this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024
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collapse of the old society
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The future was bleak back then, too. And then it got worse as my family grew..bubble, recession, correction, pandemic, war.
It's not any easier, but we are in a better place personnally, and partially because we are numb to it- and realized this shit will continue so we might as well carve out a life we can enjoy now, and stop planning for future happiness.
Part of it is luck, part of it is doggedly sticking to a carrer that paid me less than a McDonald's employee right after university, and that experience gave us the ability to capitalize on luck.
I don't have the answers to boost the happiness of young people, and I really appreciate the fight the milennials are giving this world and hope they continue to make positive changes.
Stick around, we like you.
Look back at all these events. Which of them seemed permanent?
A recession is bad, but there's a very real hope that it's going away soon. The pandemic was a once in a lifetime event, but even that had hope very very soon - the first rumors of a vaccine made rounds literally within days after the first lockdown.
Today's crises are different. Look at the climate. What you see as a young person is, that the entire world is acknowledging that the world is burning - but nobody is doing anything about it.
Look at the economy. In large parts of the Western world the promise of "work hard and you'll have a good life" simply isn't true anymore. And that's not a fluke, recession, bubble. It's systemic and people know that.
I'm literally in the top 10% income wise here in Germany. And even I would have to pay loans back for 20 years with my partner to afford a house here, and even then it's a thin margin. My parents' generation could buy a house, go on vacations, and have a good life in general with two regular worker's salaries. That's nothing that will blow over in a year or two.
While i agree it's not super fantastic for young people, what you gloss over is during the recession/housing crisis our assets, that we worked for 10/15/20 years were wiped out . While you cant forsee buying a home, imagine working to get one, only to have the rug pulled out from underneath you-through no fault of your own, and loosing it.
Yes those things i mentioned were transient, but you need to eat every. single. day.
We opened our place 4 months before covid, and almost every single person I had worked with during the previous 7 years were laid off...again, all thier assets were wiped out just to survive.
We got very lucky, had a great landlord, an amazing community & 35+ years of experience to get us through.
The takeaway is: you cannot look to the future like you're going to make it through unscathed, but you are goi g to make it through. Climate change, the world heating up is something that will happen and we will habe to change society as a result, but society does not change unless it is forced to....so you might as well go buy that house, have that baby, and carry on because without moving forward in life you are just biding time until you die.
Again, you're looking at the situation from a completely wrong angle.
Seriously guys, are you unable to understand that your own position is not that of the current youth?
Yes, having a house taken away is bad, but let's be realistic here: how many people did that really affect and how did the kids look at it? For most kids, in 2010 this whole thing was over. And they were seen as something fixable, and people ostensibly worked on fixing them. There was (and this is important!) a clear, realistic path out of the pit.
We don't have that today. What is the path out of a looming fascist revival? What is the path out of a full blown climate crisis? What is the path out of a society ruled over by rich old men?
The youth has no self efficacy left. We don't have it either, but we just throw a bunch of copium every day and ignore the problems.
Ok...so my points are invalid because I am living in the time that the young occupy, but don't "get" because I am not young....and yet your points are valid because you're too young to have experienced the full effects of the recession/covid, etc.
What is the path out of a full blown climate crisis? Humans will adapt.
What is the path out of a society ruled over by rich old men? lol....when has it not been so? We are still in our infancy as a race....at some point it will change, but unless you are willing to work your entire lifetime to make that change it will continue.
Unless you're commited to working towards making a change, you're just complaining.