Is it just me or is there a glut of disproprtionate glumness on GD ATM?

There seems to be an enormous amount of despairing and misery-making over prospects for the future.

There seems to be a general perception of defeatism. Is there some specific thing I'm missing? There could well be, I've been away from here for a little while...

My corncern for the country is an obsession.

I'd been a bit blinded by one of the DU sub-group-thinks (not everyone bought it, of course, but I did) that Bushco were somehow genuine supervillains...

Obsession is Bad for you, my friend....! They're on the way out but they won't go down tomorrow... so I plan on taking a break from worrying. Popcorn moments aplenty next year, methinks... ;-)

Happy New Year to you!

x <- optional

and I wonder how many of us are a bit under the weather?

Or WILL be come this time tomorrow!

XXX

healing hugs from mouses

XXX

have to cut out part of your intestine to cure you because it doesn't respond to meds.

I have the type where aliens are living in my lungs.

I think that after what we've been through since 2000, it's hard for some to look at the future with optimism.

I would have thought things were somewhat better...? :shrug:

Course, I don't live in the States, so can't speak about how things work over there but here in UK there's certainly a kind of social "weather" where people all get depressed at once, get pregnant at once, have huge rows with close friends, have accidents, get promoted, all at once. It always seems to come in waves.

Not so across the pond? Is it perhaps just a general "meh" crossing the stars of the Left for no particular reason other than... tiredness?

I'd find that a little upsetting if it were to leave permanent marks.

Tis rest time, the winter holidays... even if I'm wrong and things really ARE significantly worse than they were 5 years ago the way forward is to rest and gather thoughts.

Human beings don't really have the option of just giving up. It's against our nature...

Where I live tomorrow will be 52 seconds longer.

It's seasonal affective disorder for some, myself included.

Plus, those of us on the West Coast have had DAYS of unending rain.

It's gonna be a good spring. :)

Over the past month or so I've gone from being a fairly active ranter on GD to being very confused about the psych here and trying to establish a reason why I'm posting. There was a rash of REALLY nasty fights a few weeks back. I tried posting bridge threads and they just sank, then I experimented with posting pure flamebait which got a good ol' bonfire of nastiness up and running in no time and was locked. I then thought - "what on earth did I do that for?"

Also I got into a silly argument over something I don't even feel that strongly about. It was the *tone* that annoyed me more than anything. It left me with a feeling of: "What's WRONG with everybody?" before realising that I was just joining in. That left me a bit high and dry, because if everyone's hell bent on letting the ugliest possible side hang out, there ain't much anyone can do.

And now it's settled into a kind of drifting melancholy. It's peculiar, because this year was probably the worst for Bush yet...

Which SHOULD make people happy...

Also, if you try and post anything a little bit subtle or observant (not claiming that for me), no-one cares. Solutions, simple or complex, seem to be out this season...

when nothing has changed to make people think that this year will be better then the last one. Without change theres no reason to think things will be different. Look at the past year in review, shrub has blundered and lied his way through everything that a dem would have been hung for. November of 2006 is a long way off and so much can happen. The way things stand right now, it looks as though GW will just slide by and get bailed out of another mess because the rich will back him up. On top of all that we all know that gas prices will continue to raise, jobs will leave the country for cheap labor and no epa standards to stop the greedy from polluting else where. People are feeling helpless and then you got fundies and bushbots taking over even more. Unless theres some change for the better things just don't look good for liberals or the real american people, those who don't blindly follow.

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america has been stuck on stupid every since 1979. We had a brief 4 year period where we were starting to hope then along came Ken Star, a stained dress and people got even dumber. Now we have shrub to deal with and the repuke lie machine going full steam ahead and still the stupid control with their little heads and leave the thinking for others. Maybe people are waking up in the UK, but over here we are stuck on stupid and fear. People have actually told me that their little ribbons on their cars made them targets for islamic terrorists while they shop at wal-mart.

and reflecting back on what a SUCK ASS year it was.

I feel like Rocky Balboa in round 6 (pretty much any fight)

comes from helplessness and hopelessness...there just does not seem to be a level playing field, sense of fairness, or justice. Last night on Art Bells predictions for 2006 some guy predicted the collapse of the Democratic party, he was gleeful and smug. His perception was that all we want to do is tear America down and say that we are all a bunch of bad people. He sounded like an ignorant John Birch-er hick but he surely considered us the enemy. Maybe KKKarl, Faux, and Clearchannel are getting their wish, to annihilate our party...so they can have a one party dictatorship. This also is a problem to me nothing sticks to them, they are doing immoral, illegal, constitution destroying crap and nobody can stop them..They wouldn't stand for it one minute if the shoe were on the other foot. Sometimes in my personal life I have been guilty of watching the ship sink so to speak...I can see the trouble ahead and if no one will listen to me, I just wait for the consequences to hit, and then they are sorry. An 'I told you so' scenario. Sometimes it's satisfying to to hear "I should have listened"...."You were right"...but in this case I don't think Democrats have the luxury of letting the country go to hell in a hand basket just to prove we were right. Meanwhile it feels like we are kicking and screaming from inside a sound-proof booth. But that's just me...I can't speak for everyone.

I don't understand this.

What do you mean?

Too many thing gone wrong to list. I'm afraid DU will get so giddy over the coming ouster of the cabal and the accompanying chaos, that we'll forget the huge list of damages that they've done and not push our leaders to fix them. We'll look the other way as they continue to advance the corporate agenda like in the 90's.

I sympathise and relate. I had a real hammer of year in 1999, knocked me for 6. Took a couple of years to recover.

I don't know if this helps, BUT if it's personal life stuff you're talking about, dude, I can maybe only say this: things can get better, a LOT better, SO much better if you just hold on and hope and wait and keep going... It's the last thing you want to be told, I know, but please trust me, it's true...

AS to the Democrats...

I wonder how many of THEM are thinking exactly the same thing...

pretty much sucked too, but I was making headway, all that is gone now & I'm at a loss as to what more I can do. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. Good luck to you.

and contemplating 3 more wars, torture, domestic spying, looting of the treasury, diebold, climate change, peak oil, etc and the lack of strong, united leadership on these critical issues.

peace

I rather wonder if *some* of the difficulty Bushco is having in getting any of the awfulness you mention to stick as "acceptable" may have something to do with the absence of "strong leadership"...

This thought is only just forming as I type, so shoot it down, if you like, but I recall the quote: "show me a nation who needs a strong leader and I'll show you a nation of sheep"...

No target. Hm.

all the awfulness i mentioned is in place now and has been for years now.

if we don't have strong leaders who represent weTHEpeople as well as the corps we get what we got.

When the people lead, the leaders will follow (unless they got the vote rigged)

depressing ain't it.

peace

kay.

we need strong leaders who follow the people? If representatives are only of use as a way of showing what the people have already decided they want, who are they showing it to? ?? I'm sure the opposition doesn't really CARE what we think.

I can see a leader as a useful way of focussing and directing energy but not as a way of taking down the cabal, I think they have to be starved of what they need... I'm a big fan of boycotts.

Still, as I say, these are unfocussed ramblings of mine as I am currently full of food and darting back and forth from a warm fire to post...

Right now the US is in the middle of another Dark Night of the Soul. Especially if one is at all liberal (even just a little rational). We're living with five years of GOP damage and Jughead has three more years to keep it up. That thought would depress anyone with a brain....The bright side is that the chickens finally seem to be coming home to roost for the GOP. But even that is muddied by the relative unwillingns or inability of the Democrats to capitalize on it.

I try to remember that these things are cyclical. For perspective, I keep in mind the year-end roundups in the 1960's and 70's, and it was almost tradiational for them to be described a "one of the most difficult and turbulent years ever."

There was a period of optimism in the early 1980's. Even though it was Reagan Time, the mood of the nation a a whole was alittle more upbeat.

Then around 1987, things turned sucky again. The illusory "boom" of the 80's burst, and GHW Bush was blowing it left and right in the late 80's and early 90s. Those were considerd bad years at the time too.

In the latter 90's we again had a period of optimism -- extreme optimism. Then that bubble burst too in 2001 -- coincidentally with another Bush at the helm.

But dark as it seems, there are rays of light on the horizon.

My family, kids and grandkids are healthy and bright. I spent the year helping to raise the youngest one and he made me laugh every day. I have a roof over my head, a decent job and plenty to eat. I traveled to England and France and saw places I had always dreamed about. I have wonderful friends and they are the best gift I ever gave to myself.

But I am aware that I am far luckier this year then many many others, so I've tried to be generous in contributions and prayers and my time to those who are less fortunate.

I wish all my fellow DUers a Happy, Blessed and Prosperous New Year!

either..enough money, still have jobs, everybody escaped serious illness, injury. Closer to building the dream house.

But I'm in my mind 50's. It's been a long time coming! Not that the other years have been awful, I have been blessed I'll just say this much: none of it has come easy.

Actually, I had a bloody EXCELLENT year! I had so much fun! I did all sorts of new things I never thought I'd find myself doing...

Happy New Year to you also!