the protests that became a tragic course correction of inactivity

in #looting4 years ago (edited)

The course correction was inevitable

and

we are all crazy here

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I'll start with what I think of the murder of George Floyd, not because it matters what I think, but to put to bed any ambiguity as far as if I have some agenda or another. I'm a libertarian who watched a police office murder and defenseless human being who was pleading for his life. Leaving out what would be a stream of profanity, we'll just say -I'm angry and disgusted.

None of what I say next diminishes the revolting injustice of that or the larger picture it is part of. But even that larger picture is one rock in the avalanche going on.

At their origin these demonstrations where about the murder of George Floyd with a large subtext of "enough is enough". As they escalated strange goings on kept going on... elements that seem out of place. Members of Antifa at every rally, white power people at every rally, pallets of bricks sitting available for no clear reason, interlopers appearing to agitate the situation, individuals or groups of people who seemed to have different motives, looting, destruction, law enforcement reactions that are obscenely out of scale, even civilian on civilian violence,

And nearly everyone has an observation or theory or video evidence about the mass destruction across the U.S. that does not jive with what the initial protest was about. Futile attempts to form a single image of a kaleidoscope amount of activity.

The single element that people are failing to combine with all of this, is the only element that does combine all of this...the entire country was locked down for three months, under extreme stress (stresses), with all activity halted and all manner of normally instantly removed, all normal coping mechanisms absent, and been made to sit and wait, many at a mental breaking point...for months. We were a nation of people stressed, scared, on edge, angry, just barely keeping it together and then this grotesque murder was put in front of us.

What was next was inevitable...

A community of people, justifiably angry about something specific began a movement that was overtaken by a deluge of pent up hostility from every direction, and became a course correction of months of inactivity of an entire population, accumulating into riots that were initially, briefly, rallies.

An entire nation, good people, bad people, members of antifa, white power organizations, leaders, lone wolfs, random miscreants, petty thieves, good sanitarians, all who understand their place in the world through their actions and connection to their fellow man, had been fed a constant stream of fear of an unsee-able danger, had every coping mechanism denied them during that time of extreme stress, and kept largely immobile for three months, were presented one outlet...to be part of the world again, to have some kind of affect on something...the protests.

And the entire country ended up on fire...

What the FUCK did anyone think was going to happen? We are watching the inevitable result of what amounts to, whatever the well meaning intention, the sickest social experiment in our lifetime.

It is no less choas, or seemingly strange conglomeration of people, than if the whole country had it’s water supply cut off and was given one place to fill their glasses.

The human mind is hard wired to interact with other human beings, to have ritual/schedule, to be a part of the lives of his fellow man, to be outside, to explore, to...and this is important...to gather. Gatherings play an extremely important role in civilization and for our very tribal instincts. They are a demonstration of strength,unity, community, so much so that even in this modern age those who do not attend personally will view them and/or find comfort in knowing they take place. Their profound importance is objectively undeniably hard wired into us. They and all those things that I mentioned that we, by our very instincts NEED, was denied and forbidden to 330 million people for three months. I said at the very outset, and many psychologists tried to get people to understand, that these lockdowns were profoundly mentally harmful...and would have a reckoning.

If that all seems to simple an explanation for you, to abstract, the math and the science are every bit as clear as the burning buildings.

There was a very important story last week that was understandably overlooked. It is important to know about and to understand and accept, because the ramifications are all around us.

The U.S. Census agency reported that 1/3 of Americans are currently suffering clinical anxiety or depression do to the pandemic. That is 110 million people bordering on abject mental instability. ONE out of every THREE people, profoundly mentally struggling to keep it together. One out of three cops, one out of three protesters, one out of three people you know. I won't depress you with what's happened to the suicide rate, suffice to say it is high. Not everyone who gets to a breaking point harms themselves. Some harm others, some create destruction. That's the SMALL PICTURE.

The BIG PICTURE is this, we are ALL damaged right now. That 1/3 was shifted how ever many degrees from where they were, into the spectrum of mental instability. And they were shifted by the same stresses that the whole nation has been through, and so the whole nation suffered a similar shift. To be sure, some of us started further away from mental instability, but that still puts the best of us many degrees off of our own normal.

Stress takes a profound toll on cognitive ability. That is undeniable, and understood by every Psychologist walking the face of the earth. The severe profound mental stress on multiple fronts, with no normal coping mechanisms at our disposal, that have gone on for months, has left every single one of us with our ability to reason eroded to one degree or another. . You, me, them, all of us. We do not have the same ability to reason that we did in January.

This is not a theory, this is psychology 101. It only sounds fantastic because we have never had the entire country subjected to the same acute stresses for the same acute time period, with all coping mechanisms denied at the same time.

For a lose analogy, think of stress as a shot of alcohol, and coping mechanisms as a glass of water or piece of bread. We've all had 6 shots of alcohol and no bread or water. That 6 was enough to make a real mess of 1/3 of us, the rest of us are not simply unaffected, we have all had 6 shots.

Someone who wouldn't go to a protest, after 6 shots certainly will, and someone who would but would not yell at a cop will, and someone who would yell at a cop but not throw a rock will, and someone who would throw a rock but not start a fire will, a cop who would not first be the first to fire that tear gas will, the cop would would not use the club instead of the shield will.

Someone who could normally calm themselves will not, someone who would normally calm others will not, someone who could grasp and deduce what is going on around them will not. ect. ect.

We are a nation of people who are currently less rational, less able to process things, less sturdy mentally than what we were/normally are.

Us all going through this at once presents another issue that we have no road map for. Humans are social animals, wired to interact with each other. Every person in your life has an affect on your mental health. We all perform a function for each other subconsciously. We’re all part of a mental ecosystem.

Lemme try to explain that. You put 16 people together for an amount of time and eventually they will all take on roles. One will become a leader of sorts, another will give levity, another insight, another will be the voice of compassion and kindness...you know what I mean? A nation going through all of this at once throws a monkey wrench in that. It is important in times of stress or trauma to be able to talk to or be around someone who is or has gone through it, but it is also important to be around people who have not. It is important to be around people who are undamaged or at least damaged differently. The situation as it is, those who normally struggle to cope have no one who is not struggling as support, and those who are normally a beacon of hope or pillar of strength may be getting overly burdened trying to fill their normal role.

There are degrees of all this, of course. This isn’t a dire situation for everyone, and some people may be feeling little affect at all right now, because they didn’t have a life to begin with...their problems will mount later after everyone has moved on and has a life again. But whatever degree you’re at, you’ll be better able to stay centered realizing all of this.

Those three months happened, and the mental effects don't just evaporate instantly.

Given time to pause, the human mind can reset itself. I don't know when we get that, or if we have to each find a way to give it to ourselves. Right now we have a perpetual motion machine on our hands. Stress has provoked action, that produces stress, that will provoke action...and so on.

The human mind can also adapt, and the march of time itself may be enough. I don't know, there ain't exactly any case studies we can compare this too.

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I think this fire has been smouldering for decades. I can obviously not imagine life as a black person in America, but the issues of discrimination and hatred have been long known. Add to that a president who emboldens the racists and it was bound to flare up.

I don't know if it has happened already, but what would the police do if a group of black men showed up at their local government building with automatic weapons?

I think certain groups will be trying to fan the flames so they can get more power, but I cannot be sure who they actually are. The peaceful protests may get pushed out of news bulletins once violence flares up.

Where does one join 'antifa'? I think most of us are anti-fascists at heart.

Stay safe.

"I can obviously not imagine life as a black person in America" you could have stopped there on that matter, being that you are white and in the UK.

Lots of groups are trying to fan the flames...there have been no other flames to fan.

If black men had showed up with automatic weapons they would have been arrested, you cannot own and automatic weapon here...tell the rest of the world, who seems to be very unclear about the gun laws here, that none of the weapons they see Americans walking around with are automatic weapons. In answer to the main point of your question, I think they should have showed up armed right from the start. A show of equal force tends to keep the other side from doing anything aggressive...like firing tears gas into crowds of people.

Although I am a white Brit I have known plenty of black people and some of them suffered harassment by police. A racist police force is bad for society, but some of those attracted to that job will hold such views.

I am showing my ignorance of guns in general. I saw someone was arrested for use of a deadly weapon when they threw a tear gas grenade back at the police. How cynical is that?

I think peaceful protest is a powerful weapon. It carries risks as MLK and Ghandi found out.

Agreed the role of the lockdown in all of this has been largely ignored... because that would bring into question the justifications for it in the first place. Keep in mind that there is a possibility of a further lockdown if there happens to be a second wave of the virus. If you thin people are losing their sh*t right now, you haven't seen anything yet if we go for a second round.

The danger is the rise of mob mentality. It takes on a life of its own carrying individuals along with it and crushing those that stand in it's way. Carl Jung watched this happen across the boarder with Germany. Clinically he referred to it as a mass psychosis, in philosophical or esoteric sense, he referred to it as a possession by the collective unconscious. And he did mean, possession.

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” - Nietzsche

you likely hit the nail on the head with is being ignored so as to not have to evaluate it's actual worth...which I would contend ( based on the numbers) was not worth anything. Be i correct or incorrect on that, is should be obvious how much the lockdown had to do with all this.

I think...( but I would bet no money on it ) that at least in this country they'll have very little sucsess getting a 2nd lockdown for a second wave.

I'm in agreement with Jung and Nietzche as far as that goes, and I'm becoming less and less skeptical of the concept of "collective unconscious"

Sorry, I replied in the wrong place, the reply is above.

https://peakd.com/looting/@leoplaw/re-leoplaw-qbl5vs

Unfortunately, you're going to have a ringside seat to watch the collective unconscious play out. The trick is to not be seduced by it. Red flags are when you start think / speaking in accusative terms of they and them. Our own mental hygiene is paramount. But you won't see that pushed in any governmental public health messages anytime soon as they are at the epicentre of the psychosis.

Ooops! I just made an accusative they presumption. 😆

In the german press the role of Mr Floyed gets downplayed. He is mentioned as startpoint, but trump and his lockdown strategie is said to be the reason for the riots.

That to be said, Trump had his hands on the travel bans and on supply and treatment strategies, but the lockdown decision are operated by the Gouverneurs.

So considering Trump:
Why do I find myself getting fooled by the news so frequently, as soon as Trump is involved? I read the news, then read the Tweets and then sometimes watch the press conference or the actual available source material. In some cases it took me many hours... I watched around 30Hours of Impeachment Trial for example... so much time... wasted. Spend just to confirm once more, and once more, and once more, that the news outlets are not respecting the facts or the truth. They just don’t care, they just make stuff up and most people don’t believe it, but it is exactly like that.

That means, if Trump is responsible, then it’s the Trump who is reported to the people - not the actual real one. Because if you don’t waste quasi unlimited time digging up the actual sources, but instead go with News Trump Version... then you have to hate him and hate the system he represents.

About the Lockdown:
When History gets written, they will say that the COVID19 Lockdown played a diciding role. But they also added into Wikipedia that Drew Breese controversially respects his national flag and George Floyed’s death was responsible for the outburst. So probably History will get it right, it’s kind of obvious with enough emotional distance.

Where I stand:
Well I personally believe that people are responsible for their decisions. I am for sure. The Police Men who killed Mr. Floyed are to hold responsible for his death. The People rioting are responsible for the riot and the government is responsible for the lockdown. Hold em responsible, all of them!

How to start fixing?
Rotten community’s with 70-80% patchwork families, total lack of religious values and deceitful news... how shall a weak child’s mind survive that without getting resentful?

The work needs to be done in the communitys. Before you can save the world, you need to fix your home. But it won’t be easy and it won’t be fair. It never has been and never will be, for none. That is why DIGNITY has to become King again, dethroning USD. Crypto can help with that, can help a lot.

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of everyones lives, let’s start fixing one thing after another.

Check out this thread on twitter:

Some of the things you see are just horrifying, the first video and the picture with the girl who went shopping are just insane.