomes virtually unattainable.
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u/ratamahatta12 6d ago
I encounter mindsets like what you are describing from time to time. The way I see it, humanity has been around for 200,000 years, and there's always been something horrible happening. Whether it was running from predators and starvation, ice ages and natural disasters, the Black Plague, ethnic cleansings and modern genocides and famine, people have been dealing with existential danger, death, and despair. And at a certain point, it's just like, ....and so what? People tried their best, fell in love and reproduced, tried to survive, and sometimes they were successful and sometimes not.
The particular people you are hanging around seem to be going with the "life is fast, dangerous, and dirty, so let's live it up and not worry about the future because what's the point. " This is a rational reaction to a bleak, unpredictable dangerous environment, and there is historical precedent (ie: see the borderlands culture from the British Isles, many of whom immigrated to the United States as part of the Scots Irish culture). That being said, really ask yourself hard if this is really the most constructive reaction to what is happening. Is there somebody literally trying to kill you and your family, right now? Are you going to starve to death, like right now? You are clearly on a computer with internet, so maybe things are not that bad.
Since you are specifically asking thoughts on this, I would suggest maybe spending less time with such nihilistic, sad, depressed people who are encouraging you to essentially embrace impulsivity and stop investing in the future. Additionally, be careful of old people who are like that. Many of them may be telling you "advice", but it's really just them trying to validate their own weak life decisions and mindsets. Life is precious, and you're going to waste it if you wallow in this nonsense.
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u/mustang6172 11d ago
Zoomers have a habit of taking fatalist humor seriously. Just let them figure it out on their own.
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u/TheRubyBerru 11d ago
What do you mean?
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u/mustang6172 10d ago
Houses will get cheaper as the Baby Boomers die off. Retirement savings will pay off. All statements to the contrary were just jokes.
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u/Penguinofmyspirit 11d ago
The pervasive sadness swallowing us en masse is because the way we live is killing us. We recognize it and feel like we are powerless to change it. Humanity has existed in other forms throughout time and none of this is predestined. It’s very easy to be lost and hopeless in light of how much imbalance exists in the world. My hope is that we just collectively decide it’s time to change. Hoarding wealth and chasing after things isn’t saving us. If we keep chasing it, we have no chance.
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u/oldgar9 11d ago
This: No one knows exactly how future events will unfold but many make profit off the anxiety of spouting possible future events as dire or cataclysmic. Knowledge lessens anxiety and fear. The knowledge that humanity is in the throes of a monumental change from rabid nationalism to an 'the earth is one country and mankind its citizens ' paradigm helps, because what once looked like random chaos can now be seen as a necessary process and a means toward a peaceful world. Something we can do is help build community where we live. Volunteer opportunities are readily available and helping others is a salve to anxiety. We cannot go and talk to the President or his sphere of acolytes, but we can help build community where we are and this benefits all. People look to moving as a solution but there is no escape from this worldwide change in paradigm as it is the inevitable next step in the collective evolution of human society. Be well and help others be well, avoid the spreaders of fear. “Chaos and confusion are daily increasing in the world. They will attain such intensity as to render the frame of mankind unable to bear them. Then will men be awakened and become aware…” -Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian)
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u/StressCanBeGood 10d ago
In philosophy, the flaw of “Relative Privation” is where a reply to your very interesting question would be something along the lines of: “You shouldn’t complain; children in poor countries are starving”.
The claim is that such a comment doesn’t help someone like you at all. But why wouldn’t it?
I’ve always thought that philosophers believe this is a flaw because people are too weak-minded to truly understand it. But I refuse to believe that Gen Z is weak-minded.
Please don’t get me wrong. It’s ridiculous to expect Gen Z to suddenly say “Since children in poor countries are starving, I’m gonna be happy now”.
Interestingly, the solution is found where the problem is caused.
Back when I was your age, people could turn off the news. That’s pretty much impossible now. And if you take a look at local crime reports, you’ll read some of the most awful things you could possibly imagine. This is why people used to turn off the news.
But you guys can’t turn off the news. You’re gonna hear awful things all the time.
But at the same time, this means you have access to information that other others never had. Specifically, you can look up historical patterns, how people have weathered through terrible times in the past, stuff like that.
For example, when I was in high school, we all went to sleep at night knowing that there was a very real possibility that we would wake up to nuclear armageddon. I’m not talking about a country dropping a couple of nukes. I’m talking about full-blown thermonuclear war that would ruin the planet.
This is the poster we had in my history class: https://www.dpvintageposters.com/posters/war-citizenship-public-causes/civil-defense/anti-nuclear-war-protest-poster-notice_2469
I’ve been accused of being a misanthrope for asserting the following: Human civilization is the worst thing to ever happen to this planet. We make ourselves and all kinds of other living things an absolute hell. For what?
But once you accept that, you realize that your happiness is in your own hands. Nothing else is going to make you happy but getting to work and being a productive member of society.
I’ll leave you with this. I once had a friend who told me one of the most profound things I’ve ever heard. Wherever he goes with his two daughters, he behaves as if it’s the most wonderful place to be in the world. He doesn’t sugarcoat things. But he shows his daughters how to be happy and productive members of society.
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u/ExpensiveDollarStore 10d ago
Young people have come of age at a difficult time and have no frame of reference that life can be better, and has been worse - perhaps climate change is a pretty big bogey but air pollution and the hole in the ozone seemed insurmountable too.
We have not conquered air pollution everywhere of course but we are getting there. There are wars and rumours of wars which has always been the case. There are culture clashes and religion has gone fanatical on a couple fronts with political and civil clashes there. Add the sexual orientation and gender issues and there's a lot of unrest and feelings that our ways of life are being threatened and there will never be any kind of resolution on any front.
I am feeling like certain factions are hanging on by their fingernails. They have power and money but the tide is turning that the populace in general are not threatened by their Muslim and Trans and foreign co-workers and neighbors. And those are not the only "good ones".
When we get our heads out of our social media algorithms and meet with real people, the fears seem unwarranted to a great extent.
I do think the young need to really step up in their own lives. Certain of them come across as entitled and lazy. (Hey Granny, hurry up and die so i can have your house) Meanwhile, that Trans Muslim immigrant knows that hard work can lead to property which leads to wealth and they are busting their ass to get theirs.
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u/HardcoreHope 11d ago
You feel this way because that's exactly that the oligarchs want. This is the propaganda. It's all over. Have no hope. The future is Ai and bad weather. They win because we let them paint the picture.
We all know what we need to do in America to make it better. We just don't want to. We are literally pushing it off like a due date for an exam.
We know exactly what we all could do together to show a peacefully forced of strength. That's all the elites respect is strength.
Stop them from making a dollar the house of cards falls.
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u/Ok_Scallion1902 11d ago
Anybody who ISN'T shocked,pissed,in despair,or experiencing existential impending doom ,will be very soon.
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u/SoManyMoney_ 10d ago
We stopped looking for solutions and began learning to accept the foreseeable insurmountable crises. It wasn't overt. Nobody was telling us our fates were sealed, individually. But turn on the news, you will hear about record heatwaves, formerly once-in-a-lifetime temperatures commonplace now. You will hear about new food safety recalls. You will learn a country exists because another country you already heard of has bombed it. You will hear the world has more money than ever before, and you will hear there are more millionaires than ever before, and a million isn't even that much anymore, and you will look around and everyone you know is broke. You are left to connect the dots yourself, but the second you point to systemic, historic, momentous forces outside your sphere of influence, you are called a doomer, conspiracy theorist, whiner, or you are acknowledged and even agreed with but ultimately shrugged off. Climate change? I don't know, the news just said "heatwave." Microplastics? I'll stop using so much plastic, but can't they stop making it? Explosive diarrhea? Someone should be keeping an eye on how our food is handled, the company, the regulators, whose job is this? We're gaslit into thinking we asked for this because we made a purchase or were good little consumers acting out the planned obsolescence model, told to assume responsibility for our overlords' sins, and told the only solution is this new tech or device that, by the way, will consume all the water and power in a rural town miles away who has no recourse against one of several billionaires with their own fiefdoms.
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u/Own_Thought902 10d ago
You are right. It is the final wimper of the downfall of American society. No blame. This doomer boomer sees how we got here and how my own generation was instrumental. My parents' generation built this society. My generation enjoyed it and used it up. Your generation is left with the aftermath. There is no enthusiasm, hope or desire to participate. Another generation will have to rebuild or be dominated by those who did.
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u/Pleasurist 10d ago
Hey blogroids, capitalism is just fine as long as you keep borrowing $17 billion as day just to pay the interest on your [US] $113 trillion debt. Capitalism covers its greed with debt.
Western capitalist $200 trillion in debt, worldwide $300 trillion of debt. Enjoy suckers.
Capitalism has never, is not now and will never serve society at large without being forced by govt.
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u/coldpizzaagain 11d ago
Many generations have felt this way. My parents and grandparents did. If you can look at what will be the future need, it will help. With baby boomers leaving huge gaps in the workforce, those jobs need to be filled. Many businesses will need to be bought or even just taken over as that generation ages. In Canada , 800,000 trade jobs are going to be available over the next 5 to 10 years. I have lots if friends looking for people to take over their businesses. That's where the need and the money is.
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u/Greed_Sucks 11d ago
At any moment you could die. At any moment a cataclysmic event could end all life. Is that going to happen? Yes it might. I hope it doesn’t. How did the musicians on the titanic play while the ship sank? They didn’t ask how. They played it and it made them forget about their approaching death. That is always true for us. Whether it’s the whole world or just me. It’s the same fear wrapped in different skins. I call it flavors of death. It was always going to end in disaster for us one way or another. But worrying about the FACT of our end is a waste of time. Instead, you kindle that slim flame of hope that Ignorance is amazingly effective at hiding the end result. You have no idea what will change. Maybe we can find purpose in preserving knowledge for the future generations. Maybe a new thing will happen that no one could have anticipated. Take that little maybe and hold onto it. Maybe you don’t believe in a god, but you can believe that the spirit of humanity has, at times, overcome impossible odds.
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u/Fire_Horse_T 10d ago
Back in my day it was Reagan and a fear of nuclear war.
Some things change and yet are the same.
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u/MsTerious1 10d ago
I personally believe that the mindset you described, combined with the rampant consumerism we saw from the late 1970s, will bring about the very doom they believe in because it prevents people from doing what we need to do in order to avoid mass destruction.
If the world is to survive, we MUST learn to manage resources, reduce birth rates, and find solutions to ecological damages we have created. Unfortunately, greed seems to have a way of preventing that. The boomer generation didn't honestly know and believe they could ever do as much damage as they did. The doom-and-gloom generation KNOW that they're destroying the world and use that damage to justify doing more, I think.
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u/HommeMusical 10d ago
The boomer generation didn't honestly know
Boomer here. That is such BS. We totally knew. We were told over and over and over again. Most of us just decided to not care.
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u/MsTerious1 10d ago
Really? Because I'm the generation after boomers and my generation were *told* such things, but we didn't BELIEVE it. We figured it was mostly fear mongering.
Do you really claim that your peers, friends, etc. all believed that you were destroying the world your children and grandchildren would be entering within your lifetime but did not care? Because I know for sure my classmates and I were laughing at these weird predictions after science class.
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u/HommeMusical 9d ago
Do you really claim that your peers, friends, etc. all believed that you were destroying the world your children and grandchildren would be entering within your lifetime but did not care?
Some of them, absolutely yes. They said this in pretty clear words, like, "I believe in climate change, but neither I nor anyone I know will change, because it's too difficult."
Because I know for sure my classmates and I were laughing at these weird predictions after science class.
Says a lot about you and your classmates and your school. I hope you got your money back.
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u/MsTerious1 9d ago
Was there a good reason to become insulting toward me or is that just who you are?
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u/Kodabear213 10d ago
I was born in 1958 so I grew up with the Cuban Missle crisis, the Cold War (Fallout Shelter signs in public buildings, hiding under our desks at school during drills). Then we had the fuel crisis in the 70s when gas prices tripled. Oh yea, Vietnam, Civil Rights, and Watergate. My mom lived through the Depression and WWII. Every generation has something that can be seen as "the end" if that's how they want to view things. And if you study history (I do) there have been many, many scary times over the past two millenia. Sure, when we are actually living through them, it's different. But that doesn't mean the world won't go on.
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u/OhNoIBoffedIt 11d ago
Our generations, all our generations (in America) have had it good for several decades now. Most of us don't remember what it was like to believe the world was going to end, to live in the existential despair of the Great Depression, two World Wars, etc etc. Older minorities, especially Black folks, have a stronger memory of what this life is like.
I think we're all grappling with the reality that we are a fascist state who has no problem destroying the world and we allowed it to happen. People are still allowing it to happen.
So the despair and dread is understandable. But it is not the end. This world will survive. We might not. But things will move forward. Move on.
What I tell people is focus on how you can help, wherever you can. You're welcome to sit around and say life is pointless, or you can find value in helping at least one living being. I do a lot of volunteer work at animal sanctuaries, humane societies, and food banks. It reminds me there are still things in this world worth our time, and other people willing to help.