We live in a world of impossible odds these days. After more than a century of rigid caste and thought induction on the part of the worlds wealthy and
powerful, the average man is once again beginning to awaken and think outside the box he has had placed around him.
What, really, is normality? If normality is simply defined by what the masses do and follow, what if the normality that they define is twisted at its
root? If “Normality” as a state in society is in fact a way of life and being that has fallen to the waysides because it does not suit the plans
of those in charge, what then? If a person is, in truth, the most normal of all, but outcast by the majority, does that mean he is in fact nor normal
at all?
As a society, we have for well over 100 year grown and tendered a civilization and way of being that is more bizarre and counter-productive than any
that has survived in our histories. We have pillaged our resources and squandered them on base materials and pleasures that bring no benefit to any
future generation; indeed without giving any thought to how the future will survive without the resources we have expended. We have lived in exile
from the earth, slowly weaning out all but the bare essentials for life from our diet, subsisting upon a potent slurry of raw carbohydrates and pure
sucrose.
Most importantly, we have sought to interrupt the natural progression of things in our society itself, viewing it as a construct as opposed to the
ecosystem that it truly is. By upsetting the balance within our societies we have damaged them almost irreparably. Culture has vanished, respect for
the past, for knowledge, and for enlightenment and insight have been delegated to a few outcasts who are ridiculed by the masses for most of their
developing years. We are a society of willing apathetics, caring for nothing beyond base pleasures, looking inwards rather than to the stars that are
our destiny. Most of this in 40 years, not even half a century!
In our quest for societal control and tailoring, we have even put a stop to natural selection. Our medical system is overburdened caring for people
who are no better than vegetables, creatures that contribute nothing to the world and in many cases live out a few painful years of drooling before
dying. The system of social welfare has caused not one, but THREE an entire generations to decide to subsist on the most meager of rations rather than
do something to better their status in life, to live in ignorance and apathy and breed people who are barely better than animals in the wild.
In the education systems, the no child left behind policies of the world have destroyed education and learning in most of the first world. Yes, many
who would otherwise not have gotten a decent education obtained one because of these policies, but the number of people who’s educations were left
entirely lacking is far greater, the number of people who were left out in the cold in their quest for knowledge because the teachers were too busy
trying to ensure that no child ever failed a class or was expelled, because that meant less money for the school.
Yes, in our greed and our arrogance, we have well and truly made a mockery of what could have been a shining star in the history of this planet. We
have created such a muddle, deviated so very far from anything that could be considered in the least way “Normal”, that it is a wonder any of us
are even still alive.
For that matter, we may not live much longer in any case. Oh, the human species will continue, of that there is little doubt, but the civilization we
have built, this monument to an evolutionary dead end in society, it is going to crumble. Almost as one, we gave up our futures and our children’s
futures and the futures of every child born for millennia to come, in return for a few trinkets and a century of pleasure.
What is that, you say? You didn’t do it, the powers that be did? I ask you, who put the powers of this world in charge. Who elected officials? Who
stood by and let your powers and rights be stripped and handed over to corporations? Who funded the corporations by buying their products? Who made
the decision to turn the normal people of the world into outcasts? To ostracize the ones who tried to warn you? Who refused, when the signs were
there, to pick up a gun with his fellows and shoot the people who were destroying your civilization one brick at a time?
You did. Everyone born after the year 1930. Every single preceding generation that traded a life of luxury for their descendants lives. Every single
inhabitant of this globe. You are to blame, not the governments or the corporations. You.
[edit on 11-9-2009 by D.E.M.]
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You're preaching to the choire. At ATS most of us know where our history lies and are not ignorant to it. There are hundreds of posts about how we as
a people as a species has screwed up since a certain time period.
I feel the majority of the problem doesn't lie here at ATS, most of us here are informed, (some not willingly informed) and know better. The question
is, what do we do to convince the rest of the world?
Good, but repetitive post.
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Well, I apologize on behalf of every one of us who have made things kind of crummy and given you cause to rant. You make excellent points in your
diatribe; but the term "preaching to the choir" does come to mind. The "unawake" are most likely checking out TMZ right now, trying to see if
Britney has exposed herself in front of a McDonalds while shaking one of her kids. I'd figure those folks to be your target audience.
Civilization's gonna be just fine. The luxuries we currently enjoy will either become more extravagant and interesting (can't wait for the Jetsons
to become prophetic!) or we're all gonna die. Either way, civilization is driven by the people who encompass it; what we end up with is gonna be our
fault, no matter what.
Don't worry too much...it's gonna get better. And if it doesn't, you'll have plenty more to write about! It's a win-win!
Cheers.
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reply to post by onapaledonkey
there are many people who have done everything they can with the shackles that were placed on them at birth. It is not everyones fault.... and trying
to convince others of such only reveals the true guilt YOU feel for the wrong doing YOU have done. trying to place the blame on everyone so YOU dont
feel so bad.
its a pitty you make a post as this to comfort yoruself by blaming others.
O and ranting about how everyone who thought their country was being ruined should have started killing people is $%^&in stupid.
[edit on 11-9-2009 by Wertdagf]
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So I guess you include yourself also? It is easy to be an arm chair activist but it is hard to actually get out there and do something. If you ever
voted to are guilty for putting the people in office that perpetuated a failed system.
If you didn't vote you are still guilty because to did nothing to help put a person in office to help fix the same failed system. Take a good
inventory of yourself and see what are you guilty of turning a blind eye to, something tells me your sin are great. How many times have you stayed
silent as you were graded by the same flawed system that you now condemn.
[edit on 12-9-2009 by Eight]
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Oh yes, I include myself quite readily in the essay, I am no less complicit in the situation that anyone else.
Its not meant to be a rant or preach to the choir, merely an essay on the worlds situation. I write them from time to time. An outlook on where we are
and how we got here, one might say.
Although, sadly, there is still a large contingent on ATS that would rather blame our issues on the powers that be than look around them... 
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S+F, although it's been said before, yours at least was an eloquent reminder that we all have put our personal greed, comfort, and ambition before
all else. And "all else" includes the health and welfare of the very planet we call home.
When I slide a mountain of trash off the plastic tray from my lunch at McDonalds, I think how abhorred people 100 years ago would have been at the
sheer gluttony of it all. We've become so blase about how wasteful and slothful we've become as a society, how we only worry about our personal
comfort over the better good. I don't think the youngest members of our society even realize how degenerate our behavior has become, they've never
experienced it and popular culture only further degrades it.
We can't even handle simple menial tasks without utilizing extravagantly wasteful or consumptive means. Why walk to the corner mailbox when you can
drive, and if you're going to drive do it in showy style by chugging down the street in a bloated SUV with a window-rattling thumping stereo.
It's no wonder why things stand at a brink as they do.
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reply to post by D.E.M.
First let me apologize for my errors in my post,when I'm beat I type things wrong at times.
I understand where you were coming from in your OP but there is a system in place that in order to destroy it you need a to drag every government
employee that is in a position to make things happen out of there and start over.
It's like the web, we are so interconnected with it that we can't take it down without causing chaos.
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reply to post by Eight
No problems, I'm dead tired on my end as well. Exhaustion has a poor effect on the minds ability to communicate eloquence.
I completely agree about everything being interconnected, but that was the point of the post. We got here because we didn't bother to change things
when we could have, we traded our future for a century of sloth, and we are about to reap the price. It's not a call to fight back now, its far to
late for that. Only a reminder that the governments may have built the castle, but we provided all the tools and labor without a care in the world,
and cast out those who spoke against what was happening.
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reply to post by D.E.M.
It puts me in mind of the song "the year 2525", which paints a relatively negative view of humanities future, but at the same time it make one think
about the fate of the human race.
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reply to post by D.E.M.
Yep.. this is why I say Be Your Own God...
... Because we already are...
Carl Jung said the only real Enemy we have is ourselves....
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