re: How close do you feel we are to a full societal collapse as a nation?

350 days away

I remember back in the day, I met a few looney tunes people. People who were preppers, said crazy shite, believed wild conspiracies, etc. They were clear societal outcasts who had few friends and family who only put up with them out of obligation. We, as a society, did a good job of ignoring the dumbest and most paranoid amongst us.

Fast forward to the age of social media, and we find that these same people have all been given megaphones and access to spout their bullshite to limitless audiences. At first, they kept to their own corners of the internet. Then, as media businesses learned to leverage clicks for dollars, they learned that putting these fricking nutcases front and center drove incredible engagement. The more engagement, the more ubiquitous the insanity became.

Now?

Ask an ardent left winger what a typical Republican is...."bible-thumping evangelical who believes Trump is Jesus, have an arsenal of AR-15s, uneducated rubes who believe COVID never existed, 5G causes brain cancer, and Sandy Hook was a hoax".

Ask an ardent right winger what a typical Democrat is....."latte sipping communist who refuses to recognize gender, feels guilty for being white, has never worked a hard day in their life, snobby, pretentious assholes who want nothing more than the government to tell them what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Weak sissies."

What's funny is both of these folks are describing the extremes of the other party! These extreme voices have been amplified to such an extent that we truly believe we not only know what the "other side" is like, we also feel like EVERY person needs to belong to one of these two teams.

This is clearly bad....very bad. Worse because politicians aren't doing a damn thing to hold social media companies accountable for their content, media isn't doing a damn thing to lower the temperature of the zeitgeist, and bad foreign actors sense opportunity to enhance our social divisions.

Thing is, a lot of us aren't dumb. People ARE waking up, slowly, to the ills of social media and unfettered, unqualified speech. People are realizing that the Biden or Trump supporter in their life isn't representative of the monolithic caricature social media paints them to be. Turns out, when we actually TALK to the people around us, we understand our differences aren't NEAR as extreme as our preconceptions lead us to believe.

It's about us reconnecting as people, not yelling at one another via avatars. I have faith in us getting there.

quote:

---

How close do you feel we are to a full societal collapse as a nation?

---

Three missed meals

quote:

---

I remember back in the day, I met a few looney tunes people. People who were preppers

---

Here in Utah, almost everyone is a prepper of sorts (ever seen a Mormon cupboard). Prepping, to an extent, is something humans have done throughout history. I get your point. Many do go way overboard.

I also agree with the jist of your post, but the issue isn't just with social media. It is all media forms. Media in tUSA has become "The Chicken Little Show". Whether they lean Dem or Rep, the outlets spew nothing but hatred and lies about the other side.

This is not good. The sway that media has on the masses has been seen time and time again to be the catalyst for harsh times.

I think we are close to bad times. Will it happen? Dunno. But with our leaders doing dumb shite to save the hegemony, coupled with recent events within our borders, many different things could spark it off.

I think we're closer than most people think. It will take a huge effort from organized citizens to slow down the cancer eating away at our country.
We also have to realize that we are only one SCOTUS heart attack away from losing some of our basic rights. Free Speech, gone. 2nd Amendment, gone, Right to assemble, gone, etc.,etc. The wolves are ready to eat the Sheep.

quote:

---

they learned that putting these fricking nutcases front and center drove incredible engagement

---

You have any examples of this?

Like the Jan 6th hearings?

Pelosi, Waters, the Squad calling for more civil unrest?

Joe Biden saying you'll need F-16s and nukes for some reason if you oppose the government?

Obama cracking on the country folk about clinging to their guns and their bibles?

Hillary with her deplorables comment?

Who on the right, or middle gets to say these inflammatory and condescending statements or perpetrate a false narratives and have the social media companies amplify their voice?

Those people further create a division and they are always given a pass by the media.

Societal collapse may have some political ties, but ultimately it will come down to when the systems people rely on for everyday life, for one reason or another, breakdown.

A political fracture, like the secession of the Southern States, is different.

Get off the internet

quote:

---

My only concern is economic.

We're sitting on a demographic time bomb and they will come after your savings. Just a matter of time.

---

Yep. People aren't having enough children. Social security and Medicare will sink us into the abyss. We have something like 200 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

If you ask anyone what is the easiest way to control people, they will say "fear".

And then those same people will say "if you are not afraid, you are not paying attention!"

And its like they can't see it right in front of their face.

quote:

---

At the rate we’re going at present economically,

---

This is a perfect example of too much media intake.

By nearly every measure, the US has gone gangbusters since the pandemic. China is currently in the shitter with no easy way out. Europe is still battling inflationary pressures. The DOW and S&P have hit record highs, inflation is back near where it's supposed to be, GDP is showing strong growth, employment has been incredibly strong, the dollar remains the dominant global currency. Is it all unicorns and cotton candy? No, but we sure as frick aren't on some edge of economic disaster, especially when compared to the rest of the world.

Oh, and this isn't a political thing. Congress hasn't done a fricking thing for the last few years. Our economic wins are a result of the non-partisan Fed handling things correctly, consumers consuming, and businesses growing.