Observation on a "darkness" that seems to hang over society

Brother Stormhammer

Sublimecraft
The frustrating thing about your very accurate observations is that a solution appears possible, we just need to remove from society completely:

1. The Banksters.

The word is 'bankers'. I'm not saying that banks are 'corporate saints'...I know better, first-hand. That said, a surprising number of the 'poor victims of greedy banks' are actually 'poor victims of failure to exercise common sense'.

I can only assume that the Banksters haven't tried to steal your house (which is a good thing of course ), or you would understand that there is a very big difference between honest bankers providing a service to its customers and criminal banksters who are stealing the people blind via fraud, forgery and theft. No doubt some people bought too much house, got in over their heads, and lost it to a rightful foreclosure. But too many foreclosures were due to banksters creating fraudulent defaults resulting in wrongful foreclosure -- in other words, the banksters were literally stealing houses and they continue to do so, because nothing has been done to stop them. Instead, to cover their continued criminal activity, the PTB have perpetuated the myth that "irresponsible homeowners" single-handedly crashed the world economy.

Divide and conquer. We blamed our fellow Americans first -- the victims! -- and gave the criminals a free pass.

Imagine the "darkness" these people feel upon their souls. To lose one's home is difficult at best. To lose one's home to fraudclosure is devastating. To be so wronged and then to be blamed for it, with little or no recourse, is mind-boggling. Imagine the "darkness" of wronged homeowners who are already suffering through no fault of their own, and must also deal with the scorn of family and friends, as well as the full wrath of society. Imagine the "darkness" one feels when you know there is no one to trust, no justice or fairness or protection from such blatant wrongdoing. Then multiply this times a gazillion, because homeowners are not the only ones who have suffered wrongly from the criminal cabal running things. People from all walks of life, of all races, creeds, and colors, rich and poor, young and old -- we've all been hurt, one way or another. When people have nowhere else to turn, when there is no light to turn to, we turn away and have only "darkness" left.

Ironically enough, the same people that society has vilified and blamed for the mortgage crash are the same people who saved many more people from losing their homes to fraudclosure. At least those who found a way to fight, and those who brought enough public attention to these criminal acts that the banksters were forced to scale their fraudclosure way way back. But nothing has really changed which would stop the banksters from doing it again. That can't happen though until more people understand how fundamentally broken the mortgage system is and demand true reform; i.e., proper regulation, oversight and enforcement, and stronger rights for homeowners.

To the OP, thank you for an excellent post. As you can probably tell, your use of "darkness" really resonated with me and the other posters. We are in a new "Dark Age" in many ways. Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful and profound responses. In this shallow and superficial world, it reaffirms my hope for a better world.

reply to post by FyreByrd


This is another "thing" that has changed. Common courtesy and manners were expected both ways between individuals. And "customers" use to be a good thing.

reply to post by openminded2011

OP,
If you study philosophy, the tenants of Buddhism, Bon, Greek Philosophy, Hinduism, even go into early Christian Philosophy, they all say this is the nature of Man living on this earth.

Souls are stuffed into these limited bodies, under the guise of forgetfulness, raised by parents who are jaded by life, programmed by peers, cultures, society which has as its pop trend culture: psychopathy, materialism, selfishness, power, and Money.

I live in the states, and have also witnessed this coldness, stupidity, hatred, etc.

However, I have come across warm, loving, spiritual folks as well.

Its Human Nature. I think we will evolve out of this eventually when they start gene manipulation to produce bigger brains with more access to the brain, empathy, Love, selflessness...though alot of that has to do with connecting to the heart

We'll see

reply to post by Zanti Misfit


I was born in 1962. Life as a child was great, and life was good until about the 1980's. Do any of you remember in the early 80's all the site that were being found where Satan worshipers did there rituals? No one was ever caught but it was blamed on teens.

My question is was it teens?

Or were the elite adults?

Seems that at that time is when everything changed from the top down. Too much coincidence for me, the money started trickling up and the PC thing began while we undermined the middle class. It became dog eat dog and then the paranoia started.

Its all too neet. This is being done on purpose by mans GREAT adversary. His time is short but it is now.

Zanti Misfit
I was Born in 1956. As a Child , the World back then was a Beautiful Place . It all seemed to Change around 1980 .

That was no mere coincidence that things began changing around 1980! That was when "The Great Communicator" Reagan was elected. American was slouching along with a sputtering economy and the humiliation of the hostage crisis. Remember that there was a deal cut with Iran to NOT release the hostages until after Reagan won in return for eweapons. Carter was perceived as weak and innefectual while the cowboy/knute rockne wannabe was already percieved as "man's man". Carter was elected after years of runaway government spending, spying and the spectre of Watergate. America wanted an honest President and responsible government. The Republicans did their level best to ruin every thing Carter put forward.

Once Reagan was elected a new spirit of optimism rose along with a pseudo-patriotic fervor reminiscient of what we witnessed after 9/11. But Reagan really was just an actor, an image that people would rally to. I don't believe there was anything nefarious about Reagan but then he wasn't really running the White House either. Behind the scenes it was the VP, GHW Bush who was actually running the show. Give a crook enough rope and they'll hang themselves proved true and during 2 terms we saw the dark underbelly of government funding terrorism in Central America, bringing drugs in to fund black budget ops and eventually Iran/Contra.

Parallel to this was a corresponding rise of the televangelists and religio-political groups like the Moral Majority parading their hypocritical brand of religion along with the new doctrine of prosperity theology. Their shallow appeal resonated with many who alleviated their self loathing by bathing in the new gospel. To many it was all too transparent and politically dangerous to boot. Remember when Pat Robertson was a serious contender for the GOP Presidential nominee? 12 years of teetering on the brink of fascism was enough to push the nation back in to the arms of the Democratic party and the party boy Clinton to escape the deadly seriousness of hard rightwing politics.

The 80's was the era of deregulation - the beginning of the end for all forms of media so far as actual reporting went. It was the decade of corporate raiders and the rise of wall street. A new cynicism arose and once again wars were being viewed as glamour affairs. Even GHWB had to have his own war lest he appear to be a "weak" e. It was a critical transition, the consolidation of power and money and influence in to the hands of fewer and fewer without which we would never have arrived at where we are today.

It was as I liked to term it back then - the Rise of the 4th Reich.

OP - I think you put it as well as Charles Chaplin did.

reply to post by openminded2011


Hello.

I'm 52 years old, and since my first conscious thought, I've never thought
that human behavior made much sense. I've found much of it to be short-
sighted and self-destructive.

I guess it was the beatings and abuse from my parents that soured me.

What I've observed over the years, is that people attempt to make
sense of the world, just enough to comfort themselves. Some people
find comfort in religion, some in metaphysics, some in science, some
in the enhancement of personal power.

We've all seen the various cycles.

For a time, traditional religion and sticking together as family was a
shield against reality.

For a time, new-age thinking promised that everyone could be a god,
and could 'create their own reality'.

For some strapping a bomb on their chest and blowing up school
children is a 'holy act'.

For many years, the illusion of the 'American Dream' and that it
would be forever, was a substitute for religion.

Of course the PTB are a religion of the self.

These are just some examples that we are all aware of.

Now I could be wrong, I could be misperceiving this, but it seems
that many people are finally tired of all our BS excuses; all our
anities, ism's, an's, at's, and the rest.

There is really nothing new in human experience; there is little
that we have tried to find happiness and balance, that hasn't been
tried (and failed) many times before, by older cultures, that failed and died.

We are functionally caught in a time loop. We are on the merry-go-round
and want off. But we can't get off the dang thing. We want to hurl.

You know what? I've spent close to 50 years looking for a solution.
Other kids were playing ball; I was building gizmos in my lab (yes
I had a lab as a kid) and also trying to plumb the spiritual depths.

I wanted to save the human race.

How quaint I know.

I have suggestions. I have ideas. I have observations. I have 'gnosis'.

But I think the world is too jaded. I think that the computer (society)
would just refuse any input of any kind, unless that input was totally insane.

(aliens arriving in an armada to 'save us'; or a metaphysical 'shift' that nobody
has earned, deserves, or understands)

I think that many people are hoping for a handy-J from god, to put it crudely.

Is it ok to just admit that we are tired? That the most enthusiastic of us
are tired? That the brightest of us are tired?

The oceans are dying. The source of all life on earth, the root of the food
chain is dying. The source of 40% of all our oxygen is dying. (the plankton
in the ocean). This is one example out of 1,000+

I know that this kind of talk sounds awfully "Debby Downer". I get that.
I don't like thinking this way either.

But maybe we have earned the right to be tired and depressed.

Maybe we need to hit bottom, and that's all there is to it.

Now it is obvious that we are telling ourselves bad stories; that we can't
think of any good new stories that will work for us.

At one time in history, simple stories were working.. "have a big heart",
"work hard", etc. etc. Now we don't believe in those simple stories;
or so it seems.

Some people have more complex stories they are trying to tell.. but
one 'truth about humans' from an anthropological point of view,
(or from an evolutionary psychological point of view if you'd prefer)
is that only 1 in a thousand people (or more) are a true 'leader', and
all the rest of us just follow that person.

It's a bit doubtful that all of us can become leaders... if that could
happen, then maybe all of us would participate in government, and
lunacies like we are suffering right now wouldn't happen so much,
and we'd get something 'done'.

The problem with charismatic leaders, is that we need some with
a good new story, to get people moving in a better direction;
but one person's visionary is the next person's anti-Christ.

I'm 100% certain that if Buddha or Christ came back today, that
they'd be mugged or arrested for carrying 'myrrh' or in some other
way put in jail, killed, or marginalized, faster than they could say,
"I'm here to help you". Oh sure, if they could ride a cloud or throw
lightning bolts they'd get far less 'sass'. But a great many people
would marginalize them as 'satan' or an 'evil djinn' or whatever..
because they weren't a member of their local club.

Back in the very beginning, all you had to do to build cohesion
was to be able to bludgeon wildlife with a big stick, and thus
protect people.. that made you a 'chief'.

But now a days, everyone has this huge bloated imagination,
and infinite hungers and expectations. It's about impossible
to 'become someone's chief' nowdays.. unless you promise
them eternal life and handy-j's.

But even that meme, that mind virus, is wearing out,
at least in the West.

As another erudite poster here on ATS said recently,
'the West is falling' - the East is not. Well, I don't
know precisely how true that is, but the point seems
valid.

We ask for everything, we expect everything, we don't
think that we should suffer anymore, and we are too
good to work anymore. Or so it seems. And oh by the
way, we let nature die, and hardly pay attention.

I'm rambling now.. my apologies.

KPB