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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Choose Your Trances Carefully - 6

About that civilization virus
I. The Stage

Academics know that the word "civilization" has been "doublespoken" by violent propaganda (Life under the Chief Doublespeak Officer, cf. The New Doublespeak: Why No OneKnows What Anyone's Saying Anymore, New White Trash: Doublewide Doublespeak).

Way too many American English words also have been doublespoken, which is a deadly phenomenon (Good Nomenclature: A Matter of Life and Death).

Honest language is an essential essence to alleviate shadowy notions that have been injected into the word "civilization."

Yes, like with a "coffee" cup that we can pour many liquids besides coffee into, some poisonous some not, we can doublespeak words until they also become poisonous.

II. "Worse Than Previously Thought"

If you think that "civilization" has only one meaning, and that one meaning equates to nothing but good, to the point that nothing cataclysmic can go wrong, then please explain what the once upon a time most-often-quoted historian had to say about the subject:
"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown."
(A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee). May I ask: "if murder and suicide are the common thread of civilizations past, what pray tell does "civilization" mean then?

It is true that the word has meant different things to different people, such as one celebrated American, Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Emerson’s later work, such as The Conduct of Life (1860), favored a more moderate balance between individual nonconformity and broader societal concerns. He advocated for the abolition of slavery and continued to lecture across the country throughout the 1860s.

By the 1870s the aging Emerson was known as “the sage of Concord.” Despite his failing health, he continued to write, publishing Society and Solitude in 1870 and a poetry collection titled Parnassus in 1874.

Emerson died on April 27, 1882, in Concord. His beliefs and his idealism were strong influences on the work of his protégé Henry David Thoreau and his contemporary Walt Whitman, as well as numerous others. His writings are considered major documents of 19th-century American literature, religion and thought.
(Bio). Emerson influenced Thoreau, Whitman, and other respected academics and non-academics alike.

So, why did Emerson say:
The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.”
(Ralph Waldo Emerson). In the 19th Century he perceived something, discovered something, or observed something that gave him a disconcerting understanding of the future of "civilization."

It was no light matter to him, because he came to the point of seeing "civilization" as the destroyer of the human species.

Scientists of the day had access to the same evidence that Emerson analyzed, but like scientists and poets today, they did not have a unified understanding of the essential meaning of "civilization":
"Darwin relied on much the same evidence for evolution that Lamarck did ..." - Understanding Evolution

One would say that [man] is destined to exterminate himself after having rendered the globe uninhabitable.” - Lamarck (1817)

(See Genesis: The Evolution of Biology, by Jan Sapp, p. 274, fn. 14; quoting from Lamark's writings)

"Lastly, I could show fight on natural selection having done and doing more for the progress of civilisation than you seem inclined to admit. Remember what risks nations of Europe ran, not so many centuries ago, of being overwhelmed by the Turks, and how ridiculous such an idea now is! The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of the lower races [Chuck was a tad-bit racist eh?] will have been eliminated by the higher civilized races throughout the world." - Charles Darwin (1881)
(emphasis added). So, those who studied biology came to different conclusions about the meaning of "civilization" (e.g. Lamarck essentially agreeing with Emerson, but not so much so with Darwin).

Darwin thought that social evolution would purify "civilization" by exterminating the "inferior, less evolved" races.

As to mystics, Gandhi implied that "civilization" is a good idea if ever attained: "What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea" (Mahatma Gandhi).

Yet, Gandhi did not base his observation of "civilization" on a militaristic dominance: "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated" (Mahatma Gandhi).

The doublespeak concerning "civilization" seems to be both an ancient as well as a modern phenomenon.

III. Civilization Is a Group

The double-mindedness concerning the meaning of the word "civilization" may have been based on, and still may be based on, observations of group dynamics.

For example, “Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Evidently "the father of Psychoanalysis" came to see that there is something to Nietzsche's observation:
"If the evolution of civilization has such a far-reaching similarity with the development of an individual, and if the same methods are employed in both, would not the diagnosis be justified that many systems of civilization—or epochs of it—possibly even the whole of humanity—have become neurotic under the pressure of the civilizing trends? To analytic dissection of these neuroses, therapeutic recommendations might follow which could claim a great practical interest. I would not say that such an attempt to apply psychoanalysis to civilized society would be fanciful or doomed to fruitlessness. But it behooves us to be very careful, not to forget that after all we are dealing only with analogies, and that it is dangerous, not only with men but also with concepts, to drag them out of the region where they originated and have matured. The diagnosis of collective neuroses, moreover, will be confronted by a special difficulty. In the neurosis of an individual we can use as a starting-point the contrast presented to us between the patient and his environment which we assume to be normal. No such background as this would be available for any society similarly affected; it would have to be supplied in some other way. And with regard to any therapeutic application of our knowledge, what would be the use of the most acute analysis of social neuroses, since no one possesses power to compel the community to adopt the therapy? In spite of all these difficulties, we may expect that one day someone will venture upon this research into the pathology of civilized communities.
...
Men have brought their powers of subduing the forces of nature to such a pitch that by using them they could now very easily exterminate one another to the last man. They know this——hence arises a great part of their current unrest, their dejection, their mood of apprehension."
(Civilization And Its Discontents, p. 39-40, PDF, emphasis added). Senator Lindsey Graham recently broke the ice and diagnosed his group as "batshit crazy" (US News).

Perhaps we need more of that type of analysis, because, for example The Romney's personal diagnosis of the election success of The Donald results in blaming the votes of a multitude of voters on an individual, i.e., on The Donald.

The notion of "group analysis" that Freud advocated would come to a different diagnosis.

It would likely diagnose the group of voters as neurotic, the same group that Senator Graham diagnosed as "batshit crazy" (cf. The Donald University vs. The Lord GOP University).

IV. Culture Is A Group Phenomenon

The essence of "culture" can be dealt with effectively in the same manner because it is a group characteristic and dynamic too:
That paper should now be seriously considered because it seeks to analyze some of the behavior in the terms that Dredd Blog has advocated for a few years now.

We have been arguing that such analysis would be more likely to lead to revelations of systemic dysfunction, then hopefully lead to remedies:
In this theoretically informed study I explore the broader cultural changes that created the conditions for the credit crisis of 2008. Drawing on psychoanalysis and its application to organizational and social dynamics, I develop a theoretical framework around the notion of a manic culture, comprised of four aspects: denial; omnipotence; triumphalism; and over-activity. I then apply this to the credit crisis and argue that the events of 2008 were preceded by an incubation period lasting for over two decades during which a culture of mania developed. Then, focusing especially on the Japanese and South East Asia/LTCM crises, I argue that a series of major ruptures in capitalism during this incubation period served not as warnings, but as opportunities for a manic response, thereby dramatically increasing the risks involved. I also argue that this mania was triggered and strengthened by triumphant feelings in the West over the collapse of communism. I suggest therefore that this manic culture played a significant role in creating the conditions for the problems that led to the credit crisis.
(A Culture of Mania, by Dr. Mark Stein, 2011, emphasis added). A free PDF of the entire paper is available for download.

Dr. Stein goes through the structural components of mania sequentially applying those components to the cognition and behavior of professionals in a group, an organization, which qualifies as a meme complex.
(When You Are Governed By Psychopaths - 2). Senator Graham boiled it down, while Dr. Stein elaborated at length.

Both psychoanalysts were quite effective.

V. Conclusion

I think I have made the point by using the words that have been seriously given to us by observers down through time.

And upon occasion, I have also used words of a more recent, but equally availing nature:
People'd call, say,"Beware doll, you're bound to fall."
You thought they were all kiddin' you
(Like A Rolling Stone). The study of the foggy concept of "civilization" ends up revealing a trance or two, which are hopefully useful to ponder.

So, from now on: Choose Your Trances Carefully !

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

The Donald University vs. The Lord GOP University

Why is duct tape & platic on sale?
I have to give V.P. Biden credit for, from his political perspective, answering the question "what do you think of the Republican primary?" with the answer "It is a gift from the lord."

I also have to give credit to a commentor who made a comment on my criticism of the GOP heavyweights for not allowing their people to vote for the GOP candidate of their choice (Doomer Tuesday).

That commenter wrote "Look for the GOP voting school to evolve" (comment by Randy).

Today, First Professor of The GOP University, Gov. Mitt Romney, delivered his first lecture on "How To Vote Properly and please the Lord GOP."

I can't say that I disagreed with the obvious things he indicated in that lecture, but I saw through it for what it was.

They are trying to save their majority in the Senate.

The Donald can stop that along with losing the presidential race for them.

Who the democratic nominee will be is equally clouded with intrigue.

Will Hill be indicted like the war hero General Betray Us Petraeus was?

Or Will Hill's speeches extolling the virtues of Wall Street be kept secret?

That is our homework assignment.

This collapse of the minds of Americans is only beginning, as I have indicated for a while:
... it is possible that we are beginning to see the national manifestations of our massive practice of deceit in our nation, because deceit removes reality from the target to be deceived, and not being aware of reality is otherwise known as dementia.

In essence then, when governments, businesses, and those behind them decide to deceive the people "for their own good", they are actually injecting dementia into the populace.

With the massive technologies we have for spreading deceit "through the air waves", we can even say that the disease has become airborne, which usually strikes terror into the hearts of the Center For Disease Control, because that brings on pandemics of the untreatable kind.

But there are obviously times when entire nations "go crazy", and do strange things. Things like attacking other nations for no sound reason, or becoming inexplicably belligerent, or the like.

There is a large amount of data indicating that the amygdala, a particular structure in the brain, is strongly involved during the learning of "conditioned" fear ... distinct neuronal circuits within the central nucleus of the amygdala ... are specifically involved in acquisition and control of behavioural fear responses ... researchers have recently discovered that ... prolonged activation of this defense system may lead to emotional disorders.

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!

We have noted that the primary thrust of this series is a focus on the dementia of cultures, societies, or civilizations, rather than a focus on the essence of individual forms of dementia, except of course, where those forms are indistinguishable in some significant way.

For a spark of clarity, let me first say that one example of "social dementia" would be a well known social dynamic called "social darwinism", which is touched upon from another angle in the Dredd Blog post "Ayn Rand: Patron Saint of The Plutocracy."

So then, don't these factors beg the question, "why don't the people know about this?", which leads to the answer: epic propaganda programs designed to deceive the people.

The damage in the form of dementia has been done, and still is being done to the U.S. citizenry.

“There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution.”

"It is critical for people with dementia and their families to receive information, care, and support as early as possible. To help family members and health care professionals recognize warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s Association has developed this checklist of common symptoms."

Some observers see this dementia originating in the early 20th century when government or those behind government perceived a need to control the people, but realized that they could not do it by physical means.

Thus they took to propaganda in an effort to control the minds rather than use physical control.

Eventually this led to a mega-industry of businesses whose function was to deceive the people into believing something other than the truth of events occurring around them.

This series is about the paranoia that begins with the official propaganda of fear, then spreads through the entire society.

With damaging results.

Today we take a look at the impact of paranoia on our national government.

The case we look at is one where the minds of officials become so warped and blinded they act as if they were carelessly firing into a crowd of innocent people.

Evidence also seems to indicate that the leaders of a superpower, when not countered by another major power, when lacking an arms race to run or territory and influence to contest, may be particularly susceptible to the growth of delusional thinking, and in particular to fantasies of omnipotence.
...
Just as still water is a breeding ground for mosquitos, so single-superpowerdom seems to be a breeding ground for delusion. This is a phenomenon about which we have to be cautious, since we know little enough about it and are, of course, in its midst. But so far, there seem to have been three stages to the development of whatever delusional process is underway.
...
... no one can look at Planet Earth today and not see that the single superpower, while capable of creating instability and chaos, is limited indeed in its ability to control developments.  Its president can't even form a "coalition of the willing" to launch a limited series of missile attacks on the military facilities of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.  From Latin America to the Greater Middle East, the American system is visibly weakening, while at home, inequality and poverty are on the rise, infrastructure crumbles, and national politics is in a state of permanent “gridlock.”

Such a world should be fantastical enough for the wildest sort of dystopian fiction, for perhaps a novel titled 2014. What, after all, are we to make of a planet with a single superpower that lacks genuine enemies of any significance and that, to all appearances, has nonetheless been fighting a permanent global war with ... well, itself -- and appears to be losing?

This series has been about the government and business miscalculating the detrimental impact that their propaganda has on the public.

They evidently do not think that using misinformation, lies, and other forms of propaganda to control and manipulate the public has an adverse impact on the public.

Let's hope that is the case, instead of the alternative, which would be that they deliberately damage the minds of the populace with falsehood.

And with regard to any therapeutic application of our knowledge, what would be the use of the most acute analysis of social neuroses, since no one possesses power to compel the community to adopt the therapy? In spite of all these difficulties, we may expect that one day someone will venture upon this research into the pathology of civilized communities.
...
Men have brought their powers of subduing the forces of nature
to such a pitch that by using them they could now very easily exterminate one another to the last man. They know this——hence arises a great part of their current unrest, their dejection, their mood of apprehension.
...
"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown."
(Etiology of Social Dementia, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). I took a quote from each post of that series so you can get the flavor of it.

The GOP has been driving their people crazy for a long time, now they turn on a dime and want them to become sane all of a sudden.

This when it is seemingly too late.

What would it matter anyway?

Is it the Iraq or Libya murderous frenzies that they have done in our sight driving us over the edge?

Clue: they have been this way "forever," and will only get worse (S.Ct Eugenics).

There is a spot-on methaphor which applies (Iraqi Dam danger).

The bottom line is that civilization is, like Greenland and Antarctica, melting from deep down rather than all at the surface.

And like America, is also melting from "the everywhere."

It is exactly because the epigovernment that rules us, has it exactly wrong:
THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses to take toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons — a trifling fraction of our hundred and twenty [now 320] million — who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
...
It is the purpose of this book to explain the structure of the mechanism which controls the public mind, and to tell how it is manipulated by the special pleader who seeks to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity. It will attempt at the same time to find the due place in the modern democratic scheme for this new propaganda and to suggest its gradually evolving code of ethics and practice.
(Etiology of Social Dementia - 9, quoting the premier American propagandist, Edward Bernays). Suing them in desperation makes nice words, but makes no difference (Hansen on his lawsuit vs gov; Usufruct Declaration, PDF).



Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Doomer Tuesday

The Twain
I. The Hilarity Manifests

As I said yesterday, "doomer" to me means those who, down through time, have brought doom to civilization (Doomers and Doomer Watchers).

Today, as usual I am watching the doomers, since I am a "doomer watcher."

Their out of the closet frivolity, which, according to some pundits, they extol as a virtue of democracy,  is said to be unprecedented.

For example, various heavyweights in the GOP have decided that "the voters" (their base constituency) no longer know how to vote properly (Republican Party’s Desperate Mission to Stop Donald Trump, The Republican Party’s plan to stop Trump? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

"When you voted me in you were on top of your game, but in this election cycle you have gone over the edge" seems to be their observation of current events.

II. The Nitty Gritty

If the voters do not vote for the right candidate (who is not The Donald), then those GOP heavyweights will put up another candidate to stump and stomp on The Donald.

In other words it is ok for GOP Americans to vote, so long as they vote for the chosen one.

The One chosen by the party heavyweights.

It is as if they are chiding their folks for not realizing that their votes are just a charade.

III. The High School Recess

It reminds me of some of the bully conversations that take place when Duke Nukem types answer the bell and go out on the playground at recess.

Such as,  "when I want your opinion, I will beat it out of you."

It must be like that during elections in Bullshitistan.

IV. The Hypocrisy

These guys actually talk about the constitution, democracy, fair elections, and the rest of their trances, as they chastise their voters for not voting correctly.

"You are not voting correctly if you vote for anyone we do not approve of" is their version of American Democracy now.

This, following the voter suppression in states that have GOP governors and legislatures.

This, following recent court rulings which held that their way of election fraud through gerrymandering is a no-no.

You can't make this up folks, it is too bizarre.

V. Tits For Tats

On the other side of the coin, the vice-chair of the DNC resigned to support one of their candidates, because the alternative candidate was a warmonger of sorts.

BTW, I am in a hurry because I have to go vote.

This year I am going dressed up in full costume as Mark Twain.

I will be quoting some of his sayings to my fellow play pretenders at the party as I vainly select the next savior:
"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself."

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."

"Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about."

"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not."

"The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little."
(Brainy Quotes). One quote from The Donald and I'll wrap it: "One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace, good people don't go into government" (ibid).

VI. Conclusion

The gravamen of this situation unfolding before our eyes has been written about.

One Dredd Blog series warned about the practice of deceit as a way of government (Etiology of Social Dementia, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13).

It boils down to: if you drive your people crazy, then thereafter expect them to behave sanely, as it turns out you are the crazy ones.




Monday, February 29, 2016

Doomers and Doomer Watchers

Doomer Duke
To my way of thinking, "doomers" are those who, down through time, engage in activities that bring doom to civilizations.

"Doomer watchers" are those who have the ability to identify the activities of those groups that are bringing doom upon civilization.

The fundamental nature of doomers is murderous activity of the depraved-heart-murder type (Oil-Qaeda & MOMCOM Conspire To Commit Depraved-Heart Murder, 2, 3).

But remember, I am writing about murder and murder-suicide  on a civilization-wide scale (MOMCOM's Mass Suicide & Murder Pact, 2, 3, 4, 5),

According to the historian who was the most-often-quoted at one time, murderous policy is the "norm" for civilizations:
"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown." - A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee
Others in our culture have somehow also picked up on this peculiar and counter-intuitive dynamic:
The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Men have brought their powers of subduing the forces of nature to such a pitch that by using them they could now very easily exterminate one another to the last man. They know this --hence arises a great part of their current unrest, their dejection, their mood of apprehension." - Sigmund Freud

Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

"In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive." - Jesus Christ @ Mat. 24:22
Prescience is a mysterious dynamic isn't it (What Kind of Intelligence Is Prescience?, 2) !

There seems to be a general consensus among doomer watchers that there are currently two main ways for the doom of current civilization to take place (The Right Is Wrong - 3).

The doomers can destroy us via either environmental catastrophe or by nuclear catastrophe.

I have commented on the former quite a bit lately, so I thought that today I would bring up the dangers building up on the nuclear side of doom:
When President Barack Obama took questions from reporters on Tuesday, the one that needed to be asked – but wasn’t – was whether he had forbidden Turkey and Saudi Arabia to invade Syria, because on that question could hinge whether the ugly Syrian civil war could spin off into World War III and possibly a nuclear showdown.

If Turkey (with hundreds of thousands of troops massed near the Syrian border) and Saudi Arabia (with its sophisticated air force) follow through on threats and intervene militarily to save their rebel clients, who include Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, from a powerful Russian-backed Syrian government offensive, then Russia will have to decide what to do to protect its 20,000 or so military personnel inside Syria.

A source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that the Russians have warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons if necessary to save their troops in the face of a Turkish-Saudi onslaught. Since Turkey is a member of NATO, any such conflict could quickly escalate into a full-scale nuclear confrontation.
(Consortium News, emphasis added). Here is some of the scoop on Parry @ Consortium News.

Putin was talking about "tactical" nuclear weapons in the possession of the 20,000 some-odd Russian military folks now in Syria.

But, since the U.S. Military has forged and fashioned a faith-based policy believing that a nuclear war can be "won" (Paul Craig Roberts), thereby joining other clueless military mental midgets around the snoozing global civilization, let's consider who is most likely to provoke the dynamics involved in that fantasy.

Historically the most equipped and manned militarized nations are the most likely to use military power, so here is a look at the navies of those gangs:
"[#1] United States

First place on the list is no surprise: the United States Navy. The U.S. Navy has the most ships by far of any navy worldwide. It also has the greatest diversity of missions and the largest area of responsibility.

No other navy has the global reach of the U.S. Navy, which regularly operates in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa. The U.S. Navy also forward deploys ships to Japan, Europe and the Persian Gulf."
...
[#2] China

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has come a long way in the last 25 years. The spectacular growth of the Chinese economy, which fueled a tenfold defense-budget increase since 1989, has funded a modern navy. From a green-water navy consisting of obsolete destroyers and fast attack boats, the PLAN has grown into a true blue-water fleet.
...
[#3] Russia

Third on our list is the Russian Navy. Although traditionally a land power, Russia inherited the bulk of the Soviet Navy at the end of the Cold War. This aging force is at the core of the current Russian Navy, with more ships and fleet-wide improvements slowly being introduced. The Russian Navy has proven useful to show the flag and shore up flagging Russian power worldwide.
...
[#4] The United Kingdom

This list catches the Royal Navy at a historic ebb in firepower. Like much of the British Armed Forces, the Royal Navy has seen successive waves of equipment and personnel cuts. The recent retirement of two Invincible-class aircraft carriers and the Sea Harriers of the Fleet Air Arm have greatly reduced the Royal Navy’s abilities. Nuclear firepower, as well as future aircraft-carrier plans earn it fourth place on the list.
...
[#5] Japan

The fifth navy on this list is unusual, because technically, it is not really a navy. Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force (MSDF) is not a military force; its personnel are civil servants, not sailors. Largely under the radar, Japan has built up one of the largest, most-advanced and professionally manned naval forces in the world.
(Five largest navies). Note that the U.S. alone has the nuclear "capability" to destroy the entire population of current civilization tens of times over.

In terms of military adventurism, the U.S. military has about a century of history of military adventurism (The Pentagon's Planet of Bases, Enduring Bases, Enduring War in the Middle East, Our Base Nation).

This is the essence of feudalism (American Feudalism, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).

Behind closed doors policy is degenerating into advocacy for nuclear war, but it is not only advocated by government officials behind closed doors, some advocate it openly
Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., R-Calif., appearing on C-SPAN, encouraged Washington to get ready for war, arguing that "if you have to hit Iran … you do it with tactical nuclear devices and you set them back a decade or two or three. I think that's the way to do it, with a massive aerial bombardment campaign."

This war-mongering is not new for Hunter. Using nukes is merely the latest in his saber-rattling. When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey and Secretary of State John Kerry asked Congress for an authorization for the use of military force to bomb Syria earlier this year, Rep. Hunter pressed the administration officials to, instead, support "a resolution of force to bomb the hell out of Iran."
(US News & World Report, emphasis added). There is a rising tide of madness along these lines: “Mr. President,” she spat, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke” (Politicus USA).

War as a way of national life is an essence that our forefathers strongly warned us against:
Our founders were well aware of the question and the answer hundreds of years ago.

They spoke the answer with unmistakable words and with certain clarity:
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied: and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Those truths are well established.
(James Madison, emphasis added). The visionary who made that statement was the 4th President of the United States, Bill of Rights author, Congressman, Cabinet Member, and who was also called the "Father of the U.S. Constitution".
(The Greatest Source Of Power Toxins?, emphasis in original). We are now on track to find out if they too were prescient.

The use of 1% of the nuclear arsenals will doom civilization ... (Hmmm the 1% problem is everywhere)