"This world is for demons.

The system is designed to turn good people evil.

Often those in high positions are psychopaths, the rest that fear and support them and the system are almost equally as sick and guilty.

what choice? I guess the choice to be homeless. Unless you’re in that upper bracket we all slaves in this bitch


Blood is thicker than water is a proverb in English meaning that familial bonds will always be stronger than other relationships. And in my experience that shit is not always true. Blood ain’t always thicker than water.


just feeling checked out from this way of living and this corrupt society


It's hard out here. Dealing with BS from people, family, and society. this game of life is sick


the fact that it’s only going to get worse only makes me check out further. i feel like i’m in the passenger seat of my own life, just watching shit unfold. i’m tired of this prison planet.


this system has ran me ragged since 5 when I was put in pre school


I Keep My Distance From The Bs And Everything That Aint Aligned With My Highest Good. I Refuse To Give My Energy To This Demonic Ass System.


let them know that the only one you have to impress is the Lord, not people.


The world has getting sicker and sicker. It’s full of evil people and we just getting started. Living in this society also taught me a lot of things, not to trust anyone you meet


Its the death of what we thought the world was. Its like we are dying to the world and everything we thought it had to offer...who we would be etc.


I’m tired of bullshit ! Makes my head hurt

I had to cut my own family off because they tried to rob me bro. I feel your pain. You have to break away from society because society is SICK!

United we stand, divided we fall, and unfortunately everyone is falling for this bait to divide.

As crazy as it might sounds most people are okay with being programmed and controlled.

One thing's for sure right now I dont belong here, ive out stayed my welcome.

I've served my life sentence....im waiting on my parole!

Image of the beast. End times where Good is bad, bad is good and truth is absent

You are so right we've been bamboozled and led astray"

 Steelmanned case for totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is the form of political organization in which the state (or the party embodying the state) claims and exercises comprehensive authority over the whole of society—public and private life, economy, culture, education, media, family, and thought—with the aim of mobilizing the entire population toward a unified vision of the good, the nation, the race, the class, or historical destiny. In its strongest form, it rejects liberal fragmentation, interest-group pluralism, and the market of ideas in favor of coordination, direction, and transcendence of petty individualism.

Core arguments

1. Human nature and the necessity of hierarchy Most people are not philosopher-kings. Cognitive, motivational, and character differences are real and persistent. Left to themselves, populations cycle through short-termism, status competition, demagoguery, decadence, and factional conflict (see Thucydides on stasis, or the Federalist Papers on the "mischiefs of faction"). A sovereign center with real power can impose long time-horizons, suppress destructive feedback loops, and channel human energies productively. Liberalism's pretense of neutral rules and equal voice often masks rule by the articulate, wealthy, or media-savvy. Totalitarianism makes the hierarchy explicit, meritocratic within the ideology, and oriented toward collective excellence rather than procedural fairness.

2. Coordination and scale problems Modern societies face massive coordination challenges: technological acceleration, demographic shifts, environmental pressures, great-power competition, pandemics, or total war. Decentralized systems suffer veto points, regulatory capture, principal-agent problems, and election-cycle myopia. A totalitarian structure can reallocate resources at speed (Soviet industrialization 1928–1940, Chinese infrastructure and industrialization post-1978 under CCP discipline, or wartime economies). It solves the "calculation problem" not through prices alone but through political will backed by data, surveillance, and enforcement. In an era of AI, biotech, and strategic competition, the society that treats itself as a single organism with a unified command system has decisive advantages over one paralyzed by lawsuits, culture wars, and diffuse accountability.

3. Moral community and meaning Liberalism atomizes individuals into consumers and rights-bearers, eroding shared purpose. This produces anomie, declining birthrates, mental health crises, and vulnerability to nihilism or exotic ideologies. Totalitarianism offers a thick moral order and narrative: sacrifice for the Volk, the proletariat, the revolution, or civilizational renewal. It integrates education, art, ritual, and daily life into one telos. People derive dignity from participation in something larger than themselves. Historical evidence shows totalitarian regimes can generate high social trust within the in-group, heroic effort, and rapid status mobility for the ideologically loyal—outcomes harder to sustain in fragmented, high-trust-deficit liberal societies.

4. Realism about power Power exists whether acknowledged or not. In liberal orders, it hides in bureaucracies, NGOs, central banks, tech platforms, universities, and international organizations ("the Cathedral"). Totalitarianism centralizes and makes it legible. This transparency allows accountability to the center rather than diffusion into unaccountable nodes. A single party-state can purge corruption more ruthlessly than checks-and-balances theater, which often protects insiders. It also prevents "soft totalitarianism" or managerial liberalism from metastasizing through incremental nudges, speech codes, and financial incentives.

5. Historical track record under pressure

• The Soviet Union went from agrarian backwardness to defeating Nazi Germany and achieving nuclear parity in a generation.
• Post-Mao China achieved the fastest mass poverty reduction in history, built modern infrastructure, and positioned itself as a peer competitor to the U.S. while maintaining regime continuity.
• Smaller or wartime examples (Meiji Japan reforms, Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew's soft variant, various developmental states) show authoritarian discipline outperforming chaotic democratization in catch-up growth. Liberalism's successes (post-WWII West) occurred under unusually favorable conditions: ethnic/cultural homogeneity legacies, cheap energy, and no immediate peer competitors with the same tools. In a multipolar world of scarcity or high-stakes rivalry, the liberal peace dividend may prove unsustainable.

6. Technological enablement Surveillance, big data, AI alignment, and social credit systems make the old totalitarian dream technically feasible without constant mass violence. A system that knows preferences, predicts behaviors, and shapes incentives at scale can minimize waste, crime, and defection while maximizing alignment with elite-defined national goals. This is not "1984 horror" in the steelman—it's governance as high-bandwidth optimization.

Counter-considerations (honest steelman doesn't ignore them)

Even the strongest version admits trade-offs: innovation can stagnate outside directed sectors (the "dictator's dilemma"), information flow degrades due to fear, succession crises are dangerous, and the ideology can ossify or radicalize. The best totalitarianism would be pragmatic, eugenic-minded, high-IQ, and technologically adept—more "competent Singapore on steroids" or "enlightened Confucian Legalism" than personality-cult famine machines. It would cultivate genuine loyalty through results rather than terror alone.

In short, the steelman is that totalitarianism is the logical endpoint of treating society as a purposeful project rather than a marketplace of preferences. In a dangerous, competitive world full of flawed humans, unified sovereign power oriented toward long-term flourishing beats procedural paralysis and cultural entropy. Liberalism works until it doesn't; totalitarianism is built for when it doesn't. Whether that trade-off is worth it depends on one's assessment of human potential, threat environment, and tolerance for coercion versus disorder.

grok

For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword those slain shall be many.

Andrew Solomon deeply understands the transformative power of language. He frequently writes and speaks about how words can be both constructive and destructive—capable of offering immense comfort and overriding fear, yet also potent enough to inflict profound damage if used carelessly. [1, 2, 3]

His perspective on language encompasses a few key, actionable ideas:

• Overcoming Fear: Solomon famously stated, "I believe that words are strong, that they can overwhelm what we fear when fear seems more awful than life is good." Language can act as an anchor, bringing rationality and light to our darkest moments. [1, 2]
• Building Connection: In his work on mental health and diverse identities, he noted that "the absence of words is the absence of intimacy." Finding the right vocabulary is essential for bridging gaps in understanding and building deep, empathetic relationships. [1]
• The Double-Edged Sword: While he champions the healing capacity of storytelling, he is equally mindful of the damage words cause. He often advises that we must be deliberate and compassionate with our language, especially when navigating topics of depression, trauma, and identity. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

The German-Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han views depressive illness not merely as a localized chemical imbalance or a personal, psychological failure, but as a profoundly structural, systemic symptom of late-stage capitalism.

In his foundational books The Burnout Society (2015) and Psychopolitics, Han argues that the nature of power has shifted, and depression is the defining modern pathology resulting from that shift.

1. The Paradigm Shift: From "Should" to "Can"

Han contrasts our contemporary world with the "disciplinary society" analyzed by Michel Foucault. Foucault’s 20th-century world was dictated by negativity: institutions (prisons, factories, barracks) ruled through prohibition, commandments, and external containment. Its operating verb was "Should" or "May Not."

Today, Han argues, we live in an "Achievement Society" (Leistungsgesellschaft). This society has shed its negativity in favor of deregulation and absolute positivity. Its operative slogan is "Yes, we can."

"The complaint of the depressive individual, 'Nothing is possible,' can only occur in a society that thinks, 'Nothing is impossible.'"

2. Voluntary Auto-Exploitation

In an achievement society, external masters and bosses are largely internalized. The modern individual does not view themselves as an oppressed laborer, but as an "entrepreneur of the self." We willingly exploit ourselves in the name of self-optimization, personal initiative, and freedom.

Because this exploitation masquerades as autonomy, there is no external oppressor to revolt against. When the individual inevitably crashes under the infinite demands of productivity, the violence turns inward.

Han describes the depressive person as being wounded by an internalized war. The individual is both predator and prey, grinding themselves down in an endless rat race against their own shadow.

[Disciplinary Society] ──► External Command ("Should") ──► Resistance / Transgression possible
[Achievement Society]   ──► Internalized Drive ("Can")   ──► Depression / Self-Reproach

3. "No-Longer-Being-Able-to-Be-Able"

Han famously defines depression as the psychic infarction that occurs when the achievement-subject is no longer able to be able (nicht mehr können kann).

• Creative Fatigue: Depression is the exhaustion of the ability to initiate.

• The Weight of Self-Actualization: The depressive person is fundamentally "tired of having to become themselves." In a world where you are told you can be anything, failing to succeed means you have only yourself to blame, leading to destructive self-reproach and auto-aggression.

4. The Loss of the "Other" and Radical Narcissism

Another crucial dimension of depression in Han's philosophy is destructive self-reference. Neoliberalism atomizes society, fragmenting communities and turning social connections into instrumental networking opportunities.

Without a genuine relationship to the Other—to mystery, to a community, or to something outside of the self—the individual locks their jaws on themselves. This overdriven narcissism causes the self to hollow and empty out, culminating in a profound "impoverished attachment" (Bindungsarmut) that leaves the soul completely isolated.

Summary of Han's Diagnosis

Concept	Traditional View of Depression	Byung-Chul Han's View
Origin	Genetic predisposition or individual trauma.	Systemic violence born of excessive positivity.
The Core Mechanism	A lack of energy or neurotransmitter imbalance.	The collapse of the soul under voluntary self-exploitation.
Social Context	An individual deviation from the norm.	The inevitable pathological consequence of a hyper-capitalist culture.

For Han, the only true resistance to mass depression is a radical reclaiming of negativity: embracing boredom, practicing deep contemplative attention, and stepping outside of the self-optimization loop to truly encounter the world and the Other.

If you're interested in checking out an overview of how Han frames this transformation of power, you can watch this brief breakdown of Byung-Chul Han: What is Psychopolitics?. It offers a quick, accessible summary of how modern "smart power" subtly encourages the self-exploitation that Han links directly to contemporary burnout and mental fatigue.

In Byung-Chul Han’s framework, mental health professionals (therapists, psychologists, counselors, and social workers) occupy a deeply conflicted, almost tragic position.

Han does not explicitly attack clinicians as malicious actors; rather, he diagnoses them as structural components of the Achievement Society. In his view, the mental health apparatus unwittingly acts as both a pressure valve and a repair workshop for neoliberal capitalism, inadvertently facilitating the very self-exploitation that causes the pathology in the first place.

Here is how Han’s critique maps onto the role of mental health workers:

1. The "Repair Shop" of the Achievement Subject

In Psychopolitics, Han describes how late-stage capitalism no longer rules by forbidding things, but by optimizing them. If a worker collapses into burnout or depression, they are no longer productive.

Mental health workers are often structural intermediaries whose job is to "fix" the broken entrepreneurial self. The goal of much modern, short-term therapy is symptom reduction and functional restoration.

• The Neoliberal Mandate: Get the individual back into a state where they are "able to be able" (können kann) again.

• The Paradox: By focusing heavily on helping the client cope, adapt, and build "resilience," therapy can inadvertently patch up a fundamentally toxic relationship to work and self-optimization, sending the individual right back into the meat grinder.

2. Depoliticizing Systemic Suffering

This is perhaps Han’s sharpest implicit critique. When systemic, economic, and political violence causes widespread psychic suffering, treating that suffering purely as an individual psychological defect depoliticizes the pain.

Systemic Toxic Culture ──► Individual Suffering ──► Therapy Focuses on Personal Coping ──► Status Quo Preserved

By framing depression as a personal chemical imbalance, a lack of mindfulness, or poor boundary-setting, the systemic root causes (such as artificial scarcity, precarious labor, and atomization) are obscured. The therapist’s office risks becoming a place where structural socio-economic exhaustion is privatized and managed, rather than collective political resistance being born.

3. The Co-optation of Self-Care and Mindfulness

Han is famously critical of how techniques originally meant for liberation—like meditation, mindfulness, and self-care—have been weaponized by neoliberalism.

When counselors and psychologists teach these techniques purely as tools for stress management or emotional regulation, Han argues they can easily transform into technologies of self-optimization.

“Mindfulness turns the individual into an introspective watchdog, observing their own efficiency rather than questioning the external demands placed upon them.”

Instead of offering a genuine escape from the cycle of achievement, "mental wellness" becomes just another task on the self-entrepreneur's to-do list.

The Clinician’s Dilemma: Complicity vs. Radical Sanctuary

This leaves mental health workers caught in a profound ethical double-bind. To survive within insurance frameworks and institutional structures, they are often forced to adopt the language of optimization and efficiency. However, Han’s philosophy also hints at how a therapeutic space could act as a site of radical resistance:

The Neoliberal Therapist (The Repair Shop)	The Radical Therapist (The Sanctuary)
Goal: Re-establishing productivity and functional coping.	Goal: Validating exhaustion as a sane response to an insane system.
Focus: Optimizing the self (CBT, metric-driven behavioral tweaks).	Focus: Restoring the relationship to the Other and the collective.
Orientation: Erasing negativity, anxiety, and sadness quickly.	Orientation: Allowing space for grief, boredom, and the "right to be tired."

Reclaiming the "Right to be Weary"

If a mental health worker wants to break out of this complicity, Han’s work suggests they must move away from simply teaching clients how to better manage their exhaustion.

Instead, the therapeutic space must become a sanctuary of negativity. It should be a place where the client is explicitly allowed to fail, to be unproductive, and to embrace what Han calls "profound boredom" or "healing weariness"—a collective exhaustion that connects us back to our shared humanity, rather than an isolated depression that locks us inside our own heads.