I think very little of it is related to doomerism. People that buy into all that stuff are angry, raging at phantoms, not sad.
I expect it's because we've gotten so good at being impersonal. Not necessarily in actual day to day relationships, but a lot of the things we do are basically designed to be alienating, because it's marginally more profitable to have them that way than to have them be convenient.
Like a favorite pet peeve of mine is that the Amazon Music app on android has the occasional modal advertisement to upgrade to a different plan or whatever. I literally never want to see those ads, but there's no way to turn them off because the app is designed to make Amazon as much money as possible, not to be convenient for me. Our lives are full of little "Fuck yous" like that one.
There's something about yourself you should evaluate if you can't fathom someone else thinking differently than you, and you let those things affect your mood and happiness.
People publicly display their support for Biden as well: https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/DW.... Worth noting that this photo was from an article about how neighbors get along despite voting and supporting different politicians.
> even after his terrible behavior
I presume that you could equally have voted for Bill Clinton without approving of his infidelity or Obama without approving of his extrajudicial killing of American citizens. A vote for a politician does not imply that you condone everything about that person.
> I worry for the safety of my family
I don't know where you are, but for what it's worth, I am a visible ethnic minority living in stereotypically conservative Deep South state where virtually every state and local office is held by a Republican; I have neighbors of many different colors and creeds and I do not feel unsafe.
It's actually kind of funny -- I used to live in a major coastal metropolis of the kind where BLM signs were on every other lawn, yet approximately zero black people actually lived in the nice parts of town with those lawn signs. Here, there are approximately zero BLM signs, but plenty of white and black people living as neighbors, friends, and coworkers.
> inflation means despite me having a six figure job we have to pinch pennies
Since we're talking about presidents, I have to point out that the CPI rose 7.8% during Trump's four-year term and 15.6% during Biden's term so far, a little over two years in.
I know people like this too. Trump is obviously a flashpoint, but is it really him or is it the constant media narratives being fed to us about "the other side" being a danger to our safety. Many folks on the right that I know have the same (but not to this extent) visceral reaction to say Biden, Newsom, etc.
I agree, jackmott42's problems reflects the entirety of the US problems. Let's make sure only jackmott42's issues in life are resolved, we'll start by eliminating all of those nasty trumpers from society. Then we'll donate $50 each to jackmott42 so their nearly 2 standard deviation from the mean and average income is no longer penny pinching.
Let's also build a fort around jackmott42, so they are completely safe from all their enemies, imagined or not.
As for the rest of us? Who cares. The only thing that matters is jackmott42.
Cal Newport touches on this in Digital Minimalism. But the Media's need to produce incessant clickbait articles (to generate ad revenue) contributes to this. Basically, avoid News Media and social media.
