Well, I appreciate your vote of confidence. I’d like to point out that OP started the post asking for advice and continues to engage with everything despite appearing to only want to rant. It’s possible that what I’ve said is indeed not what they want/need, but it’s also possible that it’s exactly what they want/need. Whether or not they’re receptive isn’t up to me, but whether or not I try is. And that’s exactly my point.

Oh, okay, now you’re just assuming things about what I have or haven’t been through? That’s extremely arrogant of you. I don’t know you and I don’t know what all you’ve been through, so I do my best to not make any assumptions, I’d appreciate it if you’d extend the same courtesy back.

Regardless of what happens to any one person, they have control over their reaction to it. You keep comparing your life to others, but what good is that? You got dealt a shit hand while others do evil and thrive, it happens every day. Hell, story of my life, too. The difference is what you do about it. You know what I do about it? I do my best to help others never have to go through the same bullshit. Whether or not I fail is not up to me, but whether or not I try is.

Can you just stop?

What I find interesting is that you started this post and are free to disengage whenever you want, yet you haven’t. Why is that?

Oh hey, engagement. I’m sorry that I’m unable to think of a way to articulate that without sounding sarcastic, but I do sincerely appreciate actual engagement.

Stop caring

Uh, no. While I believe I didn’t even suggest such a thing, I will also acknowledge that it’s possible I didn’t adequately articulate my primary point. In no way will I ever say to just stop caring, as that’s unrealistic, counterproductive, and just plain silly. My primary point, especially as it relates to the original post, is to accept reality as it is-WITHOUT inserting an opinion. Your feelings will happen no matter what. You can’t let them dictate your response, but you also can’t make them go away. The point isn’t to stop caring, but to redirect what you care about with full cognitive intent. The point is to focus on what you control and to use what you control to influence your desired outcome.

Get therapy

I mean, maybe? I thought my mentioning of therapy was more of a presentation of an option rather than a primary point, but once again I acknowledge that communication is a two way street and I must do my best to clearly articulate my point. To be clear, I don’t think therapy is technically necessary and I didn’t directly suggest it as I had considered a similar point as to what you have made about the monetary cost. Honestly, what they would ultimately be doing in therapy is to try to change the way you frame things by focusing on what you control. There are multiple approaches, but it usually involves figuring out what core beliefs you have that lead you to the targeted bad outcomes and challenging those core beliefs. This is certainly something you can do on your own, but therapy can help build the skills and awareness to do it effectively. But, once again, therapy isn’t technically necessary for such a thing.

I think it’s important for me to reiterate in a manner I believe to be very clear: The point is to engage with reality. The point is to confront your feelings. The point is to self-reflect with honesty. You don’t control what happens to you, but you do have control over your reaction to it. If your focus is on the circumstances, then you will forever be a victim to those circumstances. Yes, things happened to you, just and unjust, but what are you going to do about it?

Okay, it’s obvious you either don’t care about getting better or you’re just the worst troll. You won’t actually engage with a single point I’ve presented. While I certainly wish you would listen, that’s not up to me, is it?

That’s a very silly take that I can’t help but notice you didn’t back up with any sort of reasoning. If you can legitimately demonstrate harm, by all means, present your evidence.

I’m not convinced you even care about getting better with that attitude. Changing the way you frame things isn’t some bullshit like being better just because you belive, but actually grappling with the reality in front of you. It usually takes time and therapy, all of which is up to you whether or not you honestly engage in it. I’m not gonna bullshit you with validating what you originally posted on evil people prospering compared to you, because that shit doesn’t matter. You’re better than that. You must focus on what you control. The ladder is there, you just have to climb it.

Look, I’m gonna be completely frank with you: I’m sorry all this happened to you, but you absolutely have it within you to grow beyond anything and everything that has ever happened to you. Your past isn’t holding you back; it’s your opinion of it. You got dealt a shitty hand and it isn’t fair that you have to be the one to get over it, but that’s reality whether you choose to accept it or not. You can choose to accept it and choose to accept that it doesn’t define you. That’s all up to you and only you. People do terrible things and of course it’s unjust, unfair, etc. The only thing you control is how you react to it. If you are still haunted by it, still agonize over it, if you’re embittered by it, that’s on you. It may be hard, difficult, and maybe even feel impossible, but those feelings will absolutely betray you from recognizing the reality that it’s always within you to rise above. I will forever die on that fucking hill that you always have it in you to remain unconquered.

Of course, but it’s never truly guaranteed for anyone, is it? I’ve been in poverty before, starved and homeless. Today I’m a Punk that got lucky, and I recognize I could just as easily lose it all tomorrow. Ultimately, it’s not up to me what life throws at me at any given moment. I only have control over my reaction. I can tell you from personal experience that material security is not what primarily builds up stability of the mind.

I’m not some jackass that’s going to tell you that basic necessities don’t matter at all, rather that you’ve got to accept that they’re never guaranteed. I won’t spew some bullshit that evil people doing evil things isn’t really all that bad, but rather that you need to accept the reality we all share. Life will throw bullshit after bullshit at you, but it will never dictate how you react to the bullshit. Your material conditions are forever a slave to circumstance, but your mind cannot be conquered by anyone but you.

Framing. That’s all it is.

Evil will thrive for a time, good will thrive for a time, ultimately that’s not up to you. What others do and how they are or are not rewarded is not up to you. What does it matter anyway? Those who successfully do evil will die and be forgotten anyway, their actions having as little consequence as anyone else alive today.

You say you do your best to do good things? Great, focus on that. Because that is up to you. Whether in poverty or in absurd wealth, what matters is what you do with what you have. Evil people do evil things, it’s to be expected. Why would you frustrate yourself with ignorant people acting as expected? And though it may be unjust, why compound it with anger over what you can’t control?

Afterall, wouldn’t you rather be governed by your commitment to bringing what good you can into the world instead of being consumed with frustration of evil acting like itself?

Speaking in a more meta-context, this is exactly it in the political world. In playing politics, you gotta play the political game. There are plenty of things to criticize the dems for, but man do most people in semi-recent history tend to oversimplify things. It’s just not as simple as throwing a filibuster at ‘the other side’ every now and then, you’ve gotta consider political capital, optics, legal maneuvers, precedence, etc. If you run up on the congressional floor and decide to filibuster all on your own with no support, you’re just a jackass wasting everyone’s time, likely harming your own cause in the process. Politics isn’t speeches back and forth with some money thrown around, it’s about building and wisely wielding social power. That includes knowing how to build solidarity with others in other constituencies.

Money.

This, except I legitimately do have a problem with authority. Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me.

Oh, your English is great and legitimately feels natural, because I think you’ve communicated your point quite well. I can’t really dispute much of anything without sounding like I fundamentally agree with you, but I do have a seemingly small/semantic distinction that I think is important; I don’t think America’s primary core issue has been education or overbearing religious douchebaggery, but this weird extreme epistemological weight given to every individual’s opinion. It’s similar to the bullshit fuzzy philosophy the nazis would use to justify their ideology by insisting everyone should respect their deeply held beliefs. While I don’t think your assessment is perfectly accurate, I do very much believe it shows you’re paying way more attention than the average American.

It really is just simplistic bullshit that seems to trip them up, isn’t it? As a passionate lover of philosophy, I’ve come to a pretty good understanding of the sheer magnitude of what it takes to be considered an “expert” in any subject. And, hoo boy, my radical commitment to what is true has only served to illustrate to myself how much I lack in understanding… pretty much anything. I’m not one of those jackholes who do that smarmy-ass “I know nothing”, so I’ll admit that I understand a hell of a lot more than the average person in political theory and general pragmatic governance. So it’s both infuriating and baffling to me how often the average ‘right-winger’ decisively demonstrates how little they understand any political subject they have no business holding such a strong and certain opinion on. And really, that also applies for most people willing to talk politics in America. Like, how the fuck are people’s opinions so fucking strong for how shallow their position is???

Right, climate change, the thing that boomers caused and definitely not these huge corporations perpetuating a system making humanity dependent on fossil fuels. It was a generation defined by generally common experiences and not some dickheads on the boards of fossil fuel corporations covering up and then spinning up a disinformation campaign against the overwhelming evidence of anthropogenic climate change. No war but class war; know your enemy.

OPHA MAE JOHNSON, 1918