I actually help train for combating disinformation and the such, I could forward you a few docs if you’re interested in the read.

I’ve come across Against The Machine by Paul Kingsnorth. This is pretty much getting at the same. He’s a great writer, imo.

I’m unsure weather to recommend it because it sometimes seems like a kill-or-cure solution, but maybe read into philosophical nihilism. (Not the popular notion of nihilism, which is as connected to philosophical nihilism as popular conceptions of anarchy are to philosophical concepts of anarchy, which is to say almost not at all. Also, read the books, don’t try to watch youtuber attempts to interpret them.) Nietzsche and Henri Bergson are, for the most part, said to be approachable reading for a competent reader.

it’s the same goddamn cycle over and over

This is the key. The people you can trust are the people who are going against that cycle.

Bringing up the Bible on Lemmy is generally a no-no, but I love Ecclesiastes. It’s a book about meaninglessness. Everything is the same as it has always been and there is nothing of true value; everything is meaningless. It’s the same goddamn cycle. While when it was written is debatable, it’s comforting and horrible to know someone thousands of years ago saw things the same way I do. Comforting, because I’m not alone in how I feel. Horrible in that people still feel this way after thousands of years.

The writer’s conclusion is to fear God and keep his commandments. The commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Loving your neighbor as yourself means being kind and empathetic. Kindness and empathy solve nearly everything.

So, even though it may achieve nothing, be kind and empathetic. Cling to people who are kind and empathetic. Be an oasis amid the hate.

It’s sometimes easier to focus on solutions that would rebalance this imbalance of power.

IMO, wealth redistribution is the single most important policy for limiting the influence of the rich. A UBI funded by perpetually redistributing all excess wealth over a certain point would prevent anyone from gaining enough money to break the systems we depend on.

From the political power angle, removing representatives at any level and replacing them with direct democracy or direct influence from the people removes the opportunity for our representatives to be corrupt.

UBI funded by wealth redistribution and direct democracy, these are the tools that will allow humanity to break the wheel.

Honestly, in my opinion, follow the money. In any situation, try to figure out who will be making money. That’s where the truth is today.

Politicians --> money

Corporations --> money

News --> money

TV/Music/Movies --> money

I give trust relatively easy, but if anyone ever abuses it or breaks it, they lose it forever. Though there are things i wont trust to anyone unless I ABSOLUTELY have to and then i’ll be very wary and anxious unless its someone i would trust with life of a loved one.

But i’d say start with people who are critical with the bullshit that is going on (and seem okay people in general, not the moon is made of jewish prezels wackos obviously). Try making friends with someone who supports lqbt rights for example, or someone who is concerned about loss of privacy, or someone who understands how shitty corporations are.

Most dont seem to bother even entertaining the thought of thinking about such things, why bother when there is new iphone whatever to be bought and new episode of some crappy reality tv to be watched, and news tell you what to think anyway. So its very understandable how you feel about this, especially considering how you have just recently awoken to the realisation.

For me, i’m on the stage of trying to not care and kind of looking forward to end of the civilization while simultaneously wanting to live current somewhat okay life even though its slowly getting worse too. I want to care, but since there is nothing i can do nor have any community that cares which i could try supporting, there is not much else to be done than fall into involuntary apathy.

Volunteer work might also help you, that way you would almost definitely find decent people and could also do some good. Though there are some pitfalls even with that one, like red cross is okay and all but its so big organization i dont think it has only helping in mind anymore, not with people on top getting paid big money or them suing other helper organizations (i have just heard they have done this, no idea if it has been justified or not. It just feels wrong if those other groups have actually tried helping people).

So far it has been quite lonely road, not wanting to tolerate all the shit that is going on in the world and watching people not able to even understand the existence of patterns of the reasons for that shit, or just not caring so much its the same thing.

I hope you can get at least something out of this mess i wrote.

“the establishment regains control”? Bruh Trump is the establishment.

Anyway, figuring out what to trust can be tricky. That’s why I like to sometimes lean on rationalist practices. Learn what fallacies are, learn to how to spot them, and a lot of lies become apparent.

Trust is something that depends on repeat interactions - it’s earned and built, not freely given. Turn off the phone, the TV and the computer for a while each day and focus on the people around you. Your local community, your friends your family. The more you directly interact with somebody, the more potential is there for you to build up trust - maybe even mutual trust!

Read the book The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Or better yet, listen to the Carey Elwes (Westley from The Princess Bride) read it on audiobook. It tells all about charlatans and conmen, and how to be skeptical and detect their bullshit. It’s the kind of book you can skip around in too, so it’s an easy read, not too weighty, but with lots of great info and stories.

Carl Sagan was amazing.

Look at everything, never limit your information diet to things that back up your opinion. Challenge everything. If its true, it will hold up to scrutiny. If its bullshit, you’ll find a fuck load of people calling you an asshole, but never explaining why.

i am 100% sober…and…that’s honestly the scariest part for me.

There’s your problem, I only drink stuff which declares its authenticity in terms of a % of ‘proof’. It doesn’t help at all in any real sense, but it takes your mind off it.

The way I go about trust is that if there’s a big name within 500 yards of something, don’t trust it.

So it seems like it’s something about politics but I’m not clear what you mean, like what’s an “arithmetic bubble”? What’s “it”?

You’re touching on the idea of a “truth baseline” as I call it. How do you know what’s real vs bullshit?

My truth baseline is that maintaining the habitability of Earth is good. From that, I can deduce the following:

• excessive carbon dioxide in atmosphere is bad
• reliance on fossil fuels is bad
• clean renewable energy is good
• people who rail against renewables are bad
• political part(ies) that do the same are bad
• news figures that normalize that are bad

Etc. See where this is headed?

The ambiguity of whether someone is good or not is due to goodness being a subjective quality. There is no such thing as objective good. The closest thing to objective good we can attain is sustainability.

The same can be said about truth. If you want something objective, that’s called fact. Truth is a subjective perception of facts. Thus… there is no one correct truth. Just an openness to adjust to new information while dismissing those who are opposed to your truth baseline.