COLLECTIVE INSANITY

COLLECTIVE INSANITY
http://members.shaw.ca/eye-openers/c...veinsanity.htm

"When we remember that we are all insane, the mysteries disappear and life
stands explained." MARK TWAIN

The best indicator of insanity is when the abnormal seems normal. If you
think it is normal billions of dollars per year are spent globally on weapon
systems that in seconds can annihilate millions of people then this essay is
not for you. Nor is it for you if you believe contraception is morally
wrong, capital punishment is morally right, poverty is inevitable, global
warming is a myth and overpopulation is not a problem. As Paul Ehrlich (The
Population Bomb) pointed out in the sixties: if you know where a person
"stands" on half a dozen or so key issues, you can accurately predict where
that person stands on most other issues. Some people even hold contradictory
points of view. E.g. many so-called pro lifers are supportive of the death
penalty, military action and the National Rifle Association.
Judging by collective human behaviour there can be no doubt people are
basically non compos mentis which is a fancy Latin term for saying people
are irrational (Literally it means "not having control of one's mind").

"Man as a species is irrational, and those most susceptible to the atavistic
urge for self-destruction have only a thin skin over their lust for kindling
a global holocaust." (pp 191 Mankind in Amnesia by Immanuel Velikovsky). The
human race is the most irrational form of life on this planet since it is
the only species that is engineering its own extinction by destroying the
very environment on which it (along with countless other forms of life)
depends for survival. As any astute observer will be aware, the chances that
the human race will survive its own greed, arrogance and paradoxically its
own scientific ingenuity are basically nil. You may not share this point of
view, but that by itself doesn't disprove its validity. Most people practise
reality denial and strongly resent anyone tinkering with their fantasies.
They are their own victims and serve as the prey of those who take advantage
of their gullibility. No one has ever gone broke giving people hope, even if
there is no real basis for it. Fantasy is a lot easier to sell than reality.

How far-reaching is collective human irrationality? Consider this: No
rational individual would watch TV, cook a meal or plan the future while
his/her house is on fire. Individual priorities would dictate that the fire
must be extinguished before any of the aforementioned activities would be
resumed. However, collectively human behaviour is very different: people
watch sport events, decorate their homes or play computer games in the midst
of global developments that threaten the very survival of the human race.
A scientist speaking on the long-term consequences of global warming,
genetic engineering, nuclear proliferation, dwindling natural resources or
the epidemics that are sweeping the world (e.g. Aids, cancer, malaria,
tuberculosis) will at best attract a few hundred people despite the fact
that these issues obviously concern all people. But a group of millionaires
who slap a hockey puck around or toss a ball through a hoop or hit a ball
with a baseball bat will draw millions of spectators even though such
activities do absolutely nothing to resolve the critical problems that face
the human race. It is hardly the only example of misplaced priorities and
questionable interests. Collectively people have their priorities screwed up
big time.

The reality is we live in a drivel-driven society in which trivialities are
hammered into the public psyche, while critical issues are given scant
attention or are ignored altogether. Consider the keen public interest in
who sleeps with whom in Hollywood, Oprah Winfrey's latest weight, who won
the Stanley Cup and other trivia. Yet drivel and deception are the
foundation of the multi-billion dollar tabloid industry which specializes in
unbelievable topics, such as these headlines proclaim: Alien impregnates
70-year-old grandmother. Grave of Adam and Eve found. Surprised mom gives
birth to eighty-pound baby, and so on.

Examples of collective insanity surround us: for example, fertility drugs in
an overpopulated world. Killing millions of animals every day for meat no
one needs. The enormous military expenditures spent allegedly to create a
more secure world. The waste of countless millions of dollars to move the
Olympics around the world instead of keeping them at their place of origin:
Greece. Spending billions on cancer treatment (which in most cases does not
work) and next to nothing on cancer prevention.
In a rational world there would be no lotteries (also known as a government
tax on imbeciles), no nuclear weapons, no billions spent on spectator
sports, no unlabeled genetically-altered food, no hunting of defenceless
animals, no pollution-induced global warming, no oppression of women and
minorities, no exploitation of children., no clear-cutting of forests, no
poisoning of our environment etc

In a rational world society would not pay countless millions of dollars for
rock stars and build huge stadiums, while hospital beds are closed and
schools are overcrowded and under-funded. In a rational world global
security would be built on the basis of education and public health instead
of weapons of mass destruction. Social justice would reign instead of a
parasitic economic system. For most people the top priorities in life are
money and mating, often at the risk of everything else. Reality denial
allows people to live in a make-believe world. No one has ever passed
through this life without being victimized by illusions. We are born into a
set of illusions which may include the stork, the tooth fairy, Santa Claus
and the infallibility of parents, teachers and other persons of authority
right up to and including the pope.

When people reach adulthood most manage to get rid of these childhood
illusions, only to replace them with other illusions some of which stick
with them for the rest of their lives. People are misled from cradle to
grave: from the first goo-goo they hear as a baby to the final farewell at
their funeral. Most experiences between these two major events are marked by
distortions of reality. Reality denial was magically packaged by the Oscar
winning movie Life Is Beautiful in 1998. It shows a man and his young son in
a concentration camp with the father deceiving the young boy into believing
that all this was only a game. Movie-goers commonly erupted in laughter
about how funny this was. The father after portraying suffering like
millions of real concentration camp victims was finally shot dead, the boy
allegedly believing this was all still a game. Reality denial makes it
possible to convince people that despite the horrifying experiences
portrayed in the movie life is nevertheless beautiful.
The multi-billion dollar film industry is based on make-believe. Producing
and marketing fantasy as though it were reality is the magic formula of the
film industry. Society heaps great honours and piles of money on those who
produce this hi-tech form of cinematographic deception, e.g. during
Hollywood's annual mutual admiration Oscar Awards ceremony.

How can life be so illogical? Dr. Lawrence Kohlberg offers a fascinating
explanation. Paraphrasing the Harvard psychologist, the three stages of
behavioural development a

1. PRE-MORAL STAGE applies to young children and is based on reward and
punishment which is universally used by parents: if a child does as it is
told it is rewarded. If it doesn't, it is punished.

2. CONVENTIONAL STAGE is based on acceptance of authority: (the doctor told
me, I read it in the paper, it is the law and so on). People conform to
avoid disapproval and dislike by others. Hence they are easily manipulated.

3. INDEPENDENT STAGE challenges conventional thinking and behaviour. Once
convinced of the errors and weaknesses of conventional customs, such
independent thinkers formulate their own moral code and conduct themselves
accordingly. They challenge conventional thinking and are widely condemned
as heretics, iconoclasts and other disparaging appellations, yet it is out
of their midst that some of the world's greatest moral leaders have risen,
e.g. Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and so on.

The reason the world is in such an illogical--and indeed deplorable--state
is that less than 10 per cent of people ever reach the third stage!

History is full of examples of insane behaviour by "normal people." For
example, attempted suicide was an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada
as recently as the 1960's. In Europe a few hundred years ago anyone who
attempted suicide and failed was charged with a capital offence, nursed back
to health and then put to death in one barbaric fashion or another. As
recently as the fifties birth control was against the law and condoms could
be sold only as protection against venereal disease. In many Third World
countries any form of birth control is still against the law. To this day it
remains a "sin" in the eyes of the Catholic church! Of course, real sin is
the abject poverty unrestricted breeding creates. Conventional morality is
the foundation of intolerance, barbarism, discrimination, racism, prejudice,
fundamentalism, self-righteousness, militarism and supremacism. People who
don't rise above conventional morality make great candidates for the
military (blind obedience: orders are orders) and, of course, conventional
morality is the basis of religious fundamentalism.

We live in a world based on Space Age technology with Stone Age morals and
motivations. This means the life-threatening consequences of corporate and
government decisions are magnified by the advancement of science and the
ethical failure to apply that scientific progress for the benefit of all
people instead of the enrichment of a select few. Murderous intentions in a
bow-and-arrow society is only a threat to some individuals, but murderous
intentions in our nuclear-armed global village threatens the entire human
race. Even if we can avoid nuclear conflict, we are not likely to survive
the ultimate consequences of global warming, genetic engineering, resource
depletion, pollution and --perhaps most threatening of all-- microbial
mutations. If humans were really as intelligent as they think they are we
would never have reached this stage of converging disasters

In conclusion a sobering thought: of all the countless life forms on this
planet, none is more dispensable than human beings. No other life form
depends for its survival on humans, while humans-- being at the top of the
food chain-- could not survive without a large number of plants and animals.
If the human race would vanish, the surviving species would flourish.
Perhaps we are genetically programmed to destroy ourselves since we are one
of very few species that has no natural predators to do it for us.