What’s a thought pattern that’s way too common and damaging to society?
Way too many young people (in the west, I’m not sure about elsewhere) are extremely pessimistic about the future. They aren’t necessarily wrong they also feel like they don’t have any control. It definitely opens a window for radicalisation, but it’s just sad to see.
‘Fuck you, pay me’
The worse it is, the more attention it gets.
I often see it online and I think in the western world: everything is bad. Like sure there are a lot of problems, but this will never change. Even near utopia people will feel like the last bit of problem is unbearable, because it kind of is. But don’t have it stop you from living your life because not being able to help yourself will also stop you from being able to help others.
Things might actively get worse or better. Who cares what value is in that knowledge.
I know it’s because many people have clinical depression, I struggled with it for a long time. If you find that you believe that the world is a bad place - most healthy people disagree. It’s hard to believe but it’s true. Maybe ask some people around you if they like their life, how much they enjoy themselves, how bad they feel when doing chores etc. Most things in life are bearable. 🖤
“I don’t like it so it must be bad” in relation to all kinds of media. So many people can’t accept that something just isn’t meant for them. There are literally thousands of games, movies and albums getting released every year so if you don’t like something, just don’t buy it and move on instead of complaining to (and sometimes about) those of us who are looking forward to it.
It does also sometimes stem from people’s inability to elaborate. Like if you dislike something, there’s a reason you hate it. That’s why I especially hate reviews like “it’s mid” or “it’s goated”/“it’s peak” like they barely help.
I think a lot about how “good” and “fun” are two different things.
You can have a game that’s a fascinating exploration of a theme that really unifies mechanics and story, but is an absolute downer of misery to play.
You can also have a game that’s a glorified slot machine with bugs, no real player input, and abusive monetization, but people’s brains light up playing it.
There’s some subjectivity of course, but sometimes I see games that are good at what they’re trying to be, but I don’t have any fun with them. Some people seem to demand those overlap all the time.
I would say that‘s an entirely different point. If someone likes to literally watch paint dry, who am I to invade their discussions tell them they shouldn’t? Let people like what they like even if you personally think it’s neither good nor fun.
What I was trying to get at is something can be worthwhile even if you don’t personally enjoy it.
I think you nailed it when you wrote " forcing their personal views and beliefs on others". That is what we see happening now with people trying to control others. We see it in government and with religion. It is trickling down to where the common person feels it is not only okay to do, but that they must do it to compete with others and get ahead.
The idea that the average person is stupid, and has no desire or ability to learn anything new.
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Bro seriously doesn’t know what “average person” is
That a life has to be made worth something instead of it being intrinsically valuable.
“Most toxic” depends on who’s annoyed this week, but there are a few recurring mental habits that reliably rot discourse without even trying.
My biggest pet peeve is probably moral absolutism, often disguised as clarity. That’s the mindset where everything gets forced into clean categories of pure good vs pure evil, with zero tolerance for the rainbow of nuance.
Next up is identity-as-proof. If someone is in Group X, then they must believe Y, and any counterexample is treated as an anomaly or betrayal. It saves effort because you don’t have to think, just sort people into bins and react accordingly.
Then there’s algorithmic certainty syndrome, which is more modern and a bit more subtle. People get used to feeds that reinforce their priors so efficiently that disagreement starts to feel like statistical noise. So instead of updating beliefs, they just escalate confidence. Nothing says “epistemic humility” like being completely wrong with confidence.
Another one is transactional morality: “If I’m right, I’m allowed to be as harsh as I want.” Which turns every disagreement into a license for cruelty, as if correctness automatically comes with behavioral immunity.
And underneath a lot of it is something simpler and more disconcerting: comfort with not understanding things before judging them. People are so eager to tell others what they are by labeling them and defining them rather than simply talking about themselves (you… vs. I…)
People have warped views about where is worthy of living. In the US people are all about big coastal/hip cities. Like Portland and Austin aren’t coastal but they’re still hip. That wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t trash on non-coastal cities. I don’t know how these people think to build some sort of working class solidarity when you shit on the homes of the majority of peoples who may not want to live in a dense city environment
Similar to that is weird exoticism of people in other countries and their lifestyles. Like I’ve known people that have moved from the US to Ecuador to escape growing fascism and I’m puzzled that they must have done zero research into this. Same with moving from the US to France because they’re anti-imperialist and I’m just puzzled. France has been continuously imperialist for centuries. No pause.
Then the ones that self-style as a refugee when moving to a poorer country. You’re moving from a wealthy country with your savings and many of your belongings, often keeping your job but working remote, often keeping your citizenship. These people have more in common with European colonists in America than someone escaping war in southeast asia 50 years ago or like Sudanese refugees today. These people are also very awkward to talk to these actual refugees and their children especially when they’re living wherever they can in a country to make it rather than like Seattle
All that really to say about how little interest people want to be a part of uplifting their home communities. Their countries communities. I don’t care how little you care for Oklahoma because of politics, you should want people to thrive there. Especially if you fancy yourself some social progressive that cares about native Americans
And this warped view ends up having people spend so much money on things that aren’t needed to make them happy. Maybe you see way funnier stuff at improv shows in New York City. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time at one in Omaha Nebraska. You can help grow that. Too many people that just want to move to a city and consume and get pissed off that the cities with built out amenities are expensive. So then move to a cheap country and continue to contribute nothing. Just consume. So move to Ecuador to be rich and contribute nothing culturally nor politically to prevent some fascistic rise they “fled” growing in the US or France or UK, etc
I view it like a supercharged American moderate that MLK Jr spoke about that people love to cite. The American moderate shares that video to claim they’re not a moderate. People in wealthy countries find any reason to not have to be a part of change and hope they can move to their ideal community that will entertain them. And in the case of moving to a poorer country, their ideal home wasn’t actually leftism and setting up their communities to thrive in the future - it was being rich. It’s a lot worse today I believe because of social media. A lot of people consume enough self help books and socializing tips YouTube along with lifestyle influencers and now we have an impotent leftist movement. Approach to lifestyle like a wealthy conservative but wrap it in messaging of wellness, socialism, whatever
That’s why I don’t get why so many people want to just simply upset their lives and lifestyles to leave America. The spirit of America, regardless of politics, is being able to make change when it is needed the most. You’re spitting on that spirit by default, by choosing to run from it. That’s what Freedom is about. America has multiple gears in of itself, than it would if you moved to a country that is either one speed or two speed. Moved to a country that’s imperialist? Too bad, that is that country’s entire function, no matter where you go in it.
Unlike America, it is a matter of “fuck this state, I’m going to this one over here” where laws actually are different state to state and only the federal national laws remain consistent.
Choosing to flee, just enables even more, the problems that have blanketed the country.
The spirit of America, regardless of politics, is being able to make change when it is needed the most.
The Apaches and Comanches know this very well. Include blacks in the equation now.
Where do you want to go with that? That can be said about the treatment of every non-white European people’s by white Europeans around the world. Native Americans are still very present in the US just ignored. People in the US and Europe also seem to pay no care for refugees from wars brought on by their countries imperialist/colonial wars. Nor do they seem to recognize native hispanics as native Americans nor people in the Middle East as people indigenous to those lands. American, European, Australian, etc tourists don’t seem to recognize people other than natives on reservations in the US and Canada as indigenous to any lands. These can be said to discourage every civil rights activist in the past to present. Can be said to anyone working for the ACLU today. Those in medical research in NATO countries today. People today have to work towards something.
The spirit of America and European countries have been for the last ~600 years, marked by slavery, genocide, colonialism, imperialism. Going forward it will be something. It’s far from as bad as it once was but it’s trending back towards overt imperialism again and internal opposition has to be better than they were in the past because in the past they were terrible at it.
People that leave the US, France, UK, Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Australia, etc countries to poorer countries to take advantage of their relative wealth to live out life as a wealthy conservative are not contributing to society in their home country nor the country they’re trying live a life of tourism in. And it is no surprise that conservatives succeed so much in politics when lean lefts are so quick to give up and recluse themselves from politics of not just where they were born but every country in the world so they can just enjoy themselves. Live life. Focus on their own spirituality. On their own art. Mental health. There’s no balance. It’s all just consumerism and hedonism dressed up for the art district. Etc
I’d say nihilism and apathy. Of course life has no objective meaning, it has the meaning we assign to it. I remember someone telling me “humans are selfish, we can’t change things for the better” or something to that effect. It really pissed me off. With that attitude, you sure as shit can’t. If we all came together, we absolutely could force positive change.
The fact that life has no inherent meaning is my primary motivator to give it meaning. No one decides what I mean except me, and I say I mean something.
Assuming the worst about people.
It’s so common and pervasive that even as I was reading the comments thinking about it, I fell for it while reading one of the comments.
That discomfort, or your feelings in general, are a reliable indicator of morality or good/badness
Its the root of a lot of chauvinism, but also just a common thinking trap you see across many different subcultures and spaces
Was going to say Spectrum B/C disorders, C/PTSD, which comes from trauma, toxic environments, and sometimes some different brain workings. The most tragic part is, these conditions are extremely treatable, a couple are reversible, with good, ongoing talk therapy and shadow work, which is so very inaccessible to those who want them and often easily accessible to those who don’t.
I don’t owe you anything.
Well, that’s the social contract that define’s society. It’s literally damaging to society.
Anyone I’ve heard say this IRL is usually mid act of going out of their way to antagonize everyone around them for absolutely no reason.
on the flipside, ime this can look like drawing necessary boundaries too.
In America being inconvenient by something is the greatest sin. It’s horseshit.
That all men are evil, I admit I’m a sinner of this. My terrible experiences make me think men are evil but I know that’s wrong and toxic I’m working on it. I must admit tho that these experiences constantly happening are making it too difficult 🙃
Trauma responses are hard. I think it’s great you’re actively working on it and are conscious of your own biases, that’s huge. Good luck!
I read something the other day that sorta explains this. I felt the same way you do. But what I read was that women know that all men aren’t evil. But they aren’t sure which one’s are. It just clicked in my head and helped me understand the mentality.
That’s the same reason people don’t trust cops. Some cops are good but you can’t always be sure which ones are bad and so interacting with any of them is risky
You are not wrong.
You just haven’t gone far enough; all women are evil too.
anthropomorphising pets. IMO it’s a mental condition.
Climate change ignorance on the other hand is existential to civilisations existence and is being ignored, so humans are able to jump through all sorts of mental hoops
