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Global Fascist Dictatorship
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grufty jim
grufty jim
1978 posts

Edited Oct 05, 2010, 01:40
Re: Global Fascist Dictatorship
Oct 05, 2010, 01:40
You're digging yourself into a hole here, zephiloyd. The more you write, the more like a conspiracy-theorist caricature you sound.

See, the thing you need to understand before going any further is that you are not presenting new information to most of us. You're listing things that many of us here (by and large) already know about. The reason people aren't taking these things seriously isn't out of a fear of change, or of being deprogrammed. It's because they've already thought about them and concluded that they don't make much sense.

But I completely understand the impulse to believe in these kinds of conspiracy theories. In fact, if you'd met me 20 years ago, I have no doubt we'd agree on much. But ultimately I came to realise that conspiracy theories are primarily a defence mechanism.

See here's the thing... the world is messed-up. Our civilisation is unravelling at the seams and the observant and sensitive among us can tell it's happening. There's a growing knowledge that something is terribly wrong with the way humanity is running its affairs. And it's much easier to deal with that knowledge if you pin all the blame on a shadowy cabal. A handful of evil men behind the scenes.

It's a natural reaction to forces beyond our control. We've been doing it since the dawn of time... we mythologise them. We personalise them. Give them a face (or at least a cigar-chomping silhouette). And because our minds are heavily orientated towards interpersonal relationships, this turns out to be an excellent coping strategy. It's far easier to deal with those forces, and the anxiety they cause, if we personalise them.

So, the weather ceases to be a frightening chaos and becomes the work of the Gods. And this immediately grants us control over it. If we only act in the right manner and offer the right gifts at the temple, then we'll be rewarded with the outcome we desire.

Similarly, if the chaos of the modern world gets too much, then reducing it to the machinations of a secret society brings it all back under control. Conscious human control, even if not our own. The world is the way it is because of an evil plan, runs the myth. And it's a myth that begs for a final act in which the secret society is defeated and the evil plan replaced with a good plan. It's a myth that seems dystopian at first glance, but holds within it the seeds of a utopian dream.

I completely get it. But, sadly, the world is not the way it is because of an evil plan. The world is the way it is because of a hundred million bad decisions; some big but mostly small ones. Thoughtlessness, carelessness, a lack of vision and foresight... all mixed up with a healthy dose of petty greed and sheer laziness. These are the root cause of the cracks appearing in our world.

And while I'm a great believer in the power of myth -- more so than most -- I'm also aware that there are times when it's not appropriate. Times when it obscures the truth rather than communicates it.

See, these shadowy groups of wealthy men do exist in boardrooms, country clubs and mansions. They do make decisions that enrich themselves at the expense of the masses. And they do give the orders that send troops into battle. But it's only when you see those people as symptoms of a systemic problem, rather than the cause, that we will ever hope to change the way things are.

And, like helvellyn, I have to admit that I find myself irritated at the way radical social analysis can be dismissed out of hand by people who are able to dress it up in a tinfoil-hat, thanks to the more silly aspects of the conspiracy myth.
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