I was recently laid off and this is now my last week of work before I get flushed out into the job market again. Regardless of my future job prospects, I will say that things are looking pretty bleak out there news wise - with each passing day I hear or read some story that pretty much disrupts any notion of "continuity" or sense of planning and direction I once had - everything seems to come out of left field these days. So lately I have come to the conclusion that "left field" is entirely where I need to focus my attention - in other words my attention needs to be tuned to the idea that things are highly unknown and uncertain in this volatile world we live in at the present moment. The best we can do is apply some form of evidence-based logic and reason to assess just what exactly is unfolding in front of us and where things might (emphasize might) lead next. Sounds like a plan right? Except there's one problem that I run into over and over again...
Hardly anyone seems to care about or even notice the things I am noticing and therefore I am essentially alone. People just go through the motions these days and act like today will be much like yesterday - they completely indulge in the status quo and the faux reassurance that normalcy bias brings - "today will be mostly like yesterday and if I just keep following the plan that everyone else is following I'll be fine - just 'think' positive thoughts". An immediate consequence of this is to alienate others who think differently - most folks don't like it when someone comes along and forcefully raises their head above the sand its been buried in. We are told we are not to "force" others into our point of view, right or wrong and while I basically agree with this principle it leaves those of us who are "awake" with one serious dilemma which I will describe as follows. The dilemma is basically this...
Since we "awake" folks see things differently than others and use logic/reason/empirical-fact-base-evidence/reality and even good old-fashioned intution (from years of experience) to form our beliefs, plans and predictions about the world how can we be effectual in transmitting this knowledge to the betterment of society and our fellow man when just about everyone wants to ignore it? How do we not get frustrated and begin to loathe someone who is completely comfortable with their own ignorance of reality? Granted I am not implying I know any form of absolute "truth" - that kind of thing is for religious people. The only thing I can tell for sure is when something is 100% bullshit - to all other things I ascribe a "probability" or "likelihood" to any given event or scenario. By ascribing likelihoods instead of absolutes and re-assigning them from time to time based on new evidence I find I am much more fluid and able to sift through information and make use of it. If I cant disprove something outright (i.e. determine that it is "bullshit") then it survives in my mind as a possibility whose likelihood will be adjusted up or down as new evidence is obtained. So few people are even capable of this kind of though process (i.e. "entertaining an idea").
What I see unfolding around me in my fellow American these days is an insatiable desire for certainty about whatever they think or feel and for that certainty to be shared (albeit superficially) by others - a kind of hive-mind effect. And while that certainty may seem noble or even a form of confidence I find too often it is based almost completely on something someone else in the giant media/academic/corporate/religious/political/"scientific" echo chamber known as the United States of America has told them - in other words it has completely bypassed their critical thinking capabilities and they only go about filtering out events and new evidence to fit this belief while ignoring all counter-evidence even going so far as to avoid people who may think differently and thus remind them that perhaps they are not as brilliant as they would like to believe.
This problem is so pervasive and so palpable now that I have began to wonder if we are not witnessing some form of mass-psychosis in front of us. I believe that many of these people I am referring to are in fact basically ok/decent human beings but are highly misled and willfully ignorant. This ignorance can then manifest itself through odd behavior in ways that might not be obvious to an untrained observer - in other words these folks are either knowingly or unconsciously struggling to make sense of their world but have great difficulty admitting it or doing anything about it and thus take out their frustrations in strange ways that have become socially acceptable. Wonder what I am getting at? Need an example? Here's a good one for you...
Have you noticed how incredibly insane people are on the highway these days? Does anyone besides me seem to think its getting worse each and every year? What I've witnessed on my commute to work each day is nothing more than a human jungle or miniature battlefield playing itself out on the national highway system. Drivers seem to fall into one of 2 or 3 different groups. The two main categories are road ragers/tail-gaters and what I would call "turtles" and they appear to be at war with each other. Road ragers and tail-gaters are impatient, thoughtless and reckless. They swerve through lanes and tailgate the fuck out of anyone they can sometime just for pleasure it seems (they also like to drive close behind you at night with their high beams on). Even when you try to pull over for this particular lunatic they nearly clip your rear end as they try to pass you without an inch to spare. These people have no empathy for other humans and clearly see other drivers as "inhuman". On the other extreme however is "The Turtle" driver who just wants to go their own pace but also seems to believe that their pace should be imposed on everyone. I've noticed lately that many of these drivers actually prefer the far left passing lane where they drive slow (i.e. right at the speed limit) without passing anyone. This forces drivers who want to drive a little faster (but not recklessly) like me towards the middle lane and sometimes even the far right line (my highway commute is 3 lanes). The problem with the "Road Ragers" and "Turtles" is that they are at war with each other - the moment a "Turtle" even suspects that you are a "Road Rager" they slow down even worse and wont let you pass as though its their right to enforce the speed limit on everyone. Likewise the moment a "Road Rager" suspects you are a"Turtle" they speed up and tailgate you harder as though to punish you for slowing them down (admittedly I've engaged in this myself a few times though I usually feel bad about it later). It seems that both sides lack any awareness and understanding of other humans trying to go about their way to work. When you add cell phones in the mix it gets exponentially worse. To me these are all signs of a failing culture of prideful, ego-lusting chidults who are never punished. Have you noticed that none of this horrific behavior seems to be policed? The cops only care if you are speeding but don't seem to mind how dangerous your driving is to others (i.e 60 mph in the left hand passing lane is DANGEROUS imo). Actually I often see the police engaging in the same behavior - go figure...
Which makes me wonder - how did we get here? This is what I intend to explore with this blog. I hope others find my stories and reviews interesting and add their own comments, ideas and experiences.
-Mollusc
http://www.cnbc.com/id/31408478/US_Cities_With_The_Worst_Road_Rage
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