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nostupidquestions·No Stupid Questionsbymoncharleskey

When do we riot?

How bad do we let things get? Should we wait until the planet can't sustain life anymore? Should we wait until it's 100 degrees F in the Artic? Until wildfires blanket entire continents or the last glacier is gone? Should we wait until fascist billionaires take even more from us? Until there are Flock cameras at every mail box? Maybe we should wait until the wells run dry or the tornadoes never stop. When is it going to be enough? I'm so tired of seeing things getting worse. Every. Single. Day. I'm ready. I've been ready. How about you?

How do we coordinate? How do we look after each other? What is the signal? If we don't work together then we are just continuing our slow march to destruction to the drum of the parasitic billionaires. Please, for us, for the cats, the dogs, the birds and trees. The fish and the whales, the beatles and the centipedes. Please tell me it's worth it to you, that you're willing to get uncomfortable, that you're willing to fight. There are more of us than them, and we are rapidly running out of time to make that mean something.

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185

88 replies

most countries have given up on climate change, with all the propaganda that the oil/gas pushed helped too. deforestation is a big problem in tropical areas, where the biodiversity is very high, and not because of the "charismatic megafauna" , theres a group of types plants that are extremely susceptible as they usually only found in one or few locations(mycohetereotrophs) and are easily extirpated or extinct, if you even disturb that small area of the forest.(see americas own Thismia species, people have been trying to find this rare plant for 100+years). there is a related on in japan, that was though to have been extinct for 30 years only to be rediscovered.

2

Don't look on the internet, you won't find the community you're looking for here. Find the coolest candidate running in your local area and volunteer for their campaign. Even if they kinda suck, show up for their events. You aren't there to meet the candidate, you're there to meet other people who care about their community. Talk to the other volunteers. You'll be surprised at who you meet.

3
lemmy.zip

If anything is done it's done offline. The best way to fight back is to build community and solidarity. Meet your neighbors, volunteer, get out there off the computer.

21

Computer can help with spreading the word for said meetups

3
lemmy.world

I know I'll get downvoted for this, but...Lemmy and related are an "echo-chamber" of sorts. You'll find that a vast amount of people "in the real world" don't share this sort of imminently apocalyptic mentality. I really mean no offense in my phrasing and I'm not trying to shit on anyone here. It's just the way things are.

I remember being almost surprised at how "normal" life was when I first moved to a place that had polar opposite political views than me. Life went on...in mostly the same way it did when I was surrounded by people who mostly shared my ideologies. Life goes on...especially in the western world. Even in different parts of the US, it's a far cry from some place like Somalia or Iran or Israel/Palestine or North Korea.

Idk. Sorry I got a bit rambly. Suffice to say that I don't think you're ever going to find what you seek.

29

Your fellow countrymen are rounding up people of colour and putting them in concentration camps and you’re right that, for you, life goes on.

2

I know I'll get downvoted for this, but...Lemmy and related are an "echo-chamber" of sorts. You'll find that a vast amount of people "in the real world" don't share this sort of imminently apocalyptic mentality.

Not really sure about the echo-chamber thing though, but I feel like most people outside the Fediverse only doomscroll “brain-rot” content on social media.

Politics, climate change, science, Star Wars/Trek, programming, GNU/Linux, etc, are such niche topics that don’t drive that much interest, unless it’s rage-bait.

1

I don't have an answer for you other than, I don't know why it hasn't happened already.

Yesterday was the best time. Now IS the best time we have left. Later might be too late.

How can we as a group choose to suffer more than we already have? The majority of people have NOTHING if they don't have a paycheck in the next 3 weeks. We starve and we die. And it's not pretty.

The militias whose sole existence should be to combat the tyranny of government are the ones putting a boot on the necks of the people they should be marching into ICE held territory and saying this is not happening and I'm willing to fight for it.

That's only in amerikkka though, which as long been the too big to fail state that has absolutely failed everyone.

That the epstein pedophile ring hasn't been brought to clean and swift justice is a mockery of all that anyone has believed in as far as governments are willing to operate in anything resembling justice.

It's fucking bleak. What can anyone do?

4
mander.xyz

Historically speaking, the riots start when the bread runs out.

136
Canacondareply
lemmy.ca

Which IMO is going to happen in the USA before 2028. Their dependance on food imports and climate change interrupting the food supply is only half of it. The other half is that they've isolated themselves economically both trade and labour wise.

11
lemmy.dbzer0.com

The US is one of the biggest exporters of food in the world and while it would definitely change what we eat and when, the idea that the bread runs out anytime soon is actually insane nonsense. 2038, fucking maybe. But in a little over a year? We'd need multiple blights and animal plagues that sweep across the country killing everything, and that's more of a "global apocalypse" scenario. And yes global warming bad but also, the US has a lot of land and like 90% of it is not in use. There will be places to farm, even if the place changes.

I think a more realistic prediction is like... 2045-2060 and honestly, I'm not sure it'll matter much.

26
kingofrasreply
lemmy.world

90% is not in use for a reason. Even if 5% can still be started for agriculture, nature doesn’t instant-produce food. Field cultivation often takes multiple years.

You’re forgetting the US is no longer a democracy. This is the last emperor on the throne right now, running a kleptocracy to the tune of billions. To keep control he installed the certifiable most incompetent people in his ‘cabinet’. None of these care about the country or its people.

They were installed by a foreign influence and their job is to dismantle the country. This level of burocratic incompetence will reign till the end of the nation, probably in less than 10 years.

2045 is bad for the entire world, the US will be far sooner.

They are an insanely divided nation in the middle of an empire level collapse. They are a violent people. Their civil war which has started with ICE wil only get worse, their oilgargy only making life less tennable for so many.

You will have riots and strikes, and essentially just people shooting each other. It’s already happening but tuned out of the media for now. But it’ll get worse, and at some point a prolific tiktoker or youtuber will livestream something nearby and that will be an accelerator.

There are already thousands of americans that have to choose between getting medical care or food. Thousands more that have to choose between feeding themselves or their children.

There is no scenario in which the USA survives the next 10 years.

-3
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I'm sorry but, this is all so fucking unrealistic and doomer its unreal.

First of all, I live in the US. I have seen ICE and how communities comes together first hand. Fuck off with this "Americans are violent people" rhetoric.

I'm not saying its gonna be sunshine and roses, but the scenarios you are describing are functionally impossible to occur without genuine global cataclysm and then we have bigger things to worry about.

"There's no scenario in which the us survives the next 10 years."

democracy in the us? sure, maybe, arguably its already gone.

the us itself? Of course it'll be around in ten years lmfao?? Things would have to get so much worse in the next 10 years it would break records on how fast nations collapse.

These are insane predictions that have no historical or factual basis for why they would happen at the speed you suggest.

8

Being in the US isn’t giving you better data, if anything it makes you emotionally attached and blind to the obvious. Humans are the same. We often know our friends a lot better than they know themselves. I understand you don’t want this to happen, but not wanting it doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

There is massive historic precedence. The roman empire to name one. Except never before has an empire collapse overlapped with the fastest recorded ecocide and environmental collapse.

You may not be aware of all the datasets I’m aware of. It sounds like doomer, but it is data based so it unfortunately just is doom. Hard to grasp, I know, it’s why people with terminal illnesses also stay around as long as possible.

The USA will be there in 10 years, but it won’t be called that, and won’t have any of the respect and glory it still has some of today. It’s not a country. It’s more like a european union that falls apart as soon as things start getting tough. Your very demented pedophile president is personally directing FEMA to withhold disaster relief to blue states. That can’t last another 10 years, let alone 5. Not with the disasters scheduled in the next 3 years. States will simple secede from the union, and as resources will be scarce, war will be inevitable.

Never before in history has the ruling empire by both capital and military might waged a war against it’s own people, whilst very carelessly trying to light a match to the middle east and south america and soon parts of europe, whilst also diplomatically and economically alienate all its former allies with erratic tariffs, whilst ignoring both its own domestic rule of law as well as the international one. Smarter dictators started wars with foreign nations as a way to unify their people and bolster nationalism, this regime is only trying to make the oligarchs who installed it wealthier.

10 years is a short time for a nation to collapse, true. But you didn’t start collapsing today either, my American friend. I wish you all the best.

0
Barley_Manreply
sopuli.xyz

Dependence on food imports? The US is a large net food exporter. And will remain so for a long time. Especially in wheat, corn and soy beans. Harvesting grains is incredibly labour efficient. The labour crisis is mostly in fruits and vegetables which are very labor intensive. Even if soy and grain yields would be unexpectedly badly impacted by climate change it will first impact the exports and lastly animal feed and agro ethanol. The yields would have to be unrealistically devastated for it to lead to shortages in human food like bread. So at worst we are looking at a shortage of meat, fruits and vegetables but we are extremely far away from any situation involving starvation. This also includes Canada, the EU and Australia. And it's not all vegetables either. Potatoes, carrots, peas and onions are machine harvested and won't get affected by a farm labour crisis and will continue to be available. No one is gonna starve for having to substitute broccoli and asparagus with carrots and peas. No one is going to starve when fruits gets expensive either, they are healthy but you can live without them.

It's the part of the third world which currently relies on western food exports that will have food insecurity in a worsening climate crisis. The west is at worst facing a more boring and monotone diet.

8
Rhynoplazreply
lemmy.world

The west is at worst facing a more boring and monotone diet.

That sounds like plenty of reason to start a riot!

3

As if half of us don't survive on cheerios and chicken nuggies

2
lemmy.world

I've been ready to riot since 2004. That's when they changed the fries at McDonalds. Now they suck.

pitchfork ready

2

Hot take: McDonald's fries are trash. Sure, I'll eat them, but every other fast food place has better fries.

1
darkdemizereply
sh.itjust.works

I think you underestimate how much some countries are willing to support having a positive relationship with the US in spite of it being in their best interest to do otherwise.

12

Only as long as the US has something to offer in return, but the Chinese are gaining ground in a lot of countries

10
fitgsereply
sh.itjust.works

I agree. But it’ll come due to drought and the fact that Trump screwed over farmers with soy exports, which is an important cover crop for crop rotation.

If farmers can’t make money on soy, they’ll take shortcuts, which will rob the soil of nutrients. That with drought will lead to another dust bowl that will be devastating.

6

Soy fixes nitrogen and doesn't affect the rest of the nutrients. Without soy in the crop rotation you have to simply buy more nitrogen fertilizer for the subsequent crop, which will make it more expensive to grow. Soy is good but it's not a looming disaster without it. The EU barely grows soy and is doing fine. And regarding dust bowl. Those areas of the US have already switched from plowing to no-till decades ago. Another dust bowl is unlikely even with drought because of it.

4
lemmy.ml

I was ready in February 2025. But after 12 months of being surrounded by people who don’t know/don’t care, and the growing threat of illegal detention of my legal immigrant spouse, I packed my family up and left.

25

I undersrand that for sure, but unfortunately you can't get away from climate change. I'm not saying you made the wrong choice, just that the fight isn't over.

11

Probably will start with an uncontrollable flash point. Arab Spring supposedly started when a citizen set himself on fire whose frustration about daily life was wide spread. It just flipped a switch in people.

2
lemmy.ml

https://generalstrikeus.com/

We need a general strike to start. It has to be big enough that is disrupts the ongoing social order, then revolution. Unfortunately many people are appeased by their treats and unwilling to commit to opposing the status quo in any effective way.

11
lemmy.zip

I agree 100% and am all for a general strike, but without some sort of push I don't know when it will happen. It's like everyone is waiting around for The Signal, but is it even coming? Why should we give up our own autonomy and wait for someone else?

6

Quorum sensing is an important factor in processes of quantitative change reaching a point where qualitative change is possible. This is just how social dynamics work. You're welcome to encourage more people to join the push for a general strike or other local organizing groups and parties, but a mass of people will be necessary to bring about qualitative changes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorum_sensing

https://quantumdialectics.blog/2025/05/22/change-in-quantity-leads-to-change-in-quality-a-quantum-dialectical-perspective/

3
slrpnk.net

It depends where you live.

I honestly feel bad for the doomers in these kinds of comment sections who feel confused and aimless, like nothing is happening. I live in Oakland, California, and it's clear to me that my community is not waiting around.

If you're feeling adrift, let me know where you live and I'll make suggestions. This sense of idleness is situational, and you can get involved in planning a revolution is you know where to look.

5

I'm in the southeast, in a rural area, so networking is a challenge. I know some like minded people but we are spread out and most of them lack the courage to speak up. I don't begrudge them for it, it's a scary thing to put yourself out there like that, but I hope they find it in themselves. We need millions in the US alone, but we need a global movement to have a chance of halting the damage to our enviroment.

2
lemmy.ml

People will riot when they feel like they have nothing left to lose. Unfortunately, things have to get even worse and affect a very large number of people for us to reach that point. When you have nothing left to lose, you become very dangerous.

5
chiliedoggreply
lemmy.world

That's why they don't target everyone at once. They'll remove the immigrants. Then they'll wipe out the Trans population. Then gay people.

So long as a majority of whoever is left is comfortable or complacent, they can get away with it.

2

It's the analogy about frogs in slowly boiling water. I don't like sounding like an accelerationist, but I feel like if they moved harder and faster we would see more counter action. Like when ICE was all over Minnesota, but now that they are spread out and keeping a slightly lower profile, well, a couple of murders here and there, well that's just how it is now so best keep your heas down and h#ad to work!

2
piefed.social

Too late

It's literally already too late.

... not that billionaires should see no consequence, but... what consequence are you going to make them see?? They've ALREADY ruined the planet.

18
big_slapreply
lemmy.world

we saw how quickly the planet started to heal during covid. It's not too late

38
lemmy.zip

Not to mention that the people that have put us in this mess would love nothing more than for us to throw our hands up and say it's too late to do anything about it.

19
piefed.social

lol global warming DIRECTLY SHOWS that it's too late... but you go off on how you fucking idiots will save the world...

-10

Call it Pascal's Wager if you like, but if it's not too late to do anything, me doing my part, however small, will help, and if it is too late, my efforts won't make it worse.

1

Look at this guy, doing his fair share by being a total dick

4

If you don't want to help then you should get out of the way and not hinder the ones that do. I'm sorry you've adopted a defeatist mentality, but I'm still willing to try, and I think you should be too.

8
Catoblepasreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

I heavily disagree with this sentiment. Go work with your local conservation groups if you feel hopeless about the environment, God knows they need the help. You’ll be doing something useful and see that recovery and adaptation is possible. Endangered species can rebound, damaged ecosystems can recover, and societal views about our obligations to each other and the planet can change.

9
piefed.social

You can disagree all you want, but reality will show you what you're fucking with.

It's too late EXACTLY BECAUSE you are not a billionaire.

-6

It’s okay to say you find working outdoors difficult, you don’t have to have a public doom spiral.

3
piefed.social

There are literally more of us than them. We could walk and crowd the capitol to force them to make a decision by striking the hell out of them.

We could be leaking corporate secrets. Feels like none of that is happening rn surprisingly. I'm talking about like Mr Incredible leaking loopholes, secrets, and all of the above.

They won't listen until we bring the fight directly to them in their own stupid language. Just imagine. One day, KFC recipe is leaked. Next day, financial corps have their secrets leaked, and so on and so forth.

So much could be done but we're just waiting for a new hope trope to show up and swoop in.

Kudos to you @[email protected] for asking the right questions. I've been wondering when shit will finally start happening myself and I have no clue still.

6

"More of us than them" is a gross oversimplification of our unity.

Take here on Lemmy, for example... Lemmy's users are almost exclusively broadly all on the "destroying the planet is bad" and "corporations are causing many problems" side, but aside from that it's a constant, unending cesspit of purity tests and infighting.

The fact is, there's no mass of people unified on riots because there are 8 billion of us, and we can't even get a few million to stop using social media brainwashing tools that actively give them depression.

The billionaires are the DRIVERS of our destruction, but people are walking themselves right into it of their own free will.

1

We need good trouble, covering the world like the wildfires that are now a constant part of our lives. Corporate espionage may be effective for those with the connections. For the rest of is we need to be off the assembly line and in the streets.

4

I've got nothing to lose, If anyone wants me to wear a cool vest and shake someone's hand let me know.

1

Looking at Gen-Z protests around the world, it's kinda already started, though the success rate/level in each case may be an issue. But yeah, for the US specifically I've been amazed things haven't really escalated to the same level yet outside of maybe Jan 6 and even that was running in the wrong direction

9

It should be all of us. The far right idiots can band together to protect a pedophile, we can't fight for the planet?

4

I think you need to find like minded people. Look for action groups near you. For example in the UK there is Extinction Rebellion or Take Back Power.

As you meet more like minded people you can help cause change.

And then it's a case of talking to people and sharing ideas without pushing your agenda.

2
lemmy.ca

Hey OP here's a song that matches this post. (seriously it's so fucking hardcore everyone needs to give it a listen)

Beast - Devil

If the sun vaporized one day And the moon just faded away Would we still, keep going on At this pit of the mining pace

Should the birds fall to the ground And the fish die of thirst Would we still keep on living The way it's always been

Now if the air could burn my lungs And the earth were only rocks Would it make us stop and realize That we rot, that we can't go on like this

Devil, oh, devil Why don't you tell me why I'm a slave in these desperate times

In this time that we could almost choose The color of our children's eyes Can we still, keep going on living When the monster turns on us

Before the sun doesn't rise one day, huh And the moon just dies away There is one thing (What?) One thing what, uh That we'll never change Is that we're only learning to survive You might also like Microcyte Beast (CAN) Mr. Hurricane Beast (CAN) Total Eclipse of the Heart Bonnie Tyler Devil, oh, devil Why don't you tell me why I'm a slave in these desperate times

If the sun vaporized one day And the moon just faded away Would we still, keep going on At this pit of the mining pace

Should the birds fall to the ground And the fish die of thirst And the earth were only rocks Would we still keep on living The way it's always been

Now if the air could burn my lungs And the earth were only rocks Would it make us stop and realize That we can't go on like this

Devil, oh, devil Why don't you tell me why I'm a slave in these desperate times

Devil, oh, devil Why don't you tell me why I'm a slave in these desperate times

8

Another relevant song - Would You Be Impressed? - Streetlight Manifesto

Would you be upset if I told you we were dying?

And every cure they gave us was a lie?

Oh, do they mean it when they say we're dead and doomed

And every single symptom brings us closer to the tomb

And who will take the credit for our swift impending fall?

Because it's not my fault!

Would you be impressed if I said that the dead would help us counting every single moment that we waste our time?

All this time we're spending vaccinating this disease, I just get dizzy when I think of all the ways we try to hide our maladies

We wine, we dine, and everything is fine

Because it's not my fault!

Go now, the others they'll await you

And every single one of the lot of you will have your turn

Ai! Ai! Ai! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

Likes moths that fly into the flame, it always ends up so

You'll scream, "Not me! Take anybody else, because it's not my fault!"

I had a dream last night where everyone was trying

Subconsciously I knew it was a lie!

And when I woke I knew that it was time to pray

To make amends before the end, before my judgment day

I looked around, I stood alone and I knew what I had to say

I said "It's all my fault!"

2

Food and energy will start the entropy. No power in the house, food spoils, Hungry/uncomfortable and can't drive to work then people get mad.

But now days everyone is fat and lazy on how many medications that you can't take it to the streets. If they do you will have your banking turned off (see Canada) and you are basically useless at that point.

Then part 2, how many of you have the means to actually get out there and chop it up? How much cash do you have on hand? Once the riots start their will be a run on the banks. ATMs will be shut off or empty. What happens when paper money is considered nothing? Do you have a plan "B"?

Then the police/fire stop working, now its true chaos. Do you have the means to defend yourself and your loved ones? Do you have it in you to go that far? How much have you put aside for such an event?

The short answer is I would guess 99 in 100 are not even remotely ready, capable, or have the spine to get to that point.

Buy a gun with ammo, train on it, have 6 months of food onsite w/ water, get your HAM license or go rogue as it won't matter. Hunt, forage, build a community of like minded people. Also have a couple grand in small bills onsite, use them until people figure out they are just paper then goto your PM's/trade ammo/food as that will be the real currency.

5
lemmy.ca

It starts with holding our leaders accountable. Especially the ones that do the Epstein-Class' bidding.

All over the USA municipal councils are feeling the heat from constitutions regarding AI/flock. I have no sympathy for councilors who fear for their lives after throwing their constituents under the bus.

AI/flock needs to be the flash point that unifies working class people. The Epstein-class is desperately trying to stop the working class from forming class consciousness.

4
lemmy.zip

I've seen 11 new cameras in the last week and it's absolutely infuriating. Can have clean energy, but we'll throw up a Flock camera with a solar panel so we can monitor every where you go and who goes with you. The world burns and this is what our governments spend our tax dollars on now.

4
Canacondareply
lemmy.ca

Organize a protest at your next municipal meeting. If we can't take back our local governments than forget changing things on a federal level.

3

I would say the left and the right need to reach common ground on the issue - but like someone else said: "when the bread runs out"

2
lemmy.zip

Surprisingly, Flock cameras seem to be a unifying force between left and right, everybody seems to hate them. That's an in road, maybe we can finally come together on other common goals like fighting corruption and billionaire elites.

3

Go! Be the spark that lights the fuse! Storm Area Whatever, find the Golden Clitoris and lead us to the the next racist Utopia!

Whoops./$

Or not

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

1
lemmy.ca

I have said this before, and I'll say it again, it's not the billionaires that are the problem. It's regular people making choices. Choosing the cheap or easy option instead of the environmentally friendly option.

The billionaires are bad, don't get me wrong, eat them for all I care, but their total environmental footprint is small in the context of the consumption of the larger population of this planet.

We all need to take responsibility for our individual choices if we want to have any impact in the world.

That doesn't mean a riot, it means eating less meat, taking more efficient transportation options, and getting rid of suburbs.

Improving those three things would change the world.

Edit: the number of people who don't want to take responsibility for their own actions because it's easier to blame others is the reason the world will burn.

-16

The world will burn until people realize that simply blaming others does not fix the issue.

1

That article is trash. It implies that the carbon emitted by the companies they own is caused by the billionaires.

Amazon's carbon use is from the people buying shit, not from bezos himself.

You think bezos is somehow responsible for the plane emissions to fly that piece of shit plastic toy from China to your house?

Give your head a shake.

1
Chozoreply
fedia.io

but their total environmental footprint is small in the context of the consumption of the larger population of this planet.

No it isn't. This is objectively false.

9

It's not. A billionaire could have 50,000x the use of the average and it still would be tiny. There are only about 4000 billionaires in the world.

4000 x 50000 = 200 million people worth

They would have to each be using 2 million times the average to even be half of the world usage.

Objectively they are not doing that.

1
Blurntoutreply
lemmy.ca

You’re not wrong but I think you miscalculate their carbon footprint when considering their political influence and operations / investments. Has to be where you’re getting down voted Like when oil lobbying gets the us gov to pull funding for renewable energy then yes the individuals that use that electricity are the end consumer but someone else’s greed made sure it didn’t come from a renewable source.

3

I think you miscalculate their footprint.

And even if someone forces your local electrical production to use fossil fuels there are still ways you can massively reduce your footprint both by saving money (not using it) and by replacing it with your own options by spending more (energy collectives, your own solar panels, etc.)

Even so, Electricity is not the largest share of energy use in the world, it's only around 30%. Most of it is direct use in industry, heavily in agriculture and transportation.

As I said before, eating less meat will save a massive amount of energy use.

Buying less shit also helps.

1
dan1101reply
lemmy.world

We can govern the relatively few billionaires or try to govern the behavior of billions of people. I think the needs of the many should outweigh the greed of the few billionaires.

4

Go ahead, but it won't matter. As I said, they don't make up the bulk of the pollution.

1
startrek.website

Strictly speaking, we only have to govern the billionaires if we don't just eat them...so it's kind of a run-off between how easy to govern they decide to be, and how they taste...

(This is solely meant to humorous, officer, your honor.)

2

My dog has bit a few. She indicates they all taste like chicken. Same as a rattlesnake.

2
Rhaedasreply
fedia.io

How exactly does an individual do the last two? Choosing mass transit when it's available and practical makes sense, but what if there isn't any? Which it tied to the last one, modern sprawl is why options are a rarity logistically and cost-wise, and how do you undo that?

3

Either change the local policies around transportation through local government, or move somewhere more sustainable.

You choose where you live, and your participation your local politics and economy.

People say they don't have a choice, but people move away for a better life all the time.

1