Jimmy Cayne, George W. Bush, and saving the world

Jimmy Cayne received $500 Million in salary and bonuses from 2000-2008. This wealth, none of which was under threat regardless of what happened to Bear Stearns (despite the fact that the bonuses derived largely from ridiculously risky speculation which fueled the crash), along with the subconscious understanding that the insane machinations of high finance would inevitably lead to a collapse and the expectation that his bank was also “too big to fail”, perhaps was why he was able to maintain a level of composure during the Bear Stearns meltdown.

He became upset not when Bear Stearns was shown to be a disastrous corporation, but rather when Bear Stearns wasn’t bailed out. That’s interesting – imagine if you’ve been working at a job for some time and are doing terribly, as a result your company crashes and you only become upset when you don’t receive corporate socialist assistance. How curious it is that when Oprah talks about “personal responsibility” she never points the finger at corporations or their leadership, rather always at the very people hurt most BY corporations. I’m sure the fact that she herself is wealthier than most CEOs has nothing to do with it.

It’s reminiscent of George W. Bush maintaining so much composure during the Twin Towers disaster. Why shouldn’t he be composed? – he expected to exploit the disaster, not be harmed by it. Of course, Ronald Reagan would have had the decency to pretend to be shaken up – I’m sure the fact that Reagan worship became so prevalent during the Bush II years has nothing to do with the incident.

People often ask me “Is something wrong with you?”

Two much more pertinent questions for them to ask are “Is something wrong with me?” and “Is something wrong with the world?” I, after all, am unimportant.

While they ask “Is something wrong with you?” the clock is ticking on the life of the world. We live in a society of insane Neros, all fiddling while the world burns. Is it any wonder that I appear troubled? I’ve noticed that my trouble eases somewhat whenever I do something particularly useful in saving the world or when I witness such a thing done by another. But trouble is irrelevant – all consolation is shunned, such as, let’s say, ice cream. We will all be troubled until we solve our problems.

I don’t so much care whether or not civilization survives – it’s still an unanswered question whether civilization has any value. I care very much however about how much damage is done to humanity during the fall of civilization. Proponents of global warming believe that if civilization falls humanity should go with it – hence the apocalyptic fantasies and the desire to increase global warming. It’s a myth that there are people who believe global warming doesn’t exist – it’s politically expedient for them to believe that they believe that since they would be socially outcast (or worse) if they claimed to want to increase global warming.

There’s a debate we are not brave enough to have – the debate over whether the world should be saved.

The World According to Monsanto

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How the psychological industry is built on mass media and propaganda

This is a reply to an email. My reply is in regular print, the quote of the person I’m replying to is in italics.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying, but what I think I understand I disagree with. It sounds like you’re saying that many people who are suffering psychologically are actually, although they don’t recognize it, suffering from all the cruelty going on in the world that it’s beyond their control to stop. It would be pretty easy to empirically evaluate this thesis (perhaps it’s already been done). I think many more people suffer from “real” psychological problems such as manic-depression or from “real-world” problems like drug or alcohol abuse.

I very much doubt that anyone has evaluated that thesis – your stance on this matter is the status quo one. Very little of reality is ever evaluated. Systems of power have no interest in evaluation unless it serves their purpose. You said it quite well yourself in the mid ’90s when you commented about how much time was spent developing video games (unreality) – what is advertising and propaganda if not un-reality? How much time is spent on that versus analyzing truth? The Neoconservative mantra is “We create reality”. That is to say, their mantra is “Our propaganda becomes your truth”.

My thesis is based on the observation that “psychological abnormality” increased greatly during the 20th century, to the point where a shrink is on every streetcorner and the pharmaceutical industry is a behemoth.

By “real” psychological problems I assume you believe there to be primarily a genetic basis for the problems. If I’m correct about a great rise in psychological problems in the 20th century there cannot be a genetic basis for it, since the genetic profiles in question changed very little over such a short time span.

An argument against my position is that there are not more psychological problems than there used to be – it’s just that what used to be non-diagnosed now has been given a label – so what used to be a “normal” or an “unlabeled” human now might be called a “manic-depressive”.

My argument is that psychological profiles, including what are deemed “problems”, are primarily caused by the environment. My argument identifies several factors as providing major psychological and social traumas which result in “psychological abnormality”. After listing these factors I will explain why the 20th century is unique and why the problems of past centuries did not have the same psychological results.

One is the schizophrenic factor of a populace which simultaneously applauds freedom while engaging in imperialism. This factor accelerated in the mid 20th century when much of the third world gained a measure of independence.

The twin terrors of constant threats of nuclear annihilation and global environmental collapse (which boil down to the same thing) cause a kind of darkness and perpetual depression.

Massive endemic propaganda and schizophrenic doublethink, as outlined by Orwell.

More schizophrenia – support for corporations (unaccountable private tyrannies – command economies like mini-versions of the communist state) and simultaneously support for democracy.

The military-industrial complex and the notion of “perpetual war for perpetual peace”.

It’s funny how we have no problem identifying elements specific to the 20th century in some ways (like pertaining to culture) but somehow can’t quite grasp that psychology is also derived from the environment.

Propaganda derives from the rise of mass media and the public relations industry, which only became systematized by the elite in the early 20th century. Propaganda directly targets the mind – seeking to colonize it with disinformation and irrational directives. Somehow, though, the status quo position, such as outlined by yourself, which is allied with this propaganda, doesn’t seem to understand that propaganda affects psychology.

Prior to the 20th century, the major projection of power was done by force. Psychology is fairly irrelevant when facing a gun. With the “civilizing” of the state in the 20th century it switched to propaganda as the primary means of control of the populace – therefore psychological control – therefore psychological resistance by the populace – therefore psychological problems deriving from the battle over control of the mind.

Take the example of Argentina in the 1970s. This culture had perhaps the highest per capita rate of psychologists/psychiatrists in the world. It was also a fascist state which tortured and terrorized it’s citizens – and in terms of propaganda was neo-nazi. The mass media state churns out psychological victims who are then serviced by the psychology industry. It’s no surprise at all that the psychology industry and the mass media industry rose to prominence at the same time.

The role of psychologists is to control the interpretation of psychic victims – to say that “it’s all in your head” and that talking, coming to “realizations” which never have to do with the state (usually have to do with the family and/or personal traumas), and/or use of drugs is the solution. Of course the state doesn’t pay the fee despite causing the event – the fee goes to people who are accredited by the state itself (through the educational system).

There is a kind of comfort in your position. Humans always blame something they can attack – the ruling class is nearly immune from attack and therefore can’t possibly be the problem, according to the logic of comfort and convenience. However, if enough humans recognize the truth of my evaluation they will find that the ruling class can indeed be attacked, and perhaps fatally.

Let Them Eat Ethanol!

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Capitalism and Climate Change

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Bush Administration to Blue-State California: Drop Dead!

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Noam Chomsky at the United Nations 6/5/06

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Part 11

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Part 13

Part 14

Extras

Veganism 101

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Oceans as Trash Cans: an Interview with Captain Charles Moore

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Blog

Clinton and Obama’s stance on domestic issues

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Nine Billion Little Feet on the Highway of the Damned

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Killing Turkeys and the “Win-Win” Scenario

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Gore, Pachauri, Glick, Nobel prize and climate change

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Climate Change & How to Save the Planet

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Dennis Kucinich on his Environmental Policy

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The Corporate/Governmental Step It Up Rally

70 people (at peak turnout) gathered today in South Bend, IN, one of about 1,000 such gatherings over the weekend across the country, to hear politicians and businessmen speak about marginal environmental improvements and profit opportunities. The word “grassroots” was spoken with a straight face and a crooked intellect. That this bleak farce is a typical example of the environmental movement in America bodes poorly for the future of the world.

The Apocalypse Will Be Televised

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Animal Rights activist goes to prison

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Fire the head of FEMA

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He should also be imprisoned.

Step it Up – Environmental Demonstration and Rally

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This is a nationwide environmental day and gathering. Most of them are taking place on Saturday, November 3. The one in South Bend, IN that I’ll be at is happening on Sunday November 4 in front of the Morris Performing Arts Center. The Rally should start around 3:30 PM and go until 5 PM.

On modern conditions and climate change

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Human stories from Niles, Michigan – introduction and Chris Alford

Niles, Michigan is a small town near the southwestern corner of Michigan, information provided here. It’s a white ghetto, inspiring a generation of youth to want to leave. In that way it’s very much like most small towns in the Midwest, I strongly suspect. As I relate these stories you’ll see what I’m talking about. These are stories from my youth. Each of them focuses on one person I know from growing up in Niles.

I think I met Chris Alford in 9th grade upon entering Niles High School, although it’s possible I met him in 7th grade upon entering Ring Lardner Junior High School. He went to a Catholic elementary school called St. Mary’s in Niles, and along with friends comprised a social group that I more or less joined through high school.

Chris probably more than anyone else I knew in high school changed over the course of those years – or became revealed. For historical perspective my high school years were 1988-1992.

Chris was perhaps the most tragic figure of a town steeped in tragedy. He began high school, as far as I could tell, a fairly happy person. Either that or I was just ignorant, which is entirely possible. In any case, over the years various troubling events and facts began emerging to and around Chris:

There was a dark despair present in his household. His mother was perpetually worried – his father was sullen, depressed, and angry. At least the one time I saw him – I did not often visit Chris at his house. He lived off a dirt road in a kind of modified farm house – large tracts of open land all around – miles away from the town’s center. I first saw an Amiga at Chris’s house, which was playing Sim City, a game he enjoyed immensely. Chris was very intelligent and highly adept at games of skill, which we often played at his house along with other friends. He was, generally speaking, the best player at these games and often won. There was a certain tension present during these games which I did not understand at the time, but would become apparent later.

Chris’s state of mind was tenuous due to his clearly unstable home life. His biggest problem during those years however was most likely his friendship with Brian Malone. The two grew up together at least as far back as their early St. Mary’s years. The Malones were perhaps the most malevolent family in Niles. From lack of data I can’t piece together the exact situation, but Brian had serious social problems, again deriving from his home life. It’s sad to think that I treated all of this as normal at the time, and everyone else treated it as normal as well. We were all fucking ignorant. I may cover Brian in more detail in a separate post.

There were two highly memorable events which occurred late in Chris’s high school years. In Calculus class he told me (convincingly) that he had recently beaten up a younger black kid for no good reason. After school one day he gave me a ride home and turned the channel to Rush Limbaugh, which was my first exposure to that. The reader can decide whether the two events were related. This experience left me so angry at him that we had a minor altercation later.

The other notable memory I have of Chris is his very high level of insecurity regarding a dating relationship with Julie Blair. This goes beyond even a shy kid’s or virgin’s insecurity.

Chris and I went to the same college after high school, and a couple memorable events happened there. He stated that he only wanted to make money, and that he was going through a religious change (I’m not clear on my memory of the latter). He also told me that beggars are professionals who profit from it (kind of like con artists).

Once I complete a few of these pieces I’ll start putting together the “big picture” of Niles.

From Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”

Page 577: “In June 1992 more than a hundred countries participated in the Earth Summit environmental conference in Brazil. Statistics showed that the armed forces of the world were responsible for two-thirds of the gases that depleted the ozone layer.”

I’ve never seen this link made before. So a reduction in worldwide (and especially American) military budgets would have a huge positive impact on global warming.