Listen to a reading of this article: There's a scene in The Usual Suspects where Kevin Spacey tells the fable of the mysterious Keyser Soze and how he became a crime lord. "One story the guys told me, the story I believe, was from his days in Turkey," he says. "There was a gang of Hungarians that wanted their own mob. They realized that to be in power, you didn’t need guns or money or even numbers. You just needed the will to do what the other guy wouldn’t."
There have been a number of scientific studies showing collaboration and cooperation are valuable "survival" traits, not only of the human species, but for many other animal species as well.
I think the big lie of social darwinism resides in the false philosophy of insisting only competition and social "viciousness" leads to the best outcomes for humanity. Where, as we see now, as we have seen numerous times in human history, those in charge only believe war and the use of violence is the best and they insist, the only way to resolve human problems and disagreements.
The viciousness does often percolate to the top. But like any neurosis of a system, the neurosis creates conditions that become so unbearable, that a counter balance force eventually finds its way (eventually) to bring back some semblance of sanity and wholeness. However, this often does not occur until the neurosis has run its full course. And we live in a very dark neurotic time right now.
Exactly true! That's why the "We need to get the psychopaths out of power" is such a facile argument. There's a pyramid under them already vying to be the most cutthroat. They're likely to push the oligarch-for-a-day off the precipice themselves!
Yes they are. Every system on Earth is built on a model of the separate self. But that is the biggest illusion of all. No one is separate. We are a sum of relationships: with ourselves, with others, with nature, with the planet, with life. When you truly understand that, you begin walking down the path of true wisdom and compassion and see through the illusion of separation. Until then, you are unconscious and participating in evil (which all of us are capable of when we act from the illusion of the separate self).
The pathology of power is at the root of all imperialism, colonialism or for that matter any system where those perceived to be weak are exploited by those who have usurped the means to satisfy their predatory inclinations. The phenomenon is essentially the same whether it is a bully in the school playground, an abusive partner in any relationship stripped of intimacy, right the way up to the highest positions within government and the ruling elites. The untold histories will reveal that in every case, the systems adopted by tyrants and despots and perpetuated by their supine vassals, can only operate effectively through the application of indiscriminate and wholesale violence, oppression, torture and murder. Such is a blending of psychopathic and sociopathic traits that manifest in the character of persons of overbearing arrogance who regard themselves as exceptions to the mores and norms they demand of others. They speak of freedom, democracy and the rights of man, only to adapt and modify the constitution in the undermining of these principles in the interest of allowing their own perverse desires to be gratified with impunity, whilst the innocent are persecuted and slaughtered simply because they are regarded as being of no consequence other than an inconvenience to those who deem themselves as indispensable. The question remaining for them is, if they were successful in devouring all and everything around them, having no one left to swoop upon, they would ultimately destroy themselves. We must employ reason in our quest for survival, by mobilising to defeat the demons of greed, vanity and reckless indulgence that are rampant in times of war, famine and pestilence. And together we must unite in our conviction that this great evil will be overcome by an awakening to our common humanity. There is no other “option on the table” here - it is a matter of evolution or extinction.
Let me recommend Aaron Good Again. He is on several podcasts. His book "American Exception" documents that the USA has always been run by criminals of the type Caitlan describes here. His youTube interviews with Ben Norton are excellent.
The US was able to achieve planetary hegemony in the first place because it was able to leverage maximum advantage out of the conflicts in Europe and Asia in the 20th c. The resource endowments of North America, distance from rivals and long history of safety from external invasion helped to create a nation-state with considerable industrial, financial, and military prowess. After WW2 the US took advantage of the end of European imperialism to craft a global political and economic to suit itself. The Cold War kept the USSR on the outside, the fall of the USSR left Washington as the only global superpower. This unique status is now eroding very fast, if not indeed already over.
As for ethics, any connection between ethics and national power is super-complicated. Historically, the US drew a great deal of its strength from the freedom and opportunity that it granted its people. American individualism was real, though the promise of American life was complicated by hypocrisies and short-comings. There were no shortage of sociopaths involved in building the US or in creating and sustaining US global hegemony. Today the country is a mess: individualism unconstrained by unchosen obligations has created monstrous social conditions, while the corruption of its institutions is all-pervasive and deeply demoralising. Sociopaths face few, if any, constraints.
We all have sociopathic potential. Sociopathy (a morbid incapacity for empathy) is hardwired into some people. It is a legacy from earlier stages of evolution, I guess and has not been bred out of modern humans because under certain conditions sociopaths are useful. Societies led by sociopaths have an advantage in war over societies led by non-sociopaths.
IMHO the problem is that our institutions are ineffective at constraining sociopaths, while very good at constraining everyone else.
"Until you change how money works, you change nothing.“ RIP Michael C. Rupoert
I would add that these cooperative traits are found mostly in women and competitive traits are found mostly in men. Not necessarily because of our biology but due to cultural indoctrination. It serves the oligarchs to teach men to deny their cooperative tendencies and emphasize their domineering tendencies. They are taught to control women in their lives as practice and as many men as they can get away with. This, then becomes the framework for civilization: he who dominates, exploits, enslaves the most humans 'wins'.
Only, instead of 'winning', we ALL lose. Even the oligarchs. Our entire biosphere is becoming unlivable all because a few thousand mostly men have decided they're entitled to control the world. By creating a system that uses money as a reward for compliance, we've all blindly accepted this arrangement, including the most destitute.
What people have lost in the process is their soul. They're oblivious to the symphony that is life. They don't know that we're all meant to learn and play our part. Nature is, fundamentally a community that we were once an integral part of but have been taught we're superior to and have a right to exploit and dominate for our own use. This arrogance is omnicidal. We're on the edge of a cliff and we're pushing not only ourselves over, but taking millions of entire species with us.
Almost all Central and South American countries now have socialist governments working together for the good of the people. Brazil will join soon. The world is selecting for altruism. The vicious are being selected against.
Thich Nhat Hahn told a terrible and beautiful story of compassion by giving life stories of the good and bad actors in a horrendous event so that one could see how each person came to make their choices. Human beings are the same. There but for fortune go you and I. Everyone is another me. Self love requires acceptance, not constant criticism. So does love of others. Criticize actions and choices, not the actors.
survival of the fittest, social darwinism. there is a complacency. majority of the tribe defer to the killers believing it protects them. The problem is, this is not always true, but the winner writes history.
I just heard Ro Khanna say this week, US defeated the Nazis in WWII, and US defeated Communism.
Which is why .... "king victorious king", .... the literal meaning of my given names, refuses to join the woke world, to assume the chair I wuz planned to sit upon.
Taking your analysis further, these are all conditions of long long longtime fallen cultures, thus of seriously fucked up mentalities.
The only and slightest chance of expunging the psychoses, is by wising up some large very large oercentage of people to demand it.
Fat to zero chance now with every woke bloke forced to subscribe to one of the very same dark side nutjob cults..
All Our Systems Are Built To Elevate Viciousness
There have been a number of scientific studies showing collaboration and cooperation are valuable "survival" traits, not only of the human species, but for many other animal species as well.
I think the big lie of social darwinism resides in the false philosophy of insisting only competition and social "viciousness" leads to the best outcomes for humanity. Where, as we see now, as we have seen numerous times in human history, those in charge only believe war and the use of violence is the best and they insist, the only way to resolve human problems and disagreements.
The viciousness does often percolate to the top. But like any neurosis of a system, the neurosis creates conditions that become so unbearable, that a counter balance force eventually finds its way (eventually) to bring back some semblance of sanity and wholeness. However, this often does not occur until the neurosis has run its full course. And we live in a very dark neurotic time right now.
USgov would rather nuke the world than live in a world where it does not have full spectrum dominance.
Last stage capitalism/fascism is self annihilation.
Exactly true! That's why the "We need to get the psychopaths out of power" is such a facile argument. There's a pyramid under them already vying to be the most cutthroat. They're likely to push the oligarch-for-a-day off the precipice themselves!
US is a brutal fascist country since 1950s
Redefine “winning” and maybe game theory won’t destroy us all.
Yes they are. Every system on Earth is built on a model of the separate self. But that is the biggest illusion of all. No one is separate. We are a sum of relationships: with ourselves, with others, with nature, with the planet, with life. When you truly understand that, you begin walking down the path of true wisdom and compassion and see through the illusion of separation. Until then, you are unconscious and participating in evil (which all of us are capable of when we act from the illusion of the separate self).
The pathology of power is at the root of all imperialism, colonialism or for that matter any system where those perceived to be weak are exploited by those who have usurped the means to satisfy their predatory inclinations. The phenomenon is essentially the same whether it is a bully in the school playground, an abusive partner in any relationship stripped of intimacy, right the way up to the highest positions within government and the ruling elites. The untold histories will reveal that in every case, the systems adopted by tyrants and despots and perpetuated by their supine vassals, can only operate effectively through the application of indiscriminate and wholesale violence, oppression, torture and murder. Such is a blending of psychopathic and sociopathic traits that manifest in the character of persons of overbearing arrogance who regard themselves as exceptions to the mores and norms they demand of others. They speak of freedom, democracy and the rights of man, only to adapt and modify the constitution in the undermining of these principles in the interest of allowing their own perverse desires to be gratified with impunity, whilst the innocent are persecuted and slaughtered simply because they are regarded as being of no consequence other than an inconvenience to those who deem themselves as indispensable. The question remaining for them is, if they were successful in devouring all and everything around them, having no one left to swoop upon, they would ultimately destroy themselves. We must employ reason in our quest for survival, by mobilising to defeat the demons of greed, vanity and reckless indulgence that are rampant in times of war, famine and pestilence. And together we must unite in our conviction that this great evil will be overcome by an awakening to our common humanity. There is no other “option on the table” here - it is a matter of evolution or extinction.
Stand with capitalist Russia -- it fights for all of us.
Let me recommend Aaron Good Again. He is on several podcasts. His book "American Exception" documents that the USA has always been run by criminals of the type Caitlan describes here. His youTube interviews with Ben Norton are excellent.
The US was able to achieve planetary hegemony in the first place because it was able to leverage maximum advantage out of the conflicts in Europe and Asia in the 20th c. The resource endowments of North America, distance from rivals and long history of safety from external invasion helped to create a nation-state with considerable industrial, financial, and military prowess. After WW2 the US took advantage of the end of European imperialism to craft a global political and economic to suit itself. The Cold War kept the USSR on the outside, the fall of the USSR left Washington as the only global superpower. This unique status is now eroding very fast, if not indeed already over.
As for ethics, any connection between ethics and national power is super-complicated. Historically, the US drew a great deal of its strength from the freedom and opportunity that it granted its people. American individualism was real, though the promise of American life was complicated by hypocrisies and short-comings. There were no shortage of sociopaths involved in building the US or in creating and sustaining US global hegemony. Today the country is a mess: individualism unconstrained by unchosen obligations has created monstrous social conditions, while the corruption of its institutions is all-pervasive and deeply demoralising. Sociopaths face few, if any, constraints.
We all have sociopathic potential. Sociopathy (a morbid incapacity for empathy) is hardwired into some people. It is a legacy from earlier stages of evolution, I guess and has not been bred out of modern humans because under certain conditions sociopaths are useful. Societies led by sociopaths have an advantage in war over societies led by non-sociopaths.
IMHO the problem is that our institutions are ineffective at constraining sociopaths, while very good at constraining everyone else.
"Until you change how money works, you change nothing.“ RIP Michael C. Rupoert
I would add that these cooperative traits are found mostly in women and competitive traits are found mostly in men. Not necessarily because of our biology but due to cultural indoctrination. It serves the oligarchs to teach men to deny their cooperative tendencies and emphasize their domineering tendencies. They are taught to control women in their lives as practice and as many men as they can get away with. This, then becomes the framework for civilization: he who dominates, exploits, enslaves the most humans 'wins'.
Only, instead of 'winning', we ALL lose. Even the oligarchs. Our entire biosphere is becoming unlivable all because a few thousand mostly men have decided they're entitled to control the world. By creating a system that uses money as a reward for compliance, we've all blindly accepted this arrangement, including the most destitute.
What people have lost in the process is their soul. They're oblivious to the symphony that is life. They don't know that we're all meant to learn and play our part. Nature is, fundamentally a community that we were once an integral part of but have been taught we're superior to and have a right to exploit and dominate for our own use. This arrogance is omnicidal. We're on the edge of a cliff and we're pushing not only ourselves over, but taking millions of entire species with us.
At what point will humanity say ENOUGH?!?!
Almost all Central and South American countries now have socialist governments working together for the good of the people. Brazil will join soon. The world is selecting for altruism. The vicious are being selected against.
Thich Nhat Hahn told a terrible and beautiful story of compassion by giving life stories of the good and bad actors in a horrendous event so that one could see how each person came to make their choices. Human beings are the same. There but for fortune go you and I. Everyone is another me. Self love requires acceptance, not constant criticism. So does love of others. Criticize actions and choices, not the actors.
survival of the fittest, social darwinism. there is a complacency. majority of the tribe defer to the killers believing it protects them. The problem is, this is not always true, but the winner writes history.
I just heard Ro Khanna say this week, US defeated the Nazis in WWII, and US defeated Communism.
Yup yup yuppedy yup.
Which is why .... "king victorious king", .... the literal meaning of my given names, refuses to join the woke world, to assume the chair I wuz planned to sit upon.
Taking your analysis further, these are all conditions of long long longtime fallen cultures, thus of seriously fucked up mentalities.
The only and slightest chance of expunging the psychoses, is by wising up some large very large oercentage of people to demand it.
Fat to zero chance now with every woke bloke forced to subscribe to one of the very same dark side nutjob cults..
You're always so in point 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Thank you 🙏🏼