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[RedKing]

I don't know, I don't even feel like it's just this board.  I feel like external society is changing pretty quickly, too.  Things are getting much harder than they were.

I don't know if this is what you're referring to, but I feel like tensions are just rising in general.  I've been feeling that for a very long time, but I think it's starting to get really tangible.  People are drawing stricter lines between each other and getting more derisive about those who don't fall on their own side.  There's a plethora of issues I could have brought up 5 years ago and almost anyone would shrug at them, but now almost anyone has very strong opinions on.

I felt the exact same way. In the early-mid 1990s. So I dunno if it's just a certain age that you hit and there's a loss of innocence and idealism, or if we're just cyclical as a society (cause granted, I've been comparing the batshit crazy of the last several years to the batshit crazy of the 1990s for some time) or hell, maybe it is getting worse and I'm just so jaded that I don't really feel it.

Regardless, I would be greatly saddened to see any of y'all leave. Hiatuses are to be expected, but permanent departure would make the world a little bit dimmer and colder for all of us.

[Sirus]

Nearly knocked over a utility pole on my last practice drive. The instructor, normally a nice guy, was absolutely livid. 

[MrSparky]

Nearly knocked over a utility pole on my last practice drive. The instructor, normally a nice guy, was absolutely livid. 

Were you backing up or making a right turn?

[Sirus]

Right turn. It was a really tight turn, too; I had to ride the line between the right turn lane and the straightaway lane.

[misko27]

 

I don't know, I don't even feel like it's just this board.  I feel like external society is changing pretty quickly, too.  Things are getting much harder than they were.

I don't know if this is what you're referring to, but I feel like tensions are just rising in general.  I've been feeling that for a very long time, but I think it's starting to get really tangible.  People are drawing stricter lines between each other and getting more derisive about those who don't fall on their own side.  There's a plethora of issues I could have brought up 5 years ago and almost anyone would shrug at them, but now almost anyone has very strong opinions on.

I felt the exact same way. In the early-mid 1990s. So I dunno if it's just a certain age that you hit and there's a loss of innocence and idealism, or if we're just cyclical as a society (cause granted, I've been comparing the batshit crazy of the last several years to the batshit crazy of the 1990s for some time) or hell, maybe it is getting worse and I'm just so jaded that I don't really feel it.

What I say, what I say? Things change, people haven't.

[MrSparky]

Yeah, that's gonna bite ya.
It's better to cross into the next lane if you have to than to run over the curb. Wait for traffic to clear and make your turn as wide as you need. Those "This vehicle makes wide right turns" stickers are there for a reason.

[penguinofhonor]

I felt the exact same way. In the early-mid 1990s. So I dunno if it's just a certain age that you hit and there's a loss of innocence and idealism, or if we're just cyclical as a society (cause granted, I've been comparing the batshit crazy of the last several years to the batshit crazy of the 1990s for some time) or hell, maybe it is getting worse and I'm just so jaded that I don't really feel it.

What I say, what I say? Things change, people haven't.

My favorite example of this is "A Good Man is Hard to Find". There's a grandma character in that who says stuff that could have been quoted straight from my grandmother.

The thing is, the story is written and set in the fifties, a few years after my grandma was born. The world changes constantly, but the way people view those changes never does.

[RedKing]

Seriously, I contemplated the potential for a US civil war back around 1994-96. You had the LA riots, Ruby Ridge, Waco, the OKC bombing, the Atlanta Olympics bombing, right-wing militia groups everywhere, a Republican Congress that seemed determined to bring down the government, Black Helicopter/FEMA/ATF/NWO conspiracy nuts all over the infant Internet....

Compared to the relative "calm" of the 1980's (you know, where we just had the threat of nuclear annhilation as an omnipresent Sword of Damocles) it seemed crazy. Of course, that had a lot to do with my being more interested in Transformers and Voltron than in the Iran-Contra hearings or the El Salvadoran civil war during that time period. Childhood years always seem peaceful because unless you're in a war zone or a REALLY political household, you have no idea how fucked up things really are.

Shit *always* be cray-cray up in 'Murrica. Go back to the mid-1800s, and you had people in Congress physically beating the fuck out of each other, South Korea-style. You had assassinations. You had an actual civil war. If I'm less perturbed by the world today, it's because I step back and think about it and realize "Yeah, it's been worse."

[RedKing]

'It's been worse' doesn't mean you should stop paying heed to potential warning signs, though.

Just means you can probably pay less heed.

True dat. I just think there's a big difference between "paying heed" and "sinking into existential despair over". I understand it can be overwhelming, it's just that time and age gives me some perspective on this. The danger *I* have to be wary of is being jaded and dismissive of truly new things because of the tendency to want to say "Meh, same shit, different decade."

[Mephansteras]

The world in general is destabilizing. It'll probably take a while to restabilize. Hopefully without too many horrible things happening along the way.

[RedKing]

The world in general is destabilizing. It'll probably take a while to restabilize. Hopefully without too many horrible things happening along the way.

That's where I'm not sure I agree. Change != instability. Parts of it are destabilizing, other parts (Central America anyone?) are more stable than they used to be. I don't feel like the international system as a whole is any less stable. There's no threat of a major power war anytime soon.

Syria is going to hell in a handbasket. Meanwhile, Myanmar is steadily becoming a less hellish place. As is Rwanda. As is Lebanon. As are most of the Caucasus states. As are the former Yugoslav states. We tend to focus on the bad and forget the better.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

When was the world ever stable? Was it when the entire Soviet bloc was crumbling? When we were on the verge of nuclear holocaust? When pretty much all of Africa was trying to gain independence? World War II? World War I? Earlier?

Stability isn't even a good thing, not if it is holding up a terrible system or way of life, and there are plenty of those left in the world.

[Xantalos]

When was the world ever stable? Was it when the entire Soviet bloc was crumbling? When we were on the verge of nuclear holocaust? When pretty much all of Africa was trying to gain independence? World War II? World War I? Earlier?

Stability isn't even a good thing, not if it is holding up a terrible system or way of life, and there are plenty of those left in the world.

Pre-humanity?

I imagine it was pretty stable then.

I can personally tell you no.

[Sirus]

When was the world ever stable? Was it when the entire Soviet bloc was crumbling? When we were on the verge of nuclear holocaust? When pretty much all of Africa was trying to gain independence? World War II? World War I? Earlier?

Stability isn't even a good thing, not if it is holding up a terrible system or way of life, and there are plenty of those left in the world.

Pre-humanity?

I imagine it was pretty stable then.

Except for all those mass extinctions. Those had a tendency to shake things up a bit.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

When was the world ever stable? Was it when the entire Soviet bloc was crumbling? When we were on the verge of nuclear holocaust? When pretty much all of Africa was trying to gain independence? World War II? World War I? Earlier?

Stability isn't even a good thing, not if it is holding up a terrible system or way of life, and there are plenty of those left in the world.

Pre-humanity?

I imagine it was pretty stable then.

I can personally tell you no.

I don't know what they expected to happen when they kept making the Shoggoths more powerful and more intelligent.