I am being absolutely serious here with the Weimar Republic comparison. Because people are fucking miserable and it’s fucking terrifying.

A hundred years ago, broke people in big cities would go to fascist rallies because they were free, and because sometimes the organizers gave out free food and beer, and because people had nothing better to do.

And they stayed because hate feels good when you’re hurting and simple violent solutions appeal to the angry monkey parts of our brains.

And the fewer community connections you have - the more the economy strips your life down to work and sleep, or to job hunting and sleep, or to scrounging in the gutter to survive and sleep, and the less you go out and socialize with actual human beings - the more appealing the fascist illusion of unity, of being part of a powerful group, becomes.

And the only difference today is that the fascist rallies are beamed directly into your home.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
      4·
      5 days ago

      Püss is definitely still going, though personally I haven’t been there in about a decade. Was more my kinda jam back in university, but it was just so loud I couldn’t stand it anymore at some point.

      I can tell you though that Rüütli street feels dead compared to a decade+ ago. Like there’s still bars, there’s restaurants, they all seem to be doing well enough to stay open… But at least when I last visited it on a spring evening a few years ago, it wasn’t as swarming as it used to be in say 2014 or 2015. Of course I guess that was when we still faintly remembered that COVID exists, maybe 2021 or 2022, so perhaps it’s changed for the better.

      There’s also plenty of great bars to visit that have been open for a while and are still going. Möku (in the rooms of Genialistide Klubi for well over a decade now), Pirogovi Lokaal and of course Barlova. They all seem to be doing well, the nightclub scene has taken a much bigger hit than the bar scene IMO. I may of course be biased as well, I’ve never liked night clubs and I don’t overly like socializing with the type of people that love night clubs, I like bars and I like people that like bars. If that makes sense at all lol