The books, “Super Cooperators” and, “The Dawn of Everything,” are good places to start in regards to challenging any internal proclivity towards William’s outlook on humanity. Ben Blum’s article about the sham that was the Stanford Prison Experiment is another good place to start. It explains the idiocy of “The Veneer Theory” which is a modern extension of Thomas Hobbes’ and Jean Jacques Rousseau’s philosophies that influence our modern “humans are only selfish, brutish, violent.” Will this cure any anger or despair regarding our current issues? It didn’t for me. But, it gave me a deeper appreciation for our species and what we can accomplish, which Dolores preached. It helped foster a greater love for mutual aid, collectivism and collaboration - it helped me fall back in love with the beauty of this planet. That helps me through a lot of this as an “outlier.”
So. My bestie, who has a heart condition bad enough to be in full quarantine so as not to catch it, did. Her arrogant, entitled adult son, who won't get vaxxed (even though his father is a doctor) got it at school, brought it home and gave it to the whole family. She blames herself for 'letting down our guard'. All she wanted to do was meet her first grandchild, due in 2 weeks. She's alive, for now. I'm in a raging dither right now. Fuck all those guys, just fuck all y'all.
The choice becomes exponentially hard when the people closest to us aren’t supporting our choices. They want to do easy instead of what’s right what’s hard. They become tired of us and pressure us. Why? I dunno... because it’s hard... and it’s all very sad that we have to fight outside and in. 😢😔
Excellent summary of our current state. We face a dilemma. Different from a problem, a dilemma has no solution, no happy ending. There are just some choices that are worse than others.
It's important to recognize that the most effective psychological, sociological, and economic tools ever conceived are arrayed against all of us by that sociopathic one percent. We feel hopeless and helpless because we are. Any attempt to correct our obvious course to disaster, if it were truly effective, would mean threatening the profit-death axis that animates our masters. We would be destroyed in short order. Just look at what the police to do random, powerless people, especially black and brown ones. Americans of all colors and socioeconomic statuses learned what the cops will do during the summer protests of 2020. I think this is why there have been no protests since. It was made clear the cops will kill you for nothing, and our overlords are not only fine with that, but expect that.
Humans naturally want to cooperate and work together. William Golding was wrong. It's the giant 24-365 crazymaking machine that short-circuits us into destroying ourselves.
I think many people don’t care but you have to be really blinkered for that. I suspect there are many more people who do care but feel completely powerless and so are outwardly cynical or resigned and only apparently indifferent, because those states of mind and moral postures can be soothing when one finds oneself reflected in a funhouse mirror of despair. Apathy is often one of those words that conceals as much as it reveals.
If only people understood that confronting the truth, even if painful, if well managed is liberating. I kind of understand why even the UN has given up, confronting the truth is hard, but more so getting of that state of depression, but once you get through that, if well done it's liberating, it gives you more emotional maturity and intelligence. If there wasn't negativity we wouldn't appreciate beauty. As a Gen Z, despite all of the dark in the world, I have hope in my generation, I know what is coming, and as I heard in a podcast, I know that I will have to be more competent and strong than the people that fought WW2, all of us will have to.
You know, eventually given our genetics, psychology and biases, it all had to come to this. There was no other way. One of the books that cheers me up is the biography of one of my role models: Major Richard Dick Winters from the legendary Easy Company.
He knew war was coming, so he was proactive, he voluntarily enlisted on 101st Airbone to be well prepared for that moment, and when the time arrived, he did a marvelous job as a Comanding Officer, and of course was a great human being that always did the best for his men(even disobeying orders). Even in hell, there's people that chooses to do the right and difficult thing.
In times of crises, it's always ordinary guys the ones who make the difference. Right now it's up to us, that know hell is coming, if we want to have a chance, to do the best we can, and as you have said in your Medium articles, to be proactive socially and lead. The ones that know what is coming have the advantage that we already have mostly processed our emotions, we can lead. I expect the worse but at the same time, I have hope of this future. Sure, there will be chaos, and death, but as history has shown us, I know there will also be moments of joy, care and love. Whatever happens, as you say, let's try
So this comes to mind something I’ve heard from who dream of a world where there are more villages, rural communities, and fewer urban and suburban communities. One that was implied in a recent climate change documentary, and most recently I saw in a clip of streaming show “1923” figuring Harrison Ford playing a conservative cattleman.
That idea is that communities function best up to 150 people strong. Get any larger than that – 500 people attests Ford’s character citing an anthropological study on aboriginal tribes – and the corruption overwhelms the community and the any government that has to be established. It’s why these people essentially want to return to a family tribal primitive society. It’s why the Catholic community loves monasteries. As soon as the monastery gets fairly large, it splits itself up and one group goes elsewhere to start over. It’s also why these communities aren’t worried if their membership dwindles – they think it’ll function better in smaller numbers.
Paradoxically, these same people are worried if an entire population dwindled past the statistic of no return: 2.1 birth rate. You have to have a future generation somewhere. I do feel that what we need to do is to reconsider old paradigm and not just reform them, but start anew from a different perspective.
How can you build a economy that isn’t built on a Ponzi scheme of having an ever larger younger generation? Can we blend socialism, communist, and capitalism notions so that each has its place in the political, social, and economic spheres? Can we rebuild our consumption base so it can be able to renew itself constantly? Can we redefine and rename our functions? Instead of thinking about reforming the police, can we renaming them as “security” thus they aren’t as likely to be easily able to use and abuse violence for peaceful purposes?
The last thing I will say is I maybe wrong, but I think “free will” is a Christian concept based on the notion that God essentially wants us to love Him unconditionally and that means we are free to choose not to love God and others back. It also would explain why it seems any deity isn’t directly involved with us. I prefer the Victor Frankl notion of there being a gap between our thoughts and our actions, as Stephen Covey calls it the space where we are given the gift to choose our response. A lot of “Westwood” seems to be about what happens when people are conditioned or even pre-conditioned to ignore that gap and just act on impulse.
We have to notice that gap and then realize how substantial that gap is. Realize what choices there are and study them and it’s possible consequences. (That seems to be what is happening a lot now, making decisions that are free of consequences for the chooser.)
Only then can we decide. But, we may not have the time to research, only to decide.
Thank You for Telling The Truth. To paraphrase a poem--we're all of us in the animal soup of time right now, and sadly: most of us seem to be willingly drowning in it. I safeguard myself and my loved ones the best ways that I can, I do my best to manage and handle my responsibilities, and I endeavor to be as kind as I can. My life has definitely dipped in both quality and enjoyment, but I strive to maintain my awareness of my blessings...and even in the thick of all of this awfulness, I'm trying to create whatever joy and comfort I can for my tiny family, and forgive myself for what I am unable to do, or too currently unwise to perceive. I'm committed to doing my best, I just don't know what else I can do. I'm certainly very...tired.
We have a choice, but it feels like we need a critical mass to choose wisely, and I'm terrified that that's too much to ask. To get a picture of what might be to come, check out Collapse by Jared Diamond who explored the specific behaviours that led to the end of many civilizations. Spoiler: We're doing all the things!! Ours will be global, though. I summarized the gist of it here <http://apuffofabsurdity.blogspot.com/2014/08/diamonds-collapse.html> including paraphrasing the most chilling part of the book: "A ridiculous number of societies ended with cannibalism as noted by digs into preserved garbage piles. The bones of larger game at the bottom, followed by smaller animals, followed by rats, and, at the top of the pile, human bodies with bones broken apart to get at the marrow inside, such was their level of desperation. People do not go gentle into that good night." But I agree we still need to find the beauty in each day while we can.
Wow. Just wow. Your commentary is brilliant and so on point. When we can't get supposed Anti-War groups together to march for peace because of disagreements on other aspects of politics, I think we are done. The choice to unite would have been a hard one... but for such an existential purposes, I don't see how anyone who was sincere about seeking peace could have demurred.
I hadn't heard of, let alone seen, Westworld so I'm off to see where I can find it with a notion to binge watch it!
Thank you for this, as always. I was just getting into Westworld when HBO pulled it to avoid paying the actors residuals. Will have to find another way to watch, and will have to find a way to continue acting with hope when there’s so many reasons not to.
I ask myself that question regularly now. I think the answers differ and change based on our circumstances. Meditating on the question helps me determine the next right thing to do.
The level of honesty in your articles regularly moves me. Thank you for easing my fear that I may be losing my mind.
The books, “Super Cooperators” and, “The Dawn of Everything,” are good places to start in regards to challenging any internal proclivity towards William’s outlook on humanity. Ben Blum’s article about the sham that was the Stanford Prison Experiment is another good place to start. It explains the idiocy of “The Veneer Theory” which is a modern extension of Thomas Hobbes’ and Jean Jacques Rousseau’s philosophies that influence our modern “humans are only selfish, brutish, violent.” Will this cure any anger or despair regarding our current issues? It didn’t for me. But, it gave me a deeper appreciation for our species and what we can accomplish, which Dolores preached. It helped foster a greater love for mutual aid, collectivism and collaboration - it helped me fall back in love with the beauty of this planet. That helps me through a lot of this as an “outlier.”
So. My bestie, who has a heart condition bad enough to be in full quarantine so as not to catch it, did. Her arrogant, entitled adult son, who won't get vaxxed (even though his father is a doctor) got it at school, brought it home and gave it to the whole family. She blames herself for 'letting down our guard'. All she wanted to do was meet her first grandchild, due in 2 weeks. She's alive, for now. I'm in a raging dither right now. Fuck all those guys, just fuck all y'all.
Brilliant analysis.
The choice becomes exponentially hard when the people closest to us aren’t supporting our choices. They want to do easy instead of what’s right what’s hard. They become tired of us and pressure us. Why? I dunno... because it’s hard... and it’s all very sad that we have to fight outside and in. 😢😔
Excellent summary of our current state. We face a dilemma. Different from a problem, a dilemma has no solution, no happy ending. There are just some choices that are worse than others.
It's important to recognize that the most effective psychological, sociological, and economic tools ever conceived are arrayed against all of us by that sociopathic one percent. We feel hopeless and helpless because we are. Any attempt to correct our obvious course to disaster, if it were truly effective, would mean threatening the profit-death axis that animates our masters. We would be destroyed in short order. Just look at what the police to do random, powerless people, especially black and brown ones. Americans of all colors and socioeconomic statuses learned what the cops will do during the summer protests of 2020. I think this is why there have been no protests since. It was made clear the cops will kill you for nothing, and our overlords are not only fine with that, but expect that.
Humans naturally want to cooperate and work together. William Golding was wrong. It's the giant 24-365 crazymaking machine that short-circuits us into destroying ourselves.
Too hard for the vast majority of the human race. They would rather continue into oblivion until they die and take the rest of us with them.
I think many people don’t care but you have to be really blinkered for that. I suspect there are many more people who do care but feel completely powerless and so are outwardly cynical or resigned and only apparently indifferent, because those states of mind and moral postures can be soothing when one finds oneself reflected in a funhouse mirror of despair. Apathy is often one of those words that conceals as much as it reveals.
If only people understood that confronting the truth, even if painful, if well managed is liberating. I kind of understand why even the UN has given up, confronting the truth is hard, but more so getting of that state of depression, but once you get through that, if well done it's liberating, it gives you more emotional maturity and intelligence. If there wasn't negativity we wouldn't appreciate beauty. As a Gen Z, despite all of the dark in the world, I have hope in my generation, I know what is coming, and as I heard in a podcast, I know that I will have to be more competent and strong than the people that fought WW2, all of us will have to.
You know, eventually given our genetics, psychology and biases, it all had to come to this. There was no other way. One of the books that cheers me up is the biography of one of my role models: Major Richard Dick Winters from the legendary Easy Company.
He knew war was coming, so he was proactive, he voluntarily enlisted on 101st Airbone to be well prepared for that moment, and when the time arrived, he did a marvelous job as a Comanding Officer, and of course was a great human being that always did the best for his men(even disobeying orders). Even in hell, there's people that chooses to do the right and difficult thing.
In times of crises, it's always ordinary guys the ones who make the difference. Right now it's up to us, that know hell is coming, if we want to have a chance, to do the best we can, and as you have said in your Medium articles, to be proactive socially and lead. The ones that know what is coming have the advantage that we already have mostly processed our emotions, we can lead. I expect the worse but at the same time, I have hope of this future. Sure, there will be chaos, and death, but as history has shown us, I know there will also be moments of joy, care and love. Whatever happens, as you say, let's try
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xr9rIQxwj4
Great article as always and be safe
So this comes to mind something I’ve heard from who dream of a world where there are more villages, rural communities, and fewer urban and suburban communities. One that was implied in a recent climate change documentary, and most recently I saw in a clip of streaming show “1923” figuring Harrison Ford playing a conservative cattleman.
That idea is that communities function best up to 150 people strong. Get any larger than that – 500 people attests Ford’s character citing an anthropological study on aboriginal tribes – and the corruption overwhelms the community and the any government that has to be established. It’s why these people essentially want to return to a family tribal primitive society. It’s why the Catholic community loves monasteries. As soon as the monastery gets fairly large, it splits itself up and one group goes elsewhere to start over. It’s also why these communities aren’t worried if their membership dwindles – they think it’ll function better in smaller numbers.
Paradoxically, these same people are worried if an entire population dwindled past the statistic of no return: 2.1 birth rate. You have to have a future generation somewhere. I do feel that what we need to do is to reconsider old paradigm and not just reform them, but start anew from a different perspective.
How can you build a economy that isn’t built on a Ponzi scheme of having an ever larger younger generation? Can we blend socialism, communist, and capitalism notions so that each has its place in the political, social, and economic spheres? Can we rebuild our consumption base so it can be able to renew itself constantly? Can we redefine and rename our functions? Instead of thinking about reforming the police, can we renaming them as “security” thus they aren’t as likely to be easily able to use and abuse violence for peaceful purposes?
The last thing I will say is I maybe wrong, but I think “free will” is a Christian concept based on the notion that God essentially wants us to love Him unconditionally and that means we are free to choose not to love God and others back. It also would explain why it seems any deity isn’t directly involved with us. I prefer the Victor Frankl notion of there being a gap between our thoughts and our actions, as Stephen Covey calls it the space where we are given the gift to choose our response. A lot of “Westwood” seems to be about what happens when people are conditioned or even pre-conditioned to ignore that gap and just act on impulse.
We have to notice that gap and then realize how substantial that gap is. Realize what choices there are and study them and it’s possible consequences. (That seems to be what is happening a lot now, making decisions that are free of consequences for the chooser.)
Only then can we decide. But, we may not have the time to research, only to decide.
Another moving and honest piece.
Thank you once again.
I get strength from the brave climate activists who are growing in size, strategy and passion in the rest of the world.
The US is such a constant spray of sales pitches, cynicism and profitized dust ups it’s important to remember we’re only 300 million.
There’s a group called Climate Emergency Fund that directly funds disruptive non violent civil disobedience.
I’ve been giving all I can and it’s legitimately energizing to see these actions disrupt leaders, lobbyists and oil executives’ day to day routines.
Will it work?
I don’t know.
But it’s already pressured some governments to take some action.
Emphasis on “some.”
But either way it feels good to put up a fight.
Remember the ending of the great Peter Weir film Gallipoli?
“Fast as a leopard.”
Thank You for Telling The Truth. To paraphrase a poem--we're all of us in the animal soup of time right now, and sadly: most of us seem to be willingly drowning in it. I safeguard myself and my loved ones the best ways that I can, I do my best to manage and handle my responsibilities, and I endeavor to be as kind as I can. My life has definitely dipped in both quality and enjoyment, but I strive to maintain my awareness of my blessings...and even in the thick of all of this awfulness, I'm trying to create whatever joy and comfort I can for my tiny family, and forgive myself for what I am unable to do, or too currently unwise to perceive. I'm committed to doing my best, I just don't know what else I can do. I'm certainly very...tired.
We have a choice, but it feels like we need a critical mass to choose wisely, and I'm terrified that that's too much to ask. To get a picture of what might be to come, check out Collapse by Jared Diamond who explored the specific behaviours that led to the end of many civilizations. Spoiler: We're doing all the things!! Ours will be global, though. I summarized the gist of it here <http://apuffofabsurdity.blogspot.com/2014/08/diamonds-collapse.html> including paraphrasing the most chilling part of the book: "A ridiculous number of societies ended with cannibalism as noted by digs into preserved garbage piles. The bones of larger game at the bottom, followed by smaller animals, followed by rats, and, at the top of the pile, human bodies with bones broken apart to get at the marrow inside, such was their level of desperation. People do not go gentle into that good night." But I agree we still need to find the beauty in each day while we can.
Wow. Just wow. Your commentary is brilliant and so on point. When we can't get supposed Anti-War groups together to march for peace because of disagreements on other aspects of politics, I think we are done. The choice to unite would have been a hard one... but for such an existential purposes, I don't see how anyone who was sincere about seeking peace could have demurred.
I hadn't heard of, let alone seen, Westworld so I'm off to see where I can find it with a notion to binge watch it!
Thank you for this, as always. I was just getting into Westworld when HBO pulled it to avoid paying the actors residuals. Will have to find another way to watch, and will have to find a way to continue acting with hope when there’s so many reasons not to.
What does it mean to love a dying world?
I ask myself that question regularly now. I think the answers differ and change based on our circumstances. Meditating on the question helps me determine the next right thing to do.