We really are.

"Whether one considers classical, or medieval, or modern or contemporary times one is impressed by the fact that any country moving uphill has its unavoidable σ fraction of stupid people. However the country moving uphill also has an unusually high fraction of intelligent people who manage to keep the σ fraction at bay and at the same time produce enough gains for themselves and the other members of the community to make progress a certainty.

In a country which is moving downhill, the fraction of stupid people is still equal to σ; however in the remaining population one notices among those in power an alarming proliferation of the bandits with overtones of stupidity (sub-area B2 of quadrant B in figure 3) and among those not in power an equally alarming growth in the number of helpless individuals (area H in basic graph, fig.1). Such change in the composition of the non-stupid population inevitably strengthens the destructive power of the σ fraction and makes decline a certainty. And the country goes to Hell."

Or, in this case, the world.

I agree that Trump is bad for America and the world, but I do hate to see liberals constantly pronouncing their own helplessness and defeat. One shit Republican president comes along and people on the left scramble over each other to declare an end to (A) America, (B) all democracies everywhere, (C) life itself. Where's the ol' fighting spirit? I bet these are the same people who ragequit online games.

I became politically aware during the W. years, and it was exactly the same then. The end of democracy. The end of the world. Then, a conservative PM was elected here in Canada, and once again the world was ending, democracy was under fire, Canada would never be the same again, everything was hopeless.

Y2K became an immediate joke on January 2nd, 2000. But the mentality that electrified Y2K panic never died down, and no lessons were learned. We've just leapt from panic to panic, trying to inject ourselves with fresh panic quickly enough to outpace the boring reality that, while societal problems are both harmful and cumulative, not every political speedbump throws your vehicle hurtling backward, and not every downturn signifies a spiral into Hell.

And if there is indeed an "alarming growth in the number of helpless individuals," I wish we'd at least try to keep it a secret from our rivals and overlords.

Shhh Two Jar Slave, let them be. the smug helplessness is all they have left.

You know I love you guys, debbie downers you may be.

The left has the same problem as the right. They think if they can just get the right person in the Oval Office, all the problems will be fixed.

Obama proved us wrong.

We need real grassroots activism. We need a general strike.

We need to remind government officials at every level they work for us.

Five for this thread. No to despair, yes to fighting for the America still-to-be!

Jesus Christ, you guys! Do any of you degenerates even know the words to "Mrs Robinson"? Clearly, instead of " We're so screwed.", I should have gone with my original choice: "Woo Woo Woo!"

@twojar Comparing the current state of the GOP to Y2K is mentally equivalent to mistaking your dick for a fork and then not understanding why you got arrested at Shoney's.

The anger at the current administration is absolutely justified.

Okay that was a delicious analogy, but I don't think that "comparing the current state of the GOP to Y2K" is exactly what Two Jar Slave up to.

But here's the thing about Y2K. What would have happened without the warning and preparation?


TJS:
>>>Y2K became an immediate joke on January 2nd, 2000. But the mentality that electrified Y2K panic never died down, and no lessons were learned.


What lesson would that be?

https://clarotesting.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/y2k-why-i-know-i t-was-a-real-problem/

>>>The logic runs as follows. Action was taken in an attempt to turn outcome X into outcome Y. The outcome was Y. Therefore X would not have happened anyway and the action was pointless. The fallacy is so obvious it hardly needs pointing out. If action was pointless then the critics have to demonstrate why the action that was taken had no impact and why outcome Y would have happened regardless. In all the years since 2000 I have seen only unsubstantiated assertion and reference to those countries, industries and sectors where Y2K was not going to be a signficant problem anyway. The critics always ignore the sectors where there would have been massive damage.

TJS:
>>>Then, a conservative PM was elected here in Canada, and once again the world was ending, democracy was under fire, Canada would never be the same again, everything was hopeless.

Who said everything was hopeless? Not me, when I started this crazy thread. I was making a humorous comment about how great it would be to see a video from SASSY TRUMP, and referencing MRS ROBINSON, a fifty year old song from Simon and Garfunkel that perhaps not everyone remembers.

https://youtu.be/9C1BCAgu2I8

Simon and Garfunkel:
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you!
Woo! Woo! Woo!

Me:
Where have you gone, Sassy Trump? Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you?
Were so screwed!

But even if I believe that "we're so screwed" (I kind of do) does that mean that I believe "everything is hopeless" (I don't exactly). And even if I did, who the hell am I? Just a random anonymous guy on the internet. I don't know if everybody knows this, but "John Holmes Motherfucker" isn't even my real name. Yet my casual comment was taken by various people, not just Two Jar Slave, as a sign of despair in the general zietrgiest, or the liberal zietgiest, or whatever. If John Holmes Motherfucker saying "We're so screwed" in a song parody in the comments is to be taken as a sign of overall despair, you're always going to be able to find a sign of overall despair SOMEWHERE, amirite?

Looking back to 1999, were we all shitting our pants in terror of the Y2K bug? I don't think so. I think we were concerned, and a concerned discussion involved bringing up some worst case scenarios. In turn, some commercial media no doubt milked the discussion for cheesy sensationalism. I remember seeing Leonard Nimoy talking about "planes falling from the sky", probably a clip from the reliably cheesy "in search of". But no planes fell from the sky. That's not surprising, since the liability for major airlines would have been catastrophic. Governments and businesses invested in updating their databases in anticipation of the change.

Worst case scenarios, by definition, are almost never the most likely scenarios, but when we're trying to avoid disaster, discussing them is part of the process.

This thread is old, but for the record I was replying to Meerkat, not you JHM.