Who isn't under some monumental delusion or other? As it looks to me, most of us are under a whole load of them. I know I have a few - even when my intention is to eliminate them - that is, the one's I don't need to sustain some kind of sanity. And I eliminate them by investigating and homing-in on whatever seems nearest the truth behind some issue. Not easy when, quite apart from naturalistic delusions such as believing in one's invulnerability, there's whole armies of self-deluded propagandists out there intent on promoting whatever delusions they've chosen to adopt.
Together with several other common delusions, I've already addressed perhaps the most absurd of all - RELIGION - and included links to more articulate commentators than me (See too this 4-minute proof that even believers are atheists). But how is it possible, I ask, in these days of science, technology, cosmology, of understanding the self-evident nature of evolution, of brain function and death, of recognising our propensity for forming elite groups, our incessant greed and thirst for wealth and power... but above all our insatiable capacity for deceiving and our vulnerability to self-deception... how is it, against all this, that anyone can still claim to believe in any of those old worn-out fairy tale gods, spirits, devils, afterlife and all the associated humbug and tripe? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE for anyone but a retard?
Ancient ethics and moral codes, some of which will always apply, though many are outdated - like the ten commandments, for instance, or rules of Islam - may well contain a level of sense. But the supernatural aspect that ordains the existence of some kind of god and afterlife is such obvious nonsense that I repeat: only a complete numbskull - once beyond the age of reason (~12 or 13) - could possibly believe it. There's no evidence for it, yet there's a wealth against.
All that aside, there are other - even more destructive - delusions that currently loom prominent. How is it, I continually wonder, with countries like Somalia suffering unprecedented drought, the USA suffering unprecedentedly high temperatures, low-lying coastal areas and islands like the Maldives slowly submerging... the list goes on... how is it with so many huge consequences of climate change, that airlines are still allowed to operate without restraint, that >80-milluion barrels of oil are allowed to be burned every day by anyone who cares to buy it, that methane and CO2-producing industries are allowed to continue their outpourings...?
CAN NO ONE SEE THE INEVITABLE CATASTROPHE AHEAD?
All the petty squabbles, such as the wars in Afghanistan & Libya, the so-called Arab Spring, etc. are nothing in comparison with what will happen when the environmental time-bomb begins to explode.
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As to the riots... (in London and elsewhere in the UK)... the reaction of disillusioned youth who've noticed that the Establishment have voiced their opposition to any kind of reprisal against the sharks who plundered £bns - ie, 'BANKER-BASHING' - while one of theirs get 6-months in the slammer for nicking a bottle of water. And they've noticed how a hypocritical UK government (which most represents the rich corporate elite) is acting like a feral mob itself in bombing and destroying and murdering and plundering around the world: Iraq, Libya... All fine examples of violent extremism, no less! The disillusioned also notice, I imagine, that their only prospect is to become lifelong slave fodder to that rich corporate elite - engaged in some unrewarding toil for a minimum-wage that's impossible to live on.... or else to land on the scrap-heap of perpetual 'job-seeking'... a future not worth a rap... and bound to evoke either abject resignation and apathy or radical aggression...
How is it these disaffected people haven't reacted before? How is it they don't react more vigorously against the exploitation they suffer or anticipate? How is it they don't attack businesses with even greater venom - since the very concept of BUSINESS (in their experience) is of a ruthless corporate rip-off elite that has become the most dominating force in society, and on which the system has made the hapless rioters largely dependent
To riot may be irrational - most of the culprits can't even articulate why they did it, though intuitively they must know well enough: they have yet to intellectualise their justified outrage, and perhaps their downtrodden circumstances preclude a more constructive response? But if so, who's to blame for that?
Beside £bns of profits constantly announced by giant oil corporations, banks and outfits like Tesco - almost, it seems, as if to provoke public resentment... because all those £bns originate from the meagre scrapings of us public, not least from those rioters (and others whose circumstances are similar, and who share the disaffections, but are disinclined to riot) - is it any wonder there's a powerful reaction? Each rioter, probably, represents many thousands who are either too scared to riot or don't see it as a solution.
Food and accommodation prices have rocketed in recent times; but what about the income of people such as the rioters? Beside this, the most attacked of those 'corporate' retail outfits, advertise, promote and flaunt all kinds of weird fashions and gadgets that are designed above all to taunt young people - their biggest market. Most of it is trash, we know, but these retailers charge vastly inflated prices and make huge profits - just so a handful of fat-cats can drive Ferraris, sail the Med in luxury yachts, and sit on a balcony overlooking Monte Carlo sipping Champagne....
What can anyone expect from such a scenario? You don't need a psychologist to spell it out.
But of course, isn't this precisely what the elite, representatives of the corporate rulers (otherwise known these days as 'coalition government') intend? Doesn't it justify a stronger police force, more draconian laws, tighter social control, a more effective net of enslavement? How long before these rulers attempt to control all communications: blackberry, phone texts and email - together with internet social-communication sites?
THOUGH PROBABLY TRANSIENT, AND FAR LESS LETHAL, THIS FOREWARNS OF ANOTHER POTENTIAL CATASTROPHE - ASSUMING THE ELITE PREVAIL (and who doubts they will?).
Yet, despite everything, I remain optimistic - that is, for beyond the year ~2400. At least somewhere on the planet is likely to be temperate in 2400. Between now and then, who knows? As I see it, the current situation promises a century or two of untold turmoil (well, that link shows my take on it) - which will begin when world human population of non-third-world countries exceeds the number there that can be fed - maybe somewhere around 2050-2080 at a rough guess... assuming, of course, the corporate elite continue to rule supreme. Only if they don't, might havoc be avoided.
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.AUGUST---2011 
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