Why "Us Versus Them"? We're in this together folks

I've been meaning to make a thread about this for awhile but I guess other current events/life activities have prevented me from doing so. Better late than never I suppose.


I want to share something that I think we could all be reminded from time to time. And I'm fairly sure someone will totally disagree and peg me as someone who has unrealistic expectations, living with rose-colored glasses yada yada yada, but I'm going to say it anyway.

We are all in this together

Regardless of how you feel about other people - your co-workers, your neighbors, the strangers you interact with on a daily basis out in the world - all of us are going through similar struggles and difficulties in one way or another.

Life can be hard as it is - then you get those people who are just always negative or always have something critical to say - like dark clouds are constantly hovering over them. Dealing with people who are negative like this makes regular life more difficult than it has to be.

Then you also have people who make it their sole mission to bring others down, belittle them, or act in a passive-aggressive manner to try to in one way or another hurt them.

If civil war started today, a lot of people who were previously "friends" might become enemies, fighting over resources, or just fighting out of fear.

Well I want to re-iterate the premise of this thread - that it doesn't have to be that way. I think part of the problem is the competitive and fearful groupthink that has manifested as a result of the media and other aspects of our society (so much focus has been placed on professional sports as well, but I'm not trying to make a conspiracy out of this - just pointing our elements of our society that I think work against us in ways).

If we can combine forces and work towards goals as a society, as a whole, we are much more likely to make it through to the other side okay. Otherwise, look at all the s### we're up against - economic collapses, race wars, wars between countries, war in the streets, a war on our freedom and all types of diseases, hate groups and morally-devoid "leaders" calling the shots. Isn't that enough to worry about? Do we really need to hold on to our egos or whatever else it is that makes us turn against on another?

I see it on ATS as well. But this isn't a thread/rant simply about the forums on ATS, it's in the grander scheme of everything else outside of ATS too.

Anyway, I hope these words find their way to people and that they are received well. Thanks for reading and bless all my ATS friends. Deny ignorance and spread knowledge whenever possible.

When it comes to survival, instincts may tell us to fight till our last dying breath.

But we have critical thinking skills and it's 2015 - we've seen what brutal barbaric force can do but we should also recognize that under many circumstances we could likely find a way to get everyone the resources they need if we just combine our skills/knowledge. Such a partnership/collaboration would also increase our likelihood of remaining in healthy positions for the long-term, not just knowing that we have food for our next meal but will be able to continue finding ways to get food. I'm using food as an example but that's just to illustrate the point.

a reply to: FamCore

That's the problem..
Everybody want's to rule the world!

You are either with us or against us. Many people think that way. It is not just found in religion, it is found in all aspects of society. You even find it in science. I see it every day, it even exists in my family even though I try to keep it from happening. We are conditioned to believe this mindset is part of society yet it is what makes society problematic. We do things our parents wouldn't do, a sign of defiance and we learn to ignore reason from a young age.

This problem is not evident in some cultures, they do have problems of their own though. If there is nothing to challenge your perception you do not grow.

a reply to: FamCore

Yea.
Tell that to the people that committed the crime recited in this story:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

"If we can combine forces and work towards goals as a society, as a whole, we are much more likely to make it through to the other side okay."

The truth of the matter is extremely complicated, but at its essence is the fact that the US is simply to large and balkanized to imagine coming together as a shared goal focused "society". There are too many competing views of what this "society" should have as a goal and there will never be any agreement on that issue. People are daily being killed because one segment or another of this society truly believe that some people shouldn't be allowed to continue to live on this planet, much less as members of this "society".

Conversely, many people look at what they see as having become the accepted norms of this society and have decided they don't want any part of this "society". You can call them anti-social, but there are millions of them and are basically a society in and of themselves.

This thing is never going to come together; nothing will, ever again be the same as perhaps it was when the Greatest Generation fought in and won WWII. Its time to let it go; hanging on to it will only mean more will die needlessly at the hands of "the other", whomsoever that may be depending upon your perspective.

originally posted by: FamCore


But we have critical thinking skills and it's 2015 - we've seen what brutal barbaric force can do but we should also recognize that under many circumstances we could likely find a way to get everyone the resources they need if we just combine our skills/knowledge.

I admire your optimism but as I cruze around ATS; critical thinking seems to be in short supply from my perspective.

The media has greater influence than ever before to manipulate and/or nullify critical thinking. People seem more than willing to become fanboys of their favorite news/propaganda outlet. Totally accepting all the agenda driven BS they throw out there. Couple that with almost slavish materialism and worship of authority; we are being set up for a fascist corporate oligarchy where it will be a criminal offense to even ask TPTB to explain themselves.

There will be allowed certain counter culture groups to be scapegoats for the elite manipulators. "Look at the geeks" don't be like them; conform, conform, conform, we love you, you are safe with us, conform...."
Western society is just an elaborate social manipulation experiment by forces so powerful; we can't even imagine their power and influence. They don't need recognition or tribute...they are comfortable working behind the scenes, just like any good director.

It's a brave new world.

I refuse to accept the petty bs that happens everywhere anymore. I have completely isolated myself from the rest of society. ATS is one of the very very limited places I interact with normals. I have chosen to embrace our dystopian future, all the while hoping it never happens. What I saw on a daily basis as an educator sickened me to the point I had to give the job up. These kids were nothing more than parrots, mimicking their parents. I tried to teach critical thinking and thinking outside of the norms and was actually threatened by a parent for teaching their child to "not obey thy father and mother." I never taught not to obey, I taught to think for themselves and it nearly got me assaulted outside of the school. I had some students tell me they learned more in my 45 minute per day class than in all their other classes combined but it was too little too late. I gave up caring, I gave up on people and hope that when faced with the tearing apart that you see possibly happening, those kids, using critical thinking skills that true teachers helped them develop become the ones to rebuild. I feel a reset is the only hope we have at this point and I hope to be a part of the spark that ignites it.

To my point, apathy is the answer and ignition of this powder keg is the only hope I hold anymore.

Maybe I am just in a bad mood today but you thinking that things can be fixed at this point is just funny, all we are doing is delaying the inevitable, lets just get this show on the road.

Because the Elite run corperations, and these corperations are in place. Funneling *Profits* to their piggy bank and not pooling the money back into the economy.

You can't have Profit without taking the money from someones pocket. Always remeber that.

If someone bragged to me about having 100 million dollars, I'd say. How many people did you scam to get that money?
Money just dosn't come out of thin air into corperations or individuals pockets from nothing.

The Mint may beable to do it but that dosn't make the Mint wealthy. The mint just keeps currency flowing.

See if they wern't scamming and ripping people off. They they cannot generate a profit. Fun fact.
If a batch of apples costs 10 cents to make, Yet the owner of the apples sells the apples for 5.00$ a batch. He is effectively increasing the value of the apples x50 from the original price.
How about headphones? If head phones cost 8cents to make and are sold for 20$, the markup value is 250x the original sales prices.

How is that okay? It's not okay. And it's not unique to just a few or couple individuals. TONS of people are doing, scrapping and hoarding as much money as possible.

Those headphones should only cost 10cents at the most. And that batch of apples? 12cents. Since everyone is greedy as !@#$ we blame the government for * Inflation*. Inflation is caused by inequality, Not anything else, not anything less.


Can we work together? NOPE. Because this system has to be destroyed. Brought to ruin, and rebuilt from the ground up.

We can't have people flaunting around their theiving ways as if it's some big achievement to screw millions of people out of their hard earned pay.

Along with all this, The rich use their purchasing power to do unessiary Evil. Nessisary for them to keep their status sure, Unessisary because they are destroying our enviroment for dollars non the less.

The system is corrupt, and the only thing that will bring these evil people to their knees is a highly advanced alien species forcing them to Kneel. Which will happen soon. Then there will be no place for the Evil doers to run or hide.
Fear and terror and finally Obliteration will find them, and consume them indefinently. That is for certain. If you are one of these people reading this, Then enjoy your reign of Terror well it lasts. As you Oppress, So shall you soon be oppressed. Tyrany for Tyrany. And it will be sweet vengeance for all on this planet you have acted unjustly towards.

See? I don't care what other people do until they start telling me I have to do it their way or approve of the way they are doing it like a barking seal chorus.

Just go do what you're going to do and deal with it if I tell you I think your way is crap. I certainly don't give a flying rat's @ss if you tell me to shove it when I do something you don't like.

So long as you aren't intent on murdering other people with what you are doing and you aren't asking me to finance your bad behavior and life choices, whatever, go ruin your life.

The problem is that too many people think they should tell me how to live for my own good. That's when I get upset. And I could care less at that point if we're all in it together. You can darn well take your petty tyranny and shove off. No one asked you.

I don’t know if less internal conflict in the US is possible, but I know I’d like to see it.

One of the things that strikes me most about our culture is that everyone goes to extremes on everything.
Subtilities are lost within the divisions in almost all areas.
I noticed once that in the American English, the word “mediocre” has evolved to mean “of low quality” … when it used to mean average, medium, common, acceptable, adequate, moderate.

I find that language tells much about the culture. This shows some of the thinking that is probably at the base of many other problems- like why we find the middle class shrinking.

No one wants to be in the middle, no one wants to be “average”. No one wants to have an opinion or view that conciliates or combines extremes.

Sometimes such perceptions are a tiny bit more difficult to think about, they take attention to detail, they mean more critical thought, and a certain amount of willingness to be receptive.

Something that I often keep in mind is that,
Using black and white thinking is an effective way of pushing a person to make a choice, as quickly as possible, cutting them off from spending any time thinking critically.
This is a tactic used in sales, in politics, in all social exchanges.

We can get used to being manipulated that way, and get used to doing it ourselves to others, without even being very consciously aware we are doing it. It just becomes habit.

If someone is insisting on focus of extremes, and refusing to analyse or consider any notions in between, then that is exactly the time it is important to look into those subtilities and details…. What is it they don’t want you to see? Why don’t they want you to spend a little time thinking first?

I’ve saved my ass from some complex rip off schemes that way, by just being alert to that. From advertising, to politics, to conflicts in social groups, this is used. –And I don’t mean to use it as a way of judging who is good or bad! Like I said, people may just be so used to black and white thinking used on them, they start to do it themselves without being aware they are! I find this is used a lot in American culture. It is the source of a lot of conflicts and divisions.

a reply to: FamCore

It's a great idea and it holds up for awhile but eventually someone comes along and forces you to realize paradise is just not for everyone.

I have to agree with you on this one. It's something I've been thinking a lot myself recently and I've just come to realize that there are many of us, so many actually...that if we work together, we´ll outnumber every opposition. Power in numbers, we´re all humans and I bet each n every one of us has a certain skill that could be useful to the rest. I truthfully think every single person has a real talent, something they're good at, a lot of people just neglect their dreams and stuff they love doing and let life beat them down. Then forget about it or are too ashamed to step out of their little box, go for their dreams and show the world "HEY O/ I CAN DO THIS!" (but that's for another rant lol)

Why all the internal fighting when this whole planet can be ours again??