Feeling overwhelmed by everything that is happening.

[diabeticman]

Well, you know what has been happening. Cops getting away with murder. Politicians being their normal selves pretending to care for the average person when in reality they listen the corporations and uber rich.

My wife is feeling this a whole of a hell lot more than I am BUT I am just about to cross the line and joining her.

She is to the point where she has given up. She is tired of the "fight" she is calling it quit and saying police state, corporations and uber rich have won.

She knew three different police officers growing up and all three where arrogant ego manics who there badges to get what they wanted and treated people like crap.

Not to mention she had finished her federal Grand jury duty and became even more disillusioned with justice and her fellow man kind. Her fellow jurors just let the ADAs or whatever they called themselves sway them. There was no "REAL" discussion it was like a freaking rubber stamp. She tried but her voice got drowned out by the 20 others.

We have police departments being run like they are private armies.

We have politicians making pretty speeches and doing very little things that is far too late.

We haven't seen a min wage hike in about 13 years.

and that is the tip of my wife's frustration as well as mine.

[RKP5637]

1. Eventually it will go over the edge and all hell will break lose. I don't know what that

catalyst will be, but there can be non-verbalized collective thinking at work. It's sort of like when a scientific discovery is made in one country far away, in days with little communication, and a like discovery is made about the same time thousands of miles away. In physics there are some well grounded principles surrounding this at the subatomic level, yet to be fully understood in terms of the effect on human behavior.

So, to make it short and me quite rambling, don't give up! Change is inevitable, it will happen. People are collectively getting pissed and are realizing most politicians are a bunch of BS and in the pockets of the oligarchs. I've lost respect for most politicians. The collective consciousness of the country is raising to the fact that most of us are fucked over by the system.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

9. I was actually able to school a tea party type conservatice friend today on what's really going on.

She had posted a picture of POTUS looking dejected with a resignation letter on the desk in front of him that said "I give up."

This friend didn't even know where the tea party came from and I expained its origins and the Kochs, etc. She didn't even know what an oligarch or oligarchy is. By the time I was done with her all she could say was that she hated POTUS, Congress, Democrats, and republicans. She hates them all.

She had no idea how to respond to my essay, lol. But at least she didn't try to fight back with their usual nonsense. After the word-down I put on her ass she knew she was messing with someone she shouldn't mess with. We've known each other 20 years and I think I literally blew her mind for the first time since we've known each other. We never talked much (if at all) about politics but I told her I just couldn't restrain myself when I kept seeing that pic she posted popping up on my FB feed.

[socialist_n_TN]

25. I had a somewhat similar experience with a Tea Party type......

at my workplace. It was obvious that he was a victim of the "echo chamber" effect here in Tennessee, so I just started challenging his statements when he would bring them up. I tried not to be disagreeable about it, but I didn't let the Koch brothers talking points go unchallenged. I did try to challenge the statements and NOT him as a person of course. What's more, I challenged those talking points from an openly Marxist viewpoint, NOT a Democratic Party one.

Lo and behold, he actually came to me a few months after we started the back and forth and began asking me questions about Marxism. Sincere questions at that. IOW, he had actually been listening and couldn't find answers in the Tea Party ideology for my challenges, so he wanted to know more about the alternative that I advocated. I didn't "convert" him so to speak, but I honestly believe he won't ever look at that ideology the same way again.

Same thing with another co-worker. CC was a 30 something black guy who thought he was a Republican, mostly because being a standard Democrat didn't seem to have worked to improve the lot of himself or his neighbors in the black community. The same dynamic played out with CC as with the original old white guy above. We eventually had some very deep and very productive discussions about society and I believe I had an effect on his thinking too. And he had an effect on my thinking also.

I guess the point is not to give up on challenging those Koch brothers' talking points, but don't be disagreeable about it. Attack the ideas and not the person.

[Jackpine Radical]

33. You're right, and it's happening now.

It's been going on internationally at some level since the Arab Spring. From Madison to Occupy to Moral Mondays, it's all interconnected, and ultimately unstoppable.

[daredtowork]

2. A lot of people are flailing - they just don't know what to do

Honestly, I think part of the problem is they've been asked to vote for "who we can get elected" one too many times, but then putting a particular party in power doesn't seem to result in any action that comes back to helping them. What is all the politicking for? What is your vote for? Why are you donating money to this and that? Why are you volunteering your time? Why is the media all lies? Why can't you get help when you need it?

There is a sense of free-floating dis-empowerment There is a sense of people pointing the finger and blaming each other for not marching, not uprising, not forcing change to happen somehow. There is a sense of disorientation - where to go to EFFECTIVELY make change because real life is so busy and exhausting, and we're tired of wasting out time. There is a sense of fear: making the wrong move could cost us our job - surveillance has a long reach, the Internet has a long memory, how will we recover to feed our family if we "make trouble" and there is no one else around to have our back?

This is the malaise.

But if you are around where the protests are happening right now, you will feel re-energized. These protests are action. These protests carry the seeds of change. These protests are hope.

[RKP5637]

4. Well said! We can NEVER give up hope, never, never, never! n/t

[grasswire]

10. good post, welcome to DU. nt

[No Vested Interest]

3. There are times we have to back off and let our minds and bodies heaal and rejuvenate.

This may be the time for backing off for you and your wife.
Time to turn off the TV and radio discussions and look in on the rest of the world.

Take advantage of the season.
I hope your area is marking the holidays with some exhibits which will let you connect with the more peaceful elements in our world.
In my area we have a beautiful indoor flower conservatory, all adorned with nature's winter best.
There are many concerts at this time of the year - some free and worth the effort to distract us for a few hours.
I just snagged a free ticket to our symphony orchestra's concert of Handel's Messiah, with a huge chorus participating, on Dec. 21.
Put on some music you can sing to or hum along with.

No point in giving in to sad thoughts. - then the troublemakers win.

Everyone here understands your discomfort. Best wishes to you.

[closeupready]

5. Really good advice, IMO. I remember I had a sick friend once -

my age at the time (28), single and in the prime of her life, but she had a lot of issues, particularly relating to her health. We parted ways (we were roommates then), and a few years later, I managed to get in touch with her - when I asked how she'd been, what she was doing, I really couldn't have predicted that she told me she was learning to tango! LOL

You gotta sometimes be silly and frivolous - or life will pass you by.

[freshwest]

15. +1

[DeSwiss]

6. K&R

RealityIsButADreamWhenYouBeginQuestioningTheDreamItMeansYouAreWakingUp.....

[oldandhappy]

7. Unplug the TV!

I just took a three day escape -- no electronics. Came back refreshed. We are dumped on everyday with all the negatives. And your poor wife and the jury duty thing -- that is underwhelming. I am sorry for her and for our depleted system. On the upside, there seem to be demonstrations around the country re the NY decision and there were demonstrations here and there re the Ferguson decision. Go camping, attend a holiday concert, read a book -- getting your mind and emotions away from the day to day drama will help the hope factor, smile. I understand. I think a lot of us are on the edge. Lots of hugs your way.

[jtuck004]

8. Well, take heart. It's probably going to worse going forward.

Because the only ones who can fix the problems ain't the ones marching.

[defacto7]

11. I hear ya...

I could add several very disturbing nonpolitical issues to add to the mix and effect us all... but you don't need more on your plate it seems.

I have taken the position of active participant in moving the immovable wall just for the hell of it. I have given up on progress which isn't a factor to me anymore. I don't expect it, I don't require it, I don't hope for it. I just keep pushing that wall because it needs pushing and I don't intend on stopping. Maybe there will be enough who stick with it, and more are added to the ranks, and maybe some day that wall will fall.... maybe not.... but I just push. It deserves to be pushed.

[F4lconF16]

23. +1

I love the sentiments expressed in your post. Keep fighting not because we expect change, but because it's what needs to be done. Fight for what's right, and never give them the satisfaction of knowing we've given up.

[socialist_n_TN]

24. That's actually pretty close to what I decided to do......

Become an "...active participant in moving the immovable wall...". Three or four years ago I decided to actually join a Marxist group after being a "salon revolutionary" for most of my life. I didn't expect the revolution anytime in my life (still don't FWIW), but that didn't matter, I just wanted to spend what few years I have left TRYING to bring a new world into fruition.

Indeed, that wall DESERVES to be pushed.

[DRoseDARs]

12. As it was, as it always will be. This civilization is no more unique than the last.

Only the horrific-ness of the collapse changes.



Edit: Sorry, you didn't need the dark observation. But it is the truth. What matters is how you live your life. You can choose to wallow in misery, fight for what you feel is right, or simply live day-to-day with what joy you can find or make despite it all.

[merrily]

14. Hi, diabeticman. Yes, things are frustrating, but we have to

bolster each other.

First, I am sorry that you are feeling down. This is the worst time of year for that, yet, as I am sure you know, it's quite common at this time of year.

Trust me, Pollyanna ain't me. However, I know what works for me and I am going to pass it on, even though it will sound embarrassingly Pollyanna-ish and may not work for you as well it works for me. (As I started typing them below, it struck me that the activities that work for me are the ones that keep me from dwelling on whatever is getting me down--kind of a circuit breaker to interrupt the downward spiral.)

First, I figure out what there is to be grateful for. When you are down, it seems at first that nothing fits that description. But, you mentioned your wife, so you are not going through this alone--and neither is your beloved. So, right there, those are two things for which to be grateful. Keep digging. You will find more. I promise. Maybe you even want to make a list to glance at when things seem bad. Maybe that is something you and your wife can do together or maybe you can work on separate lists and then share them with each other.

Second, I do something for someone else. Maybe, it's just an errand for someone who doesn't get around easily or is down with the flu or something. Maybe it's a visit to someone in the hospital. Or baking a batch of cookies to take to someone or to a nursing home or to the firehouse.

Third, I do what I can to work on the issues that are bothering me, knowing that I am not going to fix all of them, probably not even one of them, but I will make a dent and even a tiny dent is better than just watching it get worse. Maybe it's finding a group that is working on some issue, like the minimum wage, and volunteering with it.

As I said, the specific things that work for me may not work for you. But something will work for you, I promise. You owe it to yourself and to your loved ones to find what that thing is or those things are and then to use them as much as you can.

Best wishes!

[LiberalLoner]

19. +1 awesome suggestions

[merrily]

32. Thanks. I hope they help diabeticman. Where is he, I wonder?

[PasadenaTrudy]

31. I agree!

Getting out of yourself is often the best remedy for depression. That, and being in nature - - looking at trees and birds

[diabeticman]

41. Helping my wife with her mother. Sorry. This is the first time all day had a chance to read and

think on what was witten.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. To worries, the media will move on and all of this will be forgotten soon....

.....they hope....

Hey,....worked for the gun issue.

Bunch of kids get slaughtered in school and then 75 people are wounded and killed by a nut in a movie theater and,....I have to remind people of it.

[Ykcutnek]

17. There's so many nuances in what's going on right now that it's hard to

comprehend.

[99Forever]

18. I wish I could cheer you and your wife up, but...

.. I'm in a similar place. Evil has won in America. None of the powerful give a shit about anything but themselves. The rich get much richer and we get fucked to make it so.

[lake loon]

20. So true

The evil has indeed won. When we lost the media, we lost it all. All there is to do now is try to make the corporate masters suffer whenever you can. For example, I scratch every Mercedes I see. And here in DC, that's a lot of scratching.

[AngryAmish]

21. Your wife is right.

This country is shit.

I am retiring in four years and checking out. Educating my kids and playing golf until I can't do it anymore. I have checked out of the political process - I just end up funding the same assholes. I can't stand to even talk to the fucks anymore.

Maybe I'll open a restuarant. But then you get a parade of inspectors you have to pay off. Christ, I am sick of this shithole.

[leftymon]

28. Speaking of first world problems

[lonestarnot]

22. Are yous about to die ova thea? If not, you can't give up.

[VanillaRhapsody]

26. I know EXACTLY how she feels....I felt the same exact way about us after serving Jury duty

on a murder trial....

It shocked my very psyche....never been so disillusioned about humanity and America in my whole life as the day the trial ended....I literally had to leave town to purge my soul of the toxicity I found in that Jurors box.

I recommend going on a small trip someplace away from "people" for a couple days...it helped me cope..

(as that was my own and only jury duty....I am petrified of ever getting another letter to serve on one)

[leftymon]

27. Sounds like you and your wife

are focused on what I like to call "first world" problems. I assume you don't have problems finding clean drinking water or pick corn kernels out of cow dung, for food...North Korean prison camp style.

That would seem (on the surface) a bit more overwhelming than minimum wage and a few bad cops.

It might be time to let your cable description go for a while and get back to living life.

[MrMickeysMom]

30. Sounds like you choose the first opportunities to miss the point of the OP...

… Enjoy your stay or learn how to debate a point, for crying out loud.

I understand the nature of what was said here, meanwhile. It's a wake up call. It's the SAME wake up call that applies to every single person called to jury duty.

Speak up if you think you have to abide by whatever crappy laws you as a jurist have to apply. I did the same thing this last week, though I was not a member of a grand jury.

You need to think about your post because it has NOTHING to do with 3rd world conditions and EVERYTHING to do with whether this great American experiment works out for any continued form of democracy.

[leftymon]

34. I wasn't addressing the jury person

[MrMickeysMom]

36. In fact, you weren't addressing that...

Just what you were addressing we'll never know, nor will I care from this point.

[MrMickeysMom]

39. Yeah… ?

Well, what was it? That we should be lucky because we're not picking corn out of waste to stay alive?

[PasadenaTrudy]

29. Yet, we have to keep

plodding along. You can't just curl up and die now, can you? Try to focus on the small beauties in life. I'm so glad I have a dog that makes me laugh and smile every day.

[joeglow3]

35. Show your wife pictures of what a real police state looks like

She will realize we live far from a police state.

[MrMickeysMom]

37. Like this one?

Or, THIS one?


Or, how about THIS one?

[joeglow3]

40. Close

Now, imagine pictures twice as bad of that. Now imagine personally witnessing it multiple times a day every day no matter where you live.