Absolutely shit scared about the future in the UK?

[JDNCh]

Name changed - I’m genuinely terrified by the hate, division and atmosphere here right now, online and spilling over on the ‘the real world’. I’m scared by how quickly things are changing, and just how much influence the US/Elon Musk/Reform+supporters are having. I’m scared of what the actual point of it all is - what’s the endgame? And what’s the solution? Why is no one protesting/rising up from the other way? Do people generally agree with all this?

I’m in no way a minority (white, female, 30s), I’m not super left, I have one little boy and I’m so scared for his future. I don’t want to live somewhere so intolerant with this constant atmosphere of distrust and something getting ready to blow.

What’s the general consensus? Is this what the people of the U.K. want?

I'm not worried about the social aspects here now there's a Labour government.

However I am worried about the US tanking their economy because that will heavily impact.

I honestly don’t know to be honest. A lot can change over the years so will see.

Labour are scaring millions

I think a positive action that could also help you to feel better would be to volunteer in your local area. Something easy and enjoyable that you could take your child to as well if need be. Having a local community in touch with one another will make a difference and you could help that to function. If that's not possible at the moment, try going to local events organised by local people. It might help you to see the good as well.

This type of trouble is spreading across Europe I think. Try to avoid the news as much as you can. There is a lot of scaremongering going on too.

Reform are not far right for goodness sake. It's only white middle class women that pretend they don't care about immigration and claim they are tolerant. The reality being they don't have one black friend between them, they don't struggle to get a Dr's appointment or into the local schools. Us working class people are extremely tolerant thank you, our children mix with black , brown, white European all different religions every single day. They play nicely they respect each other. There is only so much room in our tiny country I'm afraid and many of these poor black people the middle class patronisingly look down on whilst calling everyone else racist feel the same way as us. For goodness sake get a grip.

Why are you scared about a notional 'far right' uprising but not about the actual reality of 1000s of young girls being raped, abused and murdered while the authorities turned a blind eye? Why does an unelected blowhard like Musk give you the fear but not MPs in actual government who believe that 9 year old girls were 'asking for it'?

I know what scares me. Mass abuse of little girls being treated as an inconvenience or culture war by the party in power.

They didn’t actually. Labour’s share of the vote was just 34%.

I'm not scared. In the interests of transparency, I'm not wildly excited by them either, but I'm certainly not scared. Your agenda is showing.

To where? There is no such place, everywhere has their problems. Even within nations themselves there are areas of calm and areas of unrest.

Emigrating isn't the cure-all people seem to think. Do it for the weather, do it for the lifestyle, yes - but don't kid yourself anywhere is a utopia.

Yes absolutely, but it is a shift in what’s acceptable isn’t it. Culture in the UK is dominated by the left, the conservatives usually trail behind.

We had a cultural shift that said trans women are women. The culture has shifted again because of people like JK Rowling and left wing feminists shoving it back, if the right wing had done it there would have been howls of bigotry. Now suddenly people are popping up all over the place who seem to have suffered a bout of amnesia about what they said two years ago. Cultural conformity is a thing people adhere to signal they are the “right” kind of people and drop it once it looks like it’s falling out of fashion.

I think you’ll find a lot of left wing women could tell you exactly what kind of pressure there is to conform and tow the line and the attacks they were on the receiving end of.

I don’t think the right was saying worry over rape gangs was racism and moral panic, they were very careful to not offend but equally careful about accusations of racism.

As I said it’s the progressive left which I don’t actually think of as left wing at all.

It's not just the UK, though, is it? I feel like the whole world is becoming increasingly divided - Trump back in power in the US, mainland Europe increasingly turning further right with elections etc. Radical religious extremists wanting to harm those who don't abide by their views...

The question is why? And I think a big part comes down to two things. Firstly, social media. Algorithms increasingly show people what they want to see - whether that's conspiracy theory rabbit holes or echo chambers of people who believe the same thing. We've lost the art of polite debate - practically every political discussion online descends into screaming and name calling. Many topics - for instance immigration - can never, ever be discussed civilly.

Then there's the collective failures of governments all around the world - of all persuasions - to meaningfully improve people's quality of life in the last 10-15 years. When populations see their country becoming increasingly broken - stagnant wages, failing infrastructure, mass overpopulation etc, it's entirely predictable people are going to become angrier - and want something/someone to blame for the situation.

It is really worrying times. The remainder of the 2020s and start of the 2030s could be a time of huge upheaval globally politically. Where and how it ends, who knows? One thing's for certain...it'll get worse before it gets better.

I’m not scared of the world or the way the UK is going. Disappointed by certain aspects yes, but not afraid. There will always be good things and bad things, and always has been, for every generation. When I go about my daily life I don’t generally see any hate.
I don’t watch the News anymore and haven’t for ages. It wasn’t a conscious decision, I just stopped bothering. I read the news online from newspaper sites, but it’s not as bleak as I only skim the headlines and click on what I actually want to read about. And that’s not Elon Musk.
I’m not afraid for my children’s future, they seem fine and happy. One is a young adult with a job and he’s not struggling. The other is optimistic about his future. Of course it can be difficult, but life always has ups and downs.

If you want to be "genuinely terrified" at anything, maybe try being terrified that the response to a man expressing his horror and disgust at little girls being brutally gang-raped and tortured and then ignored by the authorities is to complain about the man. Be terrified that large part of the British population has directed vastly more anger at Musk for 'interfering in British politics' than they ever have towards the rapists. Imagine for a moment that is your little boy who is being threatened, violently beaten, and raped repeatedly by hundreds of men, usually simultaneously. And when you call social services, or the police, or the government, you are told they won't help you - or even find yourself arrested while you watch your little boy being taken away by his rapists. Be terrified about that.

What "protesting/rising up from the other way" do you want to see - people demanding we don't talk about the rape gangs? That we force the girls to shut up, and let the rapists and their enablers to carry on with impunity? That we ban talk about any subjects we dislike, that we refuse to allow anyone to express an opinion we dislike? What should we do to people that do - fine them? imprison them? pack them off to 're-education camps? concentration camps? People like you are what genuinely terrifies me - partly because it's people like you who are freely offering up this opportunity for the likes of Reform to slither in. Well done.

I work at a university and see the best and brightest of the next generation, and I’m excited about the future. There are so many truly remarkable young people getting ready to go out into the world, and they are strong and confident. Let’s not forget that.

Oh right, so it's not 'chaos' now, it's a 'cultural shift'. Quite a difference in terminology, suddenly?

As I said, gaslighting.

Anyway, I'm going to take my own advice and fuck off MN for a bit, before this becomes yet another 1000-post thread extolling the consequence-free benevolence of the sainted Elon and his archangels Donald and Nigel.

Honestly, I’d just block whatever social media app you’re seeing this on and get into the real world. X and Facebook algorithms just show you more of the same content and you can end up seeing the real world in quite a distorted way.

I don't watch or read the news I only hear about things on here mainly. They say ignorance is bliss and it is.

The trouble is people want simple, quick answers, not complex ones that will take time. I don't feel that more prisons or harsher punishments are the answer - look at America, a place that locks up more population than anywhere else (mainly as prisons are a business, something the Right would love to bring in here). Is it an oasis of peace and tranquility? No.

I once saw a great quote along the lines of 'You know what would be really tough on crime? Affordable housing and healthcare, better education and social care and fighting poverty'

Of course most people in poverty don't commit crime but at the end of the day lowering inequality does a lot more than chucking people in prison.

There were major changes in the amount of cost of living support those on pension credit and universal credit got this winter. I think those on pension credit are about £1000 down, similar for universal credit. Plus all those who no longer get winter fuel allowance. My worry is that will probably have triggered a consumer slowdown / recession plus lots more ending up in hospital due to the winter weather and not eating enough nutritious food. We will find out soon enough but it’s not looking good for the poorest.

The world is in a state of flux due to climate change and the technology revolution. The UK is particularly vulnerable due to the damage done by the last government who brought us to the brink of bankruptcy and broke the Social Contract.

Much needs fixing, but there's no money to fix it. People are angry. Powerful people are manipulating this anger to their own ends.

It isn't unique to the UK it's throughout Europe.

There is definitely a 'sea change' across Europe about uncontrolled immigration, and it is concerning.

You need to get a grip and grow up. Every other week someone on MN bleats about being "terrified". The world has been through far worse in the past.