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Page added on August 4, 2018
Why Collapse Is Leaving Americans In Shock
Have you ever been in a car crash? Do you know that weird, numb, nauseous, out-of-body feeling that hits, after the adrenaline fades?
You’re in shock.
Now imagine that you were in a car crash every day. How would you feel, after a month?
Now consider the fact that we describe the world as a car crash, every day these days — are you in a situation something a little bit like that?
Now consider how you felt after that car crash, and how you feel these days, when you read the news, when you try to sleep, when you wake up. Aren’t they a little similar? Isn’t that weird, funny, strange — and gruesome?
There’s a line I’ve always loved from Office Space. “Every day,” the main character says, talking about his working life, “has been worse than the one before it.” Does that sum up American collapse so far? Every day — weirder, more numbing, more adrenalizing, more panic-inducing, than the one before it? Maybe even something like living through a car crash — every day?
If I had to try to pin down the mood of the nation — maybe the world, at this juncture — I’d put it like this. A kind of weary exhaustion. A sense of grim fatigue. Everyone just feels drained in a way I’ve never seem them before. The life is going out of us. Would you say that’s fair?
I think that we’re in shock, my friends. Not physiological shock — blood draining away after a major injury. But psychological shock. Which, curiously, is analogical to the psychological kind, too.
I think that America, maybe the world, is experiencing almost the classic, textbook definition of psychological shock — in response to the rise of extremism, fascism, hate, spite, and ruin. “What? Is he serious?”, you ask. I couldn’t be more so. These are existential threats which trigger shock responses in us, over and over again, which then leave us exhausted, debilitated, depleted — not just in some casual sense, but in a genuine psychophysiological one.
Consider a tiny example. There you are, checking Twitter or Facebook, a hundred times a day. Wow? The bad guys said what? Whoosh! You feel a surge of rage. You want to scream and shout. Furious, you type out an expression of your anger.
Fast forward on hour. You’re checking the headlines. The bad guys did what? No way. Impossible. Sshooomm. The pit of your stomach goes cold. You feel nauseous, jittery, weak, suddenly. Maybe you push that lunch away, just unable to eat it.
An hour later. You’re back on Twitter. Wait, what’s the latest scandal? Zap!! Are they really going to — you read tweet after tweet. Your mind goes foggy. You can’t think anymore. Everything’s a haze. How is this even real?
You’re driving home now. You put the news on the radio. Wait — the bad guys want to what? Your chest goes tight. How will you pay the bills? What about those poor kids? Is this country livable anymore? You feel disconnected, as if you’re not in your own self anymore.
I’ve exaggerated — but only slightly, I think — to make a point. Can you see yourself in my tiny example? I can see myself in it, funnily and sadly enough.
Here’s what really going on in it, psychologically speaking. Hypervigilance — constantly scanning the environment for warning signs, threat signals, danger. When you find them? Whoosh! An adrenaline rush. Fight, flight, or freeze. Your muscles tighten up. You breathe faster.
Do you see how exhausting this all is already?
And then, as the response fades, later that night, as you unclench, your mind goes into overdrive. Therapists speak of “Trump Anxiety Disorder” by now, and point to a huge uptick in people in distress.
So there you are — you’ve spent the day hypervigilant, triggering your own shock responses, over and over again, which has drained you, but you don’t know it. And now what happens? Overwhelming anxiety. Insomnia. Restlessness. You can’t relax. Your mind won’t let you. Why not?
You’re having flashbacks. Recurrent thoughts that won’t go away. They echo and spiral. Your mind is busy trying to survive the next day — which it knows is going to be just like this one. It’s re-experiencing the shock of today, and yesterday, and trying to figure out: how can I cope with it? And so you’re flooded with thoughts of the dread of self-preservation. What if they really do what they say they’re going to do? What if the next election doesn’t fix this stuff? Can I even live here? How am I going to survive?
You’re still in shock. In fact, you’ve never gone out of shock. During the day, you experienced psychological shock, and at night, you re-experienced it, to anticipate tomorrow’s so maybe you could survive it better. Maybe you don’t feel like that every day — but I’d bet you feel like that at least some days.
Is it any wonder we’re so exhausted, then? So bone-weary, drained, and utterly worn out by collapse? Collapse is leaving us in shock. But being shock is an exhausting thing. All that adrenaline. All that tightness. That shortness of breath, that numbness, that nausea. It wears down a body, consumes its energy, depletes its physical and psychological resources.
And then, when we should be resting, we re-experience all the above, so we are not really recovering, rebuilding, replenishing ourselves, either. When we should be sleeping, our minds are half-awake, or maybe consumed by restless dreams. Genuine rest, when every day is a recurring shock, isn’t just a luxury — it might be an impossibility.
I don’t want to give you simple “solutions” — turn off social media! Go meditate! Read a book!! Certainly, all those things would be helpful. But “solutions” miss the point in a way — if you don’t understand what the problem really is. We’re not just “tired” in some allegorical metaphorical sense. Or even in some literal, physical one.
We are exhausted, mind, body, and soul, through the depletion of all our resources, which never seem to be replenished, because we are in recurrent shock. We’re drained and worn out by collapse — since we reexperience its shock over and over again, every night, every day. And that is not a healthy place for a mind, a body, or a society to be. Shock is a hidden cost of collapse we haven’t yet really reckoned with. And yet reckon with it we must. Because leaving us in shock, worn out until we are paralyzed, is exactly what the bad guys want.
Umair
August 2018
16 Comments on "Why Collapse Is Leaving Americans In Shock"
twocats on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 4:41 pm
“We are exhausted, mind, body, and soul, through the depletion of all our resources, which never seem to be replenished, because we are in recurrent shock. We’re drained and worn out by collapse ”
she/he is only talking about the collapse of socio-political civil liberties. the hidden collapse of the economy coupled with the ongoing corporate takeover (i.e. wage inequality) is adding much to this sense and is (in fact) fueling the very extremism she’s exhausted about. it’s a positive feedback loop. depleting resources make the wealthy all the more stingy, accelerating inequality which creates more fascists, which then drives liberal democrats to the edge of sanity.
Cloggie on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 4:55 pm
A Pakistani gentleman instructing us why America is in a state of shock and collapse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dVouNyUimE
I think I pass.
Sissyfuss on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 5:02 pm
When food starts to get evasive from all the angles in the bottleneck, that will be both a tipping point and also a start to the “Troubles” but on a global scale. This coming from a retired Boomer who has been incredibly well-fed for over 60 years but is still trying to stay hungry.
Half Thick on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 5:41 pm
It’s too much Thin Value; just need to thicken it up…
Umair Haque interview on Havard Business Review:
https://youtu.be/Rz2Zc9UJFUo
I’ve no idea how he gets to Walmart being an example of Thick Value creation. Just another economist taking nonsense.
Davy on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 7:16 pm
stupid article
GregT on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 7:35 pm
“stupid article”
Everything that doesn’t support your idiotic flag waving is stupid to you Davy. In reality, it is your flag waving that is the epitome of stupidity. Which you will soon find out the hard way, stupid.
Davy on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 8:17 pm
Nonsense greygoar. It is a stupid article. If we are going to discuss collapse these type of articles are a waste of time. You like them because they have agenda and emotions. You aren’t very intellectual so the real issues of collapse zooms right over your ultra nationalistic extremist mind.
Permavillage on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 8:43 pm
I followed John Michael Greer advice: “collapse now, avoid the rush”
twocats on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 9:47 pm
agreed davy – the article is about “collapse” as an emotional exhaustion because of trump. sorry buddy – way off base if you think trump is going to be the biggest collapse of this decade. shit is going seriously sideways on many fronts.
makati1 on Sat, 4th Aug 2018 11:43 pm
Actually, Trump may be increasing the tension, but it has existed for a long time in less visible forms. The increase in suicides and drug deaths are red flags. The hidden inflation and stagnation of incomes add to it. The constant propaganda 24/7/365 has been ramped up to extreme heights, but the frogs in the pot don’t see it. They just feel the heat increasing and don’t know why. Not my problem anymore. I jumped out of the pot 10 years ago and have no regrets.
MASTERMIND on Sun, 5th Aug 2018 12:36 am
Madkat
How many fucking times are you going to tell us that you left America ten years ago and our happy moved away..Geez..You obviously have buyers remorse because you have to keep trying to convince everyone here what a great idea it was..If you were so comfortable you wouldnt have to repeat it night and day..
makati1 on Sun, 5th Aug 2018 12:46 am
MM, About a million times. Get over it. How many times do you post bullshit that is irrelevant and proves your ignorance and immaturity? Answer: daily.
I am proud of my life and my decision to move here 10 years ago. I am just proving that there are better places to live than in the Us police state.
You can skip my posts by just ignoring any that start with Makati1. LOL
Davy on Sun, 5th Aug 2018 4:50 am
“I am proud of my life and my decision to move here 10 years ago. I am just proving that there are better places to live than in the Us police state.”
You want to make your decision look like a good one by talking down the US and talking up Asia. What you do is paint an extremist exaggerate picture of the world. You do this for personal reasons. You must have had a very unhappy life in the US to be so negative and mean. You definitely have personality issues. You may have been in trouble with the law too because you have an obsession with a police state thing. Don’t break the law here and you will be fine. No one I know has an issue with the law.
“You can skip my posts by just ignoring any that start with Makati1. LOL”
BS, you are here way too much trying to turn this board into an extremist anti-American forum. I have told you for 4 years now just moderate a little and be on topic and I will ignore you. You could give a shit about others it is all about you bragging on yourself and making sure your move to Asia is made to look like a smart one. You have to enforce the idea the US will collapse and Asia rise up in a golden age.
Dredd on Sun, 5th Aug 2018 7:28 am
“Me not like bad man tell me bad stuff … me like preznit Tump tell good stuff …” (Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala – 4)
fmr-paultard on Mon, 6th Aug 2018 8:42 am
this umair guy enjoys kicking the anti-american dog i made off granite and dress up to look like it’s alive.
a quick search for his name and islam he so “wisely” advised us to elevate credentials of imams. he says nothing about cutting off money supply to jihadist groups so he’s just a distraction. we stopped paying jizya to pakistan but europe may still pay jizya as they did back in supertard jefferson day when the fake news white guy johnny depp was roaming the mediterrean. it was islamic pirates and it’s still happening today and it aint somalian pirates either.
anyways, this using shekles to fight muslims is a better approach weighing moral and humanity reasons. this is vastly better than a final solution for islam as katie hopkins once tweeted.
“history of jihad from muhammad to isis” robert spencer:
The Hindus, according to custom, when they saw their chief destroyed, fled in the utmost disorder from the field, and were pursued by the allies with such success that the river was dyed red with their blood. It is computed by the best authorities that above one hundred thousand infidels were slain during the action and the pursuit.
fmr-paultard on Mon, 6th Aug 2018 8:48 am
umair is probably “ummah” or some cr*p like that. it’s the sharia playground for muslims.
this is a sanitized version of a caliphate because supposedly ummah is where everyone coexists regardless of religious beliefs or as written in the demonic quran that ‘there’s no compulsion in religion’ before it’s abrogated.