You obviously need to fight for a socialist state that tax the rich people and redistribute richness to those that have not. Such an injust and unequal society is unsustainable
There’s a bunch of health related ones too, like school kids raising money for their classmate’s wheelchair. I’ve never liked the fact that these stories are so uplit. Also they arise more often as times get tough: we got fewer of them during the 80’s for example. And there’s always some wonderful person who can live on soybeans and carrots and this is what we are supposed to aspire to? And - there’s the schadenfreude we feel when someone tried to raise money and THEY DIDN’T REALLY DESERVE IT!!! Like they spent it unwisely or the kid recovered from cancer or whatever. I think these stories actually undermine real compassion and communal feeling.
Life isn’t a feel good story. Everything people do is derived from some anticipation of instant gratification. Whether it’s what we do, what we watch, read, or listen to.
I subscribe to Future Crunch because they're good news stories that aren't "Feel Good" stories most of the time. It's nice to see progress around the world (https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews2023/ the highlights, if you're interested).
That said, I do like the idea of reframing the "Feel Good" stories to better highlight the underlying issue. I just wish we could get publishers to do that for us
"Breaking News, .0001% of [insert corp] CEO's salary pays for Actual Worker's Whole Existence In Perpetuity Throughout The Universe. Economists remain baffled as to how Poors continue to be Poor, in spite of the existence of money. More at 11!"
You obviously need to fight for a socialist state that tax the rich people and redistribute richness to those that have not. Such an injust and unequal society is unsustainable
Headline: "Ten workers pool their money so one of them can have a modest house"
Reads much differently.
There’s a bunch of health related ones too, like school kids raising money for their classmate’s wheelchair. I’ve never liked the fact that these stories are so uplit. Also they arise more often as times get tough: we got fewer of them during the 80’s for example. And there’s always some wonderful person who can live on soybeans and carrots and this is what we are supposed to aspire to? And - there’s the schadenfreude we feel when someone tried to raise money and THEY DIDN’T REALLY DESERVE IT!!! Like they spent it unwisely or the kid recovered from cancer or whatever. I think these stories actually undermine real compassion and communal feeling.
Read Guy Debord’s Society of the spectacle! The situationists had it right.
Such a good point, Joshua. These feel good stories, when you look a little deeper, often don't feel that good.
Life isn’t a feel good story. Everything people do is derived from some anticipation of instant gratification. Whether it’s what we do, what we watch, read, or listen to.
I subscribe to Future Crunch because they're good news stories that aren't "Feel Good" stories most of the time. It's nice to see progress around the world (https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews2023/ the highlights, if you're interested).
That said, I do like the idea of reframing the "Feel Good" stories to better highlight the underlying issue. I just wish we could get publishers to do that for us
"Breaking News, .0001% of [insert corp] CEO's salary pays for Actual Worker's Whole Existence In Perpetuity Throughout The Universe. Economists remain baffled as to how Poors continue to be Poor, in spite of the existence of money. More at 11!"
VERY well spoken Joshua,
and
SPOT ON!
!!!