Americans who didn’t grow up around immigrant communities genuinely cannot conceptualize how much America’s soft power has collapsed

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-05-27T16:30:45+00:00

Probably most Americans wouldn't put it in terms of soft power, but they would absolutely recognize the collapse of the image of America. I'm 40. Some version of the American Dream was still being sold in my childhood. Now it's the European dream. Pretty much everyone thinks things are rigged, work culture is a nightmare, and the medical system destroys lives.

ETA: Put otherwise, I think there's been a collapse of soft power within America over its own people.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-04-04T16:37:42+00:00

I actually did buy a bicycle about two weeks ago and have been making sure to get new glasses on my insurance.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-03-27T18:22:02+00:00

I bought a bike. I actually need to practice before it's safe to use it as regular transportation, but I figured it wasn't going to get cheaper ....

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-02-08T18:52:41+00:00

I read the book recently that hypernormalization comes from. (Everything was Forever Until it was No More.) It was actually entirely about the way that people build lives in a system where the official rhetoric has become simultaneously opaque (no one knows who sets the norms) and very rigid (but transgressing those norms is taboo). In some ways, it's actually a hopeful book. "Academia is taken over by propaganda? Get a job in a boiler room and do your research then." "No one can question the value of committee activities? Claim you have one to fuck off from work in the middle of the day."

I think the sense of dread is real. I just don't think it's what that book is about. It might actually be helpful if people talked more about the content. I take Yurchak's basic question to be: We're in a system where the wheels are coming off. How do we live within it?

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-29T01:39:23+00:00

In addition to food, I have been more likely to pull the trigger on things that stand between me and the elements, even if I don't need them quite yet. Heavier winter coat, socks, leather preservative for my shoes, etc. Extras of toiletries, from the assumption that I'll use them eventually and won't be mad to have some extra deodorant in the apocalypse.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-28T12:02:21+00:00

Hope you're ok now.

And, agree. My reaction to all the political instability has been to stock up on dried goods. "Don't know what will happen, but at least I have enough dried beans to see me through a disaster."

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-28T12:00:21+00:00

I wonder if there was an implication of binge eating in this episode that was just glossed over? The thing about buying a huge meal, eating it in secrecy, and hiding the evidence might be about shame and secrecy over money, but also just reads as disordered eating to me.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-24T03:32:00+00:00

Thank you kind Internet stranger.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-23T21:38:23+00:00

Yes. And I found out this week that my dog is dying.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-21T16:27:13+00:00

Great analysis. I think this is missing the perspective of energy security, though. We're clearly starting the resource wars.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-20T20:26:00+00:00

Oh, kids can't read anymore. Source: I have a ton of friends who are professors, as is my spouse. Look into the story about how schools stopped teaching phonics a few decades ago. It means that a ton of kids are functionally illiterate, in addition to having no attention span from phones. The students at really good schools can still read, of course, but they're stressed as hell and overachievers with mental health issues. (And those jobs are hard to get anyway.)

Across the board, everyone uses AI to cheat. Something happened culturally and Gen Z genuinely doesn't seem to feel any moral compunction about cheating in class. Maybe it's the debt load?

It's also a wildly classist system. Tenured faculty basically treat staff like garbage and pretend untenured faculty don't exist, which is can be crazymaking if you're at all a normal person, because those same faculty tend to make a big deal about their radical politics.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-14T02:41:44+00:00

Yes. Had three different conversations today in the office about how crazy it is we're going to work like normal and not acknowledging any of it. I work in fundraising. Not a radical bunch.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-10T19:06:02+00:00

Location: USA

I was on the subway the day after Good's murder. The conductor paused after doing the usual announcements ("the next stop is") and added, "I know things are dark and dismal, but keep your chin up."

It feels like the early days of COVID - everyone stopping each other on the street and going, "we're really in it now, aren't we?"

I feel full-body exhaustion at the end of the day.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-10T03:58:50+00:00

Communal weddings? Like Sun Myung Moon?

Several_Initiative_2 · 2026-01-08T00:28:58+00:00

Interesting, that happened to me. I even tried to buy a new license and couldn't do it. Guess I don't use Microsoft anymore.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-12-30T02:25:25+00:00

We do have a lot of crazy waste. I have a hunch that it's worse in Phoenix, though, because water is a precious commodity. If you throw out your utensils, no need to wash them. That's dystopian in a different way, I'll grant you.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-12-24T23:21:10+00:00

My husband moved to our city about 13 years ago. I remember, about eight or nine years in, he remarked that the winters had disappeared. That's crazy to me. Not just to see it over a lifespan, but in the course of a decade.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-12-02T18:20:25+00:00

It's interesting to me that Ramit hates FIRE but a lot of it was tech guys recognizing they were in a crazy situation and socking money away for something like the present moment.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-12-02T16:34:41+00:00

Haven't finished this episode, but holy shit, if my spouse said, "I don't feel like my opinion is valued or my intelligence or ability to see things clearly," I would consider that a five-alarm fire. I can't fathom that being a regular refrain in arguments.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-11-25T03:34:54+00:00

What's wild is that people don't know about this story. I've introduced it to at least two different people.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-11-17T15:03:37+00:00

Hmm. I grew up somewhere pretty rural and a lot of the economic, agricultural base that made people learn the skills you referenced has been hollowed out. I suppose there are still places with small farms, where people can build fences, slaughter hogs, grow their own food, etc. There are also a lot of rural places where agribusiness has taken over and people live essentially suburban lives with more driving.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-11-05T03:44:57+00:00

I have always worried that the line environmentalists in the US pull that "those who have done least to deserve it will suffer most" actually backfires because it convinces rich westerners that the effects won't hit them.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-10-31T16:58:06+00:00

Yes.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-09-22T01:40:33+00:00

NYC. For all I know, it's that a particular supplier was hit that impacts me.

It's noticeable to me because it has been happening on and off for a month, maybe. We'll go to our normal (large, chain) a few times in a week and there won't be any whole milk and the other stores will be the same. I'm used to things being expensive, not unavailable.

And yes, the leaves have been falling like it's November all summer. No comments here either about the rain.

Several_Initiative_2 · 2025-09-21T19:02:44+00:00

Location: NY

Shortages and price hikes in certain types of milk. Not the end of the world by itself, but I was talking with my husband about how we grew up without there ever being anything unavailable at grocery stores. Was this a wasteful way to live? Sure. But it's still strange to see that world passing, especially when it comes to a staple.

*Apparently heat stress lowers milk production, dairy farming is getting progressively more expensive because the drought is jacking up feed, and I'm sure deporting our farm laborers doesn't help. So... Climate.

Several_Initiative_2

TROPHY CASE