Scared to Death in the USA

www.commondreams.org...

Please read this well written essay on the state of the USA. I really don't think too many readers will disagree with what Mr. Engelhardt has to say on the current state of affairs in the US. There will be those who will find something just because of where it was posted or another non-content related issue without reading the piece, cie la vie.

This is just the reflections of someone who's lived on this planet quite a while and watched with open eyes and mind.

This came to mind recently because I started wondering why, when we step out of those movie theaters, our American world doesn’t scare us more. Why doesn’t it make more of us want to jump out of our skins? These days, our screen lives seem an apocalyptic tinge to them, with all those zombie war movies and the like. I'm curious, though: Does what should be deeply disturbing, even apocalyptically terrifying, in the present moment strike many of us as the equivalent of so many movie-made terrors -- shivers and fears produced in a world so far beyond us that we can do nothing about them?

"However nameless it may be, tell me the truth: Doesn’t the direction we're heading in leave you with the urge to jump out of your skin?"

I’m not talking, of course, about the things that reach directly for your throat and, in their immediacy, scare the hell out of you -- not the sharks who took millions of homes in the foreclosure crisis or the aliens who ate so many jobs in recent years or even the snakes who snatched food stamps from needy Americans. It’s the overarching dystopian picture I’m wondering about. The question is: Are most Americans still in that movie house just waiting for the lights to come back on?

I mean, we’re living in a country that my parents would barely recognize. It has a frozen, riven, shutdown-driven Congress, professionally gerrymandered into incumbency, endlessly lobbied, and seemingly incapable of actually governing. It has a leader whose presidency appears to be imploding before our eyes and whose single accomplishment (according to most pundits), like the website that goes with it, has been unraveling as we watch. Its 1% elections, with their multi-billion dollar campaign seasons and staggering infusions of money from the upper reaches of wealth and corporate life, are less and less anybody’s definition of “democratic.”

I live in an upper middle-class area. Around here some people talk about some things, but most are still fairly unenlightened. Then you go to the lower class areas, and can tell these people work too much to deal with the big-picture. They're forced into thinking day to day, paycheck to paycheck.

I don't think the US is in as bad a shape as many make it out to be. We're still the dominant power in this world, have the highest GDP, and the highest purchasing power. Some of the areas of the world are rising up while we're stagnating. So what? I think we're doing a pretty good job of keeping things together considering the evolving trends that the world is facing.

I'm personally not in denial, but no longer freaked out. As far as I'm concerned, we're all living on borrowed time. We're far into overshoot. There's no sanity left to be had in civilization. Might as well just enjoy the ride.

Fear is the great motivator of men and nations. We seem willing to do all sorts of insane and ridiculous things provided there's enough fear to justify it. Like 9/11 - we got the PATRIOT ACT pronto while the fear was still fresh but kept on the same course of overseas subjugation and increasingly militarizing the police at home. Never mind the fact that Al Ciada has yet to hit the US since 9/11. A few trillion dollars wasted for.......what exactly?

They're working us from both ends - Peak oil or Climate Change, Foreign terrorism or homegrown terrorism, any subject that an ounce of fear can be wrung from, somebody is making it ready for public consumption.

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID.
It makes us all easier to use, abuse and dominate.

Oh yeah, and be afraid of them, you know, the powers in Washington who listen to everything we say and read our emails. Don't speak up or you might lose your job or better yet end up in Guantanamo. At the very least your wife will call you a lunatic and believe you need intervention. Don't think, it gets in the way of being afraid.

Fear is supposed to be an evolutionary aid in preserving our species.
It is the primary culprit in the destruction of humanity at present.

However nameless it may be, tell me the truth: Doesn’t the direction we're heading in leave you with the urge to jump out of your skin?

No the way this country is headed makes me disgusted not scared.

They just want us to think that everything will fall apart if the strong government isn't there. I think Hollywood works with the government to help to keep us both skeptical of changing things and arguing amongst ourselves. The media does the same thing, work with the government. Even having us fear an economic collapse makes us spend more to keep the economy going, moving deeper and deeper into debt. This is all planned, those on top of everything are connected. We the puppets of the USA are just pawns....I think more people know this than admit it publicly too. It's been that way for a long time.

reply to post by Asktheanimals

They're working us from both ends - Peak oil or Climate Change, Foreign terrorism or homegrown terrorism, any subject that an ounce of fear can be wrung from, somebody is making it ready for public consumption.

My furry friend, you hit the naile and drove it home.

As many people that are waking up, many that I come across realize that they have 1/2 the story and are failing to see the reaper behind them and how it coincides with that which is infront of them.

Star for you~

SnF thank you for bringing this to ATS.

FyreByrd
www.commondreams.org...

"...Are most Americans still in that movie house just waiting for the lights to come back on? ..."

Of course they are.
And, as long as THEY keep showing pictures of "the Pie" ...we keep thinking a piece of it - could still be ours.
Reminds me of the movie - "The Island" ... Just keep showing those "lucky winners" living it up in paradise, and everyone will keep their heads down - doing their jobs...until their numbers are drawn.

reply to post by FyreByrd


Yes we are the Zombies Hoards, the chained cave dwellers in Plato's Cave and the sleeping batteries in The Matrix.

How did we get this way? Like every other form of entertainment, the industry of Film, TV and the internment web, the whole purpose is to sell you stuff during an "intermission".

Since yesterdays plot lines and scary effects are not as interesting, ever more frightening features with louder and bloodier moments are necessary to keep up the sale of "refreshments".

Newer methods of distraction are producing perfect zombie feeders, mindless of others pain and suffering as long as we get our "treats".

Screw the real world and everyone in it. Whats the newest movie, cell phone and Black Friday craze going to be?

You may argue that we are driven from our humanity by other things like war and poverty for instance. This never ending spiral of entertainment for profit is what has produced the people we are that no longer care about the state of the world around us.

Asktheanimals
"...Don't think, it gets in the way of being afraid. ..."

My favorite line!!
Thanks for the entertainment.

webedoomed
I live in an upper middle-class area. Around here some people talk about some things, but most are still fairly unenlightened. Then you go to the lower class areas, and can tell these people work too much to deal with the big-picture. They're forced into thinking day to day, paycheck to paycheck.

I don't think the US is in as bad a shape as many make it out to be. We're still the dominant power in this world, have the highest GDP, and the highest purchasing power. Some of the areas of the world are rising up while we're stagnating. So what? I think we're doing a pretty good job of keeping things together considering the evolving trends that the world is facing.

I'm personally not in denial, but no longer freaked out. As far as I'm concerned, we're all living on borrowed time. We're far into overshoot. There's no sanity left to be had in civilization. Might as well just enjoy the ride.

edit on 25-11-2013 by webedoomed because: (no reason given)

Wait for the QE to finally stop then you'll be freaked out

reply to post by FyreByrd

Scared to Death in the USA

Not me! I still see America as the land of opportunity. You have to work a little harder and a lot smarter to be able to make it in this increasingly competitive world but it still can be done if you aren't afraid to get your hands dirty. Mediocrity Just isn't acceptable any more. So study hard, pay attention and learn how to speak Chinese.

imo that's where the NWO will come from in about 25 years.

Those Oriental folks are working while we indulge in pointless crybaby finger pointing, and blaming outside forces.

reply to post by RedShirt73


QE infinity, baby!

We're not stopping until the last tree is chopped down.

Keep Calm, We're Doomed Anyway!

Fear is great when there are 2 of You out in the woods. You've both just seen a large bear "finish His business" (answering an age old question..) and as Your buddy thinks it is a 'messing w/sasquatch' commercial She giggles and this alerts the bear. The bear turns towards the both of You and starts to give chase. This frightens both of You, but especially Her.. Does Your fear win out? Or does Hers? Is Your fear motivating enough to first push Her down, before You try and outrun Her?
It is the same with Your "neighbors" Sure, You have Your stuff together but do they?

Remember a few years ago when Christmas crap stayed in the rafters until after Thanksgiving? Now Walmart™ has a 'Food Drive' for their own employees that starts before Thanksgiving, although Walmart™ has spent enough $$ on t.v. ads to $ell crap that You don't need. Watch for the Walmart™ commercial w/the family with 4 kids and they NEED cell phones and just that bill alone is $400. So now Dad needs to work overtime and that is after Mom took the job driving the afternoon school bus.

"You can't believe the lame street media, Gary" (some VW™ commercial) it is their job to spew as much crap as they can. At one time, the news verified stories before reporting the story, but in this "right now" society, an editor is a thing of the past...

namaste

Afraid? Why?

Life, as they say, is what you make of it. Anything worth having is worth working for. Granted that it may take a bit more effort than it took my grands, and greats, but it's still out there to be had.

Kids are still being kids, it's up to us to teach them to be adults worth the word. Teaching them to build a world worthy of them. Teach them that anything worth having is worth earning, not having it given to them... ...and being afraid accomplishes nothing but giving whatever is feared power over you. Fear nothing, and no one, and they have no power over you. Kill you, yes. Imprison you, possibly. Have power over you? Not so much.

The world can be a dark, and dangerous place indeed... But that's always been the case. ...and in comparison to times past? This is downright cheerful. It's been worse, folks... Seriously worse.


Afraid? Nope. I prefer cautiously hopeful. 'cause tomorrow's another day, another chance to do better.

Thanks, but I'm not buying into the doom and gloom. Bad? Maybe. Could it be better? Absolutely.

You all know what needs doing. Get out there and start doing it. Moaning about it accomplishes less than nothing.

Any change starts with individuals. We can be the change we want to see rather than hiding our heads under the blankies hoping the big bad monsters out there don't get us. We, as individuals, need to face our fears head on, fight corruption and oppression where we find it, make changes for betterment that we can make in our own lives and the lives of others.

I refuse to be afraid. Angered sometimes, disappointed in lack of self-regulation I see around me but not afraid.