Stop being stupid would be my first guest. There is a lot of stupid. And don't smack people. (Cough Cough)
Bodacious...
surprised keanu reeves GIFGiphy"Be excellent to each other."
pnotar
"…and party on, dudes!!!"
Theformat420
Communities
"I read somewhere that if you want to change the world, you have to change the community, to change the community change your relationships, and to change your relationships change yourself."
cagibaxii
"And this saying is why I believe in the necessity of shame, accountability and consequences. Without those, one can't even change themselves. In fact, the worst of them goes unpruned and unchecked. That makes them worse, which makes their relationships worse, which makes the community worse."
thatswhatshesaidxx
Elsa Says...
“'Let go or be dragged' and old zen proverb I heard at a meditation class. Really changed the way I let myself worry about things."
civagigi
"When you can't let go of an issue - whether that's being upset over an injustice, or obsessed over a possibility- if you don't 'let go' then it may take over your life and prevent you from being happy."
clayxa
Save the World
"Don't leave plastic laying around."
TheDarkSoulHunter
"Or just stop using so much of it in the first place."
SailorSpoon11
"There is no simple rule in existence that could change the world. Multiple that can make it vastly better though."
Ill_Ratio_5682
STRIKE!!
“Forget it, Dude. Let's go bowling.”
Bonhomme7h
"Great to be the owner of bowling places then."
Crazy-yzarC
Bowling. Bowling always helps. Bowling and karaoke. Try it...
Dirty $$$
Angry The Daily Show GIF by Comedy CentralGiphy"Keeping money out of politics."
-domi-
"If we taught critical thinking skills in school, money in politics wouldn't be nearly as effective."
AmericanScream
Good Behavior
"Treats others how you want to be treated."
AlbanyGuy1973
"Doesn't work: Some people WANT to be treated like crap (masochism). Others are incapable of treating everyone like the king or queen they think they are."
P4intsplatter
"This one is bad. Treat others how you think they want to be treated would be an improvement, although it relies on you being pretty good with empathy and stuff."
Quinlov
Upset with someone?
"Any clear communication. People cant read minds so one must use communication. Upset with someone? Talk to them about it, come up with a way to resolve the issue. Pulling away from people cause of a tough time in life, let them know you're going through stuff."
"Try to minimize the potential for a loss in translation so that all sides are understanding each other as much as possible. If theres a roadblock in communication, take a step back and think about how you're viewing it vs them and how you can better understand each others sides."
dalcer
Turn Correctly!
"Use your turn signal(s) properly."
futilelord
"I live in northern Wyoming and it's the same way here. There's about a 50% chance that a person will use their turn signal, almost everybody is driving a massive vehicle, tailgating is the norm now, nobody knows what a safe following distance is anymore, stop lights and stop signs are viewed as suggestions, and the cops don't do anything about it. Driving used to be fun but now it feels more like you're playing with your life every time you go out."
Minmach-123
Be a Light
Be Kind Animation GIF by Red & HowlingGiphy"Be generous and humble. Being generous and kind encourages us to perceive others in a more positive light and fosters a sense of community. Humility teaches you to improve and make a positive impact on the world."
SuvenPan
Not Renewable
"Don't use more resources than what the earth is capable of renewing."
DeathSpiral321
"Yea it's like the debate on fur coats vs those made from polyester, fur coats when properly sourced are much more sustainable."
"With furs, we run the risk of over killing animals and harming ecosystems. That being said, they are biodegradable and if properly maintained, can last much longer. Polyester made clothing however, emits a lot of pollution during its production and takes much longer/doesn't biodegrade nearly as well."
Boomerang
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Black-Shoe
"Better hope you never run into a masochist."
EmperorG
Hush Up
"If you are not educated on the subject, sit down and stfu. Let the experts with years of education and experience talk."
Ch3m1cal420
"The problem here is that there are topics where the real experts aren't scientists but the people who experience it. These often are overlooked."
otaku_ftm_aspie_blue
Hey Neighbor
"TOLERANCE! and the good neighbor policy you stay on your side of the fence and don't bother me and I'll do the same. Got it."
Last-Voice-Of-Reason
"Deep thinking"
"Be kind to each other. Period."
NoBSforGma
"Deep thinking."
"These are not questions that can be answered easily or quickly. (Except that one for the addict because that usually leads to.... death.)"
"If everyone was kind to each other, there would be no murders, no starvation, no wars. Can you improve on that? Children would not be abused, women would not be raped. Just think about it."
go away gtfo GIF"The problem with that is the decisions you make effect others in society in some cases. Should I be able to drive whatever speed I want and not stop at stop lights even though I might kill some innocent bystander along the way?"
Farmer_j0e00
reducing the discrepancy...
"You can only earn within 1 std deviation of the average income, level out income. This just came into my head, so not sure if it would work... maybe 2 std deviations. But reducing the discrepancy between the rich and poor would do a lot."
istcmg
"Hate it. As it stands in the realm of human attraction if you're a 5'3" ugly guy you're about 1,000 std devs below average. However you can work your arse off and be competent and successful and make some of that up by also being many std devs above average financial success."
"Even if you do that, you're not as well off as someone born tall and good looking: it's still the consolation prize because unlike them you had to work for it, and you'll know anyone in a relationship with you is there grudgingly and would really like someone else more. Who the hell are you to take that small grain of hope of some kind of decent life away?"
zipporah-the-third
Stay Calm
Game On Fighting GIF by Shalita GrantGiphy"Simple, the non-aggression principle. You don't do, initiate or threat any harm unto others, unless acting in true self defense."
ufrag
Energy Save
"The lights should be off but the others are actually on as a result of energy protection. You wouldn’t want the surge of industrial power on and off like that. It’s actually more efficient to leave them on as most models now require less energy to keep consistent temperatures than to surge and cover a wider range of returning to the desired temperature. The lights thing does need to go. Light pollution is problematic."
-Sairax-
What have we learned? Be better, it's really that simple.
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Curious to hear what strangers online have witnessed that left them feeling otherwise, the Redditor asked:
"What incident made you realize humanity is doomed?"
Educators have experienced sobering realizations about our youth.
Future Generation
"No event but being a HS teacher."
– Toihva
"why I have retired 10 years earlier than planned. i'll be very poor but I just can't do it anymore."
– bakemetoyourleader
In Need Of A Reworking
"I actually gave one of my fellow educators a minor mental breakdown during lunch the other day by reminding them that our students are going to be of voting age in the next few years. I don't work in a terrible district or anything, but boy, if you guys only knew some of the stupid sh*t I've heard from these kids."
"I love them to death, but I feel kind of sad about some of the people that we have going out into the world. Our education system needs a huge reworking. But sadly, it's all by design."
– psychobilly1
People Are People
"At my previous job, nothing hit me harder than the time I met up with university students from Harvard to talk about our research project and realizing that they're no different from anyone else."
"The only thing that was different was the fact that they had better grades in high-school and or had some sort of family connection to the establishment (they all came from wealth despite their claims). Literally that's it."
"Up until that point, I figured that these students were amongst the best of the best in our field, when really they're just as good as me or anyone else who has had at least a few months of training, and even then, they're still... normal. They have flaws, ideas, dreams... just like you or me. People are people."
"Edit: Yes. A lot of them are genuinely smart and amazing people who earned their merits. But like I'm trying to convey, they're still just people like you or me."
– mjohnsimon
Some people's behaviors warrant a face-palming, eye-roll-inducing combo.
Swipe, Then Swipe Some More
"I have to limit how much I view social media because there are so many absolutely disgusting people being cheered on and celebrated for things that they should be ashamed of."
– black_soul_gym
T.P. Shortage
"The search for toilet paper in 2020."
– I_want_to_lurk
"Yeah that was wild. We ordered a bidet so we didn’t have to deal with it. It’s amazing how much less toilet paper we use now. It’s like 1 roll a month maybe."
– thebeandream
People working in retail got more than they bargained for.
Simple Math
"I work retail and we are running 50% off this week. People are unable to tell how much 2 of the same product will cost. The products are priced with both the original price and the sale price."
– aniacret
Moronic Customers
"Retail is like this. Customers are f'king morons. I worked at a hardware store and so many people wanted male-male electricity plugs for their Christmas lights. We called this obviously not real item 'suicide wire.'"
"One couple came in and I explained why that is so unsafe. The husband was like 'oh yeah. Duh. We are dumb' while the wife kept arguing. Husband managed to cool her off but she still didn’t get it."
"EDIT: Also had a customer come in with an alarm clock he purchased saying it didn’t work even after putting the battery in it was stuck on a certain time. Without thinking I pulled the stock sticker off the front and showed him it worked just fine. Then I saw his mortified face and realized he didn’t even think to take the sticker off."
– Spiderbubble
Gone Bananas
"I used to work produce. Had a customer ask me where the bananas were... while I was standing in front of a 6-foot tall wall of bananas, with a cart full of boxes of bananas... actively putting them on the wall of said bananas."
"Look man questions are free but you can't ask me to point something out while I'm actively holding said objects. I stared that f'ker down until he walked away cussing me out 'I just wanted to know where the bananas were."'
– flic_my_bic
Tourists And Students In A Room
"I worked at a 24hr convenience store in Harvard Square in the 90s and dealt with mostly tourists and Harvard students. Seeing all these people from around the world and all of our 'brightest' minds collectively in one room made me realize just how stupid people are. It’s amazing we’ve gotten this far. Morons, all of us."
– Sirnando138
The Panic Is Real
"Probably after experiencing how rapidly many people turn into selfish, aggressive, uncivilised thugs over mundane things. Each year, when shoppers are allowed out in public, Black Friday degenerates into the charge of the barbarian hordes. I've seen deranged mothers clawing each other's faces over the last slightly discounted 4K TV. Fist fights over who is next into a store."
"Then we had the lock down in 2020 and I got to see shrieking harpies, pulling each other's hair out over toilet roll. Ramming trollies in aisles. Spitting and swearing nutters charging and tackling other shoppers over pasta and water. Bedlam."
"Recent 'fuel shortages' in the UK saw some areas beset by panic buyers, people getting assaulted on the forecourts. Road rage outside filling stations. Scenes not out of place in a Mad Max film."
"I shudder to imagine how people would react to a real crisis."
– [deleted]
The following issues have a global impact but are continually being swept under the rug.
Environmental Concerns
"I studied ecology and then taught Biology and Environmental Science for 16 years. Warnings from Scientists on climate change have become more and more dire, and global leaders/corporations continue to talk about taking action but they don't actually do what is required. They have instead become skilled at making the average citizen feel bad and responsible for it."
– aartadventure
Ignoring Past Mistakes
"The absolute unwillingness to make decisions based on history. 'The last 3 times we tried it this bad thing happened but itll work this time' it doesn't."
– bludstone
The Plastic Problem
"Not rly an incident yet seeing the progression of one-time use plastic waste and how much plastic is thrown away every day. I work in a hospital. The amt of garbage one pt generates is stupid. In ICU, more stupid. And at my hospital there are about 300-400 inpatients every day. And there are 14 hospitals in just this metro area. This sh*t is all made from oil. One-time use take-out food containers…"
– minnesotaris
Megalomaniacs
"When I realized psychopaths rise to positions of influence at a disproportionate rate."
"Something fundamentally self destructive about humanity, not enough people seek positions in society to better society. Far too often it’s selfish people seeking to abuse positions of influence for their own benefit even if it means screwing over everyone else."
– Anagnorsis
And Then There's This
"I’d say 2 world wars in under 25 years would do the trick."
– GooseOk4994
The question we should be asking ourselves is, "what can we do to save the human race?'
Because at this point, it seems that, as a species, we are going nowhere fast.
Allowing total failure is not an option.
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I would hope the end of the world is a big one. We should all want to avoid that one. Right?
SNL
Maya Rudolph Snl GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy"There’s an SNL skit about this. Contestants on a game show have to guess whether someone is a Republican by what they believe, and they can’t figure it out. Statements like '[social media] is bad' and 'Epstein didn’t kill himself.'"
cheesefondue
Chaos...
"That deep down, it feels like we’re never really in control of what happens in the world."
Clavicula_Impetus
"That’s why I don’t like participating in political discussions. A) you’re never going to change someone’s political views by arguing with them about it and B) it really doesn’t matter. The chances of me discussing it actually producing chance might as well be zero."
kazooboy_official
Cheaters
"That congress shouldn't be able to buy, and sell stocks while in office, and should be severely punished for insider trading."
crazyzingers
"A friend of mine works for the lottery and she and immediate family are also banned from ever personally benefitting in any way from lottery winnings. So like if I won the lottery I wouldn’t be able to pay off her house or put her kids through college."
blklab16
Stumping
"I volunteered for Obama and was a heavy Bernie Sanders supporter living in Trump country and I have to say, 'liberals and conservatives' can agree on most things when an actual in-depth conversation happens between them. The arguments typically aren't about the issue but differences in perception, ignorance/prejudice, and major differences in beliefs as to how you can accomplish the mutually desired outcome."
ptbus0
Toppings?
Pizza Pizza Pizza Dancing GIF by Domino’s UK and ROIGiphy"Pizza. Great equalizer. Rich people love pizza, poor people love pizza, white people love pizza, black people love pizza."
jowens42
Pizza. Pizza and SNL. They bring peace.
Miracles
Sad Rabbit GIF by Muffin & NutsGiphy"Cancer sucks."
ianisms10
"You know, I used to think we could agree on eradicating disease, but now I’m not so sure about that."
IAmBadAtInternet
Do they cover invisible jets?
"We don't need an extended warranty for our car."
doctor-mal
"Mess with them. Ask them if that includes modded cars (like a DeLorean with a flux capacitor) custom cars (batmobile), sentient cars (Bumblebee) and if you get a special deal for cars retrofitted with Pym tech since their ability to shrink means they're easily stored safely. Do they cover invisible jets?"
"I love messing with the people who call in. Even better if I can keep it going for a few minutes, slowly escalating the details before they catch on. One set of scammers are catching on - they're starting to hang up when I give them the address for P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way."
HotCocoaBomb
How High?
"The rent is too damn high."
tenebrous2
"Idk if you're a wealthy property owning person, regardless of political persuasion, you're pretty happy right now. My family member is conservative and talks about raising rents to highest possible because people will pay it. Their boss is a blue-blood liberal who actually does just that. Neither see an issue."
time_wasting_student
Basics...
"My hope is more and more people can agree that the elites use the two party system to magnify our differences, divide us based on class, race, and sex, and keep us distracted and at each other's throats, so that they can continue robbing us blind."
"For example, we're selling billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia every year which they use for their offensive war in Yemen. Weapons companies and contractors are getting wealthy as f**k, while the common man is squabbling over taking down an old statue or if you need a penis to enter certain restrooms or not."
Omniwing
We need youth...
Getting Old Baby Boomers GIF by MOODMANGiphy"That too many people running this damn country are way too f**king old."
"Age does not care what political alignment you are; at some point, you are just too old to be totally in touch with what's going on and to know what's right for everyone. Frightens me to know so many powerful figures here have probably had onset dementia gnawing at their brain for the last 5-10 years."
mtamaranth
Dear God yes! It's time for some retirements. Please. Let's start there.
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