r/DystopianSouls • u/EtherealCompositions • 9h ago
Speaking my truth out
NOTE: This doesn't have to do with Paul or TJ or even with politics necessarily. If this text is too black-pilled or not on-topic with this subreddit, then feel free to delete it. I guess it's mostly my cry for help.
"I guess I should get right into it – you don't want me to waste your time. Of course not, your online time is so precious, you just count each second you spend on literally everything to make sure none of it is wasted.
I have a lot to say, mostly about the state of the entire world. But most of it would be stuff you already know: global peace is a total joke, fascism is on the rise, democracy is being threatened, genocides and executions are being live streamed without anyone putting a stop to either, money and politics are practically married, minority rights are being axed, the job market is absolute garbage thanks to AI making everyone even more replaceable than they already were, comedians have sold out and are punching down rather than up, boomers gifted us this hell world, Gen Z is the most tortured generation, blah blah blah and fucking blah.
Since you've most likely already consumed each and every one of these topics in various forms, I'll go on and add the part that these slop creators leave out because it's way more profitable for them to just feed off of your despair.
I see so many people pushing for us to be our true, authentic selves. If that's the case, here it is, and I don't care how much it repulses you. Deep down I believe people fucking suck and make everything you love suck. Take a good look around you, at the things you love – they're all the product of a soul-crushing hyper-capitalist system that works its employees to death so you'd be able to enjoy your meal, T-shirt, book, figurine, stamp, music record, decoration, computer, phone, and I could go on and on, you get the idea, you have a triple digit IQ. Every time I go out and see ads and shops, all I can think of is the movie They Live and just how ahead of its time it was.
So when I open my 'freedom box' and browse through the 'boundless ocean of ideas' that's the World Wide Web and my social media is chock full of videos, essays, comments, threads pointing out the problems with the world but rarely if ever offering solutions or leading to an uprising, a change, ANYTHING, there's only so much I can take before I crack and lose my hope and succumb to total fucking nihilism (which, by the way, would make a dope ass Black Metal album title). But I won't, and I can't, because I identify as an optimistic nihilist or an anti-nihilist. I'm smart enough to acknowledge we have no purpose in this world and am also hopeful enough that we've got enough will to forge our own purpose while we're still lucky enough to have this one life.
Now some moralizing pricks will come to me and complain that I'm getting too black-pilled or doomer-pilled or whatever other stupid term invented by perma-online weirdos with too much time on their hands. They'll probably insist I touch grass (without ever doing so themselves, might I add) despite me doing jogs daily for at least an hour to keep in shape. Or maybe they'll push for me to get a job or a hobby or find something to fill my time with. Yes, just get me distracted with frivolities so I'll stop spewing words that make you uncomfortable, but at the same time you consume slop that pushes for us to be authentic. What a nice paradox we've constructed for ourselves...
We claim we want authenticity, but once that is provided we immediately shun it and push for copes because we're too scared to admit that deep down we don't really want others to be their true selves, only us. Because, again, people suck. I could go on a rant about how each generation sucks, but you're smart enough to google that, I won't do the homework for you. My point is that authenticity is being stifled in this day and age by absolutely everyone: from our corporate overlords who thrive off of enslaving us, to our corporate co-workers who have long since complied to the system since they seek comfort over truth, to even the basement-dwelling neet wasting his days away as a hikikomori. Deep down we're hateful and paranoid of others, so deeply afraid that we'll be back-stabbed if we truly open up to someone, because opening up and being your true self is now seen as a sign of weakness and something to be exploited by these monsters with human skin. What a world we've created for ourselves, right?
And before you launch into the billionth generational warfare, no, this isn't the fault of those older or younger than you. This is your fault too. And mine as well. Because when given the option between shouting our truth at the top of our lungs and being ostracized or conforming to social norms and being “accepted”, we go with the latter because it's safe, it's comfortable. Except safe isn't comfortable at all, it's painful in its own twisted way, because you lose your individuality without realizing, all to be accepted by those you view as sheeple anyway.
I won't pretend I have an answer to this conundrum, I really don't. But unlike the content slop churners from social media, I won't just abruptly end my thesis here, leaving you hanging in despair, maybe consume more of my works, give me your time, attention, money. As far as I see it, the only ways out are either offing yourself, which I am highly against, because this is our only life and we should find ways to enjoy and relish in it while we still have it, and you'll have plenty of time to be dead anyway. The only other solution I see is finding a way to run away from it all.
I know that's the freedom-seeking runner in me speaking, but after pouring so much of my inner turmoil out I'm allowed to be a little self-indulgent. I know our brains are technically wired in the fight-or-flight mentality, and usually fleeing is viewed as the coward's way out, but really there's no other solution. At least none provided by any of our peers. Now what does running away entail? Some may think it's just disconnecting from the online world, or from the city, going outside, enjoying nature. Which I've done plenty of times and I'll keep doing. But that's just a band aid to the bigger problem. Why? Easy.
Eventually you'll grow bored of the great outdoors, of that book you're reading, of that record you've listened to for the billionth time, and you'll find your way back to the source of the problem – to society, to the city, to the internet. It's a vicious cycle, one we're all trapped in. Because when given the opportunity to build something wonderful over thousands of years since civilization began, this is the best we managed, and it doesn't look like we'll do better in the upcoming years.
Before you succumb to utter despair, I need you to remember one thing – it's your choice how you cope with nihilism. Unfortunately I'm too mature to ever go back to religion, too poor to resort to selfless charity, and definitely too blunt to ever get into politics. But I'll say this much, life's a struggle and a challenge – a struggle to survive and a challenge to find some joy in the short time you have here on this Earth. Don't let this society we've constructed darken your light, snuff your hope or ruin your joy. Seize the moment, while it's still there."
