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Peyote Road
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Registered: 09/02/15
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State of American society and addiction 2
#22289571 - 09/25/15 06:20 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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One thing I have come to realize as I have aged is how sick our society is wih addiction.
First of let me say I come from the spiritual forum and I view addiction as having spiritual origins. Essentially in our society we are not taught how to be with ourselves or how to live in harmony with the natural world. Instead, we are taught to seek happiness through consumption. Heck, we even refer to our people as "consumers", an accurate but very sad and disparaging term in my opinion.
In addition, we are raised with a set of values that is very much out of alignment with how the natural world functions. We are deeply wounded emotionally by the lack of love that is so evident all around us. Our culture values things over people. We have no collective "vision" of what life is, or what life is about or what our purpose should be as a people. Instead, individualism and individual pleasure is valued over all. Nature is regarded as a means to reaching our own ends. Whatever whims might please our egos at the moment.
We are taught to nurture our greed rather than check it. We are given almost no instruction in virtue, but instead are bombarded by incomprehensible amounts of information in schools, much of which is quite irrelevant to our true needs.
So people grow up in this angry hateful society that teaches them to seek pleasure through the consumption of its goods. Not merely innocent goods either, but many of the most popular wants alter the natural balance of our organism. Addiction begins in childhood, when we begin feeding our children not only candy, sweets and chocolate, but all sorts of processed food which nearly always contains more refined sugar, excess sodium and other unhealthy chemicals. And as if it wasn't enough to attack the body in this way, we quickly addict the mind to television, video games, music, social media, noise, stimulation, NOISE, STIMULATION, NOISE NOISE NOISE.
There is no more space, no more room for quiet, no time to be with ourself or contemplate the workings of nature. Many children are already showing signs of poor mental health at this very early age, so what is the solution? Addict to them to prescription drugs. Ritalin, SSRIs, antipsychotics, more stimulation, more sedation, anything to keep us from being with our own thoughts for one moment.
As we get older, stronger addictive substances like alcohol and tobacco and marketed to us and available to us at every corner store and gas station. Then, when people fall a bit too deeply into this trap of addiction that society has all but literally pushed them into, they are suddenly blamed for it. they are told that they are bad people or even that there is something inherently wrong with them. They they were born alcoholics or addicts and they must spend the rest of their lives going to meetings and telling their sob story to other poor chaps like them. Then they get sent to jails, prisons and rehabs where again, they are treated more like animals than people, where they are further isolated and made to feel inferior to the rest of society, where their chances for finding a legitimate career or well paying job afterward are decimated and where they meet a bunch of people who are a bad influence and teach them how to engage in more destructive behavior.
So what is the solution? More prisons, more laws, more police, apparently.
-------------------- The path of the herbalist is to open ourselves to nature in an innocent and pure way. SHe in turn will open her bounty and reward us with many valuable secrets. May the earth bless you. - Michael Tierra
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DividedQuantum
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Registered: 12/06/13
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: Peyote Road]
#22289618 - 09/25/15 06:34 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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I couldn't agree more with your sentiments. I'm not sure American society at bottom was ever much to write home about pertaining to its level of meaningfulness and spiritual fulfillment, but irrespective of history, the present is quite awful indeed. Really to our core there is a hollowness and a loneliness, affecting everybody. I think this is the case for various reasons.
American society is in a serious state of decadence and decline. George Carlin called it a "failed experiment." And I have to wonder whether American society is failing -- or has already failed, period.
In the end, our culture works very well for nurturing things, but not so well at all for nurturing people.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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circastes
Big Questions Small Head



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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: DividedQuantum]
#22289718 - 09/25/15 07:00 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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I don't live in ol' US of A but I always had the impression ol' America was going under. One of your last chances seems to be Bernie Sanders. Who are these fucking idiots still polling for Hillary Clinton who clearly serves the ruling class, while your whole system goes under, is what I want to know.
Come and live in Aussieland bro. The government automatically loans the universities your fees until you're earning over a certain threshold well after getting your degree, then taxes you. If you get disabled, they'll give you $800 a fornight. We still have a middle class too! You can actually work hard and dream in Australia.
(George Carlin was almost a little bitter but maybe he was right about America. I think he was wrong about a couple of things, ie. I don't think Islam will succeed in Europe and I don't think "the white race will decline", I think humanity will turn itself around and we'll make it into the next century. I think Carlin was influenced by his bitterness.)
-------------------- My solitude... My shield... My armour... TESTED WITH FULL FORCE
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once in a lifetime
sun child



Registered: 02/12/15
Posts: 1,807
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: DividedQuantum]
#22289723 - 09/25/15 07:01 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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but it's not a cause for sadness my friend, it's a cause for change.
change, action, change, but not sadness.
yes - there is always growth & decline, this is the way of things.
So show fearlessness by your actions
Sow the seeds of peace by your words & deeds;
Be a beacon of strength, hope, peace & this type of thing. . .
Just live the solution - reduce consumption by 99%, and write for peace, and live for peace, and share beauty, love & joy.
'It is the small acts of kindness which keeps the darkness at bay,'
-Gandalf
When you make one person happy - never underestimate that in a million years, because that affects not just them, but their family, their friends, & the rest.
To quote briefly a zen teacher I respect a lot, 'Good will is not enough, we must learn the art of being happy, of making people happy.'
One could claim to have good will while, in truth, doing a lot of harm. - I wouldn't lay blame there; everyone is what they are, and do what they can ( we all do what we can, we endure our fellow man )
to sing it by Meloy. . .
As I wrote earlier - Active & passive resistance to war in all its forms is absolutely essential and necessary.
Strengthen peace efforts, share peace, write for ecology and peace; don't try to fight bad ideas, just promote good ones, etc.
And don't worry about a thing - trust me, action & change, not worry.
Talkin' bout that nasty c - word ; yup, I noticed that too -
Etymology it is from Latin for destroy - when I learned that - WHOA. Heh.
Etymology for worry is 'to strangle' - so, heh . . . BE STRONG my friend, and live peace by your actions.
To quote John Lennon - there are no problems, only solutions.
I know that may seem over-simplistic, but it's a really profound way of looking at things, I've come to realize.
By and by - lovely John should have either a) made explicitly clear in simple terms - never fear or worry or doubt - or,
kept his darn fool self safe, lol
Stay safe everybody and yes - for-profit prisons are not acceptable - neither, is sending weapons to other countries.
Would you give your neighbor a gun, for free? I know you would not. Case closed.
Okay stay safe & enjoy and share some good.
Happiness isn't the destination - happiness is the way.
Not tryin'a preach at'ya or nothin,' - show me you're living the solution - and I'll be glad of ya then. . . am glad of ya now, but ya - reduce consumption by 99%
You can do it my man. I did it - you can do it too. . . it is really quite easy.
From birth I have had this solid clue. . . we lived through an ice age - nothing could ever, possibly, conceivably be difficult after this. . .
-------------------- Innocent, Oldfield & Hegerland Julia Delaney, Bothy Band Rasta Girl, Sister Carol Genesis, Jorma K I Wish You Peace, Lawrence Laughing Do Your Thing, Moondog large . . music garden . . veryall peace them hiStarhouse - main Time Traveler's Guide
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LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: circastes]
#22291989 - 09/26/15 06:50 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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And here we touch on perhaps the biggest addiction of all in our society, that of ENTITLEMENT. Many feel entitled for their 800 bucks a month for schooling, because they are "working hard" at being a student.
RIGHT. No, you are freeloading on student loans, with the statistical likelihood as recently stated of about 50% chance of every paying off the loan. Work a job to pay for school, that's how it used to be, of course now with social media who has time to work after attending a few classes in the morning?
Bernie Fucking Sanders the socialist is the last thing we need more of in this freeloading feel good everyone is fucking entitled moronic society we live in.
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
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circastes
Big Questions Small Head



Registered: 01/14/10
Posts: 8,781
Loc: straya
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: LunarEclipse]
#22295025 - 09/26/15 06:40 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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-------------------- My solitude... My shield... My armour... TESTED WITH FULL FORCE
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CuriousMind

Registered: 02/28/08
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: LunarEclipse]
#22295413 - 09/26/15 07:38 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
LunarEclipse said: And here we touch on perhaps the biggest addiction of all in our society, that of ENTITLEMENT. Many feel entitled for their 800 bucks a month for schooling, because they are "working hard" at being a student.
RIGHT. No, you are freeloading on student loans, with the statistical likelihood as recently stated of about 50% chance of every paying off the loan. Work a job to pay for school, that's how it used to be, of course now with social media who has time to work after attending a few classes in the morning?
Bernie Fucking Sanders the socialist is the last thing we need more of in this freeloading feel good everyone is fucking entitled moronic society we live in.
Its never so black and white, although I think you are half right at least.
Problem with your way of thinking is you have to consider the system is pretty much broken. At least here in America, I can't speak for Australia. And what this means is there are a lot of very intelligent and or very hard working people out there who just don't get an opportunity to succeed because the opportunities aren't there.
If Australia actually has a comfortable middle class, and I don't know if that's true, but if they do I'd say they are doing a hell of a lot better than us.
The thing about socialism is as an entire system it just doesn't work and doesn't feed into human nature the way capitalism can (when properly checked). However that's not to say having socialized healthcare and a capitalist/democratic system everywhere else wouldn't be such a bad thing. Its got to be done right though.
Another thing that needs to get factored into this equation is all the truly dumb shit governments waste their money on instead. Like for instance here in America, sooo much of it goes to our military. I think having a good defense is necessary but we could do so much good with that money. For instance much better education and finding a way to raise young people up and encourage them to succeed. And yes, why not use some of that dough to socialize healthcare?
As it is, our society is so sick because A. the system is broken and B. modern day society is so complicated and so full of materialistic bullshit that its just plain confusing everyone.
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circastes
Big Questions Small Head



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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: CuriousMind]
#22296245 - 09/26/15 10:09 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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It's generally accepted in Australia that if you work hard, you'll get what you want over here. A 'meritocracy' they call it. We're smaller than California's population though. I see wealthy middle class people everywhere. We're not a utopia, but I know if I want to do something with my life, I can do it, there's so much support available, and the government will help me do it too. I really like this place, especially when I compare it to much of the world, except maybe Europe especially Scandinavia, who apparently have it better.
-------------------- My solitude... My shield... My armour... TESTED WITH FULL FORCE
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Universaleyeni
Friend



Registered: 04/18/13
Posts: 528
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: CuriousMind]
#22296486 - 09/26/15 11:12 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
CuriousMind said: As it is, our society is so sick because A. the system is broken and B. modern day society is so complicated and so full of materialistic bullshit that its just plain confusing everyone.

I know what you mean about the system is broken, although i feel it works just fine for those running it.
The average American walking around with horseblinders on only facilitates and ensures this system.
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LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
Loc: Building 7
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: CuriousMind]
#22297107 - 09/27/15 05:57 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
CuriousMind said:
Quote:
LunarEclipse said: And here we touch on perhaps the biggest addiction of all in our society, that of ENTITLEMENT. Many feel entitled for their 800 bucks a month for schooling, because they are "working hard" at being a student.
RIGHT. No, you are freeloading on student loans, with the statistical likelihood as recently stated of about 50% chance of every paying off the loan. Work a job to pay for school, that's how it used to be, of course now with social media who has time to work after attending a few classes in the morning?
Bernie Fucking Sanders the socialist is the last thing we need more of in this freeloading feel good everyone is fucking entitled moronic society we live in.
Its never so black and white, although I think you are half right at least.
Problem with your way of thinking is you have to consider the system is pretty much broken. At least here in America, I can't speak for Australia. And what this means is there are a lot of very intelligent and or very hard working people out there who just don't get an opportunity to succeed because the opportunities aren't there.
If Australia actually has a comfortable middle class, and I don't know if that's true, but if they do I'd say they are doing a hell of a lot better than us.
The thing about socialism is as an entire system it just doesn't work and doesn't feed into human nature the way capitalism can (when properly checked). However that's not to say having socialized healthcare and a capitalist/democratic system everywhere else wouldn't be such a bad thing. Its got to be done right though.
Another thing that needs to get factored into this equation is all the truly dumb shit governments waste their money on instead. Like for instance here in America, sooo much of it goes to our military. I think having a good defense is necessary but we could do so much good with that money. For instance much better education and finding a way to raise young people up and encourage them to succeed. And yes, why not use some of that dough to socialize healthcare?
As it is, our society is so sick because A. the system is broken and B. modern day society is so complicated and so full of materialistic bullshit that its just plain confusing everyone.
We tried to socialize healthcare in this country, it's called "Obamacare" or the Affordable Health Care Act. So, now that premiums have risen about 40% in three years, with no relief in sight, and its taking a toll on GDP as well, was that a good idea?
The military somehow has "misplaced" trillions of dollars that remain unaccounted for to this day. Was that money well spent if we don't even know what it was spent on?
Seems to me you are quite idealistic and wearing blinders if you think socialized medicine and military spending are good things. Or maybe you are a socialist. That's OK too, that Kool Aid is pretty good.
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
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DividedQuantum
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Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: LunarEclipse]
#22297607 - 09/27/15 09:44 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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I wouldn't call Obamacare socialized healthcare. It's more like a watered-down, over-compromised piece of shit. Single payer will never get through in this country. It's the wild west, baby. Every man for himself.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
Loc: Building 7
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: DividedQuantum]
#22297648 - 09/27/15 09:57 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
DividedQuantum said: I wouldn't call Obamacare socialized healthcare. It's more like a watered-down, over-compromised piece of shit. Single payer will never get through in this country. It's the wild west, baby. Every man for himself.
It's working exactly as intended. Socialism for those poor displaced Mexicans and slackers that deserve it, and punishment for the middle class workers and small business owners who dare to work to try to make a living.
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: LunarEclipse]
#22297758 - 09/27/15 10:26 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Well I agree that it has fucked a lot of stuff up. Both economically and medically.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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Universaleyeni
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: LunarEclipse] 1
#22297838 - 09/27/15 10:46 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Without looking too far into politics, i think the key thing wrong with Obamacare, is FORCING a a person to do anything.
I know people who are broke and cant afford the "affordable healthcare", the extra slap in the face comes when they are fined yearly for not signing up.
To be fair the same goes for employers and thats crap too. Because the employer finds the loophole and screws the worker.
Where i live, if a worker works 29+ hrs a week the employer must provide health insurance. So, guess how many people's jobs got cut from 40hrs to 28 hrs a week...
Meanwhile unemployment is "down" because businesses and even city jobs need more employees who work short shifts to keep the hrs down.
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
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Re: State of American society and addiction [Re: Universaleyeni]
#22297856 - 09/27/15 10:49 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Precisely.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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