Modern Society and Culture

More people are beginning to realize that in every respect we all live in a global society controlled and truly steered by big corporations, popular media and press, and marketing propaganda. A Global Corporation, if you will. A social system in which those who control the resources and the wealth of the world are perpetrators of large scale legal and government abuse that serves to perpetuate rule by elites. What many people do not realize is that aside from the war, pollution, epidemics, and poverty, the social system imposed upon us by the elites produces emotional distress. It produces depression, anxiety, substance abuse, sexual problems, obesity, and many other conditions that plague millions of people across the globe.

The mechanisms for this are quite simple. The stress of living in highly regulated societies with a predatory legal system results in a population which reflects the conditions of a wounded, exploited, conditioned, and bullied people. Moreover, we are tracked and watched through computers, cell phones, and credit cards; and increasingly the entire industrialized world is being videotaped and monitored constantly. Not to mention the fear mongering held over us on a weekly basis by the politically affiliated news corporations. This is the beginning of a dehumanization process the likes of which will alienate us from our individual nature and reduce us to the cogs of production wheels in their factories, offices and other companies. We are not only becoming their servants, we have become consumers, buying every product and service we are told to. We receive their propaganda through television, so-called news sources, and advertisement marketing. They tell us what we should wear, they tell us what we should look like, and they tell us what we should think of others. They even tell us how we should think of ourselves. Further, we unquestioningly do as they say.

We live in such a society that the shallowest and most fake among us are held upon pedestals, catered to, and treated as royalty. The rest seek to be as they are, however, generation by generation, the values of our society falter and slip further and further. This is most evident, of course, in the youngest of the current generation. The morals and values of our parents, and our parents, parents are all but absent in these children. Values such as; accountability, community, civic duty, compassion, common purpose, diplomacy (over confrontation), fairness, family, friendship, faith, generosity, good will, gratitude, gallantry, hard work, honesty, honor, integrity, justice, loyalty, manners, neighborliness, punctuality, quality of work, respect for others, respect for elders, taking responsibility, teamwork, tolerance, trust, truth, and virtue. Today, in some parts of our society, the utmost emphasis is placed on the acquisition of material wealth, at all costs. In other parts of society, the feeling of despair is so prevalent that no effort is made to acquire anything, including education or even an improvement in the quality of life.

Marriages are torn apart by the stress of coping with the conditions brought about by these values of our society and the abuses of government and the legal system. Relationships with friends, relatives, children, and the ability to enjoy life can be twisted inside out. We are forced to follow the red tape and jump through the hoops.

Our potential to live happy, productive, and fulfilled lives is being robbed from us every day by a malignant and parasitic class of lawyers, judges, and government officials who are, in essence, second tier masters in the Global Corporation. If they are the masters, what does that make us? Mindless followers, that’s what.

We are the victims.
Too few people realize this admonishment can become a psychological problem, that is, a problem that affects your mind and your behavior. Once they rob us of our peace of mind and dignity, once they have conditioned us, we need a healing process.

I believe, as do a number of mental health professionals, that the most effective therapy for this emotional distress caused by government and social abuse is activism directed against its sources. What do I mean by "activism?" I refer to picketing, demonstrations, sit-ins, organizing public communications, and in general the kind of conduct that transforms society, produces changes, and puts the wrongdoers on the defensive.

When you suffer in silence, when you allow the wrongs to stand without seeking redress and accountability, when you avoid demanding justice, you have become part of the problem. You have told yourself that you will set aside reclaiming your dignity and demanding justice for whatever reason. But you have essentially betrayed yourself and accepted being a victim. That cannot possibly be an emotionally healthy decision. It is also likely to produce serious physiological symptoms over time. Hours of traditional psychoanalysis will not ever be as therapeutic, rewarding, or self-affirming as organizing a picket line. Prescription anti-depressants may help some, but they are only masking the source of the problem. It has been argued that psychotherapy, in itself, may be a means of oppression in that its aim is to assist the individual in adjusting to the status quo when in fact it may be the status quo that should change. Alienation is, indeed, the result of oppression and only in discovering the reason for the alienation will an individual grow in self-knowledge. Some people feel self-conscious about being in public; others feel they ought to pray for those that hurt them. These thoughts are, in effect, self-destructive as they serve to perpetuate the victimization... We need to find the source and eliminate it.

To where do we trace the origins of our problems?
On a daily basis, the face of the Global Corporation deceives. While a policeman, lawyer, or government functionary may appear to be oppressive, and most certainly act accordingly, the pyramidal structure of the “System" leads upwards. However, the string pullers behind events are not always apparent. The identification and role of power elites in the United States as well as in other countries has become a subject of both academic and popular focus. Because the power elites play such a significant and arguably destructive role, they have earned the legitimate indignation of the people. They are the foundation heads, media moguls, and political powerbrokers. They are the controllers of multinational conglomerates, financiers of major political parties, and intelligence potentates. They are the folks who own and govern the Global Corporation at the highest levels.

They are formidable adversaries and they will break the law, perjure, murder, and conspire and never be held accountable except by the people. They, for all practical purposes, own the courts. The policies of local judges are directed through large institutional think tanks in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Santa Barbara, California, under their control. Not at the grassroots as should be, and used to be, the case. To those who shy away from action, I say you are going to miss the greatest of human endeavors, and your social condition will remain. To those who want to think for themselves, retain their freedoms, and not live in fear for it; get a sign, get a pen or go to your computer or fax machine, and start taking action. The world cannot wait for business as usual to solve these problems and we have a mission, a responsibility, to turn their system upside down.