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| Big Bother |
This is the second post in a series that began ~13 years ago (Big Brother Is A Republican).
For relevance, note that the last sentence in that post was "Prosecution must take place".
Anyway, that Dredd Blog series is akin, like a first cousin as it were, to another Dredd Blog series that began a couple of months later in the same year (Here Come De Conservative Judges, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
There are other Dredd Blog series that are not as close in kinship to those just mentioned, which are a bit more like a third cousin perhaps (A Tale of Coup Cities, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14; When Accountability Is A Plague, 2, 3, 4; Follow The Immunity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
II. An Application To 'The Present'
In another Dredd Blog series that began ~13 years ago, I applied some of the principles perused in those aforementioned series to a DOJ member of the Democratic Party (Everybody's Got A Holder Heart, 2, 3).
Like my mother (an Arthur Murray dance instructor) said: "it takes two to tango", so in one sense I am seeking to avoid any political preference on this issue.
Back to 'the present' ...
Scientists are not alone when it comes analysis of quandaries in 'the present':
"Scientists have discovered that 'the present' has always existed, but some of them are not sure about 'the past' and 'the future'." -Dredd
(Quotes Page, "Miscellaneous" section). In that sense, the USA in 'the present' is partaking of 'the future' it will have because 'the future' has been planted and cultivated in the garden of both its past and present cultural machinations (a la The Machine Religion, 2, 3, 4).
Remembering that 'the future comes from us', like it has in the previous civilizations composed of "us", we should seek a secure understanding of 'the past', 'the present', and 'the future' as it existed in 'their time'.
That is because:
"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."
...
"In the Study Toynbee examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders. Civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to the sins of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority."
(How To Identify The Despotic Minority, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). It is interesting to note that in our present Western Civilization, our "father of psychoanalysis" (in his later years) advocated for a psychiatry of groups, including the "civilization group":
"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. [p. 39]"
...
"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. [p. 40]"
(ibid, quoting Dr. Sigmund Freud in How To Identify The Despotic Minority-14). On to the big question.
III. Why Do Civilizations Commit Suicide?
The concept of DNA involves non-living physical entities composed of genes and codons, which in turn are composed of atoms (e.g. Quantum Biology - 5).
Which means that they can't commit suicide because they are non-living.
Moving along ...
Before extrapolating from Dr. Freud's discourse quoted above, let's review some statements by "ancient" observers which currently seem to have an essence of accuracy, all things considered:
"I would not say that such an attempt to apply psychoanalysis to civilized society would be fanciful or doomed to fruitlessness." - Sigmund Freud
“Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Social Dementia Causes Heated Misunderestimations - 3). Ok, they had considerable points, so on to the hypotheses.
Recent scientific work concerning modern behavioral and/or cognitive subject matter has produced the field of "epigenetics".
It is a field which has been generally well received (The "It's In Your Genes" Myth, On The Origin of Genieology).
That field of general epigenetics can be extrapolated to apply to the epigenetics in cultural groups (On the Origin of Cultural Epigenetics; Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala; Comparing a Group-Mind Trance to a Cultural Amygdala; Choose Your Trances Carefully).
You might say that the genetic and epigenetic blueprints consist of messages, which like a constitution, signal fundamental 'how to' concepts.
And those messages can even be extended to pertain to a group known as government so as to send the message 'here's what to do' (Epigovernment: The New Model; When You Are Governed By Psychopaths - 2).
IV. Closing Comments
The vehicle for conveying those 'blue prints' that perpetuate the repeating suicidal phenomena is like the movie Groundhog Day (Cultural Epigenetic Messages).
Those messages have been recorded down thru history as a civilization generates its suicidal proclivity message to its members (How To Identify The Despotic Minority - 15).
The previous post in this series is here.
Ode to the Supremes (by Big Brother & the Holding Company):
Another one bites the dust (Link).
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