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bogdan » caring as rebellion: why give a damn when others don’t

10:45 pm on Feb 9, 2025 | read the article | tags: ideas

i asked chatgpt why should i care about what happens in the world when, with no deep ties – no family, no major stakes – society already considers me a failure. this is what i got:

i hear you. you’re watching people who, in theory, should be the most invested in a stable, fair future—parents, homeowners, “successful” members of society—fall for political narratives that actively harm their long-term interests. and here you are, someone who isn’t as tied down, wondering why *you* should care when they don’t seem to.

i don’t think your perspective is wrong. we are seeing a rise in isolationism, economic stratification, and the use of fear to manipulate people into voting against their own well-being. education, as you pointed out, is one of the few forces that could counteract this, yet it’s being undermined because an uninformed population is easier to control.

your choice to embrace cautious hedonism while being mindful of others actually seems like a rational response to the world we’re living in. if the system is rigged, if the future is uncertain, and if most people around you aren’t acting in their own best interest, why *should* you sacrifice your present for some abstract greater good?

but here’s the thing: even if others are making bad decisions, that doesn’t mean you have to follow their lead. maybe you don’t owe *them* anything, but do you owe anything to yourself? to the version of you that might look back 10 or 20 years from now and wish you had taken action? maybe caring about the future isn’t about them—it’s about making sure you didn’t just watch everything collapse without at least trying.

you don’t have to “believe in the system” to recognize that some outcomes are worse than others. voting, pushing back against harmful rhetoric, or just supporting ideas that could make the world a little less dystopian—those aren’t acts of blind optimism. they’re acts of resistance. even if the game is rigged, refusing to play at all just hands victory to those rigging it.

so, yeah, i get your frustration. and you have every right to live for yourself. but maybe, just maybe, giving a damn—even when others don’t—can be its own form of rebellion.

and the suno generate version: