To think people should chill with the hysterical doomsday threads

[elzober]

Before the pile on about minimising the difficulties people are having, I'm not saying there aren't serious challenges going on at the moment from climate to the cost of living. There's no denying any of that and I hope this crappy government will redeem themselves and take steps to help people.

But talk of apocalypse and the collapse of society is pretty OTT and I keep seeing the tin hat brigade commenting about their various conspiracy theories too.

It's a bit hysterical when you think there are people from from developing countries with hyperinflation, war on their doorstep and armed militias who had to flee to places like the UK for safety.

I think this is a good point

There is lots of sanctimony about 'how dare people who are the squeezed middle' complain because perhaps their version of cutting back involves not being able to buy new clothes or shoes for the kids or save for a holiday, or have the heating on as much

And thats in aid of there being people who dont have a duvet, or regular food etc

But how would it feel for those people to be told that actually you do have government support, you do have a roof over your head albeit expensive and perhaps temporary accommodation, you do have food albeit very basic and sourced from the food bank.

But your leg hasnt been blown off and your child isnt going to die from basic sanitation issues

How low do we want the bar to go. The reality is the country is on its knees but thankfully few of us here will experience life in a refugee camp with a few rags for clothing

I don't think you truly understand how many people in this country live in abject poverty @bellac11

Some of the worse-off posters on here want to have it both ways on this point though.They’ll get upset at being told that they are better off that a Ukrainian civilian or Somali farmer then deride someone in the “squeezed middle” for complaining despite being better off than they are.

They need to decide, which is it? Is it OK to say that you don’t feel as well of as you like, or can you only complain if you are right at the bottom?

It’s more a question of why though, isn’t it? How can someone who’s fit and healthy not aspire to or manage to find a job on 40 hours per week paying £10 per hour?

Why would anyone on a low-paying wage choose to have two or three children in their early twenties before getting married when they don’t have any savings behind them or have acquired the skills that will help them to always be employed and able to command a bit more than minimum wage.

There is only so much that the state or society can or should do, and to pretend that every case of poverty is caused by unforeseen circumstances or bad luck is just wrong.

I don't see scaremongering threads but I do see threads warning people about what's coming.

I also know there are people who seem to be in denial.

I bet that if there was an asteroid heading towards Earth, people would demand a topic of MN just for that so they could escape the threads.

Don't look up is a very accurate film

I work with it every day.

And I also know how the poverty statistics work, its not as straight forward as those who are unemployed, or even those who are on benefits.

I agree and its also massively counterproductive because it puts sensible people off and discourages constructive debate.

It was a bit like this during the acute phase of the pandemic as well. An awful lot of threads which were either "we're all going to die" or "they are lying to us and putting chips into our brains".

Understandably people got panic fatigue and stopped reading and caring.

The cost of living crisis and the environmental situation are both very real and present problems for millions of people and while its legitimate for people to express concern and fear, screeds of "the end of the world is nigh" just numbs and exhausts people.

100% agree. Its time people start to take accountability for their own lives. The state should be there to support the disabled and the elderly, not there to support everyone. We constantly read about the high numbet of open vacancies so now is a perfect time for people to go out and get a job/higher paying job

You won't die from a cold house
I would. Some of us have/will. 3,000 a year is the average who die from hypothermia due to not being able to heat their homes. Be careful about the advice you give.

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cold-weather-uk-winter-deaths-europe-polar-vortex-a8224276.html

Head over to the Preppers topic. Little to no drama and lots of sensible budget friendly stuff.

@Horoscopegubbins
Financial meltdown plus imminent destruction of the planet is new!

I can only guess that you didn’t live through the Cold War then? Or were perhaps too young to remember? We absolutely thought the entire planet would be destroyed by nukes any day. There was constant sabre rattling and “missile crises” in the news threatening nuclear war as “mutual assured destruction” and from Early Years in school you pretty much knew if you saw a mushroom cloud, that would be your last 20mins alive before the planet burnt to a radioactive crisp. Oh, AND there were financial crises too…

MN has always been like this

riots have been predicted for years

some would absolutely love the drama

Those predicting Armageddon, what form do they think that it will come in?

Do most of you not live in a normal street, with houses, flats, gardens and shops, where people come and go, to and from work, maybe waving hello, maybe lost in a podcast, or rushing for the bus?

What do you think is going to happen?

I look out here, and see not a single sign of societal collapse, disaster, plague or pestilence, just the same people going out to and back from the same jobs.

Neighbours children call round selling cookies to fund some school trip, the gardeners enjoy the coffee I take out to them, and one tells me about his new baby.

It is all fine. Am I supposed to be on the lookout for some of the nutters from here running up the road with a spear in their hand to eat the neighbour’s cat and do a shit on the nice SL AMG that the guy next door has just finished washing?

Sometimes it can be a useful tool to achieve x objectives, e.g. Saving the economy when the mortgage backed securities, tanked in 2008 etc

Chances are when beings from other planets, land, and then humans are not God's only creations, and that the holy books 📚have no platforming meaning to how to address the other beings.

Completely agree with your op

Because most jobs are not 40 hours a week. They are zero-hours or part-time with no guaranteed extra hours. I work two part-time jobs but I can make that work because they are fixed hours. But many jobs are not fixed hours.
These jobs are fine for young adults still living at home. But no good if you are a parent. How are you supposed to arrange childcare and manage if you do not know month to month how much you will earn?
But the amount of people unemployed is very low. Some of those will be people who will always struggle to get a job. Alcoholics who turn up at interviews smelling of booze. People out of the job market as carers trying to get a job after many years of not working, etc etc.
Job vacancies are largely not because of unemployed people refusing to work. It is because migrants went home and lots of people retired early during the pandemic or went part-time. And in some places because house prices and rents are too high for low-paid staff so they move elsewhere.

I see this a lot on here but interested in the answer to both questions

I lived through that.

I honestly didn't think there would be a nuclear war

But I do think that energy costs are going to rise and that is going to account for a lot of people's budgets.

Yabu. There are people in this country currently living in hell. Relying on foodbanks. Having to sleep in the living room with all their kids because it's the one room they can afford to heat. These are working people too. There are people who have lost entire support systems because of covid. Yes this is apocalyptic. And just because we aren't in some place in the world where war regularly happens on your doorstep doesn't make this any less worse. There are people literally being deported for the crime of not being white. There are people working multiple jobs and now a new scheme for 'warm' places has come in to alleviate the sheer destruction energy bills will cost this winter. We are currently experiencing extreme weather. That it doesn't affect you means you should probably get the champagne out - but that doesn't detract from the fact that there are people suffering.

Most jobs are zero hours or part time?

Do you have a link to that? It doesn’t sound right.

Have you ever asked yourself what you are not seeing?

Completely agree. I have no doubt winter energy bills will be difficult but I haven’t really noticed prices going up for anything other than pasta so far, certainly nothing to suggest total societal collapse!

There should be a separate section on MN for the doomsdayers so the rest of can avoid it.

Not particularly, why don’t you tell me?

I asked a reasonable question, why not tell me what you think the answer is?