[QatzelOk]

We can also sit on the internet everyday blaming other people for all of life's problems while taking no responsibility ourselves and feel the same hit of dopamine and serotonin to escape our miserable existence. Go out and slay a dragon bro.

I wish I played as many computer games as you do so I could imagine that "slaying dragons" was useful.

But I don't and it isn't.

Neither is your text. Blaming others is an important thing to do if you're not the Federal Reserve or its pawns. If you are the Federal Reserve (or one of its many pawns) though, you can blame yourself and try to improve.

Otherwise, read some books Unthinking Majority, and find out what Systemic Problems are.

[Unthinking Majority]

Otherwise, read some books Unthinking Majority, and find out what Systemic Problems are.

Life is literally nothing but a non-stop journey of solving problems. All you do is diagnose problems, but you never offer any solutions to solve them. A fool-proof way to never accomplish anything.

I'm sorry that you're convinced you're a slave to "Systemic Problems". This kind of thinking is a hopeless cancer of the mind, one that you want to infect everyone with. Your goal seems to be to remove all agency and hope from everyone. Maybe if you complain more the problems will go away. Sounds like colonization of the mind.

I wish I played as many computer games as you do so I could imagine that "slaying dragons" was useful.

But I don't and it isn't.

The dragon is wrapped tightly around you mind. Slay it.

[QatzelOk]

..."Systemic Problems". ...

You don't know what these are, do you.

[Unthinking Majority]

You don't know what these are, do you.

They're things that step on your head and push your face into the gravel.

[QatzelOk]

All you do is diagnose problems, but you never offer any solutions to solve them. A fool-proof way to never accomplish anything.

The worse thing someone can do is suggest "a solution" before reflecting long enough on the problem. This might be "fast" but it won't work, and might even be worse then the original problem.

Neoliberalism is all about "fast solutions" that make a lot of money and... don't work in the end. Or cause bigger problems than the ones they've solved. Fast because... the inventor needs to leave town suddenly?

Think before you act, Unthinking Majority.

[Unthinking Majority]

The worse thing someone can do is suggest "a solution" before reflecting long enough on the problem. This might be "fast" but it won't work, and might even be worse then the original problem.

Neoliberalism is all about "fast solutions" that make a lot of money and... don't work in the end. Or cause bigger problems than the ones they've solved. Fast because... the inventor needs to leave town suddenly?

Think before you act, Unthinking Majority.

Neoliberalism has been going on for 40 years and i've never agreed with it.

[blackjack21]

Thank you. I see that you are not using the same definition I was taught.

True. I'm speaking specifically to the people promoting it. In the United States, that bifurcates into neoconservatism and neoliberalism. Both are promoting economic liberalism and free market capitalism. They promote austerity to foreign governments they've lent money to, but they are not particularly austere themselves or inclined to reduce government spending themselves. With globalism, they have not only crushed inflation in the West, but they have to print money just to keep things going. At the same time, they destroyed the livelihoods of low-skilled people in the West.

The stagflation of the 1970s had a lot to do with excessive regulation and complex tax structures. It really wasn't so much about global trade.

At any rate, look at who they are and what they do. It's not necessarily as ideologically consistent as your definition. France and Germany, for example, will break the EU's deficit spending rules, but simultaneously demand austerity from Greece.

[Pants-of-dog]

@blackjack21

You misused the notification system.

And I am not interested in your weird ideas about what neoliberalism is.

[blackjack21]

@blackjack21

You misused the notification system.

And I am not interested in your weird ideas about what neoliberalism is.

You specifically asked, so you were interested. If you're not interested, don't ask.

[Pants-of-dog]

@blackjack21

No, I just asked which definition you were using and you could have stopped talking to me after you clarified that you were using the incorrect definition.

[Beren]

The OP actually blames modernity while confusing it with Neoliberalism, which is a better buzzword indeed. Everyone else, Fascists and Socialists especially, can feel better about themselves that way at least.

[Wolvenbear]

The worse thing someone can do is suggest "a solution" before reflecting long enough on the problem. This might be "fast" but it won't work, and might even be worse then the original problem.

Neoliberalism is all about "fast solutions" that make a lot of money and... don't work in the end. Or cause bigger problems than the ones they've solved. Fast because... the inventor needs to leave town suddenly?

Think before you act, Unthinking Majority.

Ironic coming from you...

That said, one can think a problem into complete inactivity. Systemic problems are largely unfixable...but individual solutions can often be found. I can't stop your former boss from firing you because he's a racist, but I can help you find another job. While I have not fixed the problem of racism, I have fixed the problem of you being unemployed.

Refusing to focus on solutions for people because the root problem can't immediately be solved is a serious problem today. Most accusations of systematic problems are, as suggested, simply ways to avoid offering fixes, while griping about issues.

[QatzelOk]

Systemic problems are largely unfixable...but individual solutions can often be found.

If you can't fix a systemic problem, then the system will crash.

Fixing small "problems" while trapped inside a crumbling system is called "keeping yourself busy doing nothing."

[Wolvenbear]

If you can't fix a systemic problem, then the system will crash.

Fixing small "problems" while trapped inside a crumbling system is called "keeping yourself busy doing nothing."

Well, then I guess we should all go bury our heads in the sand and die?

What a silly, childish worldview. "I can't solve the problems of the world, so I'll just do nothing."

[Rancid]

People are not happy because they don't have problems to keep them preoccupied and they blow their time away being unhappy. Those that find happiness realize it is within their control to create happiness. Be it new challenges, experiences, or improving relationships with people.

The modern west has created a scenario where if you are unhappy, it's mostly your fault. This is an accomplishment.

Now stop being a bitch, and find your happiness.

[Steve_American]

I may be wrong about this, but,

I think it is hard to be happy when you are afraid you will lose the house you own.
I think it is hard to be happy when you are afraid you will not be able to feed your children.
I think it is hard to be happy when you are afraid you will be living in your car or on the street with your kids.
I think it is hard to be happy when you are already very hungry and cold in winter.

IMHO, this is what Neo-Liberalism has brought to the US and some other nations. The leaders of all nations were warned that a pandemic was certainly going to happen. That it was just a matter of 'when'. The leaders of some nations listened and prepared, like where I retried to, Thailand. Other leaders listened to the Neo-liberals who said, "It is not efficient to prepare", and then imposed austerity to *not do* what needed to be done.

See my newest thread here in Political Circus about the new evidence of the appalling herd immunity plan.
.

[QatzelOk]

I may be wrong about this, but,

I think it is hard to be happy when you are afraid you will lose the house you own.
I think it is hard to be happy when you are afraid you will not be able to feed your children.
I think it is hard to be happy when you are afraid you will be living in your car or on the street with your kids.
I think it is hard to be happy when you are already very hungry and cold in winter.

The blind search for profit "no matter what" has caused a lot of misery in the West.

The suburbs created generations of socially inadequate dummies without the ability to live in a community or to understand the civic component of life.

The modern west has created a scenario where if you are unhappy, it's mostly your fault.

No.

The "Modern West" uses state-of-the-art media manipulation to get inside your mind when you're a small, helpless child, using imagery and psychology to manipulate how you feel about many things. Gut feelings are manipulated into self-harming behaviors. Thanks to Modern Psychology and media.

And the "Modern West" houses people in "experimental" housing models (like suburbia and public housing towers) that sell lots of products and help them control behaviors - without these Modern oligarchs having any knowledge about how these "new ways of living" will affect children, families, or communities. And there is no concern for long-term harm at all.

[Rancid]

No.

The "Modern West" uses state-of-the-art media manipulation to get inside your mind when you're a small, helpless child, using imagery and psychology to manipulate how you feel about many things. Gut feelings are manipulated into self-harming behaviors. Thanks to Modern Psychology and media.

And the "Modern West" houses people in "experimental" housing models (like suburbia and public housing towers) that

Perhaps. It is still within your power to disconnect if you can self-reflect. I concede though, that the modern west can make it very hard to do that since it has created so many distractions that prevent us from looking inward.

[QatzelOk]

It is still within your power to disconnect if you can self-reflect. I concede though, that the modern west can make it very hard to do that since it has created so many distractions that prevent us from looking inward.

Likewise, "disconnecting" is a temporary relief, but certainly not much of a long-time solution.

Disconnecting is very close to the distractions you mention as being ineffective.

And suburbia and mass media are primarily vehicles to disconnect people from face-to-face contact. Like the way dog houses, fences and leashes do the same thing to dogs.

[Rancid]

Likewise, "disconnecting" is a temporary relief, but certainly not much of a long-time solution.

Disconnecting is very close to the distractions you mention as being ineffective.

And suburbia and mass media are primarily vehicles to disconnect people from face-to-face contact. Like the way dog houses, fences and leashes do the same thing to dogs.

By disconnect I mean breaking the cycle of being told what to do by propaganda.