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If the world ended now it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Whatever happens in the next week (and at least we don't have another Brexit vote to go through this time) it feels like we're spiralling towards darker times. If I hadn't had kids it wouldn't matter too much for me. I've lived longer than I thought I would when I was a kid (thanks Nostradamus for fucking up on the whole 1999 nonsense) and getting to 60ish isn't bad. I've also lived in a relatively safe place at what might be the cushiest time to be a human (past of future). So if the world goes up in a big ball of fire tomorrow then I could at least think "Hey I got pretty lucky" as I burned, as well as thinking "Mmmm, who's cooking bacon?"
But because of my failure to keep my gametes in my diseased bollocks I now have to consider what life will be like in the 2070s and beyond. I have an investment in the future that I would never have had if I had stayed sad and alone. I hate my kids for making me feel this guilty about my inaction and forcing me to worry about the uncertain future that could have been none of my fucking business.
Because it's only possible to care about anything if you haver direct involvement in it.
We've come so far as a species, maybe further than any life form anywhere in the Universe (that's a depressing thought) so it'd be a pity if we wipe ourselves out.
Yet looking at social media (which is all I do), it's hard to make a case for us even being the most intelligent species on earth. I've never seen an octopus retweeting obviously faked videos or stand up routines about Jewish people that might even have seemed a bit much in 1930s Germany. That's only if you look at the "For You" part of Twitter mind, though I did find I was following one backdoor Trump supporter (is this about up the arse?) that I've never heard of and certainly didn't follow on purpose. Accidental click or has Twitter started following people for me? I do follow Elon Musk who is a source for a lot of bullshit but when I attempted to unfollow today I was only given the option to subscribe.
Amazing to watch the propaganda machines on both sides ramping things up, though Russia is winning this war, successfully weaponising the gullibility that comes with freedom. The video of people attempting to use voting machines and the machines registering a vote for Kamala when you vote for Trump is amazing bait for the stupid. If they were going to rig the machines then why would they let you know that your vote was going the wrong way? Imagine the chaos that would cause. People wouldn't just walk away. It makes no sense at all. Yet if you've been primed over years to think the other side is trying to destroy democracy (and that's the case with all sides and it's not just Trump supporters who are being manipulated) then you can take this as evidence that confirms your views and RT and off we go.
I'm cautious about comparing anyone to the Nazis, though there's certainly some Nazis in the mix, because a few of them are open about it (maybe they've only read the first chapters of the history books about that) but I do know that Goebbels would have loved social media. I hope he enjoyed his one day as Chancellor of Germany. Bitter-sweet for him I guess.
I can't understand why people are so enamoured of the views of clearly self-serving billionaires and politicians or super rich TV celebrities who are annoyed that their attempts to avoid inheritance tax have not worked out. It's deeply weird to see newspaper articles about old people being forced to sell their yacht (despite owning dozens of rental properties) or concerned about the extra tax they might be hit with despite earning £100,000+ a year and then that not leading people with less money than that thinking that that might be the problem.
Ah well, climate change will probably get us first, so at least there's that.
Well done humans. You did so well, but you're not going through to the next round.
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