Collecting stuff is basically the ultimate hoarder hobby.

I agree, but what else would you call being forced into a facility you can’t leave? Especially if the pigs brought you there. The way people in crisis are handled in this country is appalling.

I have been in several mental health crises that I should have been in involuntarily hospitalized for, but was too afraid to ask for help because I would rather die than lose what little freedom I have. So I might be biased (and very bitter).

I mean to be fair if you were involuntarily hospitalized, you actually were a prisoner.

Honey, I haven’t worked in two years because of mental illness and I haven’t had insurance in three. I’m trans and live in Texas as well so Trump’s election feels a lot like a death sentence and I’ve already lost most of my old friends and family to bigotry. Just since the election I have had four strangers clock me and yell slurs, one guy even followed me 40 miles and finally gave up when I stopped at the police station near where I am staying. I am so afraid that I get physically sick whenever I leave the house. If I didn’t have family who could take me in and support me while I try to put my life back together I would be homeless, or more likely dead.

You’re right, I don’t live in fear of losing those things because I have already lost them. From the other side of those fears, you can lose everything and life still goes on, I promise.

Are you familiar with Project Semicolon? It’s an anti-suicide thing and they use the semicolon because it is unnecessary and using it is a choice by the author that there sentence could end, but they have chosen to continue. Your top level comment has very similar vibes to some of the things that the group advocates.

The founder did eventually decide to end their story and they kind of faded out, but the message is a good one.

I agree with you about the power accepting your own mortality grants. All human stories end in death, pretending there is any other option is delusional.

If it helps, humans are really really really really really bad at predicting the future. We don’t know what’s going to happen until it does and even then knowing how that changes what comes after is still unknowable.

For example many of the promises Agent Orange made on the campaign trail would have disastrous consequences for everyone, which might be enough to shift the balance back by the midterms.

Look, I am as heartbroken as anyone that the two crazies that tried, missed (or never got a shot off). But that’s something else. If you’re not trolling, you should probably talk to a mental health professional about those feelings.

Touching grass. It’s important to remember that the entire world isn’t online and the world isn’t as dire as all of us chronically online doomers would have you believe. Things are chaotic-shift-in-the-status-quo bad, not civilization-ending bad.

The wheel turns, right now it’s in a muddy rut and the people on the bottom (sexually active women, people of colors, and the queer community) are drowning, but all the little people on the outer edge are eventually in the dirt. Fuck the world, fuck the country, the people you have personal relationships with are the only thing that matters because all we have is each other.

Personally I have been trying to be more proactive, which has helped me have a sense of agency amidst the chaos. Everything I own fits in my car in case I need to leave quickly because of a climate disaster or the legalization of hunting trans people. I haven’t bought a new thing (used, diy, or do without only) since lockdown because it’s significantly cheaper and makes me feel like I’m doing my part to fight final form capitalism. I’ve also been exploring alternate ways to support myself and live that are more sustainable.

Hunter S. Thompson carried a revolver on him for most of his adult life for that exact reason.

… He told me 25 years ago that he would feel real trapped if he didn’t know that he could commit suicide at any moment. I don’t know if that is brave or stupid or what, but it was inevitable. I think that the truth of what rings through all his writing is that he meant what he said. If that is entertainment to you, well, that’s OK. If you think that it enlightened you, well, that’s even better. If you wonder if he’s gone to Heaven or Hell, rest assured he will check out them both, find out which one Richard Milhous Nixon went to—and go there. He could never stand being bored. But there must be Football too—and Peacocks …

— Some friend of Thompson’s after his death whose name I forget and am too lazy to look up (I have the quote unattributed in my notes on Thompson). But it’s quoted on Thompson’s Wikipedia if you’re not as lazy, lol.

Fuck that. You should or shouldn’t do whatever you want. I laugh at my own jokes all the time, even when I am alone, or haven’t said the joke out loud. People find it much more off-putting if you just randomly start laughing.

Anyone who has a problem with someone laughing at their own jokes either has trauma or is an asshole not worth anyone’s time.

Who hurt you?

I found that was better when I would sort subs by new or rising and comment there. Once something makes it to the front page it’s pointless to comment on unless your goal was getting more internet points. Lemmy is much easier to get into conversations just because of how much smaller it is.

Most of that comes from how much smaller Lemmy is than Reddit and the demographic of Lemmy users. I don’t have hard information, but at least anecdotally the average Lemmy user is about ten years older, it seems more men use it even than reddit, and skews extremely left.

The low volume of users means a lot less content and fewer niche communities. The biggest between Lemmy and Reddit though is the lack of bots. There are bots on Lemmy for sure and probably the same kinds that are most of reddit, but there just isn’t as big of an incentive because the ROI is smaller.

I decided to leave reddit after I switched from lurking to trying to participate more. Most of the comments I made for about six month had little to no interaction, to the point I wondered if I was shadow banned (but wasn’t as far as I could tell). When I was able to interact with another redditor it was rarely pleasant and usually was just someone telling me I was wrong or misunderstanding my comment and arguing against the misunderstanding.

I didn’t have a community of people on reddit to being but I did ask a friend to try it a few months back. She didn’t stick around though because of the lack of content.

If reddit isn’t working for you Lemmy might, but I would encourage you to consider what it is you want from social media and see if there might be a better fit somewhere because Lemmy is just anarchist reddit.

Edit: It’s also worth pointing out the average Lemmy user is much smarter than the average redditor so if the idiots on reddit are your main problem you might find it fits your needs

That we haven’t learned more from history and keep making the same mistakes over and over.

There are a lot of factors at play that make transness an easy target to be the scary other bigots rally around.

The simple truth is that unless you yourself are trans you cannot understand the trans experience. There is no way to explain the scope or impact it has on someone’s life. It’s automatically alien and provides essentially a permanent out group. Anyone who is uncomfortable with people who are different or that have different experiences than themselves are almost certainly transphobic to some degree. Right now to the best of my knowledge transphobia is the only thing all hate groups share.

Trans people are the current scapegoats because prior to the pandemic we had an explosion of trans people feeling safe enough to come out online (I blame Obama making us all feel safe). They are particularly effective because both white nationalists and evangelicals use queerness as a scapegoat all the time anyway so it was easy for them to rally around. Which is why conservative politicians fearmonger around trans people.

It’s not that simple, but it’s close enough for a lemmy comment.

I’ve been wondering if the war in Ukraine might count as a proxy war between the US and China (who has helped bankroll the conflict)

I have wondered since that episode aired how many people were inspired to do it for realsies.

This is the least surprising thing I have learned today.

“Republicans voters appalled lawmakers wants to hurt immigrants more than help American families”

“Elon Musk announces he is joining Bill Gates and many other billionaires in pledging to give away 90% of their wealth in their lifetimes”

“McDonald’s joins a growing movement among companies to prioritize employee happiness and wellness as a means to increase productivity”

“Citizens in both Russia and the United States are calling Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s upcoming golf fundraiser World War III”

I feel like a news site from an alternative timeline where people aren’t dicks to each other would be amazing!