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The Looming "National Nervous Breakdown"
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
When the citizenry cease to believe the lies, the nation suffers a nervous breakdown.
Last week I used the phrase National Nervous Breakdown without clarifying its meaning. (The War on Our Intuition That Something Is Fundamentally Amiss)
By National Nervous Breakdown I do not mean the breakdown of civil order or the economy; I mean the breakdown of the officially sanctioned narratives that underpin the Status Quo. These Master Narratives legitimize the current arrangement; once they erode or break down, the legitimacy of the Status Quo is lost.
The shell remains in place, but nobody believes the system is a fair, just meritocracy.
Let's consider the erosion or breakdown of these master narratives.
1. No accountability for abuse of power. The core narrative is no one is above the law, which means not only that everyone is supposedly treated equally before the law, but that abuses of power are punished or limited.
Now that police departments are essentially stealing from private citizens without due process via civil forfeiture, it's clear there is no accountability for abuses of power.
This is simply one example of many in which blatant abuse of power is sanctioned by the Status Quo, and there is little recourse for citizens who have been abused unless they are wealthy enough to fund a high-powered legal team.
In effect, our legal system is broken. This mirrors the erosion and breakdown of accountability in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when abuse of power was rampant and there was little recourse for the citizenry.
2. Though U.S. foreign policy is guided by realpolitik, it is fundamentally based on the high moral ground of defending liberty, democracy and civil liberties. Wars of choice that squandered American lives, treasure and credibility and the use of torture for dubious gains have demolished the credibility and legitimacy of U.S. foreign policy--once again, mirroring the delegitimizing result of the Vietnam War and all the official lies that were issued to mask that war's true costs and failures.
3. The manipulation of official data to mask the reality that the U.S. economy now operates to benefit the few at the expense of the many--crony capitalism writ large. Vested interests control the political and financial machinery to expand their share of the national income and power.
Meanwhile, the income and wealth of the vast majority of citizens stagnates.
4. The middle-class roadmap to financial security--earning a college degree and working hard for a corporate employer--is broken. A college degree leads to debt-serfdom in the form of crushing student loans, but the education gained has little value in the emerging economy.
In the corporate world, loyalty has been reduced to a facade of rah-rah PR that masks a culture of insecurity.
5. The government at all levels--local, state and federal--responds to any questioning of its authority or abuse of power with increasing over-reach and violence. There are so many examples of this, it's difficult to know where to start: the federal government's war on truthtellers regarding domestic spying abuses, and the state of California's blatantly unconstitutional confiscation of taxpayer bank accounts with zero due process--the mere suspicion that income hasn't been fully reported in California is sufficient grounds for the theft of citizens' money by the state.
Welcome to the United States of Orwell, Part 2: Law-Abiding Taxpayers Are Treated as Criminals While the Real Criminals Go Free (March 27, 2012)
When the master narratives have broken down, legitimacy is lost. What's left is authority without accountability or recourse and abuse of power without limits.
When the citizenry cease to believe the lies, the nation suffers a nervous breakdown.
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When the citizenry cease to believe the lies, the nation suffers a nervous breakdown.
Is this about Russia?
Inequality and the Putin Economy: Inside the NumbersIs this about Russia?
Je suis Binny Netanyahu!
Nervous would be one way to put it. I like the Kubler-Ross designations better - Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
We have been in Denial for the whole of QE. Now national Anger will be on full display at the Fed's bungling of the economy. This Anatomy of a Bubble explains a great deal regarding the coming deflationary collapse.
http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/anatomy-of-a-bubble-how-the-federal-r...
What? Me worry? I'll be in my boat.
Hey, you'll be ready for the rising sea level too!
JFC maybe it's due to all the F*ing adds on ZH.
"When the citizenry cease to believe the lies, the nation suffers a nervous breakdown."
As much as I value what you say, the analogy of a nervous breakdown does not work (for me, anyway). In a nervous breakdown the patients hair often falls out.
What ate the symptoms of a "national breakdown"?
The plight of decent Americans can only be described as being thrown into jail unjustly and then having to put up with a corrupt warden who tortures you as well.
Although some of the non tax paying Americans would be evaders, we must not expect people earning $7.50 per hour to be getting taxed as well.
Better to seek out those at the top end who pay a minimal amount in percentage terms.
Pete, sprinkle the fairy dust don't snort it. Top 10% pay 68% of income tax collected.
How about smaller gov and less taxes, for dare i say, all
http://www.heritage.org/federalbudget/top10-percent-income-earners
I think you are overestimating the self awareness and intelligence of the average citizen. Most people enjoy the lie, they want the lie and in the absence of the lie they will create their own lie to fill the void. Exactly when is this revolution I keep hearing about on ZH for YEARS now gonna happen? WHEN? Let me guess.... Soon, real soon. Just a little longer, we're at the tipping point....yada yada yada..... Take a look in the mirror to see who's lying to themselves. Now back to your regularly scheduled doom porn.
"When the citizenry cease to believe the lies, the nation suffers a nervous breakdown."
I've noticed a trend in just the opposite direction. The trend is so powerful, it helped win the last 2 elections. Americans are stupid in large, gullible numbers. Most of them actually believe North Korea hacked Sony, and ISIS hacked the Pentagon's social media. "You can keep your doctor, the cost curve will bend down, and don't worry, the economy is actually better than ever" Feed the media crap headlines, and the public generally swallows them as true without ever asking for evidence.
Read the comments below anything posted on Facebook by Bernie Sanders to find the most gullible people on the planet. It is shocking.
I bet they are. I'm not capable though since I don't have a facebook account. I'm going down as the last person on the planet without one - and getting by just fine! :)
Fuck the sheep, too late in the game.
I hesitate to post a link, but this is an interesting read....
http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/173345
why hesitation? a kind of executive summary would though be welcome. why is it interesting? and what is an Eagle Keeper? one that hunts with them, as with falcons?
"No one is above the law"
... except for Wall Streeters, FOB [Friends of Barry], bankers, and politicans.
"No one is above the law"
But many are outside the law.
Late for work? Speed and break the law.
Got bad cramps? Take your mom's old pills and break the law.
Too young to get loaded? Drink and break the law.
Our negative impulses are seduced by law itself.
Since all nations are fictional entities, I presume the nervous breakdown will be fictional also?
of course. though the actions of nations are not fictional. so the consequences of a fictional nervous breakdown of a fictional nation are still real
to put it differently, have you ever stood next or in front of a tank? gives your "fictional" a completely different flavour
I'm pretty sure if the tank crew knew their paycheques are fictional, they'd aim the turret elsewhere.
This CHS is beginning to be annoying. Fancy that his BS article about America's looming (love that word) National Nervous Breakdown is the top post on ZH. Pretty sad, since it's entirely bullshit.
From where I sit, there are lots of people working, even more sitting home collecting paychecks from some form of government largesse or other. People are watching football, don't give a rat's ass about stocks, bonds, interest rates, etc., universally happy about lower gas prices at the pump. If anything, America is about to have a FUCK THE GOVERNMENT PARTY!
RETAIL SALES ARE DOWN, people are paying off debt and buying houses. Sure, a crash is coming, but overall, AMERICANS DON'T REALLY GIVE A RAT'S ASS.
CHS offers no concrete evidence that people are collectively cracking up. He deals in innuendo, fear, uncertainty,doubt (FUD).
Since there aren't enough guns and bullets to kill everyone and not enough room to house us all in prisons, the FUD does not pass the most basic smell test. Besides, why would the government wipe out everyone, or even a large percentage of the population? The former middle class still supports the uber-rich, as far as I can tell, so there's no gain in crashing the system for anybody.
Normalcy bias has kept the system going for six years and even if the stock markets drop 50%, what's going to happen? Americans will do what they always do - readjust. Yeah, unemployment will go up, some worthless shit businesses will go tits up and other bad shit will happen, but until the government stops writing checks for everything from your retirement to rents to welfare to SNAP, nothing much will really change.
When the government checks stop (read: never), then I'll start to worry. As for CHS, STFU. Your arguments recently have zero validity.
BTW: anyone notice the World Bank dropped 2015 growth forecast from 3.4% to 3.0%, meaning real growth is likely to be somewhere south of 1%.
There's nothing wrong with going backwards for a while. Has a cleansing effect. If CHS had ever run a business, he'd know that the path to profits is not always smooth and each month is not always better than the last. Many businesses (including my own) run perfectly well making about the same every month, over years and years.
Get a life, not a national nervous breakdown. Complete tripe.
• POTUS has no legitimacy. His position should be renamed LICUS: Liar In Chief of the United States. He lies about everything substantive, including where he was born. So, where is that REAL birth certificate Mullah Hussein? If he relinquishes office after the 2016 elections I am sure that he will be handsomely rewarded by the Muslim states for his refusal to state that we are at war with radical Islam. That's understandable since he is a Muslim himself.
• SCOTUS is illegitimate. They were permanently cowed after President Franklin Roosevelt tried to amend the Constitution to add more Justices. Justices whom he would appoint who would support more of his Unconstitutional acts. SCOTUS has allowed a multitude of Unconstitutional additions to the Federal government over the past 100 years. Among them being The Federal Reserve Bank and Unconstitutional paper IOUs. Even if every American refused to pay taxes in protest the Federal Reserve Bank would continue lending money to the Federal Government. That is antithetical to the Founders explicit intent. That is why the Constitution gives the Congress the responsibility to coin money, a responsibility they abdicated in 1913.
• the US House and Senate are equally illegitimate. They are bought by the SCCROTUS to enact legislation that in many cases they actually write. Does anyone believe Senator Harry Reid of Nevada became at least a deca-millionaire through hard work managing a company back home in Nevada while Congress was not in session? About the only veteran legislator who didn't line his pockets was Ron Paul.
• Our supposedly freely elected President, Senators and Representatives are cheaply bought bought by the SCCROTUS—Sleazy Crony Capitalists & Rich Of The United States. How else does a Chicago-machine bagman get elected to the Senate, then without completing his senatorial term, then to the Presidency? SCCROTUS should not be allowed to contribute money for ANY purpose during elections. Corporations are not people and are not subject to the "one man, one vote" principle.
• Capitalism no longer exists in the United States once you get beyond the entrepreneurial small business stage. Even there the Feds makes it very difficult to survive and prosper unless proper contributions are made to the right people.
• The MSM—Main Stream Media—is owned and or controlled by six individuals. Unless you get your news from alternative sites on the Web you have no idea how many of our freedoms have been abridged in the guise of making us safer. It's all a lie
I don't trust what the Government says. I watch what it does. I don't trust Mullah Barack Hussein Obama and I certainly don't believe anything he says. I watch what he does. I don't trust or believe anything anything emanating from the House or Senate. I watch what they do. I can't stand watching the liars propagating lies, disinformation, and propaganda on the MSM.
In summary, I fear the Government and it's Armed Agencies far, far more than I fear any foreign or homegrown terrorist or armed criminal. Our Government has become a police state. Is that the kind of country where you want to live? I want to live in the Republic defined by the Constitution!
in the 60s they referred to it as the credibility gap. we were winning the war in Vietnam because of inflated body counts. the war was being paid for with higher taxes (which had an effect just as deficit spending has an effect now), and gradually the public became sympathetic with the protestors, and public opinion against the war turned. one distrusted president (LBJ) was replaced by another (sound familiar) and it ended with impeachment, and a wholesale clearing of congress (rage against the encumbency). the rise to materialism and a consumer culture completely replaced the older society, savers and investors were replaced by speculators, public employees came to expect huge retirement checks, money became more important than the things it could buy. the 60s were a counter revolution to this change, and for all the decades after the 60s, the national experience denied anti-materialism, and hippies were seen as unclean throwbacks to a less desirable time. now we have preppers, and people living off the grid (in communes?) we have narratives about zombie apocalypse, its all been updated somewhat, but the same thing really.
Back in the 60s, the Church spoke out against the War and against injustice.
The same for the Press - Pentagon Papers published in the 70s.
Hollywood - Dr. Stranglove - 1964
Some checks against Big Government and Big Business.
All non-existent in 2015
Texas Prison Bus Collides With Train, Killing at Least 20
latest
http://tersee.com/#!q=texas&t=text
You have to love stuff like this... it's not good enough that you slide off an icy overpass, but then you collide with a freight train.
Standard Disclaimer: "Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of Irony"