All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Is it human society that causes insanity?

Evil doesn't exist in nature, only in human society. The only time we witness violent malicious behavior in animals is when we confine and abuse them, this confinement causes insanity. Humans live so far away from our natural settings, in fact many humans are repulsed by nature (bugs, snakes ect).

Our food supply is a concentration camp style agriculture, these profit driven practices raises stressed stock in horrific conditions. The rest of the food we eat is laced or even drenched in chemicals and petrol chemicals. Our diet is so far from natural, this must play a role in the apparent insanities in the individual in this society.

The North American Continent has been so mismanaged in the name of profit that it is not safe to drink out of any rivers there, there are limits to the fish from our rivers and lake that are safe to eat. Our air is so puluted that there is a factory using air pumped from outside into filters and they are making plastic out of it. Could this be part of the problem?

Is money the root of all evil or just a symptom of a greater issue?

Are we confined in this zoo we call society? Is this why our species seems to be insane?

We reward failure and demonize success, stuff our population with prozac, and countless mind numbing drugs, buy our children killing inspired video games, convince idiot sheep that the government should run our lives from cradle to grave, and raise upon a perch, the biggest lying scumbag and make the traitor president twice, up is down and down is up, and we let our leaders throw us off the cliff of abyss....yes, we are insane, stupid and deserve our dark and smellyass future of **it...

We've become too big for our britches.

It's time for a down-size and the whole planet knows it, on some level.

reply to post by LDragonFire


Yes most humans are...but the insane "Rational" reality is 'guided' as being acceptable by our culture's hidden hand. On the other hand you have some people really thinking about important, pertinent things, questioning things like they should. Of course this is for some insane reason frowned upon by some, many even, and thus drive these other people insane.

The divisions, they need to be closed, but what would catalyze such a unity? Would it even be allowed?

reply to post by LDragonFire


Insanity is the only logical response to a world gone mad. There have been plenty of times, where either myself, or one of my family or friends, have noticed that my behaviour, could be considered crazy. Stepping out in the snow wearing only my underwear, responding to being doused with red wine by a mate, by head banging all over his house and covering it in tiny red directional spatter drops, and the like, never mind the crap I come out with when mildly perturbed (AND THERE SHALL BE A THRONE MADE OF SKULLS, THE MOANING, SCREAMING SKULLS OF THE CONQUERED!).

A little madness is not, however, automatically dangerous. It is when a person allows their psychosis to override their good sense, that is when things get messy. Personally speaking, I believe that everyone has it in them to totally loose their cool, blow their top, place their underpants firmly upon their head, and become the sort of scat flinging maniac that no one ever wants to be. It all depends on circumstance. Some, like me, realise that they may have some... issues, and make an effort to be a good chap and not tear the heads off of whatever comes within grappling distance, and others do not entertain the possibility that they might well have lost it somewhere along the line, and before they know it end up with a collection of bodily organs which they cannot claim legitimate ownership of, not to mention an abundance of Tupperware.

I think the crucial thing is to get people talking about these issues in wider society, not in the manner which suggests ways of medicating and rectifying the persons neurochemical imbalances, but in ways which look at the causative factors and prevent THEM from being repeated in the future, in any other poor bastards life.

The very thing that separates us from animals is the kind of consciousness that is capable of abstract thought (I think therefore I am, etc.)

So, maybe because of that, animals aren't capable of "evil" but we, on the other hand, are. You have to be aware of your cruelty to actually be cruel so-to-speak. Other than that "awareness" it's just the circle of life. Add malicious intent and it's a whole different matter.

Have you ever heard of cabin fever?

Isolated people get crazy too, so its not society alone

I've said it many times, and I'll add it here.

I personally feel that we anthropomorphize ourselves beyond what we are. In other words, we have some grand illusion as to the loftiness of what it means to be human, as opposed to animals stricken with the grace and capacity to somehow "better" than "common" animals.

We are animal. We have base and primal instincts. We will become violent when pushed. We will take advantage of others when given the opportunity. We have the capacity to avoid these things, but, just because we have that potential, doesn't mean it gets used.

Am I saying this is a green card pass to running around killing and putting our elbows on the dinner table? No.

What I am saying is that I believe we should always be aware of and keep in mind the fact that we ARE animals. Not angels with clipped wings.

I for a fact KNOW that I am full well capable of killing. However, I make every conscious effort not to allow that to happen. But, walking around denying the idea that I am capable of it, is like refusing to check whether a gun is loaded and playing around with it as if it was not loaded.

As to social behaviors, stepping on others to get ahead, etc, I feel the crabs in a barrel analogy is excellent. Crabs will pull each other down in an effort to get themselves up. All the while, a different crab is pulling the one that just pulled another down and preventing it from getting anywhere.

IMHO, the moment you occlude the idea that we are at our foundation an animal, is the moment hubris, pride, and our more base motives take over.

Oh, and EVIL...

My most favorite of topics....

I do not believe evil exists. I know, folks will clammor to refute my ideas.

IMHO, evil is entirely perception oriented. There are actions, but there is no definitive good or evil.

Killing happens every day in one facet or another, in our very own society. Whether it is animals for our protein, convicted criminals who have a death penalty conviction, or soldiers invading others land in the name of "good".

Now, everyone is thinking surely Hitler was evil. No. IMHO, Hitler was mentally afflicted, not evil. Am I a professional that can say specifically what his mental problem was? No. However, I think it was highly probable that he was xenophobic (All of Germany was looking for a scapegoat to blame after their woes from WWI) and somewhat delusional (the idea of the Aryan race, and it's supremacy over all others, etc). Our mind is one amazingly complex soup created from the chemical libation that exists within our brains. It can create scenarios of such astounding dimensions that few realize exactly what "reality" is like for all people.

I posit that Evil is merely severely misunderstood actions committed by another. In other words, evil is simply an adverb or an adjective. It in and of itself is not a noun or a verb.

reply to post by zeroBelief

Now, everyone is thinking surely Hitler was evil. No. IMHO, Hitler was mentally afflicted, not evil.

You lost me there, Forrest Gump was mentally afflicted, Hitler was f up all the way evil, and perhaps mentally ill on top of that

reply to post by zeroBelief


I like what NorEaster had to say about evil in the ATS post called "Doves of peace under siege"

What makes humans so exceptionally evil is that they're relentlessly competitive, and extremely creative in how they manifest that competitiveness.

It's competitiveness taken to its logical extreme. Evil is just a degree of competitiveness. That's all it's ever been. Letting others "win" is difficult for some people to handle. For some, it's even harder on them than losing to someone else. The carnal "Id" simply won't stand by and allow any level of domination.

Back to topic. I do think that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, just ask Mr. Torrence from the "Shining".

This is something I think about very often.

I don't think that money is the root of all evil. I don't think that we are "insane" as a society.

Insanity in this climate is just a survival instinct. In this world a very high percentage of the population has to work, to make money, to survive. This issue is smart people have this system in a stranglehold and like in nature you have alphas and lesser beings. Human beings have to much to lose to fight an un-winnable battle until more people join in, but no one has the answer yet on how to make this better, let alone the means and sway to make real change happen.

Spirituality, consciousness, and evolution are easily dismissed by normal people, but real change truly lies there. Team work trumps everything and until we grasp that and focus it more of the same is the status quo.

Major upheaval will come, most likely in a lot of peoples lifetimes that are living currently. I hope smart people who are less self serving grab the ball, but then again all of nature is self serving. It's a dog eat dog world.

Indigent
reply to post by zeroBelief

 

Now, everyone is thinking surely Hitler was evil. No. IMHO, Hitler was mentally afflicted, not evil.

You lost me there, Forrest Gump was mentally afflicted, Hitler was f up all the way evil, and perhaps mentally ill on top of that

Well, clearly you're currently in a set paradigm of thinking. I can't blame you. Many people lay their head on their pillow at night thinking the police, the gov't, and the military are all out there for our own protection and well being. They sometimes wake up from that paradigm and open their eyes too.

This is an advanced concept, whereas Good and Evil are over generalizations meant to be easily digested by the masses as they have a particularly high fiber content.

Basically, when someone commits an act that utterly lacks empathy towards another, killing or raping or something similarly horrible....I see that as being an inability on their part to empathize with their fellow human beings. An inability to consider the sort of pain they are about to cause, and the lasting implications of their impending actions. This is not some sort of "cosmic force" as many would have you believe. It is a one on one individual scenario, where that individual is not capable of relating to what they are about to cause the other to experience now or in the future.

There is no "Dark Side" to the "Force" IMHO. There is no "Evil". There is simply those who lack empathy and understanding, and through that shortcoming, capable of unspeakable things.

I'm not saying this in any way justifies them in their actions.


I'm just saying I don't believe in evil or good. Or the Devil. Or God.

Smile and agree, or laugh and call me an idiot. Entirely your choice. Have fun with it one way or the other.

MichiganSwampBuck
reply to post by zeroBelief

 

I like what NorEaster had to say about evil in the ATS post called "Doves of peace under siege"

What makes humans so exceptionally evil is that they're relentlessly competitive, and extremely creative in how they manifest that competitiveness.

It's competitiveness taken to its logical extreme. Evil is just a degree of competitiveness. That's all it's ever been. Letting others "win" is difficult for some people to handle. For some, it's even harder on them than losing to someone else. The carnal "Id" simply won't stand by and allow any level of domination.

Back to topic. I do think that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, just ask Mr. Torrence from the "Shining".

Sorry, I just don't believe in absolute Evil as a force, or Good for that matter. Or the Easter Bunny. Or God. Or the Devil.

I do see what you are saying about competitiveness. I for one have about ZERO degree of desire to compete within myself. It just does nothing for me. However, I do understand that many others buy into this as a personality trait (or disorder, depending on how you look at it), and like anything in life, it can and does go to extremes.

To me, group think is a scary thing. And often, competitiveness goes along with "teams" and "US vs THEM". Yeah, not my bag. People do funky stuff on those scenarios, things they'd never otherwise consider doing.

But, I just don't see this as being evil. I see it as being the result of the wicked soup of chemicals in our head forming chains and making connections, leading to action or inaction. That's all.

reply to post by zeroBelief


I find interesting that from one line you can conclude about my believe regarding government military police guns or all things in the universe in general, ill said it again mental ill people can leave all their life without harming someone, i don't see mental illness as the cause of violent/"evil" behavior, it simply does not fit with what i see, otherwise no one would be executed by death penalty as mental illness is a common defense to it and when it is found to be real the criminal is given life sentence.

I don't know you and even if i did i wouldn't dear to try to justify your way of reasoning as it is impossible to know what is inside someone head when they say something

Indigent
reply to post by zeroBelief

 

I find interesting that from one line you can conclude about my believe regarding government military police guns or all things in the universe in general, ill said it again mental ill people can leave all their life without harming someone, i don't see mental illness as the cause of violent/"evil" behavior, it simply does not fit with what i see, otherwise no one would be executed by death penalty as mental illness is a common defense to it and when it is found to be real the criminal is given life sentence.

I don't know you and even if i did i wouldn't dear to try to justify your way of reasoning as it is impossible to know what is inside someone head when they say something

Enjoy your paradigm.

Mine is constantly under review.