Society Is Finished

[TreasureVibe]

Well for one there's a difference the way a young mind & mature mind think. drugs aside, i don't think a mature mind can comprehend the desire to say hang off the roof of a building, or any other 'crazy' thing youth may desire. i think alcohol was the go to 'rad' state of mind prior to the 1960s. this seems to be a society thing. the natives of america & africa would use mind expanding drugs for ritual purposes. the way clans worked back then, it made no sense to loose your mind aimlessly and/or do crazy things that would hurt your chances of bearing offspring. these days the native clans have been broken, and many suffer with aimlessly consuming drugs, especially alcohol. my parents grew up during the high drug days of the 70s in the city yet never touched anything other than alcohol. their italian communities did not glamorize the synthetic drug induced parting that a lot of mainstream pop culture did. for teens a lot of choices are made by youth culture... monkey see, mokey do. we've lost teen initiation, which lead to youth find out their true self a lot earlier in life. reckless behaviour seems to be the desired outcome in youth for the last half century.

i think we all unconsciously desire the clan feeling. i see it among other things, in politics all the time. maybe there's a vibration people seek when in a setting where most of the people are intoxicated with some sort of substance. a decade or so ago i went to a buddies house for a poker tournament and everyone was consuming shrooms which i thought was crazy as i had only ever consumed while in nature or bonfires. some of the guys were saying i was being a downer cuz i didn't want to join, which still confuses me why that would be the case. i've never touched synthetics, so i can't say what desire that type of choice is after.

Hmm. So illegal drug culture, isn't it weird how our society just tolerates it so much? And... Isn't it a vicious cycle, as the youth who grow up to become lawmakers would loosen illegal drug regulation more and more while making it culturally more acceptable?

Lack of teen initiation plus loose illegal drugs culture... I think our society is pretty sick if you look at it this way! Peer pressure is a symptom of it.

 

[mt_dreams]

Hmm. So illegal drug culture, isn't it weird how our society just tolerates it so much? And... Isn't it a vicious cycle, as the youth who grow up to become lawmakers would loosen illegal drug regulation more and more while making it culturally more acceptable?

Lack of teen initiation plus loose illegal drugs culture... I think our society is pretty sick if you look at it this way! Peer pressure is a symptom of it.

for the most part, lawmakers prefer the drugs being illegal (even if they do these drugs themselves) as it allows for more control over the population. the war on latinos & blacks aka the war on marijuana is a prime example of this. prior to the war on cannabis, only drugs that were shown to be killing people were made illegal. it took over 50k related deaths in the US before cocaine was made illegal.

earlier in our exchange i got confused b/w synthetics that are illegal, and pharma ones created in the 20th century that are legal. some of these issues do in fact go back to the 19th century like you originally alluded to. the pain of wars, malnutrition and other things caused in those days led to an over-usage of morphine. this led next to the synthetic discovery of cocaine sometime in the middle of the century, which like morphine was also abused. during these times, it was not youth that were necessarily abusing the drugs, rather people who were in pain be it physical, or mental ... much like adult usage of detrimental drugs in current times. many scientists thought cocaine was even better than caffeine as a daily pick-me-up, thus the commercialization of coca-cola. they've been searching for drugs that make this existence tolerable since the very beginning of the revolution. back then work weeks consisted of 6 12-14 hour days.

psychedelics aside, it seems that drugs & the industrial revolution/modern war, go hand in hand. there has yet to be a time during this revolution where society for any length of time has not been either sick in body, or sick in mind. the red cross parcels during the world wars started as food parcels, but by demand turned into a cigarette delivery systems for soldiers. prior to that only the poorest of the poor smoked cigs.

early urban city life was awful for non aristocrats. the first slums were major urban cities like ny city, london, paris, etc
so the easy answer is when common people were forced off the land and into urban slum & factory life, drugs became a desired necessity for many. not sure how this relates to current party drug culture, but i'm confident some manifestation of the industrial revolution is at its core.

 

[Sobieski]

A theory of mine is that the industrial revolution was partly influenced by the greater access to raw sugar and the introduction of caffeine.

 

[x-ray peat]

Anyone has thoughts on how drugs have drastically changed society since their appearance circa 1800 - 1900?

Drugs have often been used as a weapon to weaken societies. Look at the Opium Wars in China, the alcohol given to Native Americans, or our own CIA distributing LSD to the youth in the 60s and 70s. Not to mention crack and cocaine. I think the growing trend to legalize pot will be seen as one of the final nails in our coffin.

 

[Deleted member 5487]

Hmm. So illegal drug culture, isn't it weird how our society just tolerates it so much? And... Isn't it a vicious cycle, as the youth who grow up to become lawmakers would loosen illegal drug regulation more and more while making it culturally more acceptable?

Lack of teen initiation plus loose illegal drugs culture... I think our society is pretty sick if you look at it this way! Peer pressure is a symptom of it.

It all goes back to

It's always about the money

"turnover of around $400 billion per annum is considered realistic"

Our society tolerates it and promotes drug culture, since those who regulate society control or take royalties of the drug flow into the society. The laws in place to regulate drug use are simply excuses to lock up unfavorable or non-tax payers in for profit private prisons.

 

[Deleted member 5487]

Drugs have often been used as a weapon to weaken societies. Look at the Opium Wars in China, the alcohol given to Native Americans, or our own CIA distributing LSD to the youth in the 60s and 70s. Not to mention crack and cocaine. I think the growing trend to legalize pot will be seen as one of the final nails in our coffin.

Drugs are profit, and drugs are a weapon

Alcohol/Cannabis is so widely pushed in our society's youth as a way to distract those with the energy/will power(youth) to bring about change to socio-economic structure we concurrently live in.

It is a weapon to numb and dull the incoming youth from changing the status Quo.

From age 16-22 youth indulges in heavy substance abuse, through college and the end of high school. By the time they "grow out" of their party days their youth/health/energy is taxed/destroyed and they are plunged into the workforce, incapable of bringing about societal change, instead have to now focus on making ends meet.

As for cannabis
may have some healing properities and treat certain disorders. But..

The estrogen/anti-androgenic/sertongenic are largely dulling/stupefying/lazy to majority of smokers. Only those with higher IQs can possibly use it as a creative or reflective tool. Majority, simply grab some PUFA filled food and turn on the TV/Video games. Chronic use effects the main arteries flow in the brain and lowers blood flow, giving you the common heavy smoker "Stoner" stereotype.

 

[x-ray peat]

It is a weapon to numb and dull the incoming youth from changing the status Quo.

or to keep them from fighting the planned changes to the status quo.

 

[Deleted member 5487]

or to keep them from fighting the planned changes to the status quo.

Well said

 

[cdg]

I think focusing on political issues with-in the culture itself is what they want us to do. Which is why i do not debate in left-right thinking or anything to do with cultural politics. The financial side of things is where they are getting us.

I believe financial issues to be the biggest threat in the coming decades.

Ray Peat Said in an interview.

"For many years schools, mass media and government agencies have convinced lower income individuals that they are "Middle class" by publizing the median household income in the US which is 54,000 but the average household Income is 140,000"-Ray Peat

"The culture has been engineered to have an unconsciousness of class, so democratic voting will support ruling class policies"-Ray Peat
This is where a lot of "equality" talk reinforces it, it has nothing to do with color/gender but about social class or financial class, largely invisible in today's society.

Essentially the society is turning towards a more, primitive or med-evil sort feudalism, where the dissolving the middle class to create a peasant-noble society.
2% inflation, is not actually a raise in prices, but a lowering in the value of your salary.

New statistics show that if you take 100 people. At the age of retirment, 1 will be rich, 4 will be well off, 95 will be broke.

I wish the population could look past the "Dīvide et imperā" or divide and conquer tactics of left-right thinking, since the stage is control and the debate limited.

It has always been about money.

Without transparency there can be no democracy believe Ray and others have made these logical type of statements also.

 

[TreasureVibe]

We need to de-elitize. The first de-elitization was the French revolution (and likewise events in other countries in that era). That was step 1. Now, a new elite has risen, but more broadly, and this elite is starting to suck the 95% dry of money, repressing it and censoring it. Getting rid of this elite will be step 2. No need for violence, these people aren't the smartest, if we just use the mind we can achieve democratization where every voice is equal.

People need to be aware that politics, that old tool that alot of people grew tired of, is still the only way it can be achieved. So people should become more aware that politics is the way we can steer the country. This left wing stance of defiance towards the unity of people, rich and poor, stands in the way. This right wing stance of loathing towards the weak, the victims of abuse, the old and the sick also stands in the way. Take away the cons of both sides, always have unity as the focus first and foremost, and you can get very far in ridding elitism which is the true enemy of democratization and freedom and prosperity for those that want to work for it. A mentality of eliminating the other side is typically how this won't get achieved.

 

[mt_dreams]

We need to de-elitize. The first de-elitization was the French revolution (and likewise events in other countries in that era). That was step 1. Now, a new elite has risen, but more broadly, and this elite is starting to suck the 95% dry of money, repressing it and censoring it. Getting rid of this elite will be step 2. No need for violence, these people aren't the smartest, if we just use the mind we can achieve democratization where every voice is equal.

People need to be aware that politics, that old tool that alot of people grew tired of, is still the only way it can be achieved. So people should become more aware that politics is the way we can steer the country. This left wing stance of defiance towards the unity of people, rich and poor, stands in the way. This right wing stance of loathing towards the weak, the victims of abuse, the old and the sick also stands in the way. Take away the cons of both sides, always have unity as the focus first and foremost, and you can get very far in ridding elitism which is the true enemy of democratization and freedom and prosperity for those that want to work for it. A mentality of eliminating the other side is typically how this won't get achieved.

this new elite are actually not really new. the effect of the french revolution, and every one after that was to shift the power from royalty & pope to corporations. the government is really just doing what the cabinet & clergy did in the past. sweet laws written specifically for men of great wealth allowed them to not have to pay taxes as long as it was a trust, and loopholes continue to this day. these types of laws, over the course of a couple hundred years, leaves us where we at. the introduction of the common man stock market 30+ years ago, along with the tie in to retirement funds, has put the people who would most be able to facilitate change, into a very tricky situation.

I do like your positivity, and agree common people when united literally can get any rational idea (sometimes even irrational) into law. If it wasn't for the unity of the woman & unions of the late 19th century, we'd probably still be working 60+ hours a week. it hurts that something like 2/3+ of the population lives month to month, and the fear of not being able to cover food & living costs, holds a lot of minds back when it comes to desiring a bit of chaos in an attempt to fix the structure of society.

the political parties do a good job of dividing. first thing that would need to happen for unity would be the dissolving of the left & right clans, or at the very least devaluing all these minor agendas within the parties purposely used to divide. fix the economy, everything else will fall into place.

 

[tankasnowgod]

As for cannabis
may have some healing properities and treat certain disorders. But..

The estrogen/anti-androgenic/sertongenic are largely dulling/stupefying/lazy to majority of smokers. Only those with higher IQs can possibly use it as a creative or reflective tool. Majority, simply grab some PUFA filled food and turn on the TV/Video games. Chronic use effects the main arteries flow in the brain and lowers blood flow, giving you the common heavy smoker "Stoner" stereotype.

I've been thinking about the whole "Marijuana legalization push" that's been going on, and didn't think deeper about it under I heard a random mention that Phillip Morris is looking to get involved in the coming years. Suddenly, it makes a lot more sense. If Big Tobacco/Pharma was interested, they could have been the big force and bankroll behind so many of these propositions. If you were thinking in terms of 10, 20, 30 years out, it makes a lot of sense.

After all, if the real interest were legalizing the safest and most therapeutic drugs on the schedule, the focus would be on anabolic steroids, no question. They really shouldn't even be on the schedule of drugs. Or, the focus should be to eliminate the entire schedule, since it's not really constitutional anyway. The 18th and 21st Amendment prove this (this is the argument Larry Elder always makes).

Instead, the focus is entirely on a drug in the "distraction/learned helplessness" category, similar to alcohol and SSRIs, at least in end effect.