How Do You Stay Upbeat Amidst the Idiocy?

Techdirt has a wonderful summary of how hard it is sometimes to stay upbeat when faced with some of the complete idiocy that intelligent, tech-savvy readers often have to deal with in their day-to-day lives. While the frustration will probably never go away, nor will the news calling attention to it, it does seem that opening people's eyes to problems helps things move in the right direction, so keep it up. "Yes, we're in the midst of a brutal financial mess — but that won't stop innovation. Yes, incumbent forces, with short-sighted plans and a desire to hold back the tides are annoying and disruptive (not in a good way) in the short run. But even they are finding they can't hold back progress. Robert Friedel has a wonderful book called A Culture of Improvement that details how we, as a society, are constantly looking to improve on what we already have. We add ideas and ingenuity to old concepts and build something better — not because of the desire to grab some "intellectual property," but because of the desire to improve our own lot, to build a better tool that we want to use. Incumbent short-sighted players have been able to hinder and harm progress, but they can't keep it down completely. That culture of improvement can't be stopped entirely."

Comments

Re:Charitable contributions

[MikeRT]

There are plenty of other worthy causes; those are just the ones on my list this year. Think about it this way: the God-botherers contribute a full 10% of their income, pre-tax, to try to drag civilization back into the Middle Ages. What's the best you can do?

Those same God botherers have been shown in study after study to be far quicker to give a large percentage of their income to charities that directly reach out to the poor and down-trodden than their secular counterparts. Even some atheists have admitted that Christianity is doing wonders in Africa at changing the hearts of millions and bringing them to a point where they can build peaceful, stable societies.

Re:Acts of Gord

[Bieeanda]

Having interacted with Gord in the wild, I can safely state that these 'acts' are pure fantasy. Revenge fantasy. Tell-your-boss-to-fuck-off-because-you-won-the-lottery fantasy. Because really, while he fantasizes about being a big man... those stupid customers are ultimately his employers.

Well personally....

[st0rmshad0w]

I've found a combination of liquor followed by swift and blinding violence generally works for me.

Re:Meaningless

[dubl-u]

Quick tip from a fellow nerd: when people say something that is obviously retarded or meaningless when interpreted literally, they often are speaking figuratively.

For example, "it is what it is" is often used to mean that they want people to focus on what's possible in the current situation, rather than what is ideal.

A lot of what I previously thought of as psychobabble actually now makes good sense to me. Once I realized that although I'm intellectually bright, I'm relatively weak in both interpersonal and intrapersonal areas, I spent some time studying hard in areas that come naturally to most people. If you're interested, I'd start with Emotional Intellgence, which is a pop-sci examination of how intelligence is not a single axis, but has a number of areas along which people vary somewhat independently. Then run with the references from there.

Better Living Through Chemistry

[russotto]

Prozac

Cymbalta

Wellbutrin

And if those don't cut it, there's always Heroin or even LSD.

If reality sucks, you shouldn't be upbeat. Unless you decouple your mood from reality, or your entire mind.

Re:Thank you for admiting it

[WinterSolstice]

I come to slashdot for the sarcasm, personally :D