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Are these the worst of times?

Are these the worst of times?

  • yes

    Votes: 2 3.7%

  • no

    Votes: 49 90.7%

  • other

    Votes: 3 5.6%
  • Total voters
    54
  • Poll closed .
mrjurrs

mrjurrs

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I just don't think humans are hardwired to deal with all of the negative news coming from everywhere in the world. This morning I thought to myself that 'I would not be surprised to look up at the sunrise and see a swarm of locusts heading my direction.
 
mrjurrs said:
I just don't think humans are hardwired to deal with all of the negative news coming from everywhere in the world. This morning I thought to myself that 'I would not be surprised to look up at the sunrise and see a swarm of locusts heading my direction.
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That image of locusts is scary indeed. I believe things might nearing a point of craziness like we've never seen. Definitely feels like we are in a cooker and the pressure keeps building.
 
mrjurrs said:
I just don't think humans are hardwired to deal with all of the negative news coming from everywhere in the world. This morning I thought to myself that 'I would not be surprised to look up at the sunrise and see a swarm of locusts heading my direction.
Click to expand...

No, I think we've had worst in relatively recent times (WWII), and definitely over the country's long history (Spanish Flu, Great Recession, Civil War, 1812, etc.).

But I must admit this current pandemic, now become endemic, is pretty damn oppressive!
 
mrjurrs said:
I just don't think humans are hardwired to deal with all of the negative news coming from everywhere in the world. This morning I thought to myself that 'I would not be surprised to look up at the sunrise and see a swarm of locusts heading my direction.
Click to expand...
These are the best of times. That said, given what were are capable of as a species, our current state could be so much better.
 
Not even close. For starters human lifespan has doubled in the past 100 years. Most of us live a lifestyle of comforts our grandparents couldn't have even dreamed of. The world is more peaceful than it's been at almost any time in history. Despite the hysterical headlines terrorist attacks have declined and crime rates are down. Throughout the world poverty is in decline, diseases are being eradicated or at least managed.

This is so far the best time to be alive on this planet.
 
The worst of times was the early 20th century. This doesnt even come close but we are getting there.
 
mrjurrs said:
I just don't think humans are hardwired to deal with all of the negative news coming from everywhere in the world. This morning I thought to myself that 'I would not be surprised to look up at the sunrise and see a swarm of locusts heading my direction.
Click to expand...
Are you kidding me? Worse than WW2? Worse than a polio epidemic? Worse than a depression that lasts for a decade+? Worse than black Americans not getting an enforceable right to vote until 1964? Worse than the Vietnam Era? Whatever you are smoking stop. If you are not smoking start.
 
Move to the country. You will be just fine there in the wilderness! ;)
 
Allan said:
Not even close. For starters human lifespan has doubled in the past 100 years. Most of us live a lifestyle of comforts our grandparents couldn't have even dreamed of. The world is more peaceful than it's been at almost any time in history. Despite the hysterical headlines terrorist attacks have declined and crime rates are down. Throughout the world poverty is in decline, diseases are being eradicated or at least managed.

This is so far the best time to be alive on this planet.
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Bad times are usually preceded by the false sense that it’s all unicorns and rainbows.

The old adage that it is “darkest before the dawn” is also true if reversed.
 
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.


Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
 
Jkca1 said:
Are you kidding me? Worse than WW2? Worse than a polio epidemic? Worse than a depression that lasts for a decade+? Worse than black Americans not getting an enforceable right to vote until 1964? Worse than the Vietnam Era? Whatever you are smoking stop. If you are not smoking start.
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In WW2, about 407k died in 4 years. We're at 630k over 18 months. Polio killed about 3,500 Americans annually at its height In CA we're experiencing the second year in a row of record wildfire damage. Ida hits the coast on the same day as Katrina did. A freaking condo fell down in FL. We're in an economy that doesn't work for a plurality of our people. Americans that are black are still denied voting rights 50 years later.

So yes, I'd say we are worse off today than at any of the challenges you mention.
 
NolanVoyd said:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.


Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
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Someone recently misattributed that opening passage, I can’t remember who……
 
mrjurrs said:
In WW2, about 407k died in 4 years. We're at 630k over 18 months. Polio killed about 3,500 Americans annually at its height In CA we're experiencing the second year in a row of record wildfire damage. Ida hits the coast on the same day as Katrina did. A freaking condo fell down in FL. We're in an economy that doesn't work for a plurality of our people. Americans that are black are still denied voting rights 50 years later.

So yes, I'd say we are worse off today than at any of the challenges you mention.
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You seem to have left out the 6 million plus that died in concentration camps during WWII.
 
We'll get through this but for some people it's going to be a hard ride. I do know this: I've never seen so many uneducated, weird, nasty-ass, mostly ignorant Politicians in my life that at the present, we have to put up with. It's like they were raised by a coven of insane crocodiles.
 
reflechissez said:
You seem to have left out the 6 million plus that died in concentration camps during WWII.
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75 million people died during WWII, 4.5 million have died from Covid. Not even close is it.
 
Rexedgar said:
Someone recently misattributed that opening passage, I can’t remember who……
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I'm surprised that would happen. It's pretty recognizable to most people I would think.
 
Allan said:
I'm surprised that would happen. It's pretty recognizable to most people I would think.
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I can’t find the link, IIRC, someone thought they were quoting Victor Hugo/Les Miserables
 
reflechissez said:
You seem to have left out the 6 million plus that died in concentration camps during WWII.
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Not to diminish the holocaust, but don't you think that over the last 4 years more than 6 million global citizens have been killed by govt actions based solely on maintaining their power?
 
Times are weird, but the 30 Years War is still the champion Bad Times.
 
mrjurrs said:
I just don't think humans are hardwired to deal with all of the negative news coming from everywhere in the world. This morning I thought to myself that 'I would not be surprised to look up at the sunrise and see a swarm of locusts heading my direction.
Click to expand...

It is a reasonable question, but I would answer no, mrjurrs. It can get a whole Hell of a lot worse. We are suffering a pandemic that has killed as many people as we lost during the Civil War, people are at one another's throats politically, we were defeated in war that cost us over two trillion dollars, but all that said our society is still functioning. We are not a failed state. We are still prosperous. We are still united. Will it last? I hope so. But let us not spit on our luck.
 
Felis Leo said:
It is a reasonable question, but I would answer no, mrjurrs. It can get a whole Hell of a lot worse. We are suffering a pandemic that has killed as many people as we lost during the Civil War, people are at one another's throats politically, we were defeated in war that cost us over two trillion dollars, but all that said our society is still functioning. We are not a failed state. We are still prosperous. We are still united. Will it last? I hope so. But let us not spit on our luck.
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Can't argue with your positives, and yes, it could get a lot worse. However...our society is functioning for most, but not all of us and yes we are prosperous but that portion who are not are falling into greater levels of poverty and I'd have to say that I take issue with the 'still united' comment. If this is united, what's not united, open warfare?
 
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