Saw the results of the American elections today. I'm not American, but was following them very closely due to the impact they have on the world. The results went in a way that would make up my worst nightmares.
I was incredibly depressed and angry. I think almost everyone here shares the same sentiment. The next four years are very likely going to incredibly dark for everyone. Entire countries will likely fall to imperialist neighbors. Climate change will worsen. Zooming in to the US, disabled and queer folk will have an incredibly hard time now. More women will die due to abortion inaccessibility. It is very likely that people with preexisting conditions lose their insurance, thus increasing overall suffering and deaths. As I said, a very dark four years lie ahead for the world and Americans, both. Therefore, being depressed right now is absolutely valid.
I think there's a lesson that I learnt here. I spent a lot of time and energy on something that simply wasn't in my control. I am neither American, nor do I own news channels to broadcast propaganda suitable for my hoped outcome. Instead, I could've spent my time on other things, that are in my control, and would make the world a better place. Maybe adopting this mindset could help us?
Listen, I'm not saying that we should just all disconnect from politics. Not at all. All that I'm saying is that we probably should focus more on things in our control now. When elections come, vote. If the government is doing something stupid, go out and protest. Work on your little side project. Work on whatever it is you want to work on. Just try not to doomscroll social media. Doing that would just make you feel depressed and not end up helping anyone.
Therefore, here is what I've planned on doing now. Maybe you guys could find it useful, or maybe not.
- Only participate in politics that is in my control.
- Focus solely on my projects.
- Block all social media posts that talk about depressing/angering topics that I have no control over. I only use YouTube and Lemmy, so doing this is easy for me. On Lemmy, I have put keywords like, "Trump", "Harris", "Elon" and so on in my post filter. I also unsubscribed from all political channels that talk about politics that I have no control over.
As for the Americans who are going to suffer due to a Trump presidency, I am sorry that there are so many stupid people in your country. I'm sure you tried your best. Millions of American showed up to vote against Trump. So many participated in canvassing and so on. So many working class folk donated money to the Harris campaign. Money, that they could've spent on other necessities. You don't deserve this outcome.
However, the election is over. Trump has won. Doomscrolling social media is not going to help anyone. It's a bad outcome, but it is very likely not the end of the world. I don't think it needs to be said, but still- there's a lot more to life than politics. Just because a person that you wanted to win didn't win, it doesn't mean that you can't make the world a better place yourself. Grieve today and wake up tomorrow to focus on a project that you have control over.
AND PLEASE DON'T DOOMSCROLL.