Be careful out there: the Culture of Cruelty is going to keep growing

[AlienGirl]

The process has already started. This has happened before; when the normal social inhibitions against such things get removed, pretty soon it's almost like people are competing to see who can be most brutal. I'm not sure whether the motivation is to assert dominance by shocking peers, or whether it's an attempt to shock some feeling back into an overworked limbic system. It is the same as the process whereby certain children, in the absence of an adult to restrain them, will competetively torture small animals, each trying to be more over-the-top than the last.

That's happening, only it's happening to adults, and at a societal level. This is a symptom of a drastically ill society; it's the kind of thing that happens in complete anomie and desperation, as for instance among the Ik. (There was a time in Ik society when no one could recall a kindness having been done.) I don't know what makes it happen in an industrialized country. I really don't know what makes it happen in a country that is industrialized and also mostly pretty well-fed. But there is some pressure, or some unmet need, that's been driving our country crazy for almost a decade.

I don't know if it can be stopped, or if it's a natural force like a tornado. I expect it to get much worse before it gets better. Be careful out there.

Tucker

[acmavm]

1. If there are any more out there like me, we can be pretty damn mean

ourselves.

It's the wimps we have in office who wouldn't say shit if they were sitting in a mountain of it that piss me off.

[whistle]

2. Call the Culture of Cruelty what it is, fascism based on practicing...

...cruelty towards the vulnerable, those inflicting that cruelty are somehow made to feel invulnerable masking their own vulnerability to the system.

[AlienGirl]

3. The same process did happen in Nazi Germany

But I think we are looking at a phenomenon that is older than fascism; I think it happened when Rome was falling, too.

Tucker

[zeemike]

4. I think you are right in your assessment

And i have a few ideas on why, but whether they are accurate or not I do not know.
But violence just like sex and some drugs are addictive (I point ot Rome and the games as an example) And the thing about addiction is that the amount that is needed to satisfy must be constantly be increased.
Let's face it our culture loves violence and many are addicted to it, so it can only get worse.

[raccoon]

21. Violence is also like a drug in that one's tolerance changes as

it is used.

[sarcasmo]

41. You hit the nail on the head there. Rome is falling and will fall if

The Republicans win in 08.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. When the President of the US is pro-torture, secret prisons and

waterboarding, then the rules of decency have been tossed out the window. There are no rules, there are no adults. We are in a Lord of the Flies world.

[Mike03]

6. I feel it too, lately, and everywhere

I am SO trying to fight the urge to simply become a recluse.

[EFerrari]

7. I think of it as dis-inhibitiing a dog's bite. All that care that you

needed to invest to inhibit those jaws is being eroded. It's more natural for a dog to bite than to not bite. With enough provocation, incentive and approval, those jaws will bite again.

It's socially accepted sadism. And that approval seems to be climbing. :(

[AlienGirl]

8. It does seem to rely on a process of disinhibition!

[EFerrari]

11. Doesn't it? The public rhetoric gets more and more overtly

hateful, our government models more and more brutal behaviors. It becomes airborne and our socialization begins to break down.

I feel like starting a journal just for this issue because the changes are happening so quickly, in six months I may not even remember a "time when". :(

[Mike03]

9. Kick and Rec

Another very thoughtful, insightful and sensitive post by this author, and I would like to see more people respond to it before it becomes lost like another important message in a bottle.

[KittyWampus]

10. You can thank the dominance of Materialism. The view that the physical

world is all that exists or has value or can be explored.

We are a species desperately in need of getting in touch with our Spiritual Selves... our Inner Consciousness. For that is the level where we are all connected. That is the part of us that lies dormant while the baser, reptilian brain is allowed to dominate.

Materialism has splintered us apart into an Existential nightmare.

[Fovea]

13. And the myth of the zero sum economy

the core meme of social darwinism.

[The2ndWheel]

23. So everyone can have everything? nt

[hunter]

16. A failing, desperate Materialism.

Clawing down those it perceives as outsiders and trampling them underfoot in a futile attempt to remain above the waterline.

[Warren DeMontague]

47. Baloney. She's saying the problem is we don't have enough Churchin'.

Trust me: It's the same axe being ground, no matter the thread or the context.

Frankly, I think we have TOO MUCH blind faith and "churchin'", and way too many "Church ladies" (and men). We see the perils of "faith based" reasoning every day with this dipshit administration. What we NEED is critical thinking skills and a respect for science and FACT.

[omega minimo]

51. Please don't overlook the distinction b/w spirituality and religion

or you will continue to not hear what she is actually saying.

It's true and echoed elsewhere on the thread--

...but the answer to the OP's question goes right back to Greed is Good. Thom Hartmann does a good job educating people about the fact that RR declared war on the middle class (and the people) and the anger and angst being witnessed is the direct result.

[Warren DeMontague]

52. I hear exactly what she's "actually" saying, OM.

I've heard it repeatedly. We all have. Over and over, in thread after thread. Doesn't matter if she's defending the teaching of "Intelligent Design" in public schools, woefully misunderstanding (and misapplying) quantum physics, or blaming a pet bugaboo-- "Atheistic Materialism" (the two terms, atheism and materialism, being apparently synonymous & interchangeable) for everything wrong with our society, our world, and our government... while simultaneously trotting out the old saw about how atheists are incapable of being moral.

I find them all tiresome, and as an atheist I find the last one particularly so.

[omega minimo]

53. However, you project your "heard it repeatedly" on a valid post

that you may not agree with but is not saying what you are assuming it is, because of that big bag of "Over and over, in thread after thread" attitude.

I didn't notice she said anything at all about atheists.

And if you are lumping so many various POVs into ONE thing that you vociferously OBJECT to, you may not see that distinction b/w spirituality and religion after all.


p.s. Salman Rushdie on Bill Moyer's this weekend: "Atheists are quite obsessed with God, in case you haven't noticed." :rofl:

[Warren DeMontague]

54. If you say so.

If you use the search function, you can find her history of posting the identical argument and the context in which she places it. I know what she's trying to say. If someone consistently blames snitzwaddlish framhandles for the flapgasm situation, I'm perfectly happy to draw my own conclusions as to whether they're bringing up framhandles when they start post #2,805 griping about the problem of too much snitzwaddledom in the world.

But, whatever. If cryingshame wants to come back and explain precisely what she meant by "the dominance of materialism", and whether or not she was speaking of what she has called repeatedly "The atheistic materialistic viewpoint of science", I'd suspect she's more than capable of doing so.

I do see the distinction between spirituality and religion, but whether or not I do AND whether or not I consider myself a "spiritual" person are irrelevant to the thread, unless you're making the argument that the spiritual and/or religious are somehow morally superior to those who are neither. I do NOT believe that spirituality OR religion are necessary to coherent moral behavior, and I think evidence in the real world bears that out amply.

Personally, this atheist is only obsessed with the theocracy that is being shoved down our throats and into our secular government. I think to be an atheist in this country at this juncture and to NOT be more than a little pissed off would display a serious level of denial. And it's more than a tad ironic for Salman Rushdie to bring up "God" and "obsession" in the context of Atheism. One should ask him how many atheists have put out fatwahs calling for his execution.

ps. Meanwhile:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201594_pf.html

If cryingshame is right, then everything should be headed in a hunky-dory direction in this country. It's clear that millions of people in this country are looking "beyond the material world", preferably to a reality with a screenplay written by Tim LaHaye- where a cartoon 2-D Jesus comes down from a papier mache sky, and kicks the crap out of all the Gays, Fornicators, Pro-Choicers, Muslims and Unbelievers. Something like 60% of the population, by some estimates, doesn't believe in evolution, and 37% supposedly thinks the Genesis account of creation is literally true.

...So how does that translate to a giant victory for the forces of a materialism that "views the physical world as all that exists or has value or can be explored."?????

[omega minimo]

55. Gadzooks!! Framhandles and flapgasms!!!

:rofl:


Well, twould be great if we could discuss that whole bag o' subjects you had rolled up into one blunt object, even if we disagree. If......... I'd like to learn more from those entrenched sides that react to "new" posts (clearly that wasn't one for you............) as if they're heard it all before. Just not gonna happen on the Internets, I suppose........ clogs the tubes.........

Thanks for something resembling the discussion that might be possible.............. :hug:

I need someone to tell me the difference b/w athiest and agnostic........

[Warren DeMontague]

56. I'm not even sure I can define "atheist" for ya, frankly.

Because there is hardly widespread agreement on what the word "God" means- and I'm not just talking about the semantic gymnastics some folks have to do to stay sane in their AA meeting- so it becomes increasingly hard to nail down what, exactly, one doesn't believe in.

Personally, I categorize myself as an "atheist" for purposes of the simplistic, lowest chakra political debate in this country. It's safe to say that I don't believe in anything remotely resembling the deity of the major western monotheisms. I like the quote, (even if it's slightly inaccurate depending on your definition of "atheism") about "We are both atheists; I just believe in one fewer god than you" ... i.e. I'd wager most followers of Zeus don't believe in the Yanomamo Pelican God.

I also don't consider myself a strict materialist; and if I did, I wouldn't consider it such the insult- rather, I think that when you get right down to it, "matter" is weird enough as it is without needing to drag in things we can't prove directly. Matter isn't tiny Newtonian billiard balls, so why should "materialism" imply a belief that we are clockwork machines? Also, I think if one wants to talk about the strange things at the frontiers of science, that's all well and good- but in doing so one has to accept the science which has brought us to that point.

Sorry to clog up the pipes; on the subject of the OP, I do see evidence of it, clearly, and I also grok, to a degree, what cryingshame is getting at.. however, (as above) I think her methodology is suspect- in a larger sense, I think that the movement we see in our society, Bush's "third awakening" (ick) and what the thread is reacting to are symptoms of or responses to a problem in our society; as you put it succinctly, Reagan's legacy and I would broaden it to not so much a lack of spirituality per se but a lack of Community. I don't know what the answer to it is but I'm certain that the same forces which have strip mall-ified 'Merka are the same ones who are selling cheap televangelism and bad religion (not the band) to the Nation as a "solution" to the void -spiritual, human, what-have-you- that many people DO undeniably feel. Starve people ... then sell them cheetos and big macs.

What I don't think is that "science" or the scientific, even "materialistic" worldview is the problem. (If you're just talking about pure greed, check the basement of the Vatican for gold and priceless treasure) If anything, critical thinking and reasoned, fact and evidence-based understanding of our world are part of the solution; which I happen to suspect will need to come from a new direction, not an old -or, if you will, old organized religon- one.


Peace.

[omega minimo]

59. Well now

Seems to me that "Yanomamo Pelican God" is semantic gymnastics :evilgrin:

See, if we open up a discussion or (gasp!) dialogue, all the dots are in there and we can connect them in some interesting ways.

You opened up a whole new bag of subtlety with that "material" observation. We might even have to revisit the root "Mater."

"I think that the movement we see in our society, Bush's "third awakening" (ick) and what the thread is reacting to are symptoms of or responses to a problem in our society; as you put it succinctly, Reagan's legacy and I would broaden it to not so much a lack of spirituality per se but a lack of Community."

Eggzackly.

How 'bout "awareness"? Awareness that we are a community, a nation, interdependent, a commonwealth. Awareness that we don't have to buy the "cheetos and big macs." Part of Reagan's agenda (to this day) was to dismantle the commons. And Americans awareness of themselves as part of it.

[Warren DeMontague]

61. Awareness, sure.

But awareness starts at home. I don't think there's going back- only forward. I think new forms of awareness are needed (or, perhaps I should say, could be beneficial) but they can't be foisted. Only nurtured organically IMHO.

What do I mean? Offer people actual alternatives to the cheetos and big macs, rather than trying endlessly to raise their consciousness about how bad for them they are. I think people gravitate towards meaning when it's actually offered and really there- in my experience, they'll stand outside in the pouring rain for hours in hopes of catching a glimpse of it.

But IMHO that's more the domain, perhaps, of the artist or musician than the politician, barring the rare individual who can combine those spheres.

[Warren DeMontague]

46. Oh, yeah. Again, its all the atheists' fault. Nice try.

Rather, what it IS, among other things, a general anti Inquiry, anti-freedom mentality coupled with a countrywide "religious revival" which has- at its core- a desire to drag us back to the "good old days" ...and a distrust of modernity, science and knowledge.

Sound like anyone you know?

[jhain]

12. one theory- care of infants:

http://www.continuum-concept.org/

[AlienGirl]

15. What was infant care like in the last years of Rome?

[Canuckistanian]

14. The horrifying story of the Ik people

http://www.darkage.fsnet.co.uk/PottedHistories.htm#Ik

The Ugandan government encouraged them to become farmers, but the uncertain rainfall of the region and the Ik's general lack of aptitude ensured that their fields provided a worthwhile return on their effort at best one year in three.

The Ik had responded to this desperate famine with an emphasis on self-preservation. Those who could find food ate it promptly before there was any question of having to share it with others. The strong made no effort to help the weak. On the contrary they would steal the food from them, if they could. Those who could not care for themselves were seen as a burden and a hazard to the survival of others.

Even husbands and wives foraged alone and ate their solitary meals out in the countryside. Mothers disowned their children after the age of three. The latter formed into bands, as protection against the adults, and learned food collecting techniques from each other and from the baboons, as much as from their parents.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

17. To see where we're headed one need look...

...no further than New Orleans.

[EFerrari]

18. Exactly.

:(

[bobbolink]

36. Or, no further than the next sit-com.

[AlienGirl]

57. Survivor this season is separating teams by race

They have admitted they are doing it to be shocking and "more outrageous than ever before," but considering that one of the early alarm bells for me was shows like Survivor, I have to wonder if this is a sign pointing out the direction things are headed.

Tucker

[tomreedtoon]

19. Where have you been? It's been growing for decades!

The "slasher" films made people identify with the serial killers. (Freddy Krueger always comes back, and kills the person who stopped him in the previous films.)

People have been enjoying cruel entertainments like the "reality" shows that "eliminate" people. A Japanese movie about teenagers forced to kill each other, "Battle Royale," has been REALLY popular among teenagers on video.

I will only briefly mention the popular videogames where you use a hooker, then kill her and steal her money, or the "Vampire" games where you essentially play a serial killer and abuse those people below your station.

Everyone who makes these products have every excuse in the book, justifying what they do as "fantasy" or "blowing off steam." Yeah, right.

I don't believe in censorship. I do believe in watching popular culture, to see when people start adoring violent and sadistic beliefs, and staying the hell away from people who really like them. Based on what's happening, are you surprised that we have a generation of Ed Gein fans? (If you don't know who Ed Gein is, use your browser. You can buy a bust of him for your mantlepiece.)

[AlienGirl]

32. Bear in mind I've only been here since the early 70s

I really started noticing an uptick in it around the same time that "reality TV" got going. Actually, it was the disturbing phrases "Kick (someone) off the island" and "You are the weakest link, good-bye" that raised the little hairs on the back of my neck.

Censorship wouldn't help; the coarsening of entertainment is a symptom, not a cause.

Tucker

[Horse with no Name]

39. I totally agree

I cannot stand these reality shows.
I cannot stand the shows like Cops, or the Repo man shows, or the bounty hunter shows...I cannot stand ANYTHING that exploits someone who is obviously hitting the "bottom" for entertainment.
I think it desensitizes us and takes our humanity as well as our empathy away.
I also think that isn't an accident.

[Iowa]

20. Yes! I'm seeing it too, and I'm not sure what it is...

But there's an anger in the air that is palpable. The glue that has held our society together isn't holding and I have been noticing this for several years. It's everywhere. But here's one observation: Rules that define individual character no longer carry the weight they once did.

--Honor has lost much of its appeal in our society. Winning almost always trumps honor.

--Our society is losing the ability to empathize. Single mothers were the first targets, then labor, the poor, and the disabled.

--Lying doesn't necessarily damage one's reputation anymore. People can lie without consequence. Exposing a liar creates sympathy for the liar, and is sometimes considered to be a more grievous offense than lying. It has all been turned upside down.

--That sense of personal responsibility that was once taken for granted has diminished across the board. People make commitments and then walk away from them without any sense of shame. Corporations provide shoddy products and horrible customer service - and nobody loses any sleep over it.

--Many clergy have abandoned their calling and allowed themselves to become tools of a political party - willingly turning a blind eye to the evils that are so glaringly obvious - and able to rationalize their treachery without the slightest twinge of conscience... Bishops protect child molesters and popes protect the bishops who do...

--Materialism has swept over the country. Postponing gratification for a higher cause, or for a larger, future goal has become a lost art. By always living for today, our society has lost much of its hope for tomorrow.

--There has been a dramatic decline in the rugged individualism that made this country what it was. We have become, to some extent, a nation of followers looking for "leaders" to show us the way.

--Our political "leaders" have demonstrated that the country will tolerate almost any vile act - and they are taking full advantage... wars based on lies, a foreign policy defined by torture, destruction of freedoms the country was founded upon, subversion of a weak and malleable clergy, staggering corruption, an opposition party composed of many without the courage to stand up, swiftboating is just another acceptable lie...

--Managers in many workplaces have become manipulative weasels who view employees as enemies. Employees are made to feel badly about their performance in an effort to squeeze just a little more performance out of them. Employees are routinely abused, with managerial training sessions to show how it is done. There is no presumption that common decency will prevail. Pay is declining in real dollars. Work hours are increasing. Stresses are spilling over into families.

And all of this is having a very corrosive effect. There is a growing sense that it is every man, woman, and child for himself. The old rules are going by the wayside. There is a cloud hanging over us - and people are pissed as hell. How it unfolds is anybody's guess, but society's expectations regarding personal character are so low that I tend to agree with the OP - it may not be a pretty sight.

So let's all be careful out there... fight the bad guys as best we can while trying to stem the downward slide via our personal behavior. There isn't much more that we can do.

[KoKo]

28. An incredible post....Says it all!

:thumbsup:

[omega minimo]

50. The Reagan Legacy

"There is a growing sense that it is every man, woman, and child for himself."

[raccoon]

22. The Triumph of the Reptilian Brain.

Yes, you see more and more cruelty and assholery out there.

ASSERTIVENESS and AGGRESSIVENESS are not the same thing. But it seems few people realize it. Or give a shit.

[newportdadde]

24. Manners are certainly on the decline.

Whether it be holding the door open behind you as you walk through so the person behind you doesn't eat the door or saying excuse me.

When I hold the door open behind me for you to take it there is maybe a 1 in 5 chance I will get a 'thank you' and probably a 2 in 5 chance that person will walk through the opening as I hold it like I am their butler.

I can't remember the last time someone said excuse me to me after they bumped into me.

I see the behavior across all age groups.

[Amonester]

25. One of their "leaders" here:

Is their :puke: "Family Values"

[Strawman]

26. Rock and Roll Evacuation - Electric Six

This is an evil generation
I see with my eyes
I seen’em walking around in their suits
And honey I seen the ties

Evil girls biting good girls
Turning good girls into evil girls
Evil boys eating evil hamburgers
Evil boys eating evil fries

This is an evil generation
Rock and Roll Evacuation
As far as the eye can see
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
Tune Into this radio station
Rock and Roll Evacuation
In a fit of emergency

We are just hungry little creatures
Feeding upon lies
I seen’em lining us up on the wall
And trading us for pies


Seen a man on the television telling me to listen to the radio
Hear the man on the radio, telling me no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

This is a bad, bad situation
Rock and Roll Evacuation
It’s not looking too good to me
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
Evil Spreads across the nation
Rock and Roll Evacuation
Apocalyptic insurgency

You kill the body child, but the head is still gonna live
You can give all your money now, until there’s nothing left to give
You can play your electric guitar but it ain’t gonna change the world
You can get all emotional on me, cry like a little girl
Cry

We are disposable creations, they’re throwing us away
Ignoring everything that we do and everything that we say
Mr. President make a little money, sending people you don’t know to iraq
Mr. President I don’t like you, you don’t know how to rock

This is an evil generation
Rock and Roll Evacuation
As far as the eye can see
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
Tune Into this radio station
Rock and Roll Evacuation
In a fit of emergency

[KoKo]

27. Yes....Culture of Cruelty, Culture of Materialism. Looking for a new

thrill when one has it all ...or one is desperate. Cruelty and violence feeding off each other and led by these people like Bush who are obsessed with saying "Kill....Kill....Kill...and Evil, Evil, Evil.

And, there's really no one to stop them with our Mainstream churches cowered in fear and the Fundie Evangelists leading the troops of hate. Our Dems sitting in the background watching...hoping that one more election will bring in a few more Dems to the House...thinking the tide will turn with the next one around the corner. The perpeptual Campaign...the Game.

[deaniac21]

29. Look what it did to Arlo Guthrie.....

I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL.

[newspeak]

31. right before the overthrow of the monarchy in France

a mob assembled in Paris-they were shop owners, people on the street-they murdered people on the street who were loyalist sympathizers, and then calmly went back to their shop drenched in blood. In Germany, propaganda was increased on who to blame for Germany's economic woes and the slide into decadence-the jews, the gays, the gypsies, the slavs, the political activists, the Communists, the unionists- all going against our great government that's trying to protect you. Anyone with reason, anyone trying to squelch violence was murdered-some by angry, rabid mobs!!! At the outset of Hitler's rise, there were laws against attacking civilians, but the judicial system and government ignored those laws when it came to "certain" people. So those, who were brownshirt/Nazis sympathizers literally got away with murder. It seems that after studying history, we would heed the warning signs, but some do not learn or heed those warnings. We have had lies, propaganda thrust upon us by a very complicit media for well over ten years, by the likes of Rush, Sean, Bill--pandering to people's prejudices, to their fears. I believe we are becoming more psychotic as a country, but I lay the blame directly at the feet of this administration, certain greedy corporations and the media!!! Those who wish to drink the kool-aid, do so at their own risk--I think I'll pass, thank you.

[GeorgeGist]

30. Hipocrisy is an insane disease...

the simple cure for which is sanity.

[AspenRose]

33. It is difficult not to be frightened.

I am frightened. For myself and for my son.

[omega minimo]

34. The Reagan Legacy

:evilfrown:

[Warren DeMontague]

49. I think you've got a good chunk of it, right there.

80s values.

[AlienGirl]

58. I think it's more than that--Rome didn't have Reagan

I think Reagan was a symptom, not a cause.

Tucker

[omega minimo]

60. Instead of looking to Rome, check out the ancient history of

the 80's.

A symptom of what? Is that the question? Why make it bigger than it has to be? Getting your head around the continuum from 1980 to 2006 might help understand the broader historic cycles.

Reagan's agenda (continued to today) directly causes the behaviors you are wondering about in the OP.

www.ThomHartmann.com

[bobbolink]

35. Out of curiosity, do you see this cruelty as a "them" thing?

I'm not sure from how you describe it, what you are seeing.

Thanks.

[AlienGirl]

37. What do you mean by a "them" thing?

[bobbolink]

38. As in "us" and "them". Outside ourselves..... the "bad guys"

The ones in the black hats. :)

[AlienGirl]

40. No, I think it is cultural, and anyone can get pulled in (even us)

[bobbolink]

42. I think you're right. It's what Jung would say. ^_^

It happens right here at DU, and is part of the whole violence thing.

Peace can't happen when we are cruel to each other, and try to say "it's all them".

Many would agree with your contention that it's cultural. I was reading one of the "Verbal Non-Violence" books, and there were some quotations about that. I don't have 'em at hand right at the moment.

We assume it's all "them" to our own peril. Then the next generation has to plow through the same ugly junk, with "improvements".

[Mike03]

43. Perhaps one of the culprets is

the Ego's need to be right (an idea popularized by David Hawkins, Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, etc., but which has roots in Buddhism, Taoism, Zen and other Eastern religions). The more often human beings take positions they refuse to modify, the more they feel they have to defend these positions, even at the cost of civility.

Then--although it's not a good excuse--there's the fact that we have created a world far more complex than our ability to control and organize it, which leads many of us, including me, to feel completely overwhelmed and powerless often. The first thing to go out the window might be compassion and empathy, as we strive to protect that elusive thing we call the Self.

[AlienGirl]

44. I suspect it's not an individual-level thing

I think it has to do with social pressures that sort of take the lid off the ego-driven processes.

Tucker

[Mike03]

45. Strange as it sounds,

sometimes I feel like insensitivity "comes upon me" against my will, as a protective mechanism against experiencing the suffering of the world.

[Mike03]

48. One Last Thought

Sorry, I love this thread. This quote is from Eckhart Tolle:

"How is it possible that humans killed in excess of one hundred million fellow humans in the twentieth century alone? Humans inflicting pain of such magnitude on one another is beyond anything you can imagine. And that's not taking into account the mental, emotional and physical violence, the torture, pain and cruelty they continue to inflict on each other as well as on other sentient beings on a daily basis.'

"Do they act this way because they are in touch with their natural state, the joy of life within? Of course not. Only people who are in a deeply negative state, who feel very bad indeed, would create such a reality as a reflection of how they feel. Now they are engaged in destroying nature and the planet that sustains them. Unbelievable but true. Humans are a dangerously insane and very sick species. That's not a judgment. It's a fact. It is also a fact that the sanity is there underneath the madness. Healing and redemption are available right now..."

Eckhart Tolle, "The Power of Now"