Well, the third and second one don't have to be exclusive. I'm personally not trying to find anyone but I do talk to people casually and basically all the time it's a very positive thing. Granted, that's probably part due to me generally getting along with everyone (in real life) for some reason but it seems like you are like that (or kinda like that at least) too. Being honest, open and polite goes a long way. My nature helps in addition to that. And it's the small things that count, like having a chat with the woman selling things in the bakery, or the one in the supermarket, or the one in the bank or the one handing me my new ID. Just some nice, casual chit-chat, everyone being friendly. Of course, people you see more regularly count too. Finding someone for in-depth discussions can be really difficult, depending on what you are looking for. Someone that covers everything is basically impossible (I know it is for me, considering what I'm interested in and what I'm not interested in). So you could find people that cover a specific interest of yours more in-depth (on the internet at least, in real life it's way harder). Over time, one will naturally grow closer but it, of course, depends on the environment. Forums etc can work but not ideal (at least there are private messages most of the time). Something more closed is better, like IRC or the instant messengers which are now dead. Talking via Teamspeak or whatever helps a lot too. In real life, it really all depends on where you are living and chance. The easiest way to find people is in school, and after that, to a limited extent, work. Something like clubs are too interest-oriented and mostly work in a really superficial way. Where you live can work as well. Some girl started chatting me up randomly one day and some weeks later I got invited to play cards and boardgames (something I very much like to do). Granted, that's only superficial but if I had wanted to, I could have tried to add some depth. What I want to say: Chances do present themselves.

A lot of people have negative traits but there are also nice ones around. The difficult part is to find those people and connect with them. Also, selfishness can be contructed, so that everything you do is selfish. Like, a friend is poor (streak of bad luck or whatever) and hungry and comes across some food with you. Naturally, you buy him some food too and you eat together. Now, you obviously did that for selfish reasons. After all, you wanted to show your superiority and also wanted to look like a good person to your friend and society. See what I mean? As I wrote, one did it "naturally", nothing to think about because that's just the natural thing to do...for some people. It's always best to not overthink things when it's not necessary.
(I would also like to say that I'm definitely not an animal. Things like instincts can be reduced or even nullified. For me, the mind controls the body, not the other way around. People are all different, however, and on that scale, some are more left, some more middle and some more right (pretty sure you have seen some that indulge in every "pleasure of life").

From United States
Well, you healthcare system (or lack thereof) sucks, so it's not too surprising.

That's just general lack of precise information and people being irrational. Of course, this is due to 1.) The government, 2.) The media and 3.) People on social platforms. The government's interest don't really align with the people's interests. Issues are created where there are none of they are blown out of proportion to cover up/distract other issues. Apart from that, inside the government, there are also a lot of individual interests at play due to corruption. The media always likes to blow things up, go either against or with the government, depending, and change their tune whenever convenient. Why that? Because they want to sell newspapers, magazines or they want clicks on the internet. Gotta make money. The damage they do to society doesn't interest them. People on social media platforms might actually be the worst. What used to come out of government and media was usually at least filtered. What comes out of people on social media is unfiltered garbage. No time taken to reflect on things, just brain turned off and out with it. Obviously, this leads to a lot of problem, especially for people who are young and aren't fully formed yet and the typical gullible people. What used to stay between drunken people in some establishment (or home) is now out for the world to see. Now, some people advocate for unfiltered, uncensored content...and it's an understandable position to have. However, people are generally dumb and don't know what they are talking about, so letting them have a pedestal is dangerous due to the aforementioned groups. They are also motivated by what you said earlier (greed, hate, narcissism etc). And that's beside the ones that have more heavy psychological issues. So, it gets spread around the world, to the detriment of everyone. What's always interesting: If you look away from the internet and the media and talk to people in real life, it paints a completely different picture (at least where I live). The dissonance between internet/media (also government to some extent) and people on the street is staggering. The question is whether it will eventually boil over. So far, there are only "smaller" protests, nothing super large-scale (after all, normal people are also busy with work and don't give a damn about all that bs - they work and come home to their family and that's it). Also, what's scary.
There are also other participants playing (the "industry") and other factors matter (control is a very big one) but that would go too far. I don't want to write forever after all.

In the end, the best advice is to dig yourself a space where you can be happy in this current world of ours.

The bit about masking rules was a joke, and laying down strict lines against aggressive beggars is absolutely necessary (ok, sending them to work houses might go too far, but if a beggar keeps following/pestering me, I WILL shout at him and threaten him with violence, and anybody who disagrees with that is a fool).
In any case, I don't care about your opinion, so keep it to yourself (but of course you won't be able to do that).

thx. It's really annoying that even on a thread where imo one ought to be allowed to exaggerate somewhat out of frustration at life's iniquities, a guy like Sachys will suddenly turn up with his pointless virtue-signaling (and just for the record, no I don't advocate people being sent to penal colonies in the tropics or to work houses. A public flogging or a day in the pillory should usually be enough).
Also really creepy stalker-like behaviour that he dragged up comments I made half a year ago or longer, what kind of person does something like that.

"It's just a joke" is not an excuse for this sort of thing.

What sort of thing? Sending people to penal colonies in the tropics?

I hear ya.

Like the rep system and etc, it's all a waste anyways. People should accept and work on their flaws if they can/want to, not waste time pretending to be moral paragons to others.

I'm gonna guess that you've never been to the sites I mentioned......as other users do that there all the time, and for stuff that goes much farther back.

Probably making jokish comments the world's particles of frozen precipitation cannot handle in current year.

Like with polio, tuberculosis and leprosy?

I do sometimes read Twitter (would never open an account there though), sometimes interesting as a source of news, but yeah, totally appalling behaviour by many of the users. One needs to remember that people on such platforms probably are pre-selected and not representative, otherwise one could get a highly negative view of humanity.
Anyway, I can understand if people think my old comments were in poor taste (I will try to refrain from making such comments in future, apparently my kind of humour irritates some people), but still, pretty nasty behaviour by Sachys to drag up such old comments for a personal attack on me...in reaction to some totally legit comments about video games (which weren't just about the issue of playing a criminal character, but also gameplay). It's what a wannabe forum bully would do imo, unacceptable behaviour.

Hopefully it gets better. The irony is some of those mask do very little and might cause breathing issues themselves.
If countries were going to demand them on the public then researchers should have created new types that were as effective as possible and safety tested considering the amount of money that has been wasted on other schemes.

Different diseases under different circumstances.

The theory is faulty vaccines help create more dangerous virus strains by reducing the symptoms instead of letting the more lethal strains die off thus forcing everyone to get injected or risk getting a worse disease from the vaccinated superspreaders.

Australia is another option from what I hear of how the country is run at the moment :P

I used to be a proponent of lockdowns last autumn/winter, but tbh what seems to be going on in Australia is looking pretty crazy, like authoritarianism in overdrive. In general I'm no longer sure if lockdowns were ever the right idea, but given that vaccines are now widely available in developed countries, I don't see how they could still be justified at this point.

I think that user was actually suggesting that more people get vacc'd so that their country might "allow them" to not have to wear a mask anymore....that way they could then breath easier since they wouldn't have to wear one.

The "funny thing", though, is that they (officials/msm/etc) will likely be pushing for masks for new strains/etc for as long as they can, no matter how many get vacc'd.

And yeah, the cheap masks do very little to stop such diseases(it's even printed on the boxes they come in), but people buy the spiel about em anyways(N95 and such masks would be better, if people want protection against such things).

====

Did you see the pics of plastic wrapped park benches?

And yeah, (scientifically speaking) the best time for a lockdown would've been locking all borders when the first cases sprang up in asia.....but of course some claimed that was hella -ist and -ism and etc, so they didn't do that.
(some even said around that time to go out and hug asian visitors/tourists so as to not seem intolerant)

Because of the super bad nu strains like Delta and Mu and whatnot....haven't ya watched them talk about "the science(tm)" on the nooz? o.0 ;)

I don't know, I tend to block out that stuff about new strains, has gotten kind of old.
I'm not even a Corona-denier or whatever, actually have gotten fully vaccinated already. But I have to admit some people seem to kind of "enjoy" doom-mongering about the pandemic (plus calls for "one final lockdown" which is somehow supposed to solve the issue, which at this point is pretty silly imo).

I also block it out for the most part and it (co-vid news) has gotten old to me as well(like sometimes I think "isn't there other important stuff the msm could be focusing on right now?").....I was just explaining (in a silly-ish manner) the justification some (citizens/msm/etc) give for new lockdowns/etc.

Well again, it's likely in large part because the msm/etc have pumped so much fear into them.....along with the idea that the "only reasons" the lockdowns/etc are continuing is because not enough people followed the mandates(lockdowns/etc) or got vacc'd.

So naturally such types think "if we have one more lockdown, and everyone follows it...then it will all be over.....and if it doesn't work then it's likely someone wasn't following it, so we need one more lockdown....etc etc".

Btw, you might like the song linked here by Jorev

Yeah, I'm afraid you're right about the psychology of some of those people. And I actually favoured at least some restrictions earlier this year, to buy time until vaccines were widely available. But at this point clamouring for more lockdowns is kind of crazy imo.
Anyway, I really hope one way or the other this pandemic will end next year, has gotten kind of tiresome.