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The Fiat Crack Addict is Convulsing and Headed Straight for The DTs
The Fiat Crack Addict is Convulsing and Headed Straight for The DTs
By
Cognitive Dissonance
For years I have seen strong parallels between the self destructive gyrations of the terminally addicted and the nation states of today who are all following similar paths to self immolation. I suppose I shouldn’t assume that the reader is in agreement with me that the world’s economic and social systems are in deep trouble and headed for a disastrous fall. On the other hand if you don’t agree with this assessment, it seems odd that you would be reading this in the first place. So for the sake of brevity (something I usually avoid at all costs) let’s agree that the issues we are facing are unprecedented in this so-called modern economic era and move on. Those who have never been, or are not currently, addicted to drugs, alcohol or any other addictive substance or state of mind, can never quite comprehend what addiction is really all about. Take alcohol for example. If you have never experienced the absolute inability to stop after just two or three beers, or two or three drinks, the idea of being completely and utterly unable to stop drinking until you are thoroughly drunk or passed out is simply beyond comprehension. “Just stop for crying out loud. What the hell’s wrong with you?” Oh sure, we might be able to ‘understand’ addiction, meaning we can indulge in the intellectual process of imagining what it is like by putting ourselves in their shoes. And no doubt this does bring about a greater understanding. But to truly comprehend the total body, mind and spiritually destructive experience of being thoroughly addicted is simply impossible for those who are not, or have never been, addicted. Period! Full stop! If you were to spend some time talking to people who were at one point or another completely engulfed by their addiction and who now have substantial recovery time under their belt, I would wager most of them would agree with my assessment. Not being able to comprehend holds true for many other ‘normal’ life events as well, though we don’t think about them in quite the same way. For instance, it is simply impossible for me, a male, to comprehend what it is like to be pregnant and to bear a child. There are some things that must be experienced firsthand in order to comprehend them. I can possess a tremendous amount of empathy for those who are pregnant and/or have given birth and I may even have a sincere and genuine desire to know what it is like. But in this case, unless I actually become pregnant and then give birth, something I cannot physically do, I just can’t comprehend in any meaningful or substantial way what pregnancy and childbirth is all about. And I deliberately use the word ‘comprehend’ here rather than ‘know’ or ‘understand’ because the level of internalization and embodiment implied when using the words ‘comprehend’ or ‘comprehension’ is easily an order or two of magnitude greater than when merely saying that I understand something. If I am a male obstetrician, it is very likely that I understand quite well what it is like to give birth, but I can still never comprehend it. However, if I am any female who has given birth before I can both understand and comprehend the process and experience. In this usage the difference between understanding and comprehending is as stark and self evident as night and day. And if you don’t believe me, ask the mothers around you for their opinion. I suspect they will be more than happy to oblige and will diligently fill you and me in on the details of our male (and childless female) ignorance. I press this point in order to further this article’s line of reasoning, one that is not just missed, but often not even seen by the majority of us who are not addicted or have never been so. While we dismiss the antics of the Ponzi masters and their financial, political, corporate and military henchmen as [take your pick] crazy, out of touch, corrupt, conflicted, in denial, evil, in bed, bought and paid for, maniacs etc., in truth many of us are often completely flabbergasted by their seemingly self serving but ultimately self destructive behavior. We can easily ‘understand’ what it is they are doing and even how they may and do benefit from their behavior. But at the same time our heads can never quite get around what it is they do and why they do it. It is foreign to us, it’s just not something we would ever really consider doing ourselves, regardless of the monetary or social gain. It just does not compute and I think this is one of the reasons why so many people tune out and turn away. The vast majority push it all aside in disgust or pass it off as just the children rough housing again, reason enough to just ignore them and hope they’ll eventually settle down. I don’t wish to get into an in-depth discussion about the causes of addiction or if it is a disease or not, if it can be ‘cured’ or simply suspended or abated or any other of the controversial issues revolving around addiction. I think we can all agree that addiction does exist and it can strike just about anyone in any social and economic class. And the odds are pretty high that you, dear reader, are either addicted yourself or, far more likely, you have or had family, friends or acquaintances who are or were addicted.
If you feel none of this applies to you, just wait a little while longer because the odds are very much in my favor that you will eventually fit within this description. While you are waiting, can you think of anyone you know who smokes? If you can, add them and yourself to my grouping above because most certainly smoking is an addiction, just like drugs and alcohol. Only smoking is more socially acceptable (thought that is rapidly changing) and more importantly perfectly legal, at least in private. In fact, in some respects addiction to nicotine is worse than some drugs and alcohol for a multiple of reasons. Go talk to someone who hasn’t has a cigarette in 8 hours and see what they have to say on the matter. However I would like to expand, at least for some, the definition of addiction and addictive behavior. You may remember the first sentence of the second paragraph where I said in part “or any other addictive substance or state of mind”. It is the ‘state of mind’ that most people don’t consider when listing addictions and this is a serious omission, deliberate in many cases, for to accept a wider characterization would force many to include themselves in their condemnation. Few would disagree with me if I said that some people are addicted to gambling, sex, food or pornography. But would you also consider excessive use of the Internet or texting or work or even exercise as addictions, because I do? There is also obsessive compulsive disorder or those who self injure and the Hollywood tabloids are more than happy to point out those who are addicted to plastic surgery or weight loss. Some addictions are more destructive than others, but still remain addictive behavior because (self) destruction is not one of the measures I use to identify addiction. It is primarily a state of mind that is often, but not always, enabled by addictive substances. The list is shockingly long and growing by the week. And many of these do not involve an obvious physical dependency, at least not in the traditional sense of drugs and alcohol. It is not that these addictions are ‘different’ as much as they are more pure, if such a word could be used in this context. Talk once again to those recovering alcoholics and addicts and many will tell you that long after the physical dependency was flushed from their system, but still early in their recovery, there remained a ‘craving’ to fulfill their addiction. Their state of mind still existed in the addicted state and it is this that truly tormented them. Thankfully for many who are in long term recovery, the compulsion subsides and might even disappear, though many tell me that occasionally and out of the blue the urge will suddenly flash back, similar to a sudden and sharp phantom pain of short duration and uncertain location. But my emphasis remains on the state of mind here because there is still some more definition expansion I wish to explore. Clearly while actual substance abuse can and is an integral part of many addictions, it is not a prerequisite for many others. It seems to me that other states of mind might also be considered addictive, though many will try to bargain down from this frightening term and settle at the more emotionally and socially comfortable ‘excessive’, ‘obsessive’ or ‘obsessed’ to describe the following afflictions, primarily because they represent the core personal, business and governmental practices of Americans, America and the world. It is quite clear and in my view irrefutable that some people, usually very rich and powerful but not always, are addicted to power, money and control in all its forms, including greed, hoarding, fear mongering, war, terror, oppression, manipulation, mind control etc. Again, the list is endless depending upon how fine you wish to slice the apple, which by the way was Eve’s obsession.
(h/t image provided by williambanzai7 @ http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/)
I wish to highlight ‘control’ here for it can be argued that when speaking about addiction everything flows from and towards the need, or rather the compulsion, to control. This includes the need to seek even more control after one has failed to achieve a certain perceived level of control, the hallmark of any addiction. This brings me to a listing of the symptoms of the insanity, which at its heart is what addiction is all about. Think about what’s going on today in the political and financial world as you read the following and consider some of the more obvious similarities and connections. The central element of addiction is control, or more accurately the complete lack of control. When speaking of substance abuse, but also in more general terms about any addiction, some is not enough and one is one too many. While in the throes of their addiction, rarely will the afflicted admit they have lost control. It is only later, after recovery has begun and the cobwebs begin to clear, will many admit that not only did they lose control long before it became apparent to everyone else, but that they were always just as shocked and surprised by their actions as everyone else was. They never understood, despite their very real desire to regain control, why they were never able to. It stands to reason that if one has lost control, but doesn’t wish to admit it, that denial would be the process used to get through each day of increasing insanity. But I’m not talking about your average garden variety level of denial here. No, I’m talking about supercharged balls-to-the-wall 31 flavors of denial. This is about denial piled upon denial layered with even more denial so deep that the recovering person will spend years, even decades, digging out all the dead carcasses as they come to grips with the former disaster they called life before recovery. Denial so deep in fact that first they denied, then they denied they ever denied until finally they forget there ever was any question about denial in the first place. Wrap all this up and then take it to the tenth power and you begin to ‘understand’ what we are talking about here. This is not an exaggeration. A subset of denial would be rationalization, justification and bargaining. Even though the addicted will never admit to his or her addiction, the truck loads of problems they create still must be dealt with, though I use the term ‘dealt with’ here extremely loosely. Whatever the flavor-of-the-day problem is, one iron clad rule always applies. It is never the addict’s fault. NEVER! The addict projectile vomits personal responsibility as if Ipecac is being swallowed on a continuous basis. This actually makes perfect sense because to admit personal responsibility for the problems of the addiction quickly leads to the addiction itself. So the addict will use any and all excuses in the book to deflect blame and responsibility. Narcissism and naval gazing are natural outgrowths of the addict’s inability to come to terms with his or her own addiction. An entire fantasy world and often several that interlock and supplement each other are created and constantly managed and massaged in the mind of the addicted. And it is here where they engage in fantastical blame shifting and justification that truly boggles the mind of those caught up in the tsunami wave of destruction and disaster that originates within the addiction. Incredibly, while to the saner outsider (keeping in mind that everything is relative in the world of addiction) the constant barrage of lies, excuses and finger pointing have long ago moved into the absurd, to the addicted it all makes perfect sense because you and I are the problem, not them. This all inevitably leads to lying of such intensity and magnitude that a professional liar would blush in shame, having finally met someone worse (better?) than him or her. Stated as simply as possible, during the latter stages of the addiction, the afflicted becomes a pathological liar, a thief and a cheat. When consumed by the addiction, nothing else matters and no one else warrants any more attention or honesty than is needed to get to the next bottle, fix or emotional relief. An addict in the end stages of their death by suicide has a laser like focus of attention upon themselves and their needs that would put physicists and mathematicians to shame for their inability to match the addict’s level of single minded effort and concentration.
At this point, the insanity has completely taken over and the addict would sell their first born if they could for a few more hours of relief. And this is where most people are lost in their understanding because long before it is obvious that the addiction has all but destroyed the afflicted, for the addict it is all about dulling the pain, having long ago lost the ability to feel genuine pleasure. At this point, relief is nothing more than the temporary dulling of the physical pain while the inner demons are quieted, but not silenced, once again. While there is no place to hide and nowhere to run, there are a few sweet hours of oblivion and numbed forgetting.
This is why it always takes more and more to get somewhere close to the extreme high s/he once experienced, be it physical, mental or emotional. As s/he slips ever closer into the welcoming arms of death and the end of the pain, there is no longer any chance of ever again reclaiming that long lost ecstasy, something the addiction inside has been chasing since the very first high. All there is left is nothing more than some numbing of the pain as the addict kicks the can of withdrawal down the road once more. Soon enough even the road and the can will disappear, but not before everything gets exponentially worse. We ain’t seen nothing yet.
Don’t think for a moment that I’m just talking about substance abuse here. Consider those power and money hungry people who want more and more and are never satisfied with 95% when 96% is still available. It is not the quantity that matters because the rush from the control and power is no longer fully realized or experienced since long ago they became desensitized and essentially dead to the world you and I occupy.
Thus their destructive actions don’t really apply to themselves any more since they no longer live in the same reality as we do. It is so much more than them thinking that they can just hunker down and avoid any blowback. It’s all just the cost of the business of their addiction. Bottom line, blowback or adverse consequences are immaterial to their distorted and horribly twisted thinking and risk weighting mechanisms in much the same way it is not about winning or losing to the addicted gambler, but the action itself that is sought out again and again. It’s the juice man and each shot in the arm is less effective than the last.
And so all these symptoms, along with many more I haven’t mentioned, coalesce into the need, the desperately obsessed need, to do ANYTHING to get what they want. This is in fact the supporting mechanism for the accelerating addiction and the underlying justification that leads all addicts to eventually engage in abuse not only of themselves, for this is a given, but of everyone and anyone who is captured by the insanity’s black hole gravity well. Suffice it to say that there is always mental and emotional abuse administered by the addict. Again, this is a given simply by the very nature and progression of the addiction.
But very often we also witness the devastating physical abuse rained down upon those closest to the insanity, though this is strenuously denied by the addicted while they are deeply engulfed within their own consumption. The abused are often dragged into the insanity kicking and screaming all the way down into the black abyss until eventually they are also afflicted by an equally devastating offshoot of the insanity. I am, of course, speaking of the enablers who are often just as conflicted, confused and codependent as those infected with the full blown addiction.
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(h/t image provided by williambanzai7 @ http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/)
This leads us directly into the final chapter of this comparison between the addicted individuals, along with their enablers living within the general insanity, and the country and world as an addicted entity run by the power and money hungry addicts and their enablers. Here I wish to focus on codependency, a word that has gotten a bad rap because it is often seen only in a negative light. In a healthy world, codependency means relying upon one another for the mutual benefit and growth of all. It is a synergy that produces more than the sum of its parts and its presence is a sign of a thriving, energetic and wholesome system in which humans most certainly can participate. Sadly, codependency in the context of the addicted and their enablers is defined as the mirror opposite of how it is found naturally on our blue planet. The addicted become black hole vampires, sucking in all available energy from their victims in order to consume more physical and psychic life force than they produce. Under these circumstances codependency produces much less than the total input values and is of no intrinsic value to anyone other than the consuming addict. It is not a dance of synergistic creation, but rather the raw sucking sound of parasitic consumption and partially digested excrement.
Nearly all of the symptoms exhibited by the addicted are also symptoms of the codependent enabler, though they are often subservient to, or mirror images of, the addicted. Just as the addicted are consumed with the need to control in their never ending quest to reach the lost ecstasy, the codependent enabler is consumed with trying to control the addicted spouse, child, friend, co-worker or whoever it is they are locked into the death spiral with.
In effect the codependent enabler is attempting to manage something he or she has absolutely no hope of ever controlling, since the object of their attempt to restrain, the addiction itself, can never be controlled by the addicted let alone the enabler. This vicious cycle of repeated attempts to control, then abject failure to control, followed by even more attempts to control is the very definition of insanity. And it is rocket fuel for the addicted, which without his or her cadre of codependent collaborators would quickly flame out, then flash crash and burn. Thus it is the codependent enabler that provides the sustaining life force of their very own slavery because once they embrace the vampire they are often destroyed by the very same vampire.
At this point the reader must be asking themselves an obvious question. Why doesn’t the enabler run for his or her life, putting as much distance between the life sucking vampire and themselves as they can? But the ties that bind them together in this dance of death were made many years in the past, when life was much better and the relationship was actually productive and enjoyable.
After several decades of deepening cross connections, be it children, money, mutual friends, love, sex, power or influence, promises of an easy retirement, whatever, the allure of what was once good is the bait that keeps the codependent enabler enticed and enthralled. In effect the false promise of a return to the good times of the long ago lost life act as the enabler’s own elusive lost ecstasy which can never again be reached. So now we have both the addicted and the enabler jousting at similar fantasy windmills on the hill while driving each other insane in the process.
Mix in a healthy dose of physical abuse handed out by the addicted upon the codependent enabler, which supplements and cements years of guilt trips and carrot and stick control techniques, and you have one massively effective cluster fuck of mutual assured destruction writ large. Both parties in this macabre death ritual long ago lost any ability to see with rational or sane eyes what they are doing to themselves and each other or what they have become.
Thus everyone is trapped on a runaway train that is rapidly approaching terminal velocity and where the desperately panicked conductor/enabler screams unintelligible and conflicting instructions from the careening caboose to the brain dead and hopelessly addicted engineer. The very same engineer mind you who is slavishly captured by his or her own addiction and pays just enough attention to the conductor to keep him or her from jumping from the train in a last frantic bid to survive.
Caught between these two self destructive forces are the terrified and helpless children strapped into the swaying and lurching passenger cars, true victims who can only hang on and hope they survive their frightening ordeal. Of course they are all in training to fill their future roles as either hope junkie conductors/enablers or consumed addicted zombies walking the path to self destruction.
The Connections Are Obvious
How can we not see the obvious connection between the word images painted above and our society in general and our leadership and all of us specifically unless we just don’t wish to look? This nation and our financial, corporate, religious and political leaders are the seriously addicted engineer desperately trying to stave off the death throes of the DT’s (Delirium Tremens) by consuming more and more fiat in a losing battle to cheat death one more time. And as much as our egos scream out in protest that we are all just helpless victims and thus those frightened children trapped on the train to hell, in fact it is our own children that belong there for we are the conductor/enablers whether we wish to admit it or not.
If nothing else this illustrates the abject futility of hoping our addicted leadership will change their ways if only we give them additional time, money, support or more (hangman’s) rope. They will not change unless and until they see the need to change and they become willing to exert as much effort in realizing that change as they did in perpetuating their addiction. If they haven’t done so by now then they will not do so in the future.
Just as important, if not even more so, is the sobering fact that we cannot control the insanity simply because we are an integral part of the insanity. The train is out of control and we can neither regain control by shouting or pleading with the engineer to stop or by passively hanging on and falsely hoping that the addled engineer will suddenly snap out of it and slow down. This is our own enabling fantasy and it binds us to the insanity as completely and seamlessly as the addicted. We must remove all support and let the stinking mess collapse or we must remove the engineer from the controls and take over. This madness will not cure itself.
07-31-2011
Cognitive Dissonance
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I think a more appropriate term you might have been looking for CD is "interdependency".
ha, was just thinking of that word as well. although anyone that has been around an addict might disagree with "but we still have a measure of control over our lives most of the time."
an addicted person, even they consciously think they have a level of control (and thus lead others to believe as well), is always laying the groundwork for the next binge. that is the point where the cord needs to be cut.
I was just pointing out that we still can make a choice or decision not to give into the addiction. Some people use blame shifting type excuses to deflect from their responsibility. Addicts oftentimes are displaying emotional immaturity and a lack of self-discipline coupled with excessive self-pity. A human being is still autonomous although too many choose to think that something else is controlling them. That's just an excuse for laziness and once again indicates the lack of growing up.
People think they are powerless over their addictions but this only indicates their cowardice to make difficult or grown-up choices. Trying to be determined and straightforward may not be easy, but that's often what it takes to overcome many addictions. Their is a wide chasm between bravery and cowardice. Cowardice is usually comfortable and can be maintained with little effort. The other requires much more diligence.
It is so much more involved than this. Like I said at the beginning if you have never been addicted you simply cannot comprehend it. If you have been involved with someone who is addicted, you see it from the enabler/victim point of view.
Most people deny their addiction and never even consider whether or not they are powerless over their addiction. Thus it is never seen or perceived as cowardice or choices. If you think addiction is about difficult or grown-up choices may I suggest that you don't know addiction. I'm not saying choices are not involved. But it has nothing to do with left or right, white or black, reason and logic and everything with their struggle to 'control' something that can not be controlled.
I deal with people and their addictions every day. And have so for the last 15 years professionally and over 30 years personally with family. Believe you me I recognize full well that addiction is far more than simple choice as I pointed out previously concerning epigenetics and hereditable characterisitcs. I explain to people all the time that the chemical addiction, primarily hypoglycemic driven is not their fault. However, plenty of people will tell me and others that it's just in their genes and they can do nothing about it. They smoke, drink, toke up, eat shit, sugar and drink coffee constantly throughout their day because they don't give a shit. I have tons of empathy for people but I do not have a great deal of sympathy especially if they keep doing it to themselves. I agree none of us are free of addictions. Personally I have always been addicted to keeping up with news my community, and the world at large. I am also a hard realist who rather take on brutal reality than have everything glossed over or sugar coated to appease me or allow me to continue to play the child or victim.
The drinker and driver would love a free pass to continue doing so. But should we let them? If I stuck the majority of addicts of many bents on a island with no access to their addictive products would they survive. Many of them would. People have to make the decision to at least try. And most do not. In a practice of 15 years full time day in and day out, too many people want a hand out, and resist because of a lack of wanting to stop playing the victim and take a hand up. Believe you me suffering occurs in many forms but people have to stop feeling sorry for themselves continuously and yes eventually take the bull by the horns and grow up. However, we pander to those afflicted with addiction and instead of kicking them in the ass we want to further their addiction by providing them syringes. I live here in Canada and have seen first hand consistently and persistently just as in the U.S. the number of lazy shits who don't get off their ass and even move. Do you really think CD when the real shit hits the real fan that these people will be welcome in a community or group who expect people to pull their own weight and don't. Some people yes wish to genuinely quit their addictions and some are more destructive than others. Alcohol, oxycontin, cocaine, crack, meth, and pot all reduce emotional intelligence with pot reducing intellectual as well. I love academics but am not a bow tie, masking tape on the glasses passive nor impartial observer. As a caregiver and physician it is also my job to smarten people up especially on their health issues be they emotional, mental, addictive or physical. You seem to think that people are overcome by their addictions and can't see them at all. People know damn well all too often what they are doing to themselves and even to other people oftentimes. And do you know why.....because they know they want to get their own damn way. Addiction may be a struggle but it is also firmly rooted in childish dependency which too many people are more than happy and content to continue with. I have studied the human race to the extreme as my own mother is an addicted schizophrenic and my father a manic depressive alcoholic. Both refused to take responsibility for how their lives went and both played the poor me victim. I choose not to enable as I also would be playing the victim, but choose to take a stand, fight for reality and deal with life through the eyes of an adult not that of dependent child. Genetics and epigenetics are not the whole picture, as we can change our epigenetic influences via the choices we make both socially and dietarily. Your articles are usually spot on CD, but I contest due to both education and experience that your psychological analysis this time is truly keeping up with reality.
Im with you. I have been an addict (multiple ) for 50 years. Since age 15. Im addicted to EVERYTHING, double entry family background, foregone conclusion, but i am a self made millionaire, i worked like a field nigger for 40 years, i remained calculatingly unmarried , I twigged in my mid 20s, and said i will have to conduct this exercise a bit differently.
I am a self made multi millionaire, every family member is the same thanks to what I GAVE THEM< ... i do not overtly inflict myself on other people, given the paucity of what i have to offer. I fuck professionals, i give my money away, often to strangers.
I consider AA complete and utter horseshit which has an identified 90 percent failure rate, I consider it a criminal organization. Alcohol therapy has an 80 percent failure rate, and the 20 percent that can be terrorized, i could probably march off a cliff.
If i drop dead tomorrow, i got t0 80 percent of a reasonable number, I will take it, but i lived a highly moral life, i left the civilians alone, i do not appreciate generalizations about alcoholics. In fact you are full of shit.
Insanity can be so difficult to confront...the American Thomas Jefferson was wholly addicted to slavery. Couldn't live without it. Even upon death, willed that his slaves be sold, not freed. Talk about courage of conviction.
George Washington, too.
Btw, Jefferson was not rich. He lived on thelargesse from his sponsors. Lived and died under burden of great debts. He was bought.
We have been conditioned to venerate the so-called 'founding fathers' as if they were pure of heart, mind and deed. We don't wish to see them for what they were, seriously flawed humans pursuing their own interests first. And those interests were best served by being independent from England while maintaining their power and control.
Nice to know our early conditioning is so strong that we can't see what is right in front of our eyes.
Great observation, gents, about our Founding Fathers. I had never thought about how THEY were each looking out for No. 1 as well.
In half an hour, I start in on my addiction so I can go to bed...
Great article as always CogDis!
All clearly applicable, but why so many words just to conclude that, "We must remove all support and let the stinking mess collapse or we must remove the engineer from the controls and take over. This madness will not cure itself."? Well, since I'm not very sanguine about that "take over" part, I probably would simply have wrapped it up after a paragraph or two of ranting with, 'Burn, baby burn!", called it an aphorism, and went home for a drink.
All clearly applicable, but why so many words just to conclude that, "We must remove all support and let the stinking mess collapse or we must remove the engineer from the controls and take over. This madness will not cure itself."? Well, since I'm not very sanguine about that "take over" part, I probably would simply have wrapped it up after a paragraph or two of ranting with, 'Burn, baby burn!", called it an aphorism, and went home for a drink.
Thank you for pointing out the addiction to "state of mind". Its more subtle but its real. Extreme sports participants, sex addicts and day traders are classic examples, and there are many more.
So many of us are affected by either our own addictions or those of our family, friends or coworkers. And yet we don't talk about this to any great depth because to do so pulls the covers from the insanity and lays it bare for all of us to see.
We are only as sick as our deepest darkest secrets. And addiction, that state of mind I discuss, is one of the deepest of them all because so many roads travel through that center.
You don't understand...."it's all about saving the financial system from collapse," Hank Paulson told us.
Thanks CD, another excellent perspective, as usual.
So True CG!!!
Just some thoughts on having dealt with alcoholism within the family and workplace a number of times.
1. The love approach never worked.
2. The "2x4" approach sometimes worked.
3. The addicted sometimes tried to commit suicide.
4. The addicted always brought trouble to those near him/her.
What I have found to work well (assuming they won't make amends/progress) is to give them a good boot in the butt (kick them out of the house or fire them form their job). Tough medicine. Don't give them the attention they want anymore. Don't be the enabler.
By doing this, a few possible outcomes are:
1. They will fix themselves.
2. Stay the same or get worse.
3. They will commit suicide.
In the above last 3 items, you have totally dis-associated yourself from the problem . It's not your problem...it's theirs and theirs only. You tried early on but you got used and tricked into believing their sob stories and excuses. There is no excuse for what they do. None. Toleration of the problem won't fix it. So you check out with full knowledge of the last 3 possible outcomes and you must accept that. You must.
Taking the above into the current events...the continuation of going to work every day in mass only helps continue their addiction. Maybe continuing yours, too...but try not to take offense to this. Fear is involved here... being instilled into the masses from childhood. That can be addressed, if you really wish to.
Drawing from my experience with alcoholics, all 3 outcomes occurred. Drawing a parallel with gooferment and those who really "own" the gooferment. of the 3 outcomes given, I doubt (1) or (3) will happen...(2) is the more likely candidate.
...and the masses will continue going to work...keeping outcome (2) in place. But if everyone stops going to work, the other outcomes....???
4. kill the motherfucker(s).
The opposite of control is denial:
The problem is that by ignoring (denying) the problem-addict they are still free to perpetrate their manipulation or crimes on others causing dysfunction on new levels with new people. I would give Al Quaeda as an example: Confessions of an Economic Hitman as evidence of the Western crime.
Addictive behavior is often a reaction to experience: Homeless soldiers are also an example. We have made our society based on the use of both false control and false denial. Neither are legitimate responses and neither solve the problem.
Hence our current dilemma.
Yup. Well put.
Thanks CD. this is the best article ever on ZH. very well done.
The U.S. Government is a giant meth lab and one mistake could cause the whole thing to blow.
At least if it blows that will abruptly solve the addiction problem, but the withdraw is going to be hell.
MULTOSTATIC THERAPY IS A PROMISING REMEDY...
Simply set the controls to Multo Overload and lock the patient in the treatment room.
I see a Boehner in Big O's shorts!
Looks like a little AC/DC suits Obama just fine. Crank it up folks, its last call at the funny farm.
BTW those don't look like official BVDs to me.
BTW2 Banzai7, thank you for supplying two images for this piece.
So, let's send Obama, The Senate and The House to rehab for three months. Then we'll save a boat load of money.
Make sure we send a few buses around to pick up the Fortune 500 CEOs. Then the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top 4 layers of the Pentagon, some pedophile priests and..........................
send all of them on the re-fit and re-deployed Atlantis on a voyage to a galaxy where NOmen had been...
with a promise we send continuously robots to them to build a con-sumer society.
Only one catch. We shareown everything, top-, bottom-line as well as their minds.
Well, what would you say to this state of mind? Absurd, yes. In-sane, yes. Outland-ish, you bet.
I am add-icted to CogDis art-icles and Bansai satir-ical (spelling?) expressions as well as other good writers here at ZH. If this is hell, at least I get a slice of Apple. And I drink eviaN bot-tled h2o.
Isn't it great, this add-iction of robotmanity? Tear down the matrix and we are on the way to recovery...
Thanks for sharing another great thought-in-voking piece.
Re Atlantis, load 'em up. Then:
Set the controls for the heart of the sun...
Good point, CD. Breaking out of the vicious circle is anything but trivial.
On the brevity front, this quote may be appropriate:
"Few sinners are saved after the first twenty minutes of a sermon."
The train has indeed left the station ;-)
Great read CD, enjoyed it!
Riding that train ... Grateful Dead.
High on Debtcaine ;-)
Ben Bernanke is ready, watch his deed
trouble ahead, trouble behind - look out for your retirement, jeethner will find.
Dow Jones gets better, while the rest of us bleed.
Great picture and article. Same picture that is on one of my books on "error analysis". Speaking of addicts, did you see Leo's latest seizure?