Polarization

[Bill Ryan]

EVERYTHING seems to be getting polarized at the moment. While healthy debate is always valuable, what's happening now — on both sides of the Atlantic, and maybe elsewhere — is worrying.

Just three examples, a few of MANY.



I took a quick look at the Voat forum, re 'Q', etc. (That’s the new 'official' venue for discussion, Reddit having been abandoned.) Voat is a massive toxic snakepit. I'd never DREAM of posting anything on there.
Believe it or not, Avalon really is an oasis of civility and pleasantness, 98% of the time. Our applying new members do tell us that! :flower:
It was actually Reddit themselves who closed their 'Q’-specific subforum ("subreddit"), because of "posted threats and incitement of violence". So all those posters have gone straight over to Voat, where they’ve all been welcomed, and the toxic mudfight continues. (It appears not all 'Q' followers are as reasonable, intelligent, discerning and civilized as Paul. :highfive: )



Our own Joe from the Carolinas received a REALLY nasty death threat the other day. Just because he was a critic of Corey Goode et al.
In all the time I was very high profile (and controversial!) with Project Camelot, that never happened to me.



I listened to an interesting disclosure discussion (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?104389-A-VERY-interesting-dlsclosure-discussion-with-Steven-Bassett-Linda-Howe-and-John-Burroughs) between Steve Bassett, Linda Howe, and John Burroughs a few hours ago. I know Steve, and he's intelligent, articulate, and committed. He's also a Democrat, and (paradoxically for a full-time ufologist) tends to follow the mainstream line. He's a good guy, and always means well.
In the comments below the video he was getting shredded into pieces, as if by a pack of wolves. People were unsubscribing from Linda's channel and calling Steve a CIA shill. And there was I thinking it was an interesting conversation that might make one think a little. :)



There are probably 999 (or 9,999) other current examples. Discuss.


Please do NOT post political views on this thread. I'm interested in the polarization, the division, the animosity, the violence (physical and verbal), and the sheer hatred. On all sides.

And, where it's all headed.

[norman]

I've been watching it for a long time.


As scary as it looks, it might actually be cleansing of a lot of muddy fuddled compromised thinking that is anti sovereignty. We all need to get clear about who we are as an individual before we can go much further.


Perhaps no one not even the rarest of elite operators have decided yet which way humanity is to go next. Perhaps we need a period of sorting that muddle out.


edit:


OK, I said perhaps. There is one screamingly obvious phenomenon that is new on the scene that runs beside this polarisation.



Internet echo chambers and the so called smart algorithms that drive and build them.


That's an opposite angle, and a more powerful case than my previous wishful thinking.

[Bill Ryan]

Believe it or not, Avalon really is an oasis of civility and pleasantness, 98% of the time. Our applying new members do tell us that! :flower:

And they really do. We read that from new members almost every day. Some of them are expressively relieved they've found a place that's like none of the others they've been.

But even here, things can slip a little. We get heated and passionate and sometimes say unkind (and untrue!) things. Or if we're well-behaved, we might just think them. :) If that's just someone having a tough day (or a tough week), we tend to overlook that. But it's still there sometimes.

This point has been made a million times, but that's because it's a good point. The easy anonymity of the internet encourages a kind of barbarism. It's like, if no-one really knows who we are, then we can run riot in ways we never would with our friends and family — and will never be personally accountable. It can bring out the shadow in people. Really.

Here's a thought experiment. Occasionally, Avalon members have been pretty nasty to one another. Over the years, some had been permanently unsubscribed.

But if all those people, ex-members or not, were to congregate all in one giant real-world conference hall.... don't you think we'd probably actually all get along pretty well?

Discuss that... also. :)

[Caliban]

I think some people on this forum, and others, forget what their aim is for posting what they do. What's it all about? What are you trying to do? Argue? Bait others? Accuse, vindicate your own opinions, point out others' shortcomings?

I find it gets all too often into a pissing contest, if you will. Egos bumping up against each other. Sometimes I think we feel it's better than nothing, if someone doesn't seem to understand you, to argue rather than just backing away and letting it go. Then the whole reason for writing what you have becomes lost and you're angrily tapping the keys. I've seen that happen a lot here lately. I also see a bunch of new members and maybe they'll teach us a few refreshment lessons in being "cool" and in not taking it all too seriously.

I think, ultimately we're all trying to enlighten and be enlightened. Light and light-ly, in other words....

[Valerie Villars]

From my own understanding it comes from an extreme bastardization of ego. I think because the times are perilous, fractured, polarized, most are having trouble assimilating the energy and unfortunately, ego comes to the forefront. There's also denial of their paradigm being smashed to smithereens. It's not an easy process.

I experienced this head on in 2012/2013 and I'm afraid it's just a reflection of the energies we're being bombarded with; i.e. astronomically, politically, economically, etc. There's just intensity on all levels and unless you're grounded, you're going to get sucked in.

Hearing about Joe getting a death threat is just a sign of the times and I am very sorry to hear it. That is never a way to solve problems or differences.

Edit Post: I'd like to add that I am pretty sure most people are operating under the assumption that what they say or do under a psuedonem (sp?) is really anonomous (sp?) and they won't be held accountable and therefore they can vent their anger at their smashed to smithereens paradigm.

That's not the case. Every single thing we do has been recorded, somewhere in time. It's all there. If people really knew that, they would be more considerate. They would take time and consider.

Avalon IS an island and I am extremely grateful for having found it. These are tough times and strength is really important. So is compassion and an understanding of a much bigger picture than most people have been introduced to yet.

[raregem]

I appreciate seeing this thread started. Thank you.

I watched the Basset-Howe-Burroughs interview but I didn't read the comments. I am surprised at the vitriol mentioned for Howe these days. She seems to garner great respect. Sorry to read this is happening again.

Yes, PA has been grouchy lately. It is still an awesome place to share our thoughts and information. The grouchy does not linger too long. ( Bill, did you feed Avalon a Snickers bar? )

Joe- we care.

The barbarism/extreme ego personality runs rampant on the internet. I like being able to just close off bad juju from virtual reality with one click.

I have been seeing this barbarism/ extreme ego with people on a personal level. Seems like it has been excessive in behaviour and going for 4 years now. Extreme, harmful behaviour. Awareness and truth in these people seem non-existent. Every one of them has been gleeful at harming others. Things have been done just short of being held legally responsible. The damage still happens on mental, physical and Spiritual levels.

The polarization and opposition created are from UNreality. These people act strongly with the perception to deliberate harm, steal and lie. AND---not be held accountable. Seems the goal is to destroy another and cause suffering.

Avalons want the opposite.

[shaberon]

But if all those people, ex-members or not, were to congregate all in one giant real-world conference hall.... don't you think we'd probably actually all get along pretty well?

Discuss that... also. :)

When that happens, I find the opposite takes place: people will quietly agree with anything.

People can get along socially and constructively without agreeing. Actually you can hate me to death and we can still get along.

Because I would be prone to spend more time with people that I agree with to some extent, then, most of my real life examples about *not* getting along, are from this number. I don't really spend time with anyone that I mostly disagree with, so, we get along, at least by avoidance.

But if you call a meeting, no matter what kind of flag it is under, for the sake of getting along, we'll lie to ourselves and others.

Death threats, among all the other online animosity, can only be produced by garbage. Emotionally weak garbage that often feels explosions or boiling inside itself. So this illustrates the amount of human failures we get, after claiming to be modern and civilized. What a lie! This civilization has been a failure for centuries and proves itself so to all onlookers. It's going to eat itself. I don't worry about an "event" like war, cataclysm, etc., but if goodness is not upheld like a victory banner, people revert to feral and this is what we have.

[Omni]

Polarization is central to my life. I live to be with my soul mate, to do progressive work, and to defeat evil.

Good vs. evil is one of the core models of the universe. The new age denies duality and polarization, if you ask me it is a bunch of mkultra nonsense.

[Dennis Leahy]

I think that polarization - which is itself a false mental construct, a false dichotomy - is the result of fear. A part of (or consequence of) the 'fight or flight' response.

I see it as a deliberate technique (http://metanoia-films.org/human-resources/), applied en masse (http://metanoia-films.org/psywar/) to individuals by "the controllers", to both divide and conquer us, and to keep us all back on our heels (in self defense mode.) With the work of Edward Bernays and others, the controllers have mapped out human response (our biological flowchart of stimulus response), and have created a working method to force us to operate from our primitive "lizard brain" to act as a reactive, frightened individual, as opposed to operating from a cerebral perspective where we can 1.) see who they are and what they are doing, and 2.) to unify, become proactive, and take away their ability to control us.

[Valerie Villars]

I think you hit on a key point Dennis. There was a point in 2013 when all fear left me and it changed the paradigm of the world, literally. It catapulted me into another reality entirely. There is something big in having that vibration which holds us back. Getting rid of it is key.

[Flash]

Bill, I haven't read the other posts on this thread yet, so this is my blunt (pun intended) assessment of today's situation:

1. Not only on forums, but everywhere people have gotten much more violent, I do mean violent, in words, in actions. Examples are on the road, Montreal has always been considered a drivers' crazy city, but it has gotten unbearable, not only because of the incredible amount of road repairs, but because of the incredible lack of patience and driver's politeness. I am cut 10 times a day, very near cuts, just a few minutes ago, a huge truck was park on a forbidden parking road, so people exiting a drive-in coffee shop could not see at all the incoming trafic. The truck just had to make a 100 meters or less to pas the exit of the coffee shop and make it a breeze for everybody exiting. But he will not - I have seen him many times there at lunch time, I will have to call the cops on him. I will not ask myself, being a woman and not wanting a punch.

2. Servicing clerks at gaz stations, restaurants, name it have become aggressive and impolite, this was rarely seen 20 years ago in Montreal. It is now a daily occurence. Come a point where I started to answer the same way, which is not good, it just makes the overall situation worst.

3. The other day, I posted on a facebook post in a facebook page for the burrough of the city I live in. An innocent post on parenthood and services in the burrough. i got a very nasty comment from someone (in my neighborhood, since she is writing on the burgough page) about me being old, and literally to shove my stats down my you know what. I could not resist and answered as nastily. Then talk to other women around and we all had the nasty one making us comments at one time. Finally we reported her, but she is still posting.

4. My daughter received threats on the phone from someone telling her i was just gone out and she was alone in the house, which was true. We must have been watched. She panicked for a good month, not wanting to be alone. This never happened in the 23 years I lived here.

5. Dating men has become a nightmare (for me and my friends). They (men) got worst with age, not better. A true scary undertaking, believe me. Gosh this is soooooo disappointing. They are aggressive - yes I am generalising, but we all report the same, my old friends and I - and do not take rejection at all, on average - often they just cannot go away gently, as they would have years ago.

I have seen a video from a renown narcissist on narcissism, telling us it is increasing in women, which is true, and has surely greatly increased in men as well.

Years of violent video games, violent movies, gross porn, and mobile phone + social media addiction is leaving its toll. Plus the overals poisoning of our bodies, the mix of culture where you end up with no moral values left from any of the cultures that are mixed, we are seeing the result as well as we are seeing the climate changes right now.

The way I feel about is the following:

there is a real divide happening amongst humans on the planet, that is like this:

Low emotional intelligence, little empathy, low brain intelligence - the stupid nasties

High emotional intelligence including empathy forming one group (low to average brain intelligence)
High brain intelligence without empathy forming another group - the nasties, plus the 1%
High emotional intelligence plus empathy with high brain intelligence forming a fourth group.

All these groups are regrouping through social media and the impact of each one does not cross to other groups anylonger because of the way the algorithms of the social media are set (you receive only what you are interested in). Except for the nasties of low or high intelligence who want to exploit all other groups.

To tell the truth, I do think this is planned, and the results are just starting to show up, as it is wished from the 1%. the Payseur's family.

[norman]

Clotting the types into separate groups enables separate processing of the types.



Is that good or bad ? I don't know. It depends who's idea it was, or who exploits it.

[Flash]

Clotting the types into separate groups enables separate processing of the types.



Is that good or bad ? I don't know. It depends who's idea it was, or who exploits it.

I do not know either if this is good or not. This is just what I observed. In the past, those groups (apart from the 1% which was more of a 10%) were not that visibly divided. So others had some impact on all kind of people, negative AND positive. I do think it is not the case anymore.

One thing for sure, absolutely sure, the 1% are much more aware of any division/regroupings than I am, and yes, it is surely to exploit it, for the moment - hopefully will come a time where it will be for helping all humanity to grow.

Here the video on increased narcissism, amongst women and men. I do think that social media and the isolation it creates, as well as the lack of true care (increase emotional negligence while increased success demands) for the children, does create much more narcissism

And narcissists are expert at polarisation - it allows them to exert control and be the center of attention.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gjmR3e-leo

[norman]

We should keep in sight the massive split between the "truth" and the "fake world". Or, you could say, the split between the Black world and the White World.


I sense that a major tearing force is the crossing point from being completely asleep, to becoming more than sure what we are dealing with in this world is a complete fabrication.



By that I don't mean knowing what the truth is. Just that a rage is being released by the realisation that people have been absolutely conned and taken for fools. From there, different personality types will lash out in different directions at different targets or points of least resistance.

[Flash]

PLEASE PLEASE LISTEN TO THESE, SO BRILLIANT

(ouf, quite a work to write up as I was listening, you will not have all the points nor all the excellent explanations, but the main gist is there. Really worth two or three listen)

Such a good description of society, its narcissism and the rise of psychopathy, including smart phones design, narcissistic bubbles, abuse creating narcissistics, etc.

Very good video explaining in parts the rise of polarity, which would be, following the description in the video, a rise in psychopathy. Please note that I do not agree with his example of incest that would not be traumatic in certain societies. But most of his analysis is right, in my views. including the state and reasons for narcissism.

However, I do think that some psychopathy is genetically based (a brains abnormality as well as heart literally).

Those 3 videos are quite worth it, I think.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYIbY85aF70

"to live in today's world, you absolutely need to be in part narcissistic, and somewhat psychopatic", very interesting analysis of the society. He says the boundaries between narcissism and psychopatic narcissism have blurred. And he compares with capitalism so survive. Not narcissism but psychopathy prosper in society. Vaknin sees wanting to be seen increments into narcissism which in turns give rise to psychopatic narcissism, facebook being one of the main training ground for those incremental levels towards worst and still worst.

He says altruism is a bad evolutionary strategy, which is inefficient, which personally I do not agree with - I think it is much more efficient than selfishism for organising a community or a society. However, Vaknin think it is inefficient.

In capitalism you have narcissists who rise to the top and non narcissists, as long as you play the rules, your personnality is not that important. In feudalism, only psychopaths rise to the top. However, people feel more secure with psychopaths as leaders, than with amorphous, abstract, non human systems. In feudalism good leaders is one who does not care to lose 20,000 soldiers. Feudal systems are not rule based.

Today's leader are already embedded in a feudal system. Trump would not agree with the fact that it is the presidency that has to be protected, not the person. He is the first wave of feudal society. Many psychopaths construct kingdom that supply their needs while being ok for the majority.
ou
Capitalism gain is rule based and is restrained. In psychopathy, being constrained is a bad idea. In a world like this, for invasion of one's country, Trump is prefered to Merkel because he is much more psychopatic. Etc etc, really worth listening.

Extremely interesting.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix-trtzii_8


Communism vs capitalism, capitalism vs feudalism, the rise of narcissism and psychopathy in todays world. Communism restrict free movement, free speech, free association or affiliation (which were to the nomenclatura, individuals in it getting all the goods). Communism was a feudal system. Communism was being back to the middle ages, it was not marxism, but rather feudalism. Marxism is about the transfer of power, which can be violent or not. Communism was under-educated people, abused for milleniums, that were put to use by a tiny amount of intellectual to make the revolution in order to redistribute wealth to themselves (the intellectual tiny amount).

Lenin was proposing the redistribution of wealth from an old elite to a new elite. Workers were celebrated but taken over by a minority.

And identical process happened in the west. In all these cases there was hostile Take over by the elite. Incommunicability has increased in all these cases with a narrative of upward mobility for the disenfranchised, called upward mobility in the west, american dream, the communist called it marxism. Impossible to have participatory or direct democracy.

In communism, the party and its organs would decide in allocation of wealth, healthcare, etc etc. It is not different in the US, politicians are the intermediary between the people and the wealth and the wealth ends up with people who claim to be intermediary.

Communism was an attempt to reverse capitalism. It was a permanent civil war, same with fascism. The problem at the time is that there were only 2 models, capitalism and feudalism, so they opted for feudalism. In the last 50 years, capitalism died and we re-opted for feudalism.

Capitalism align with rise of urban centers, feudalism was for the land and agricultural societies. For the first time, feudalism is imposed on urban centers.

Caracteristic of feudalism:

1. Enormous income inequalities enormous wealth concentration in the hands of the few (100 richest US people have as much wealth as 3,9 billions people) you have to go back to the 12th century to find so much discrepancy. The black death that killed half the population then changed this situation, workers becoming scared and feudal princes having to care for the, elite becoming depending on the workfoce, braking the back of feudalism and starting capitalism.

2. Total lack of social upward mobility as opposed to the fairy tales we are being told, social mobility is dead, specially in US.

3. Absence of inflation. Prices are stable, wages are stable.

4. Retranchement of globalisation, which was greater before the first world war up to 1950's. Shutting down globalisation with Trump is a sign of this. 40% of internet is no more global, it is behind firewall such as in China, Russia, immigration is declining, economic migration has collapse, etc. Immingration from one country to another is much more difficult.

5. Personality cult, from Staline to Mao to Obama to Donald Trump. From 1700 to now, in Europe, there were no personality cults, there were respected people, but not personality cults. But there were in the middle ages noble man personality cults, which was an organising element of society within the rise of feudalism. It came back in the 50's when capitalism came under attack. This indicated feudalism, no longer a capitalist system.

All these elements were prevalent in Russia and is now happening today . In 50 years we are back to feudalism. We will have dynasties, few people inheriting wealth, no inflation and no wage increases, no social unrest that is cause by decreasing buying power (stability in wages and prices), etc.

No economists ever dTescribed this bizzarely. Above a certain level of wealth, money is taken out of the system.

We are saying the situation in the US where politics is above economics, like feudalism, where it has little regard for economics - russia stagnated because economics does not matter, this is happening in the US actually. And the supreme example being Brexit where politics reigned supreme.

Same with Donald Trump policies. If you decrease trade with China, the poor man suffers, not the rich. Trumps is elected by the poors, but in fact reprensent the rich. people are no longer interested by economics, but are more interested by politic and personality cult, which is feudalism.

Why people switch from capitalism to revert to feudalism? Capitalism goes hand in hand with individualism and liberalism while feudalism goes hand in hand with stagnation and authoritarianism.

There is not left and right, which is fiction invented by the media.

America today is much closer to 1940 Stalinest USSR than 1840's America. There is lack of social upward mobility, lack of mobility, wages inflations are frozen, leader's cult, wealth in few hands.

Why the move from capitalism: capitalism is an unstable system, it has embedded self destruction. It has never develop mechanisme to cope with the needs of the collective. It catters to the needs of some individuals. It has no equivalent state ideology.

For example, Islam is a religion but also has a state ideology.

when and organizing principle does not have state ideology,it degenerates to anarchy and people revert to feudalism.

We then become religious, transcendent, or communist (marxist principle of immutable transition of work force productivity), most feudalism goes with religious sentiments, even if secular religion (nazism supreme force of history for example).

Feudalism goes with adoption of religious element as a state system. where religions is dominant as in Islam, religion takes over. It is ready made, a fast food, lets take it.

Caplitalism is frightening, being much less human ideology than nazism for example, being concerned with an abstract entity which is the market, regulating and controlling your life, dictating your children future, machine like. It always deteriate into a non human form.

Nazism took identifiable human elements, exagerated them and amalgamated them with feudalisthm to call it devil. But it has a human face, a horrible one, but nevertheless human.

vaknin regards the fight against corruption as a fight against humans (I do not agree with this). Worthy ideas and ideology, but not human.

Capitalism does not have a human face, it is alien, mechanistic.

When face with this, people recoil and prefer to be safe rather than being wealthy, mobile, knowing one's place, etc. Theywant a savior (Trump, Staline) back into submission.

Capitalism is creativity, running business, entrepreneur spirit, insecurities, anxiety, which most people are not able to live.

The reason we are feeling bad, the reason families are disintagrating, etc, we think this way of organising failed, we fall back on feudalism.

Capitalism caters to a highly specific profile, feudalism caters to the majority. feudalism is a depressing state, family like, but secure, father Adolf or Donald, your family, your community.

While the implicit message in capitalism is that family, community is a bad allocation of resources because it hampers your activities. It leads to narcissism (malignant individualism). But narcisissim obstruct any kind of interpersonal interaction (family, romantic, colleagues), and capitalism leads to the elimination of social units.

People see in capitalism a threat to their social being, social welfare, their family, their community and they recoil.

Capitalism, being optimised to a highly specified kind of people at the expense of all others (Trump, Buffet). Our earth being finite, we are in a zero sum gain, in scarcity. Nothing wrong with it in capitalism cause the rich recycle their money in factories etc. But this is untrue, above a certain level of wealth, wealth become unproductive.

Consequently, the majority of the very rich wealth sits in stocks and banks, unproductively burried. This money is out of the system, the system is demonitised, and scarcity is getting greater.

We are fighting with less and less wealth, the fight is much more fierce, we become less polite, less empathic, less ...


Example: 37% of residential buildings apartments are empty worldwide because they were purchased as investments, not to service (demoneytirisation, money burried, leading to scarcity in rent and increase market prices for rents, etc).

When there is little left, it is you or me baby and the fight gets fierce. I am pushed to be a psychopath. Narcissim is an adaptation to the world situation. To survive in today's world you need to be a lot narcissistic and somewhat psychopatic.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjaitWUEPPE

[Foxie Loxie]

I'd say things were pretty "polarized" in the days of Abe Lincoln, as well! IMO, things are worse today because of the advanced weaponry & instant communication. :confused:

[Ernie Nemeth]

Good points Flash. I especially like the statement: capitalism caters to a highly specific profile. I find that statement to be quite telling.

I would prefer to analyse what it is that would be considered feudalistic in our present day cities, however. Many people own their dwellings, whether house or condo. Of course in the case of condos you don't actually own any land so they are just glorified serfs. We all pay either rent or mortgage so in a way we are beholden to an authority that 'lords' it over us. But isn't that a stretch?

In today's world money takes the place of land as the tangible that bestows security but you still have to buy land with the money to obtain the true security only land can offer. So I guess it is not that big a stretch after all...

I do see this polarizing tendency in our society becoming ever more prevalent. I have to admit that as the voice of reason gets increasingly muffled by political correctness and the mad rush of minority fringe groups vying to be recognized and included, that I am being pushed further to the right. This is not my sort of Liberalism. The rights of the minority can only be secured by dialogue, tolerance and respect, not by silencing dissenting voices - a whole class of voices - and demonizing all alternate view points opposed to extreme left fanatical ideology.

I must also admit that as this intolerance continues I am often left frustrated and angry. I seem unable to keep my composure as the travesties of daily life thrust this awareness ever more in my face. At work we now have a full time narc (I call him the rat fink b*st**d) whose only job is to catch the workers in violation of company protocols, some have already been written up. Of course, I have become his special target and it is only a matter of time before something bad happens. Such a situation would have been unthinkable even a decade ago - now it is not even an issue or a point of contention, it is just accepted. I do not accept it.

I too am grateful for Avalon and thankful for Bill's gracious hospitality. I find this place relaxing and a safe haven for expressing my ideas and opinions. It is a great form of palliative therapy that I cherish immensely. I also thank all the members and guests for allowing me a much needed audience.

I am humbled by the many here who know so much, care so deeply, and love so grandly.

May we continue to be a beacon in the dark until all are enlightened.

[DNA]

I started to attempt an answer on this thread some half dozen times, each time I was unhappy with the results.
I decided to give up and I read this article by Paul Craig Roberts which can be found here. Welcome To The Truth-Free World
(https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-24/paul-craig-roberts-welcome-truth-free-world)
I found quite a few statements which are relevant to what we are talking about.



Science gave the world the principle of evidence-based fact, which did away with the burning of witches and political decisions based in superstitution. Truth became a force.
But truth can get in the way of agendas, and as elites recovered their power from the social, political, and economic reforms of a previous era, truth was divided into categories and cut so fine that it disappeared.I think this is in a nut shell what we are dealing with. Where can you get your truth? There is no dispensary of truth that can be trusted anymore.

And those dispensaries that exist produce tainted counterfit bills to be exchanged only with those agreeing that this is indeed the only redeemable currency.



What I have described is a truth-free world. There is no place for truth in the world that the West has created. The Western hostility to truth is overwhelming. As I write truth-tellers are being banned from Facebook, Twitter, and PayPal. Google makes their sites almost impossible to find. Throughout the Western World truth has been redefined as “Conspiracy Theory.” I love that phrase "The Western Hostility to truth is overwhelming".
Hostility.
People have been inculcated to produce an immuno response when confronted with something contrary to their personal narrative.

People who have attained a partial introduction to what "we" would call truth can often be as bad or worse than those "we" may consider ignorant.
These folks with partial truth may still hold on to false paradigms that they will prop up or use partial truths to validate.

The West is a sea of humanity swimming in ignorance.


Ask yourselves where you can read articles like this. If you do not support the remaining portals of truth, you will find yourselves bound, like the Elven-kings, Dwarf-lords and Mortal Men in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, “in the darkness” by the elites ability to control the explanations that comprise your reality.
Identity Politics has destroyed the very conception of truth independent of race and gender. Science itself becomes discredited as does civilization:
Never in history have humans been so near to losing all comprehension of reality as in today’s world in which there is no respect for truth. And the scary thing is we covet our personal view of the world to the extent that we lash out and attack those who may offer alternative lies, never mind if they offer the truth. How did we become so entrenched in our views? How did we become so easily led by narratives without applying critical reasoning?
I have my personal explanation for this, I doubt it will receive much validation but here it is.

I think folks focus on the battle between the Elf Kings, Dwarf Kings and Man Kings, and folks identify with these parties and all bad in the world is explained away as either the greed or incompetence of one of these groups, all the while not realizing that their is an evil behind these Kings, manipulating these Kings and manipulating those who identify with these Kings.

This evil has reached a place where it no longer cares for the money of the kingdoms at war, nor the scepter of power these folks may wield.



This is a different agenda, but to understand this agenda one has to confront oneself and drop Frodo's ring, and we saw in Tolkien's work how hard it is to drop this ring once it has been worn for too long.


http://cdn.amreading.com/wp-content/uploads/Gollum.jpg

[Jayke]

An alternative view of polarisation as a healthy expression of natural evolution:

dFs9WO2B8uI
In his book, ‘The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of Western Civilisation (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300188374)’, McGilchrist looks at the neuroscience of brain anatomy, from basic life forms to human beings, and charts the progression of structural differences in the brain between the two. What he discovers is that the Corpus Callusum, which separates the two hemispheres of the brain, is actually made of inhibitory neurons, whose specific function is to prevent the two brains from communicating with each. The Corpus Callusum enables the two hemispheres to become specialised, through higher and higher degrees of complexity, into two completely opposing and diametrically opposed worldviews, each with their own specialised talents, objectives, goals and procedures.

As intelligent life evolves, the biological record shows the hemispheres become more and more polarised, rather than less polarised, in fact, the earliest and least evolved life forms are the ones whose brains show the least degree of differentiation between the hemispheres (if they even have differentiated hemispheres at all).
If evolution leads to greater polarisation, the goal then isn’t to avoid polarisation (which is where the generative forces of creativity stem from), but in learning how to bridge the gap so that opposing worldviews can be understood and benefited from in equal measure imo.


“The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function” - F Scott Fitzgerald

Observations of Ryan Deschamps (in relation to the meaning of the above quote):
https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-F-Scott-Fitzgerald-quote-The-test-of-a-first-rate-intelligence-is-the-ability-to-hold-two-opposed-ideas-in-the-mind-at-the-same-time-and-still-retain-the-ability-to-function-mean-to-you

It can mean a lot of things, but I have a few ideas:

Anyone who has worked with real data realizes that ambiguity is more the norm than not. The unintelligent will try to force an answer out of that ambiguity or get angry about it. The intelligent just gets more curious and try to understand what’s going on.
Sometimes understanding that there is a conflict between two ideas is more important than understanding the ideas themselves.
All decisions have downsides and risks, but if you are someone who leads, decide you must.
It’s possible to love and hate; enjoy and regret; fear and confront; admire and repulse. Complex emotion is part of being an adult.
A good part of research involves refining terms. Take specialization: all work is “specialized” to some degree unless it’s possible for someone to be mass-possessed by others.
Some words and ideas are designed to form coalitions out of people who would otherwise despise each other. Smart people see such proverbs for what they are: both necessary for functioning of the world and problematic.
Something that is fundamentally true at one scope of analysis may be absolutely false at another. This is true when the scope involves time-periods, geographic space or the size of the population.
Paradox is often both unavoidable and the path to new knowledge.

[Joe from the Carolinas]

The one that was really warm and fuzzy was when the “account” indicated that they hoped that not only myself, but my whole family got killed in the hurricane. Then there’s the stuff about going to my band’s next gig, killing my dogs, and all of that beautiful, friendly, non-polarizing gratitude;) heck I think I’ve only interviewed a handful of people, none of whom did a 20 and back (yet!).

I say “account”, by the way, because youtube doesn’t care about the people behind the accounts. They just tell you to contact law enforcement.. thank goodness for Interpol, shucks! And this is over a subset of subset of strange ideas expressed by people in the alternative communities. I mean, really?

So usually when this polarization stuff starts happening, it signals to me that change has already occurred (recent past tense) and the real people are dragging their feet and not really in the mood to catch up. People aren’t computer programs so the bots always speak first, some people see those reactions and figure they might as well get their 5 minutes hate in.

I’ve noticed that “accounts” ;) elsewhere online are really fast to get personal with the ad hominem insanity. That’s the knee jerk first response. Get personally offended and go for the jugular. Whatever happened to rational, civil debate? Nah, everything is a personal affront these days. Instead the symptoms of polarization involve the words “you”, and —expletive deleted—.

I tell ya, there’s really no need for the elites to institute a new world order, the “accounts” are acting like it is already in play. I wonder how many real, truly decent and good people are caught in the mix?

Food for thought :) (beyond organic and non-gmo).

[Flash]

We are all caught in it, Joe, as soon as we write anything on the internet.

I am sorry for the threats you received. Truly, one of the good ones wanted to be crucified, don’t we know the story?

Our society is getting leveled to its bottom raw lowest possible state.

The first time I was made aware of what is going on the social network media was about 6 years ago when my daughter was full fledge teenager.

I was flabergasted by the extreme form of bullying going on, which no one, and yet least an ego developing teenager, should be submitted to. It went from despising comments, to sexual depravation comments, to death threats between teenagers, to facebook users ganging up on one Person. And add to this the usual predator or pedophile hooks sent her way.

But that was not the worst. The worst was when my daughter told me this was normal, this was the usual language and attitude at her school as well.

She learned with time to answer, to disable comments, to screen a lot the friends demands, and to make a group of real friends who will protect each other by ganging up on the offenders. Sadly we are talking of coyotes against wolf packs here however.

It is anonimity that does that, and leveling off the culture.

Polarisation to its maximum. Plus the addiction that drives the unstables to awful thinking and written abuse.

I am now seeing these behaviors even in old men sometimes. Truly shocking.

[leavesoftrees]

Bill, I haven't read the other posts on this thread yet, so this is my blunt (pun intended) assessment of today's situation:

1. Not only on forums, but everywhere people have gotten much more violent, I do mean violent, in words, in actions. Examples are on the road, Montreal has always been considered a drivers' crazy city, but it has gotten unbearable, not only because of the incredible amount of road repairs, but because of the incredible lack of patience and driver's politeness. I am cut 10 times a day, very near cuts, just a few minutes ago, a huge truck was park on a forbidden parking road, so people exiting a drive-in coffee shop could not see at all the incoming trafic. The truck just had to make a 100 meters or less to pas the exit of the coffee shop and make it a breeze for everybody exiting. But he will not - I have seen him many times there at lunch time, I will have to call the cops on him. I will not ask myself, being a woman and not wanting a punch.

2. Servicing clerks at gaz stations, restaurants, name it have become aggressive and impolite, this was rarely seen 20 years ago in Montreal. It is now a daily occurence. Come a point where I started to answer the same way, which is not good, it just makes the overall situation worst..

This is where one’s spiritual/meditation practice comes into play - out in the real world interacting with people. G I Gurdjieff - who you quote in your signature - taught that it’s important to be aware when negative emotion starts to arise in you. This is not easy and takes much practice and many failures. But if you are present to it and see it, then there is a moment where you can choose. Do I express this anger - which, as you say, does not help, but adds fuel to the fire and you become just like the person who inflamed you - or do I simply observe it and not express my anger, and thereby change the situation for yourself and the other person. Changes in consciousness begins one person at a time - starting with me.

[Flash]

I truly don’t know if I should take these comments as high ground admonishing or just as overall comments.

What I am describing in my post is the overwhelming sea of bad behaviors met some days, and more on the web. In cities, and with heavy multiculturalism, no referral values.

And the split of population in between behaviors and understandings.

As for patience, overall tolerance, magnanimity, I am usually hard to beat. That even me can get caught in the bad and hugly is significant of some heavy happenings.



Bill, I haven't read the other posts on this thread yet, so this is my blunt (pun intended) assessment of today's situation:

1. Not only on forums, but everywhere people have gotten much more violent, I do mean violent, in words, in actions. Examples are on the road, Montreal has always been considered a drivers' crazy city, but it has gotten unbearable, not only because of the incredible amount of road repairs, but because of the incredible lack of patience and driver's politeness. I am cut 10 times a day, very near cuts, just a few minutes ago, a huge truck was park on a forbidden parking road, so people exiting a drive-in coffee shop could not see at all the incoming trafic. The truck just had to make a 100 meters or less to pas the exit of the coffee shop and make it a breeze for everybody exiting. But he will not - I have seen him many times there at lunch time, I will have to call the cops on him. I will not ask myself, being a woman and not wanting a punch.

2. Servicing clerks at gaz stations, restaurants, name it have become aggressive and impolite, this was rarely seen 20 years ago in Montreal. It is now a daily occurence. Come a point where I started to answer the same way, which is not good, it just makes the overall situation worst..

This is where one’s spiritual/meditation practice comes into play - out in the real world interacting with people. G I Gurdjieff - who you quote in your signature - taught that it’s important to be aware when negative emotion starts to arise in you. This is not easy and takes much practice and many failures. But if you are present to it and see it, then there is a moment where you can choose. Do I express this anger - which, as you say, does not help, but adds fuel to the fire and you become just like the person who inflamed you - or do I simply observe it and not express my anger, and thereby change the situation for yourself and the other person. Changes in consciousness begins one person at a time - starting with me.

[greybeard]

Things become unstable before a change.
Eckhart Tolle speaks of this at length in his books "The Power of Now an A New Earth"
Basically he states that the "Good is getting better and the bad worse."
Some say that we are heading for a division-- the good in another place--new earth. (Not my belief)
The not so good are no comfortable with all that is good.

My thought is that change begins with me--the famous Gandhi expression--"Be the change you want to see" Might be a miss quote.
The challenge is that the more a person gets on a soap box, the more change is resisted by the other, hence even more polarity
Being aware but having tolerance to the the degree of acceptance would seem to be a grounded way of being.
I sometimes think that change comes about in spite of us rather than brought about by a protest group. IMHO
The battles have been many and bloody--has that worked--who knows.
All part of the evolution of consciousness I guess.

Ch

[Foxie Loxie]

"Wise as serpents....Harmless as doves!"

How DOES one achieve such a state of being?! :confused: Until one recognizes one has been totally controlled by belief systems or other human beings, I think it would be most difficult.

For this I will be "eternally" grateful to the mature members of Avalon who accepted me where I was "at" & made available to me the information needed to begin coming to my own conclusions! :highfive:

Here's to keeping Avalon as a friendly, sane atmosphere where we can come without feeling we are being attacked or submitted to someone else cramming their own particular "agenda" down our throats! :tea:

We can learn much from one another simply because we have each lived through a unique set of circumstances!

May Avalon continually be that oasis to come to that we all need because of the turbulent times in which we live!! :heart::grouphug:

[greybeard]

Foxie
The AA prayer
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And wisdom to know the difference"

Nothing good comes easy.

Doing nothing is the hardest thing to do well --smiling

Chris

[CD7]

Everythings being kicked up in the air and consciousness is up for grabs!!

Consciousness is being tested in a very hard way

I remember years ago ...the emoji eating popcorn was very popular in this forum... probably still is I haven't ventured through everything in a long time. Well the circus show did not disappoint!! And may the Final Act not disappoint either!

I'm a paradise Pusher now :-) I perpetrate nature anyway I can, the possibilties are ENDless- that's the one thing that we can do to make a difference for the better.....CONTINUE TO INVISION A BETTER WORLD FOR ALL.....DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO FACILITATE IT.

[Flash]

Everythings being kicked up in the air and consciousness is up for grabs!!

Consciousness is being tested in a very hard way

I remember years ago ...the emoji eating popcorn was very popular in this forum... probably still is I haven't ventured through everything in a long time. Well the circus show did not disappoint!! And may the Final Act not disappoint either!

I'm a paradise Pusher now :-) I perpetrate nature anyway I can, the possibilties are ENDless- that's the one thing that we can do to make a difference for the better.....CONTINUE TO INVISION A BETTER WORLD FOR ALL.....DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO FACILITATE IT.

The way I see the "pusher" attitude of positivity is alsways a dichotomy (polarity lollll)

First, in order to create change, the desire for it has to rise within oneself. For this to happen, a desire for better has to arise.

Second, the desire for change towards the better is often based on discovering discomfort or clear pain about the situation we are actually in. Therefore, seeing the ugly and even sometimes experiencing it has to happen in order for the desire for change to happen.

Therefore, on one hand, we have to maintain the vision of better for all, on the other hand, we have to accept the vision of difficulties in the now that provokes the desire for change.

So it is always the dichotomy between acceptance and new creations.

Comes a time where we know we are creation the visions, on whichever side of the extasy or the ugly we are seeing. Then, acceptance and smooth new creation can arise quite naturally. Opening the heart is a must for the better to arise in a natural way.

This being said, I still see the polarity in today's society, and I still see it growing day after day. Maybe humans need polarity to create change for the better. Maybe polarities are a key to heart opening and acceptance of what is.

Maybe the balance is walking on a delicate thread in between polarities, the eye of the needle to go through.

[CD7]

Knowing Nature and whats possible.....there is no polarity.....this or that ...its just LIFE. We still have yet to cultivate whats possible........so many have no idea..
All is One One is All ......there are no decisions to be determined here, this is my perspective

[Flash]

Knowing Nature and whats possible.....there is no polarity.....this or that ...its just LIFE. We still have yet to cultivate whats possible........so many have no idea..
All is One One is All ......there are no decisions to be determined here, this is my perspective

I kind of agree, basically, this is what we can see if we wish so, up to us to chose.

Which would mean that this thread has no reasons to be lolllllllllll:confused:

[Ascension]

May Avalon continually be that oasis to come to that we all need because of the turbulent times in which we live!! :heart::grouphug:

Foxie Loxie, you are such a fountain of something indescribable - cannot put my finger on one all encompassing word. Amazing maybe?

Optimistic, always searching & striving for knowledge, open-minded, balanced, patient, humble, gracious, infectious, diplomatic, consistent, heart warming...geez, what planet are you from and how do I get there?

Truly a gift. Thank you for always being you and always being here.

[rgray222]

The reason that so many are so angry is that this how change is driven. It may take a very long time to play out and there may be the loss of life but some sort of transformation will happen. We have control over the change so it is important that we understand that we are setting the way forward for generations to come. Outside of war people rarely understand that they are living in an important time that will be written and spoken about for decades to come. What seems like madness to us is just the process playing out in slow motions. There is conflict, chaos, anger and fear happening every day. These are the ingredients that will create a way forward.

We have control of our day to day lives but the big picture is already set in stone. To an extent, we have free will but it is not absolute like most people think. You can ride or walk but you cannot stop Donald Trump from being president of the United States. You can go to work or you can stay at home but you cannot stop heightening anxiety around the globe. The world has never been without conflict or war somewhere on the planet. When we get rid of polio, whooping cough, smallpox and malaria we have HIV, SARS, Ebola and Influenza to deal with. This is not a coincidence it is just the way it was meant to be. It is out of our realm of influence.

The only time that we can affect change is when enough people get angry enough or if enough people covet the same fear, transformation can occur but not always for the best. We inherently know this truth even though we may not intellectualize it. That is why we are always looking for some power to blame..........the Illuminati, the Powers that be, governments, Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservative, the Rich, immigrants, blacks, whites etc.

Our strength and power come from unity and knowledge. When enough people unite behind their anger and/or fear change will happen. You can either jump and heighten the angst or you can try to guide the people around you to some sensible destination.

[Ernie Nemeth]

As an example of polorization, I offer my own recent experience. In my last post I alluded to the creation of a new supervisory position aimed at enforcing compliance with company protocols. This position has the outward appearance of a laudable effort of management to keep its workers safe. However, upon closer examination this turns out to be a cover for a much more selfish reason - to contain the exposure of management's disastrous handling of logistics in its own backyard, resulting in what was almost a loss of life but luckily was only the destruction of a vehicle the person was driving - as he managed to jump out of the vehicle before he was himself crushed.

Instead of the outside body that regulates and enforces safety standards being called in to investigate, they did an in house audit, and the new position of safety supervisor was instigated. This now results in finger pointing at the workers and their infringements but leaves management free of scrutiny and the company safe from fines and higher insurance rates. This is what I protest, the lie covering the truth.

So I threatened to quit if something was not done - that I refuse to work under such conditions. Meetings were hastily arranged; there was much chaos and confusion as various big wigs showed up. I do not claim any importance nor do I believe I cannot be replaced, but my job is not the ideal job for most electricians and they have had years of terrible experiences with mediocre talent. I was a surprise and a relief and a pretty good fit. I counted on that to carry the day.

I did not get all I wanted but I did get the concession that this person will no longer interrupt my work with admonitions and lectures but report infractions to my boss instead. Turns out, without my knowledge, I had been put in the repeat offenders category along with ten other men and I was being targeted. Infractions were being recorded without my input. When I demanded to know the specifics, they were not available.

I took today off to underline my annoyance and displeasure at yet again having been singled out and held up as an example of what happens to those who defy the rules - yet all the while I was well within the safety guidelines. Heck, a job like mine is all about safety - I keep workers safe by always thinking of them. Everything I do is driven by that primary concern. Safety is foremost on my mind at all times, so you can see how this whole scenario might have triggered my indignation.

Sometimes it is imperative to stand up to tyranny, even if only to be subjected to inconvenience and the possibility of financial ruin or worse.

My job has lost some of its appeal because of this incident...it may not be the last job I ever need to find after all.

I apologize for this long post but I think it does show how poor choices lead to polarizing events. Worker - management relations is at an all time low at work and this causes a threat to safety. Everybody is on edge as deadlines approach and the work force swells to keep up. There is little room and many high traffic areas prone to accidents. Five 25 ton cranes constantly in motion, drilling, sawing, cutting, grinding, welding - the noise is almost unbearable. Instead of painting lines demarking traffic lanes or roping/fencing off hazardous areas or many other pro-active possibilities, my company went the intimidation/threat route that only polarizes the workers and escalates the possibility of another serious accident.

That is what I resist. That is worth more than my job...

[Foxie Loxie]

Ascension....first, I would like to thank you for your kind words. I'll be glad to find out where I came from too!! :bigsmile: Let's just say that who I am today is a result of the "stuff" I have lived through. We each have come a different path to arrive where we are at this point in time!

Ernie....thanks for sharing your story with us. To have the courage & will to stand up to a situation is most commendable, to be sure!! :highfive: Please keep us advised as to how things go! :muscle:

[Pam]

I think that polarization - which is itself a false mental construct, a false dichotomy - is the result of fear. A part of (or consequence of) the 'fight or flight' response.

I see it as a deliberate technique (http://metanoia-films.org/human-resources/), applied en masse (http://metanoia-films.org/psywar/) to individuals by "the controllers", to both divide and conquer us, and to keep us all back on our heels (in self defense mode.) With the work of Edward Bernays and others, the controllers have mapped out human response (our biological flowchart of stimulus response), and have created a working method to force us to operate from our primitive "lizard brain" to act as a reactive, frightened individual, as opposed to operating from a cerebral perspective where we can 1.) see who they are and what they are doing, and 2.) to unify, become proactive, and take away their ability to control us.

Dennis, you hit the nail on the head. Whether anyone likes or dislikes Donald Trump, his presidency has been a catalyst to bring this agenda out into the light so that anyone that is willing to look will see the truth of this programming.