How to cope with existing right now?

It feels like no matter where I turn some septuagenarian, or older, is making life miserable for myself and others. Usually these are older white Christian conservatives, obsessed with a delusional sense of reality that no longer has a basis in fact, or perhaps never did.

There is a disproportionate amount of wealth concentrated in the older generation and those who will inherit it will probably be even worse with that money than the last generation. Certainly we see evidence of that already, anyone in their 30’s who has parents who help them out VS those who don’t have that have radically different outcomes. For some reason those lucky enough to come from good families ascribe laziness and bad attitude to those who don’t have the family support, as if they are somehow enjoying “self made success” while mummy does their laundry for them.

No generation previous needed this kind of assistance well into adulthood, but this infantilisation of working adults has happened because of the hoarding of wealth, refusing to pass on the torch in workplaces and just blocking change for the sake of stoking petty politics. Most of us will never own our own home but all the politicians want to talk about is whether it’s OK to dehumanise trans people or not.

I’m 36 this year. For most of my teens I thought there’d be some kind of tipping point where the conservative boomers would fuck off or at least let the next generation step in, but that hasn’t happened. Back in the 1990’s you could be a girl and wear jeans and be empowered, now this is considered some kind of woke statement. As if we recently invented this idea of women and men being equal.

The faces of my two dogs, my cat and my husband are all that keep me going. Knowing they need me gives me just enough to get out of bed in the morning and start moving… but I’m struggling to do even that without having a breakdown. My husband and I have medical expenses we can’t afford and are borrowing money to survive right now. I run my own business and just feel this immense pressure on my shoulders, that again is compounded by how unfair the world is right now.

Anyone got any advice for coping with this late stage capitalist hellscape?

squiblet,
@squiblet@kbin.social avatar

I saw this 70 year old guy waiting at the hospital today, with his 70 year old wife in a wheelchair, produce wearing by his brand new TRUMP hat (along with a chain wallet, like he was 20 and it was 1996). My thought was: why the fuck does this loser have to fuck up society before he dies of old age?

SadSadSatellite,

He needs something to focus on other than dying and his sick wife. Don’t worry about it, just negate his vote, he’ll die first.

Huschke,

That might be good advise for America, but where in from it’s mainly young uneducated people that vote for parties that fuck up our system because they are blinded by racism. And guess which group of people is growing and not dying off? 😐

Bo7a, (edited )

Why is it always ok to shit on chain wallets, long hair on a man, or any other non-political style choice?

I sponsor and attend protests - have done so since the '90s. I help out at shelters and food banks and soup kitchens. I champion the causes of all people who are oppressed or otherwise neglected by society.

But my fucking chain wallet and ponytail make me less of a person?

Why?

squiblet,
@squiblet@kbin.social avatar

The chain wallet looked goofy on this 70 year old guy, that’s all.

Bo7a, (edited )

Sorry if I came off as attacking you.

I have been seeing a lot of posts that call out simple things like how I dress as indicative of being some MAGAt or bigot and I was just venting that out here. Like jeans and a plaid shirt with sunglasses are now the uniform of the standard racist asshole - But I don’t think it is fair to lump everyone in those clothes together. And if someone posted the same thing about a distinctly 2000s fashion, or dyed hair, they would get corrected quickly, but since my style is ‘old’ more people feel open to judging the book by its cover.

I did not mean to offend, or call you out personally, and I will try to be better about how I express these things going forward.

For reference - I am in my mid-40s, but I need my chain wallet since I bounce around the forest/homestead on tractors or dirt bikes a lot while building or doing chores, and would certainly lose it without some tether. I don’t have any excuse for my ponytail other than i have just always had it :p I’m sure baldness will end that soon too!

JustZ, (edited )

jeans and a plaid shirt with sunglasses are now the uniform of the standard racist asshole

Right? Like, you could just as easily be a cholo asshole. /j

Bo7a,

Exactly!

JustZ, (edited )

You left out the Trump hat and the neglected wife.

Bo7a,

Well I also hate Trump with the burning passion of a million dying suns - and I love my wife more than I love breathing.

JustZ, (edited )

Well, see, so if you recognize Trump for what he is, and you found a woman, a divine giver of life, to tolerate you, I can give you a pass for your wallet chain, Oakley’s, even a mullet, you must be a very decent person.

GBU_28,

If you want to hear your worries repeated again and again, hang around Lemmy

highenergyphysics,

Carry a gun and wish a motherfucker would.

Works pretty well for me!

JustZ,

Yes when people have no control over their emotions they cling to control over their physical space.

dhcmrlchtdj__,
@dhcmrlchtdj__@lemmy.world avatar

You’re going to kill some people or threaten to do so and expect that to make the world a better place?

OpenStars,
@OpenStars@discuss.online avatar

The entire world is going through this right now. Many of us will never own a home - and no I don’t mean just Gen-Z and maybe Millenials, I mean people your age even. Fwiw, you/we still are doing better off than at least 95% of the world, but that is not to diminish the pain that we are losing hope b/c we are not doing as well as we thought we would. Find a way of coping that works for you - I am still searching for mine…:-( I just thought it might help to say that you are not alone:-).

VikingHippie,

don’t mean just Gen-Z and maybe Millenials, I mean people your age even

They said they’re 36. That’s millenial. At 41, I’m what Iliza Schlesinger coined an Elder Millennial (a little under two months older than Iliza herself).

Great comment otherwise, though, and I sincerely hope you find your coping method(s)!

OpenStars,
@OpenStars@discuss.online avatar

Gen-Z and younger Millenials

The above is what I probably should have said. Interestingly (to me at least:-D), historically “Millenial” used to refer to what is now called “Z”, it once having been the term used to describe the generation that came after “Y”, but has shifted all the way over to now having absorbed Y and then replacing it entirely.:-P But yes, in 2018 (according to Pew) that situation finished switching and the old Z is now the new Y - though if you google search these terms, most results are how to market to these groups, and that likely confuses things further.

What I mean is that imho it is best to take these terms extremely loosely - e.g. an elder Millenial may share more in common with a late-stage Gen-Xer (“righteous dude!”, e.g. having watched similar TV programs even if as re-runs) than with the later half of what is now called “Millenial”, and similarly late Millenials with earlier Gen-Zs (no cap no skibidi, def no Ohio), and so on.

Though whether someone has rich parents or not seems to override all other factors such as generation or responsibility to work hard and save money for the future, when talking about owning a home:-(.

tory, (edited )

It is really weird how no one can imagine generations getting old. It’s like they think millenial is slang for teens, and Gen z is slang for younger kids.

afraid_of_zombies,

What is weird for me is seeing people who are supposedly in my cohort act like they are twice my age.

VikingHippie, (edited )

I wouldn’t mind splitting the difference and being 30 again tbh 😄

It’s that perfect middle where you’re (just barely) old enough that most people take you seriously (or at least don’t dismiss you based on youth alone), but also young enough that your body doesn’t ache from approaching middle age yet 😉

supermassiveasshole,

Take a hiatus from social media and from doomscrolling- it can be so incredibly damaging.

OpenStars,
@OpenStars@discuss.online avatar

Old people squeeze their eyes & ears shut so that they will neither see nor hear the cries of pain screams of agony as the world burns, and they say: “This is fine”.

Ngl, there is some merit to that - maybe that is how they survived as long as they have, as opposed to those that died young (selection bias). I too could become a zombie, numb to the world, and I would then exist even after it ceased to. But I choose to live - and that means to suffer, especially when my brethren and sistren all across the world suffer too.:-( It is not madness to feel pain when things are WRONG - I would argue that it is, in fact, sanity.

All that is the context for why I agree - we NEED to stay connected, but not 24/7; also it helps to balance doomscrolling with positive experiences: as described in what I thought was a super-excellent article on that subject.

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