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Unironically, I believe we’re living in one of the most comfortable times in human history (people tend to underestimate how fucking miserable subsistence farming is). But a big part of that comfort is enabled by education and communication, and a big part of that comfort is leisure time. Which gives us both the perception and the time necessary to become aware of utterly fucked things are.
Way back when, you’d say “Yeah, the lord is probably eating well while we starve, but he says he isn’t, and he only takes a small part of my produce anyway, and who knows? And besides, I have to worry about my 11th kid coming and nutrition deficiency and the frost coming early and the neighboring village rustling my sheep.”
Nowadays you say, “Jesus fucking Christ, our ‘nobility’ is making thousands of times what we do for being born rich and sitting on their ass? Why don’t we fucking O R G A N I Z E to even the battlefield?”
Some people who by all rights should be on our side seem to have forgotten that latter part. We need to remind them.
Many of us are still peasants in a sense, this side of losing our home and job if we go too far. It’s much more comfortable than before, agreed, but there’s similar limitations at play. Note this isn’t said as an excuse, but just an observation that first world problems can still be problems, even if it’s in A/C and with internet.
Oh, yes - we have serious problems, and they need to be addressed. I just often feel the need to preface it with “The past is worse” because of a weird trend of presumably progressive people pulling out some weird Arcadian radtrad shit, and it’s like… no. The past is not that great. We’re here because those who came before us fought for a better future, and as it’s still deeply imperfect and unjust, even with the improvements gained, we’re also gonna goddamn fight for a better future going forward sort of thing.
I don’t disagree with you there. But we have to pick the fights that will make a difference, because a lot of us can only do it once.
people tend to underestimate how fucking miserable subsistence farming is
hash browns for breakfast
baked potato for lunch
mashed potatoes for dinner
potato latkes for breakfast
potato soup for lunch
scalloped potatoes for dinner
potatoes O’Brien for breakfast - but without the peppers and onions
potato salad for lunch
potatoes au gratin for dinner
potatoes…
potatoes again…
more potatoes…
…at least there is vodka.
I was thinking more “You don’t get real days off, labor is sunup to sundown, you live in constant terror of slight fluctuations in weather driving you into literal starvation, any creature comforts you have are inevitably temporary” sort of thing. And that’s subsistence farming in 2024 AD. Not even getting into how it worked historically, to which we could add all sorts of… lovely modifiers.
Oh yeah, absolutely, all of that, especially creature comforts like variety. You farm all day, every day, because if you don’t you starve. And that’s why potatoes… because they’re the lowest effort, and most reliable, and you can store them for awhile without refrigeration, and if you’re managing to produce other stuff you either eat it before it spoils, or you’re selling it to make a little money so you can get your farm tools fixed, and you’re just surviving on the potatoes (with some salt, if you can afford it).
I think a lot of people don’t realize what a luxury refrigeration is. Being able to walk into a grocery store to get fresh fruits and vegetables in mid-winter requires a crazy amount of infrastructure.
Potato Vodka
Well yes we are complaining on a high level. However why should we suffer more than our parents? Why should we let our children suffer even more?
We see the decline in wealth in the community and still don’t act. Because it is too much out of our comfort zone.
Yes technologically we are in much better position than 70 years ago. However economically and regarding the global climate we are fucked.
Well yes we are complaining on a high level. However why should we suffer more than our parents? Why should we let our children suffer even more?
Oh, don’t get me wrong! We absolutely shouldn’t let that happen. My only point is saying “The past is worse” is to pre-empt any romanticized view of the past. Things are bad now - really fucking bad. We absolutely need to fight and fight hard, both for ourselves, our children, and human society as a whole.
However economically and regarding the global climate we are fucked.
Economically, I think, we’ll be fine. Or, at least, there is long-term hope.
Climate? Yeah. At this point, the death toll and general human cost is going to be ugly. Arguably, it already is pretty ugly, but it’s gonna get way worse.
