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- 4 days
The American experiment ending like this, with not one person standing up for it.
- 4 days
But if we stand up against it, we’ll be off’ed or thrown into prison. It’s not our fault a bunch of despotic tyrranic dystopian oligarch fascists are burning the world down. You say it’s our fault if we don’t stop them?? How about it’s THEIR fault for burning the world down?!
- 2 days
Well, who’s us, and who’s them, in that paragraph? Does a congressman count as them? What about a senator, or an ordinary local Republican? There isn’t actually any distinction.
The truth is evil is banal, and like always in these parts of history, it’s a movement through all stratums of society. The big ones would never have captured that government power without help from the little ones. Not everyone is onboard, so yes, it’s probably not your fault, but it’s not really just Trump’s fault, either.
- 5 days
How much I’ve started to hate technology. It’s like I had smart phones before my peers had flip phones. Same with computers; let me go to the computer graveyard room and put one together for myself. My family was very into tech so I had a computer since I was 5.
I think at this point I’m just not into it. Same with cars; I like my almost thirty year old cars.
- aloofPenguin@piefed.worldEnglish1 day
I think that would be hating new technology, unless I’m misunderstanding you. I’m right there with you on that. trying to tone down my use of smartphones, not that hard since I don’t like them that much, but i don’t have much of a foundation to go off since I was born in the early 2000s, so it was pretty much filled with tech and i want to go back, like late 2010s. sorry for the ramble this turned into.
- 1 day
Nope you’re all good, spot on. I don’t mind a smart phone but they haven’t been very smart in the last decade. They really kind of piss me off with all the added garbage now. And the whole cameras in cars thing that’s going to be required next year is probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Consoles without physical media is ridiculous as well add in you can’t transfer your account to people is asinine. Same with operating systems, doing everything no one asked for. It’s like every step is not innovation but okay what did you fuck up this time.
- aloofPenguin@piefed.worldEnglish1 day
the cameras in cars thing in addition to all the other stuff that can be collected freaks me out and is one reason why I tell my parents to try to hold on to our old cars (2014 and 2007), even though I know it’s inevitable that they will need to be replaced. I also don’t like that AI is being shoved into almost every corner that the companies can get away with. I gave them a chance, but they were not very useful and the permissions required were creepy af to me (notifications and message access?!)
- 1 day
Same. What’s creepier is that the data can be sold or become part of a “data breach” at any time.
- 5 days
what do you think of Car And Driver? it’s an amazing magazine that makes me wanna get into cars (i am politically urbanist)
- 4 days
You know, I never read it so I can’t say. It looks like it would be a good read. Personally, I research the engines and transmissions as well as what advanced features cars have. I would rather have a car with a cool suspension and a limit slip differential like my Infiniti (Nissan) than all the electronic bells and whistles modern cars have. I used to have a Volvo, I crashed it twice because I was fighting against all of the “safety” features… I’m not sure why they would put in a system to brake one caliper, but then again this was when Ford bought the company. It was fun to momentum drift in the rain even though it was FWD.
I’m a woman now.
Well 15 year old me, you’ll figure it out in about two years.
- 6 days
Sorry for how trite and predictable this is, but even though I was pretty cynical half my life ago, I couldn’t have imagined so vile and corrupt a personage occupying the White House as what is there now, nor how easily and with how much cooperation they’ve been able to destroy the Constitution and government that was based on it.
- HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish5 days
yeah felt like nixon was an anomaly and reagan and um man bush jr. seems pretty typical for these guys, but surely it could not get worse…
40 now. At 20 I was a know-it-all crusader against having kids and now my two children are the absolute center of my universe.
I can’t even begin to explain the kind of joy these two kids create out of thin air. It’s simply beyond my ability to describe how much I love them and how grateful that I am to have met a woman I loved so much that it seemed wrong to not want to bring more of her into the world.
I am so fucking overwhelmed that my life turned out the way it has that I suffer from hidden imposter syndrome because I just don’t feel like I deserve to be this happy.
All I can do is try to be a worthy father and husband.
I’m 40, half a life ago I was 8 years pre-lung transplant. I’d be shocked that I did it at all, I was very anti-transplant for various reasons but having kids I love enter my life when I was 22 changed my mind, which would also be a shocker since I was also anti kids at 20, but I’d also be shocked it worked, one of the main reasons I was against it was I was sure if I got one I would suffer even more and die anyway. So I guess at the end of the day, I’d be mostly surprised I wasn’t dead.
- 4 days
I’m 45 now. If you would have told me at half my age how angry and sad I am in general, I probably would’ve been very confused and broken hearted. I guess the time is important for the desensitization.
- 5 days
I still cannot belive I am married to my wife. She is amazing. She can basically solve any problem. She is a great mom. She helps me talk through my problems, she helps me make decisions, she can hold up her end of a conversation, and she is beautiful. I’ve always been fascinated by women in their late 30’s or 40’s that were still beautiful, and now I have one living in my house.
- 5 days
I used to have a little comic I kept at my desk. There was a couple in it, the woman asks the man “where are yoy taking me?” To which he replied “for granted!”
I kept it there as a reminder to myself, to never take my wife for granted, to always work at improving myself and always let her know she is the center of my universe.
- one_old_coder@piefed.socialEnglish6 days
That everything I learned about computers from assembly language in the 80s to tinkering with all the operating systems in the world would be thrown in the trash by a bunch of moronic managers who decided that ChatGPT was better than learning and being curious.
And as a result, that I would be disgusted by what is happening with programmers, and that I would find another job that does not involve any technology whatsoever. I loved that shit, I hate what it has become.
- 4 days
Did you expect to live to see robots replace a lot of stuff? It’s hard to imagine you never thought about it, if that was your background.
- one_old_coder@piefed.socialEnglish6 days
No job yet, I have a lot of ideas but it’s difficult to change when you’ve been focused on computers for so long.
- 4 days
26, to my 13 self would be wack. I came out at 17, married at 24, divorced at 25. Still the same kid looking for friends and a family. I would’ve believed my parents would be homophobic at 13 and they still are at 26. I dropped out of college, didn’t marry my girlfriend. I’m a chef now, I studied hard to follow my dad into an IT career, that went no where fast.
My 13 yo self would think I’m a loser and an addict. He was very dumb and a 13 yo, lmao wtf do they know.
- 5 days
50 years old.
- That I am as “successful” as I currently am. Measured by typical achievement of “The American Dream”.
- Why the fuck do I live on a cul-de-sac in some boring-ass suburban neighborhood with literally zero charm or culture. I should be living on the top floor of some mixed-use urban building with a subway or light rail station across the street.
- Most importantly, younger me would be so disappointed in my Christmas lights. Where are all the Christmas lights? I have a house. I can afford plenty of Christmas lights. Why are my house and yard and trees and bushes not absolutely doused in Christmas lights. Like Clark W. Griswold levels…you see younger me, it turns out that having a house is already a lot of stupid, unnecessary work, and then putting up Christmas lights and taking them down is even more work and I’m tired.
- 6 days
My boyfriend cares about me. Like, deeply. Like he will go out of his way to do things to support me. I was raised being told over and over that men are selfish and generally more concerned for themselves than their wives. That I need to be prepared to shoulder more of the burden. This is weird. He’s super nice. I can’t get over it.
- 6 days
I see this depiction of men all the time, and it just baffles me.
At the end of the day, most men are so happy when they are able to provide, protect, and support their wives / families / friends. Doing so is how most men measure their success in life. As Eddie Murphy said, all we really ask in return is the big piece of chicken.
- AskewLord@piefed.socialEnglish6 days
because it’s a projection. the women who complain about men being like that… are mostly talking about themselves.
i’ve dated many women who thought that way… and they are talking about themselves. they see the world through an adversarial lens and everything is about them having power over others and being terrified of anyone having power over them.
and if you explain to them you don’t want any power over them they simple don’t believe you. they think it’s a lie or a manipulation tactic… because that’s how they treat everyone, through lies and manipulation. and no matter how honest you are with them… doesn’t matter because they don’t believe honesty exists.
- AskewLord@piefed.socialEnglish6 days
parents project their shit onto their kids, it sucks.
a lot of unhappy people, refuse to let anyone around them ever be happy. you’re allowed to be happy. don’t let other folks unhappiness ruin yours, because they will try very hard to ruin it for you.
The amount of weed I smoke. Teenage-me was still in the process of deprogramming from D.A.R.E. propaganda. She wouldn’t have expected to become a full-blown stoner in her 30s.
I’ve always had a strong memory, and unfortunately it feeds into my anxiety and depression. Weed definitely impacts my memory, but it’s a benefit - normally, all the stupid little things of the day would torture me. I’d be overanalyzing every word I said, worrying over social mistakes that nobody else even remembers happening. It’s a mental process that only serves to hurt me, and that I raw-dogged sober for most of my life. Weed lets me break that cycle, change my focus, and not remember all the dumb little details that don’t actually matter, but that would otherwise keep me awake at night.
As a teen, I would’ve struggled to understand that there could be benefits to marijuana. She would’ve just thought the self-torture was normal. Life’s weird like that sometimes.
I was a rolling stone - drifting and drinking aimlessly through my 20s, backpacking, boozing and picking up weird jobs and weird people as I wandered through Europe and south east Asia. Now I’m an IT manager and married with 2 kids, a mortgage and a dog.
- 6 days
The level of evil that adults are capable of. My young self would never have imagined it. I used to think humans were nice to each other.
- 4 days
Oh god. I was warned people are generally dicks, and believed it, but my goodness I though it was like, out of carelessness or something. Not that people are just fundamentally disinterested in more than the appearance of morality.
- 5 days
Yea. I still seriously believe that over half of people are “fundamentally” “good” and that they just make mistakes etc.
And I definitely knew about how bad people could be due to access to good history books and parents who told me about things like the Belgian Congo.
But my kid self would have been shocked at how common people being shit to each other is and the incredible scale of damage the most powerful are able to do to the world.
- 4 days
Yea. I still seriously believe that over half of people are “fundamentally” “good” and that they just make mistakes etc.
Just make sure you’re applying the same standards to everyone. Without knowing what the scare quotes mean, there’s nothing to argue with, but so so many people have blind spots. Which is part of the problem.
- 4 days
Personally I just meant them as being extremely hard to define in this context.
And my self assessment is that I treat everyone the same, giving them the benefit of the doubt, at least until they prove themselves to be malicious. I definitely have no qualms cutting people off who try to actively damage my life.
