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If the unfairness over YouTube's policies resulted in this kind of outcome, I wonder what the majority of people will do once they realize[0] that the world is
by tabeth 9y ago
If the unfairness over YouTube's policies resulted in this kind of outcome, I wonder what the majority of people will do once they realize[0] that the world is stacked against them. Tax breaks for the rich, "too big to fail" organizations, with tax payers footing the bill, etc.
I won't say the "end is nigh", but if there were a "Revolution Clock", akin to the Doomsday Clock, I think it's slowly nearing midnight.
I've read some stuff that also says that inequality and perceived unfairness also can hinder your mental health, which no doubt also contributed here.
[0] When I say realize, I mean realize. The gap between the poor and the rich, and the middle-class and the rich is far larger than most realize.
[1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/inequality-an-underacknowledged-source-of-mental-illness-and-distress/985DE9F19CEA4165BE1E85A022BEFDFB https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-...
EDIT:
I should add that I don't think the world is turning to garbage. Rather, said Revolution Clock simply is getting closer to midnight, as opposed to away from it. I'd say we're like at maybe 10:00pm.
- jurassic 9y agoThe kind of injustice that has more or less always been there (e.g. the financial system favoring the rich over the poor) seems less likely to provoke this kind of sudden and violent response. The shooter’s anger was over a sudden change in policy that she perceived as unfair. Loss and loss aversion are powerful psychological drivers. If her videos had always been handled the way they are now, she probably never would have shot up their office because she never would have had the opportunity to feel she lost something she was previously entitled to.
- pg_bot 9y agoI would suggest you take a hiatus from watching the news. Go outside and you will find that everything isn't as bad as you think.
- tabeth 9y agoOutside of me (NYC) there's homelessness and pollution. I guess that's not so bad? Also, it's not that I think things are bad, it's that I think the increasing concentration of wealth is resulting in increased potential for some event. What event? I don't know, but I doubt it'll be good.
- alva 9y agoMany people really do not want to think about these things and the potential consequences. History has shown things can break down hard and quickly when there are a multitude of seemingly small bit widespread grievances. This is likely exacerbated now by mass dissemination of information and the sheer complexity of our social and economic system. I am not saying it is likely to happen soon, but I think it is worth being aware of. No society is immune.
- CobrastanJorji 9y agoHomelessness in the United States has been, slowly but steadily, declining over the last couple of decades, although it's up about 1% this year. It's not getting better fast enough, but the general trend has been slow movement in the right direction. In 2007, there were 647,000 homeless, and by 2016, there was down to 549,000 homeless. That said, you live in NYC, and so for you the homeless rate has gone WAY up over the last year, to around 4000 people from just 2800 or so last year.
- aje403 9y agoGo find the nearest street corner to preach off of and bump the last guy off
- dang 9y agoWould you please stop posting uncivil and/or unsubstantive comments to HN? It looks like you've been doing it quite a bit, and it breaks the site rules: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- aje403 9y agoCould I get a ban? It's turning into reddit and reading it is becoming a habit
- tw1010 9y agoYou superimpose inequality on the national mindscape and out comes a radical extremist on the mentally unstable subset of the map, and you infer that that is a signal that the rest will cascade into an occupy style phase shift? Alarmist much?
- fbonetti 9y agoIt's comments like these that make me wonder why I still read Hacker News.
- imglorp 9y agoThere is some research that says the traditional tipping point for revolution is hunger. It seems people put up with a lot of shit, perhaps with misplaced optimism, until their stomach is affected. Maybe there's an analog to other tipping points, like price of internet service, but food seems pretty emotional and primal. https://www.salon.com/2014/05/09/real_life_hunger_games_soaring_food_prices_trigger_unrest_across_the_globe_partner/ https://www.salon.com/2014/05/09/real_life_hunger_games_soar...
- pjc50 9y agoI'm sure there's nothing that can go wrong with a population that has three hundred million guns getting short of food with an ideology that says they have a right to overthrow the government.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Karrot_Kream 9y agoI think the matter is subtler than plain inequality. What do you do when there's a mass distribution channel controlled by a private entity? Radio, press, they've been criticized, protested against, and in most democratic countries have ways to be held accountable to its citizens. We're largely living in a world where this isn't the case anymore. How do citizens demand accountability over a private service?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- kdamken 9y agoWow you're right I was going to say that people locked into serfdom in the middle ages had it bad, or that all that slavery in the early US, but no, you're right. People in America today definitely have it the worst of anybody and we're definitely super close to the end of the world. Except that's bullshit. You know that right? There has never been more opportunity for people to improve their situation and lot in life.