As creatures who hope to survive with both body and psyche intact, we defend what we have by displacing our fears for it onto other things.
Like witch doctors chanting incantations, we carefully isolate what we are afraid of and cast it out of our lives. We go into denial that it has ever existed within us, or in our lives, or even in whatever civilization or political entity that we are part of.
If confronted with the part of it that exists within us, we become defensive, and in groups this defensiveness morphs into outrage and creates a political event. The simian howling does not end until the symbolic enemy is declared defeated or at least illegitimate.
What we project most is what we fear rules us. In our society for example, owing to our egalitarian roots, we fear the animal part of nature that makes us unequal. We fear that we could go into a fight, lose, and be no more. Or simply that some things are beyond our grasp.
As a result we live in a constant state of measuring whether we are equal enough, which we do by scanning to see if anyone in our social group has more than we do.
This is of course a recipe for hatred, resentment and passivity. It is a disguised and cancerous long-term occupation by the hatred that we fear. That hatred would put our society to the lie, and so we project it outwards.
First we attack those who are beyond the social boundaries we elect through morality. Criminals have hatred, not us. Then we project our fears of our own behavior into chosen targets, usually foreign leaders.
Thus it is the same in all wars. They smash babies, bayonet women, revel in the lust of killing. They are motivated by “hatred” and “hate,” while we are motivated by enlightened politics. They are ignorant, we are smart.
And we can believe this, for up to 15 minutes at a time, as we interact with a society full of people mad with resentment. They hog lines in the grocery stores, throw litter on the ground, vandalize their own cities and drive like executioners.
No matter how many scapegoats we create for our hatred, bitterness and resentment, the evidence is against us. Our society is held back and sabotaged by our behavior. Even as we drive the scapegoat of hatred (a “hategoat”) over the cliff, our hatred shows in our faces. And our fear.
We pretend that the frustration is not there with the general incompetence of government and private sector alike, the apathy and obliviousness of our fellow citizens, the everyday dysfunction and failure to equipment and institutions.
But the frustration is there. Instead of rising to a peak every few years, it remains as a constant background hum. It scares us that it is omnipresent. So we project it onto others, and destroy them, hoping that through this sacrifice, we absolve ourselves.
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I think it’s fair to say moderation is key.
I get it for sure, but I am largely detached from this mess you describe every day. RF engineering consultant, work about 6 months a year on average, 60 acres and 2 cabins paid for in rural TN.
You don’t *have* to fully participate in and expose yourself to this if you’re smart and live within your means.
I was materialistic at one time. I realized that the people who had the things I sort of wanted were mostly broke and lived as slaves to debt in jobs they hated. I saw that they used prescription drugs to deal with their stress and depression. Saw that their sexually attractive wives were bitter, cold, and conniving. Never looked back. Whole different perspective when I look at them now, next to me at a red light during one of my temporary forays into mainstream “civilization.” Not a shred of jealousy. Wht should there be? I am much better off.
Good for you. Being physically removed from the madness is a good start to being not-mad. 60 acres would certainly help :)
I groan, inwardly, at the memory of thinking, for so many years, that other people knew what they were doing, and that it was only me that didn’t.
And then I laugh at myself, for being such a dope.
Yes. It is an amazing coincidence, but what I think happened is that we were born at a time (I am 42) when the ignorant masses had the absolute perfect window of opportunity in which to create the appearance of prosperity and success with all the wrong actions and decisions. They were able to actually live “better” than responsible people for a period of 2 or 3 decades due to the results lagging the causes. They reaped all of the benefits of irresponsibility (pleasure, acceptance, hedonism, easy credit, decent paying jobs goofing off, casual sex) while forces that they don’t understand temporarily protected them from the natural consequences of their actions. They contunue to take this as a sign that all of the old traditional rules are quaint and outdated. Truth is about to open up on them.
The land and the projects going on there are a delight to me – I wouldn’t live in a suburb or city long term for any reason. Distancing myself from what I see coming has become part of who I am. I would be lost without it.
major projection is happening with the American 2-party current cultural crap. It’s taken on a life of its own.
The more we typecast and project and blame, the easier it is for the leadership to be incompetent and wasteful and greedy.
I was just thinking earlier this evening about how a lot of people would claim they are not full of hate, yet I see the hatred in their eyes all the time. I am not afraid to admit what I dislike (and maybe hate), but I try not to project non-verbal hatred onto others. Sometimes I cast an intensity onto someone that is clearly a piece of sh*t, but not sure if it is hatred. More just a non-verbal means of telling this person they are worthless trash.
Anyway, so many who claim they are so “this or that” are often the ones that will cast an eye of hatred upon you, especially if your eyes show a deeper knowledge they can never know. They are bitter about that.
It’s interesting, how a piece of sh*t can be so attractive and worthy of a dissertation.
Don’t limit yourself by the non-verbal means: try words, fists, nunchaku, and gun. A noble business of “telling this person they are worthless trash” [sic] will excuse these drastic measures. All of them should get explained.
Don’t listen to him, Eric.
He’s Russian, and interested in improving his irony skills.
He overdoes it, sometimes, but overall, I see an improvement.
Don’t you think telling that to Eric is rather offensive as casting doubt on the mental abilities? It’s clear there is no much sense in shooting sh*t, or even beating it up.
And my goal is improving grammar, not the irony skills, which are already well developed.
Nobody could cast doubt on your mental abilities, Ferret.
Still, irony is a delicate thing that benefits from being just so, at least to an Englishman, who undeniably is (or was) able to do it best.
The Englishman of today, however, is generally unable even to spell, still less form a grammatically correct sentence, and so his legendary irony has probably suffered as a result.
Actually, truth to tell, I was having a wee poke at you, since you have become so fond of having a wee poke at others.
Poke, poke.
There.
All done.
This “poke” scares me: “Poke /poʊˈkeɪ/ is a raw fish salad served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine. Pokē is the Hawaiian verb for “section” or “to slice or cut”. [wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke_(Hawaii)
Are you cutting me to tiny slices?
And what scares me even more, it’s only an appetizer, meaning, there will be the main dish, already cooked or fried. “All done” means “Well done”, I guess. But I prefer medium.