The 'Escapism' Conspiracy

Something I've pondered more and more over the years is the question of whether our increasingly available methods of escapism serve the interests of the New World Order, or - further yet - if these things are actually encouraged and promoted by those who would wish to undermine our liberties.

Escapism: the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment or in an imaginative situation, activity, etc.

dictionary.com


The catalyst for this thread is a growing phenomenon most of you will have heard of, so I'll use it as my primary example:

World of Warcraft
To this day, I've never seen a game more widely advertised. Clearly, it is extremely successful, with more than 11.5 million monthly subscribers. I'm told that subscription costs run at £8.99/$14.95 per month equating to approx. £109,250,000 (or $158,412,500) per month in takings - not to mention the cost of buying the game to begin with. I realise that some of these figures and facts might be incorrect but their accuracy isn't key to my point.

My point is, whilst we do live in a capitalist system, it's rare for a gaming company to pursue such excessive dominance, even when they have a hit. It got me thinking that maybe there's something more to World of Warcraft and other forms of escapism than we're aware of.

WoW (World of Warcraft) gamers that I've met are hopelessly dedicated to the game - some might even say addicted. Indeed, this is the very reason that my usually sci-fi/fantasy loving self has opted to stay clear, for as one of my friends jokingly put it:

"I reckon I'd prefer it to my real life"

But there's some truth in that. Our real world is immensely sick - suffering extreme corruption on all fronts, wars, recession, deceit, materialism, slavery - to name just a few. What any of us wouldn't give to just escape it at every opportunity.



But surely, if there is a New World Order - a wolf at the door of all our homes, so to speak, they couldn't ask for a greater gift than to have a large portion of the populations engaged in perpetual escapism. Escapism, or the urge to escape, requires a detachment from reality. That detachment means we don't challenge the critical issues in our lives, we don't make a stand against the corruption and injustices, we don't fight for a better way...

..and all because that better way already exists within our virtual gaming world. Those addicted to escapism have essentially given up on the real world, turning their attentions to a secondary 'world'.

"We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.'"
Network


So the question is - are government (or shadow government) forces involved in promoting escapism?
This is something I'd like all your thoughts on.

Also, WoW was just a single example. There are endless forms of escapism. The main difference with WoW is that it's being massively encouraged and provides an all-inclusive alternate life/reality. Feel free to add to my list if anything comes to mind (note: I'm not saying these things are bad - clearly some are very positive sources of info):

- Television/Film
- Books
- Meditation
- Gaming consoles
- Music

I don't think escapism is a conspiracy by the elite so much as it's one of man's oldest past times. From the moment the world's first hunter gatherer had a spare minute that didn't have to be used on survival, escapism has been around. Before the MSM, before the stock market, before royal families, escapism has existed. And like anything man made, it has a downside. If we lived in a utopian society, people would still be looking for escapism.

Escapism is not just a product of wanting to escape negativity. From my experience part of it stems from the desire to want to live in two worlds at once. For its own sake. This world could be your oyster, no poverty, unhappiness, injustice, etc. And you'd still want a way to get out of it, just to experience variety and novelty.

reply to post by Cythraul


In a twist of irony, could it be possible that the subject matter contained within this thread is also guilty of escapism using the definition you have supplied in the Op?

Escapism: the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment or in an imaginative situation, activity, etc.

dictionary.com

Just thought I'd put that out there.

IRM

I would go so far as to say that I was once addicted to World of Warcraft, so much in fact that I once ended up melting a big hole from a joint bomber into my boxer shorts and was close to burning my genitalia, I didn't see it as escapism just fun, But I suppose it was, Maybe your onto something with this, I await for other reply's

There was an article maybe a year or two ago about a guy who was so addicted to WoW that his wife divorced him for it. And she didn't look all that bad if I remember correctly.
And by the way, I know a few people that have gotten bored of WoW and moved onto something else. Yet I still seem to find older family members getting into it like my older sisters seem to, one is 41 and the other is 28 out of the ones getting into it.
The only reason I haven't gotten into it is because of the ridiculous $15 a month and my graphics card on my computer cannot handle it.

Originally posted by spec_ops_wannabe
The only reason I haven't gotten into it is because of the ridiculous $15 a month and my graphics card on my computer cannot handle it.

You could probably pick up a budget G-Card for around $60 and $15 is not that much is it???

Originally posted by Merle8
I don't think escapism is a conspiracy by the elite so much as it's one of man's oldest past times.

Interesting point. You're right. We've always sought forms of entertainment, and line between entertainment and escapism is a very blurred one. For the sake of this thread, it's probably useful if I clarify the difference between the two:

Entertainment:: Something that brings you joy as its primary purpose.
Escapism: A form of entertainment that involves imagining that you are in a world or place other than this one.

My escapist method of choice would be Tolkien or ambient/epic music. By these two methods I find it very easy to imagine myself in another, better place. But these things, as escapist tools, or not so vigorously promoted to the public as something like WoW.

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
In a twist of irony, could it be possible that the subject matter contained within this thread is also guilty of escapism using the definition you have supplied in the Op?

Yes! I forgot to mention that ATS could be seen as a form of escapism. Whether the theory expressed in my OP is fantasy or not is so far unconfirmed and down to personal opinion. But again, we need to be careful with the boundary between escapism and entertainment. To me, this isn't an 'imaginative situation' (though others might find the idea so ridiculous that that's the only thing it can be).

But yes, ATS contains so many predicted, projected or imagined scenarios that until those scenarios are proven factual, they could be deemed 'escapist'. Particularly the survivalist forum - I'm sure there are more than a few Snake Pliskin wannabes using ATS to imagine future scenarios .

reply to post by Cythraul


This may be out of context just a bit...But online worlds such as wow ect..
are breang created for two reasons.


Other than entertainment...

1 The possibility of the outside world getting very messed up...by a few womd within the next 20 years is ridiculous. (Unless things change on a global scale.) People wont go out side much and be stuck inside being in a vr world.

2 To travel to other planets people will need to do something on the long trip.

Did you know the grafix capability that the secret government uses looks like real life. How do I know this? I cant prove it...but aliens and ai use this technology to make video on you tube.

[edit on 3-1-2009 by One_of_Manny]

reply to post by Pockets

reply to post by spec_ops_wannabe

I'm sure that more than any other web-based game (maybe with the exception of online Poker), WoW has made addicts of many, many people. And to be honest, I can see why. I'm terrified of what would happen to me if I took it up .

For the record, after I nearly set my nut's on fire I sat and thought why that had happened, and I was dazed stoned and was thinking nothing else than doing my quest, I no longer subscribe to WoW and now only play counter strike and on xbox live, but I use this as entertainment when there is nothing going on in the real word

[edit on 3-1-2009 by Pockets]

MMO's have always been terrible for escapism and addiction.

As far as WoW is concerned, I don't actually think it was intended by the government to keep the youth of the world docile.
I think it's success has brought the potential to their attention, and the powers that be just kinda... went with it.
There's more than just one MMORPG "mega-game" that is making the likely candidates for a revolution forget about everything...
Before WoW there was Everquest. Now there is Warhammer, EQ2, Eve... The list goes on.
No other form of escapism, not even console games (Xbox live Halo 3 marathons anyone?) have nearly the grasp that an MMO game does.

I'm not even immune, though I wish I was.
I spent 4 years of my life playing Everquest, and another 4 years playing WoW. Multiple times I tried to quit, even unsubscribed and tried to sell the account. I'd try to go outside or read, and find that I was feeling extremely bored and irritated. Nothing could hold my attention.
Quitting smoking was 100x easier than this.

I remember I was forced to quit Everquest due to my account being hacked, and when I couldn't get it back I literally burst into tears.
Yeah, it gets THAT bad.

I think I'm getting off-topic talking about the evils of video games so I'll leave you with that, heh.

WOW isnt escapism, its a waste of your life...actually ill go and lump all mmorpg's into that But like someone else said,man has always found ways to escape from reality for atleast a little while,perfectly natural imo.

There's a few questions I have about WoW

Do the Internet Service Providers like them because it represents a lot of people downloading mbs from the same place, through the same servers, so everything is nice and stable? Whereas people going to many different sites, with packet routes being much more variable, results in more work needing to be done and so the more complex user is artificially imposed by the ISP with higher download rates than actual? In other words

Is there a price to pay for not joining the collective escape?

Continual distractions from reality is no doubt something the "controllers" encourage but at the end of the day no-one is forcing it upon people. Everyone has a choice about how many hours they sit in front of the TV , games console etc . Your average human doesn't want to know too much about the hard reality of the world around them , it is usually enough to cope with ones own little dramas, trials and problems. Your average human likely doesn't care too much either. Most people are content to be lulled into the comforting sense of alternative reality TV, games, magazines and so forth provide them with . I know as I was one of them until a few months ago, using my spare time up with watching TV most nights or reading fiction books and occasionally some non fiction. I NEVER watched the news even !

Now I only watch around 3 hrs TV a week and the rest of the time I am reading non fiction, researching, keeping on top of the news, thinking ....I am awake now and have never felt more alive and connected to reality until this wake up took place.

Most people are quite lazy-brained, apathetic and wrapped up in their own little worlds. Maybe this is just a human weakness, though I'm sure it is played on for all its worth. The fewer awake people, the better as far as the controllers are concerned. But no -one forces people to remain asleep, so even though the "escapism conspiracy" is likely part of their social engineering schemes, at the end of the day the individual makes the choice to switch on the TV or spend every evening playing PC games just like the drug addict chooses to take his shot of heroin daily when he/she could use their willpower, seek help, and quit the addiction to unreality.

I guess the masses just don't want much reality - it is after all a rather screwed up world we live in, easier not to think about it all and pretend it doesn't really exist....

reply to post by cosmicpixie


"just like the drug addict chooses to take his shot of heroin daily when he/she could use their willpower, seek help, and quit the addiction to unreality. "

Darn, poor analogy.

Awesome friggin' post, but poor analogy vis-a-vis uncomparative withdrawal symptoms...

I've seen opiate withdrawals and I've seen kids not be able to play WoW or watch TV - there is a HUGE difference.

It is so HUGE a difference I just had to make this whiny (sorry) post to point it out.

OMG, I'm 'that guy' now - you know that annoying guy who points things out and totally ruins the flow of the conversation... that's me now.

I should just stop typing and hit reply before I really make an as...

Yeah, there's some kinda debilitating addiction to some forms of escapism.
For myself, I enjoy reading and playing online games, but mostly just in my free time, like before I go to bed.

I think that part of the problem to is validation. Face it, in the world a lot of us live in, aside from sports, there's not necessarily a way for someone to get validation in their life.
but in games, there are always challenges for you, beat one a new one'll take it's place, and you can prove to yourself or somebody else that you are definitely better than someone else.
It's something to talk about, something you've done in common with someone else you can share.

Pretty soon people will by plugging into the matrix!!

Hot new game! Wii Reality

Games like WoW and Evercrack allow people to become something that they will never be in real life. A hero or an explorer or both. To vanquish the enemy with a mighty sword or spells, to explore the world to find items that will help you defeat the evil enemies that oppose you and save countless others from their menacing grip and become the envy of all others that have failed.

Thats why games like these are so addictive, they allow you to become, even if it is only in a game, something more than who you really are.


As for the NWO using them, wasnt there a few games designed with the influence of the C.I.A.? I distinctly remember something about that. And let us not forget all of the things Tom Clancy has "foreseen" in his games and novels. Do some research and I am sure youll find it.

If you just sit there for an hour...without distracting yourself with movies, games, internet, other people, going somewhere, doing something...without anything...

...the truth of the world and its mechanics start dawning on you. And you realize you're not a player, you are being played.

Those in power tend to distract themselves less often. Rather than being consumers of what others have created, they are creators of what others are consuming.

Billions of people not knowing what to do with their time. Quite interesting to observe.

If on the other hand, entertainment is used responsibly and within time-limits it can serve as a source of inspiration.

Great Thread. I think we are all more or less in this entertainment-loop thing.