[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]

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

Rest assured, the moment gas prices go back up this will be just another big systemic issue to elevate anxiety. At the moment peak oil is only causing sleepless nights in the minds of a very small sub culture.

There is a point your making though that is very relevant to the topic of this thread. I was just mentioning in another thread how the conflict in Syria and the terrorism event in Paris is actually threatening to eclipse and undermine the climate change negotiations.

This is where fear undermines our ability to be proactive in mitigating big and real systemic threats as we over react quite fearfully to what could be called symptoms and consequences.

The self reliance Cog brings up is of course the old tried and true message since this site began over 10 years ago; get out of debt, frugality, plant a garden, increase your McGuiver skills, buy a used car, smaller home, walk more, shop less, and for those inclined, go to target practice, etc. All well and good. We 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.

[Ibon]

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.

I have to say that this feels to me to be spot on. The Alpha is never acting independent of the herd. If the heard is uneasy and fearful this influences severely the decision of the Alpha.

[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]

We 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.

Yeah, I agree.

The ability to drive 20 miles across town to take your preschooler to a soccer match is really THE suburban lifestyle. We are enabled in an individually oriented lifestyle by near-free transportation. THe problem is many of us wouldn't recognize our neighbors unless they were walking out of their front door.

We live a block from the 1850s Catholic church where my wifes mom attended mass as a little girl. They walked maybe 5 miles from the outskirts of town to go to church, nowadays there is only a tiny attendance, in large part because there is no parking. And of course everyone knew everyone.

And, I don't know, violence is sort of remote to most, let alone death. How many people here have dispatched and butchered diner? how many in the general population have seen anything die larger than a housefly? There is virtually 0% risk of being the victim of violence at the hands of a stranger in the US - one not texting while driving of course but I think we think the danger is large.

There are whole segments of the economy that profit on fear and promote it with a deft hand.

[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]

Just that small problem of changing human nature.

Our distant cousin, the Bonobo, is matriarchal. We fall somewhere between the Bonobo and the Chimpanzee. Unfortunately we have to deal with the deck of cards evolution dealt us. Culture is our greatest tool and where we can adapt and learn to regulate the deck of cards we have been dealt. In times of anxiety and stress we tend to fall back on testosterone. Look how the Russian people look up to Putin, Americans to Trump. Obama now accused of being too contemplative and not enough of a fighter in dealing with the crisis in Syria.

Do you sense there is at the moment a collective "itch" more and more toward conflict and war?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo

Most studies indicate that females have a higher social status in bonobo society. Aggressive encounters between males and females are rare, and males are tolerant of infants and juveniles. A male derives his status from the status of his mother.[38] The mother–son bond often stays strong and continues throughout life. While social hierarchies do exist, rank plays a less prominent role than in other primate societies.
Because of the promiscuous mating behavior of female bonobos, there is a great deal of paternal uncertainty. If a male cannot be sure which offspring are his, he is less likely to invest any time or energy caring for them. It is because of this lack of certainty that the entirety of parental care in bonobos is assumed by the mothers.[39]

Primatologist Frans de Waal states bonobos are capable of altruism, compassion, empathy, kindness, patience, and sensitivity,[3] and described "bonobo society" as a "gynecocracy".[34][a]

[Ibon]

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.

Your desire to be left alone is exactly the porcupine mentality I am referring to. As a result you are being guided by the collective. Primarily guided by the collective anxiety.

Look what Pops just posted:

And, I don't know, violence is sort of remote to most, let alone death. There is virtually 0% risk of being the victim of violence at the hands of a stranger in the US - one not texting while driving of course but I think we think the danger is large.

This is statistically accurate. And you move around with your concealed carry focused on threats and defense. This is mouse and porcupine strategy and your orientation is because you are reacting to the collective fear. You are not acting from some true independent space as you claim. Let's face it.

[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]

...Do you sense there is at the moment a collective "itch" more and more toward conflict and war?

I think this is an inherent symptom of our predicament (overpopulation).

Place any species in an 'over-stocked' situation and it will become stressed.

Our 'itch' for war is a natural response to relieve this 'overstocked' situation. It won't go away until the causative agent is eliminated.

[Cog]

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

[Ibon]

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.

My opening post had a link to statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health. This is not a theory. And I did not propose a big government solution by the way. Instead I posed two questions which I repeat

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

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

[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.