As a general reminder, things suck, worldwide

[Mightypion]

We currently live in rather annoying times.

Covid sucks, the Climate sucks, policy sucks, increasingly possible Great power wars suck, inflation increases suck, excarbating divisions based on ideology, gender, race or vaccination status suck.

All of this isolates us, all of this increases stress, all of this lowers the treshold for hormonal fight of flight responses, and those really suck on message board because you dont get the "hormonal off ramp" of actually fighting or fleeing and thus stay in the hyper agitated "fight or flight" state, until your hormonal state resets at some point.

Keep this in mind when adressing a fellow human beeing, who, even if wrong on things you are right one, may just as well be right on things you are wrong on.

I know its hard, but maybe we can all try?

Cheers,

A random anonymous dude on the internet with a not very clever username

[Fergie]

You must have just read the report.

If it is any consolation, this is a lot like when things sucked back in 2020, 2017(when politics got perma banned), 2016, 2014, 2008, etc.

[Ashbourne]

It's currently not summer in Arizona so I'm happy about something.

[TriOmegaZero]

Hell yeah I’m not evaporating when I walk out my door now.

[Ashbourne]

I always find it funny when someone in Arizona says "the grass is always greener on the other side," my response is wow they can grow grass. Think the best we get in Amazon is the dust is slightly less dusty on the other side... but it is really nice this time of year.

[TwilightKnight]

Accuse me of having my head in the sand as I am sure some will, but I find that I am living in the best times in human history. There are always obstacles and challenges to overcome for personal happiness and success, but despite those things, we move forward. We are healthier, wealthier, more educated and enjoy more freedom and free time than at any time in our past. If I truly felt we were regressing as a species, I don't think I would bother getting out of bed in the morning.

[Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti]

We do not get to chose the times we are born into, only what we do with the time we are given.

[Berhagen]

We have the least violent time ever, the best technology, the greatest opportunities, great equality (well in some countries), more diversity than ever (not great, but better than at almost any time in history).

Does not mean things cannot be improved, but we actually have the room, time, etc to think about more than our immediate survival.

If we want, we have plenty of people resources to solve any issue.

Yeah the glass is (more than) half full to me….

[Sunderstone]

@Twilight
People getting offended at the drop of a hat? check.
Trump establishes a cult or two (or at least has some pretty psychotic followers)? check.
This god awful pandemic crippling the economy and destroying some folks livelyhood as well as actual lives? check

These are some bad times for a lot of people across the board. I get out of bed just fine and go to work, but I'm a worry wart for friends and family.

[Umbral Reaver]

There's a lot of privilege on display.

You can say everything's fine when you're not the ones being targeted.

[mikeawmids]

The ice caps are melting!

Freddo bars are smaller than ever!

James Corden might be in the Wicked movie.

You're right, this sucks!

[Mightypion]

I would argue that things were, overall, better between 2010 and 2014.

[thejeff]

It is a matter of privilege, but it's not exactly wrong either. There are a lot of ways in which now is one of the best times to live in history - even (or maybe even especially) for LGBTQ people. It does suck to be targeted and there's a hell of a lot of backlash going on at the moment, but it would be hard for me to say it was better even a decade ago, much less two.

Berhagen's basically right - though he ignores the forces trying to reverse much of that and potentially existential threats like climate change.

[Cori Marie]

No, I can say with certainty that I felt much safer as a trans person ten years ago.

[captain yesterday]

I've had a good year so far, the COVID vaccine gave me super powers, we had our twenty year anniversary this summer, I built a sundial, which is something I've always wanted to do, and we saw both Modest Mouse and Ben Folds in concert.

[thejeff]

Cori Marie wrote:

No, I can say with certainty that I felt much safer as a trans person ten years ago.

Fair enough.

[Tonya Woldridge]

Removed a post and a quote. There is no comparison between typing words on a keyboard and fearing for your life and trying to make one is both baiting and personally harassing.

[Tonya Woldridge]

Removed a side tangent unrelated to the original post.

[Sunderstone]

Oh, Gas prices suck too atm. $47.26 to fill up my tank from 1/4.
Can I blame supply chain issues or is that too political for this thread?

[TOZ]

If that worked I would have done it long ago.

[Umbral Reaver]

I'm tired of all these transphobes. I'm so tired and I can't do this anymore.

What is stopping Paizo from acting decisively? It's been so long and they're still running rampant.

This has to end.

[Berhagen]

Umbral Reaver wrote:

There's a lot of privilege on display.

You can say everything's fine when you're not the ones being targeted.

There is definitely privilege, but also perspective.

In many situations we have more rights and possibilities for many people. Living in the Netherlands, where gay rights were something to be fought for in the past, same-sex marriage has been there 20 years, openly serving in the military (and laws against discrimination) for gay and trans people for 50 years. Now that this not mean it as accepted with all people, but it is better than at any time in history. I work in an international company, where in a team of 30 people we have about 20 nationalities, people of color, LHBTQI+ People etc.

I see that at the school of my kids, there are LHBTQI+ teachers (some married), gender fluid kids etc. For them this no more than normal, which bodes well for the next generation. We saw here over the last year the court and government deciding/making clear that religious thinking cannot be an excuse for intolerance, and that a safe space for LHBTQI+ takes precedence, and indeed even the most conservative Christian schools working with the Rainbow Alliance here to ensure there is increased acceptance and lessons given at schools.

Yes there are challenges, like the environment, like ensuring we keep the society we have (and see the inclusiveness expand), etc. And there are challenges which are still much larger in other countries.

But overall we are in a better place than in (almost all) of history. Does not mean it is perfect, and can’t get better…..

[mikeawmids]

Everyone back on the carousel, we're going round again!

[TOZ]

The ride never stops.

[Kevin Mack]

Admitadly a lot of this is dependant on where one in the world lives

[Animism]

Kevin Mack wrote:

Admitadly a lot of this is dependant on where one in the world lives

Yep!

[TriOmegaZero]

The idea that humanity is always improving is a pipe dream.

[Berhagen]

Rysky wrote:

Someone somewhere at some point in time had it worse than you, so you're not allowed to complain about anything at all!

Can you hear anything at all from up on that horse?

Says who? Sure you can complain, and I can understand that your situation is hard. But if people say “the world sucks, everything is bad”, then don’t be surprised if people have a different view.

[Berhagen]

Kevin Mack wrote:

Admitadly a lot of this is dependant on where one in the world lives

That is very true…

[Saedar]

If you can't be bothered to approach these conversations with empathy and an eye towards protecting (in this case) trans people from harassment, yeah. You are indistinguishable from a transphobe and should be dumped along with the rest of the trash.

[vagrant-poet]

You were caught being a bigot and given a temporary ban recently yourself. So spare us with the false accusations routine.

Attacking a trans person, and calling them describing their experience being targeted as "virtue signaling", itself a hate-filled dogwhistle, is not subtle bigotry. That's why a one-post sock-puppet was used.

You're desperation to defend something when the person who posts was not even willing to stand behind it just shows you for who you are again.

And is a fair demonstration that you should actually get banned if you can't behave yourself even after a timeout.