Zompist Bboard Again

rotting bones wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 11:11 pmBad news doesn't make everyone unhappy in the same way.

So people here think I should just find some way to numb myself to all the terrible things happening in the world and in my immediate surroundings? I should stop feeling bad about reactionary plutocracy replacing liberal democracy, but also about my toes freezing because I can't afford to turn up the heater? How much misery am I obliged to tolerate and for how long?

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 11:18 pm So people here think I should just find some way to numb myself to all the terrible things happening in the world and in my immediate surroundings? I should stop feeling bad about reactionary plutocracy replacing liberal democracy, but also about my toes freezing because I can't afford to turn up the heater? How much misery am I obliged to tolerate and for how long?

Can you imagine a far left revolutionary reacting to the rise of dictatorship with depression? Some people react to it with anger or being filled by a deadly sense of purpose.

Also, I proposed an alternative left-wing cybernetician.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 11:23 pmCan you imagine a far left revolutionary reacting to the rise of dictatorship with depression? Some people react to it with anger or being filled by a deadly sense of purpose.

These dictatorships have the overwhelming enthusiasm of the masses, though. You are constantly talking about the incredible and invincible popularity of Modi after all. Can you imagine anything taking him down at this point?

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 11:38 pm These dictatorships have the overwhelming enthusiasm of the masses, though. You are constantly talking about the incredible and invincible popularity of Modi after all. Can you imagine anything taking him down at this point?

His popularity decreased significantly in the last election. He is still insanely popular and I'm worried BJP might win the West Bengal state election in 2026. Nevertheless, it is the nature of physical reality that doing wrong things brings blowback. If India sucks enough, it will fall so far behind that China will encroach on its borders. I don't care for China's Confucian lunacy, but they do have popular consultative councils: https://roland-theodore-boer.net/wp-con ... e-2021.pdf (Take the enthusiasm in this document with heaping spoonfuls of salt.)

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 11:18 pm

rotting bones wrote: ↑Wed Dec 31, 2025 11:11 pmBad news doesn't make everyone unhappy in the same way.

So people here think I should just find some way to numb myself to all the terrible things happening in the world and in my immediate surroundings?

Way to misunderstand every word written by "people here" since 2005.

No, "people here" want you to stop cheerleading fascism. Ideally get off your ass and fight it, but at the least stop cheerleading. And yes, every post of yours that talks about fascism as unstoppable is building up fascism, that is, cheerleading. Maybe only in your own head. but why do you want to pollute your head with that?

You complain here IN PLACE OF doing anything positive with your life OR with the world. I don't think that's healthy for you; it's a substitute for positive action. You don't have some kind of right to come bring everyone else down. We do all want you do do better, but that means doing something. That something is calling a therapist.

You seem to think that therapy is going to be some kind of political argument. Your problems have nothing to do with politics, something that THE REST OF US are affected by no less than you. Something is keeping you from seeing anything positive in life. That something is you, but it can be changed. (You don't have to believe that yet. You just have to make that call.)

Stop arguing about it. Arguably you get way, way too much leeway for complaining. I allow some because sometime we can help with a practical problem that apparently you have no other resources for. But you cannot use the board as a way to vent without ever addressing your mental blocks.

He's just depressed. In clinical depression, all mundane phenomena appear to naturally reinforce the depression. I think posting here makes him feel like the world is acknowledging his sadness. If he doesn't post here, he doesn't feel heard. This is a small forum with members he has known for years.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 1:26 am He's just depressed. In clinical depression, all mundane phenomena appear to naturally reinforce the depression. I think posting here makes him feel like the world is acknowledging his sadness. If he doesn't post here, he doesn't feel heard. This is a small forum with members he has known for years.

I know all too much about depression. It doesn't go away by hoping, or by venting to friends and family. It's obviously getting worse for him, and he needs medical help. Venting is counter-productive, because it allows the sufferer to avoid getting real help.

I don't know much about depression. Isn't support from friends helpful for depressed people? I thought friends should be supportive while telling them matter-of-factly about correcting the chemical imbalances that are causing the problem.

Depression is a serious illness that requires medical treatment, and it is quite obvious that malloc is inflicted by it. He should really consult a doctor who can help him. Things like kind words from friends are not enough to treat it, but they do good, and be it that you find the courage to seek professional therapy. The first step is to ask where you can find help. Catastrophizing, in contrast, is unhelpful and only makes things worse.

Does anyone know anyone who's currently on vacation in Switzerland? https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8xdxvj2qjdt

zompist wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 1:12 amNo, "people here" want you to stop cheerleading fascism. Ideally get off your ass and fight it, but at the least stop cheerleading. And yes, every post of yours that talks about fascism as unstoppable is building up fascism, that is, cheerleading. Maybe only in your own head. but why do you want to pollute your head with that?

Then you need to make the case that fascism is stoppable. How do you propose to defeat a propaganda machine that encompasses most major news outlets, most podcasters and online influencers, and dozens of near-trillionaires? Once you've turned public opinion against the MAGA regime, how do you propose that people fight the world's most powerful military to drive Trump or his successor and all their henchmen out of power? If you really believe that we can defeat MAGA, then presumably you have compelling answers to both of those questions. I am genuinely curious to hear why you feel so confident that we can win.

malloc wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 9:50 am

zompist wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 1:12 amNo, "people here" want you to stop cheerleading fascism. Ideally get off your ass and fight it, but at the least stop cheerleading. And yes, every post of yours that talks about fascism as unstoppable is building up fascism, that is, cheerleading. Maybe only in your own head. but why do you want to pollute your head with that?

Then you need to make the case that fascism is stoppable.

Of course it’s stoppable. It’s been stopped numerous times in history. We can do it again.

bradrn wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 9:53 amOf course it’s stoppable. It’s been stopped numerous times in history. We can do it again.

Last time, defeating fascism took multiple superpowers fighting at full capacity. What liberal democratic superpowers around today do you believe could defeat the US in a third world war?

malloc wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 10:03 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 9:53 amOf course it’s stoppable. It’s been stopped numerous times in history. We can do it again.

Last time, defeating fascism took multiple superpowers fighting at full capacity. What liberal democratic superpowers around today do you believe could defeat the US in a third world war?

No, I was talking about all the other countries where fascism was pushed back, like e.g. Oswald Moseley in Britain.

One problem with right-wingers, and especially far-right-wingers, is that their ideas are, you know, wrong. And I don't just mean "wrong" as far as morals, ethics, or values are concerned, but also wrong on basic matters of what works and what doesn't work in the real world. This means that when they try to put their ideas into practice, they often make a mess of things.

Now, I don't think this is as much of a problem for them as the most optimistic people think, but it is still a problem for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWvGMEqvIQQ

Hangul Demystified

malloc wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 9:50 am

zompist wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 1:12 amNo, "people here" want you to stop cheerleading fascism. Ideally get off your ass and fight it, but at the least stop cheerleading. And yes, every post of yours that talks about fascism as unstoppable is building up fascism, that is, cheerleading. Maybe only in your own head. but why do you want to pollute your head with that?

Then you need to make the case that fascism is stoppable. How do you propose to defeat a propaganda machine that encompasses most major news outlets, most podcasters and online influencers, and dozens of near-trillionaires? Once you've turned public opinion against the MAGA regime, how do you propose that people fight the world's most powerful military to drive Trump or his successor and all their henchmen out of power? If you really believe that we can defeat MAGA, then presumably you have compelling answers to both of those questions. I am genuinely curious to hear why you feel so confident that we can win.

We don't need a third world war to stop MAGA. At this rate the Republicans are going to lose the midterms and likely going to lose the 2028 election. All their propaganda is not all-powerful -- after all, it has not stopped Trump from sinking to his current levels of unpopularity (yes, malloc, Trump is very unpopular now).

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 2:46 am I don't know much about depression. Isn't support from friends helpful for depressed people? I thought friends should be supportive while telling them matter-of-factly about correcting the chemical imbalances that are causing the problem.

It's not helpful to be an enabler.

A depressed person needs therapy, and probably medicine. Coping strategies like venting do not produce this, and by allowing the person to avoid treatment, they are counter-productive. All the more so when malloc's venting strategy is to reject all advice and have an argument instead, apparently the only thing he enjoys doing.

Unrelated random question: Is it a coincidence that the color combination black-and-white was completely dominant in Western's formal mens' clothes during the very time in history when photos, and later moving pictures, were usually in black-and-white?

Travis B. wrote: ↑Thu Jan 01, 2026 11:42 am We don't need a third world war to stop MAGA. At this rate the Republicans are going to lose the midterms and likely going to lose the 2028 election. All their propaganda is not all-powerful -- after all, it has not stopped Trump from sinking to his current levels of unpopularity (yes, malloc, Trump is very unpopular now).

I have lost my faith in American democracy long before Trump, as I feel as if many Americans' ideas of "freedom" and "justice" boil down to the right of the (economically) strongest, and the rightists have guns, guns and even more guns, which are probably no easier to abolish than slavery. Yet, I think those forces in the United States who try to save and improve democracy are strong and will prevail in the end. And I am still hopeful that it takes less than a third world war to stop fascism this time, even if we are not unlikely to see the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists being equipped with a seconds-hand soon.