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Comment by silisili | Hacker News Reader

In the US, society is increasingly breaking down and will accelerate in doing so.

This is actually not true. The entire world has never been more at peace than it ever has been throughout all of human civilization. Crime is down, lifespans are longer.... the only thing that I can think of that's definitively worse is wealth inequality.

While the world has improved our perception of the world has turned increasing negative. This is mostly because of the media and how the media uses fear to grab attention. But make no mistake, your children and you live in a world that is safer than it ever has been in the history of humankind.

#dontlookup

I thought it was ok. Basically left-wing hollywood throwing rocks at the right-wing big-wig corporate culture, which was admittingly quite hilarious. But, 10 mins in and I've already seen 1) Marijuana 2) LGBTQ references 3) Race/Racism points being made. I wish they also added some satire of the progressives.

I tend to think of myself as a bit of a conservative centrist, and thought it did a decent job insulting everyone. Probably the right more than the left, but that's to be expected given who made it.

I didn't find the main villain to be right wing. If anything, a BezosZuckerbergMusk conglomeration that acted pretty annoyingly progressive in mannerisms and requests.

To me the left was portrayed as social media addicted idiots, and the right as purposefully ignorant idiots(dont look up). In the end, I think someone on either side would end up offended.

They want you to be constantly looking at the wrong place.

Well, I did post it as 'outrageous.'

From a zoomed out view, you're right. We've got it pretty sweet.

But between COVID, which to this day people can't even agree is a real thing...political divides, worker shortages, etc... it's been a tough year. Crime is up -hugely- this year, especially murders. I see people just routinely running red lights like they don't exist, going 120 down i95, and just don't see cops anymore.

I think it's probably a lot to do with media, social media, COVID restrictions and shutdowns, and housing becoming unaffordable... half the people are just at the breaking point all the time this year.

Well I assume this thread is looking for things that are "outrageous" but also genuinely believed to be true. If I can easily defeat your belief with an argument is it true?

I came here interested in seeing outrageous beliefs and arguments that validate their beliefs enough for deeper examination.

> If I can easily defeat your belief with an argument is it true

I do not feel defeated, nor that I no longer believe what I wrote.

What I was trying to agree with is that if you step back and look at the good things, life doesn't seem so bad.

But at the same time, I still feel like -society- is crumbling. In the US, because I don't experience life in other countries.

For people in jobs where real wages haven't kept up with inflation, and where full-time employment isn't available, I would say things are definitely worse than the post-war era. People increasingly cannot afford healthcare, childcare, or even a place to live. The work that is available is being made less safe and more taxing by relentlessly monitoring employees and gutting labour protections. 50 years ago being a taxi driver could be a career, now it's an app where you have to grovel to get 5 star reviews. Working in a warehouse you're measured down to the second on how you move boxes, all day.

Nobody knows how bad social media will end up being for society. For all the criticism of the news media, there are incidents all over the world of hate crimes being motivated by social media spreading rumours quickly and widely. The way that likes and retweets exploit the neurochemistry of our brains to make us produce increasingly incendiary content for people we've never met is going to be looked at like asbestos or leaded gasoline in a hundred years.

Wealth inequality may have worsened over the past, say, 20-50 years, but is it really that bad historically?

I'd much rather be poor today than 100 years ago.

People derive a sense of success not from actual wealth, but from wealth relative to their peers.

I'd rather be a rich ancient Chinese emperor then a modern poor person even though a modern poor person has luxuries no ancient Chinese emperor can ever hope to have.

I think the “nuclear temperature” is getting hotter, although not at all-time highs

tbf, OP did limit his statement to the US, not the world, much less the history of humankind.

Well I mean he said the "US is breaking down." When you say something like that I assume there's a reference point for comparison because it's a controversial statement. People have different opinions about whether or not the US is "breaking down" and it's not entirely a crystal clear fact.

I feel comparing the US to all of civilization is a fair comparison.

> The entire world has never been more at peace than it ever has been throughout all of human civilization

This statement heavily depends on the definition of "war". I don't have the data, but yes, it might very well be true that we have less armed conflicts going on at the moment than any time before.

However, I am convinced that we are currently in an ongoing global war - but this war is very different from the "traditional" ones. Instead of being based on large-scale armed conflicts, it's mainly waging in media, courtrooms, governments, elections and online forums. And the sides in this war are less clearly delineated than we're used to.

But the effects of this war are no less real then those of other types of conflicts; just less obvious.

>But the effects of this war are no less real then those of other types of conflicts; just less obvious.

The greatest effect of war is mass slaughter and death. The actual effect of war is on a different level than even the "woke" movement.

A single man named "George Floyd," out of a population of millions dies and the accused officer (who is obviously a racist out to slaughter all black people) is sentenced to prison as a martyr. A lot of people would say from this that society is breaking down. I beg to differ. This is society confused and with too many first world problems to worry about.

This is on a very different scale than a machine gun mowing down an entire beach of soldiers on omaha during WW2.

I've always appreciated Dan Carlin's line "climbing the ladder in wooden shoes and descending in silk slippers". Post WW2 was the pinnacle of our achievements and we've been coasting since. It's going to take something traumatic to make us hard and capable again or we're going to dry up what we have left and descend into disorder.

It takes hard people to build a functioning society.

I always hoped 9/11 would rejigger us, but I guess it's too late for that.

Is that why pax romana lasted for 800 years or what? Imo the "hard people" meme needs to die.

I agree with you but Rome went through wax and wane phases for 800 years. Just because you were born in those 800 years doesn't mean life was good. Hell, 60-80% of those emperors were absolute shit or murdered before they could do anything.

It’s the old hard-men/easy times trope again

Even if the meme dies, nature will reenforce it eventually. If you extend into the future past your expected life time this is inevitable.

No government in human history has lasted more than couple hundred years. I doubt the US will be any different. The only question is if it'll be violent civil war or if it'll just be an uneventful transition to the next republic like many European countries in the last century.

Agreed. The US is on the brink of getting ripped apart by a civil war.

We can see that is actually happening and so it's a fact. Belief is only necessary when you can't see what is actually happening. In this case society breaking down. We have seen it. It is true!

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