An offline question regarding the previous post raises an issue worthy of a separate post: solipsism.
Solipsism is an orientation, a philosophy which states or assumes the individual doing the thinking is the sole reference point. There is no credible pretense to objectivity, to making room for the thoughts and feelings of others. In my religion, this is one of the most deadly sins. It’s one thing when you realize you can’t really know what goes on in the head of another, and working humbly off your best guess. It’s another to assume your answer is the only one which matters.
In its ultimate form, solipsism is psychopathy. It’s really hard to tell sometimes when someone has crossed that line, so we are better off envisioning a sliding scale. But when your entire social structure assumes certain privileged groups are allowed to get away with solipsism, that is far more serious than any substance abuse.
The problem with alcohol is not the alcohol, nor the drunkenness, but the bad behavior and harm to others. It applies in other ways. The problem with hate crimes is not the hate, but allowing oneself to let hate steer your behavior.
In my religion, bad motives are castigated, but never assumed. However, the Laws of God plainly state you can’t regulate human thoughts, only human behavior. Do this; don’t do that. In the case of the Ten Commandments, it was about results. It was legal policy and warnings against human foibles, not law per se. It was, “Keep this in mind when you read the laws.” In those times, suzerain-vassal treaties always had the policy first, then specific laws followed. Penalties were based on actual harm and only those aggravating factors which can be proved. The proofs are pretty simple, because searching out complications was regarded as a problem in itself. Thus, leniency was built in, because it’s better safe than sorry when it comes to justice.
Modern Western laws go too far in projecting motives, making it entirely too easy to escalate penalties. This is unjust in God’s eyes. We should leave the internal causes to the person with the problem, and penalize the harm they do to others. Granted, the Old Testament Hebrew cultural view of harm was radically different from ours, but we are the ones making a huge mess of things. We are the one nation with the highest per capita prison population, and at the same time one of the most fragile societies ever seen in history. The only thing holding us together is the ponderous size.
Meanwhile, there are literally millions of drunks who harm no one but themselves. You’d be scared to death if you knew how many people drove around inebriated, but never get caught. It’s not because the police aren’t trying, I assure you. It’s because these drunks manage to drive without doing anything stupid. Then there are the dopers, too. We have a much bigger safety issue with prescription drug users than from stoners. Our social dishonesty on refusing to respond to actual harm is stunning.
Internal family problems with substance abuse cannot be handled as a crime in my religion. I assure you the number one mistake we make is not having as a norm the extended family household. Without it we cannot solve most domestic issues; with it we have at least a chance of useful intervention. No one outside the familial bond has any business making decisions of that sort. This is the one and only effective means of intervention, and prevents having to develop such a vast and horrifically broken law enforcement system as we have now. We consider a social threat problems which are nobody’s business but those involved.
Finally, the single greatest problem with alcoholism is our cultural psychosis which causes so many people to act differently when they are sober versus drunk. If you’ve ever experienced a culture where the only difference is some extra sense of merriment, you realize we have something deeply wrong here. Something in our culture creates a boiling danger hidden beneath the surface which explodes openly under the influence of an inebriant. Until we start working on solving this, justice is utterly impossible, because the very foundation of our society is injustice itself.
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Its not about justice, as I’m sure you’re well aware. But then addressing the real issue is the path to justice. Right? Its attempted behavioral modification. I tend to believe the modification is to try to snuff out certain tribal instincts. I guess the anger that surfaces under the influence is a reaction to the social defenestration of men.
Our system doesn’t want justice, that’s for sure. Yes, if you fix the underlying problems, justice tends to within easy reach. However, the question is how we get to those underlying problems. Whether it’s Behavior Modification the specific program or anything related without the capital letters, Western Civilization has no clue what makes humans tick, except how to manipulate and prey. Destroying manhood is one major cause, but there’s so much more. Our society destroys what makes humanity human. What little good can be cultivated after the Fall is simply uprooted as if you could simply make up something new to put in its place.
Our society seeks to control and suppress undesired social interactions through the controlled use of violence. This is the nature of the ‘Western State’. It’s militant form of government born from the old empires of Europe. It’s a curse on the world.
Instead of learning tolerance and seeking only to use violence as a defense of property and life our country uses violence like our medical establishment uses drugs to as a preventative agent and to suppress symptoms in the hope that the disease will solve itself if we just ignore it.
Every rule we deal, every law that is created, ever attempt by the government to improve or correct things is backed up with the promise that if you don’t obey you will be punished. If you resist it only makes things worse and if you resist strongly enough you will be killed.
Everything: Copyright, patents, jay walking, drug use, FCC rules, medical red tape, the shape of review mirrors, colors and dies allowed to be used in food, the size and shape of bubbles in mozzarella cheese, tax codes, business best practices, traffic laws, how hard liquor needs to be sold in a plain paper bag in many states, the length of grass in your front law, registering for your marriage license, and in many places the colors you are allowed to use on your shutters.
_EVERYTHING_.
Everything is backed up by violence and threats. Even the most trivial perceived trespass on government laws is backed by ever escalating series of fines and punishments. You may ignore and forget trivial laws and punishments for a time, but if you carry on too long and take to many liberties and attract the attention of the authorities then they have the ability, and believe they have the right, to attack you. If you defend yourself then they believe they have the right to murder you.
It’s not about protecting property and guarding against violence. We had enough laws and controls against those for tens of thousands of years. The modern world is one of behavior control and modification through threats and deception.
Every police officer is a professional liar. They get most of their convictions by tricking the offender into admitting their crimes. Every television show, every news broadcast, every report that you will hear on the radio is designed to help sell commercials and advertising.
It’s all lies. All of it.
Compounding the issue:
Due to inflation and general lack of economic growth since the 1970’s people are now forced to have two incomes per household to maintain the same level of wealth that was available under a single income decades ago. Lack of job opportunities force people to travel to get work and extended families are a thing of the past. This consumer oriented behavior is encouraged by media and governments because it’s good for advertising and the tax base.
They live in mostly isolation. Their work buddies are their only friends.
As a result children are abandoned to day cares and fraudulent ‘preschools’ in early ages. Even months old children begin the path to being institutionalization. At ages 4 and 5 the begin decade-long journey through government institutions. Petty, immature and clique-ish behavior is encouraged. Natural tendencies in boys are suppressed. People are punished and drugged if they don’t obey. Proper respect of government representatives is required behavior at all times. Irreverence for authority is punished by public humiliation, drugs, and harassment.
We are taught that we are what we consume.
Indoctrinated, emotionally crippled, controlled, and repressed is the way of life for most people. Human behavior, smells, appearances, and opinions must conform to social guidelines, norms, and stereotypes. Media dictates tribes you must identify with in order to gain social acceptance among peers.
What artificial social construct must you conform to if you want to have a valid and acceptable identity? Are you gay? Are you a conservative? Are you a liberal? Are you a suppressed poor? Are you middle class? Are you a professional? What is your ranking in society? What sort of personality tick boxes provided to you by your programming have you chosen to identify with?
What groups in society must you hate? Who must you be afraid of? What lies about the humans around you that you have bought into?
What is more on top of this most people exist in a form of economic bondage.
Debt slavery.
You live not to provide for your family, you live to make your minimum payments on your mortgage, your credit cards, your automobiles, your education, your taxes. Your dollars don’t get invested in your retirement, in your life, and your family. They are invested in corporations and governments. Your payments don’t go to the people that provided economic value in your belongings, they go to the people that gave you the money to buy them. People regularly spend 20,000 dollars to by a 12,000 dollar car. They spend 800 dollars to buy a 400 dollar television set. The harder they work the more taxes they pay and the less they have to show for their efforts.
There is no way out. You can’t just tell your boss to screw himself. You have no freedom, no choice in what you will do with yourself. You can’t be a risk taker, you can’t stand up for yourself, and you can’t rock the boat. You can’t fight the system, you can’t stand up for what you believe in. You live on the razor’s edge and if you lose your job you have less then a month before your life spirals out of control and your ability to provide for yourself and your family is gone.
And we are all taught this is _NORMAL_. If you have a shitty car then that means that you are unreliable or dysfunctional. If you live in a poor neighborhood you are a outcast. Your house is not your shelter, it’s your investment in your future. All these lies.
Debt slavery, television programming and mental manipulation, living your childhood in government institutions. No real connections with family. Social isolation. Fear of everybody around you. Stunted emotional growth. Violence and threats from authorities dogging everything you do, following you like a stink. No spiritual grounding. Drugs are used to suppress the stress and mental breakdown that this will inevitably cause. .
Is it any wonder that people flip out and behave badly once inebriated?
Even if you don’t understand what is happening to you you still are damaged by it. You will still react negatively about it. Stresses caused by modern life, ignored, misunderstood, and suppressed will still come out one way or another eventually.
Nate, that sums up a lot of posts I make here. Sounds like it would make a lyrics for a good song.