This is, of course, not a new phenomenon. “Bowling Alone” was written decades ago, and that’s like the seminal work on this…
But yeah. For a lot of people here, this probably holds true, in particular for things like online forums or specific gaming “communities”, LAN parties (yeah I know, old school) and the like…
I too, remember those heady days (Halo, mostly, for me. But there was some strategy gaming there, too).
MMORPGs can of course be good, too, but it’s so much more… Controlled, and sanitized, and frankly not the same…
But anyway, I’m more thinking IRL stuff, here.
Tomorrow (Easter Sunday) is the very last day ever for one of the largest community markets in my nearest city. The market has been going for 120 years, and the building it is in is probably at least 70 years old.
The market is pretty much the only weekly outing for many of the older stallholders and attendees, many of whom travel in from surrounding country towns. It is an institution.
Why is it “closing”..? Not because the market is running at a loss. Not because it has “declined”. No, the only reason is because the community entity that owns the site (showground, same as it is in most countries with Ag Shows. Not a private company, but a trust) is so greedy that they want to turf the site over to property developers, to turn into more low-quality, cheap housing, to fill with more (subcontinental and Chinese) immigrants…
Well, that’s what they’re arguing, anyway. In reality, they already sold off much of this (17ha) site, 5-10 years ago, ostensibly for housing and “community benefit”, only for it to be filled with big box retailers…
How is this possible? Because the CEO, effectively, of this trust, is a corrupt former public servant, who has “friends” in both major political parties…
He has been at this for a decade, with “bipartisan support”.
And politically, arguing against housing is a losing sum game, no matter what the true logic behind the development may be…
So the community loses out. Literally over 200 stallholders lose their income source, and the thousands of people, mostly old and/or lower income, who went there to buy stuff they needed, lose out completely. All because of greed, and so-called “progress”…
This happens all the time. All the fucking time. The local council for the area this is in are notoriously corrupt, and have a record of terrible decision-making.
But it’s much more broad than that. I’m sure most of us know of local sports clubs (leftists seem to really, really hate golf, car racing, tennis and rugby league, in particular), markets, bowling alleys, churches, community clubs, whatever, which have been destroyed in a similar way.
In Australia, at least, it’s almost always the same process.
“But don’t worry citizen - go support the local big-league sportsball team! Who cares if tickets are $50 a game - that’s all the community you’re allowed to have!”
Or join this “rally”. Or go to this shiny new store.
Real community, though? Nah, can’t have that. People gathering together and exchanging goods, or even just sharing an interest - that’s too dangerous. Better shut it down. They might get too many “ideas”…
Not sure how much this “phenomenon” exists outside the wealthy, developed West, but I know it’s a thing across many of our countries, not just the Anglosphere…
No wonder people feel so alone, especially the elderly…
It's almost like the communists know how to destroy a country or something.
I don't know why you're shocked at all. Australia is a lost cause dude. Has been.
Fwiw, I've found being outside in nature to be a balm. It makes me feel better about stuff, and I can let go of stress for a bit.
You get all your shots? You sure are thinking an awful lot, maybe you need lower wages so you can work more, then you won’t have so much of this unproductive so called ‘thinking’ time?
I’m working plenty hard enough.
I still have time to think.
That’s just not how this works.
I was being facetious my man. Just calling out the fact that its a wood chipper out there at times, and the best course is often to just learn to laugh at it all.
You have a whole life of possibilities in front of you, on the basis of time alone. Me, I’m 52. I lost everything going into and thru the pandemic. Lost my 10 year relationship with a woman I truly loved, my 20 year old cat died, and shortly after that I lost my job for no vaccine. I’ve gone thru all of my savings and have no work prospects. Unemployed 2.5 years, now Im eating from the dumpsters. I used to make about 175k a year. I have every reason to cash in my chips. You don’t. I won’t be doing that either. Life is beautiful. I just made organic bison burgers on seeded brioche rolls with smoked cave aged cheddar. Amazing what gets thrown away. Shared em with my doggo. Giving up isn’t an option.
Just stumbled upon this (by an education “whistleblower”)…
https://archive.is/AZl4a
Hmm…
More personally, I do genuinely think the despair might take me, this time...
Like, if you've seen someone reach "end stage despair" (examples would be Christine Chubbuck, Virigina Woolf, George Sanders, Ian Curtis, Freddy Prinz senior - you can see it in the fucking eyes), I'm pretty much there, now...
No one can predict the future, of course, but if indeed it does come to that, thanks.
Thanks for letting me vent, and express, my shit.
Thanks for reading, and for "listening".
Thanks for attempting to be as non-judgemental as possible.
All the best in the fight, whatever you may be fighting for and against.
Peace.
You need to get out away from the city for a while, and off the net. Find a job that lets you touch grass, or better yet, requires it. You'll bounce back.
Sadly, I’m kind of stuck with the path I’m on, now…
Can’t withdraw from class, don’t have much money left, no free time…
Leaving my obligations just isn’t really an option, now…
Hopefully in a week’s time I might get a one-day break (yeah, seriously, it’s that bad), but not before that…
Unfortunately this is how this happens.
So while you’re right, it’s just… Never that simple.
Ironically I’m not even really “in the city” right now, anyway.
But this environment isn’t any better. And obligations don’t go away. They just snowball...
You’re right about minimizing “online time”, though.
I guess I’ll just have to keep to “work only”, for a while. But that’s… A big part of the problem, too…
Dunno.
I tried. I really tried. And I thought that double-bereavement and double hospitalization (not for mental health, lol) would be enough to earn me some extensions/recovery time, but that’s just… Not how this works.
In the end, though, I’ve known this has been coming for months. I didn’t just suddenly wake up to this.
This isn’t something “impulsive”. It’s not like that for me. It’s a conclusion that I’ve come to after a very long time, and lots of thought, so…
I guess there’s that, at least.
Thanks for trying, anyway!
I do appreciate it.
Mate, you found out you don't like hot wings, and your friends want to eat hot wings. Just order something else and don't think you need to fit in perfectly to be happy.
I have no idea what you need, but I'd hate to see a friend go.
Thanks for considering me a friend.
I appreciate that. Same to you.
People seem to be under the mistaken impression, though, that this is about Uni…
It’s not about Uni. It’s not about… Life events at the moment.
It’s a life that’s gotten so off track that it’s just…
Proving to be not just impossible to get it back “on track”, but to even get to some sort of sustainable level.
I wasn’t intending to whine - I genuinely just don’t know how much longer I can keep going.
So in case I do come to that conclusion, sooner rather than later, at least I’ve said my piece now.
I no longer care that it, unfortunately, pissed a few people off in the process.
Anyway, I guess I do know what I need, but it just…
Feels unreachable now.
I’m sorry, but it does.
I never claimed to speak for anyone else.
All of this only applies to me.
Anyway mate, I appreciate what you’ve said, so… Know that, at least.
I’m at the point of “making peace” with people and things.
Which is… Well, imagine if it was some other terminal thing - it’s probably easiest to view it as the same as that.
Maybe something will crop up, in this process, to keep me going, but I no longer… Expect that to be the case.
But it’s just a process. Everything is a process.
Anyway mate, I appreciate it. And you. Thanks for being there.
Historically speaking, 'peace' is usually found unwillingly. Not by cheerful pacifist hippies meditating, but by broken bankrupt states at war, forced into it. It doesn't make the peace worth any less.
In the face of the 'end stage despair' you mentioned: try roleplaying as a dead man. Just say 'I'm a dead man' and lie there, let everything die. Actually saying it helps. Imagine what happens to the world with you as an unremarkable dead man, one of many sandwiched by countless other dead men dying yesterday and tomorrow; imagine what happens when all the fears and doubts crushing you no longer have you as their load-bearing point, since you're dead and gone. How worthless they all become.
Then realise you can attain this state without physically dying at all. I'm loosely describing a route to ego death, which I once went through myself at my lowest ebb. I'm very happy to now still be alive, despite not being a penny richer nor more cherished to anyone. It's not required.
The route back to vitality involves purpose, cf somehands10's post, and that's a harder garment to knit, but you need to be alive to start with.
Your consciousness is your weapon. Your masculinity is a treasure, getting rarer by the day in clownworld. Do not give it up needlessly. We'll all be something else, some day, but seconds count. Nobody will celebrate your death but your enemies; only you while alive know how to celebrate your life.
I tried doing the "not studying" thing for the last two years...
Didn't help, unfortunately.
Fundamentally, the problems in my life, and the shit I've been through... Are probably always going to be "too much", no matter how much I change my surroundings...
It's not my financial debts killing me, unfortunately. Not yet, at least...
You are lacking meaning in your life. You've probably already figured that out, but it can't hurt someone else offering the same diagnosis.
You need to find meaning. It's there. I can't tell you want it will be, because it must come from within yourself. But I can tell you that it won't be in a romantic relationship or is unlikely to come from a job.
The good news is this has been a question for men throughout history, so there is much written but many men searching for the same thing. In religious texts, in philosophical texts, in our myths and legends. So the best I can suggest is to search for that meaning in the words of our fathers and their fathers. And in yourself.
God I am fucking sick of this 'oh woe is me, my life is miserable' attitude, they are spot on for that "I dont' want a solution, i want to be mad' meme but replace mad with whiney bitch.
Nothing will ever fucking change until you stop giving excuses and start doing something to change it so if they refuse to put in any fucking effort then I will give 0 fucks about your situation until you do.
If i don't comment or post again, much, I'll leave you with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_YHE4Sx-08
Richter, "On the Nature of Daylight". Used in Arrival and Shutter Island, among others.
Incredibly bleak, but very good, too.
So I was borderline suicidal in Medical School, I dropped out and took a trip to east Europe. It was like therapy and let me see there are places that people can still be happy.
This is not a suggestion. Its an order.
Stop complaining and hoping, pack your shit and take a trip Turkey and see what they are up too. East Europe is good too but the war is causing tensions. Also Georgia and Uzbekistan are good. Markets and community are all strong. All this school is part of the Zionist trap to keep you enslaved. Skip a semester and take the trip, it won't cost nearly as much as you think either. It will give you perspective in life.
I’ve already travelled through Turkey, right up to the Armenian border.
So yeah, I did that.
I lived and worked in India for a while, too
Travel is great, and I agree, it definitely opens up your eyes, but I’m just…
It doesn’t change shit man. Not for me.
This where I’m at. People can say whatever they want to that - it fundamentally doesn’t change anything.
Whatever will be will be.
But yeah, I agree that it does give you perspective on things. And I agree about “community” in those places.
I completely don’t deny that at all.
But none of this… Really changes where I’m at.
I’m not sure anything can, now, but myself.
Have you considered trying to find a way to live over there instead of here? Working for a US company remotely or as a freelancer is something a lot of people do now and the pandemic has made it even easier.
It sounds like your life is lacking meaning. i would suggest taking up some hobbies and reading. It helps start moving the mind in a direction.
Christ-centered churches are resilient to that. The group at large has the common denominator of seeking after God and trying to love others more then himself, but then little groups also form of those with similar hobbies. Guys mountain bike together, or with on cars together, play soccer together, even play video games together.
My brother moved to a new city thousands of miles from me, and hundreds from the nearest cousins, but got a good group of friends pretty quickly from a church he joined.
Similar things are happening in Serbia in many ways, it's as if politicians have forgot what is their job. As if they don't realize that by replacing community property with housing they are lowering the value of all the surrounding housing.
Agreed.
That’s exactly what it’s like, here, actually, so yeah.
Interesting it is the same for you guys.
I wouldn’t necessarily have expected that.
So read through all the comments and I have to say
That even though you feel you're at the breaking point, just know that there are people (at least here on these boards) that don't want to see you give up and do want to see you pull through. We're wishing the best for you
Like you I'm in Aus and most of my circles are similar to yours. I've just come to accept that whatever happens happens and I'm trying to spend as much time with them as I can, even if they are oblivious to or are going along with the decline.
But I've also recently found some people who are working to resist the authoritarianism via parallel society-type efforts so we'll see how that goes
I guess just don't give up because you never know one day you might inspire others or open their eyes to reality. One day maybe.
You know what's wrong and you know what you need to do to overcome it. We can only just hope you do
If you drill down far enough, what you get to is that bankers control finance. And because they can print infinite dollars, it gives them and their buddies a lot of influence for reshaping your community.
With a sound monetary policy, your local politicians aren't selling out to big box stores. Without sound monetary policy, every incentive favors destroying your locale's unique culture and history.
Western society is on the decline especially in America. That's why I'm dipping. No amount of school will fix it. I need millions to live above this shit.
Community is live and well in niche hobbies. RC racing and Fencing come to mind, but anything from Warhammer/DnD to golf will have a nice community surrounding it if you know where to look.
Sadly I think this problem is far too widespread and ingrained for that to even make any difference, here, lol...
Most normies that I interact with on a daily basis couldn't give less of a shit, anyway.
The media tells them this is "good", and so they just suck that right up.
And upper-middle class "professional" normies (so again, the people I am exposed to con mas frequencia) only care if it's something that directly impacts them, their families (less so), or their bottom line, lol...
I know a lot of doctors and lawyers. The vast, vast majority literally do not care about anything that doesn't benefit or compromise them directly, from experience. Not just millennials, either. All of them.
Self-interest, greed and apathy predominate here. So even IRL, that wouldn't change much, I'm afraid!
Right now, as a White middle class professional, I don't care about policies that don't help me because most policies are actually hindering me. I would be happy to see all the mouth breathing dangerhair faggots who called me racist and a bigot for opposing them suffer under the weight of poor policy decisions by our leaders.
I have the skills, the tenacity, the strength and intelligence to weather that storm. They do not. So fuck them.
You are much more forgiving than I am.