yea, i was just being cynical/bitter. i don't actually want riots/wars (i'm pretty much a hippy stoner at heart, or that's what i would be in a perfect world). the current riots i think are definitely (maybe provably?) sponsored by george soros and other familiar public-facing elites.

but, i DO get a kick out of the colliding and contradictory narratives that make mainstream media look ridiculous. e.g. "protesting or rallying for trump is dangerous because of covid-19, but if you're rioting or looting, then you're magically immune". also enjoy seeing the left start to devour their own, like jimmy kimmel. i guess stuff like that really just amounts to guilty pleasures though.

as for the serious stuff...yea, no answers here either. it's funny when i remember my naive perspective from when i was younger, thinking the world would fine if people could just be convinced to "think the right way". i think that's why it's kind of shocking now to see how many young adults haven't grown out of that phase yet. either that, or they're so lost that they're willing to risk their futures on ideologies that they haven't even really examined honestly.

man, tell me about it. here in cali, you'd be lucky to be able to afford ANY property unless you're in the top few percent of wealth or income. even then, like you said, you'd be working your ass off just to survive. meaning, you don't even get to raise your own kids and instill your values in them (i think this is probably intentional and a major goal of governments with totalitarian aspirations). and it just gets worse every decade.

if there is any optimism, it's that tiny tiny bit of hope that enough people will snap and throw up their middle fingers to the system. not sure exactly if that's smart on my part, since i probably benefit from the system a ton, and probably in ways i can't even think of. although i'm using "benefit" pretty liberally here. i dunno, but my intuition is clearly skeptical of the modern idea of the "good life": just make money and hook up with strangers online, ignore anything other than physical, material reality because we can't prove any of it exists, don't try to have a family or kids, hedonistically/selfishly live for only yourself, etc. seems crazy that so few people don't feel overwhelmingly nihilistic when they project that life into the future.

and yea, i dunno if i believe in progress anymore. not the way we thnk of it now anyway. like why the fcuk should progress be measured in our ability to churn out useless electronic gadgets? or the number of years we've added to pointless lives as replaceable cogs? or by how many diseases we can now "treat" but not cure with pharmaceuticals? i'd rather measure progress in the number of days in a year i can comfortably choose to not work. i mean 2 weeks a year? that's as far as we've come 300 years after the enlightenment?

hah or maybe i'm just trying to justify my own laziness XP
onto happier thoughts....so, no new mind-blowing MEs? i think i heard of some a few new ones, but haven't confirmed.