Quarantine Shaming and Emergence of Groupthink

[Eric the Green]

(03-23-2020, 04:17 AM)TheNomad Wrote: Eric I can identify with the idea Prophets in youth changed a lot of things in terms of becoming aware "we have to look at the planet and ecology and we can't just be numb servants to the grind."

The whole hippie thing was peace and love and don't kill mother earth.

WHY, then, after all this time - if the Prophet was so united in this (which I can accept that!) - why has more shitting on the planet happened on their watch than ever before (exclude the idea of a more industrialized world)?  

All of the things you touch on about the values, but it seemed to me the Prophet also then became the carpetbagger and went back on their vision of green things and empty space and room to take a wild uninterrupted trip.  Rhett mentioned they "sold out".  They, themselves, became what they hated in corporate overmongers.  They ultimately come chose the expensive private jet without caring the emissions.

How did this happen?  I think it happened because they just can't agree on anything.  And I think the cause of that is because they lead too hard with their values.  Prophet has built homes of their values and are guarding it with their life.  Claimed land and made structures and drawn battle lines which cannot be crossed.  They took possession of the land and saw themselves, the enemy, on the other side of the field.  In war, who can legislate?  There is a values war in Prophet that has always been there.

How, if it began as a united front to resolve those issues, how after all this time and they are at MORE THAN PEAK occupancy of power, how is THIS the hardest time to get anything accomplished?

Ppl need to take responsibility.  Ppl just cannot understand a united world not juiced in values but actually based in pragmatic problem-solving.

Eric, can you talk a little bit about what, if at all, you think is the difference between values and pragmatism?

Pretty good reply

I don't think shitting on the planet happened under their watch alone. Policies at any time are enacted by several generations. Reagan was a GI/Greatest generation guy as were some of his cohorts in his administration. Climate change really ramped up once he took over. Previous generations did establish a dirty industry, and only silents and boomers in circa 1970 made sure that pollution laws and regulatory agencies were set up to clean things up. GIs lent their support too. And industry did get cleaner. Earlier generations had acted to make them more fair. But the hippies also became yuppies, and since then they have increasingly forgotten their earlier unity and dedication to ideals. Boomer idealism was not sustained enough. Many kept their hopes and dreams alive, but many did just as you say. Meanwhile Boomers led the way into the information age.

Older people typically sell out, but why did they sell out? Maybe because the opposite of what you say; the new values and inspiration and dedication to causes did not sink deeply enough into them. The USA is inherently a materialistic and commercial culture, and few are immune to it. The Reaganomics scam was very appealing. To a generation that loved to live free, an assault on government as the problem was tempting. It was tempting to all generations. Who likes the government? Also, on the other hand, traditional religion has a huge influence in America. The fundamentalist craze became a prophet obsession, although led by silents too. And Gen X did nothing to break away from these trends but joined them in even greater numbers. If the right-wing side sees itself as the only word of God, it makes compromise difficult.

I disagree that the battle lines are itself the problem, as you know. The problem is that the wrong side has too much power, and is too monolithic and stubborn. The only thing for more moderate and liberal people to do in the face of this horrible threat is to coalesce and become increasingly stubborn in turn. And being prophets dedicated to causes in youth, this came somewhat naturally to some on the liberal side. But participation in this stalemate is multigenerational; Gen Xers have a lot of power now and Silents did earlier on. Millennials offer hope not so much for more spiritual inspiration, but they support much of the Awakening values in their policies, and could break the stalemate if they get involved and on board with the fight instead of whining about boomers.

Values and pragmatism need each other to be effective. A value means nothing if not put into practice. To do this it must meet reality. The values must remain to guide actions, or else the goal gets lost amid cynicism and lack of direction. A higher spiritual realization is a basis for manifesting ideal realities, but it takes practice and strong realization to be sustained.