Damn. Some of the posts today are literally burning a hole in my stomach.

Can't we PLEASE try to balance some of these posts with at least a mild attempt to instill some empowerment and hope?

And no, TB, it is clearly not just you...

I would love to see some justice for all of Trump's shit but so far nada.
I am hoping but losing patience.

to believe Pollyannas are naive waifs. Things actually do look a lot better than they looked in, say, 1930. Or maybe even 1968.

But, we are in fact reliving old horrors while new ones are on the horizon. While old-fashioned dictatorships are dwindling, the grand marches to democracy and unity are slowing down with fractures in the new structures of Europe, authoritarianism becoming the rule in places like Turkey and Eastern Europe, and more misery in parts of Africa and the Caribbean.

On top of that we have the population explosions in the poorest countries that cannot afford them, climate changes and water overuse that is slowly destroying agriculture, the horrific state of the oceans...

All of this can be dealt with, but requires at least attempts at unity and leadership, which we do not have right now.

Maybe we have just hit bottom and it is time to rise again. I hope so, but in the meantime is it so bad to remind ourselves what can happen if we continue to make false choices?

until (fortunately, babylonsister found something more positive to post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210156193 ) Until then, all I wanted to do was bury my head back under the blankets for about the next ten years, rather than try to find a way to fight back.

Honestly, I don't think ANYONE that posts here regularly FAILS to recognize the intensity of issues, the seriousness of the fight, the risks that lie ahead. Still, I am NOT suggesting we sugar coat or fail to post bad news...

But, I think it is fair to say that this is a marathon and not a sprint and thus we have to consciously keep ourselves (and others) prepared for the long term fight. Despair is likely something we are ALL ALREADY fighting--I know I am. So, even if it is an attempt to add a comment that might put a really bad issue or bit of news in perspective, I think it is worth the attempt.

Just a suggestion...

(there's that damn "but&quot

Plato observed that democracies tend to devolve. The truth is that people are so diverse and battle-ready that any form of government is inherently unstable and his philosopher kings are no exception.

American democracy, like Britain's, has proven so far to be fundamentally strong and has survived many challenges, not least that ruckus in 1861. Not only have we survived, most of these challenges have ultimately made us stronger. Will that continue? Only if we are led by unity, not fear and division.

I've heard it proposed that evolution gave us the amygdalae to help decide fight or flight decisions, with the default toward fear and flight. Maybe a few hundred thousand more years of evolution will reduce them in size to where they are more useful.

single post was a totally depressing “this is the end of democracy” post. We REALLY don’t need this right now.

...almost certainly helped to ward off the Big Brother society it describes. It made an impact. (Though Britain today, with its endless surveillance, seems more Orwellian by the day.)

'TMID' is more of a suspense thriller, set during the Nazi occupation of Norway. While it does depict some oppression (because Nazis), it doesn't depict an ugly, undesirable future, not the least of which reasons is because the setting is historical, and we know the outcome.

I read it during the transition period after tRump's election. It made me think of tRump as an asteroid approaching earth, which is the background for the action in the novel.

of dystopian literature for young adults in in the 2000s and beyond. What is classified as young adult literature today fits traditionally in my favorites as a kid that were not viewed strictly as young adult (Tarzan, John Carter, Conan, H.G. Wells).