We seem to be racing to get into another civil war and it scares the behooties out of me.

There's a lot of scary stuff going on. I don't think there are any easy answers either. Here's what I think some of the big problems are:

There has been a shift in how the economy works that's on par with the industrial revolution. Basic manufacturing can be done with far fewer people and can now be done anywhere in the world. We need to figure out how, on a policy level, we can deal with this. This, I believe is the seed for a lot of the anger expressed by Trump supporters. I listened to an interview with a Trump supporter who seemed like a perfectly reasonable person and his main thing he liked about Trump was that he was going to bring back manufacturing jobs. I think there is a strong belief that politicians and 'others' are preventing the U.S. from having a strong manufacturing base.

People are living in echo chambers where all they consume is the media and opinions that confirm their own biases. You also have infrequent events being made to be widespread phenomena. Recently, I had a FB friend share a one-sided news story and condemn the public schools for one incident that happened three years ago. I mean, that's not proof of anything. I'm not sure how to get around this.

We need to also figure out a way to help heal black communities. I don't think the problem is a big mystery. A long history of racism has created isolated communities of poverty and despair. The schools are often disasters because the kids look around and don't see any hope for their future and thus don't care about education. Crime is naturally going to be a big problem in such areas (as with any race) especially with young men (as with any race) and especially when they experience high unemployment. The demographic in question develops a reputation for criminality and that spreads to even members who aren't in those communities of despair. That perception makes police scared and trigger-happy. I'm not sure how to break that cycle, but it'll have to be government action because there's no profit there.

For "manufacturing jobs", read "jobs you don't need a lot of education for." I found a magazine from the 70s talking about the good jobs to be found in factories that only required native common sense and dexterity and maybe a high school diploma. If you could competently run a machine and had a union behind you, you could have a good life. I don't think those jobs exist any more.

edit: There is a sector of society that despises the idea of an office job. Some of it is a feeling that office jobs aren't "manly", but a lot of people need to be doing more than moving paper and computer keys around. I deal with a lot of those kinds of people in my work, people who do construction or travel around the country doing insurance work in catastrophes. They're the ones who resent having to work with the fiddly computers and would rather be swinging a hammer or slogging through mud.

And yet the union busting corporations who took those jobs elsewhere are always let off the hook

Sorry, I'm a bit gruff today

Jobs you don't need a lot of education for that pay a living wage. That's what we're missing now -- there are plenty of jobs you don't need a lot of education for! They are all part-time and pay minimum wage.

Jobs you don't need a lot of education for that pay a living wage

Point.

There are also too many people, in general.

And there ARE only so many office jobs that pay a living wage.

One support for many in difficult times use to be the extended family. But in the US from the '80s on, a lot of corporations moved offices and factories (IBM from NY to NC, etc.) and workers had to either move with them or lose their jobs. Others lost their jobs and moved afterwards. And it wasn't usually a case of three generations, siblings and their spouses and kids, the whole kit and kaboodle moving. It was the nuclear family, if that. If it's you and your kids with no family for 500 miles, problems are much more disruptive. You can't drop the kids off with your sister if you need to go into the hospital for surgery. If you lose your job again and get foreclosed on, staying with family until you get your feet back under you means taking the kids out of school and away from all their friends and losing your local professional connections. But how do you afford to stay? Yes, families have been problematic for people when there's abuse, and sometimes distance is good. But on the whole, it's another layer of protection (howsoever grumbly or irritating) between people and the sharp edge of life that's been stripped away. This can be scary. And scared people can cast blame in stupid ways.

Calli, you're right. The loss of the extended family support has been devastating in ways I think we don't really realize because the isolated nuclear family has become the norm.

Because everything is terrible, I've been trying to focus on work, which I totally acknowledge is a privilege.

Unfortunately, I'm trying not to lose my shit at someone who doesn't seem to understand that: a) I am not a manager, b) I'm technically not even a team lead, and c) I am working two full time roles right now, so what exactly would he like me to neglect in order to do the thing he's asking?

People, man. I'm going to stop being mad and assume he has good intentions after I take a walk and angrily eat some TJ's dark chocolate peanut butter cups.