The Gambit of Power and Control in Human Deception – Part 2
As the devolution continues, daily occurrences around the U.S. and the rest of the world, offer evidence of the gambit of power and control in human deception. A continuing process of human regression in the imbalance of social equity, the few who manipulate the resources manage to exert influence on those of lesser means. Recently, a prominent business magazine known for reporting on wealth and power within business and government circles stated that 1{3bb2a8e703be8d5bb7fc1289a915cd39229c5bcd006c8cdf059732c7e19a8eab} own more than 50{3bb2a8e703be8d5bb7fc1289a915cd39229c5bcd006c8cdf059732c7e19a8eab} of earthly wealth. The continued decline of reasonable materiality does not paint a positive picture.
Accordingly, there are associated indicators that little more than 100,000 people have net worth in excess of $50 million. By staggering contrast, at the bottom of this human resources pyramid, is the 71{3bb2a8e703be8d5bb7fc1289a915cd39229c5bcd006c8cdf059732c7e19a8eab} who have less than $10,000. From there, the income disparity becomes gloomy, as poorer people experience income losses, and richer ones show income increases. Another study reported in a UK news service, that less than 400 of the richest people possess more than 50{3bb2a8e703be8d5bb7fc1289a915cd39229c5bcd006c8cdf059732c7e19a8eab} of the poorest people.
Although there are noble examples of charitable giving by a few in the upper echelons of wealth, recent studies tend show a decreasing trend. Some analysts suggest that poorer persons, by comparison to the wealthy based on percentage of income, are giving more in benevolent contributions. Naturally, there are arguments on both sides of income inequality issues. Yet, what are the implications for humankind? Aside from the abject realities, the probabilities for continued social degradation do not offer a positive future for the human race. Instead, the decline of the species invites eventual extinction.
The scope of this global disproportion gambit represents one aspect of diverse elements that foster selfishly gluttonous behaviors. By doing so willingly, people perpetrated the misuse of planetary resources. By various means of exploitation, including people victimizing people, within 100 hundred years earth could become uninhabitable. While techno innovations by a few might put off short-term calamity, in the end it may be too late. From corporate and government corruption, to environmental destruction, terrorism and warfare, the future looks dismal. Long forgotten are the historic admonitions for wisdom, compassion and other courageous qualities.
As the “imperial forces” decree, as might be depicted in science fiction stories, the oppressed accept their tyranny. With grumbling acquiesce, or pretentious naiveté, as well as groveling enslavement, the disingenuous perpetrations grow increasingly dystopic. For those in power, in the upper echelons of wealth, the oligarchies foster collusive gambits that possess a many faceted expressions. From the illusions of modern education in the halls of academia, to the blathering campaigning of career politicians, the superficiality of social discourse slides into the regressive oblivion for which extinction looms near.
With smug piety and callous reactionary entrenchment, emotional reactivity labors to circumvent good intentions toward higher insight and wiser pursuits. Arguments in contemporary engagements to promote the general welfare to loftier ascension run the gamut of emotion-laden contradictions. The promotion of stupidity over wisdom, by a firestorm of hasty generalization, foolish anecdote and lazy conjecture, disturbs the complex process of elevating a society toward enlightenment.
Brave creative writers have lamented of recent date, the degenerative indifference frequently committed against bold attempts to reason and make rational societal advancement. Except for a small percentage of exceptionally creative and inventive people, the vast majority prefer diverse states of their self-imposed devolution. In business, higher education, public service and other human interactivity, the diminishing value of fearlessly enlightened leadership suffers a similar fate. Leaders are disappearing and a selfish sense of “anti-thinking” perpetrates divisiveness.
In a society quickly regressing to primal states of ancient reactivity versus intellectual preeminence, some have concluded leadership is exceptionally rare. Many are challenged to identify or otherwise name a public office holder that exhibits extraordinary capacities for leading in an increasingly dangerous world. A regressed collective of tyrannical “tolerance” for the arrogance of intolerance to others fosters a dishonest climate of political correctness. Today for instance, it does not take much to unnerve or otherwise terrorize a community, a city, at state, or the entire country.
In the aftermath of a horrific event, multitudes easily clamor for government assures of protective subservience. A “lone gunman”, a terrorist with a bomb, or a disgruntled employee can have large numbers of citizens willing to sacrifice liberty for an illusion of personal security. Convenient scapegoats are all too easy to conjure.
For anti-thinking, steeped in the myth and magic of lazy thinking and foolish conjecture, the many acquiesce to the numbing cerebral maladies of mass-market deception. Societies get what they want by consequence of greedy selfishness and slothful effort. For the majority, rather than a higher sense of skeptical inquiry, sanctioned by rational application of methodical analysis, and the integrity of critical thinking, honest discourse and enlightenment demands too much responsibility.
Sinister politicians sell their “snake oil” and perpetrate with willing accomplices the condescending tones of communal regression. Feeling good on an immature and juvenile basis, is often better that knowing what is good and morally correct. Emotional reactivity, whether presumed “intelligent” or not, claims less cumbersome pursuits of illusion and belief, absent the primacy of evidence. People fill in the “blank spaces” in the areas of doubt, in order to obtain a simplistic explanation, and achieve a comforting set of consistent patterns. As a result, belief is anything that seems to make sense.
Yet, for the human species given little change over thousands of years, not much seems to make sense. More often than not, there is an instant appeal to alleged authority, as in product promotions, the political campaign ad, and the questionable academic “experiment” and so on. So-called public interest surveys, whatever the subject, do not say much, prove little and solve nothing. At the same moment, ghosts, goblins and little green men, become scapegoats for human immaturity.
Corporate and government contrivances, not all of course, but many, promote every weakness to make us feel good, so we avoid things unseen. For a time, and still to some extent, UFO’s were modern day replacements for “demonic forces” meddling in human affairs. As superstitions mount upon endless flirtations with the supernatural, and a battle cry calls out to one god to beat another, common sense takes flight. As it turns out, the aliens have to compete with demons for primacy of foolish conjecture.
Yet, the foolhardy attempts of pretending a “civilized” culture continue to devolve with ridiculous silliness of online video game characters. Chasing the animated graphics of sinister marketers, the “couch potato” commandos peddle their corpulent babble for the justification of less enlightened culture. A now another competitor vies for the satiations of primal fears. The rise of the zombies competes for center stage. With the advent of the “z-generation”, an offshoot of the millennials, anti-thinking abounds.
Critical analysis, self-evolving and mature insight, based on empirical evidence, and the efficacy of real-world experiences, wane and diminish across a broad spectrum of society. Instead, the contrary is more certain for the majority. Rather than a higher sense of skeptical inquiry, sanctioned by rational applications of methodical analysis, critical thinking suffers significant cross-cultural regression. Extraordinary bias by emotion-laden negativism intentionally clouds logical responsiveness.
Condescending fallacies of inference perpetrate selfish forms of erroneous and exaggerated discourse. Often, such interpersonal conflict devolves to an ever-expanding divisiveness. As such, “anti-thinking”, as opposed to productive pro-social thinking, purposefully infiltrates the diversity of socio-economic and political interactivity. Whether presumed “intelligent discourse” or not, strenuous efforts for deeper spheres of understanding, give way to claims less cumbersome, and pursuits of illusion and supernatural beliefs. Such antics pursue the absence for the primacy of evidence.
In general, for the sake of subjective validation and immediate gratification, people fill in the “blank spaces” in areas of doubt. To the point of the gambit, to flex the nexus of power and control, certain segments of society desire the masses to prefer a simplistic explanation to everything. Analyses that are more complex might expose the “men behind the curtain” and the corruption that exists. To achieve a comforting set of consistent patterns, with easy trouble free explanation, ensures a false sense of happiness. Every story has a happy conclusion so that many people feel good about believe anything. The mass marketing of feel good things drives consumption.
A vast amount of nonsense passes as reality by which fictions are cleverly marketed as fact. Fact is conveniently replaced by fiction. In perpetration, minions carry out the deceptions fooled by inconsistent sound bites, aided by media complicities. In-depth research and analysis through application of rigorous investigative discovery usually does not happen. Instead, information gathering for data analysis is frequently limited to alleged “experts”, which is mostly opinion and an illicit appeal to questionable authority. Social media and infotainment networks and news media superficiality foster the disinformation. In the modern equivalent of slavery, within the framework of global economic and political systems, complicity finds a variety of conforming collusions. Of that, confirmation bias hastens the deterioration of evidentiary validation.
Enslavement of indebtedness to one form of willful obligation or another characterizes a species bent on its extinction. Willingly with malevolent intentions, people deceive themselves for the perpetration of their selfishness, then set about to betray others. As a deteriorating consequence, the human species does not change is exceptionally productive ways. A glimpse of the world and the associated social conditions speaks loudly to that issue. Stupidity reigns supreme for the vast majority. Clever deceit behind masks of advertising conceals the contrivances of power and control. For the sake of “manufactured consent”, from corporate salesmanship to political corruption, the elites of moneyed interests seek to maintain a self-serving status quo at any cost.
From a humanistic perspective, not all seek the perpetuation of the gambit of power and control in human deception. There are always exceptions to every claim of a generality. In fact, there are valiant endeavors by the brave few who take the risks to rise above the illicit collusions of failing economic, political and social systems. Regardless, and more often than not, others prefer sinister and devious inclinations. From a consumer perspective, enslavement comes in the form of an appeal to alleged “authority”.
Self-gratification arrives comfortably and easily by the testimonial imperative of a celebrity. In a devolving culture, that “worships” the guru of “cultic” inclinations, the rich and famous, the public official, or the religious icon, downfall is not far behind. When a celebrity speaks, typically a so-called “movie star”, many needy people, news pundits, spin specialists get giddy and dizzy to listen intently. For the worshipers of “post-modern culture” the cultic desire is to believe in the symbiotic satiation by vicarious adoration.
Why question the fiction, when such gratifies better than the reality of the facts? It does not matter such hearsay is not truly expert, but merely a simplistic and mostly uninformed opinion. Which begs the second question. Why would anyone accept at face value unsubstantiated conjecture from someone who makes a lot of money trying to remember one-liners for a make-believe movie scene? Mainly, the arrogance comes from celebrity status, like many politicians, and the power of projecting fictitious imagery of stage and screen. And, part of the answer is that it appeals to emotion and not effective research and critical analysis. Another part is that the bias reinforces subjective validation in cognitive bias to perpetuate a false sense of security. With trouble-free answers, most feel comfortable and assured in their safe mediocrity.
Modern day slavery runs a gambit from financial indebtedness to the degradations of actual psychological and physical exploitation. From mass marketing schemes to consume more and conserve less, to tortuous inflictions of human trafficking, the stratagems of deception and trickery manifest in diverse forms. Between fake news, ideological extremes that bring harm to others, social disruptions, and malicious cyber invasions that threaten public safety, the human species hastens its self-destruction.
Illicit appeals to so called “expert opinion”, or alleged “celebrity authority”, as in product promotion, political campaign ads, or social commentary frequently fall short on the sufficiency of evidence. Usually, these kinds of things say nothing and solve nothing. Along with the superficiality of “talk show boasting” comes the pretentious psychobabble of some theoretical construct that claims to be scientific. Caution is always warranted as to any assertion regarding any research, study or experiment, until such matters can be thoroughly analyzed and rigorously investigated.
Of significant pathology in American culture is the arrogance of stupidity, and the dangerous concentration of wealth among an elite few. On the one hand, while many rush to consume more and more, others, on the wealthier end of the spectrum, greedily feed upon the gluttony. Idiotic behaviors flourish in the selfishness of self-indulgence, as “magical thinking” masquerades as socio-political discourse. Facts, reality and rational prosocial interactivity devolve to regressive counterproductive instigations.
Meanwhile, some historians who study complex societies point to the eventual destruction and collapse of so-called “empires”. The life cycle of previous “kingdoms” over the last 3,000 to 4,000 years has been surmised to be roughly 250 years. If so, that puts the U.S. in the final stages of about 50 to 75 remaining years. Then what, does America and maybe the rest of the world plunge into a dystopia? Apocalyptic consequences follow in the wake of planetary disasters.
Perpetual unlimited consumption with exploitation of earthly resources, along with extraordinary disparity between rich and poor, will not sustain a livable environment for much longer. In the gambit of power and control by every means of clever human deception, gluttony rules the day as consumption ravenously devours anything, so long as profit can be maintained. Political cowardice aids and abets, with a failure of leadership, hesitance and indecisiveness to insist upon serious problem solving efforts.
Likewise, excessive consumerism colludes in the bloated gluttony to satiate an oligarchic “corporate-state”, and foster as many illusions as possible. By deceptive means in diverse forms, most people will accept the mythology of “manufactured” conformity. Form ghost stories to haunted thinking, reaction, absent evidentiary substantiation, replaces objective analysis. The deception is “reality” for a majority that believes in “supernatural providence”, absent scientific sufficiency, and feels the majority ought to move in a particular direction because those in authority say so.
From the “status quo” mythology, consumerism provides the basis by which intentional misdirection can manipulate a majority of the population to willfully accept a plethora of pseudoscientific claims. Freedom voluntarily surrenders to “magical thinking” in the mysticism of immature flirtations. The morbidity of eventual demise masquerades from the shadowy realms of “infotainment” manipulations. Celebrity stupidity, hiding behind the pandering self-aggrandizement of simplistic sound bites, perpetuates the immature arrogance of grievous fallacies of inference.
From these presumed lofty hallways of pretentious intellectualism, the myth, magic and mayhem continue unabated by the reality. To some scientists, that is to say real hard-core science, as opposed to “social science”, the final act of humankind could come in 100 years. While most were not looking for it, or paying attention to it, the presence of the human species may have outlived its welcome on the planet. Regardless of decades of conferences on this or that, the massive failure of global leadership is but one part of the crumbling infrastructures of human intentions. The same old human problems plague the planet, and will continue do so until the last gasp of human existence.
Meanwhile, some are gauging the probability of finality and focusing on two dynamics that could bring about global disaster. One of those is a mass pandemic and the other is resource depletion that invites natural disasters. For the former, either by contrivance of nature or human manipulation, social collapse could ensue by way of horrible “killer diseases”. For which, now, physiological immunity is becoming more of a challenge for disease control mechanisms. Failure to anticipate, recognize, plan and implement productive actions before calamity hastens the worst-case scenarios. While conjecture alleges catastrophes that could befall humans, a significant element remains the gambit of power and control in human deception.