Watching the Reality Show

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by jaybee (here)
It's going to be a long 4 years here in the political threads on Avalon....
buckle up - batten down the hatches -

Made me laugh. And that's inspired me to start this new thread. (Thank you!)

I feel that we all may need to remember, each day if we can, that to some extent most of us are just following a kind of Reality Show.

We care about it, we anxiously await each new episode, we get absorbed in tying to understand the personalities and agendas of the characters, we get drawn into arguments about all this with people we love and respect, and often we feel outraged and angry, yet very little of what we get so worked up about impacts us personally in any way.

It's like being in the audience of one of Shakespeare's magnificent plays in London's Globe Theatre in the year 1600. The plays and performances were so rich and inspired that the audiences would become greatly involved and animated. And it was also pretty much the only way those people learned about the worlds of nobility, politics, and intrigues in remote lands like Italy or France.

Back to today in 2025, that's not to forget that real (and often innocent) human beings out there are suffering terribly in ways none of us might ever be able to imagine. And the health concerns relating to the covid shots (for example) are VERY real. Many Avalon members have been impacted in the most awful ways by this. (Do see this recent post, for example, which has touched me more than any geopolitical news story. )

But unless one has been affected by such health issues (ones that can truly tear our whole lives apart), or one lives on the US-Mexico border (as one or two Avalon members do), or in a hurricane-disaster zone (as one or two Avalon members also do) or in a crime-ridden inner city, or in a war zone like Donbass, Gaza, Damascus or southern Lebanon — and these are just a few examples of many — most of us are quite unaffected personally in our daily lives.

We're merely onlookers, gazing out of our window from a warm and comfortable room, at things that are happening elsewhere, often thousands of miles away.

I'll try to express myself further by zooming into the tiny details of my own simple and well-insulated life here. My well-being is affected by the weather, my relationship with my neighbors (and friends online around the world), my personal health and energy, the joy of my dog when hiking in the mountains, if my kitchen roof is leaking, and keeping my ancient 4x4 safely on the road. I have almost nothing around me that qualifies as a problem worthy of the name.

Yet every day I get drawn into searching online for updates on world and geopolitical events —‚just as if I was subscribed to a Netflix show.

My interest, and frequent very great concern and sense of involvement in humanity's enormous issues, is genuine.

But little or none of it touches me in any practical way.

thepainterdoug (Doug Auld)'s thread Is it all just EGO, "Team" and Tribe? ventured a small distance into the same territory.

I do feel this is a very clumsy post. But maybe some readers might be able to get behind my words to better understand what I'm trying to express. Does anyone reading this think they might know what I mean, or ever find themselves feeling the same way?

[Ewan]

I can only say I think I understand what you are trying to express and you seemed to do so quite well from my perspective.

I personally do not think like that and for some time now I have reminded myself that this really is all theatre and ultimately just distractions, and perhaps, more importantly - none of it matters. In a recent post here I mentioned how I became so disillusioned with the world, well some part of that healing process which followed seemed to anesthetize me to the drama. I never had the slightest interest in politics since I was at school so I guess that was a head start. I have never voted for any political party in any election. I did have at least a passing interest in the recent American elections, mostly because I felt it was critical the Democrats failed to secure another term.

When it comes to the suffering of fellow human's I have had to steel myself not to pay too much attention, my empathy meter would be off the guage. Was there ever a time period on this planet when some group or other were not suffering immensely? It's not a case of "I'm alright, Jack" but I struggle to explain further.

One has to presume the leaders of Europe have not gone collectively insane, which would point to a controlling hand; The WEF perhaps? Hopefully the madness and chaos all serve to wake thousands more from their slumbers but I would not put any money on that. We have been repeating the same mistakes since year dot. Then Putin himself was one of Scwab's Young Global Leaders, what to make of it all?

And so this post limps to a most disappointing whimper of an ending...

[Harmony]

I think with everyday that goes by we are being impacted by what is happening around us. The scripted reality show is there to hide the undercurrents of the agenas and factions competing in their nefarious games not caring about the devastation going on in every system that is hijacked to lever people and rules to be molded to wills of unseen manipulators. The more you understand, the more you can’t pretend really.


Looking at it from a bigger picture, even though that is still very small, there is hope that somehow things will fall into place if we stay strong within our selves and as a whole.


The intended breaking up of what we hold dear, and humanity itself is difficult to see. How can we not be affected? Is it possible that somehow we could end up with greater awareness, more open hearts, room for new spaces that hold new ways to navigate a world full of good souls and wholesome relationships could form? I don’t know, in someway we may really be in a reality show, one that really matters though when all is done before a new chapter begins.

[Yoda]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by jaybee (here)
It's going to be a long 4 years here in the political threads on Avalon....
buckle up - batten down the hatches -

Made me laugh. And that's inspired me to start this new thread. (Thank you!)

I feel that we all may need to remember, each day if we can, that to some extent most of us are just following a kind of Reality Show.

We care about it, we anxiously await each new episode, we get absorbed in tying to understand the personalities and agendas of the characters, we get drawn into arguments about all this with people we love and respect, and often we feel outraged and angry, yet very little of what we get so worked up about impacts us personally in any way.

It's like being in the audience of one of Shakespeare's magnificent plays in London's Globe Theatre in the year 1600. The plays and performances were so rich and inspired that the audiences would become greatly involved and animated. And it was also pretty much the only way those people learned about the worlds of nobility, politics, and intrigues in remote lands like Italy or France.

Back to today in 2025, that's not to forget that real (and often innocent) human beings out there are suffering terribly in ways none of us might ever be able to imagine. And the health concerns relating to the covid shots (for example) are VERY real. Many Avalon members have been impacted in the most awful ways by this. (Do see this recent post, for example, which has touched me more than any geopolitical news story. )

But unless one has been affected by such health issues (ones that can truly tear our whole lives apart), or one lives on the US-Mexico border (as one or two Avalon members do), or in a hurricane-disaster zone (as one or two Avalon members also do) or in a crime-ridden inner city, or in a war zone like Donbass, Gaza, Damascus or southern Lebanon — and these are just a few examples of many — most of us are quite unaffected personally in our daily lives.

We're merely onlookers, gazing out of our window from a warm and comfortable room, at things that are happening elsewhere, often thousands of miles away.

I'll try to express myself further by zooming into the tiny details of my own simple and well-insulated life here. My well-being is affected by the weather, my relationship with my neighbors (and friends online around the world), my personal health and energy, the joy of my dog when hiking in the mountains, if my kitchen roof is leaking, and keeping my ancient 4x4 safely on the road. I have almost nothing around me that qualifies as a problem worthy of the name.

Yet every day I get drawn into searching online for updates on world and geopolitical events —‚just as if I was subscribed to a Netflix show.

My interest, and frequent very great concern and sense of involvement in humanity's enormous issues, is genuine.

But little or none of it touches me in any practical way.

thepainterdoug (Doug Auld)'s thread Is it all just EGO, "Team" and Tribe? ventured a small distance into the same territory.

I do feel this is a very clumsy post. But maybe some readers might be able to get behind my words to better understand what I'm trying to express. Does anyone reading this think they might know what I mean, or ever find themselves feeling the same way?

I call my perception a "Sitcom". I know the Creation is Eternal. I see myself as an election observer. Everyone gets to vote for Eternity, in a positive, creative sense. The other side of the situation is the "Digital Gulag" where everyone and everything is under the total control of AI. At every moment of the day, we get to identify, and choose, do we dwell in despair or negative thoughts, or do we choose the brighter side of the journey. That's where the comedy comes in; we have eternity to get it right. There is collateral damage, but to graduate out of this level, the energy price of an evolved being is high, but worth it

[JackMcThorn]

I heard a message years ago that really changed my outlook. If we put all our problems in the center of the table; [so we could see everyone's problems] we would probably take our problems back. [Attributed to Regina Brett] When you realize your situation is manageable, life gets much easier.

The older I get the more detached I become from the 'Reality Show' because of the exact reason Bill mentioned; we are sort of just following it. We cannot influence it and we cannot ignore it. It will persist with and without us. Our opinions are often lost in the sea that is the Internet.

But I try to think; before I feel and I think [as many others generations near and far] that we indeed should enjoy that we 'live in interesting times'. And I do hope you find your problems, [your personal reality show] manageable.

[norman]

Because old-skool TV has almost never been a part of my life I might be getting hold of the wrong end of the stick here, or just having too big a problem with the word 'reality' in the title for some other autistic reason, but as much as I'm enthusiastic about this well orientated intuitive leap of Bill's to start this thread, I really hope we don't get captured by a subliminal assumption that what we are actually talking about is reality.

And, I think I could make a safe bet that the top floor TV gurus who dropped 'Reality TV' on the media consumption market didn't either.

[apokalypse]

don't know who in here into or have watched pro-wrestling but if think about it pretty much it all scripted behind the scenes with the drama having Heel(bad guy) vs Babyface(good guy). alot of times i find pro-wrestling aka WWE alot more real than what happen currently in this earth...lol. i always considered politics as reality show or pro-wrestling as I'm reading and researching politics over Trump saga...better than watching tv show plus entertaining.

[mountain_jim]

I often find myself disappointed in so many folks and posts taking whatever news and using that to support what I feel is the most negative outcome expectations for the shared reality future we are experiencing in these climactic times.

I myself, while following many of these events closely, and sharing much here that I resonate with, personally and spiritually feel a part of a slowly dawning Great Awakening, and am often overcome with positive feelings and deep peaceful optimism about how this plays out for all us souls here participating in the drama and enlightening our higher multiple-incarnation-selves in the process.

So the outcries concerning impending techocracy enslavement and/or cataclysmic earth changes don't move me emotionally very much at all - my soul is here for a participatory reason and Castenada's Don Juan teaching for Using your death as an advisor often works ok for me.

https://medium.com/mindfully-speakin...r-f229657c1b65

A Twist on a Toltec Teaching

One of the sayings of Don Juan, Carlos’ Castaneda’s teacher, was to use death as an advisor. The literal quote reads, “Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you’re about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you’re wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch.” ~Journey to Ixtlan

If a government and leadership tries to take away my mental and physical freedoms (which was happening quite strongly in the US up until recently, and is of course still in play), I will resist and fight that, to the very end of this lifetime, by vibrationally/imaginatively working to co-create the present and future I envision, with my remaining days/months/years here.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Posted by Ewan (here)
One has to presume the leaders of Europe have not gone collectively insane, which would point to a controlling hand; The WEF perhaps?

- definitely a controlling hand.

In many ways, what we're watching is an unreality show. But you really have to awake and aware to know that. For those that are, the fact that it's scripted has never been more obvious.

https://x.com/WallStreetMav/status/1896069582085042660

[Michi]

... and (perhaps) the greatest dumb reality show is the German government. Merz and Klingbeil (Source) are about to ditch the promised debt limit (Schuldenbremse) for spending 400 billion Euro for Army and Infrastructure investment.


It would maybe be funny to watch this - if it were a TV show but these guys are doing this for real!


I don't think, most of the Germans were so stupid believing the new politicians would fulfill their promises - no, most are just plain completely and utterly worshiping the media channels.

[Hermoor]

Posted by apokalypse (here)
don't know who in here into or have watched pro-wrestling but if think about it pretty much it all scripted behind the scenes with the drama having Heel(bad guy) vs Babyface(good guy). alot of times i find pro-wrestling aka WWE alot more real than what happen currently in this earth...lol. i always considered politics as reality show or pro-wrestling as I'm reading and researching politics over Trump saga...better than watching tv show plus entertaining.

A timely post Apokalypse and thank you.

Somebody very close to me is a big wrestling fan. I've been trying to wake the person up for decades, gently so, with patience and love. I used the wrestling approach a couple of days ago with the analogies of heels and faces; actors; pre-scripted pantomime; public brainwashing and all that.

My effort was not well received. I was so listless and dejected about it yesterday. It's very rare for me to feel so low. Onwards and upwards are the only directions I know.

This is the other 9/11 a lot of people don't know about. Daddy Bush formally announcing the NWO in public, precisely 11 years before the hellstorm in NY started another hellstorm over much of our world.

https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archi...ic-papers/2217

Terry Bollea and crew promoted the NWO in the mid 1990s. Of course the lower card jobbers weren't used to propagandise it. Never was the concept of Tavistock on steroids so apt.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wo...nal_wrestling)

This footage was just after the Butler rally work. The lickspittle whore Hogan's turn at the RNC was the stuff lobotomies are made of.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OvXMdb3akvk

[Michel Leclerc]

Watching the "Reality Show” is like the "wir haben es nicht gewusst” self-defence of German citizens &fter the Nazi hurricane. "All very nice”, I would have said to them, “and if you had known, would you then have done anything against it?”

We do not have even a semblance of ignorance. We know.

***

So far as I am concerned, guilt gnaws at me constantly. I do belong to the gilded billion, as President Putin calls the citizens of the West.

I do not believe the truthfulness of the figure of 10 million dead in the Congo, that the mostly Anglo-Saxon media have accused Belgian King Leopold II of in the 19th century of. Blackening the continental sheep who managed to carve for himself a colonial empire that could even rival with the British one suited them all too well.

But I do think half of that number is probable. To the extent that Belgium has never paid the Bantu civilisations of Congo blood money for its killing and maiming, it is still on my shoulders. Why should Germany have had to pay the harshest penalties for the first WW of which they only carried half of the guilt – or for the second world War: actually only the same half – and Belgium parade along without ever having to bear any responsibility? So, I think, it rests upon my shoulders. How much does a murdered human cost in today’s bloodmoney? 100,000 € maybe? Five million murdered Congolese upon the shoulders of about 11 million Belgians, that would amount to 45,000 € p.p. would it not? I cannot pay that amount of money. So there I am with my guilt, and my debt.

I do not watch a reality show. I watch a reality that keeps loading more and more guilt and debt upon my shoulders. Writing to friends, more or less explicitly weaving this guilt into practically everything that I have written ("a poet is a prophet”) has been to little avail. My godfathering a student in South America will amount to at most half that amount.

And now there has been the Ukraine war; codecided by my government. Killing 1 million young Ukrainians. I am co-responsible, with some 500 million Europeans, and some 500 million Five-eyes Anglosaxionians.

In a way my life is a long dance around this guilt and debt. It is about surviving guilt and debt.

There is no reality show for me. There is only reality.

[Valknut3301]

This type of sentiment is an example of why I have so much respect for Bill, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.

I believe that so much of what we're shown in media, whether real or fabricated, is simply vapid attempts to distract us from those things which are truly important: Love; compassion; interpersonal understanding; gratitude and; forgiveness, to name a few. It's an attempt to churn up our more base instincts of tribalism and keep our fear response working overtime. It keeps us compliant, even complacent in the face of horrific things, all because we are comfortable and uninvolved personally.

But, at the same time, there are things happening we aren't even aware of (because these things haven't been deemed 'important' enough for our consumption, or they aren't deemed a useful enough distraction), and these things aren't effecting us in any way whatsoever, at least not that we're aware of. Why are we concerned about those events which we're told about, but not the ones we aren't? What's the difference?

I'm reminded of an interview with Tom Araya, bassist and singer for the band Slayer. He was asked (by a very young fan, I believe he was something like 12 at the time) if he thought the human race was going to make it. His answer surprised me and at the same time gave me an added amount of respect for Tom. He said (and I'm paraphrasing here), 'No. We're determined to kill ourselves and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. But I'll tell you what you can do, kid. You've got some great parents (They were present for the interview), they're helping you live your dreams and do the things you love doing. You can't stop mankind from nuking itself into oblivion, but what you can do is take care of your parents. Do for them what they're doing for you right now. Make sure they're happy and healthy and give them all the love they give you.'

In short, Tom Araya's message was this: Focus on the people around you, treat everyone you meet with love. Don't focus on things you can't control because they'll just end up controlling you instead. I agree with that and it's how I try to live.

Thanks for the thread Bill

[I am B]

It is a show and a pantomime, and most ultimately one is a free soul with free will (although always endangered)

But it sucks that everthing is increasingly more expensive and worse, endles impersonal beaurocracy, not being able to go to work in my older car because "it pollutes more", and the general corruption of even the lower strates of politics and society.

And that "show" is what keeps everyone entertained and compliant, preventing change.

Can I turn my back aganist it? and do my own things my own way, being self sufficient? Sure, and it is in fact my way of protest.

But that doesn't change the fact hat we live in a society and we have to deal with a system that is close to inevitable, and running after you.

[Bill Ryan]

This is a bit of a placeholder. I'd like to say a little more, but it's a potentially sensitive topic and so I feel I need to think carefully about how I might best express a few more thoughts about this.

Edit to add, the next day:

Okay, let me try to say a little more. I'm not sure everyone fully understood my first post, which may have been my own doing. So here's my best effort to expand a little:

1. Nothing about 'Watching the Reality Show' is trivial.
2. It's not fake, or false, or acted, or scripted, and terrible things happen to real people every day all round the world.

What I'm really pointing to is our own social-media-driven response to all this. We watch all this happening, staring, often in some horror, like car drivers slowing down to see everything they can of a wreck by the side of the highway.

We're captivated by the drama, the controversy, the unanswered questions, the many iniquities and unspeakable, abusive unfairnesses.

I'm no exception. I don't have a smartphone, and spend a lot of my time outdoors (also unconnected with anything except the environment outside when I'm driving). But even so, I check my laptop each morning over coffee to see what's new in the world... those new things almost always thousands of miles away, events which could never impact me personally.

I'd never have any idea about any of this if it weren't for 20-times-a-day social media updates, as almost none of these things would ever affect my life in any way. (But I do of course understand that some issues, just one example of many being the threatened introduction of Digital ID in the UK, do indeed affect some Avalon members personally and substantially. )

If it weren't for the 24/7/365 social media Reality Show, I'd never know any of this was happening. Yet somehow I feel compelled to keep up to date with all the daily breaking news.

The most crude, insensitive way I could express this is that much of this is seems to be a kind of addictive, gruesome entertainment.

Of course, I always follow all the Avalon threads focused on natural beauty, animals, nature, sports, mountaineering, health and wellness, psychology, spiritual experiences, the human condition, and the like. And even about cultural affairs in Africa, which I know very well having spent a lot of time there. Also UFOs and ETs, which I know I have some connection with.

I can relate strongly and personally to all of the above — but war and politics are all unknown to me this lifetime. Yet war and politics make up a very great deal of the Reality Show content. I suspect that there's a strong connection with why so many movies and successful TV series are focused on exactly that. Attention on war and politics is probably, at least to some extent, somehow hardwired into the human DNA.

~~~

I still feel that the above is somewhat clumsy and not that well expressed. I asked this before when I started the thread... but can anyone reading this relate to what I'm trying to say?

[Eric J (Viking)]

Oh yes…totally Bill

I am wondering whats going on with all these peace talks around the world.

Peace now confirmed with Israel / Palestinians. All over the news here in Uk. So far 8 wars have now been halted due to Trump’s peace talks. And now rumours that Trump now has a meeting with Putin this Friday 🤷‍♂️.

Is this for real or all show for the reality show. Something going on behind the scenes.? ie off planet communications…enough is enough we need to get our act together globally or we’re done. Who knows, I'm sure it will all pan out in the next few months. 🍿 I feel a massive shift but who knows. 🤷‍♂️

[Yoda]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)


I still feel that the above is somewhat clumsy and not that well expressed. I asked this before when I started the thread... but can anyone reading this relate to what I'm trying to say?

Bill, there is a book called "the Art of Selfishness". At first it contradicted all my christian "brother's keeper" upbringing. Now I understand that I must achieve a certain interest, but not feel that I must intervene, unless invited in. A friend says occasionally "not my monkey, not my circus".

[Isserley]

Bill, It is well expressed & I can relate for sure.
Situation described is part of human condition and the zeitgeist we live in.

Humans weight negative events more heavily than positive ones because avoiding harm mattered for survival. Losses, threats, and errors produce stronger, longer-lasting responses than equivalent gains. Negative events also accelerates learning.

Consequence: bad news captures more attention and is remembered better, so people seek it out and share it more which can result in societies becoming pessimism-skewed: disproportionate fear, policy overreaction, or cynicism.

The Internet has made everything available 24/7. People are naturally curious, and social media creators know this all too well. They also know that we are not well-equipped to protect ourselves from the amount of (bad) information we are served on a daily basis.

Solution: We need to evolve and learn how to cope with the overwhelming amount of bad info by not looking at it constantly or it will destroy us.

Which reminds me of an old testament story when God instructed Lot and his family not to look back as they fled Sodom, warning them not to stop in the plain or look behind them, lest they be swept away. Lot’s wife disobeyed this command and looked back at the burning city of Sodom, resulting in her being turned into a pillar of salt.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't watch Sodom and Gomorrah burn, but I can't help but feel that watching it every day and taking perverse pleasure in it will cost us a piece of our soul.

[Arcturian108]

Posted by Isserley (here)
Bill, It is well expressed & I can relate for sure.
Situation described is part of human condition and the zeitgeist we live in.

Humans weight negative events more heavily than positive ones because avoiding harm mattered for survival. Losses, threats, and errors produce stronger, longer-lasting responses than equivalent gains. Negative events also accelerates learning.

Consequence: bad news captures more attention and is remembered better, so people seek it out and share it more which can result in societies becoming pessimism-skewed: disproportionate fear, policy overreaction, or cynicism.

The Internet has made everything available 24/7. People are naturally curious, and social media creators know this all too well. They also know that we are not well-equipped to protect ourselves from the amount of (bad) information we are served on a daily basis.

Solution: We need to evolve and learn how to cope with the overwhelming amount of bad info by not looking at it constantly or it will destroy us.

Which reminds me of an old testament story when God instructed Lot and his family not to look back as they fled Sodom, warning them not to stop in the plain or look behind them, lest they be swept away. Lot’s wife disobeyed this command and looked back at the burning city of Sodom, resulting in her being turned into a pillar of salt.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't watch Sodom and Gomorrah burn, but I can't help but feel that watching it every day and taking perverse pleasure in it will cost us a piece of our soul.

Absolutely correct understanding of what much of humanity is currently experiencing. I have started to wean myself from the internet, and have begun returning to previous hobbies to compete with screen time.

[sdv]

I would recommend following the Earthshot Prize. Across the world, there are amazing, mostly young, people finding ways to regenerate where we have done harm and protect from future harm, without compromising our standard of living. Attention to this project is minimal, and much of it is about if Catherine will attend the award ceremony or not, what she will wear, and how Meghan and Harry will try and upstage any event.