The term “third world” does not mean something like “third rate.” The first world is the Western bloc, under the influence of the USA. The second world is the Eastern bloc, under the influence of the USSR. The third world is everyone else. I think we should stop using these terms.
That ship sailed long ago. Like the use of ‘literally’ to mean ‘figuratively’, words mean what they are frequently used to mean. Fighting it is futile.
The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
741–750 of 1001 posts
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#742I would argue that the decline of the family is directly linked to feminism, or better stated, the liberation of women from the home and from conservative sexual values. The two forces behind that are birth control and women entering the work force. These two are magnified by online dating and social media. I am not saying at all that these are bad things, just that we have yet to see the true effects of feminism on…
Feminism is a symptom rather than the cause. The cause is the commoditization of humans into productivity and consumption units in a post-industrial environment where the state and corporations dominate. Corporations want to extract every bit of production and consumption out of individuals. A woman taking time off for pregnancy or deciding to become a stay-at-home mom is a drain on corporate productivity. And every…
BS. You give them way too much credit. The world is too complex and dynamic for a queen ant to "create and manufacture" the efficiency of the ant hill.
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#743[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA
[1]: https://sites.google.com/view/sourcesloneliness/startseite
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#744Man, the older I get the more I realize that life is always a balancing act. I immigrated from a 3rd world country (probably a 2nd world now) 20 years ago with my parents. Both of my parents were engineers and both were paid about once a year by their employer because nobody had any money. So we were broke and poor my entire childhood. And yet we always had friends visiting us. There were always celebrations. Seemed…
> i'd give up everything i have now to simply enjoy humanity for a change. Everything but security which, unfortunately, is worth giving up a lot of other things to have. I'd move to my wife's home country tomorrow if we could live without fear of our child being kidnapped. My wife's uncle was kidnapped and murdered, another aunt and cousins bound in their home by robbers, and another cousin held for a day by a group…
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#745Earlier quoted context omitted.
I felt very similar but at the age of 20 I shut myself indoors and it's been like that ever since. Everyone has long forgot about me. I turned 31 an hour ago. I think I just got used to it. I was lucky that I inherented a small flat, although in bad condition and location. I score some freelance gigs time to time to keep myself alive. I have tried online communities or friends so to speak but I don't really get it ho…
Happy birthday mate
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#746Which is why they keep talking about traditional families as if they were the only thing standing between us and the collapse of civilization.
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#747Earlier quoted context omitted.
You make music? Go to meetup.com or craigslist to find other musicians with similar skill levels and ambitions. I'm in my mid 50s and my kids are off at college and I finally have free time, and no friends. A couple years ago I bought a used bass and amp (again, craigslist) for cheap, dusted off my old skills, then found some other people on meetup.com who want to play music socially for fun and improvement, but don'…
Anecdotal, of course, but I've found the meetup scene to be terrible in a some places. Most I've seen are inactive, aimed at a specific demographic, or are fronts for scams / MLM's.
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#748Get a social hobby and mean it!
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#749This is the only way we get out of this mess: take initiative as individuals to start connecting with others again. Even when (especially) we have differing opinions.
The old rules of "don't discuss religion and politics" need to be reintroduced to the social contract—step up to the plate and call others out for bringing up these topics (no matter how enticing).
Re: The decline of the family has unleashed an epidemic of loneliness
#750I felt loneliness acutely this week. I live alone, spend most evenings alone, and on top, work's coding and research has been slow for 2 weeks. Collaborators are at conferences and on vacation, so I had much less work and much less face-to-face contact than usual. Given that I code on my own, distribute analyses via email, and occasionally meet if people are around, I barely talked to people some days this week. Goin…
I felt very similar but at the age of 20 I shut myself indoors and it's been like that ever since. Everyone has long forgot about me. I turned 31 an hour ago. I think I just got used to it. I was lucky that I inherented a small flat, although in bad condition and location. I score some freelance gigs time to time to keep myself alive. I have tried online communities or friends so to speak but I don't really get it ho…
Take up an “extreme” sport. Skiing, SCUBA diving, mountaineering, surfing, windsurfing, paragliding. Become a de facto member of your chosen activity’s local scene.
Or just find a girl, ???, propagate your bloodline into the future.
Like, whatever, man. It’s over when they’re packing the dirt in your grave.