Is it just me or do things seem to be spiraling out of control?

[screembloodymurder]

Everyday new catastropes: bombings, blackouts, recalls, suicides, etc. It's getting harder and harder to keep track of the lies. The investigations never get completed or the reports are smothered under new headlines. Life used to be so easy. All we had to worry about was Clinton's penis.

My wife says I'm spending too much time in the DU. She says I should ignor politics and just be happy. Is it my preoccupation with world events or are things out of control.

[leftofthedial]

1. it's called "circling the drain"

it get worse and worse and worse.

[TioDiego]

2. If you're not very concerned

you're either not paying attention or you don't care.

[HootieMcBoob]

3. Well I know I've been spend WAY too much time on here

over the last few days. But I think it's because:

Things are spiraling out of control!

:hurts:

[screembloodymurder]

5. A vicious circle!

The way things are going I'll be online 24/7.

[tooncesj0nes]

4. its the end times....

......go ask any fundie......jesus is coming ...soon (sarcasm)

[screembloodymurder]

6. Jesus is coming!

Look busy.

[karlschneider]

20. Not coming yet, but

he's quivering.......
:D

[Eddie Current]

7. oh Jeebus where are you?

we need you

[carpediem]

8. ...it is indeed a wall

Found this yesterday off a post here at DU - thought it was great and appropriate for this discussion.

It is from here: http://www.likelystory.net/archives/000183.html">link
This is a post on thelikelystory.com by Karlsfini (the emphasis is mine)


"One more example of how it doesn't matter now what Bush says.

Anyone who still supports Bush -- 55% according to the polls? -- is living in a world of make-believe. They are not reachable.

At the pro-Bush sites I check, Iraq and the economy have gone away. The most serious questions facing the nation, according to them, are who caused the blackout and if Schwatzenegger is Republican.

The truth is, the country is hitting the wall, and instead of looking for the brake, those behind the wheel are explaining it's not a wall at all.

Be patient. In a short time there will be no debate. There will be no partisan arguing. I think we're all about to agree it was indeed a wall.

My own feeling is that Bush doesn't intend to win in 2004. He and his pals plan to take the money and run. Howard Dean or someone can clean up the mess, start paying off the debt and face the huge problems being generated.

And my friends say I'm an optimist. "

[greekspeak]

27. I highly doubt that

Why take the money and run after four measly year when you can use your dictatorship to pilliage the peasents for eight or twelve? I think their greed runs far deeper than you give them credit for.

[realFedUp]

9. I am running into staid people who are talking about moving

to Canada...these are not fringe people.

[Skittles]

10. Ignore your wife

if she's not worried about what is happening in America, she should be.

[Tinoire]

14. She should be

but relationships are important too. You know full well I love you, at least I hope you do, but damn, man can not live off DU and politics alone.

Peace Skittles

[jafap]

17. I suggest the opposite

Take $600, oops I mean $60, out of the bank and take your wife out to dinner.

Reading articles is one thing, being on a discussion board is another. I subscribe to several e-action networks, one from truemajority, another from the AFL-CIO, and a third from the DNC. Other than sending my rep and occasional e-mail, and voting Democratic in 2004 what more do you really need to know?

I am here searching for people to talk with, but you already have someone. Spend more time with your wife and less on the forums, as long as you are not watching TV together.

[gully]

11. I hear ya. I have been concerned since selection 2000

And, it keeps getting worse. Feel like I can't rest till Bush is out of the OO...

[davekriss]

19. I mark the negative spiral before that

It began with the unrelenting attack on Bill Clinton. First Whitewater, then the Impeachment. Both represent attempts by the well entrenched UberRight to reverse our democratic voice and, in place of our voice, deposit puppets of their own choosing.

Call it a plutocracy, facism, something else, but their successes have piled up into this current mess, shredding the Constitution like so much used hamster litter beneath our feet. Thomas Jefferson spins bitterly in his grave.

I wasn't at all surprised by 2000. It was "bidness" as usual -- or at least to become the usual. My shock was how passively the American public allowed the election to be stolen. I expected people to hit the streets; I expected Watts on the lawn of the White House. I was shocked by our quiet resignation.

The latest escapade: The California recall. What is this if not an attack on a staunchly Democratic state with intent on destroying the coalition that might make a Democratic victory possible in 2004? As with Whitewater and the Impeachment: The UberRight seeks to reverse a democratic voice and, in place of that voice, deposit a fund-raising-bully-pulpit-puppet of their own choosing. A consolidation and entrenchment of their past victory, nothing more.

I think things are that dire. And I'm not overly optimistic that we'll be able to reverse the tide anytime soon.

[elfin]

12. and after they "get" Saddam

and make a big hullabaloo about it ....... nothing will change - or even get worse. His brutality kept the radical clerics in check - along with all other dissent ala Tito. Now the lid is off and spinning out of control.

So-- you are right to worry - but have fun while you can - especially with your wife!

[Tinoire]

13. Your wife is right!

I have NO idea what anyone else in this thread has told you. Let me just share that I lost the person I love the most in this world because of all the time I spent on DU obsessing about LBN and israel/Palestine. Do yourselves BOTH a favor while there's still time- Get the fuck off DU and live a normal life. Just keep and eye on protests and get out there when we need you.

Peace

[wuushew]

15. The Onion knew this to be true in January 2001

http://www.theonion.com/onion3701/bush_nightmare.html


-snip-
During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

-snip-

Finally, the horrific misrule of the Democrats has been brought to a close," House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told reporters. "Under Bush, we can all look forward to military aggression, deregulation of dangerous, greedy industries, and the defunding of vital domestic social-service programs upon which millions depend. Mercifully, we can now say goodbye to the awful nightmare that was Clinton's America."


-snip-

"After eight years of relatively sane fiscal policy under the Democrats, we have reached a point where, just a few weeks ago, President Clinton said that the national debt could be paid off by as early as 2012," Rahway, NJ, machinist and father of three Bud Crandall said. "That's not the kind of world I want my children to grow up in."

[Ivory_Tower]

16. I think it's like police scanner enthusiasts

I remember reading about people who listen to police scanners as a hobby, and it was found that they tended to have a much more grim view of the world. It makes sense -- if all you listen to are responses to shootings, fights, robberies, etc., that information would tend to skew your outlook on life (and your opinion of your fellow humans).

DU poses the same risk. I found that if I spent too much time on DU, reading pretty much nothing but LBN and GD, I started to get surly and irritable in real life, not to mention somewhat despairing. (And I'm not even very active on DU! All it takes is the continuous reading of the endless problems in the world.) I learned that if I pull myself away for a few days, it makes a world of difference for my state of mind -- I can still maintain my political awareness, get involved where I can (or at least donate where I can), and not let it consume me.

If you can't pull away all at once, then at a minimum spend some time in the Lounge -- it's at least an on-line refuge from the despair. Well, usually. :)

But everyone needs a break now and then -- DU should be a resource, not an obsession.

As for things spiraling out of control...well, things are bad, but I'm sure people thought the same thing in 1982, in 1978, in 1968, in 1963, in 1942, in 1860....

[JPace]

18. Sometimes.....

We have to withdraw from trying to
control the future and (or) reliving
the past. Just simply unplug from
all that is bush or government and
just live in the now.

We miss a lot of what is already
good in life by thinking too much
about what is not going well.

Take a much needed break and when
you come back you will be regrouped,
rebalanced, and rested. It's like
a mini vacation and I love them!

What a waste if you win an election
but lose a wife.

Good Luck!

[davekriss]

21. Bravo Jpace...

...excellent words there. :)

[Merlin]

22. Good advise and so well said.

Thanks, JPace.

[screembloodymurder]

25. Good advice

but I didn't mean to suggest we have marital problems. At least not yet.

[caledesi]

23. No, it is not a preoccupation w/ world events.

I hear this from my husband as well. I want to know what is GOING ON in this world of ours. Is that so bad?

I like to be informed.

Iraq is Bush's worse nightmare that he brought upon himself (and us) and he will pay dearly. There is NO way out of this one.

[carolinayellowdog]

24. Events never are controllable

although appearances can be. This gang in the WH has been masterful at controlling appearances and totally incompetent at *managing* (not controlling because you cannot) reality. It is catching up with them and none too soon. Plaid Adder has posted on this theme more than once, and more eloquently than I can.

[union_maid]

26. It's always been interesting, but..

I never spent time at strictly political sites until recently. I might engage in some political debate in other areas but I did have other interests. I didn't like the Bush administration, but 9/11 was so horrible that the fact that it was increasing support for this administration didn't seem so important. It was around the time of the build-up to invading Iraq that I became truly obsessed. It was then that it seemed to become clear to any school child that this administration had an agenda that had nothing to do with facts or truth and that it was out of control. Luckily for me, my husband is pretty obsessive about this himself and hardly a Pollyanna type guy. :)

[jfkennedy]

28. Yes they are out of control

Human beings are on this planet to exist with one another in peace not war.

War and the conflicts you describe is not normal and in fact it is and out of control situation.

As I see it only a non-violent revolution can change things. Similar to Gandhi’s and Kings, but one that is for the 21st century.

I think most on the left have known that a revolution has been going on in spite of all the wars and conflicts.

Think about it if you look at all the events of 9/11 and the wars they are all the result a few Republican war mongers.