I’m a middle aged man and more and more, I’m starting to act or speak like some wise old sage like the Elders I remembered as a kid. The funny part is that I am starting to realize that those wise old sages I remembered were probably just as confused, unaware and dumbfounded by the world as I am now.
I used to get mad about it all, shake my hands in the air and get frustrated … but now I really don’t care. I live my life, treat others nicely and with respect, hold my ground against those that want to spread hate or fear and generally try not to disturb the waters too much - they are already disturbed enough as it is … lol
It’s good to just talk about these things and to have a caring, respectful, kind and sympathetic person such as yourself to listen to it all. That makes me feel far better than any kind of magic solution to these complex problems.
I’m not middle aged but I’m increasingly seeing how lost and confused my familial elders were when I was younger. The older I get thr more I see their brave faces as an act they told themselves because I’m putting that same face on too. I think we’re all lost and confused, the difference between the wise and the foolish is being able to accept that and navigate around it or denying it or failing to figure out how to handle it.
The older I get (I’m not that old yet tho) … the more I realize that most people of all ages, including who we see as wise old folk are all just people doing the best they can to try to figure out this strange reality we live in. Those old wise people get it wrong much of the time but get it right enough of the time for younger people to think that older people actually know what they are doing.
I am so glad that we have this space where you feel free to talk. Some people put in some SERIOUS work to create that (as the modlog attests to) - e.g. I recall a post here ~4 days ago that was quite disturbing to see, and if left up would have the effect of chilling conversations here (seeing these things pop up all over seriously make me worry about remaining on Lemmy at all - I am in the USA and what if Donald Trump’s administration starts going after these instances, shutting them down b/c of all the calls for violence? there are already rumblings that this may in fact happen…). Lemmy as a whole very much has a toxicity problem, but I am so glad for this space here that holds the line, so that we can talk, just like this:-).
I don’t think our instance is that terribly large or popular enough to warrant any kind of shut down from the authorities any time soon. Lemmy on any instance right now just feels like the early internet and it is just simple, easy and has a decent community of good people having free conversations without being directed by bad actors, bad algorithms or the influence of manipulated corporate content or controls - which is what social media should be.
I’m really happy to meet you here … in a digital world full of negativity, its like a breathe of fresh hopeful air when I get to talk to people like this. Stay well my friend … and don’t step into a space suit after Taco Tuesday.
What I worry about though is that the actual “facts” don’t matter to some, so like when Alt-Right propaganda is spread that’s okay (in their eyes), but when truthful facts are revealed that’s far less so, and Alt-Left messages will be given no quarter whatsoever (such as was posted here but quickly removed, something to the effect that if we want the results after the Bell Riots then we’d better get started on the killing people part).
So what amount of donation will Huffman have to offer to get his rival shut down, within the USA at least, just like Tiktok?
The Fediverse does have people here that are worth talking to, unlike Reddit anymore (from my POV), bc it allows kind words to be spoken without the kids all piling up to shout down such, as happens on Reddit these days.
It’s almost like people don’t enjoy breathing in the same space as where others feel so very free to fart…
I have these conversations with an older friend of mine who was born in the 50s … yes a boomer but one who is more socially minded and open. He keeps telling me how the world is falling apart and things are getting worse than before. I keep reminding him that that perfect world that people talk about was only a perfect world for a very small percentage of the global population … the majority of the world is poor, was poor and will stay poor and to them, the world has never changed. The leaders have changed but the situation hasn’t. I grew up poor as an Indigenous Canadian … hell, my family didn’t even have indoor plumbing until I was 12 … in first world Canada! in the 1980s!
I’ve always seen the world as an oppressive difficult place to survive … so for people like me, the world hasn’t degraded … it’s never changed.
As far as the fediverse is concerned … I’ll ride this wave for as long as it stays here. Digital rebels always find a way of surviving on the internet with their own systems. We don’t need to drift back to corporate media … we have to work at it but I’ll always look for alternatives for as long as there are alternatives.
And as far as flatulence is concerned … you’ve hit a nerve with me … it’s part of my culture and one of the stupid things we liked to do when we were kids alone at camp in the wilderness was to compare farts … even the adults would try to ‘out-disgust’ one another … so when I hear a little toot in public, I’m never surprised, upset or even concerned … I just think of it like ‘meh, you should have heard my older brother let out a 20 second long interlude that gave off a stench of the rotted remains of a dead animal’
Imagine going back in time, taking antibiotics with you. You could be a figurative Merlin. Even the Kings of Old when faced with a bacterial disease, couldn’t do what we now consider “commonplace”.
But we’re losing that as time goes on - antibiotic resistance is on the rise, just like everything else in the world where it’s two steps forward and one step back (or worse, sometimes the reverse). Another recent example is how COVID became the “pandemic of the unvaccinated”… so what happens now when the future boosters cost 10000x what they do now? Or the next pandemic?
We do seem to be making some progress though, not even so much decade by decade but (half?) century by century. For whatever that’s worth, and yet that’ll be something for the next generation of historians to puzzle out, while all we can do is live it out daily.:-) You have a great attitude at least, imho, that offers resiliency in the face of adversity - something that people who have never experienced real problems in their lives have ever had to develop. Hard times makes strong 💪 people, and all that.
As for farts, here are all the farts that I have left to give:
I’m a middle aged man and more and more, I’m starting to act or speak like some wise old sage like the Elders I remembered as a kid. The funny part is that I am starting to realize that those wise old sages I remembered were probably just as confused, unaware and dumbfounded by the world as I am now.
I used to get mad about it all, shake my hands in the air and get frustrated … but now I really don’t care. I live my life, treat others nicely and with respect, hold my ground against those that want to spread hate or fear and generally try not to disturb the waters too much - they are already disturbed enough as it is … lol
It’s good to just talk about these things and to have a caring, respectful, kind and sympathetic person such as yourself to listen to it all. That makes me feel far better than any kind of magic solution to these complex problems.
Kitchi-Meegwetch doodem … naspeeteh neeseekeenehsin … ehkooteh
It means ‘Thanks very much my friend … I am very grateful for your kindness … that is all’ in northern Ojibway or Oji-Cree
I’m not middle aged but I’m increasingly seeing how lost and confused my familial elders were when I was younger. The older I get thr more I see their brave faces as an act they told themselves because I’m putting that same face on too. I think we’re all lost and confused, the difference between the wise and the foolish is being able to accept that and navigate around it or denying it or failing to figure out how to handle it.
The older I get (I’m not that old yet tho) … the more I realize that most people of all ages, including who we see as wise old folk are all just people doing the best they can to try to figure out this strange reality we live in. Those old wise people get it wrong much of the time but get it right enough of the time for younger people to think that older people actually know what they are doing.
I agree
I am so glad that we have this space where you feel free to talk. Some people put in some SERIOUS work to create that (as the modlog attests to) - e.g. I recall a post here ~4 days ago that was quite disturbing to see, and if left up would have the effect of chilling conversations here (seeing these things pop up all over seriously make me worry about remaining on Lemmy at all - I am in the USA and what if Donald Trump’s administration starts going after these instances, shutting them down b/c of all the calls for violence? there are already rumblings that this may in fact happen…). Lemmy as a whole very much has a toxicity problem, but I am so glad for this space here that holds the line, so that we can talk, just like this:-).
And ofc make silly jokes - that’s CRUCIAL too:-).
I don’t think our instance is that terribly large or popular enough to warrant any kind of shut down from the authorities any time soon. Lemmy on any instance right now just feels like the early internet and it is just simple, easy and has a decent community of good people having free conversations without being directed by bad actors, bad algorithms or the influence of manipulated corporate content or controls - which is what social media should be.
I’m really happy to meet you here … in a digital world full of negativity, its like a breathe of fresh hopeful air when I get to talk to people like this. Stay well my friend … and don’t step into a space suit after Taco Tuesday.
What I worry about though is that the actual “facts” don’t matter to some, so like when Alt-Right propaganda is spread that’s okay (in their eyes), but when truthful facts are revealed that’s far less so, and Alt-Left messages will be given no quarter whatsoever (such as was posted here but quickly removed, something to the effect that if we want the results after the Bell Riots then we’d better get started on the killing people part).
So what amount of donation will Huffman have to offer to get his rival shut down, within the USA at least, just like Tiktok?
The Fediverse does have people here that are worth talking to, unlike Reddit anymore (from my POV), bc it allows kind words to be spoken without the kids all piling up to shout down such, as happens on Reddit these days.
It’s almost like people don’t enjoy breathing in the same space as where others feel so very free to fart…
I have these conversations with an older friend of mine who was born in the 50s … yes a boomer but one who is more socially minded and open. He keeps telling me how the world is falling apart and things are getting worse than before. I keep reminding him that that perfect world that people talk about was only a perfect world for a very small percentage of the global population … the majority of the world is poor, was poor and will stay poor and to them, the world has never changed. The leaders have changed but the situation hasn’t. I grew up poor as an Indigenous Canadian … hell, my family didn’t even have indoor plumbing until I was 12 … in first world Canada! in the 1980s!
I’ve always seen the world as an oppressive difficult place to survive … so for people like me, the world hasn’t degraded … it’s never changed.
As far as the fediverse is concerned … I’ll ride this wave for as long as it stays here. Digital rebels always find a way of surviving on the internet with their own systems. We don’t need to drift back to corporate media … we have to work at it but I’ll always look for alternatives for as long as there are alternatives.
And as far as flatulence is concerned … you’ve hit a nerve with me … it’s part of my culture and one of the stupid things we liked to do when we were kids alone at camp in the wilderness was to compare farts … even the adults would try to ‘out-disgust’ one another … so when I hear a little toot in public, I’m never surprised, upset or even concerned … I just think of it like ‘meh, you should have heard my older brother let out a 20 second long interlude that gave off a stench of the rotted remains of a dead animal’
Imagine going back in time, taking antibiotics with you. You could be a figurative Merlin. Even the Kings of Old when faced with a bacterial disease, couldn’t do what we now consider “commonplace”.
But we’re losing that as time goes on - antibiotic resistance is on the rise, just like everything else in the world where it’s two steps forward and one step back (or worse, sometimes the reverse). Another recent example is how COVID became the “pandemic of the unvaccinated”… so what happens now when the future boosters cost 10000x what they do now? Or the next pandemic?
We do seem to be making some progress though, not even so much decade by decade but (half?) century by century. For whatever that’s worth, and yet that’ll be something for the next generation of historians to puzzle out, while all we can do is live it out daily.:-) You have a great attitude at least, imho, that offers resiliency in the face of adversity - something that people who have never experienced real problems in their lives have ever had to develop. Hard times makes strong 💪 people, and all that.
As for farts, here are all the farts that I have left to give:
it won’t embedd, you’ll have to click it