Governments across Europe tremble as angry people take to the streets

The populace of this country is willing to tolerate A LOT as long as their toys are not taken away.  The time will come, it is just that America has so many layers of fat (literally as well as figuratively) to be stripped away before you really get down to their nerves.  The distractions in this country are limitless.

France has a great tradition of peaceful mass demonstrations.  The government is quite scared of the populace in that reguard. 

Watch the great BBC documentary series [4x1hr] 'the century of the self' for a great exploration of how the mass conscientiousness has been manipulated by the corporations starting with the talented mr. bernaise [sp?] [no NOT the sauce guy] the cousin of one Sigmond Freud [sp?].  The words 'public relations' were coined by Bernaise.  His ideas worked, and they were used to great effect by Thather and Reagan.  This series of videos are almost required watching for anyone that wants to understand why people act as they do in groups and how first corperations then governments have used the knowledge of modern psychology to control you and I!  Facinating and bloody scary.

Denial is perhaps the other human trait which has got us were we are, and will keep us there until we feel ourselves in freefall over the cliff.... son of a gun, im acting like a lemming and im falling to my death... damn.... ouch!

The smartest author i have read in the past decade [and i place him ahead of Illich, Monbiot, Martenson ;0), Aristotle, Plato [big call... perhaps ive had too much whisky], and Chomsky] is an Australian scientist and philosopher Jeremy Griffith.  http://www.humancondition.info/ASpeciesInDenial.html  A quick visit to this page will show an outline of this reasoning.  there are links to the entire book 'a species in denial' there, as well as short summaries. 

If you want to understand how denial was breed into us and how to get around it, then Griffith is your man. Reading Griffith is like reading another language... you know its English, you can understand the words, but the concepts are so basic and so different that they are almost incomprehensible.... its a paradigm shift of a read.  awesome.

As for getting people off their asses... that will happen... when its too late... indeed its all to late anyway....  we are all SOOOO fucked we cant comprehend.  CM has shown us, Monbiot, Heizenberg et al have given up on averting the disaster and are now talking about 'resiliance'.  Mate, we are screwed, build a life boat, plug in the broad band, bend over and try to enjoy the ride.

"What did I do on the Great ship the Titanic as it sank into the abyss?  I chatted on forums!"

 

Castlewep,

Unfortunately, too many in the American populace are just plain uninformed, and don't understand the big picture.  The American media is also doing a superb job of keeping people uninformed.   Why has there not been any coverage of the riots that are breaking out in several countries.   The Icelandic government collapsed last week due to rioting citizens putting great pressures on its leaders, and not one word was mentioned on the large media networks.   Unfortunately, I hear alot people in my circle just saying the same meaningless words, "I hope things will get better."   I've yet to hear anyone, outside of the blogosphere" fathom the possibility that things will not get better for a long time, if ever.  

Whenever, I try to explain the concepts of limited resources, the fate of earlier civilisations that encountered similar problems, or the dire situation that the US finds itself in I get the glazed eye look.   I think things will have to get much worse before people, including the government, start to react and demand drastic change.   I just hope it won't be too little too late.

 

I think we are all used to the "do I have two heads" look from others.  The media will express it's impartiality in all of this.  The only article on the IEA annual report I saw was in the UK's Gaurdian newspaper.  If that one graph of the IEA's powerpoint presentation showing the likely demand and makeup from different sources would really hit home.  I showed it to my wife and she was stunned, previously, I had always struggled to get my point across to her, but not since I showed that slide.

More governments will tumble/change and little mention will be made of it.  In the UK/Europe, the Iceland issue has been put down to their stupidity in their attempts to emulate the Swiss banking system.  Hungery, doesn't make any of the papers from what I read in the UK, German, Dutch, French or Belgian press.

Han-Christian Anderson was ahead of his time with his tale of the King's New Clothes;little did he realise that he was writing a management/government fable!

I completely agree with the poster.  The new web address is http://www.worldtransformation.com but unfortunately it seems by the lack of people willing to delve into and explore these ideas we may well be in end game.  I can't speak highly enough of the insight that Jeremy Griffith has discovered.  Truly it unlocks all apparent paradoxes of the human experience and has been a key to unlocking the meaning of all the art and literature I have applied it to.  Take 30 minutes and watch Part II - The Human Condition I'm sure you will find your mind bent wide open.  Seek the truth and good luck to us all!

Seems that Griffith might have had a little nip or two himself if he thinks that the nature of the primitive self is to be cooperative, loving and selfless.

Thanks for the link to Jeremy Griffith. Very interesting.