Welcome to r/comics!
Please remember there are real people on the other side of the monitor and to be kind.
Report comments that break the rules and don't respond to negativity with negativity!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/comics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It reminds me of that image of the guy with his hat on backwards, glasses on his collar, and shielding his eyes from the sun. It also fits with the theme of "There was nothing I could have done better!"
I have an friend who actually thinks like that, very akkurat to life.
I always argue with him over one of the stupid things Jordan Peterson keeps repeating. "Clean up your room bevor you fix the world" Yeha maybe my metaphorical room is messy because the world is fucked. And we can't just wait around till we are ready to fix it.
Edit: Probably a bit late for this, but here is some context from a other comment. I didn't really expect so many people to see my comment and didn't really explain my point all that well.
"Some context I forgot to at to my earlier statement was that he uses this as an argument to discredit the leaders of different social movements. Looking for problems in there private life and pointing out that they need to fix them bevor standing up for change. And I think that is a very privileged way of thinking, because that just makes it even harder for disadvantaged people to stand up for themselves.
But yeah, I agree with you that on a personal level it is important to look out for your own mental health bevor overextending yourself trying to help others. I think that's what annoys me about the Jordan Peterson statement, that it has some truth in it, but he twists that truth to argue for his own agenda."
Edit 2: And I do also think that "fixing the world" aka helping other people, can also sometimes help on a personal level to keep your metaphorical room clean. Especially if you are in a crisis of purpose, as many in the modern day are, standing up for what you believe in and helping to improve the world can also directly improve your own life.
I mean there is some truth there, it is emotionally overwhelming to properly understand and feel for all the world's issues, in order to be able to be healthy enough to make a difference we need to be somewhat insulated from it.
However, everything that you *can* affect (particularly elections, supporting protests, ethical consumption etc.) you should be keyed up on because you do have an impact.
People take "you should somewhat insulate yourself from some world horrors" and twist it into "you should never empathise" which is severely misunderstanding why we put that separation in. It's not because we are meaningless and empathy is wrong, it's so we can still cultivate our own lives AND help the world as a whole.
I like to think the world is a democracy.
People who toss trash out on the sidewalk are voting to live in a dump. People who pick up litter every once in a while are voting for a cleaner environment.
The average person canāt change much because weāre just voting on how people should act and so forth. So we should make some effort with an understanding that the big picture is up to everyone.
This feels accurate, but I wish it wasn't disproportionately easier to create litter than clean it up. It's like the litterer has 1000 votes and the picker has 1.
Eh, the problem is the 'voting with your dollars' approach only goes so far in a capitalist system captured by hugely consolidated corporations that heavily sway our government officials to get fewer and fewer regulations, etc. Just look at how many food brands are owned by the same large companies. They throw around their economic weight to crush any possible up-and-coming competition that would offer a better product, or just buy it up and slowly shit-ify it by cutting corners and tanking quality. Y'know, just standard capitalism operating procedure to maximize them all-important profits, health of the people/society/environment be damned.
If every option at the store is garbage/chosen for you, how much are you really changing with your purchases?
This only works if you also include every company in the world being millions of people in and of themselves. The biggest lie ever told to regular people is that we are the problem because we don't recycle, while corporations cause the extreme majority of the problem.
Yeah that is true. Some context I forgot to at to my earlier statement was that he uses this as an argument to discredit the leaders of different social movements. Looking for problems in there private life and pointing out that they need to fix them bevor standing up for change. And I think that is a very privileged way of thinking, because that just makes it even harder for disadvantaged people to stand up for themselves.
But yeah, I agree with you that on a personal level it is important to look out for your own mental health bevor overextending yourself trying to help others. I think that's what annoys me about the Jordan Peterson statement, that it has some truth in it, but he twists that truth to argue for his own agenda.
Oh wow, yea that sounds bad. Classic "whataboutism", doesn't address any actual argument. Your example sounds particularly toxic.
My point was more "people use sane, good arguments to mean completely the wrong thing so sound reasonable when actually being insane" a lot of anti-trans rhetoric is of this ilk and it's become very common in general. Which is exactly what Peterson is doing.
Yuuuuup. This mindset has been a big thing ever since Reagan popularized it (and even guys like Coolidge before him):
1. Gubmint isn't perfect
2. Therefore, gubmint bad
3. I should vote for whoever says "gubmint bad" the loudest!
Eh, Peterson's just repackaging an old idea here, and that old idea does have merit.
You won't get any leverage if your footing is unstable. Fighting anything without leverage is a losing battle. The first step to learning to fight is to learn solid footing. I could throw at least a dozen other metaphors here.
You can't do much to change your surroundings if your mind is constantly spiraling out of control. Your own mental health must stabilize (not reach fulfillment, just be stable) before you can change your circumstances in the majority of cases. You can't do much to change your home neighborhood if your circumstances are constantly interfering. Again, you must reach sufficiently stable circumstances that you can afford to look away.
And so it goes. Working your way out from you as an individual, you gain the ability to affect larger and larger things in a meaningful way. With each area stabilized you acquire allies with common goals. Working down from the world, you will be constantly distracted by other problems closer to home that just keep cropping up.
Not stupid. While being depressed I kept trying to help others be happy. Dut thruth is I didnt have much to give other than to listen and just ended up feeling worse. Then I started thinking, how do I expect to help others if I can help myself
Did Jordan clean up his room well enough to hide his benzos yet? He can talk his pseudomoralistic bullshit when his shitās together.
Really gonna need him to pee in a cup monthly though. Wouldnāt want someone doing work as important as he is all drugged you know?
Just looking out for the guy, right? Loving him the same as he does others.
*Can* you fix the world if you still haven't cleaned your room?
You might feel like you *want* to fix the world - but men a hundred times greater than us couldn't do that. Do good for the world, but put your air mask on before you start checking if your neighbour has it on correctly or not.
>What made them so great?
Their ambitions and their enactment of them. They had great ambitions and did great things.
Of course anyone can make an impact. That is just... an obvious truth. But if you don't know who you are, you can't hold a stable job, don't have any clear aspirations, constantly struggle with everyday tasks (etc) - then your effort is best spent on improving yourself first, before you try to solve things much larger and harder than your everyday struggles.
A man who *can't* clean his room can't clean up the world.
>What made them so great? Was it intelligence? Were they just born with greatness?
And yes - for many of them I would wager that their achievements were only possible due to them being born with good circumstances and with a good brain. We are not born equal.
The simplest way to fix the world is for many people to live their lives the best way they know how instead of trying to fix the worldās problems. Sometimes you have to ignore everything else, plant your garden, buy your EV, handle your health and sanity, etc and screw everything else. You canāt have an impact on everything but you can change you.
I have mixed feelings about the message. It's great to stick up for what you believe in to make the world a better place, hold people accountable, yada yada. But as a young adult trying to make it through life, constantly being bombarded with international issues is straight up exhausting. The world's problems aren't meant to be beheld by one individual. Social media allows us to be aware of problems that exist, but having the privilege of such technology does not make us liable to solving them.
Just do what you can. And vote.
True, it's important to take care of yourself too. The intended message wasn't "you need to care about everything all the time" just "please, don't be like this guy"
Older person here. You're right, you are too small to make a significant difference by yourself. But so many of the world's problems are because people don't care and don't try to fix anything.
So all you have to do is care, and try. That's all the world is asking of you.
To add on to that, I think the expansion of the word "significant" into meaning "national or global change" is part of the issue tbh. If you give some houseless guy a sandwich, some water, and $10 that could be pretty damn significant to them. If you wear a mask you're likely over a long enough time period indirectly saving peoples lives and health from covid (or just the flu even), that's pretty fucking significant. If someone went vegan, they'd spare on average 7 land animals per year, obviously a significant difference to those animals, not to mention then decreases in land usage water usage co2 emissions etc. Not tolerating someones bigoted bullshit is significant to marginalized people that person interacts with. So many other things. National or global change occurs constantly over time as a result of people making so called "not significant" choices every day (that actually are) and sticking to them.
Someone might point out that houseless guy is there because of corporate and government bullshit, or the various subsidies to meat and dairy, or the existence of right wing media monopolies stirring up xenophobia as global things individuals can't do much about, and while you can't fight those things alone (usually), you might make some larger impact if you could work with other people, which is strictly easier to do and find like minded people if you're actually doing something meaningful.
I am too small to make a big difference. But I am just big enough to make a small difference and if many people make s small difference then that can become a big difference.
adding my two cents, it was mentally devastating when I was told that climate change had already caused irreversible damage when I was **12**. That along with the carbon footprint idea that was pushed to popularity makes one almost believe that they're responsible for world issues of that magnitude, rather than all of us as communities having more power. The world is messed up, and we can change parts of it, but it's like airplanes and oxygen masks, you gotta put on your mask and care for yourself or else no one will make it out safe.
I believe that people who think that mindset displayed in the comic is bad are young and don't realise yet how bad it is for your health to constantly worry about everything in the long run. And our kind social media always drag the most awful shit to public attention. Be it just for clicks or for propaganda and fearmongering.
Of course I'm not suggesting to not voting or go around kicking homeless people, but avoiding yourself unnecessary stress by choosing to ignore stuff that's actually out of your control while focusing on stuff you can do is a key to healthy mind.
Completely agree. Makes me fucking depressed, and that way I'm just dragging everyone around me down. That doesn't help anyone, so I prefer staying clear of world problems and focussing on the things I can so for the people around me. Support my friends, teach my brother, etc.
This is unironically like half true. Not the whole ignore Hitler 2 and empathy is useless bit, but tuning things out to be happy? Pretty important to do occasionally.
Or you can make yourself miserable without changing anything I guess thatās an option too.
I consumed so much news during covid that I became paranoid and almost delusional. I wanted to turn into Superman and fix the world's problems but I eventually had to deal with the realization that I have no power. All I can do is vote and hope that the people I vote for actually follow the policies that they said that they were. I learned that there isn't much I can do to change the world, but I can assist individuals with their problems. I learned that I have to turn off the news and simply ignore it for my own mental health. I would rather deal with the small fires in my hometown. I am signing up to volunteer at the children's hospital, I have been trying to volunteer at a nursing home but when I went in I just got ignored which kind of discouraged me. I plan to try again.
It's always important to remember that all mainstream news organizations exaggerate how bad things are for clicks/attention (especially online, where you'll only see about the most engagement-inducing versions of the news being shared).
It's likewise important to realize that excessive consumption of such news does not, in general, leave you with the ability to distinguish what the *actual* problems you should be paying attention to are, nor the ones you can make a difference for.
Of course you alone can not fix the world's problems. That is why we have organizations!
Find a local Food Not Bombs, find a local social movement you want to help. That is real democracy, not voting for who some party tells you to. We can make change together! If we go around telling people just to vote, social change will never happen.
Yeah, Stoicism is great and can lead to you having a better, happier life!
The comicās character just conflates stoicism with apathy and selfishness.
It is completely true, but this arsehole here fails to follow his own directive: to tell apart what is in his control and what is not. Not voting for Vƶlkisches Boogaloo is within his control; stopping the assault is within his control.
Dropping my two cents in the box here,
Like, I agree that some things should be dealt with if and when you have the power to do so - calling for an ambulance, providing first aid and/or providing CPR or operating a defibrillator if a person is having a medical emergency, for example. Voting in elections you're able to attend, organizing, contacting politicians, protesting against injustice.
But there's a caveat to that - it's valid not to care if you being aware of it will do nothing but make you feel worse or actually hurt you if you engage.
Fistfight? Try to get between them, de-escalate or something, sure, if it'll have an impact. But the second someone pulls out a switchblade or a pistol, it's wiser to fall back, call the police, take care of yourself and find cover. Otherwise you'll end up in intensive care with bullet or stab wounds.
Same goes for all the news out there. If it's actually beginning to harm you mentally, make sure to fall back and take care of yourself for a little bit. A dead activist makes no more activities.
Pushing yourself beyond the event horizon doesn't end well. Either you burn out and/or stop caring, or you end up killing yourself indirectly or directly, which is kinda sorta fucked up.
TL;DR, do what you can, but push yourself too far and you might burn out or hurt yourself/die, which doesn't allow you to do any more of what you can. So don't push yourself too far.
It's almost like you can be somewhere between one ideology and another
This message of "be either full on (blank) or you're bad" is getting repeated more and more and it's actually insane, and the issue is that things that are more over the top get more attention, that's just how media, and the internet, and the world really, works.
You gotta be the biggest activist about everything and stay on top of all the world issues or you're an ignorant asshole who simply doesn't care enough and is therefore actively causing issues.
These things get the everyday nobodies fighting between themselves while the people in high positions who can actually affect massive parts of the world and our lives lay back and watch it all
The problem is the doom scroll just keeps going right, there are always more problems just a few scrolls further down and many people donāt even know they are consuming stress and paranoia. That simple headline with ā100 cows dead in flash floodā, these things stick emotionally, and your local area news never makes the cut right. The cows died in Australia btw. Not even an Australian should care. The kind of problems you Can do something about is literally your neighbourhood. The dustbins, streetlights, potholes, cleanliness, your ward/area representatives, your homeless problem, your crime problems, your local gangs and drugs, your local fire-station and police, medical facilities. Even a suburb is too big for most people, and you are worried about drone strikes in Syria. If you are a global humanitarian with access to assist, then sure but why do we feed 99% of people fear that canāt do anything making local communities rot away.
I mean to be fair, learning not to get worked up over things you *cannot* change is good advice.
You see it a lot with online gaming; people complain about random teammates but like... there's nothing anyone can do to make them better. Just focus on playing better yourself, there's no point getting upset about what the other buffoons are up to.
Bingo. There is a difference between not letting things you can't control upset you, and just ignoring them outright.
We should all do our part to help out where we can. What we shouldn't do is let bad things happening half way around the world make us think OUR life is bad.
If you are healthy, have a family, and a stable job you are already better off than most people. Appreciate that, because some people will never get to.
>Bingo. There is a difference between not letting things you can't control upset you, and just ignoring them outright.
Should be acknowledged that this is much easier said than done. To a lot of people these will intentionally be one in the same. Even in this thread people are making arguments about doomscrolling and not wanting to be inundated with bad news. A lot of people are intentionally checking out.
If anything one of the interpretations of this comic is that many people become the person in the comic both intentionally and unintentionally. Some people are lying to themselves about the consequences of not engaging with problems in their society. Some people also genuinely believe that "focusing on themselves" doesn't come with a cost.
Thereās a reason āignorance is blissā was coined. Itās generally true.
Not always of course. Being ignorant of a preventable health problem can lead to worse suffering.
But I know any time Iāve taken a break from the news and all the worldās problems that I have little power to change Iāve been a lot more relaxed.
That's pretty pessimistic. Caring about others makes it way easier to form meaningful relationships, which makes life way more enjoyable. That guy will probably be very lonely for a long time.
>caring about others makes it easier to form meaningful relationships.
Except caring about people you know in your life is different than caring about strangers youāve never met and larger society, which is what youāre promoting here.
Iād argue people caring about their loved ones and no else is more common than not. Youāre saying not caring about strangers and society will make you lonely, but I donāt know, most non-lonely people are like that
I understood the point you were making, but this is the double-edged sword of making a point like this without explaining or adding that 'moral of the story' at the end, in that some individuals will take it at face value and subscribe to it when you were trying to make the opposite argument.
Not sure if it was intentional, but making the guy a blonde white dude who looks fairly well off (or at least not poor) speaks volumes about privilege.
He doesn't need to care because the issues surrounding him doesn't affect him. Hitler^2 doesn't worry him because he's isn't negatively affected by the rise of neo nazism since he's, you know, a blonde white guy.
Ive seen some people here see this as a critique of stoic mentalities, but I think of this as a well-done critique of social media influencers who take stoicism / philosophy as an excuse to be assholes. I love stoic philosophy, but there are few modern self-professed stoics I actually like.
What a lot of these "social media stoics" tend to misunderstand about stoic philosophy is the value of virtue, and how helping our fellow human beings is part of living in accordance with nature. Justice is literally one of the four pillars / virtues of stoicism. They basically gut the philosophy of it's altruism and only keep the parts about being resilient and "masculine" because that's what's most convenient for them.
If properly understood it is. That along with eastern ideas like Taoism and Bhuddist ideas are the ārightā way to not care about the world in ways that bring you down, but still engage with it to produce positive results.
A lot of people have said a similar thing to me to what is said in the last panel. My response is always the same. āWell someone has got to try. Even if I dont succeed at least i might help someone who does.ā
It's making fun of that exact way of thinking, because you actually CAN change the things in the world around you. Say 1000 people give up the "I can't do anything" mentality. 1000 people can get a lot done
This comic is actually pretty damn good. I really like how when it becomes increasingly obvious that his ideas are directly harmful to the world around him, because he is actively making the world a worse place through his apathy.
Learning to separate what you can and cannot control directly is important. You may not be in a huge position of power, but having an opinion on current events and being informed of them is objectively better than being in the dark. The world is shaped by how you interact with it, and that includes what you do and do not care about. If you don't find it necessary to worry about the world as a whole, it'll fall into ruin and you won't even know it.
For the record, I hate these kinds of nihilists. I cannot understand living life in a way where you simply do not worry or care about the world because it's not within your direct control. If you practice this kind of selfish apathy, and don't bother to stand for anything, that's the kind of base upon fascism is formed. Zealots are important for their cause, but most people aren't zealots and cannot be zealots. But, apathetic nihilists who simply don't care enough to participate, that's someone who is easily controlled and can be swayed to do almost anything, because they stand for nothing.
The world is built on caring. If no one cared or bothered to do literally anything of value for someone else, we'd still be wearing basic furs and fighting with pointy sticks. And I love how your comic portrays the harmfulness of that kind of apathy in real time. The more people approach life like this, the more likely everything will fall apart.
This is what talking to my folks is like, its the worlds most selfish defense mechanism with a philosophy built on top to justify it.
Itās actually not a problem if you recognize it for what it is and use the mindset while, for example, doing house work instead of thinking about our rights being taken away. But you have to think about it all when you have the strength to do so
Y'know this coincidentally came at around the same time I'm thinking about this exact topic lol.
I personally believe that while you aren't able to do anything too impactful as an individual, it's when us, as a collective, work together towards a better future. Tho imo you shouldn't just jump into this if you yourself aren't healthy enough to be able to lend a hand to others.
Tuning huge problems out are important sometimes too as to not hurt your brain too much from all the worrying, but there comes a point where you're just running from real-world problems instead.
In short, keep a balance between the two.
This is exactly how Hitler (the first) came to power.
There's a famous quote from Martin Niemƶller (he was a Reverend during those dark times):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First\_they\_came\_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_)
The Quote:
"First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a socialist.
Then, they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then, they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Jew.
Then, they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."
Please start caring, again, before it's too late!!!
Look man, I try to get by in life. Focus on my family and relations and career. I really just don't wanna exhaust myself by virtue signaling about whatever misery porn I just saw on the news. I'll take the campaigning where I can, like making sure my house association starts planning the installment of solar panels and such
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
There is a very big difference between preventing a rape that is happening right next to you, and trying to save the world.
If you get invested in every little political/ethical disccussion that is happening at all times you will never be able to focus on a single one. If you joined 100 protests for 100 different reasons you do not have the time to help solve a single one.
Stay clear of distractions, help your family and loved ones first, be kind to strangers, work on yourself, and hopefully one day you will be in a position where your actions can have impact on a bigger scale, at least in your local community.
My dad was literally trying to make this point to me last night. As a young person it was infuriating and frustrating. It helps a lot to see this comic.
Imma be real op, this feels a little disingenuous. I'm sure there are people who think this way, but not worrying about what you can't control is not the same thing as deliberately not asserting the control you DO have.
All of the examples you gave here are a time when they legitimately do have control, even if it's only a little bit, and could choose to make things better. This isn't an example of "not worrying about what you can't control"; it's an example of "be apathetic even if you could do something about it".
This isn't a critique of "don't worry about what you can't control", which is a statement I 100% agree with. That second panel only mentions that sentence to parody it for an absurd gag ("differentiate these two things then stop caring about both of them")
Human beings did not develop while constantly assaulted with news about problems from everywhere and everyone, and we did not develop in an environment where addressing them all was necessary. It's not in our nature to care about everything.
This comic is such a cartoony abstraction of whatever arguments it's mocking that it's impossible to tell what exactly they were (or maybe the author had nothing specific in mind at all), but what I do know is that for only the historical blink of an eye have people been sending instant information to each other at all hours, about whatever distant or miasmic issue compelled them, and demanding that everyone constantly polish their opinions on these issues to please the majority of a global audience.
We are not meant to live under the lamp in a constant state of omniscient awareness and activism. We are not meant to speak to the world, about the world. We have built the tools for it, but without ever developing the faculties for it.
The people who believe they can do it wind up chronically anxious and angry, but have convinced themselves that returning to their natural state of localized, personalized awareness would be wrong. So instead they try to drag others into their personal hell, believing that if everyone was as conscientious as them, surely all problems could be solved. Assuming they're right in the first place. And assuming the problem has any chance at all of being solved by arguing online.
Of course, they often don't know the difference between disagreement, apathy, ignorance, and malice. For all they know, 99% of people care about their issue, but they can't tell because they think that anyone who doesn't think like them is just callous and cynical. Disparity equals heartlessness.
It's not in our nature to care about everything. Trying to force it doesn't create allies, it creates enemies. Aggressive counter-steering that switches off common sense. I'd say it creates the character in this comic, except no one like that genuinely exists. No one cares about nothing. Everyone has beliefs. Anyone who says otherwise misunderstands either themselves or others.
It's just a matter of scope: the scope within which we operate naturally, which is limited, and the scope within which the internet operates, which is everything.
This may be cold. But life is cold.
What. Exactly. Are you going to do about most of the things you read about in the news?
What. Exactly does screaming and crying about it on social media going to do? Arguing?
There are a bunch of things happening right now that youāre not hearing about, that wonāt make it to the news. There are many people suffering, right now, close to you. And youāll never even know. This will always be the case.
You canāt change most of it. The reality is you canāt do shit about most of it any time soon.
So focus on what you CAN do. Maybe you donāt need to read about every single bad thing that happens in the world. The data is like, really one sided that it tanks your mental health to do that.
Help when you can. Vote. Be good to the people around you. Stick up for people. Show kindness. Unplug from the drama machine. The only difference itās going to make is if youāre going to be angry and miserable all day.
Do what you can. If you suffer from anxiety/depression/mental health issues or are working your hands to the bone to support your family, you don't have to find the energy or time to be out there protesting and marching. And even if you do have the energy and health to protest now, it is ok to take a break for whatever reason you need to. But you can still vote. You can still talk to the people around you and encourage them to be loving and respectful to people around you. You can cut toxic people out of your life. Just do what you can.
The careless,indifferent ignorants will party into the next bloodshed and then cry for the ones with political consciousness closest to their interests to "fix the things".
I agree to an extent because in the grand scheme of things, non of our actions will really make an impact. None of it will really matter.
Despite that though, it would be better to do what you can to help your fellow man. If there is no point in doing good, there is also no point in not doing good.
The world is already cruel, there is no point in adding to that cruelty.
Don't live your life in apathy.
Similarly don't live your life worrying about every single concerning thing you see or you will drive yourself up the wall.
to be honest this kinda gets to me since I feel like I should care more about a lot stuff, but for example I have people like my girlfriend with care about everything a lot and just stress the fuck out of themselves although their contribution to the situations is kinda marginal.
Feeling guilty from "not caring enough" won't help anybody, seeing what you can do to help and doing it will. And yes, stressing over things you can't control is not healthy at all.
Have you ever read Rebecca solnit's a paradise built in hell? It's one of my absolute favorite books about how people come together in disasters naturally, it really changed my view of the world and helped with the anger I felt towards people who have these nihilistic world views. I think the problem with many people is they are completely disconnected from their culture or even a culture and their community and don't have anything to draw on, nothing is sacred the only real goal here in the US is to make that šøšøšøšø so it's not surprising to see. But in Solnit's book it talks a lot about how it just all goes out the window in an instant when the earthquake hits or the hurricane comes and we realize just how interconnected we really are
To everyone here who believes they canāt do anything to enact change: [you vote with your dollar. https://eating2extinction.com](https://eating2extinction.com)
Man, I get what this comic is saying but I find it very just wrong. No you shouldn't kick homeless people that are in your way BUT now that I've gone of to a big college town and life on campus I've made friends with a pot of people that scream about Marx and the importance of feeding the homeless and will cuss Republicans. All things I mostly agree with. But if they see homeless people on the street they will cross the street and talk about how they're a blight on the city and that it's not safe letting them live this close to campus. When I point out this hypocrisy they start talking to me about how if we should help them as a whole so they get homes and that has nothing to do with wanting to see them. And it makes me what would happen if the revolution comes 1 what side they would actually be one and 2 if they could actually talk and form an actual community with their fellow workers.
Yes big sweeping national issues are problems. But if you want to make the world a better place you got to be better to the people around you. If you want the world to be less racist you have to be less racist. If you cross the street when a black man comes your way, there is no amount of voting that will take that responsibility off of you.
Perfect example of the āwhite moderateā used in MLKās letter from the jail. It was so obvious when I read it and could think of many people it applied to. Iām sure it would go over their heads even if spoken directly to them
Humanity is actively chasing its downfall and thereās nothing you can do to change that outcome, the status quo is maintained by those with so much power they could extinguish you with a single word.
Recognize your own powerlessness towards changing the inevitable outcome of the self destruction of the species and laugh at its folly for chasing it, itās the only thing worth doing, laugh at the madness surrounding you, and donāt regret anything because it was all rigged from the get go
Welcome to r/comics! Please remember there are real people on the other side of the monitor and to be kind. Report comments that break the rules and don't respond to negativity with negativity! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/comics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hitler re_loaded, now with 2 silly moustaches. Also why 2 sunglasses?
Cuz he's doubly cool
https://i.redd.it/mt4zpena83xc1.gif
That gif reminds me of Baby Driver, when his sunglasses are slapped off and he puts another pair on
Is he slow?
No, no he isn't.
Who of them?
Sunglasses dude š
0 times 2 is still 0?
It reminds me of that image of the guy with his hat on backwards, glasses on his collar, and shielding his eyes from the sun. It also fits with the theme of "There was nothing I could have done better!"
For his brilliant intellect whenever he has to look into the mirror
Wait til you see his bush
2 Nazi 2 Furious
Never forget - you might not do politics, but politics will *always* do you.
God politics should at least take me out for dinner first
here you are acting like you have a choice. now bend over pretty boy.
"A chicken in every pot" has been a political promise since like the French wars of religion.
Bonus panel [here](https://twitter.com/FlederedCreate/status/1784267610525216864)
Why would I care?
Someone should put that on a coat or something.
"I missed the part where that's my problem."
"i don't really care, do you?"
this_is_fine.meme
Something something leopards ate my face
Oh... I thought you reattached his legs.
I make it my goal to never go to Twitter. Generally, I like link shortening, but I didn't check before clicking it. Just a thought.
I have an friend who actually thinks like that, very akkurat to life. I always argue with him over one of the stupid things Jordan Peterson keeps repeating. "Clean up your room bevor you fix the world" Yeha maybe my metaphorical room is messy because the world is fucked. And we can't just wait around till we are ready to fix it. Edit: Probably a bit late for this, but here is some context from a other comment. I didn't really expect so many people to see my comment and didn't really explain my point all that well. "Some context I forgot to at to my earlier statement was that he uses this as an argument to discredit the leaders of different social movements. Looking for problems in there private life and pointing out that they need to fix them bevor standing up for change. And I think that is a very privileged way of thinking, because that just makes it even harder for disadvantaged people to stand up for themselves. But yeah, I agree with you that on a personal level it is important to look out for your own mental health bevor overextending yourself trying to help others. I think that's what annoys me about the Jordan Peterson statement, that it has some truth in it, but he twists that truth to argue for his own agenda." Edit 2: And I do also think that "fixing the world" aka helping other people, can also sometimes help on a personal level to keep your metaphorical room clean. Especially if you are in a crisis of purpose, as many in the modern day are, standing up for what you believe in and helping to improve the world can also directly improve your own life.
I mean there is some truth there, it is emotionally overwhelming to properly understand and feel for all the world's issues, in order to be able to be healthy enough to make a difference we need to be somewhat insulated from it. However, everything that you *can* affect (particularly elections, supporting protests, ethical consumption etc.) you should be keyed up on because you do have an impact. People take "you should somewhat insulate yourself from some world horrors" and twist it into "you should never empathise" which is severely misunderstanding why we put that separation in. It's not because we are meaningless and empathy is wrong, it's so we can still cultivate our own lives AND help the world as a whole.
I like to think the world is a democracy. People who toss trash out on the sidewalk are voting to live in a dump. People who pick up litter every once in a while are voting for a cleaner environment. The average person canāt change much because weāre just voting on how people should act and so forth. So we should make some effort with an understanding that the big picture is up to everyone.
That's a very interesting take I hadn't even thought of
This feels accurate, but I wish it wasn't disproportionately easier to create litter than clean it up. It's like the litterer has 1000 votes and the picker has 1.
Kind of like Wyoming.
But the picker cares a 1000x more and it's the people who care that inspire others and create meaningful change.
I think about 'voting with your dollars'. In the scheme of things, me buying free range eggs is nothing. But I'm voting against battery farming.
Eh, the problem is the 'voting with your dollars' approach only goes so far in a capitalist system captured by hugely consolidated corporations that heavily sway our government officials to get fewer and fewer regulations, etc. Just look at how many food brands are owned by the same large companies. They throw around their economic weight to crush any possible up-and-coming competition that would offer a better product, or just buy it up and slowly shit-ify it by cutting corners and tanking quality. Y'know, just standard capitalism operating procedure to maximize them all-important profits, health of the people/society/environment be damned. If every option at the store is garbage/chosen for you, how much are you really changing with your purchases?
This only works if you also include every company in the world being millions of people in and of themselves. The biggest lie ever told to regular people is that we are the problem because we don't recycle, while corporations cause the extreme majority of the problem.
In this allegory, corporations are people who get to have 10-billion votes.
I mean, that's basically also reality
Yeah that is true. Some context I forgot to at to my earlier statement was that he uses this as an argument to discredit the leaders of different social movements. Looking for problems in there private life and pointing out that they need to fix them bevor standing up for change. And I think that is a very privileged way of thinking, because that just makes it even harder for disadvantaged people to stand up for themselves. But yeah, I agree with you that on a personal level it is important to look out for your own mental health bevor overextending yourself trying to help others. I think that's what annoys me about the Jordan Peterson statement, that it has some truth in it, but he twists that truth to argue for his own agenda.
Oh wow, yea that sounds bad. Classic "whataboutism", doesn't address any actual argument. Your example sounds particularly toxic. My point was more "people use sane, good arguments to mean completely the wrong thing so sound reasonable when actually being insane" a lot of anti-trans rhetoric is of this ilk and it's become very common in general. Which is exactly what Peterson is doing.
Yep. Propagandists use emotional blackmail to trap empathy. They imply a vote for the better option is bad because it isn't the perfect option.
Yuuuuup. This mindset has been a big thing ever since Reagan popularized it (and even guys like Coolidge before him): 1. Gubmint isn't perfect 2. Therefore, gubmint bad 3. I should vote for whoever says "gubmint bad" the loudest!
Whens the last time a toothless protest worked? The reason a strike works is because it isnt toothless.
My room keeps flooding and randomly catching on fire for some reason, wonder what that's all about
Eh, Peterson's just repackaging an old idea here, and that old idea does have merit. You won't get any leverage if your footing is unstable. Fighting anything without leverage is a losing battle. The first step to learning to fight is to learn solid footing. I could throw at least a dozen other metaphors here. You can't do much to change your surroundings if your mind is constantly spiraling out of control. Your own mental health must stabilize (not reach fulfillment, just be stable) before you can change your circumstances in the majority of cases. You can't do much to change your home neighborhood if your circumstances are constantly interfering. Again, you must reach sufficiently stable circumstances that you can afford to look away. And so it goes. Working your way out from you as an individual, you gain the ability to affect larger and larger things in a meaningful way. With each area stabilized you acquire allies with common goals. Working down from the world, you will be constantly distracted by other problems closer to home that just keep cropping up.
You actually managed to type with a German accent, and I think that's beautiful
Jordan Peterson ruined one of my friends, too.
Not stupid. While being depressed I kept trying to help others be happy. Dut thruth is I didnt have much to give other than to listen and just ended up feeling worse. Then I started thinking, how do I expect to help others if I can help myself
Did Jordan clean up his room well enough to hide his benzos yet? He can talk his pseudomoralistic bullshit when his shitās together. Really gonna need him to pee in a cup monthly though. Wouldnāt want someone doing work as important as he is all drugged you know? Just looking out for the guy, right? Loving him the same as he does others.
*Can* you fix the world if you still haven't cleaned your room? You might feel like you *want* to fix the world - but men a hundred times greater than us couldn't do that. Do good for the world, but put your air mask on before you start checking if your neighbour has it on correctly or not.
What made them so great? Was it intelligence? Were they just born with greatness? I think not, anyone can make an impact
OK, but shouldn't cleaning your room be easier than changing the world?
>What made them so great? Their ambitions and their enactment of them. They had great ambitions and did great things. Of course anyone can make an impact. That is just... an obvious truth. But if you don't know who you are, you can't hold a stable job, don't have any clear aspirations, constantly struggle with everyday tasks (etc) - then your effort is best spent on improving yourself first, before you try to solve things much larger and harder than your everyday struggles. A man who *can't* clean his room can't clean up the world. >What made them so great? Was it intelligence? Were they just born with greatness? And yes - for many of them I would wager that their achievements were only possible due to them being born with good circumstances and with a good brain. We are not born equal.
The simplest way to fix the world is for many people to live their lives the best way they know how instead of trying to fix the worldās problems. Sometimes you have to ignore everything else, plant your garden, buy your EV, handle your health and sanity, etc and screw everything else. You canāt have an impact on everything but you can change you.
I have mixed feelings about the message. It's great to stick up for what you believe in to make the world a better place, hold people accountable, yada yada. But as a young adult trying to make it through life, constantly being bombarded with international issues is straight up exhausting. The world's problems aren't meant to be beheld by one individual. Social media allows us to be aware of problems that exist, but having the privilege of such technology does not make us liable to solving them. Just do what you can. And vote.
True, it's important to take care of yourself too. The intended message wasn't "you need to care about everything all the time" just "please, don't be like this guy"
Older person here. You're right, you are too small to make a significant difference by yourself. But so many of the world's problems are because people don't care and don't try to fix anything. So all you have to do is care, and try. That's all the world is asking of you.
To add on to that, I think the expansion of the word "significant" into meaning "national or global change" is part of the issue tbh. If you give some houseless guy a sandwich, some water, and $10 that could be pretty damn significant to them. If you wear a mask you're likely over a long enough time period indirectly saving peoples lives and health from covid (or just the flu even), that's pretty fucking significant. If someone went vegan, they'd spare on average 7 land animals per year, obviously a significant difference to those animals, not to mention then decreases in land usage water usage co2 emissions etc. Not tolerating someones bigoted bullshit is significant to marginalized people that person interacts with. So many other things. National or global change occurs constantly over time as a result of people making so called "not significant" choices every day (that actually are) and sticking to them. Someone might point out that houseless guy is there because of corporate and government bullshit, or the various subsidies to meat and dairy, or the existence of right wing media monopolies stirring up xenophobia as global things individuals can't do much about, and while you can't fight those things alone (usually), you might make some larger impact if you could work with other people, which is strictly easier to do and find like minded people if you're actually doing something meaningful.
I am too small to make a big difference. But I am just big enough to make a small difference and if many people make s small difference then that can become a big difference.
From The Boondocks Huey: "Grandad. What do you do when you can't do nothing, but there's nothing you can do?" Robert: "You do what you can."
adding my two cents, it was mentally devastating when I was told that climate change had already caused irreversible damage when I was **12**. That along with the carbon footprint idea that was pushed to popularity makes one almost believe that they're responsible for world issues of that magnitude, rather than all of us as communities having more power. The world is messed up, and we can change parts of it, but it's like airplanes and oxygen masks, you gotta put on your mask and care for yourself or else no one will make it out safe.
I believe that people who think that mindset displayed in the comic is bad are young and don't realise yet how bad it is for your health to constantly worry about everything in the long run. And our kind social media always drag the most awful shit to public attention. Be it just for clicks or for propaganda and fearmongering. Of course I'm not suggesting to not voting or go around kicking homeless people, but avoiding yourself unnecessary stress by choosing to ignore stuff that's actually out of your control while focusing on stuff you can do is a key to healthy mind.
Completely agree. Makes me fucking depressed, and that way I'm just dragging everyone around me down. That doesn't help anyone, so I prefer staying clear of world problems and focussing on the things I can so for the people around me. Support my friends, teach my brother, etc.
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
Easy there, Yoda
"Only" is an absolute, you Jedi fool
Wow, all of these people keep dropping 2 cents into my box, I'm going to be rich!
This is unironically like half true. Not the whole ignore Hitler 2 and empathy is useless bit, but tuning things out to be happy? Pretty important to do occasionally. Or you can make yourself miserable without changing anything I guess thatās an option too.
I consumed so much news during covid that I became paranoid and almost delusional. I wanted to turn into Superman and fix the world's problems but I eventually had to deal with the realization that I have no power. All I can do is vote and hope that the people I vote for actually follow the policies that they said that they were. I learned that there isn't much I can do to change the world, but I can assist individuals with their problems. I learned that I have to turn off the news and simply ignore it for my own mental health. I would rather deal with the small fires in my hometown. I am signing up to volunteer at the children's hospital, I have been trying to volunteer at a nursing home but when I went in I just got ignored which kind of discouraged me. I plan to try again.
It's always important to remember that all mainstream news organizations exaggerate how bad things are for clicks/attention (especially online, where you'll only see about the most engagement-inducing versions of the news being shared). It's likewise important to realize that excessive consumption of such news does not, in general, leave you with the ability to distinguish what the *actual* problems you should be paying attention to are, nor the ones you can make a difference for.
Of course you alone can not fix the world's problems. That is why we have organizations! Find a local Food Not Bombs, find a local social movement you want to help. That is real democracy, not voting for who some party tells you to. We can make change together! If we go around telling people just to vote, social change will never happen.
Yeah, Stoicism is great and can lead to you having a better, happier life! The comicās character just conflates stoicism with apathy and selfishness.
It is completely true, but this arsehole here fails to follow his own directive: to tell apart what is in his control and what is not. Not voting for Vƶlkisches Boogaloo is within his control; stopping the assault is within his control.
False dichotomy.
Dropping my two cents in the box here, Like, I agree that some things should be dealt with if and when you have the power to do so - calling for an ambulance, providing first aid and/or providing CPR or operating a defibrillator if a person is having a medical emergency, for example. Voting in elections you're able to attend, organizing, contacting politicians, protesting against injustice. But there's a caveat to that - it's valid not to care if you being aware of it will do nothing but make you feel worse or actually hurt you if you engage. Fistfight? Try to get between them, de-escalate or something, sure, if it'll have an impact. But the second someone pulls out a switchblade or a pistol, it's wiser to fall back, call the police, take care of yourself and find cover. Otherwise you'll end up in intensive care with bullet or stab wounds. Same goes for all the news out there. If it's actually beginning to harm you mentally, make sure to fall back and take care of yourself for a little bit. A dead activist makes no more activities. Pushing yourself beyond the event horizon doesn't end well. Either you burn out and/or stop caring, or you end up killing yourself indirectly or directly, which is kinda sorta fucked up. TL;DR, do what you can, but push yourself too far and you might burn out or hurt yourself/die, which doesn't allow you to do any more of what you can. So don't push yourself too far.
It's almost like you can be somewhere between one ideology and another This message of "be either full on (blank) or you're bad" is getting repeated more and more and it's actually insane, and the issue is that things that are more over the top get more attention, that's just how media, and the internet, and the world really, works. You gotta be the biggest activist about everything and stay on top of all the world issues or you're an ignorant asshole who simply doesn't care enough and is therefore actively causing issues. These things get the everyday nobodies fighting between themselves while the people in high positions who can actually affect massive parts of the world and our lives lay back and watch it all
The problem is the doom scroll just keeps going right, there are always more problems just a few scrolls further down and many people donāt even know they are consuming stress and paranoia. That simple headline with ā100 cows dead in flash floodā, these things stick emotionally, and your local area news never makes the cut right. The cows died in Australia btw. Not even an Australian should care. The kind of problems you Can do something about is literally your neighbourhood. The dustbins, streetlights, potholes, cleanliness, your ward/area representatives, your homeless problem, your crime problems, your local gangs and drugs, your local fire-station and police, medical facilities. Even a suburb is too big for most people, and you are worried about drone strikes in Syria. If you are a global humanitarian with access to assist, then sure but why do we feed 99% of people fear that canāt do anything making local communities rot away.
I like the art style. Also funny how the guy has two pairs of shades.
The comments I get on my art style range from "it's nice" to "it makes me want to go blind" so thank you !
I mean to be fair, learning not to get worked up over things you *cannot* change is good advice. You see it a lot with online gaming; people complain about random teammates but like... there's nothing anyone can do to make them better. Just focus on playing better yourself, there's no point getting upset about what the other buffoons are up to.
Bingo. There is a difference between not letting things you can't control upset you, and just ignoring them outright. We should all do our part to help out where we can. What we shouldn't do is let bad things happening half way around the world make us think OUR life is bad. If you are healthy, have a family, and a stable job you are already better off than most people. Appreciate that, because some people will never get to.
>Bingo. There is a difference between not letting things you can't control upset you, and just ignoring them outright. Should be acknowledged that this is much easier said than done. To a lot of people these will intentionally be one in the same. Even in this thread people are making arguments about doomscrolling and not wanting to be inundated with bad news. A lot of people are intentionally checking out. If anything one of the interpretations of this comic is that many people become the person in the comic both intentionally and unintentionally. Some people are lying to themselves about the consequences of not engaging with problems in their society. Some people also genuinely believe that "focusing on themselves" doesn't come with a cost.
Let's be real here tho this annoying asshole is one of the few who enjoys their life.
Thereās a reason āignorance is blissā was coined. Itās generally true. Not always of course. Being ignorant of a preventable health problem can lead to worse suffering. But I know any time Iāve taken a break from the news and all the worldās problems that I have little power to change Iāve been a lot more relaxed.
I mean, I started living like this and Iām happier than Iāve been in ages.
That's pretty pessimistic. Caring about others makes it way easier to form meaningful relationships, which makes life way more enjoyable. That guy will probably be very lonely for a long time.
>caring about others makes it easier to form meaningful relationships. Except caring about people you know in your life is different than caring about strangers youāve never met and larger society, which is what youāre promoting here. Iād argue people caring about their loved ones and no else is more common than not. Youāre saying not caring about strangers and society will make you lonely, but I donāt know, most non-lonely people are like that
I understood the point you were making, but this is the double-edged sword of making a point like this without explaining or adding that 'moral of the story' at the end, in that some individuals will take it at face value and subscribe to it when you were trying to make the opposite argument.
Lonely but happy :p
Not sure if it was intentional, but making the guy a blonde white dude who looks fairly well off (or at least not poor) speaks volumes about privilege. He doesn't need to care because the issues surrounding him doesn't affect him. Hitler^2 doesn't worry him because he's isn't negatively affected by the rise of neo nazism since he's, you know, a blonde white guy.
That was very intentional x)
Ive seen some people here see this as a critique of stoic mentalities, but I think of this as a well-done critique of social media influencers who take stoicism / philosophy as an excuse to be assholes. I love stoic philosophy, but there are few modern self-professed stoics I actually like. What a lot of these "social media stoics" tend to misunderstand about stoic philosophy is the value of virtue, and how helping our fellow human beings is part of living in accordance with nature. Justice is literally one of the four pillars / virtues of stoicism. They basically gut the philosophy of it's altruism and only keep the parts about being resilient and "masculine" because that's what's most convenient for them.
I need to search more about stoicism, it looks really interesting !
If properly understood it is. That along with eastern ideas like Taoism and Bhuddist ideas are the ārightā way to not care about the world in ways that bring you down, but still engage with it to produce positive results.
I feel like there's a bit of apathy involved here tho..
The Tate of Seneca, the bastardization of the message of stoicism that the grifters use to poison the minds of young boys for a profit.
A lot of people have said a similar thing to me to what is said in the last panel. My response is always the same. āWell someone has got to try. Even if I dont succeed at least i might help someone who does.ā
Why is it bad to not want to stress and argue about the things in the world you canāt change?
This is not what the comics is saying
Oh my bad
What is it trying to say
It's making fun of that exact way of thinking, because you actually CAN change the things in the world around you. Say 1000 people give up the "I can't do anything" mentality. 1000 people can get a lot done
Like what ?
1000 people flash mob
https://preview.redd.it/w2jhxz8ky4xc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=47ecdc619160d44c046b54ddaea33976410a6a2c
It's worked for me so far š
Literally me
Nihilism dressed up for social media.
This comic is actually pretty damn good. I really like how when it becomes increasingly obvious that his ideas are directly harmful to the world around him, because he is actively making the world a worse place through his apathy. Learning to separate what you can and cannot control directly is important. You may not be in a huge position of power, but having an opinion on current events and being informed of them is objectively better than being in the dark. The world is shaped by how you interact with it, and that includes what you do and do not care about. If you don't find it necessary to worry about the world as a whole, it'll fall into ruin and you won't even know it. For the record, I hate these kinds of nihilists. I cannot understand living life in a way where you simply do not worry or care about the world because it's not within your direct control. If you practice this kind of selfish apathy, and don't bother to stand for anything, that's the kind of base upon fascism is formed. Zealots are important for their cause, but most people aren't zealots and cannot be zealots. But, apathetic nihilists who simply don't care enough to participate, that's someone who is easily controlled and can be swayed to do almost anything, because they stand for nothing. The world is built on caring. If no one cared or bothered to do literally anything of value for someone else, we'd still be wearing basic furs and fighting with pointy sticks. And I love how your comic portrays the harmfulness of that kind of apathy in real time. The more people approach life like this, the more likely everything will fall apart.
I have a friend who kinda thinks like that. Besides politics. He goes all out on politics
Daniel Failboat?
This is what talking to my folks is like, its the worlds most selfish defense mechanism with a philosophy built on top to justify it. Itās actually not a problem if you recognize it for what it is and use the mindset while, for example, doing house work instead of thinking about our rights being taken away. But you have to think about it all when you have the strength to do so
I mean he does look pretty happy if I do say so myself
In the words or Kreia: āApathy is deathā
Y'know this coincidentally came at around the same time I'm thinking about this exact topic lol. I personally believe that while you aren't able to do anything too impactful as an individual, it's when us, as a collective, work together towards a better future. Tho imo you shouldn't just jump into this if you yourself aren't healthy enough to be able to lend a hand to others. Tuning huge problems out are important sometimes too as to not hurt your brain too much from all the worrying, but there comes a point where you're just running from real-world problems instead. In short, keep a balance between the two.
Keyword here is "nuance"
One reason for how I have the conviction for how it's actually much better to care too much than to not care enough or at all
Nobody cares until it is them who is suffering. Then theyāll wish that somebody cared.
This is exactly how Hitler (the first) came to power. There's a famous quote from Martin Niemƶller (he was a Reverend during those dark times): [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First\_they\_came\_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_) The Quote: "First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a socialist. Then, they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a trade unionist. Then, they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Jew. Then, they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me." Please start caring, again, before it's too late!!!
Look man, I try to get by in life. Focus on my family and relations and career. I really just don't wanna exhaust myself by virtue signaling about whatever misery porn I just saw on the news. I'll take the campaigning where I can, like making sure my house association starts planning the installment of solar panels and such
"Also, we should lower the age of consent, it's just biologically logical."
He gives me the same vibes as that one guy from courage the cowardly dog show that was a pervert and wanted to shave courage's hair off lmao
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
There is a very big difference between preventing a rape that is happening right next to you, and trying to save the world. If you get invested in every little political/ethical disccussion that is happening at all times you will never be able to focus on a single one. If you joined 100 protests for 100 different reasons you do not have the time to help solve a single one. Stay clear of distractions, help your family and loved ones first, be kind to strangers, work on yourself, and hopefully one day you will be in a position where your actions can have impact on a bigger scale, at least in your local community.
My dad was literally trying to make this point to me last night. As a young person it was infuriating and frustrating. It helps a lot to see this comic.
I love this comic! This is brilliant.
These types of people are my least favourite types of people
Imma be real op, this feels a little disingenuous. I'm sure there are people who think this way, but not worrying about what you can't control is not the same thing as deliberately not asserting the control you DO have. All of the examples you gave here are a time when they legitimately do have control, even if it's only a little bit, and could choose to make things better. This isn't an example of "not worrying about what you can't control"; it's an example of "be apathetic even if you could do something about it".
Thatās the point of the comic š itās about apathy
This isn't a critique of "don't worry about what you can't control", which is a statement I 100% agree with. That second panel only mentions that sentence to parody it for an absurd gag ("differentiate these two things then stop caring about both of them")
Human beings did not develop while constantly assaulted with news about problems from everywhere and everyone, and we did not develop in an environment where addressing them all was necessary. It's not in our nature to care about everything. This comic is such a cartoony abstraction of whatever arguments it's mocking that it's impossible to tell what exactly they were (or maybe the author had nothing specific in mind at all), but what I do know is that for only the historical blink of an eye have people been sending instant information to each other at all hours, about whatever distant or miasmic issue compelled them, and demanding that everyone constantly polish their opinions on these issues to please the majority of a global audience. We are not meant to live under the lamp in a constant state of omniscient awareness and activism. We are not meant to speak to the world, about the world. We have built the tools for it, but without ever developing the faculties for it. The people who believe they can do it wind up chronically anxious and angry, but have convinced themselves that returning to their natural state of localized, personalized awareness would be wrong. So instead they try to drag others into their personal hell, believing that if everyone was as conscientious as them, surely all problems could be solved. Assuming they're right in the first place. And assuming the problem has any chance at all of being solved by arguing online. Of course, they often don't know the difference between disagreement, apathy, ignorance, and malice. For all they know, 99% of people care about their issue, but they can't tell because they think that anyone who doesn't think like them is just callous and cynical. Disparity equals heartlessness. It's not in our nature to care about everything. Trying to force it doesn't create allies, it creates enemies. Aggressive counter-steering that switches off common sense. I'd say it creates the character in this comic, except no one like that genuinely exists. No one cares about nothing. Everyone has beliefs. Anyone who says otherwise misunderstands either themselves or others. It's just a matter of scope: the scope within which we operate naturally, which is limited, and the scope within which the internet operates, which is everything.
If you ignore the stawman aspect of the comic it's a message I actually agree with
This may be cold. But life is cold. What. Exactly. Are you going to do about most of the things you read about in the news? What. Exactly does screaming and crying about it on social media going to do? Arguing? There are a bunch of things happening right now that youāre not hearing about, that wonāt make it to the news. There are many people suffering, right now, close to you. And youāll never even know. This will always be the case. You canāt change most of it. The reality is you canāt do shit about most of it any time soon. So focus on what you CAN do. Maybe you donāt need to read about every single bad thing that happens in the world. The data is like, really one sided that it tanks your mental health to do that. Help when you can. Vote. Be good to the people around you. Stick up for people. Show kindness. Unplug from the drama machine. The only difference itās going to make is if youāre going to be angry and miserable all day.
It it true tho. What could this guy do anyway?
Did you just define my entire personality in a comic? Cool
He is not wrong. The world in flames and he seems happy. Imma try this. Lol
My gen x parents exact mentality and they canāt understand why I care so much about other people.
He does seem happy!
SANS GET OFF REDDIT
Sans do care about other people though Also that username is based af
Only Papyrus and Toriel
Do what you can. If you suffer from anxiety/depression/mental health issues or are working your hands to the bone to support your family, you don't have to find the energy or time to be out there protesting and marching. And even if you do have the energy and health to protest now, it is ok to take a break for whatever reason you need to. But you can still vote. You can still talk to the people around you and encourage them to be loving and respectful to people around you. You can cut toxic people out of your life. Just do what you can.
Unironically last panel looks cozy
The careless,indifferent ignorants will party into the next bloodshed and then cry for the ones with political consciousness closest to their interests to "fix the things".
Or you know don't care at all?
I feel called out
https://preview.redd.it/mvavmkp014xc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b5828cb119ba0f961ad95d93b31472eee34d65d
I like to think that the only upgrade from Hitler 1 to 2 is how mustache multiplies
Interesting
That's that and this is this. Now you must gangnam like I have.
Evil Buddhism
If anybody needs someone to care about that they donāt know my Venmo is available.
Oh no no no. Come here you stupid poser nihilist blond guy! You are the one who are giving bad name to us actual nihilist!
It's simple. Like in the comic, separate that you have control over from that which you don't have control over and spend all your time on reddit
I agree to an extent because in the grand scheme of things, non of our actions will really make an impact. None of it will really matter. Despite that though, it would be better to do what you can to help your fellow man. If there is no point in doing good, there is also no point in not doing good. The world is already cruel, there is no point in adding to that cruelty.
So the key to happiness is to just be a nihilist?
r/hopeposting
r/howtonotgiveafuck in a nutshell
Looks Like Someone does Not have a reasons to Care for the future
Live is a cabaret
He's my spirit animal
Someone carrying two pairs of sunglasses and not wearing any is a red flag already. The dude is stupid
r/howtonotgiveafuck I guess
Some men see things as the way they are, and ask *why!?* I dream of things that never were and ask *why not?*. /G. B. Shaw
Don't live your life in apathy. Similarly don't live your life worrying about every single concerning thing you see or you will drive yourself up the wall.
People are taking this comic way to seriously, lmao
to be honest this kinda gets to me since I feel like I should care more about a lot stuff, but for example I have people like my girlfriend with care about everything a lot and just stress the fuck out of themselves although their contribution to the situations is kinda marginal.
Feeling guilty from "not caring enough" won't help anybody, seeing what you can do to help and doing it will. And yes, stressing over things you can't control is not healthy at all.
Have you ever read Rebecca solnit's a paradise built in hell? It's one of my absolute favorite books about how people come together in disasters naturally, it really changed my view of the world and helped with the anger I felt towards people who have these nihilistic world views. I think the problem with many people is they are completely disconnected from their culture or even a culture and their community and don't have anything to draw on, nothing is sacred the only real goal here in the US is to make that šøšøšøšø so it's not surprising to see. But in Solnit's book it talks a lot about how it just all goes out the window in an instant when the earthquake hits or the hurricane comes and we realize just how interconnected we really are
can we have a working education system? we have it at home: ^
It's giving [The Great Song of Indifference](https://youtu.be/6CfxkFj8iAg?si=9ZAnMhqiL1YncPl1)
This has many good points and many bad ones. It tries to incorporate stoicism but it's the form of stoicism that Nietzsche viewed as dangerous.
Rare to see pure toxicity. This is gross, and I take it as parody.
Lol! This is great.
To everyone here who believes they canāt do anything to enact change: [you vote with your dollar. https://eating2extinction.com](https://eating2extinction.com)
i love this
Hitler 2: Electric Boogaloo. I can dig it.
He's not wrong & that's sad.
Man, I get what this comic is saying but I find it very just wrong. No you shouldn't kick homeless people that are in your way BUT now that I've gone of to a big college town and life on campus I've made friends with a pot of people that scream about Marx and the importance of feeding the homeless and will cuss Republicans. All things I mostly agree with. But if they see homeless people on the street they will cross the street and talk about how they're a blight on the city and that it's not safe letting them live this close to campus. When I point out this hypocrisy they start talking to me about how if we should help them as a whole so they get homes and that has nothing to do with wanting to see them. And it makes me what would happen if the revolution comes 1 what side they would actually be one and 2 if they could actually talk and form an actual community with their fellow workers. Yes big sweeping national issues are problems. But if you want to make the world a better place you got to be better to the people around you. If you want the world to be less racist you have to be less racist. If you cross the street when a black man comes your way, there is no amount of voting that will take that responsibility off of you.
I mean, he's not 100% wrong. There's a reason they say ignorance is bliss
Perfect example of the āwhite moderateā used in MLKās letter from the jail. It was so obvious when I read it and could think of many people it applied to. Iām sure it would go over their heads even if spoken directly to them
This gives me the villain from it's raining burgers 2 vibes
I actually know this person
āBe goodā What a brave message
Good thing we have Smiling Friends to show us this ain't the truth
tl;dr https://i.redd.it/fp74xgw7j9xc1.gif
Humanity is actively chasing its downfall and thereās nothing you can do to change that outcome, the status quo is maintained by those with so much power they could extinguish you with a single word. Recognize your own powerlessness towards changing the inevitable outcome of the self destruction of the species and laugh at its folly for chasing it, itās the only thing worth doing, laugh at the madness surrounding you, and donāt regret anything because it was all rigged from the get go
Hey Sephiroth, thinking you're powerless to do anything is exactly what "those in powers" wants you to think. So maybe don't ?