Well, keep being anguished and angry then, I guess.

It’s 100% true. The safety of your local streets, housing costs, education, availability of food and clean water, even parking enforcement, all of these are decided by your city, county, township, or state. The executive branch of the federal government has almost no control over people’s daily lives.

National guard: Little Rock Central High School and the Kent State Massacre were two notable cases where states deployed the national guard to terrorize civilians. In the late 60s Delaware deployed the national guard to Wilmington for nine months. I strongly encourage you to learn the history of what guardsmen have done in your state.

Now, please talk to me like an adult speaks to another adult or don’t reply.

We’ve gone from “sex sells” to “rage sells” and it’s reflected in all media. I’ve been on the internet since 1994 and I was on BBSs before that. In the 80s we were always taught to be cautious about the motivation behind public communication, whether that’s advertising, news, posters on telephone poles, or people yelling on street corners. Nowadays people walk around in a constant state of despair and furious rage over “seeing how awful things actually are”. The conflict in Israel has been going on since 632, for example.

If there’s an active conspiracy out there, it’s a handful of super wealthy folks in media are producing content that causes you to hyperfocus on Agent Orange and his band of fascist wannabes because that’s the politics you have the least control over and has the least control over you. They want people’s minds flooded with hand-wringing anguish because it stops them from focusing on their own family and community and making things better for people in their orbit, which would cause them to potentially lose a little bit of power. If you want to buck the system, start with your own city council, I promise that your local zoning board has plenty for you to be angry with.

Removed by mod

What’s happening right now is happening because people didn’t go out and vote against it

But in American elections generally (and specifically the US presidential election), with very few notable exceptions, there’s no way to vote against a candidate. I wish there were. For example, in Brazil you can “white ballot” or null vote, which people do as a protest. In Colombia this can actually force a redo on the election. But in America we can only vote in favor of one of the options presented or not vote in that race.

I’ve made films and one of my closest friends is a model. Nobody is all that attractive in any objective sense. Moreover, nobody cares how smart anyone else is, and if someone seems loved by everyone around them, congratulate them for finding their tribe. Go find yours and worry less about other people.

But having a full time job means you’re successful, doesn’t it? Or do you believe there are classes of full time workers who don’t deserve to make a living wage?

It’s generative AI though, not creative. It can literally only create what it’s seen before. It’s incapable of being original. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Andy Warhol painted soup cans. But anyone who expects inspiration and creativity from generative AI doesn’t understand the technology as it’s applied…