The world: what went wrong?

[Einsteinium]

I have been accused on many forums of having a very black view of the world. The truth is blacker. Much blacker. The truth is apocalypse. The full biblical horror.

“I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come and see!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”

The rider of the white horse is Pestilence. Pestilence is bent on conquest. He is close to victory.

Cancer is rampant; heart disease is rampant; how many others could I name? They are legion. Obesity rates are soaring. HIV is widespread. E-boli was a warning shot across the bows. Its brethren are ripe to follow, kept temporarily at bay only by WHOs early-warning systems. Diseases that had been “eradicated” are mysteriously making a come back. The re-appearance of tuberculosis is making headline news. Outbreaks of SARS and various other contagions have swept the world in the last few years. Flu, which used to be feared, which caused more deaths after WWI than the war itself, is now one of the lesser threats. There are diseases rampaging through the animal kingdom to which humans are ever more susceptible: foot and mouth disease, Mad Cow Disease, bird flu, “blue tongue”……...

In the days when chestnut sellers were a common sight on street corners, did people drop dead with analeptic shock? I doubt it, but certainly not in the droves they do today. If the growing count of allergies continues, we will all soon, like astronauts, be supping our processed food through straws. And it will then only be a short step to existence within hermetically sealed bubbles for fear of airborne allergens.

Pestilence is also poised to conquer the mind. Each and every one of you has an appointment with him. You can no more escape it than your appointment with Death. Mental dysfunctions and diseases are sweeping through the population: schizophrenia, manic depression, depression, autism (and all its relatives --- psychologists agree that most of the population has already succumbed to autism), anger, anxiety disorders, ADD, PTSD, ADHD, Alzheimer’s, dementia, Tourette’s syndrome,…………..

And what burden is placed on those few of you who remain functional? The Day of the Triffids tells the story: an alien species attacks and blinds most of the world’s population. The rare few who did not loose their sight became an extremely valuable commodity, living in fear of being hunted down and enslaved, forced to become the eyes of the sightless. “Carers” will become slaves to those who are mentally or physically diseased.

“When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come and see!" Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.”

The rider of the red horse is War. He is rampant. He is everywhere. You cannot avoid him. He is all around you and he is in you, in your mind.

The world is a war ground. Every institution is an arena of war. Life is a struggle for survival in a competitive world. That is war. Experts tell you that you cannot trust your own mind or body, but instead must impose their rules upon yourself. These set up a war with your own natural instincts.

People fight the flab; they fight high cholesterol; they fight alcohol addiction; they fight the pressure to spend money in every supermarket; they fight to withstand the brainwashing of advertisers; at work they have to deal with conflicting demands; they have to fight to maintain their self-respect and self-confidence and to keep their job and fending off encroachments and challenges from colleagues; they have to fight to make themselves heard; at home they have to fight to meet the demands of modern living; they have to deal with all the conflicts of family life………….there is no end to it, no where one can escape conflict.

Then you switch on the news and there is a new physical war somewhere; someone is protesting about something; there is a new terrorist attack; someone has been murdered or molested; the government has declared war on the latest scapegoat in society, perhaps people on benefits, people without jobs, tax dodgers; someone is fighting for their rights.

Then you turn to films or novels for some escape, but every narrative is based upon conflict, and the highest form of literature is tragedy. Chess is a game of war. The football pitch is an arena of war. The Olympic Games is a field of war. Internet forums are battlegrounds. And then there are video games…….!

People LOVE war. The rider of the red horse has to make no effort at all.

“When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come and see!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"”

The rider of the black horse is Famine. Famine exacts his price. He has stripped you bare. You have been so long starving in the wasteland that you mistake a mouldy crust of bread for a banquet.

Your wealth is an illusion. Your world is desolate. Your life is barren. Your mind is a wasteland; the soil become dust, poisoned and infertile. Fear of loneliness haunts you.

Possession results in famine. Copyright laws, patents, intellectual property laws, all the legal paraphernalia that prevents humans from freely sharing thoughts and ideas, has resulted in famine.

Knowledge is just something that goes into memory. Stuff that contributes to understanding, one takes in and DIGESTS. In the case of understanding, one may not remember specifics, but “food for thought” nourishes our overview of the world and encourages the growth of that overview. If one is not developing understanding, one is not digesting. The result is famine.

Expertise is famine. Information is famine. Political correctness is famine. Education is famine. The exam system is famine. Working for money is famine.

The major symptom of famine is money. The society, our society, which knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, is a starved society.

“When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come and see!" I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

Behold a pale horse. Look to your left, look to your right, look all around you, look inside you, the pale horse is everywhere and his rider is Death.

From the moment you are born, you begin to die by degrees.

The first death is childhood dreams and ambitions, the ones that really matter, that are crucial to the individual, are not nurtured (when did schools/society last show any interest whatsoever in a child’s dreams and ambitions?). They are trampled underfoot in the rush to get that child fit to enter the world of work i.e. to become a slave to a strange, mysterious and sinister master, “the economy”.

People are prevented from being individuals, from being who they are born to be. They are prevented from thinking for themselves. They must think what the government tells them to think, or what science tells them to think, they must say what they are told to say and must do what they are told to do. This is another death.

Fashion and experts dictate what you must like and dislike, what you must wear, how you must decorate your home, what is worthy in the arts. This is a death.

The arts, music and literature are in the hands of business who dictate to the artist. This is death.

You die a little every day. Physical death is merely the body failing when there is no mind to keep it going.

The Four Horsemen are abroad. Once they have been loosed, they cannot be recalled. This is apocalypse. You know I’m speaking the truth. You see it all around you every day. You hear it every time you switch on the news. You’re just too frightened to admit it. You have sown the storm, and you must reap the whirlwind.

This is the price you must pay for your lust for power.

(Google Durer's Apocalypse yourself to save me another death!)

Enjoy the apocalypse.

PS: Another little death happened today, the death of a favourite local amenity. A neglected riverside port with tiny village thus far home to wildlife and a small local shipyard where I have been accustomed to visiting once weekly: on today’s visit I was unable to find anywhere to park because on one side of the harbour the small boatyard has extended into a muddy wasteland littered with skips and containers and serviced by a steady trickle of industrial vehicles, while on the other side where the car parking used to be, a sewage works is under construction.

Oh please not this stuff again. The world has been close to the apocalypse according to various 'prophets' for thousands of years and there will always be people who claim we are close to the end. This show is getting old, move on- next please?

[freetoroam]

You sir need a vacation. The world is always on a margin. It always will be. Sometimes it will tip over sometimes back. The only certainty is change. That's life.

Sir?

You will be feeling the fires of hell licking your backside while you fall into the drainpipe of oblivion for that one.

[White Crane Feather]

No, the world is not a budgie cage ornament. It can be pushed too far such that it does not return to the vertical.

These things happen because when these things happen people like you just say "These things happen" and that's why these things happen. (It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world)

A bungi is good analogy. Most things and populations are cyclical. Everything from global warming to pandemics to wars. All you have to do is look back in history and you will see conditions much worse than they are now. Wars, famine, disease, death. Per capita we are doing much better now than then. That dosnt mean it can't change Indeed I see several looming threats that will evenchually come our way. But it's nothing new. Humanity at one point was knocked down to about 2,000 individuals once. We pulled through.

The world is not mad, only people are. The world will keep doing what it has been for quit sometime.

[minera]

Well I too would like to live my life to the fullest without worrying about an apocalypse but I find the bum-up-head-in-the-sand position difficult to sustain.

Apocalypse is not an overnight occurence. It is a wasting disease.

When you have an illness that will eventually end in death you learn to appreciate every day as a gift. It is not a head in the sand attitude. I know and experience my illness each and every moment including all the painful treatments. But I refuse to spend my time worrying about an apcaliypse that may or may not happen. I have looked at death in the face which is all the more reason for me to live my life to the fullest with a positive outlook and enjoy each day given to me.

[Dark_Grey]

You've just been living in the stench so long, that you no longer smell it, and you've lived all your life in a wasteland, and having had experience of nothing else, nor seen anything else, nor been able to imagine anything else, you have come to believe that a wasteland is a rich, natural environment and a normal state of being. The myth of Adam and Eve being evicted from the garden of Eden gives us insight into how people's minds got into this state. (I am assuming that you understand that myths should not be taken literally. They are metaphors.)

I see. So where have you lived that has given you such insight? If you grew up in a first-world nation, as I have, then by your own logic you won't have known anything else either and thus would be unable to come to the conclusions you posted.

[shrooma]

The solution, unfortunately for you lot, is some very hard work and facing up to some very unpalatable, humiliating truths about yourselves.

I'm going to sit on the sidelines and watch smugly while you lot go through it.

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there's a term for delusional narcissists who make these kind of grandiose, sweeping, delusional, narcissistic statements.

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I wonder if you can guess what it is?

[shrooma]

''people like you''

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hmmmm.....

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(speech marks are mine.)

[StarMountainKid]

hese things happen" and that's why these things happen. (It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world)

I think the quote is:

"These things only happen because the whole country is full of people who when these things happen they just say these things happen and that's why they happen!" -Mrs. Martin

you will be feeling the fires of hell licking your backside while you fall into the drainpipe of oblivion for that one.

And your Stan Laurel link.

I do like your sense of humor.

Edited April 22, 2013 by StarMountainKid

[shrooma]

If you grew up

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you didn't really need the rest of that post D.G.....

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(sorry, couldn't resist!)

:-)

[Dark_Grey]

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you didn't really need the rest of that post D.G.....

.

(sorry, couldn't resist!)

:-)

Yep could have saved myself some typing there!

$10 says he never comes back to this thread now that's he's stirred the hornet's nest

[AsteroidX]

I will say to advocate for the OP in that these are some rather dark times around the world but by no means the darkest we have seen in the past century.

Moral Intelligence is certainly a bit more off then it has been the past century Id say and that may be an ominous sign combined with the accelerated tech being developed and mankind's inability to properly utilize it.

[Beany]

another topic hijacked. the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativity" come to mind. Life can be difficult enough, these kinds of negative postings only add to one's anxiety. Is asking for something uplifting too much? Apparently so.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Beany

[pantodragon]

Oh please not this stuff again. The world has been close to the apocalypse according to various 'prophets' for thousands of years and there will always be people who claim we are close to the end. This show is getting old, move on- next please?

And for just as long as people have been prophesying doom, people have been believing in progress. The majority has always preferred to stick its head in the sand.

[pantodragon]

A bungi is good analogy. Most things and populations are cyclical. Everything from global warming to pandemics to wars. All you have to do is look back in history and you will see conditions much worse than they are now. Wars, famine, disease, death. Per capita we are doing much better now than then. That dosnt mean it can't change Indeed I see several looming threats that will evenchually come our way. But it's nothing new. Humanity at one point was knocked down to about 2,000 individuals once. We pulled through.

Unfortunately, despite all their promises, scientists have not yet found a way of bungi-ing the dead back to life. Life and death is at least as common, in fact, I would say more common, than cycles. Cycles often occur in a downward spiral leading to death. Another analogy might be the pendulum: you set it swinging but its swing decays and finally stops --- as does the bouncing bungi.

[pantodragon]

I see. So where have you lived that has given you such insight? If you grew up in a first-world nation, as I have, then by your own logic you won't have known anything else either and thus would be unable to come to the conclusions you posted.

By my efforts I have dragged myself out of the mire.......but first you have to be prepared to face the truth. If you face the truth, and have the courage to keep your eyes open and to follow where the truth takes you, then you get to where I have got to. (One little problem: you have a nasty addiction (power: see other of my posts) and as we all know, addictions are thye devil to let go of. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.)

[pantodragon]

I think the quote is:

"These things only happen because the whole country is full of people who when these things happen they just say these things happen and that's why they happen!" -Mrs. Martin

And your Stan Laurel link.

I do like your sense of humor.

Thanks for correcting my quote. Since I work very much from memory, I'm afraid the mis-quote is liable to resurface. Never mind. It's the sense that matters, not accuracy. My mis-quote serves.

[pantodragon]

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there's a term for delusional narcissists who make these kind of grandiose, sweeping, delusional, narcissistic statements.

.

I wonder if you can guess what it is?

--- you're obviously new to my posts. Read some of the earlier ones. We've covered this territory already. I could give you the next standard move, but I'm not going to save you the trouble.

Edited April 25, 2013 by pantodragon

[pantodragon]

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hmmmm.....

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(speech marks are mine.)

ditto

[pantodragon]

I will say to advocate for the OP in that these are some rather dark times around the world but by no means the darkest we have seen in the past century.

Moral Intelligence is certainly a bit more off then it has been the past century Id say and that may be an ominous sign combined with the accelerated tech being developed and mankind's inability to properly utilize it.

I had to read this about 5 times to be sure I wasn't misunderstanding it --- I am just so used to being shot at it's a pleasant change to find even a modicum of agreement.

[Dark_Grey]

By my efforts I have dragged myself out of the mire.......but first you have to be prepared to face the truth. If you face the truth, and have the courage to keep your eyes open and to follow where the truth takes you, then you get to where I have got to. (One little problem: you have a nasty addiction (power: see other of my posts) and as we all know, addictions are thye devil to let go of. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.)

All I know is that negativity breeds stress. If stress really is linked to 99% of diseases, as many many studies seem to indicate, than to live a long, healthy life one needs to not stress.

Stress is the mire that I dragged myself out of. I'm done with negativity - as you've pointed out there's plenty of that. I don't want to be on my death bed looking back at my life and realizing that I spent most of it dwelling on the terrible state of the world. Really, is that living?

Edit -- spelling

Edited April 25, 2013 by Dark_Grey

[freetoroam]

another topic hijacked. the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativity" come to mind. Life can be difficult enough, these kinds of negative postings only add to one's anxiety. Is asking for something uplifting too much? Apparently so.

Are you showing sympathy for Pansdragon? I will take a guess that she can handle our posts..

[pantodragon]

another topic hijacked. the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativity" come to mind. Life can be difficult enough, these kinds of negative postings only add to one's anxiety. Is asking for something uplifting too much? Apparently so.

I'm not clear who you are referring to here. Hijacking would suggest you are attacking commentors to the OP, on the other hand, "something uplifting" makes me wonder if your objection is to MY doom and gloom.

[pantodragon]

All I know is that negativity breeds stress. If stress really is linked to 99% of diseases, as many many studies seem to indicate, than to live a long, healthy life one needs to not stress.

Stress is the mire that I dragged myself out of. I'm done with negativity - as you've pointed out there's plenty of that. I don't want to be on my death bed looking back at my life and realizing that I spent most of it dwelling on the terrible state of the world. Really, is that living?

So you think, but I suggest you have merely supressed the negativity --- our mental institutions are full of people who tried the same trick and lost. The volcano will eventually erupt.

[Emperor Sherlock]

I love posts like these, because the truth will set you free; well truth in the eye of the beholder that is.. bias opinions of ideals twisted into a nut shell with historical documents and events to back it up. Honestly though, I commend you for this post, at least you have some idea of what going on around you..you're not completely blind..

[pantodragon]

Are you showing sympathy for Pansdragon? I will take a guess that she can handle our posts..

I certainly hope Beany is not showing "sympathy", nor being "positive", not being "supportive" etc, etc. I hope Beany is speaking her mind.