This is corny as hell but it does make you feel better to do something nice whether that is supporting a good newspaper or raking someone’s leaves or sending a friend an actual card in the mail. I’m getting Mister Rogers pilled in this fucker.
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Got a “thanks for being a good friend” card in the mail yesterday - and now I’m out here checking on my people and volunteering to chaperone the middle school dance. For those of us predisposed to kindness, let’s get radical.
I know Covid exacerbated this but it feels like a lot of all of this terrible stuff is because people can only communicate through being selfish dickheads nowadays and maybe it’s meaningless but it feels good to try and dig out
Like the reason we all love Star Trek and Terry Pratchet and all these pop culture things is because most of them are various shades of “caring about people is better than being an ironic asshole all the time” and somewhere inside of most people we recognize that as how we go forward
That’s the underlying theme of pretty much every children’s book too, so I guess a lot of the hate we’re seeing stems from some childhood problems.
Either people weren’t being read to and given moral guidance as kids, or something happened which has caused them to reject their childhood morality
Yeah, but honestly this is exactly what's so depressing for me: I've always felt that I'm on not just the morally correct side of the ledger, but the majority and therefore future side of it.
The Gen Z love for Trump (he won 1st time voters by 15+ points) is appalling and frankly terrifying
Yeah, as with a lot of groups tons of you do (the smart ones), but the data is pretty clear that compared to other groups when they were at your age, Gen Z swung right (especially young men)
That's the thing, voters. And young people are almost universally the demographic that turns out the least. Any narrative of "the young are fascist now" needs to be heavily scrutinized.
Way too many people on the left see media that embraces kindness as cringe but how the fuck else are we going to mass model basic human decency for people?
Pratchett's novels are a great example of this — I read some of the Discworld ones recently ("Snuff" and "Making Money") after about a decade of not reading any of his books, and I gained a newfound respect for his empathy and warmth that resonates from the seemingly depressing worlds he created
All personnel, this is Captain Pike. Starfleet... is a promise: I'd give my life for you, you'd give your life for me. And nobody gets left behind. Ensign Sylvia Tilly is out there and she has every right to expect us. We keep our promises.
The utter unironic sincerity of it all is honestly a big part of why I like attending the local Unitarian church. No, they aren’t always the most effective at any of the things they set out to do. But they are very sincere.
Some heartfelt things in entertainment can be embarrassing but the idea it’s innately cringe is a pox on us all and it’s infinitely preferable to Marvel ass characters being like uhhh so THAT happened when a thousand people burn alive
This and Albert's monologue both stunned me because they come out of nowhere in the moment and immediately reveal another facet of the character. At this point we know Garland pretty well but watching Albert suddenly go from a snarky asshole to the most sincere human being on the planet hits so hard
this is why i don't care for the new treks -- they're not about teams of altruists actually doing their best to make the world better, which is what I come to trek for
People’s natural sociability is being fucked with by the powers (oligarch-influencers, if you will) who are profiting mightily from this socially fragmented world they’re steering us into in which we’re competing against each other for so much of what we all need.
No joke watched Groundhogs Day a few months back, and it changed my brain chemistry to want to earnestly help people out of the kindness of your own heart. The world just feels brighter and warmer when you have that desire and outlook to do good just cause
this is why I loved Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Built in Hell: helping others is, in a way, helping yourself, and it feels good to see an issue and solve it quickly
I recognized a vet clinic logo on someone's jacket today and I told him they did wonderful work for my cat's last day and I was very grateful to them. Very glad I got to thank him!
I've been my Uncle's chauffeur to see his wife in the hospital. He's not from the area, she was sent to Stanford and had a glossectomy pro-bono. Being able to help him get around has been a wonderful distraction. Glad I can be there for family.
I made cookies for my neighbors yesterday - felt much better. I can't fix everything, but I can be nice to my neighbors and work towards webs of connection
Yes, I've made it a point if I'm out shopping to say something nice to the cashier ringing me up. To see someone smile because of a compliment really makes me feel good and I know I've made their day a bit brighter.
Being kind gives you an oxytocin boost, which lifts your mood as much as it lifts the mood of others. Science says being good to others is good for us. How about that, eh?
@treblaw.bsky.social does a thing every year where he and his followers clear the wishes of foster kids on https://onesimplewish.org. Stuff like buying an 8-year-old a $20 purse for church
Yes!! Let’s go with the Mister Rogers approach. I’ve been thinking about him recently. I have some disgruntled neighbors, old old HS classmates, who latches to trump — they are lonely and looking for brotherly love. Calling them fascist cultists failed. Let’s bring back love.
no you’re totally right when I was in college chased an old lady across a parking lot because she left her money in the atm and I was riding that high for a week
i have seen so many people doomposting. motivating them not only feels good to do, but it feels right to do. if we don’t take care of the people we love, then we are lost.
I think at this point we need to take seriously the idea of essentially radical kindness and just modeling to a whole bunch of people who seem to have forgotten that no, we do not have to be terrible to each, we can in fact build each other up for all our benefit.
A thing I felt super afraid of yesterday was that I think people will get worse toward each other. With two kids that's a huge worry on top of everything else. I will need to model how to be kind, and generous, and human. We may end up being marks, but I don't know another way to be.
I was thinking this way since I was 10 and I honestly think we need to do this more than ever now. I want to call it the Mr Rogers Club or Movement and get people to start doing kind things for others. I never understood not sharing, not helping, and not giving for free.
We see programs in our own community trying it so why can't we? If I have the time and don't need something, why not give it to someone or help someone who does? And what do I get out of it? I personally am just happy that that person is going to live more comfortably just cuz I helped. Simple logic
It's not corny tho depressed MFS about to kill themselves don't see shib as corny or funny it's life or death for them. It's serious we need to be strong enough not nervously laugh at shib and say shib isn't funny anymore. There is movement brewing.
My hateful family member hates that I'm nice... Smh. How did we get here 😢 but I preserve though. 😊 All we can do is be our best and smile past the hate
100% !! it’s super important to focus on community- now more than ever. bake cookies for your neighbours, volunteer at a charity shop or your local youth club, try seeing what events your local community puts on and try and get involved !!
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But also punch Nazis. Don’t be kind to them.
Lincoln
They're trying to fill a void in themselves with misery and pain they inflict on everyone else.
It'll never work.
Either people weren’t being read to and given moral guidance as kids, or something happened which has caused them to reject their childhood morality
The Gen Z love for Trump (he won 1st time voters by 15+ points) is appalling and frankly terrifying
The only cure for despair is to do something for someone else
(probably misquoted, but it’s a good principle)
Digging out my button-down sweaters now.