Thoughts on the current state of U.S. multicultural cohesion; chaos on the rise? (Or am I just growing old?)

Matherly Aug 4, 2016

I was a small child in the late 60s. Started public school in 1970, and spent that entire decade plus, engaging in publicly funded academic activities... or as some might prefer, forcibly being indoctrinated in the American Exceptionalism hive mind. Take your pick. Either way, during the 1970s there seemed much to be proud of, especially after the turmoil of the previous decade.

Early in my life NASA was launching test flights to our moon. One evening in 1969 the tests were over. Two of the three brave men on that adventure, had landed and were walking on it. My dad told me to stop running around and sit still; he directed my 4yr old attention to the TV and enlightened me to the current event. I knew what the moon was, I had seen it often. He said “if you sit here and watch this with me you might see some monster jump out and eat those guys”, and that was all it took. I learned their names, saw their faces, and suddenly had heroes.

Growing up during those years meant hearing about war. Vietnam was insane; our unwarranted involvement in that “civil” war was tearing the nation apart. Racial divides and generational hatred were spawning entire movements. The old guard was frightened, so much so we witnessed students shot dead at protests on a college campus by the military reserves… things hadn’t looked this bad in a century. Assassins killing men of importance, not once but several times in only a few years, told any adult who cared to think independently that some unholy behind-the-scenes forces were at work. For those who hadn’t wondered, this was a time to begin doing so.

National cognitive dissonance becomes the norm when officially sanctioned. We, as a society yearning for order, look for any reasoning or rationale we can accept in unity, especially during times of shared trauma. About one year prior to my birth, John Kennedy had been assassinated in public for all to witness. It wasn’t until almost a decade later, in the early years of the 70s, when network television felt comfortable enough to present alternative ideas and question details previously considered sacrosanct. I recall a network TV special highlighting inconsistencies in the official narrative of a lone sniper firing from only one direction. This intrigued me, and as I watched the show, I noticed my father becoming less at ease. At a later point in the show they questioned the assassination of the assassin – the killing of Lee Oswald by Jack Ruby, who Ruby was and what motive he had. I learned he was in debt to organized crime syndicates, and other issues were mentioned I wouldn’t have easily conceived of at that time. At this point my father was not happy, occasionally screaming “bullshit!”
I recall thinking how very strange. This is obviously someone sent to silence the one man who might blow the cover on others. I asked dad why he thought Ruby would go shoot a man, in front of cameras, and guarantee spending his life in jail. Dads reply was “Jack Ruby is a patriotic American who was rightfully upset about his president being shot dead by that little communist piece of garbage!” The logic simply escaped him. I never forgot that TV special or my dad’s reaction to the ideas it invoked.

During those years, it was not uncommon to hear the term “the establishment” bandied about. In later years, the term seemed more related to the hippies and was used mainly when laughing at the dumb youngsters from yesteryear. From my perspective, as someone who enjoyed using the term throughout my life, the concept remained alive and well. I am hearing the phrase used now more than ever.

Everybody is Anti-Establishment today!

The recent rise and fall of Bernie Sanders as the Democrat candidate for our President was predictable, if not obvious. I supported Ron Paul not once but twice for President. I learned (perhaps slower than I would’ve expected) that when you see the media stumbling over itself to instill doubt and uncertainty regarding any person’s character, a true character assassination, you can rest assured this person is not one of the ruling class. This didn't happen with Bernie in the same vitriolic fashion as with Dr Paul, instead it was the head Dems leading the attack, more than the main corporate media. Why?
Bernie is a product of government employment, never had a job in the private sector, so biting THAT hand after being fed BY it after all these years is NOT a possibility. The “paleo-conservative” Dr. Paul was philosophically reluctant to be paid from our taxes, in fact returned all of his excess “discretionary” pay. Dr. Paul is also a true pacifist; all any candidate needs to say is “we need to bring our troops back to U.S. soil, close down our overseas bases and say goodbye to our desire to run the entire planet”. He did that repeatedly. To my knowledge, Sanders never did. Bernie was running to head the empire, not dismantle it. Therefore, he never had my support, nor does “The Donald”. Neither were ever real choices for me. Not one anti-establishment candidate in sight for miles, except perhaps Dr. Stein, but we’re told we’re surrounded by them.

And this is at a time when our municipal police forces have become horribly militarized, their training quite obviously has taken a turn for the more authoritarian side, with the practice of rendering a suspect harmless and in-custody apparently morphed into target and shoot any person you wish because…. The courts are too full? I don’t get it.
Some think its part of a plan.
Maybe, but it’s an insane approach at social engineering if that could be the point.

I would never think I’d witness innocent people mistakenly shot dead by police officers, from a safe distance, and the event is officially ignored. An officer only needs to say they were "in fear for their life" in order to be excused. Being so in fear for your life that you need to fire on a unarmed person from a safe distance…. makes no sense.
But we’re expected to just accept it. And these can no longer be considered anomalous. Not simply once or twice a year, but lately on a weekly basis. As if each and every county, town, city, and state police force have given up on the idea of subduing a person and arresting them. The frequency of these events has a serious psyche effect on the less sophisticated among us, causing them to act out violently and validate the ramping up in authoritarian heavy handedness. It’s a vicious violent circular cycle of bloodshed.

THIS is the future I waited 50 years for!?

In 1985, at 20 self-righteous Mr know-it-all years old, I moved out west to Los Angeles to begin my first career as a monster maker, a special effects makeup artist. Spent time on many horror and science fiction productions from the mid-80s through the late 90s, later moved onto CGI visuals. However, at this point, the work has largely been dispersed internationally, no longer centered in Southern California. Finding employment has become more difficult than it had ever been for me.
NAFTA, plain and simple.
Is it an agreement to foster a more evenly distributed economic dynamic across the continent, or a bunch of oligarchs colluding to profit from cheaper labor? Or both?
Many manufacturing jobs went south to Mexico, and many entertainment industry jobs (and others I’m far less concerned about personally) went north to Canada.
Canadian taxes actually SUBSIDIZED the theft of my career.
But hey, this is because… ESTABLISHMENT.
It turns out if you wish to produce a movie or TV show, the Canadian government will pay for HALF OF IT.
You the producer owe them nothing in return, just employ their people. I know, most of you have no idea about this. It sucks.

I firmly understand the implications of living in a nation that – at the end of WW2 – possessed about 50% of our planets “wealth”. Or so I’ve been told.
Yes, this is unfair. No matter how you slice it, from whichever ideological perspective you view this from, it is unfair. Spreading the wealth around is undoubtedly the best approach, but how to do this equitably is not a concern. On a large national economy scale, this may not even be possible. Redistributing economic advantages will hurt somebody someplace no matter what… in the old model, especially.

But today we have a blossoming peer to peer community. And it is such an exciting time to be living through. Average people are finding ways to make the middle men obsolete. Notary services, compliance officers, and other whole payroll departments are looking at the Ethereum technology and watching their jobs done without the employer needing to pay employment taxes (they do as well as their employees) and pension contributions, etc, and so on.

The Writing on the Wall is in Binary Code

A truly equitable redistribution of economic advantage should be the goal, and from where I sit, within the peer to peer community this seems to be the case, generally speaking.
STEEM is yet another fine example of this attitude becoming manifest.
Nuff said.

More rambling to come, guaranteed.
In the meantime comments are most appreciated, especially intelligent comments that facilitate constructive discussion. :^)
Let’s look forward to the future, together.
Thanks.