u/Justcurious1138

This isn't meant as a rhetorical doom and gloom post about how bad the job market in California is. And I'm not seeking personal career advice. But I think it's time to address this. Because I'm genuinely wondering now what is realistically going to happen in the near, intermediate, and long term future. We know that the market is oversaturated with EMTs. We know that positions are becoming fewer and farther between. And it's only going to stay like this for any foreseeable future. And yet, more and more people are going to continue getting their EMT license and become licensed in the state. I know the obvious career advice is to move away. But that's not going to stop people from getting their license. And I don't blame the schools, although I do think they need to start being more honest with students nowadays about the job market. But we're coming on a year now of it being like this with no end in sight. Four years ago it would be absolutely ludicrous to suggest that your average throwaway IFT job would become a highly coveted position in this field.

What are the state and county EMS authorities going to do about this situation? Can they realistically put a limit on how many EMT licenses that can be granted per year? Are they going to have put a cap on the amount of students that EMT schools can enroll per year, which could possibly make getting into EMT school its own competitive process? Is this being looked into at any level?

I'm amazed that there are this many people who still need to have their big fan moment to be able to show everybody else what a big Star Wars fan they are. That's what is driving so many of these extreme reactions to the Celebration ticket fiasco. I can't help but think it has way more to do with wanting to be seen and known for attending the event, rather than a genuine desire to just be there. This fanbase is so performative in everything they do now. It's always just this competition for who can be the biggest fan and how can they show everybody else what a big fan they are. You see it all the time everywhere now, even for simple everyday things like watching the latest release or visiting Galaxy's Edge. And missing out on this upcoming Celebration denies people a huge opportunity for being able to display their fandom. That's what this is really about. The FOMO is very real. I'm not trying to denigrate anybody's fandom. But like I said, I just can't believe there are this many people out there who still feel this way. Especially with the way the franchise has gone over the last ten years.

Towards the end of the 2010s and the first half of this decade, it really seemed like the discourse around the UFO phenomenon shifted into serious discussion. We even changed the term from UFO to UAP as a way for people to take it more seriously and not automatically dismiss it as some kooky paranormal conspiracy topic. There were a handful of heavy hitters who were leading the discourse in the right direction and getting more and more people to look into it in a serious way. It also seemed like it was becoming more acceptable for people in legitimate positions behind the scenes to come forward with what they know and what they have experienced. And for the first time, this phenomenon was actually being taken seriously in a modern context.

Fast forward to today, and that seems to have all gone sideways as of very recently. It seems like we are back in an era of docufiction and 1950s style tabloid headlines.

Every politician talks about it in this smug "If you only knew what we knew, trust us, we're working on getting the information out there" condescending tone. Some of them are starting to seem like grifters themselves in the way that they continue to hint at things, but then provide nothing substantial to back it up, while also never having to refute what they are hinting at because they never make any substantial claim in the first place. But people will just run with it as if this politician totally knows something and is making an effort to inform us about it.

Any new headline now just gets hijacked by every pop culture, political, or dude-bro podcast and completely makes a circus out of it for views. I was on Youtube the other day, and there were just dozens of videos showing up in my algorithm that literally reminded me of that scene in Men In Black where the tabloids keep getting stacked on top of each other and each one has a more absurd headline about aliens and UFOs. Then they'll bring some guest on that says "it's not what everybody thinks it is, let me tell you what it really is..." and tries to appear as if they are offering some definitive answer. When in reality it's just another unsubstantiated claim that provides no further clarity. And it's all for views and clicks.

People are still making documentaries that seem more like early 2010s docufiction, rather than being anything substantial about something that we aren't already aware of. Then there is the film being released later this year that people are somehow convinced is totally a slow drip disclosure and isn't just going to be some psuedo intellectual commentary on modern society and how we've been the aliens all along.

How did we get here when it seemed like not that long ago this topic was being taken quite seriously and actually moving forward with something substantial?