Election Aftermath Blues

white avenger

white avenger

white avenger
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November
November
OMG LMAO thanks
@Last Watcher : Post Brexit Stress Disorder?

Both PESD and PBSD are not mental disorders in the sense that the person's view of reality is different from actual reality. They reflect very real concerns that they are about to suffer from the effects of bad policies, but this is not a "mental disorder". It is a reaction to what is all too likely to become reality. In severe cases, this may cause physical disorders but this is attributed to stress, not delusion.

America's standard of living peaked in 1967 and economists may say it was a credit-fuelled bubble or the last year environmental costs were ignored, but few Americans expect to see any era of prosperity again. Back then, the factory worker could expect to be able to buy a house, buy a new car every two years and have a cottage in cottage country or afford to go to a nice resort. (Our neighbour on our south side was a typesetter for the Toronto Telegram newspaper, bought a new car every two years and vacationed for two weeks every year at Fern Resort just east of Orillia on Lake Couchiching - a very nice place.) This was on one income - now it is hard to get there on two incomes. Post-secondary education was affordable and most students, myself included, graduated with no debt. But government was stable and there were few surprises either expected or delivered and the people in government knew what was required of them. Now America has a sociopath as president who is making enemies faster than he is making decisions. Of course there is some concern about a bleak future for the U.S. - everything points to it. But it is not a mental disease in the sense that perceptions do not coincide with reality. Some people suffer from stress due to uncertainty and this may cause a disease, but this is not a mental disorder.

Similarly, Brexit is causing a lot of concern - companies that wanted to have an E.U. office where English is spoken now have to consider a different location. Young British professionals will no longer have free rein to work anywhere in the E.U. I still suspect that the E.U. is going to collapse due to the inability of individual countries to adjust currency exchange rates and the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) are going to bring the entire edifice down with colossal debt, although Ireland seems to be coming out of the financial disaster zone after making some politically unpopular decisions. In fact, it looks more like Italy will be a problem before Greece.
 
I've noticed this since at least 2004 (and I wasn't paying that much attention to conventional voters before that). I've called it the post election hangover that generally lasts until February, and is strongest when it's over a POTUS (obviously, I just mean the USA, I don't know about other places). If a choice lost then it was like grief and despair. I hated seeing this in people as it seemed like suffering for no real point, and I've read of people committing suicide over it. And it can happen even in the primaries (and I've also read of assaults, like brothers or brother-in-laws who attacked each other, one stabbing the other, because they argued over dinner whether Hillary or Obama would be the one who should run in 2008). My grandmother has a common rule that politics (and religion) are not discussed while eating because of how badly it can upset people over what many others would consider trivial, or at least not worth getting worked up over.

This one has been the worst, by far. But then I was noticing a big difference even BEFORE the election.

Strangely, issues normally provoke less of a reaction. But then it's interesting how many cared about wars when Bush was POTUS but then those big crowds dried up overnight to the point it was easy to overlook the very few left after Obama won. I don't get it, but it's apparently part of how partisan politics are more important than ethics or issues, something MAD Magazine has done a lot of parodies over so I know it's not just me seeing it. This makes me think it's a tribal thing (I'm speaking of instincts) as opposed to ideals, and probably in the same region of the brain that gets excited or depressed depending on how one's sports team does (which people can get equally crazy about). It's not so much about the issues but who one identifies with, and if their choice loses then they feel rejection at a personal level by their country, and may even feel threatened at an instinctual level.
 
As for what PBSD is, I'm gonna guess Post Buffy Stress DO 😛
 
Last Watcher
Last Watcher
Post Buffy Stress Disorder - You know it! ;)
Ok time for a cry from me over this - USA cannot see how they are draining the life out of the internet. Im in australia and cannot use social media at all without seeing trump hate. Everywhere. Daily.

Today specifically triggered by a mental health joke, that wasnt a joke, cos the poster considered trump mentally ill, simply because she did not agree with him. Shes fuelling the stigma and hate towards people with mental illness. But in the same tweet says its ok cos she has anxiety.
Mentally ill, is different to worried well.

Please antitrumpers, please stop, you are actually making people mentally unwell, by exposure to it and acting aggressively when addressed on it.

Im gona have to retire to forums for good soon. Its not safe out there.
 
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