4 ms·

Yay, someone else that's sober. I dont understand the constant need to radicalize every problem as we technically are "fixing" things. Less war, less natural c

Yay, someone else that's sober. I dont understand the constant need to radicalize every problem as we technically are "fixing" things. Less war, less natural cause deaths other than old age, less world wide poverty, the world is getting better on a whole. Still plenty of serious problems. No one should discount that. But I had to stop watching the general news the past few months because it seemed like we were living during the black death, world war 1 and 2, and the American civil war (I'm in the US) all at the same time. We're not. Things aren't perfect, but holy shit things were far worse roughly 100 years ago. Theres a point where every radical on any political spectrum needs to get hit with a belt in the ass and told to stand in the corner, same goes for the general media. We all need to take a deep breath, be grateful that things aren't as bad as during our grandparents time, quit thinking the world will end tomorrow, and calmly fix things together. But hey, that's all crazy talk and doesn't produce ad clicks for google, facebook and twitter.

RGamma 6y ago
Well, it's all in the heads... There's rich interaction between how the world is, how one perceives it and how you act on the beliefs you acquire. And I agree, the technical data concerning (physical) violence, disease and wealth look good. But that's not all there is to life, is it?
- NoOneNew 6y ago
  No, of course it's not all of life. But it's base factors. Kind of like basic survival situations. You need shelter, water and food. If you dont have that, you're chances of long term survival and/or happiness are close to zero. If you're under constant threat of physical harm, liable to get gravely sick and poor as a church mouse, your not going to have a good time either. It's easier to have a strong family, good friends and fulfilling hobbies and interests when the base 3 are at least stable, slightly leaning towards good. And of course I'm speaking generally, there are always exceptions, but to pretend exceptions are the norm isn't healthy either.
heavyset_go 6y ago
> world war 1 and 2, and the American civil war More Americans have died from COVID in the last 9 months than the Americans who died in WWI, and we've surpassed the American South's Civil War deaths, and are approaching how many died fighting for the North, too.
- Geminidog 6y ago
  You have to frame the number in percentage of population. More people died because there are more people period. Also you need to make your timeline bigger. Extend the timeline to Past the dark ages.
  - heavyset_go 6y ago
    The population has only increased by 15% since September 11, 2001, and yet in the last 9 months we've had 91 times more American deaths from COVID than we did on 9/11. Every 2 to 3 days, we have another 9/11's worth of COVID deaths.
    - Geminidog 6y ago
      September 11, 2001 was recent news, I'm old. The initial poster (me) is talking about timescales much bigger than 9/11. There was a time where if your neighbor dropped dead from the black death it was normal. Right now most people don't know anyone who was even in the building when 9/11 happened. Keep in mind the amount of car accidents in the US constitutes a mass slaughter on a scale far larger than anything you can comprehend yet you are ignoring it. There are plenty of things far worse than COVID deaths and 9/11 going on in the world right now... YET we are still more at peace and safer than we ever have been before. Does that make you evil and heartless for completely ignoring how car manufactures and drivers are slaughtering people? No. It doesn't. But it does highlight the fact that you are using and throwing around numbers to raise emotions the same way the media does. Just to keep things in perspective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_Sta... Both are about 100 deaths per day JUST in the US.
ntsplnkv2 6y ago
More people live in poverty now than ever before. The overall percentage may have decreased, but the sheer number is greater. Technically more people suffer now than ever in history. It doesn't matter that there's more. This is just an example of statistics hiding how bad things truly are. The scale is greater now than it was back then. Now, a city of millions can be obliterated in an instant. Now, we can see the effects of global warming and how it can decimate the world's food supply. We have more knowledge now than ever before - and before, ignorance was bliss.
- Geminidog 6y ago
  >More people live in poverty now than ever before. The overall percentage may have decreased, but the sheer number is greater. The sheer number doesn't matter when compared to the percentage. The percentage is the real number that measures our progress and the actual number is an illusion. 100 people die of car accidents per day does that mean we ban cars? No. The sheer number is an illusion the percentage is the real deal. >The scale is greater now than it was back then. Now, a city of millions can be obliterated in an instant. Now, we can see the effects of global warming and how it can decimate the world's food supply. Nobody is saying these aren't threats or problems. But compared with the past these problems are looming problems that we have to deal with as a society. A peasant in the dark ages had to deal with starvation, black death or invaders. These were actual threats in the sense that an average conversation will be like: "Last week Martha got her head chopped off by a barbarian and Bob died of starvation. "
  - ntsplnkv2 6y ago
    I get your point - but when we're talking about suffering, the amount matters. It doesn't matter if we reduce pollution if we're still causing global warming - things may be better, but that doesn't mean they're good enough. > A peasant in the dark ages had to deal with starvation, black death or invaders. These were actual threats in the sense that an average conversation will be like: "Last week Martha got her head chopped off by a barbarian and Bob died of starvation. " To even suggest starvation doesn't exist is...I don't even have the words. Did you hear about the Nigerian farmers who were executed last week by Boko Haram? Not very different than a barbarian raiding a small village.

RGamma 6y ago

Well, it's all in the heads... There's rich interaction between how the world is, how one perceives it and how you act on the beliefs you acquire. And I agree, the technical data concerning (physical) violence, disease and wealth look good. But that's not all there is to life, is it?

NoOneNew 6y ago
No, of course it's not all of life. But it's base factors. Kind of like basic survival situations. You need shelter, water and food. If you dont have that, you're chances of long term survival and/or happiness are close to zero. If you're under constant threat of physical harm, liable to get gravely sick and poor as a church mouse, your not going to have a good time either. It's easier to have a strong family, good friends and fulfilling hobbies and interests when the base 3 are at least stable, slightly leaning towards good. And of course I'm speaking generally, there are always exceptions, but to pretend exceptions are the norm isn't healthy either.

heavyset_go 6y ago

> world war 1 and 2, and the American civil war More Americans have died from COVID in the last 9 months than the Americans who died in WWI, and we've surpassed the American South's Civil War deaths, and are approaching how many died fighting for the North, too.

Geminidog 6y ago
You have to frame the number in percentage of population. More people died because there are more people period. Also you need to make your timeline bigger. Extend the timeline to Past the dark ages.
- heavyset_go 6y ago
  The population has only increased by 15% since September 11, 2001, and yet in the last 9 months we've had 91 times more American deaths from COVID than we did on 9/11. Every 2 to 3 days, we have another 9/11's worth of COVID deaths.
  - Geminidog 6y ago
    September 11, 2001 was recent news, I'm old. The initial poster (me) is talking about timescales much bigger than 9/11. There was a time where if your neighbor dropped dead from the black death it was normal. Right now most people don't know anyone who was even in the building when 9/11 happened. Keep in mind the amount of car accidents in the US constitutes a mass slaughter on a scale far larger than anything you can comprehend yet you are ignoring it. There are plenty of things far worse than COVID deaths and 9/11 going on in the world right now... YET we are still more at peace and safer than we ever have been before. Does that make you evil and heartless for completely ignoring how car manufactures and drivers are slaughtering people? No. It doesn't. But it does highlight the fact that you are using and throwing around numbers to raise emotions the same way the media does. Just to keep things in perspective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_Sta... Both are about 100 deaths per day JUST in the US.

ntsplnkv2 6y ago

More people live in poverty now than ever before. The overall percentage may have decreased, but the sheer number is greater. Technically more people suffer now than ever in history. It doesn't matter that there's more. This is just an example of statistics hiding how bad things truly are. The scale is greater now than it was back then. Now, a city of millions can be obliterated in an instant. Now, we can see the effects of global warming and how it can decimate the world's food supply. We have more knowledge now than ever before - and before, ignorance was bliss.

Geminidog 6y ago
>More people live in poverty now than ever before. The overall percentage may have decreased, but the sheer number is greater. The sheer number doesn't matter when compared to the percentage. The percentage is the real number that measures our progress and the actual number is an illusion. 100 people die of car accidents per day does that mean we ban cars? No. The sheer number is an illusion the percentage is the real deal. >The scale is greater now than it was back then. Now, a city of millions can be obliterated in an instant. Now, we can see the effects of global warming and how it can decimate the world's food supply. Nobody is saying these aren't threats or problems. But compared with the past these problems are looming problems that we have to deal with as a society. A peasant in the dark ages had to deal with starvation, black death or invaders. These were actual threats in the sense that an average conversation will be like: "Last week Martha got her head chopped off by a barbarian and Bob died of starvation. "
- ntsplnkv2 6y ago
  I get your point - but when we're talking about suffering, the amount matters. It doesn't matter if we reduce pollution if we're still causing global warming - things may be better, but that doesn't mean they're good enough. > A peasant in the dark ages had to deal with starvation, black death or invaders. These were actual threats in the sense that an average conversation will be like: "Last week Martha got her head chopped off by a barbarian and Bob died of starvation. " To even suggest starvation doesn't exist is...I don't even have the words. Did you hear about the Nigerian farmers who were executed last week by Boko Haram? Not very different than a barbarian raiding a small village.