It looks like u have some high expectations for ATS. I am not sure that is the reality.
It was started somewhat as a joke, I believe -- an entertainment medium, for the "fringe" to let loose. I doubt the owners had any idea what it
might become. Today we have a mix of the fringe, the mainstream, the "way out there", and the serious -- and probably a dozen other ways to
categorize people -- all human.
I love ATS. It has taught me a lot. Now in my retirement, free from a work week of drudgery just to pay the bills with no time to stop and
reflect, I have been challenged and delighted to be able to see the world from all the different points of view this site indulges. It has been a
great learning experience.
I am just barely beginning to see a framework for understanding just how this human society is organized and functions. People in ordinary life just
don't have the time to observe, digest and make conclusions.
Yes, we need to look at the way people are affected world wide by the "system" that is in place. We are inundated with code words like
"freedom", "democracy", "free market" and "capitalism", but are they real or just part of the smoke screen? Are they just camoflauge for
what is really going on?
Before we can do anything about the state of the world we have get a grip on the way it is really, and not just the way it is portrayed. Not an easy
task. ATS, in spite of its origins has proven to be a tool to help us get to this understanding. Yes, we have to wade through a deep stream of
disinformation, make belief and fantasy but somehow I do believe that there is something to be gained by the whole experience.
I do not have the answer yet, but I think we are rumbling around in the right vicinity. Thanks, OP, for adding an element of challenge. We need
people like you to help us look into yet another unexplored corner of the way it is.