chat

The thing that save me from falling into this downward spiral is unironically joining an org, getting myself a friend group, and doing everything I can for them and with them. Then I realized, that I don't need to care about the liberals, I have to make them care about me. There's nothing more satisfying than hearing a union worker who looks like say "You're doing good work kid."

I would like to be proven wrong, but I have to interact with people exactly like this on a daily basis.

Then do like me, interact with people that give you hope and ditch the useless pieces of shit that won't do anything anyway. But wait for them, because once they'll need help they better go to you rather than some fascist. Then they'll open up. Then you can win. They will never change, unless their own comfort gets threatened.

I'm sick of constantly repeating myself to every liberal I encounter and it's making me more and more irritable.

Forget individuals outside of real life; online shit should be targeted to masses, not every rando you come across. You're wasting yourself and just as you say, become bitter over it.

I honestly think I should just log off of everything that isn't Hexbear from now on.

It's done wonders for me, do it. Genuinely

It is my birthday tomorrow so maybe I should take that as a hint to make a change in my life now that I'm older.

Spend it best you can. Maybe go for a short trip somewhere local? You know like a hike but lighter or something.

The best thing I did in the last year was joining an org and specifically looking for friends that spend their time in radical spaces. I felt a lot of bitterness too before, but spending my time studying with comrades and trying to do the work has done a lot to reshape my perspective. I'm not any less passionate about freeing Palestine, but I'm not drowning in despair and kicking the pricks in frustration anymore which helps a lot. I still get frustrated when I have to talk to liberals, but I'm trying to learn to get better at raising consciousness in a way that doesn't sap my energy and motivation.

Being isolated among liberals sucks. I hope you find some community to help you out.

Absolutely log out of everything that isn't hexbear. Arguing online is a good way to raise your blood pressure and nothing else. It's weird how hard it is to actually log off, but you'll see how much you don't miss it. If you have self control issues, you can get browser extensions for Firefox that will block whatever websites you don't want to go back to. It's not a complete solution, but it might help.

Being a leftist shouldn't be about losing your humanity, just be careful who you spend it on I guess.

Even just going to Hexbear can get me spiraling and I have to put the phone down for a bit.

It was just my birthday and I had a similar feeling as you. I need to tighten my grip on my life

I only use hexbear and related Lemmy instances (do recommend) and I struggle with this too. But it's definitely true, that logging off and making real life friends in cool leftist orgs is the antidote. I should do it again too. I did before and met really cool people most of which have since moved town and I really miss them. But just knowing they are out there and occasionally talking with them helps a little. Other stuff in my life was overwhelming for me too recently, so I haven't done as much in real life politically this year as I would want. It's hard to find that "genocide-life balance". I certainly haven't found it, but maybe that just means we're human. Another thing I used to do daily that I'm currently trying to pick up again is meditating. It definitely helps you staying grounded and open for your own emotions and to not become too bitter. Just normal mindfulness meditation and also loving kindness meditation for empathy work best for me. I wish you a great birthday tomorrow comrade. Maybe you can treat yourself and do something relaxing, maybe outside or offline.

the average Westerner is a lazy piece of shit who ultimately cares more about being inconvenienced than the actual lives of other people.

I have come to the same conclusion due to my experiences with people since becoming disabled. From society at large preferring to see us starve to death rather than know that a fraction of their tax goes towards keeping us alive, to all the selfish everyday thoughtless things that majority of people do. For instance I've had a stroke and spent months on crutches, had to relearn to walk and am still struggling. There used to be a movable kerbside ramp on a pavement here outside the hospital physiotherapy department, (for people with mobility problems, to help them walk up on to the pavement) where a lot of disabled people need to access, and someone in a car just drove over it, smashed it to bits and left it unusable. And it stayed like that, no-one has even fixed it.

I got speaking to a blind woman with a guide dog. She was thrown out of a garden centre for bringing her dog in. The employee rudely yelled at her in front of everyone that dogs aren't allowed. When she pointed out they were legally required to accommodate service dogs, he said no they're not and yelled at her until she got out. She reported them but apparently nothing really happened.

There have been so many times over the years I've needed a seat on public transport (clearly disabled, including with crutches for a while) or clearly needed help outside and most people ignored me or walked around me, even barge me out of the way. Only twice in all these years have people in public helped. Once, just once, did someone offer me his seat on the bus and once a woman helped me get my fallen shoe back on when I was clearly struggling to do it. Most people could see you dying in front of them and wouldn't do anything.

I have no advice that hasn't already been said, but happy birthday tomorrow!