The ignorance of the masses....

Ignorance is bliss, until the mistake is realised and it's too late to act. The world is changing and people don't seem to care.

An example of what I mean can be found in a conversation one of my closest friends had at work last week with his collegues:

My friend, Tom, was sat with about four or five of his collegues just talking about various things when He decided to bring up the subject of rising food prices (as this is a widely known problem). To his surprise, almost all of his work-mates shunned off the rise in the price of food saying things like "ahh, it'll be ok, the government won't let it get worse" and "we''ll be alright in this country".

This made Tom a little annoyed so he launced into a rant about all the things that are conspiring to change our civilization, food prices, depopulation, coming wars, CCD, peak oil, climate change, state sponsored terrorism etc, but again he was met with absolute apathy and disregard.

I have also had much experience of this, Trying to tell my friends, family and collegues to prepare just in case does not go down well, some people even react with anger!

It makes me so sad, I hope I'm wrong and nothing happens then i'll just look like a fool, which is fine, But everyday I read something which sets alarm bells off in my head.

Things are going to change, no matter where you are, no matter who you are, some days I hate myself for not being able to accurately verbalise my fears in a way which inspires others to prepare.

Apathy is a killer, ignorance will only shield you from the truth until the truth comes for you.

Why do only a few people around me care that our world, our species, our civilization is falling apart?

The answer to that question is the reason we're in this predicament in the first place, and the reason nothing will be done until it is too late.

and it makes me desperately unhappy....

They laughed at Noah when he tried to warn the people too... it's a sign of the times, my friend. There is nothing new under the sun. What has happened in the past is destined to repeat itself. For some, it's a warning. For others, it will be a wake-up call.

In my opinion, it isn't ignorance as much as it is fear!

None of us wants to upset the "status quo." Since the end of the 1960s, Americans have been taught not to protest and make waves, otherwise prison awaits us. We have become fearful of what lies beyond our individual environment. I realize that I shouldn't be speaking as if I am speaking for all Americans, but I wanted to make a point about the difference between ignorance vs fear.


Bill, CEO of ATS, has a thread in General Conspiracy titled "FBI fears Chinese Hackers have a backdoor,.,..,.,internet (can't remember full title). I have copied one of his posts and I am pasting it below:


"CONSPIRACY OPPORTUNITY

I've been watching the traffic to this thread, and so far:

Just about every mainstream media television/cable news company has visited this thread several times, most of which within the first five days of appearing.

Over two-dozen, large mainstream newspapers have also visited this thread, with a spike in the first few days, and regular visits ever since.

There are links to this thread from over 200 different websites.

Since it was first posted, it remains in our top-10 most visited pages (including the site home page)... and has achieved over 600,000 views in a relatively short time.

I have the opportunity to discuss this topic, live-on-air with a mainstream media source (radio), and point out that despite the obvious popularity, this important story is not being covered in the mainstream news.

With that in mind, are there any specific points you (our members) would like me to bring up.

Or - is there anything new our members have uncovered in relation to this story?

Thanks"

------------------

I have noted the CEO's posting as a reminder that these sites do get visited and not just by average Americans. No doubt friends of the FBI, CIA, and whomever could come on and relay info......so that the behind the scene groups cannot be monitored. It won't stop me from posting, because where is the safe haven most of us seek!!!



The gist is that what can we do as individuals to make a difference! I think average Americans have very little to say on the way our country conducts its business. I have felt that we have been sold out a long time ago. There is another thread entitled: America....a Third World Country.

Unfortunately, I see that as our future. Americans struggling through the day, working for chump-change, hoping they have a place to live. It hasn't been quite 100 years since Americans achieved better work environments, more pay, unions to help workers and their families, health benefits and medical insurance. Now, the cost of living is beyond words, people are paying a good percentage of their health insurance where 30 years ago that was a perk that came with your job. Gone is the American dream because very few can afford it.

Also, Americans do not want to do without certain things they find pleasurable......very few people will boycott gas prices by not using their cars as much, for instance. Right now, I will not buy from Wal-Mart because they are one of the biggest companies that are putting RFID chips on products. Another tag being used as a tracking device, etc. The govt. wants to put it on our driver's license. There is talk about a chip being implanted near your wrist so it can be scanned to show your medical info.......what happened to bringing it up on the computer?

None of this happens overnight.....but we only see glimses of it here and there so it can seem that in the blink of an eye we have lost everything. It is out of fear because we keep hoping that our govt has our best interest foremost in their behaviors and business transactions. After all, they have to live here too!

Oh yeah, they will continue to enjoy filet mignon while we can all eat canned tuna!!!

In this world there are four groups of people:

1. The powerful elite

2. The people who can see what's going on, and will die trying to stop it

3. The people who refuse to believe what's going on, and will be slaughtered en mass because they weren't useful enough to make it into the 500 million.

4. The people who refuse to believe what's going on, and will one day be slaves living in utter poverty wishing they'd been in group number 2 when there was still a chance.

Most people are in group 4. Many people are in group 3. A small minority are in group 2. A handful of monsters make up group 1.

Very few people will ever move to a lower numbered group. That is, the 4's likely have skills that will keep them out of the 3's, the 3's are too buried in their own blindness to ever wake up and join the 2's, and the 1's just flat out don't let new people in.

You want your friends to survive? You'll never get them into a lower number, but if you can encourage them to be useful enough to be in group 4 and teach them how to live happily despite being poverty stricken peasants, well, maybe there's a chance. Maybe.

The real problem these blind sheep face isn't the global elite trying to enslave them, it's their own stupid ignorance and apathy. Honestly, most of them deserve what's coming to them anyways...

5. People who know what's going on, and want as little involvement as possible, trying to rise above it rather than perpetuate the cycle. Planning ahead so when the SHTF they can survive and report to future generations what really went down.

if someone I knew only as a passing acquaintance decided to launch into a rant about a hodge-podge of topics such as what you described your friend doing, I wouldn't be impressed either! Crazy sounding rants are always going to be ignored - because they are just that - rants.

Far better to introduce the topic in the context of preparing for getting through natural disasters such as storms etc comfortably and safely. You don't get people to think by beating them over the head with an idea.

reply to post by Crispy_Chicken


i agree and also see this in religious beliefs, i was brought up as a christian, but buddists that have been around for over 2 thousand more years have it right. they don't push you into anything, and they have come to realize that you can't beat someone over the head to get them to believe and obey. they are like that older mature grandpa that you come to realize was right all along.

Maybe because not everyone aspires to be a survivalist. If serious food shortages occur worldwide (IF, I tend to think it will only affect the third world for the next few decades) it would be like an apocalypse.

Not everyone wants to even ATTEMPT to survive in such an environment. I live in Atlanta, if society broke down around here the chaos would be horrendous. In my opinion if serious food shortages were to become a problem in the states one had better be prepared to exist in a heavily armed compound; storing 2 years of rice in your basement is NOT going to do the trick when the starving, violent masses decide they want it.

Don’t assume that everyone who acts blasé regarding the "possibility of disaster" is in denial. Some are misanthropes and simply don’t care all that much. Others just see it as a natural consequence of a species that has gotten out of control, and accept it as inevitable.

Ranting never ever helps anyone getting a point across. I discovered that when you talk about in a calm voice like talking about the weather it will be more likely to stick and maybe, just maybe they open up a google and search for themselves and if not to bad but it is part of the whole free-will thing. Just prepare for anything if you feel the need and try to get your point across. And never forget, anything you read on the net is second-hand info. Only your own experiences count for something substantial all the rest is good to take into account but not really anything more. For every part of good info there is another piece of crap floating around.

For myself i will only get a water purifier and a month's worth of food just in case but that's about it.

[edit on 9-5-2008 by Harman]

Dont sweat what they said. Just go on doing what you do and dont worry what they think.

This is the way I see it.
Dont teach those who dont want to be teached, because if you do all they are going to do is ignore you.

I realized this years ago trying to explain to my friends why they should get prepared for the worst and how the gov. is not going to protect you and such.
And all they did was ignore me and say im crazy and paranoid.

So from then on I just decided only to speak about stuff like that, if they ask me questions about it.

Anyways if and when the SHTF. They will come running to ya relizing that you where right.
And if this never happens it never hurts to be prepared.

Thanks for the input guys and I fully appreciate that 'ranting' at someone is not a good way to get a point across.

I feel I need to stress at this point that it was not myself that was involved in this particular conversation but my friend and that I used this recent occurance as an example of something which I and my like-minded friends have been experiencing all too often.

I don't think that just giving up on people who don't take these things seriously is a good way to be. I'm not going to give up on talking about this and trying to make the people around me more aware and therefore more prepared.

I recently had a long discussion with my parents when i visited them and pretty much layed it all down for them and to be honest, I was pleasently surprised with the reaction as last week I visited again and my dad has dug up the patio to plant veg and my mum bought a small greenhouse to nurture the young plants in.

Ignorance is their choice. Making the effort to educate is ours.

just keep on informing people it might be a month before it clicks. but a month may be too late!!!

I have the opportunity to discuss this topic, live-on-air with a mainstream media source (radio), and point out that despite the obvious popularity, this important story is not being covered in the mainstream news

It isn't covered Ruby because it is anti-China. Major Liberal newstations such as MSNBC and CNN have heavy investments by China. Any bad Chinese propaganda by these stations and China threatens to pull the investments. They have done this to CNN recently.

reply to post by Chonx


Chonx, you're obviously an idealist. I've been warning folks(friends, family.strangers) for years that the world they think they live in is a cleverly maintained illusion that makes films like V for Vendetta and The Matrix look like a pleasant daydream. They refuse to see it. The Noah comparison is an apt one: anyone in New Orleans after Katrina with a row boat looked like a genius compared to the fools in Washington,DC.

If I were you I'd quit worrying about the masses and start keeping a sharp eye on the local constables and councils, they are your most immediate threats to survival when TSHTF happens. They have guns and you being in the UK, likely don't. Once, it happens, your first course of action should be to take out those god-awful cameras. Disrupting their command and control infrastructure turns them into a blind slow-moving behemoth that can be easily avoided. Remember the lessons of the past, megafauna like dinosaurs and mammoths were too large to survive drastic changes.

While It might seem odd to most Westerners, you only have to look at Africa and the Middle East to know how bad things can get. Africa has greater natural resources than most of Europe and excuse me but they were building pyramids when most of Europe had trouble getting their next meal. If they had their wits about them, they should be exploring other star systems by now. Look at what has happened to the cradle of Western civilization, Iraq, 7,000 years head start on being civilized and they'd rather kill each other over minor religious differences then expel a foreign conqueror like the US. It's just pure madness.

The problem with the hierarchy is that they believe that they can survive and thrive while the ignorant masses suffer and die. Obviously they forgot the French and Russian revolutions.

This is a good post. And Sonya, your right about the basement rice. When I read that, I pictured Dawn of the Dead zombies clawing at the door to my rice basement lol. I really dont have one btw.

I think people know or at least have a feeling that sometimes, things arent right in the world. Kinda how Morpheus described it to Neo...thing is, it's not a problem until it's a problem for them.

This world is so selfish. People don't care what happens to the general population because people themselves don't see themselves as the "general population"

I think its this gut feeling that you have deep down inside, that something is wrong but you cant quite put your finger on it.

I always went on and on about all this conspiracy stuff a few years back to my friends on a private forum we run just for us. Eventually they would just ignore my thread. To begin with my posts were aimed at them "what do you think about this, you must agree its wrong," etc.... Eventually i realized this was the wrong way to go about it from their negative responses towards me. They took it like i was attacking them and their apathy, which in hindsight i probably was but not meaning to though.

So anyway after a few reincarnations of this private forum I've changed the way i post about this stuff. I tend to post a quote from the link and maybe a short little comment with my opinion. Very much akin to how breaking alternative news is posted here. I'm less frequent being more picky in what i post.

This has been a much more positive way of going about it. Its enticed my friends into reading about this stuff. They often respond mirroring my own feelings. If they seem interested i post more on the topic, until their appetite for the topic is satisfied.

I don't want them to feel spammed by it but i post on the odd occasion to remind them that their is another way of looking at things contrary to MSM. I know they don't actively seek this sort of alternative information so i feel that its important for them to at least know their are other opinions on events.

I tend to avoid the topic in conversation unless someone asks for my opinion. Its ok amongst my close friends i can handle a ribbing from them but they at least know that my views are very conservative and based on sources with substance. Its when acquaintances have been informed of my views that things have gotten a little sour.

Often its because words have been put in my mouth and I'm already on the back foot before things have begun. For example I've been thrust into conversations with "Hey this guy believes in aliens or he believes 9/11 was done by 'insert stereotypical villain' etc..." Usually after that you get called all sorts of things, gullible, unintelligent and other mean words. From there its hard to say "I think their is evidence in the NASA transmissions that show objects moving at incredible speeds and making 90 degree turns which are simply impossible to do in any man made craft. I don't assume to know what these phenomena are but i acknowledge there existence, until proven otherwise."

Through all of this i think I've had a positive impact on my friends. They still go about their daily lives the same way as we all do but i think they aren't taking things for granted so much.

reply to post by crgintx


Hey, I hear what your saying and maybe I am a bit of an idealist but there are just too many people that I care about for me to just stop trying. If they think I'm strange or an idiot, at least i'll know that I tried.

Thats a damn good point about the cameras, they will be invaluable to them and therefore a vauable target for us. With regards to firearms, your right, being in the U.K. and especially the part of the U.K. I'm in, I don't come into contact with them...ever. In fact, I'm a 26 year old man who has never touched a real gun in his life.

I totally agree that most are under the spell of the MSM and consider western society today as something which cannot and will not fail. In fact I'd be willing to put money on the fact that a fair percentage has never even thought about such a thing

reply to post by blahdiblah


blahdiblah, I tried a similar thing to what you are talking about (I think)

I made a group on myspace (when I used it a lot) to try and get all my friends interested in alternative topics. It failed miserably, I got about 4 serious responses the whole time it was up and that was that. Its so much easier to mock and belittle then it is to actually entertain these notions.

I too have been thrust into those conversations and before i'd even had the chance to say a word have been judged to be stupid/paranoid/ungarateful for what I have/ living in a dream world etc.... Its all very disheartening but I always stand by my convictions no matter how much schtick I get from people.

Apathy is a killer, ignorance will only shield you from the truth until the truth comes for you.

... and stereotyping will make you blind.

I am not bashing you, just asking: who exactly are these "masses", and who is measuring their ignorance or lack thereof? On what exactly do you base your image of the "masses"?

Again, I am not being hostile to you.
It is a perfectly serious, absolutely non-rhetorical question.

reply to post by Vanitas


A very fair question, and your right to ask it.

I base my my image of 'the masses' on a few things and of course I understand that this is a highly subjective matter as with all complex perceptions, but with that said, I do still feel justified in my opinions.

My personal experiences of talking to people directly. I know the number of people I come into contact with is tiny and in no way represents 'the masses' but I do feel I come across some very generic opinions.

Other like-minded people relaying their first hand experiences to me but again the same issues arise.

The fact that the main stream media accounts for many peoples education in such matters and the fact that many important issues are not given the focus that they deserve or ignored all together adds up to a level of unintentional ignorance based on faith that the MSM is accurate and comprehensive.

The ammount of distraction that exists in modern western society seems to, in my experience, occupy the minds of so many people. Football is a good example. Here in England Football is by far the most popular sport and is followed by many with an almost religeous zeal and given far more importance than seems justified. The popularity of said distractions. Looking at the figures for movies, T.V. shows, DVD sales and computer game sales is a good indication of how inclined we are to favour distractions over the reality of the world we live in.

I hope that answers your question. Again I can only go on what I experience, but I feel I have experienced enough to show to me without much doubt that the masses are ignorant to the events and proceeding which are conspiring to change our societies.