• WolfLink@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      We had a chance to make some radical societal changes. Working from home became socially acceptable. Commuting disappeared, and the environment noticeably improved. People had more time to take care of themselves and work on hobbies while also still getting their work done.

      Then as soon as bans on working in person were lifted, companies decided they had to bring people back to office in order to justify the expense of the office building.

    • criitz@reddthat.com
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      6 days ago

      Bidenism didn’t change shit. He was just the guy between Trump. In the future it’s Trump that will shape this chapter in the history book.

      • SolacefromSilence@fedia.io
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        6 days ago

        Republicans are the gas pedal and Dems are the brake pedal. Bernie was our option to reverse, but his opportunity is past. If we get to vote again, hopefully AOC steps up and the voters get it together

        • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          Biden changed a lot less there than Hillary Clinton did as the Democratic candidate that pushed out Bernie Sanders for the 2016 election, an election that was very clearly an anti-establishment election and yet the Democrats were stupid enough to go with someone who is about as close to establishment as you can get without nominating someone who has already been president.

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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      5 days ago

      COVID proved a quarter of humanity would rather gargle their own lungs than tolerate change or admit mistakes. It proved beyond any doubt that conservatives think reality is a team sport. They’re not just fucking with you while secretly knowing what’s true. They don’t believe in truth. Conservatives don’t believe anything. Conservatives believe people.

      There is nothing we can all agree on, because some of us don’t understand agreement, as a concept. They think it means interpersonal loyalty. You’ve decided someone is Right.™ If the facts change, you’re supposed to maintain allegiance to whatever that person says, because facts aren’t real.

      • CodexArcanum@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 days ago

        Yeah, basically this. 9/11 fundamentally changed the American psyche and ushered in a massive ramp-up of the neoliberal system. Covid didn’t really change a whole lot of anything (the biggest problem with it in many ways) but did utterly and fully convince me that we’re doomed as a species.

        Nothing has ever illuminated for me so clearly that an unmanageable number of people are too stupid, hateful, or whatever else to work together to overcome an existential crisis. A significant amount of people would rather feel correct and kill all of us than work out their issues. So if humanity is like 30-40% evil, and about 40-50% “neutral” (aka myopically self-interested but not actively violent or hateful), that leaves only 10% “goodness” at most. And I’m sorry but a group that’s only 10% good doesn’t deserve to go on running things.

        • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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          5 days ago

          Rational argument is a learned behavior. Anyone can be trained out of that tribalist mode. We’re just bad at recognizing when someone’s in it. We have a kneejerk insistence that nobody’s really going through life on pure kneejerk insistence.

        • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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          5 days ago

          If it helps, I think the amount of actually evil people is much lower, rather the evil peoples propaganda worked on around that percentage of the populous.

    • Draces@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I would argue the trend started when Nixon did the crime and was outed and Roger Ailes started a war on reality

  • morrowind@lemmy.ml
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    6 days ago

    If we’re talking politically, covid wasn’t the turning point.

    If we’re talking socializing, then covid wasn’t the turning point either, however it was sort of a point of no return or something. Not sure how to describe it.

    I’ve seen plenty of romanticizing of pre-covid days from people around the ages of 18-23 today. Back when they still had friends and their life together, and they never really recovered from the isolation at a critical point.

    • Jankatarch@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Covid was like that part in adventure movies where characters have to run accross a bridge as it’s collapsing and look back then say “that was our only way to return, we have to keep going now”

      • topherclay@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Except instead of hiking their adventurer backpacks up and setting off into the dense jungle in front of them, it’s clicking a “forgot password” link and opening a tab with their email while they wait for the new password to log in to zoom or something.

  • qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website
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    5 days ago

    It’s not all bad — remote work policy is now a major topic. You’d be laughed out of any number of job interviews for asking about remote work policy, whereas now it’s a completely fair question.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      4 days ago

      The office building where I work kind of looks like one of those abandoned buildings in Chernobyl. Everyone went remote but they were reluctant to fully embrace it so they kept the office except no one ever went in and now everything’s just covered in dust.

      I don’t know why they just don’t sell the building lease. Maybe they can’t find anyone to buy it.

  • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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    5 days ago

    They already do. Like, “remember when fast food places used to have a dollar menu, and you could buy a dozen eggs for two bucks?”

  • [email protected]@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    “We used to be so fleshpilled. It’s 2050, and all these skinmonglers are still fucking with my moo’.”

    A cacophony of approving moos rise from a worn speaker. The faint outline of a smile is illuminated by the gentle red light of a whirring monitor.

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    5 days ago

    Yep, things changed, but it’s more like it’s all mask off now.

    Before covid it was all like this, except the majority could pretend things were fine.

    Now it’s part of the common zeitgeist that things are not fine.

    I like to say that we are now in the endgame.