Getting out

[crockett]

This has been on my mind for a while now, it started around last year when all the Trump hate on mainstream and social media intensified in order to keep him from getting a 2nd term. The Dems, the media and big tech really managed to divide the country with all that fake hate and systemic racism bullshit.

For a while I thought I could handle the bad news trickling in every single day, to this very day, but I can't. Every day I wake up and still walk into the bad news. With our tech these days its basically impossible to escape all the crap that is being pushed on us.

No matter if you turn on the TV, check emails, talk to a friend, use your smart phone or read up on your favorite forums, its only a matter of minutes and some political crap or agenda gets shoved down your throat.

On top of that, it feels like an addiction. Every day I feel like I need more prove to be sure how bad things are, and every day I find confirmation with ease.

--

I just watched a video on YouTube with a bunch of commercials from the 70s and 80s. This YouTuber buys old VHS tapes, rips them, and uploads them to his YouTube channel. Sometimes a news block gets into those videos.

Compared to those commercials and news from the past world, we now get fed cancer on TV, in the news and on the internet. There is literally no better word to describe it. It is cancerous!

While not everything was perfect in the 80s, there was passion, compassion between human beings, people spend time in the outdoors, and not in-front of screens with cancerous content and hate. The commercials often have funny songs, they used cartoons all the time, and everything seem easy going, much like life used to be. Today's commercials and reality? Big pharma pushing some crap on everybody on every corner, lawyers trying to sue the **** out of everything and everybody, white males being portrayed as complete idiots, woke liberal political correctness is now implemented everywhere! Things that used to be good, are now declared racist or homophobic.

This is not my world anymore.

--

I'm seriously considering to "get out" of this hell hole. I'm inclined to sell every single piece of electronics in my house as well as all my new vehicles. I'm inclined to only keep an old style TV (without a tuner), a VHS recorder and a landline phone around. If I want to watch a movie, it will be something from the 50s up to the mid 90s, nothing else. No more news. I'll get a couple old cars with no screens or internet access. That Ferrari 308 GTS from Magnum PI would be in my garage, with a cassette tape player for music from the 80s.

No more news, no more political manipulation, no more obsessing about bad things happening, no more vaccine stories, no more brain dead Biden bullshit, no more liberal **** bag stories.

I'll do projects in my garage, go to the beach, maybe even to the movies if they play something old or make new friends on the range with people that are so old, they don't even know what the internet is!

For a long time I thought I just miss the 80s. In reality, I ******* can't stand today's world! I'm so sick and tired of all the crap that is going on and where we are heading.

[Eric]

 

[Eric]

 

[NPTim]

I’ve had the same ideas. Dumping amazon and the hundreds or thousands I’ve drop buying videos to stream. I very much wish I could get them ripped on to DVDs. I’ve often self identified as a Luddite and believe the Amish have a much better quality of life.

[LostinTexas]

Other than select shows, the TV was turned off a long time ago. LostWife watches more than I do and thinks it needs to be on, watching or not. No problem and she has her favorites.

You have your choice where you internet and what threads you open, but I understand that curiosity gets the better of all of us, sooner or later.

 

[Eric]

Ten years ago, after I sold GT, I toyed around with the idea of buying a boat big enough to live on and bumming around the Keys and the Carribean. Just unplugging and sailing away. I even built a gun to take with me. There are still badguys plying those waters and I wanted something that could not only stop people, but stop their boats as well.

I started with a Mossberg 935 SPX auto 12-gauge and added a rifled 24" slug barrel and extended mag tube. That thing could hold a dozen Brenneke Penetrator slugs. Those puppies are one-and-a-third ounces of very, very hard lead, traveling at more than 1,600fps. The gun was accurate out to and beyond 250 yards and those slugs would penetrate boat hulls and engines. That gun would cure what ails you.

Anyway, I had some health issues crop up and that plan never happened. It was a cool slug gun though.

[MO Fugga]

I used to have a saiga 12, wanted Tony Rumore to hook it to Deerslayer rifled barrel. Another what if gun.

Even had a 37mm HAVOC slung underneath. 18 pounds of awesome with a 20 round drum.

[MO Fugga]

How I feel about all that ****. Sorry for the derail.

[crockett]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

Ten years ago, after I sold GT, I toyed around with the idea of buying a boat big enough to live on and bumming around the Keys and the Carribean. Just unplugging and sailing away. I even built a gun to take with me. There are still badguys plying those waters and I wanted something that could not only stop people, but stop their boats as well.

I started with a Mossberg 935 SPX auto 12-gauge and added a rifled 24" slug barrel and extended mag tube. That thing could hold a dozen Brenneke Penetrator slugs. Those puppies are one-and-a-third ounces of very, very hard lead, traveling at more than 1,600fps. The gun was accurate out to and beyond 250 yards and those slugs would penetrate boat hulls and engines. That gun would cure what ails you.

Anyway, I had some health issues crop up and that plan never happened. It was a cool slug gun though.

 

 

On point. My get away vehicle would be a camper conversion, something that works fulltime, not this minivan thingy. But my health has been through the ringer as well and I don't even go to the doctors. They'd have a field day and wouldn't let me out for several months. No way I could be out and about 24/7 in a camper, so I have to make my home work in order to feel good.

And my health issues are the exact reason why I have to figure something out. I'm already dealing with enough pain and discomfort, having a bad time emotionally with all this political **** will only make things worse.

I can't even watch a movie without checking into my trading chat room or a couple forums, or some news. I tried limiting my time on the internet, and that lasted one day.

I need to come up with something... and kicking all this electronics **** out makes a lot of sense right now, but I'd hate losing contact once again with a bunch of people I appreciate.

Sweet shotgun though. I love those purpose-build ideas, they have been my escape many times, much like that minivan.

[gwalchmai]

Periodically taking a break from the internet is always a good idea. Read a book. An old book.

LostIn, my wife does that background TV thing, too. Every time I come through the den and find it on with no one around I turn it off. I think she thinks it's giving something to do. 

[railfancwb]

8 hours ago, NPTim said:

I’ve had the same ideas. Dumping amazon and the hundreds or thousands I’ve drop buying videos to stream. I very much wish I could get them ripped on to DVDs. I’ve often self identified as a Luddite and believe the Amish have a much better quality of life.

The Amish are quite aware of the modern world and its enticements and have chosen not to participate to varying degrees.

Visited an Amish sawmill some years ago. It specialized in converting oak trees into raw railroad ties. The mill itself was powered by an internal combustion engine. They had an “English” driving the front end loader used to put logs on the ramp toward the blade. That “English” person probably dealt with the IC engine running the mill as well.

Another time and place visited an Amish shop selling patchwork quilts. Had air motors on the sewing machines and ceiling fans. No idea about the source of compressed air.

Windmills for pumping water are quite acceptable.

 

[railfancwb]

Personally I sometimes feel stuffed by my stuff and possessed by my possessions…

[DAKA]

You don't own "stuff" IT OWNS YOU 

[crockett]

1 hour ago, gwalchmai said:

Periodically taking a break from the internet is always a good idea. Read a book. An old book.

 

I wish I had this level of control. Everything I do is controlled by on and off switches. I can't moderate what I consume. I either do it all the time and way too much, or I have to cut it out of my life entirely.

[gwalchmai]

1 hour ago, crockett said:

 

I wish I had this level of control. Everything I do is controlled by on and off switches. I can't moderate what I consume. I either do it all the time and way too much, or I have to cut it out of my life entirely.

Well, THAT sounds like a worthwhile project. Try to "not consume" for a few hours. Or an hour. Do that every day for a week and then extend it a little every day. Take all the time you need. You have the rest of your life to master it. 

Need inspiration? I just took my sorry old ass for a two mile walk to get my heart started after this cold I had. If I can do that you can turn off the internet for an hour.

[Peng]

Stop watching cable news.  It's like junk food.  Addicting and dangerous and has no value.

They aim to enrage people.  That is the goal, not to educate.  Just turn them off.

Then you start avoiding any group that is 100% uniform of thought, because it distorts reality.

The world has not changed as much as how we have been trained to view it.

[crockett]

1 hour ago, Peng said:

Stop watching cable news.  It's like junk food.  Addicting and dangerous and has no value.

They aim to enrage people.  That is the goal, not to educate.  Just turn them off.

Then you start avoiding any group that is 100% uniform of thought, because it distorts reality.

The world has not changed as much as how we have been trained to view it.

I cut the cable in 2008 and don't stream much either, maybe one move a month.

The media I consume is YouTube, mainly neutral content but some channels like Police Activity where I get to see the criminal scum on the streets, and I comment (rant) on liberal news channels. Other than that, my day trading chat room, TBS and a couple other forums every other day. Either way, they all handle pollical topics on a very regular basis.

The problem is that I get triggered by everything from the left wing side. Where we are heading is unprecedented IMO and ignoring it all, will only accelerate it. On the other hand I feel extremely frustrated because there is very little I can do. My voice is being censored all the time, elections are manipulated, most voters are brain-washed, and too many weak ass losers are just waiting for big commie gov to take over and feed them, while forcing the strong onto the same low level.

If I want to cut my connecting to those bad news, I have to literally go offline. No more trading, no more trading chat, no more TBS, no more YouTube videos.

 

[Peng]

I hear you, but let me offer an opinion with absolutely no offense intended.

You are literally repeating right wing talking points verbatim, so if you don't get them from cable news, you sure are getting them from somewhere exactly the same.

You seem to have the anger in you that cable news was invented to produce.  I'm very conservative by nature but I don't take nearly anything I hear on Fox news (for example) at face value because it is not meant to inform, but only to infuriate.  It's a business model and business is good.

If you believe what you say then it would be impossible to not be furious all the time.  It doesn't sound like you want to enjoy an ulcer, so change something. 

Realize that most of what we hear is either totally untrue, misleading or simply made up.   

Make a list of the things you absolutely know vs. the things you think or believe.  Which list is longer, but which is more important?

I know it's hard, we all struggle with it.   There are armies of people willing to be outraged and driven to madness over these issues, you don't need to be one of them.  It's a choice.

I helped a LE friend of mine years ago to realize he needed to leave the job.  He was teetering on the brink of very bad things for himself and his family and all I did was tell him one thing.

I said your job is one of the most important and crucial functions in a society and we would all suffer if it was not done, but it doesn't need to be done by you.   

Best of luck and if you figure it out please share because we would all be better off.

[Mrs.Cicero]

Well, this thread provoked some thought and discussion around here!

Periodically, I log off everything.  Sometimes for 40 days, sometimes for a week.  Sometimes for two weeks.  I already don't watch tv (no antenna, no cable channels, etc).  I still have Amazon Prime video... and watch it less than once a month... when we do watch it, it is because there is some OLD series we want the kids to see, usually some old Brit comedy.  Nearly everything produced today is trash(y) and leftist shite, so we just don't bother with it, because it makes everyone in the house want to heave bricks at the tv (and we can't have that, they keep telling me). I keep trying to find other resources for everything Amazon because I dislike Amazon Man's politics, but I'm not there yet... anyway... 

This vacation was nice because internet was limited, by battery life and/or lack of WiFi.  NOT having it, or having it for a very limited time frame, made me realize how so much of it irritates me... I didn't bother reading/watching/listening to a lot of the "news" and "opinions" I would have ordinarily - if I hadn't known I only had less than 30 minutes to spend online... so I confined it to my email, coming here, and a quick glance at FB to send birthday wishes to a bunch of people (I swear nearly everyone I know was born in July), and playing Ruzzle in practice mode (no opponent necessary that way).

I think in the interest of my mental health, I'm going to set up the "kiddie limitations" on this computer and my phone for a max of 30 minutes a day, same time every day.  If I miss that window because I was doing something else, obviously that activity is more important that being online.  It will quickly let me see which items are important to me (and it will force me to clean up my stupid email, so I'm not getting 100 stupid ads/links/pleas from political causes that I have to waste time deleting each day), and I think I'll be happier NOT seeing the leftist idiocy I can't do a single thing about anyway... I'm already doing everything I have the time, money and energy to do to stop the tsunami of stupid coming down the pike homeschooling my kids and teaching at Appleseeds and donating where I think it will help.

We'll see how it works.  (It would be easier if I could spend more time outside but the mosquitoes are from HELL right now, so I'm stuck indoors too much.  Maybe I'll finally get the master bath painted...)

[norton]

Today at Church a Mom told me her husband was taking a car trip across country.  He is a Professor of Biology at a Christian College.  He needs to go to Washington State to sample water from a lake for research he is doing.  

He decided to take his 12 year old son with him.  Kid is smart as a whip, but his mom told me he didn't want to got because they wouldn't have WiFi service.  

Its the youngsters who think they cannot live without being connected 24 hours a day.  Us oldsters remember a time when not being connected was a full time occurrence.

I told her the kid would remember this all his life.  

Good on Dad.  

 

 

[Huaco Kid]

On 7/24/2021 at 8:46 AM, railfancwb said:

The Amish are quite aware of the modern world and its enticements and have chosen not to participate to varying degrees.

The Amish I met, if you handed them a laptop, could log onto amazon, click, click, click, buy, as fast as anyone here.  They just weren't allowed to own a computer, and didn't have the 'lectercity to use it.

[Fog]

A couple years ago I was telling my kids about the Loma Prieta earthquake and on a whim I searched it on youtube. I was floored by the quality of the reporters and news reports. 

 

[crockett]

On 7/25/2021 at 5:57 PM, Peng said:

I hear you, but let me offer an opinion with absolutely no offense intended.

You are literally repeating right wing talking points verbatim, so if you don't get them from cable news, you sure are getting them from somewhere exactly the same.

You seem to have the anger in you that cable news was invented to produce.  I'm very conservative by nature but I don't take nearly anything I hear on Fox news (for example) at face value because it is not meant to inform, but only to infuriate.  It's a business model and business is good.

If you believe what you say then it would be impossible to not be furious all the time.  It doesn't sound like you want to enjoy an ulcer, so change something. 

Realize that most of what we hear is either totally untrue, misleading or simply made up.   

Make a list of the things you absolutely know vs. the things you think or believe.  Which list is longer, but which is more important?

I know it's hard, we all struggle with it.   There are armies of people willing to be outraged and driven to madness over these issues, you don't need to be one of them.  It's a choice.

I helped a LE friend of mine years ago to realize he needed to leave the job.  He was teetering on the brink of very bad things for himself and his family and all I did was tell him one thing.

I said your job is one of the most important and crucial functions in a society and we would all suffer if it was not done, but it doesn't need to be done by you.   

Best of luck and if you figure it out please share because we would all be better off.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write a thought-out post.

IF we stay on the current path of corruption and manipulation any longer, I absolutely believe that America will be history within my lifetime. By that I mean the total loss of several constitutional rights, including free speech and the right to bear arms, as well as the establishment of a defacto one party system, with all consequences to come.

The problem I have is called intuition. I have a bunch of weaknesses, and I'm well aware of them, but if I have just one true strengths, it is a very strong intuition. It goes together with my MBTI score. My intuition doesn't always show, but when it does, its rarely wrong.

Below an example from my day trading world.

I posted the image below in my day trading chat room on 07/20/21. The pink candles are my projection, drawn into the screenshot, based on my intuition:

 

 

 

And now look what happened to the market (E-Mini S&P 500):

 

 

 

 

 

I drew a perfect projection. That's a 40% move right there.

My win rate is 97%. I think you know a bit about trading and understand what this means.

This very same intuition tells me that we, as the people and the country, are in deep waters, very!

If people vote for the Dems in 2024 again, there will be no way back. If we are not loud about this for the next 3 years, we will stand no chance against the left wing propaganda machine.

And I have to make a decision if I want to risk my health for a (verbal) fight, for the next 3 years, by facing the news, and being loud about the issues we are facing in these challenging times.

When I see what's going on, when being connected, I can't turn off my intuition, I can't look away, not in this matter.

Also, keep in mind that I don't watch FOX News and base my intuition on that. I consume and process data 16 hours a day from all sides. Intuition is NOT a gut feeling, it is based on raw data en masse. When I see news, I find and research the raw footage without any opinion added to the mix. I find the motivation behind certain data and judge that. The list is long.

 

 

[crockett]

1 hour ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Well, this thread provoked some thought and discussion around here!

Periodically, I log off everything.  Sometimes for 40 days, sometimes for a week.  Sometimes for two weeks.  I already don't watch tv (no antenna, no cable channels, etc).  I still have Amazon Prime video... and watch it less than once a month... when we do watch it, it is because there is some OLD series we want the kids to see, usually some old Brit comedy.  Nearly everything produced today is trash(y) and leftist shite, so we just don't bother with it, because it makes everyone in the house want to heave bricks at the tv (and we can't have that, they keep telling me). I keep trying to find other resources for everything Amazon because I dislike Amazon Man's politics, but I'm not there yet... anyway... 

This vacation was nice because internet was limited, by battery life and/or lack of WiFi.  NOT having it, or having it for a very limited time frame, made me realize how so much of it irritates me... I didn't bother reading/watching/listening to a lot of the "news" and "opinions" I would have ordinarily - if I hadn't known I only had less than 30 minutes to spend online... so I confined it to my email, coming here, and a quick glance at FB to send birthday wishes to a bunch of people (I swear nearly everyone I know was born in July), and playing Ruzzle in practice mode (no opponent necessary that way).

I think in the interest of my mental health, I'm going to set up the "kiddie limitations" on this computer and my phone for a max of 30 minutes a day, same time every day.  If I miss that window because I was doing something else, obviously that activity is more important that being online.  It will quickly let me see which items are important to me (and it will force me to clean up my stupid email, so I'm not getting 100 stupid ads/links/pleas from political causes that I have to waste time deleting each day), and I think I'll be happier NOT seeing the leftist idiocy I can't do a single thing about anyway... I'm already doing everything I have the time, money and energy to do to stop the tsunami of stupid coming down the pike homeschooling my kids and teaching at Appleseeds and donating where I think it will help.

We'll see how it works.  (It would be easier if I could spend more time outside but the mosquitoes are from HELL right now, so I'm stuck indoors too much.  Maybe I'll finally get the master bath painted...)

 

Thank you.

It feels good to see that I'm not the only one dealing with this issue and is trying to find a healthier path!

I tried to enable a parenting mode in my router that would disable certain domains. I'd add all news outlets and all social media platforms, but this stupid function isn't working. It needs to be something that I can't simply disable within seconds while sitting at a computer. I'd cheat within a couple days.

[DAKA]

13 hours ago, crockett said:

I cut the cable in 2008 and don't stream much either, maybe one move a month.

The media I consume is YouTube, mainly neutral content but some channels like Police Activity where I get to see the criminal scum on the streets, and I comment (rant) on liberal news channels. Other than that, my day trading chat room, TBS and a couple other forums every other day. Either way, they all handle pollical topics on a very regular basis.

********The problem is that I get triggered by everything from the left wing side. Where we are heading is unprecedented IMO and ignoring it all, will only accelerate it. On the other hand I feel extremely frustrated because there is very little I can do. My voice is being censored all the time, elections are manipulated, most voters are brain-washed, and too many weak ass losers are just waiting for big commie gov to take over and feed them, while forcing the strong onto the same low level.***********

If I want to cut my connecting to those bad news, I have to literally go offline. No more trading, no more trading chat, no more TBS, no more YouTube videos.

 

*********** Got that right   There is very little that I can do about what is happening, watching/hearing about the **** that is going on with the morons "THEY INSTALLED' just raises my BP, and at my age...that ain't good   

In reality it does not/will not affect me, so in the few years I have left F*** IT.....MrsDaka and I go about our lives enjoying our retirement (unfortunately, she still watches the news a bit and need to tell me about it....aggghhh)