Wanting MORE

[Cyrano]

What do the oil giants want? What does big pharma want? What do tyrants want? What do all those who take and never give want? They all want the same thing. MORE. More wealth, more power, more of everything. Perhaps they even want omnipotence. And my guess is that, even then, they’d still want MORE.

I'm suggesting that the need to possess MORE is an addiction at best, and at worst, a form of mental illness.

Do those who want MORE care about the well being of other human beings? Do they care about Earth's ability to sustain life? Do they even care about the quality of the lives of their own children, grandchildren and all future generations? Given their desire for MORE, have they ever had one second in their lives in which they were aware of the wants, needs, or even the very existence of others?

I’m not a psychiatrist or social scientist, but my instinct is that someday, those who have the need for MORE will be declared criminally insane and isolated from “normal” people. But that assumes we can survive their need for MORE before they destroy us all.

[BeHereNow]

1. You got my recommendation!

Excellent post, and yes, they are insane.
BHN

[whistle]

2. Greed knows no limit even when it becomes avarice

[CrispyQ]

3. I too have wondered how they can put their lust for money & power before

the well being of the entire planet & their children's future. Have they deluded themselves into believing they & theirs are insulated from the negative impact of the fallout? Or are they completely without empathy & simply do not give a shit about anyone but themselves?

k&r

[Cyrano]

6. I think you've hit part of it.

Lack of empathy is perhaps a key distinction between a decent human being and a "monster."

[checks-n-balances]

4. Exactly! After our economy & society are ruined, what more do they want?

What more is there?

After that, I guess the world is their chessboard - the world will be theirs to ruin. They seem to envision the world as theirs and, yet, they have blinders on to the realities of things here at home.

To what end? Will the CEOs of those corporations be living to "enjoy" life only with those like themselves (since those will be the only human beings to survive it)? What must these "people" be thinking?

Are they trying to re-create a world that will allow the return of slavery, or something quite similar to it?

However, I think you nailed it - they are sociopathic/criminally insane - terminally selfish at the very least. All of this is still incomprehensible to me, yet it's the only logical explanation possible.

[Cyrano]

7. There used to be a saying: "He who dies with the most toys wins."

It's possible that those of whom we're speaking took this literally. Many outgrew this mindset and I guess those who didn't really are sociopaths.

Seeing where we are today, those who still want to possess everything in existence are a deadly menace. And as much as they try to distract us, it is they who are the enemy of every living entity.

[CrispyQ]

11. I like the rebuttal to that saying:

He who dies with the most toys, still dies.

;)

In the opening scene of "Gone With the Wind" there is a shot of a sundial inscribed with the words, "Time is the essence of our lives." These people seem to have lost track of that. When evil Dick Cheney is on his deathbed, gasping for his last breath, if he were granted one wish, would it be for more time or more money?

Years ago I dated a man who turned me onto science fiction. He believed that other intelligent species exist in the universe. He also believed that we'd be hard pressed to find a species as savage as we are. At the time I thought he was cynical. Now I see how naive I was.

I'm with you. I simply do not know what makes these people tick but whenever they are in power, they inflict suffering on a massive scale & have no remorse.

[blues90]

5. You really have to wonder how they became this way

I have no idea what it's like not to worry about money. I have no idea what's it's like to be able to do or buy whatever one wants.

There are not only insane but somewhere along the way they managed to peal away all trace of a conscience.

I don't see how things and power can equal happiness but somehow for them it does.

[Cyrano]

8. Such people lack more than conscience.

They lack humanity.

[skooooo]

9. Sociopathology I think the word..

....you're looking for.

[windoe]

10. How much is enough?

It sounds almost un-American to ask such a question. It would question the American Dream, which at some point must have morphed into an American Hallucination of limitless wealth and greed and endless income and enormous toys and mansions that Zeus would feel at home in. Now this hallucination has morphed again into an American Nightmare, because if some people have it all, the rest have none at all.

Living in balance would be a more virtuous American Dream than the pirate dream of raping the planet and plundering the inhabitants--but who am I to say? I am just dreaming.

[Kat45]

12. The Buddhists had it right.

<In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance.>

http://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm

[OneBlueSky]

13. "Wanting MORE" is the chronic disease of Western civilization (sic) . . . n/t

[Cyrano]

14. Actually, it's embedded in human history

Pharaohs wanted more, Alexander wanted more, Roman emporers wanted more, The Holy Roman Empire wanted more, and so has every tyranny that has existed since then. In the 20th century, wanting more gave us the unimaginable horrors of two world wars, Vietnam, and today, Iraq.

Most European leaders seem to have learned from history. (Either that, or Europeans know better than to elect sociopaths to positions of power.) CheneyBush and their corporate paymasters have learned nothing from history and they all appear to be sociopaths. And there are many more like them, bidding their time and waiting their turn to seize power.

[Sewsojm]

15. They're Evil,

THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature.

*In order to achieve a population of 500,000,000, 90% of all people would have to die.

Link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones