Like Things You Just Don't Care About but with some measure of guilt (and less passive-aggressive hostility). I'll start:
Greta Gerwig's Barbie
― niall horanburger (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 23:33 (two years ago)
literally nothing tbh you can't guilt yourself into caring about things you don't care about
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 23:35 (two years ago)
The Smithsonian
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 23:54 (two years ago)
it's incredibly healthy to not care about things that are not directly related to your survival or your joy ime
on the other hand it's literally impossible to say 'i don't care about x' without looking like a dick.
possibly a better way to frame it would be "things you are grateful you don't care about"
mine lately are:
"fast car" and the country version of it and music biz racism etc
i had another one but i can't remember what it is
― ꙮ (map), Thursday, 20 July 2023 00:00 (two years ago)
The Olympics
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 July 2023 00:10 (two years ago)
literally nothing tbh you can't guilt yourself into caring about things you don't care about― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Wednesday, July 19, 2023 6:35 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Wednesday, July 19, 2023 6:35 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
This. I also don’t subscribe to the ‘guilty pleasure’ in relation to pop culture.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Thursday, 20 July 2023 00:15 (two years ago)
Greta Gerwig's Barbie also and the followup zeitgeist/meta discussions.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 20 July 2023 01:11 (two years ago)
do you really feel kinda bad for just not caring about that?
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 July 2023 01:38 (two years ago)
i kinda wish i cared about sports as much as i used to -- it's a fun pastime! -- but i certainly don't feel *bad* about not
ditto new music
i used to read a bunch of magazines and know about shit going on around the world, and it seems vaguely bad that i no longer bother? but either way we're totally fucked and i'd rather not wallow in it
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 July 2023 01:48 (two years ago)
Don't really get the concept of feeling guilty about not caring about something. The world is full of things that rightfully demand someone's attention, but that person doesn't have to be you! In my job I'm doing some comms for a very worthy public health organisation. Personally, I'm not really interested in the work they do. But I recognise it's important and I'm glad people other than me are interested.
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 20 July 2023 01:56 (two years ago)
I don't think most people feel guilt as a means to an end. It's an emotion that you experience organically and is hard to turn off when you do! More power to those of you who are able to do that, sincerely.
I definitely don't feel bad about not caring about something like the discourse around a pop culture phenomenon. The thing that first came to mind when I saw the thread title is foreign wars and crises. I simply cannot bring myself to keep up with the details of things like the Ukraine conflict, I just find it enervating and it leaves me feeling helpless and impotent. Why, then, do I still feel bad about it? My cognitively dissonant brain also holds the belief that if I did follow things closely, it would provide me with insights that might guide me towards how I could actually be helpful, even just at the level of what causes to donate to or whatever. So then I feel lazy that the visceral experience of helplessness and exhaustion win out over the theoretical benefits of keeping up.
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 20 July 2023 02:26 (two years ago)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO_P_y4VUAMqcC5.jpg:large
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 20 July 2023 10:49 (two years ago)
Science.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 20 July 2023 10:54 (two years ago)
The works of Kate Bush.
― John Donne In Concert (Tom D.), Thursday, 20 July 2023 10:56 (two years ago)
I support the ongoing Writers Guild strike in theory, because I support workers' rights and want those people to be taken care of, but I have not really been keeping up with the news about it since I don't care about TV or movies
― c u (crüt), Thursday, 20 July 2023 11:28 (two years ago)
I don't even own a movie
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Thursday, 20 July 2023 12:06 (two years ago)
I definitely feel very guilty about how often I deliberately forget the horrific levels of violence and coercion and plunder inherent to basically any product or service I rely on for sustenance or comfort or entertainment in this broken world. it's hard to know what else to do about it esp since while I know these supply chains are indefensible I'm also terrified of them drying up for purely selfish reasons
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Thursday, 20 July 2023 12:52 (two years ago)
so what nudie mags do you buy
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 July 2023 13:04 (two years ago)
sorry I don't remember the 70s
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Thursday, 20 July 2023 13:20 (two years ago)
_literally nothing tbh you can't guilt yourself into caring about things you don't care about― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac)This. I also don’t subscribe to the ‘guilty pleasure’ in relation to pop culture.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 20 July 2023 13:43 (two years ago)
I don't view my guilt as a strategy towards becoming better - not all emotions are useful emotions, we have threads for irrational anger and embarassment too.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 20 July 2023 13:50 (two years ago)
sometimes i feel bad that i don't care about the things that so many people care about. maybe it would make me feel closer to people? like...travel, cars, vacations, majestic scenery in national parks, famous landmarks, libraries, museums, large outdoor events/festivals/concerts, trips to the beach. basically anything with a lot of people outside or inside. there is a brand new library in town that cost millions and i have no interest in checking it out. its big and has a lot of windows.
i do feel kinda bad that i no longer care about pop music. i was always such a big fan of top 40 hits. but with age and the disintegration of FM radio and the feeling i get that i should leave it to young people and also just a big lack of curiosity in new stuff/producers/singers its easy for me to ignore. also so much pop and pop culture in the country i live in now feels like its 100% money-driven. and i know it always has been but maybe being older makes me see it faster or something. i can't watch award shows anymore. they feel Nero-ish now that i am a climate-porn-driven-sad-dad in my golden years. don't worry i promise i won't find religion. early pandemic i did a lot of spotify flipping and i definitely heard interesting things on the outskirts. not big-name pop. but things that sounded new/now in a compelling way that didn't make me think of how boring chart pop sounded to me. african dance music. mostly electronic stuff. there will always be exciting new electronic music for me. maybe that's my pop now. romanian minimal. sault. i liked sault. but the radio doesn't sound like sault. sault was probably cooked up at a corporate retreat because big music knew that middle-aged men needed something to listen to when they were sad. granted, i live in the worst place on earth for radio. there are THREE country stations where i am! in massachusetts! they are all robo stations owned by the same big company too. anyway, i DO feel kinda bad that i no longer have my finger on the pulse. but it might just mean that i feel kinda bad that i'm old.
― scott seward, Thursday, 20 July 2023 14:04 (two years ago)
i DO feel kinda bad that i no longer have my finger on the pulse. but it might just mean that i feel kinda bad that i'm old.
otm -- i used to care about who got on the front page of the Wire or who got feature articles in the various cultural publications I read (past tense), and who got to be a genius or the pre-genius fellowships in music and the arts. But now I don't really care, because I'm kinda old? And I think the next stage past "not caring" is befuddlement and genuine confusion in not having the slightest clue who any of these people / things even are? ... whether this comes before or along with the adult diapers, I don't know.
― sarahell, Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:26 (two years ago)
I simply cannot bring myself to keep up with the details of things like the Ukraine conflict, I just find it enervating and it leaves me feeling helpless and impotent.
The discussion of guilt here has been interesting, thought it has mostly had the effect of making me immediately regret establishing a category that could reasonably contain everything from frilly summer blockbusters to labour disputes and international crises. For what its worth, I don't necessarily thing that lack of engagement with something implies indifference towards it; the quote I isolated from Lavator describes matters that might reasonably elicit feelings of guilt (and a host of other emotions) but which do not read to me like not caring.
The examples of Kate Bush and the Smithsonian (I'm assuming the latter was not a joke?), as well as my own example of Barbie are closer to what I was trying to get at here. I respect Greta Gerwig, I like that a film that appeals so readily to girls and queers is getting this level of attention (particularly when pitted against the latest Nolan opus, which I feel no guilt over not caring about), and I like that it annoys Armond White and Ted Cruz. I simply wasn't interested in a movie about Barbie when it was announced, but the discourse that has quickly surround the film has left me feeling like a bit of a grinch for remaining uninterested.
Ultimately, were the thread title to more accurately reflect my intentions, it might have been called Things You Should Feel Silly For Feeling Kinda Bad For Just Not Caring About, or something like that. But let it take you wherever it takes you.
― niall horanburger (cryptosicko), Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:28 (two years ago)
Giving up on new books and movies has been good for me, as I was sick of the hype cycle, but I do still feel left out when EOY lists come out.
― hardcore technician gimmicks are also another popular choice f (President Keyes), Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:35 (two years ago)
Substitute "books" with "music" and this is pretty much where I am these days.
― niall horanburger (cryptosicko), Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:37 (two years ago)
I don't even know where to look to find interesting new books. I check magazine EOY lists, or the "best of 2023 (so far)" things that sites do these days, and there's literally nothing I want to read. I often have the impression that the people writing those lists haven't even read the books.
― jmm, Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:42 (two years ago)
sometimes i feel bad that i don't care about the things that so many people care about. maybe it would make me feel closer to people? like...travel, cars, vacations, majestic scenery in national parks, famous landmarks,
I've definitely caught myself, while others marvel at scenery, thinking sarcastically 'Oh yeah, wow, a hill with trees on it. Haven't seen that a million times before'. Or getting annoyed at people posting sunrises and sunsets (which I've actually done myself?). It's not so much guilt as just feeling bad that I'm not being enthusiastic. The downer of the group, if you will. idk.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:54 (two years ago)
Nature photography leaves me cold. The Oscars often reward pretty nature shots with Best Cinematography.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:01 (two years ago)
i think for me its also the idea of GOING somewhere to see something majestic. i like the outdoors. and trees. i love trees. i just don't feel that impulse that people feel where they seek out babbling brooks or rock formations. and sometimes i feel kinda bad about it. or maybe its guilt. that i'm not getting all i can out of the earth or something. people are good at making me feel guilty for not wanting to explore the natural world. but it doesn't mean that i'm not curious about life on earth. i curious about a lot of things.
― scott seward, Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:06 (two years ago)
nature photography is rarely interesting to me, and national parks suck, they're basically like going to the mall. i love being outdoors though, it's still a rush. has to be very few people around for me to really enjoy it, which is increasingly rare.
― ꙮ (map), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:07 (two years ago)
I only go outdoors to walk my dogs.
Being outdoors is definitely something that people try make those who do not enjoy it feel guilty about. "Why don't you go outside and play?" is something we all probably heard as children. "Because my books and records and movies are indoors" was always my implicit answer, and I finally have no qualms about expressing that as an adult.
― niall horanburger (cryptosicko), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:11 (two years ago)
yeah i need to own my own life more. and not feel bad about it. having said that, i do realize that not doing something a lot is a really good way to never do something. "try it - you might like it!" can be a true thing. having said THAT, i couldn't help but love this article:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-case-against-travel
― scott seward, Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:14 (two years ago)
I've definitely caught myself, while others marvel at scenery, thinking sarcastically 'Oh yeah, wow, a hill with trees on it. Haven't seen that a million times before'.
<3 <3
― sarahell, Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:16 (two years ago)
This is very much how I felt as a child, but my parents were quite aggressive in making sure I was out of the house regularly, they were very enthusiastic about the idea of me roaming around the urban landscape starting at a young age. So now I find myself wanting to get out a lot, but once I start encountering people, I quickly get emotionally drained and want to hurry back home to my stuff.
xp to cryptosicko
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:17 (two years ago)
in general, i'm only appreciative of the nature pics when people post pics of themselves swimming in a lake or at the ocean when it's like 90 degrees outside where I am ...
― sarahell, Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:18 (two years ago)
i think the pandemic completely reoriented my attitude towards the outdoors (i'm very pro now)
i was particularly indifferent to beach trips myself and legit felt bad for not caring about it. (don't love sand, have a negative relationship with the sun, the ocean has always been awesome to me tho don't get me wrong.) in the past few years though i've become a total beach convert and cannot wait for my annual beach town trip with my friends in august. i'll still be finding sand on my clothing a month afterward and I DON'T CARE
― ivy (BradNelson), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:22 (two years ago)
I fucking love the beach, can't wait for my weeklong Florida west coast trip in 10 days.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:25 (two years ago)
Nature photography has only gone downhill.
has to be very few people around for me to really enjoy it, which is increasingly rare.
otm
and scott seward otm about the spectacle of money
― Deflatormouse, Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:29 (two years ago)
but there's a difference between loving being at the beach/ocean yourself and looking at other people's pictures ... oh, I would add "sunsets" and "whoa the moon is full" imagery to the nature pics category
― sarahell, Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:31 (two years ago)
i like the kind of beaches geologists write field reports about. as long as there's nobody there.
― Deflatormouse, Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:33 (two years ago)
Instagram has ruined nature photography and, well, everything.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:37 (two years ago)
every once in a while someone with a more documentary eye posts pics that i like. generally the less "remarkable" they are the more i like them. "eye candy" as a subject is stupefyingly boring to me.
i still like every dumb photo of a moose or a bobcat from someone's car window though.
― ꙮ (map), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:43 (two years ago)
I have become a much bigger fan of nature since moving to where there is some. Life in NJ was less than pastoral. But here I have watched a doe and two fawns walk through the field behind my house; have watched a pair of hawks circle over the trees for an hour or more; have seen an eagle's nest (basically a pile of sticks the size of a monster truck tire) on top of a telephone pole; have walked through a forest of trees six and seven stories high...nature's fantastic.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 20 July 2023 16:57 (two years ago)
Both involve imagining others’ critical views of your preferences. Anyone with any social awareness is capable of that.― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 20 July 2023 13:43 (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
imagining what others might expect me to feel guilty about is not guilt and does not strike me as effort well spent tbh
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Thursday, 20 July 2023 17:00 (two years ago)
xp sounds lovely but i thought NJ is full of nature? isn't that why it's "the garden state"?
― Deflatormouse, Thursday, 20 July 2023 17:06 (two years ago)
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzVmZGRjNWMtM2ViMS00MmM4LTk4NGYtMjVlYWFhMTQ2MjI3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDIyNjA2MTk@._V1_.jpg
― omar little, Thursday, 20 July 2023 17:09 (two years ago)
Jonathan Lethem and Tom Scharpling in The Revenant?
― niall horanburger (cryptosicko), Thursday, 20 July 2023 17:12 (two years ago)
"fast car" and the country version of it and music biz racism etc― ꙮ (map)
― ꙮ (map)
and the epic jim o'rourke live version of it
i have the opposite, i feel bad about caring about everything too much to the point where it fucks me up and gets in the way of me living my life
any time anybody talks about the weather i start spiraling about climate apocalypse, this makes my life complicated because it turns out people talk about the weather a _lot_
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 20 July 2023 17:15 (two years ago)
i'd always assumed "the garden state" was ironic, but apparently it refers to the state's being "an immense barrel, filled with good things to eat and open at both ends, with Pennsylvanians grabbing from one end and New Yorkers from the other"
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 20 July 2023 17:16 (two years ago)
Counterpoint: baby this town rips the bones from your back. It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap.
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:06 (two years ago)
Hold up. The Pine Barrens are like a hundred miles away geographically (and culturally light years away) from where the Hamilton/Burr duel was (Weehawken).― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin)
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin)
ah, shit, that's what i get for not doing my research
my overall feelings on new jersey are pretty negative but that has more to do with growing up in 1980s morris county, which was a republican shithole. maybe still is, fuck if i know.
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:07 (two years ago)
this thread is wandering all over the place, love it
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:09 (two years ago)
https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.2594049779.3898/st,small,507x507-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg
― ꙮ (map), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:11 (two years ago)
i am, though. who am i? what am i doing here?
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:12 (two years ago)
How much of this is that the vast majority of us live in societies of rotted and discredited institutions where we have no collective path to attempt to change the slow collapse cascade we’re witness to, either directly or vicariously? All we can do is just talk about it to each other, so we just vent or scold others online because most lack viable social contexts for handling anything, right?
So yeah, like there’s a shit ton of liberal guilt but also a mutual policing mechanism where we’re hyper focused on making sure each other are reacted the right way and saying the right things that validate our own anxieties and concerns, because that’s all that’s left? We have no power to change shit but we’re expected to express this dismay in certain ways?
The kicker is that this process is applied to everything, because the internet flattens everything that people care intensely about, doesn’t it? So pop cultural choices become matters of import because they have become aspects of personal identity. We argue about frippery in the same way we argue about actual problems.
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:12 (two years ago)
give the lenape their land back now
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:13 (two years ago)
xpost idk the King Crimson thread was a little more civil these days
― linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:14 (two years ago)
what is "this"?
― sarahell, Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:15 (two years ago)
It's it.
― linoleum gallagher (Neanderthal), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:15 (two years ago)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/84/3d/f0843d2139dabfc86794af55ca37543d.jpg
― omar little, Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:16 (two years ago)
making sure each other are reacted the right way and saying the right things that validate our own anxieties and concerns, because that’s all that’s left?
i feel like there's some of that flattening you spoke of going on here in this sentiment.
We have no power to change shit but we’re expected to express this dismay in certain ways?
at the moment that we are posting on ilx ... no ... we are not effectively changing shit. Outside of ilx, there are things (albeit small, but potentially significant) that we can do to repair / improve the fucked up shit that is the result of white supremacy (which includes colonialism).
― sarahell, Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:20 (two years ago)
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/7fbd0942-3cea-4cfa-a4f9-6459b5d70e27.66ea38bbc46540c841d259be837b971b.jpeg
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:20 (two years ago)
i used to like those more when i was a kid ... idk ... never did the factory tour.
― sarahell, Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:22 (two years ago)
Well now here we’re talking, and yes, this gets into what I’m not-that-well stating. Once we get into the context of doing IRL stuff, then there’s definitely shit we can do(tho yes it’s small and going to take quite a while but at least it’s real world action).
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:24 (two years ago)
holy shit I was on some errands and meant to come back and post about feeling bad about not really feeling like seeing movies in the theater anymore and the trap has gone ham
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:30 (two years ago)
wrt colonialism i think a good first step is to learn about pre-european inhabitants in your area. not just historically but where they are now. a friend of mine is more involved than i am and has gone to some timponogos / shoshone meetings. seems like a good way to get a feel for relevant povs. i suspect there are fewer of the left-lib variety than you might expect. i will say that i think generational trauma is heavy and real and also that nobody is "pure". certainly acknowledgment of wrongdoing is a huge first step. gravesites at indian schools being discovered today & the state acknowledging the wrong when they used to just ignore it, that definitely seems like progress to me. how are people living with all of this today? and how does that translate into our weird-ass landscape today where identity is mined for capital. some from column a some from column b.
― ꙮ (map), Thursday, 20 July 2023 21:37 (two years ago)
"All we can do is just talk about it to each other, so we just vent or scold others online because most lack viable social contexts for handling anything, right?"
Please. These posts aren't acceptable.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:45 (two years ago)
its the thread for it tbf
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:47 (two years ago)
I'm not fair.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:51 (two years ago)
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)
we should start a vaush thread, that'll really bring out the ones you need to watch for
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:55 (two years ago)
How much of this is that the vast majority of us live in societies of rotted and discredited institutions where we have no collective path to attempt to change the slow collapse cascade we’re witness to, either directly or vicariously? All we can do is just talk about it to each other, so we just vent or scold others online because most lack viable social contexts for handling anything, right?― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish)
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish)
to be blunt most of my time is spent just trying to stay alive in a world that structurally wants me dead
i spent a while trying to keep myself and the people i cared about alive but that was too hard, i'm just working on keeping myself alive now and, i don't know, establishing effective networks of care or something
to dig down into it that's really what it boils down to for me. i need things, the things i need are things i can't get from the rotted and discredited institutions, and building new institutions from the ground up to replace the ones that are rotted and discredited and STILL HAVE ALL THE FUCKING MONEY is pretty hard
especially since none of us have actually figured out how to produce our own E yet, why the fuck is it easier to score fent than it for me to get my hormones
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 20 July 2023 23:01 (two years ago)
I feel bad for not liking cake. Every birthday, mine or others, I choke down a piece. Out of...Tradition? Politeness? I don't know. But when it's my birthday it's always politeness.
I do recall screaming an outright tirade at my brother when I was perhaps 5 and he was 11 because he requested a chocolate cake for his birthday. The cake was insulting enough, but expected. The chocolate was the salt in the wound. Disgusting. What a terror I was.
And, of course, the monthly office birthday cakes where if you decline a piece suddenly the narrative changes very quickly to dieting and body dysmorphia.
I guess it's one of those things you learn as you get older. Your birthday is for others. Your wedding is for others. We came so very, very close to eloping by I knew it would break my mother's heart.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Thursday, 20 July 2023 23:47 (two years ago)
I like cake if you go easy on the frosting but otherwise yuck
― brimstead, Thursday, 20 July 2023 23:49 (two years ago)
Oh, I feel slightly guilty about not giving a shit about chess... I'm sure it's amazing, and if I spent some time to learn it, I might be rewarded.. but yeah, no, don't care about the queen's gambit or whatev
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 20 July 2023 23:50 (two years ago)
Don’t feel bad, cake sucks
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 21 July 2023 00:43 (two years ago)
Ice cream pie >>>>>>>> cake
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 21 July 2023 00:44 (two years ago)
I feel kinda bad that the longer any ILX thread goes unread, and the more posts it accrues, the less likely I am to read it.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 21 July 2023 00:54 (two years ago)
sunny we may be experiencing some thread drift between the IA thread and this one
Unless you feel kinda bad about cake, in which case, rock on
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 July 2023 01:07 (two years ago)
Yah. The feeling bad about hating cake reminded me of the IA I feel over paper thin slice complainers.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Friday, 21 July 2023 02:11 (two years ago)
Paper thin lunch meat slices? Those will drive me into a blind rage.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 21 July 2023 02:12 (two years ago)
Cake. But thin lime slices vs thick limes. Don’t even get me started.
― But who are we doing it versus? (sunny successor), Friday, 21 July 2023 02:14 (two years ago)
How much of this is that the vast majority of us live in societies of rotted and discredited institutions where we have no collective path to attempt to change the slow collapse cascade we’re witness to, either directly or vicariously?
On that cheerful note...
a good first step is to learn about pre-european inhabitants in your area. not just historically but where they are now
Not wishing to do the American "I'm Irish too" thing but I do have specific known and well-documented ancestors who were Kaskaskia, including a chief of the Illinois Confederacy (Mamenthousa, probably a 9th great-grandfather) and Marie Rouensa, probably an 8th great-grandmother.
I am given to understand that the Kaskaskia ended up in Oklahoma due to various cruel forced migrations and that's where things stand at present.
The land I currently dwell on has murky history; it seems hard to get a straight answer about this because it seems to have been more highway than dwelling-place.
I live at a crossroads between different routes to important places, but there is relatively little information about people staying/living here until 17something.
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 July 2023 02:38 (two years ago)
kingfish's first post itt otm
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 21 July 2023 04:02 (two years ago)
Paraolympics
― oscar bravo, Friday, 21 July 2023 05:56 (two years ago)
I know this is, like, the most uncontroversial opinion ever, but: My head is pretty full.
At my age, I no longer feel the need to discover new music/books. I am sure a lot of it is good - I just don't have the attention span or the desire anymore. I am not done with the previous thousand years of music or books; why do I need to keep taking in more? I own about a thousand records and ten thousand songs. Similarly, I own about seven thousand books... is it really an absolute requirement (or moral imperative) that I keep acquiring more?
Constantly learning more about the cool new music/books just sounds like work to me. It was fun when I was 20. Now that I am 50+ish I don't want more homework assignments.
What I want is a reprieve from the perceived imperative. I still enjoy composers and bands and authors who haven't been active in decades (or centuries). So my need for new input is minimal. Again, apologies for the really stereotypical Dad Take.
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 July 2023 11:43 (two years ago)
"is it really an absolute requirement (or moral imperative) that I keep acquiring more?"
i dont believe for a second anyone has ever argued that it is, tho- the "perceived" element is ofc the part you have to fight but nobody can help you there perhaps?
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Friday, 21 July 2023 11:51 (two years ago)
I agree those are two distinct things but I feel like fascists bringing up overpopulation, especially in a climate crisis context, has also become quite a well known thing - but perhaps this is due to living in the UK where these views regularly make it to prime time television.
Is this still happening? I thought we were into the population decline arc now, even on prime time
― anvil, Friday, 21 July 2023 12:45 (two years ago)
"Constantly learning more about the cool new music/books just sounds like work to me. It was fun when I was 20. Now that I am 50+ish I don't want more homework assignments."
That has never felt like homework to me.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 21 July 2023 16:37 (two years ago)
Honestly, seven thousand books strikes me as a lot. I have about 700 at last count and that feels excessive. (I can read what, 50-60 in a year?)
― jmm, Friday, 21 July 2023 17:07 (two years ago)
kindle changed the game
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Friday, 21 July 2023 17:11 (two years ago)
I no longer feel the need to discover new music/books
I get this and mostly concur, but I'll occasionally force myself to listen to, say, a half an Olivia Rodrigo or Bad Bunny song or something like that, just because I'd like to pretend I still know what's going on, even if I don't. It also helps when speaking with friends' teens at BBQs
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 21 July 2023 17:11 (two years ago)
"Similarly, I own about seven thousand books... is it really an absolute requirement (or moral imperative) that I keep acquiring more?"
i have a friend my age who runs an excellent horror website and recently they said that they had spent their whole life amassing movies on vhs and dvd and now they were just going to watch them. they were done! i like that idea. the more more more thing is just this evil world whispering *more more more* in your ear at night. but you don't actually have to listen to it! and you don't need to go full kondo.
all this colonialism talk reminds me of something that i feel bad for not caring more about. and that is that i have first world problems. its funny the first 500 times you say it and then you really just have to come to the conclusion that its the only world you know and that they are just, in fact, your problems.
my people have been in the valley i live in for 400 years and were a part of the tortured history of the Indian Wars here and I think about it and read about it and I don't know if I will ever come to grips with it all in my lifetime. this country is so....much. i do admit that i get a kick out of the fact that there is a haunted bridge in my town named after an ancestor of mine who was kidnapped during the Deerfield Massacre and raised by the Mohawk tribe in Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_Kanenstenhawi_Williams
― scott seward, Friday, 21 July 2023 17:17 (two years ago)
I know this is, like, the most uncontroversial opinion ever, but: My head is pretty full.― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin)
i guess my problem is that most of the stuff my head is full of is crap
plus, it wasn't just stuff i read/listened to because i'm just a naturally curious person (although i am, i guess). it's a distraction. my head goes spinny spinny spinny all the time and distracting myself helps me get into these ruminative loops about all of the shit i've been through. absorbing myself in stuff that has nothing to do with me helps keep me from sinking into intractable despair.
so it's probably for the best that you'd rather step off the culture treadmill!
― Kate (rushomancy), Friday, 21 July 2023 17:19 (two years ago)
all this colonialism talk reminds me of something that i feel bad for not caring more about. and that is that i have first world problems. its funny the first 500 times you say it and then you really just have to come to the conclusion that its the only world you know and that they are just, in fact, your problems.― scott seward
― scott seward
scott otm, i do have first world problems, i do have privilege, and what that privilege translates into in practice for someone like me is that... i'm not dead. i feel bad that other people don't have the privileges i have, but having privilege and first world problems and all that stuff, i don't feel bad about that.
― Kate (rushomancy), Friday, 21 July 2023 17:21 (two years ago)
most people are dead, or did we recently actually skew the numbers there also
― Ár an broc a mhic (darraghmac), Friday, 21 July 2023 17:34 (two years ago)
https://i.postimg.cc/cH5jJLqh/R-4601728-1563580154-8804.jpg
― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 21 July 2023 17:37 (two years ago)
They were all my friends
And they died
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j2GQqu18J0
Also re: having lots of books, that was not meant as a brag or humblebrag. I am a nerd who lives with other nerds. We try to keep it down but we fail.
Fwiw I once went to see Umberto Eco talk and he said his personal library had 30,000 volumes. For him, many are probably rare and irreplaceable. We just have a bunch of 1990s paperback Virginia Woolf and Nabokov and Banana Yoshimoto and such.
― Exit, pursued by a beer (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 July 2023 19:29 (two years ago)
on the subject of national parks we should care about (hating) them because they're colonial land grabs which are both tools and products of genocide - liberal environmental movements' embrace of them is an absolute disgrace
I am currently reading some really fascinating books about indigenous American history, and/but/so I kinda feel bad that I really don't give a fuck about colonialism as some grand evil. Human beings are tribal creatures who go to war with their neighbors. Always have been, always will be. Land is not "stolen," it is occupied by one group of people or another. Before Europeans got to North America, tribes were killing each other for the exact same land. So if you want to wrest it from the grasp of its current occupants, have at it! But stop fucking whining about the people you lost a war to.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 20 July 2023 bookmarkflaglink
"This will be the first time Minnesota transfers a state park to a Native American community, said Ann Pierce, director of Minnesota state parks and trails at the natural resources department.
Minnesota’s transfer, expected to take years to finish, is tucked into several large bills covering several issues. The bills allocate more than $6m to facilitate the transfer by 2033. The money can be used to buy land with recreational opportunities and pay for appraisals, road and bridge demolition and other engineering."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/03/native-tribe-upper-sioux-agency-us-dakota-war
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 11:46 (two years ago)
Oakland did a similar thing recently fwiw
― sarahell, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 20:02 (two years ago)