In my head they are very normalburger if that makes sense. They think Trump can stop the war enough to affect the market, right?

Behavioral standards plummeted during the pandemic and never recovered. People are a lot more stressed, and they refuse to behave. We're divided, and it really does not help that our leadership literally believes that AI is going to replace most jobs.

How are the schools

Living the American Dream

I do not think the leaders believe that AI is going to replace most jobs. They definitely believe that they can use the threat of AI taking most jobs to further exploit the working class.

Side topic:

ls "normalburger" a word commonly used in English?
If so, what does it mean (I assume it does not refer to grilled beef patties?)

My English dictionary draws a blank here...

Yeah that's mostly a justification for layoffs. They're not competitive robotics manufacturing AI that cuts down the need for enormous chunks of capital for factory floor space + varied equipment + switching things up to change what you're producing. They're not competitive on the large computational engineering models important for R&D (which they're not doing either) and iterating new rocket engines. It's a giant grift, but people need to be careful not to universalize the values of Silicon Valley AI companies.

Seconding this. We're in freefall right now.

🚨 Breaking: the Americans have questions about the burgers

They really do though. Like, you're assuming a level of rationality that they don't possess.

Where I am (major metro) the schools are still decent but severely underfunded.

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I don't think it's a common phrase. I've heard "nothing-burger" a lot, and this may be someone playing off that.

I’ve heard magaburger a few times, normal burger is new to me.

I am not an American.

The word "Normalbürger" is a very common expression in my own language, but that's clearly not how you used it in your post, hence my question.

So, what does it mean?

Oh, how burgerbrained of me not to think outside the target audience, my mistake man, sincerely, but it also doesn't work without the assumption of nationality. I made up the word on the spot to indicate an American in declining mental and physical health but overall stability, let me check if someone else used the word first in English.

Burgerbrained would be an actual example of a trending portmanteau in English. Invest now

In fucking shambles. One of my dreams, if I ever win big on the rarely purchased lotto tickets, is to open a free clinic with free pharmacy, and a private, means-tested Pre-K12 Montessori school that only accepts on the poorest first and donations only buy your name on a plaque.

I live in a rural area in the US. Public school teachers are generally very good at their jobs, but a lot of the school boards around me have been taken over by the far right and so-called conservatives. They run on platforms like "ending forced vaccines for children" and banning transgender flags and they mostly win because there's a lot of dumb racists here.

My mom STILL insists that the war wasn't about slavery, and so thinks the South should've won and isn't offended by the Confederate flag.

But she's "not a racist, I like all those black people more than this white person".

I am, definitely struggling to give a single fuck about anything not associated with my immediate survival. I’ve been expecting things to get really bad for a long time, i didn’t expect it would be this fucking stupid and irritating

Depends on the person. I’m a therapist, tons of my clients are very upset, scared, crying, having trouble sleeping, depressed, feeling powerless and angry, etc.

This administration’s actions are taking a huge toll on some people’s mental health.

And people who are trans or gay? They are scared and many want to get out but can’t.

Having said all that… there are plenty of people who are not bothered because they are not informed and don’t realize how bad things really are.

People rarely distinguish between the sentiment of a demographic versus the sentiment of the individuals that make up that demographic. Hence, stereotypes.

"Americans" are not a monolith. There's almost 400 million people in this country. Idk how each individual is doing, but most of the people I know are too busy trying to keep their heads financially above water to care. The actual American people have very little say over what happens in this country, and most are just as trapped in the horror as the rest of the world.

Does a country without public transit, universal healthcare, or any social safety nets sound like a country where the average person is in control to you?

What do you mean by that? The standards of education or mental health in schools?

In the U.S., schools are funded by property taxes, so schools in rich areas are fine, although educational standards suck across the nation.

Then better use burgerbrained (which doesn't seem like a portmanteau to me btw), avoids possible confusion with the existing word.

"Normalbürger" in German-based languages just means "average citizen" in a completely neutral way.
So not what you have been going for.

too many people think their votes dont matter

They're correct

In the Midwest, nothing has changed at all.

Trying to conduct my day as normal (food needs buying and bills need to be paid, after all), but with a marked increase of episodes of staring of into space internally shrieking as avenues of opportunity and life plans made years ago are irrevocably altered.

What's the alternative? Give up? That doesn't help anyone.

Personally? I am extremely worried, yet at the same time I’ve become so used to all the crazy shit that I’ve become almost too comfortably used to it. I live day to day and not try to think about how much more horrible the future is going to get.

These billionaire dipshits are not as bright as you think

There have been many organized protests against Trump since he took office. I'm not sure how much press they've received outside the US. Though many still support him because they are indoctrinated into the MAGA cult, I would say that most (over half) of Americans are against the war for a variety of reasons.

The problem is that there is not much we can do in the short term to create change. Our system of government does not have an effective means to recall a leader.

The threat of legal action does little to deter this administration. For one thing, it's slow. For another, they've shown that they can and will ignore court orders and this far don't suffer any consequences. Finally, the administration has done as much as possible to install loyalists and remove honest people in every part of government, including the legal system.

Impeachment is a joke. Even if the process was started again, Republicans in the Senate would never convict one of their own.

So the average citizen doesn't approve of what is happening but don't see any effective means to change. It's a very helpless feeling. Many disgruntled communities have been able to create some change in their local government but even changing political parties is not real change. We still have 2 right wing parties bought by special interests. I think many of us just try to do good where we can in our own sphere of influence.

I'm sure some people are. But constantly crashing out isn't useful even in the worst situations. What is useful is taking real steps that have real effects. Action is the antidote for anxiety.

Mostly okay. Slow discussion building on why test scores are dropping and are they still dropping. Is it COVID (immeidate shock), Long COVID (long term health issues), or nearly all course work and books being on tiny laptop screens (money showed up for a wholesale transfer to Chromebooks during COVID. They were actually helpful during lock-downs, but were kept after.).

Things are not normal. It is like a lot of people are waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Resistance is legal, so long as it does not go "too far". I am near an "ICE" city. When empty cars with cut seat belts started showing up, there was an added level of horror film unease. The kidnapping by random "not ICE" didn't amount to much, though we have yet to truly know who was kidnapped by "not ICE" (likely few). The murders have on not been good, but are at least fairly public.

No one is arming, as a shooting war on American soil will get everyone killed. There were days I wondered if we would be bombed. So far the "keep calm, and resist." Crowd is making progress, which helps keep tensions from boiling over.

Elections are coming up, which is providing an outlet for energy. Real voting won't be until November, and zero changes will happen until January 2027. Expect crazy shit to ramp up.

America is huge though. For any trend in one location, the opposite is happening elsewhere.

This is a very good time for the privileged to take a "mini-vacation". It both slows production and gives one a chance to enjoy their last days on Earth.

I am not worried about the war, the only affect it has on me is that gas prices have gone up.

I am worried about the fact that Hegseth has managed to replace the entire command structure with cristofacists that believe they are going to initiate armageddon.

I am worried about what those commanders will do when it comes time for this administration to step down.

I am also very worried about how many people I know who cannot find work and are unable to pay their mounting debts. I've been helping a friend pay for her cell phone bill while she tries to get a new job. I have multiple friends who cannot even get minimum wage jobs because they are "over qualified".

I am worried about how much damage and harm the AI industry is doing to our entire fucking society.

The war in Iran is nothing compared to all of this.

I'm not normal, no. I can't say I'm doing great. But I'm actually far more stable now than I've ever been. I'm preparing for bad times to help others as best I can. I'm not ready enough. I protest when I can. I try to read older books rather than the latest clickbait. My work actually matters, so I don't feel drained from it. I mostly quit arguing with idiots, online and off. They'll feel the pain soon enough. Good. I do mock them to their faces. If they change, I might help them. If it gets as bad as I've always suspected it will, I've already lived longer and better than anticipated. I've never feared oblivion. Sounds nice these days. If I die, I'll die fighting the darkness. I'm content. Let them come. Good people will still live on. If we let the fools and psychos in power destroy our entire biosphere, well then we will have proved Humanity never deserved the stars in the first place.

If we make it, keep pushing humanity forward. We are all one people and we are worth the struggle. We are the only known intelligence in the Universe and we must learn to act like it, or die. Don't let us down.

So that's how I'm doing.

You said it yourself, gas prices are up. That’s the first of many knock-on effects.

All food is transported using fuel. All packaging, from the case your computer is in to the wrapper around your bread, is made from plastic.
It all must be manufactured and then transported as well.

Every job available also needs fuel and power to exist.

Oil prices will affect everything above that you already mentioned.

There were days I wondered if we would be bombed. So far the “keep calm, and resist.” Crowd is making progress, which helps keep tensions from boiling over.

What progress?

No, I'm not okay at all. Sometimes I'm anxious, but most of the time I'm enraged. I'm enraged at the administration, the courts that enable them, the evil Republicans and the spineless Democrats. But mostly I'm enraged at the 60 some-odd percent of Americans who either voted for this catastrophe or couldn't be bothered to vote at at. I can almost forgive people for voting for Trump 1.0. But, after fours years of that dumpster fire, it's unforgivable that people voted to do it again.

My most incandescent rage is directed at progressive non-voters. There is nothing more careless and entitled than not voting because "both sides are bad". It's choosing to let millions of other Americans suffer because someone doesn't meet your purity test. The Republican party has been captured by end times religious cranks and literal insane psychopaths; the worst corporate Democrat is orders of magnitude better for the health and well-being of the nation and the world.

At the same time, I have to go to work every day, interact with my colleagues, take care of my family and do all the everyday things that one has to do. I take strength in other people around the world living their lives in authoritarian hellholes. You survive and do what you can to effect change.

No one is arming

This is anecdotal, but I'm basically what passes for being the "gun guy" among my mostly very liberal friends

Basically my qualifications are that I went shooting when I was in boy scouts, have a few friends who own guns and have gone shooting with them, and have a lot of outdoorsy hobbies that have overlap with hunters and such (my own attempts at hunting have been with a bow, and I wasn't very successful,) and generally have a casual interest in guns, but don't really have money to throw at them, I have plenty of other hobbies and things I'm worried about and guns are near the bottom of my priority list.

Which isn't all that much, but it's a lot more firearms experience than most of them have. And they also know I'm someone who will do some research and not just make stupid recommendations.

But a good handful of those people have been asking me about guns because they've been thinking about buying one themselves. And some of these same people were, at one point, fervently anti-gun.

And those who already have guns have been going to the range more, trying to stockpile a little extra ammo, maybe acquiring some new guns, getting a carry permit when they never felt the need to and we're content to leave their guns at home in a safe before, etc.

They're not out there talking about it, spreading it all over social media, posting pictures of their guns or at the range. Some of them, I think, are a little ashamed of it, others just (probably justifiably) think it's not wise to spread that knowledge that they have them.

So there is arming happening, I don't think it's on a massive scale but I do think it's happening, but you probably won't hear much about it unless you're someone those people have already decided that you're a safe person to discuss guns with.

And I don't think it's specifically building up to any sort of an armed revolution or anything. I think it's mostly people wanting to be prepared to defend themselves if/when things get bad. I think we're a long way off from liberals wanting to take to the streets, pull a Jan 6, or even show up to protests armed in any significant numbers. The overwhelming sentiment I've gotten from most of my liberal gun owner friends is that they really don't want to be the ones who take the first shot.

Americans really struggle to come to terms with their elites and leaders being fucking evil instead of merely stupid.

Jesus christ, look at your fucking history. Evil doesn't always look like some hollywood ass villain.

After a certain point it doesn't matrer, but still come ON

You say that like it has to be one or the other. Most evil people in history were also stupid.

Things are bad, and are going to get a lot worse before it's over.

I'm self-employed, and 2025 had one of my best starts in 18 years of business. 2026 is one of the worst starts in my history. January can be hit if miss, but February is usually pretty good, and March is always one of my best months. Tomorrow is the last job on my schedule, and I have nothing beyond that until the Fall. I'm talking to other small biz owners, and they're saying the same thing.

Economic indicators always lag by a few months, so the rest of the world is going to find out in a couple months what those in the trenches, like me, already know - we're already in a really bad economic situation.

And it won't get better until somebody in power starts admitting it, and committing to fix it. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

it's propaganda.. they are using all media (which they essentially not control) to overwhelm and force people to stop paying attention. you'll probably notice that your clients, slowly over time are getting less and less angry/extremely emotional and are essentially becoming numb to all the random information that they are consuming.

their goal with propaganda isn't to make you think, it's to make you not think. our human tendencies to rationalize and question is essentially being bombarded to the point of emotional collapse. this is the end goal for propaganda, to force complicity through emotional shutdown.

I've noticed that stress is beginning to show in society. When you order groceries, much of the order is wrong. People are using employee assistance programs in certain cases for stress related issues. Many of my friends can't stand to watch the news. I'm fucked in the head from doom scrolling. I know a person who had a party recently and said the only thing she wanted for her bday was for nobody to bring up politics. It's awful honestly and I'm crashing out. My health is impacted. Like, a lot.

It's invalidating that some don't see all this.

Don't also forget that the pedophiles run every country it seems. What a mess!

Steve Bannon said to "flood the zone." That's what they are doing.

Guess you missed neighborhood checkpoint videos in Minneapolis. They were blocking streets and checking IDs to make sure people driving through lived there rather than ICE agents from out of town. Citizens have busted ICE's balls to keep citizens from being arrested. Those guys are pitiful sissy losers.

But yeah, progress is certainly hard to see sometimes.

Delete social media, seriously, it's a cancer that eats your soul.

I deleted every social media outside of Lemmy and my mental health drastically improved. I only pick up my phone to message my spouse or friends to make plans.

Disconnect from the race, your brain will thank you.

People in the U.S used to say.

"Finish your dinner , there are kids in Africa/China starving. "

Now it's our kids going without food.

They used to say

"we have to liberate religious fanatic dictatorships of other countries"

Now we hope someone liberates us from fanatic fascist dictators.

"We are the richest country"

Poverty is high and climbing every minute.

Children are illiterate.
No one can afford basic healthcare and die from preventable diseases.
Lose everything they own and become homeless from cancer or a serious injury.

Sex trafficking. That used to be other countries right?

Nope. It was here. It was always this place.

It's been rotting for a while. Causes have effects.
Some people don't seem capable of actually following the path to see the outcomes. And the few who can are often ignored.

Even my other leftist friends thought I was being dramatic this time last year.

I couldn't get them to engage much.
Now they call me, sobbing. Overwhelmed. It was all real.
It was all true.
It's all over for us.
We can't come back from this without a lot more hardship.

I think people still haven't accepted that last one.

Our children can't even read. You think we are going to bounce back from this in 5 or 10 years?

No one will trust the U.S for anything.

Right now they are all working to stop using the dollar as the main exchange currency. Many are working on their own tech so they don't have to use our corrupt tech.

Hell some country in Africa has their own Internet now that's not accessible to outsiders because they are sick of the manipulation.

It's over.
And we , the citizens, will be paying for decades.

None of this will be fixed any time soon.
I know no one wants to hear that. But it's true.

Go ahead and make your peace with it. And then be ready to fight and try your hardest to support each other.

We only have each other.

There is nothing more careless and entitled than not voting because “both sides are bad”. It’s choosing to let millions of other Americans suffer because someone doesn’t meet your purity test.

"I'm less angry at the Republicans then I am at the people who think genocide is bad"

Just so you understand, you are as evil as the Republicans, and the reason America reached this point is that unspeakable evil is bipartisan consensus.