Dissent Into Madness

[UltraBudgie]

Right-wing nutjobs. Left-wing lunatics. They're all crazy. What even is crazy any more? A nonsense-word, a slur?

Does it have anything to do with being correct? What if the truth itself is crazy?

Has society been constructed that way, as a lever of power? An illusory bubble of sanity, actually composed of lies?

Is it more fundamental, in that pure truth cannot exist unburied in this world, by its very nature?


James Corbett (with perfect timing) has a new documentary:

What if the delusions of the dissidents are in fact real? What if their paranoid fantasies are not fantasies at all? In other words, what if it’s not the political dissidents who are crazy, but the politicians?

Transcript with extensive source links: https://corbettreport.com/dissent-into-madness/

[IdeomotorPrisoner]

If only Catcher In The Rye was understood better and Holden Caulfied wasn't as much of a whiny high-schooler.

[SurferSoul]

It’s not a dissent into madness, we are already there and have been for a long time. It could be what makes us human. 
Then again, in so many ways we aren’t much different from animals, we are ruled by instincts primal instincts. Perhaps that coupled with creative intelligence is what makes humans crazy? 
Notice how the enlightened ones throughout history, all battled with their lower base desires, overcame their inner lusts, cravings and primal urges. Most of all how they transcended the ego. 

Maybe if we weren’t so self obsessed, so caught up in materialistic shenanigans, always seeking out dopamine hits and seeking without the peace of mind that only comes from within. Maybe then, we wouldn’t be so crazy.

[SurferSoul]

I should add that I agree that in terms of political views the extremes have been pushed dramatically. I think the idea is to get people to see the other side as unhinged crazies, a way of dehumanising them, while moderate and balanced opinions are ignored. 
perhaps they are preparing us for civil war? If not that total alienation or at least the sense there of, where no moderately sane, rational person feels they can cope or deal with any of it anymore. They self isolate, don’t engage in discourse and generally just say to hell with it” They are primed to just shrug off and accept whatever new craziness emerges. Keep their heads down and hope they don’t have engage with anyone or anything ever again. Hmm.

like self mandated lockdowns and social distancing, like living your life permanently as if you are on the tube. Don’t make eye contact and never engage with anyone ever at all costs, just ignore everything until your back in your comfort bubble. 

Disengaged, disenfranchised, disempowered, disconnected and living in despair.

[tellmethesecrets]

I should add that I agree that in terms of political views the extremes have been pushed dramatically. I think the idea is to get people to see the other side as unhinged crazies, a way of dehumanising them, while moderate and balanced opinions are ignored. 
perhaps they are preparing us for civil war? If not that total alienation or at least the sense there of, where no moderately sane, rational person feels they can cope or deal with any of it anymore. They self isolate, don’t engage in discourse and generally just say to hell with it” They are primed to just shrug off and accept whatever new craziness emerges. Keep their heads down and hope they don’t have engage with anyone or anything ever again. Hmm.

like self mandated lockdowns and social distancing, like living your life permanently as if you are on the tube. Don’t make eye contact and never engage with anyone ever at all costs, just ignore everything until your back in your comfort bubble. 

Disengaged, disenfranchised, disempowered, disconnected and utterly despaired.

Truer words have never been spoken!!  I completely agree with this and it's scary that people are afraid to even have opinions now for fear of being branded "far left/right".

I saw someone on another thread saying that Obama kick-started this mentality and I would love if someone could dig deeper on that and explain please!!

Edit to add: I fully feel this way myself 

[SurferSoul]

Thanks but it’s not really something to be grateful about, this state of affairs that is.
I have been branded both extreme left and right, the funny thing is I have never voted and don’t support either. But these days you get bashed and labelled just for having a different opinion. 

This mentality isn’t limited to America, you should check out the Corrbet report podcasts if you’re not already familiar. Once you get past his whiny Canadian voice you realise he’s dug very deep into current events and the history behind them. Also look at Karl12’s threads on here, generally concerning the people behind the curtain, the ones really pulling the strings.

[putnam6]

Disengaged, disenfranchised, disempowered, disconnected, and utterly despairing, really?

Not the 5 "D" words... what will we do?

Is the potential there? sure it is, but just because the extremes have "lost thier minds" it doesn't necessarily apply to the remaining population

CIRC's popularity is on the wane and has been since the 90s.

There's a new and stylish angst, anxiety, anger, and agitation catalyst...

It's called being perpetually plugged into and connected to the media madness...

One must disengage permanently or periodically, this instant and constant bombardment of "bad news" it's why in the 70s TV news stations, local and network, started having feel-good stories. We still do, but now even the feel-good stories irritate certain demographic groups, because we have been blitzed since before COVID with the doom and gloom bullshit. 

Who knew the repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act was going to be so influential? Who knew?

Well, if you were on ATS, you knew. 

There needs to be guidelines, strict guidelines... because some of us can be influenced by repetitive and reinforced messaging.

Instead of Timothy Leary's "Turn on, tune in, drop out"

We need to "Turn off, tune out, and drop out" and disengage from the negativism ... of it all

social and mainstream media, etc

Everybody's "zen" is different, but humans weren't made to be perpetually engaged;

We need respite from the storms and if you are already experiencing personal individual challenges/storms,
Having public societal challenges/storms at the same intensity heaped upon you every day doesn't help
continually upsets the balance needed, individually and collectively

[UltraBudgie]

This mentality isn’t limited to America, you should check out the Corrbet report podcasts if you’re not already familiar. Once you get past his whiny Canadian voice you realise he’s dug very deep into current events and the history behind them. Also look at Karl12’s threads on here, generally concerning the people behind the curtain, the ones really pulling the strings.

He does so many things right:
* In-depth documentaries not simply reacting to current events
* Never charges to access them
* Videos available on all platforms
* Full-text transcripts on website
* Extensive source documentation, hyperlinked

I wish more would. Regardless of their opinion or conclusions, you have to respect the approach.

And if you cringe at his unapologetic Canadianism, remember, cringe is a form of control....

[SurferSoul]

He does so many things right:
* In-depth documentaries not simply reacting to current events
* Never charges to access them
* Videos available on all platforms
* Full-text transcripts on website
* Extensive source documentation, hyperlinked

I wish more would. Regardless of their opinion or conclusions, you have to respect the approach.

And if you cringe at his unapologetic Canadianism, remember, cringe is a form of control....

I forgot to say thanks for posting this thread, so thanks! Got carried away in a stream of thought, trying to get it off my chest before I had to leave. I went to put on the episode only to find I didn’t have it on my podcast app! I recently started listening on a different phone and simply forgot to add the Corbett Report, so thanks again I knew I was missing something. 

As for his cringe voice, he did a show where he mentions his very first show and said how he felt so self conscious of his voice he tried to change it, sound more like a pro and such. Well that was cringe! lol so glad he dropped that idea and did his stuff in his natural voice. I only mention it because he and few others I listen too don’t exactly have the radio voice and that might put some off.

[SurferSoul]

Also what did you think of the section nearer the end where he gets into the psychology of it all? 
Those various experiments like the Milgrim one and such? The idea that just one dissenter when speaking what everyone else is thinking can shift things entirely was encouraging to me. I’m going to enrol myself on the free course he provides here. 

https://opensourceeducation.online/