[Ibon]

Terrorism, rising sea levels, droughts , famines, Ebola Pandemics, racism, global economic collapse, disparity of wealth, wacky politicians, serial killers, gun violence, religious and ethnic hatred, Refugees and immigrants on the move, methane hydrates popping, cold war is back, etc. etc.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population. (Source: National Institute of Mental Health)

http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-ro ... statistics


Why did I start this thread? Well, obviously there is a lot of anxiety out there. There are instabilities that are undeniable that one can point to as the cause. In isolation none of these threats out there should have our culture in such a deep funk. It would seem that fear has replaced optimism as the main force driving our culture at the moment. This is global.

If fear is on the rise and becoming a dominant force in the background shaping our culture, where will this take us moving forward?

There are some clear consequences to being fearful. Just ask any mouse that cringes over every shadow passing overhead.

How will this dominant sense of anxiety shape our world moving forward and how can this be mitigated?

[Cog]

Self sufficiency and self-reliance replaces fear with confidence.

[Shaved Monkey]

The window repair men would go out of business if nobody broke windows

[Pops]

Luckily peak oil didn't make your list, those worries are past I guess.

[vox_mundi]

Humans are herd animals.

If the herd is peaceful, the alpha males don't have to apply brutality to maintain order.

If the herd gets spooked, the alphas will use whatever measures are necessary to maintain order.

The one thing alphas fear more than confrontations is chaos.

Fear invites oppression.

We're in a predicament. We're past mitigation.

[Newfie]

There is a lot not on the list. While it's a good list it is oriented more towards things we identify as fearful. Then there are those thinhpgs that eat at you more quietly but that raise your anxiety level.

For me it's the city noise and the lack of greenery. Sirens, alarms, Jack hammers, horns, yelling. The bloody idiot on the radio we wake up with blathering nonsense, and that' NPR. We have gotten rid of TV, and that is a blessing, but I to often still see it and it always has some super hyped idiot story to jack you up. Ditto Newspapers.

We bath in alarm, it's everywhere we go. Terrorrisim, street crime, pornography, attacks against women, black lives matter, murder of trans sexuals, chile abuse, senior abuse, on and on and on.

Ibon, I don't know how it will effect us and I don't see it being mitigated.

I think a good question to ask is "Why are we prone to it? What survival advantage did it give us in the past?"

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'L')uckily peak oil didn't make your list, those worries are past I guess.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vox_mundi', 'H')umans are herd animals.

If the herd is peaceful, the alpha males don't have to apply brutality to maintain order.

If the herd gets spooked, the alphas will use whatever measures are necessary to maintain order.

The one thing alphas fear more than confrontations is chaos.

Fear invites oppression.

We're in a predicament. We're past mitigation.

[Pops]

I'm a late boomer, my folks were "Silent Generation" kids of the depression/WWII. They saw tough times and their upbringing was rougher than we of the Spock generation (both Mr. & Dr.). I think US WASP boomers had it pretty soft for the most part, excluding Nam. Maybe we developed a streak of cynicism as well post Watergate, post Nam, post MLK & Kent State.

We got all flower powered counter-culturish then turned around and became Gordon Gekkos.

Along the way we lost touch with institutions that had previously been ubiquitous; church, civic and fraternal organisations, unions and (pardon the transgression) the single earner household. We are after all the Me generation.

I think lots of folks are wandering around aimlessly lost in suburbia. Alone in a crowd fighting to be first through the door on Black Friday. That is our motivation, our scorecard, our coup counting... the Big 50% Off Sale.

Most of us have very little experience with anything else.

[vox_mundi]

Just a thought...

It seems that a matriachal society might be way out of the self destructive characteristics of our global patriarchal leadership.

It works for elephants.

Just that small problem of changing human nature.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'W')e have to recognize that when your motivation of self reliance is because you have lost faith in institutions this creates a porcupine mentality, overly defensive, overly fearful. This orientation does not build a nation, does not solve big systemic issues. This is mouse strategy. This is a major concern I see. We are oriented collectively more and more like mice.

[Cog]

I don't want big systemic issues being solved. The collective is to be rightly feared since individual rights and freedoms are anathema to them.

I prefer being left alone without the collective guiding my every move. Sorry if that doesn't work for everyone.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vox_mundi', '
')Just that small problem of changing human nature.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'I') don't want big systemic issues being solved. The collective is to be rightly feared since individual rights and freedoms are anathema to them.

I prefer being left alone without the collective guiding my every move. Sorry if that doesn't work for everyone.

[Pops]

The Itch seems to me toward a new tribalism to replace the old social structures we disdained and dismantled.

Ironic that the Great Mobility that broke down the distance barrier and made cultural melting pots possible is now morphing into to the Great Sort that enables opinion-based geographic relocation.

[Cog]

Do you have a fire extinguisher at home or a smoke alarm? Statistically you are unlikely to suffer a house fire.

Regarding CC. It is my right under the law and I am right to oppose those who wish to take that right away from me. Why liberals get their panties in a bunch over me exercising a right guaranteed me by law and which harms them not is unfathomable. But of course control is their game. I wish to be left alone.

The whole supposition of this thread is bogus. It theorizes we are all in fear and we need some big government to solve everything to assuage our fears. I fear very little in life except those who want to impose on me big government solutions. Because those folks inevitably try to kill or imprison you if you don't buy into their collective thought process.

Remember the thread about "Should we put climate change deniers in jail(or simply killed)"? That is something to be fearful over.

[vox_mundi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '.')..Do you sense there is at the moment a collective "itch" more and more toward conflict and war?

[Cog]

People fought wars long before there was anything close to over-population.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '
')
The whole supposition of this thread is bogus. It theorizes we are all in fear and we need some big government to solve everything to assuage our fears.

[Cog]

Mitigation implies an enforced solution. Who enforces solutions? Government does.

Yes the thread is bogus because it presuppose we all live in fear. We don't. And it expresses a desire to eliminate fear.

You are the one implying that I am somehow evil for conceal carrying. I didn't bring it up before you did. You think taking that right away from me would make me less of a porcupine(in your words) How about leaving me and mine the hell alone? That will make me a lot less fearful.