Today the subject of consumerism kept popping up. I keep thinking about how circular time is and it seems that throughout history there’s always the examples of great civilizations that meet their demise as soon as the society gets too decadent. Greece, Rome, Roaring Twenties. Good times make weak men etc
But why is that? Consumerism is what the DS uses to hypnotize people, to make them not care about the society they live in, not pay attention to the changes going on around them because they’re too busy caring about themselves.
The more you watch YouTube, the more you start consuming bc these YouTuber reviewers start helping you imagine situations you would be using said items and that’s the thought seed that gets you going and thinking “yea that would be a nice thing to have in case that happens”. Next thing you know you’re obsessed with the item. You’re thinking about it morning, noon and night. Consume consume consume. The average person who is susceptible to this hypnosis is spending his time either working to get the money to buy the thing he wants or spending his time finding the next thing to buy. Where is the time to give a shit about politics? As long as their life is not affected, they won’t unplug.
But a society must reach a certain level of prosperity before consumerism can take place. If society is at a level where you don’t even know if you’ll have a next meal, you wont care about much else and will be very involved in government to demand change.
Therefore the best point to maintain control of a society is to make sure the people have enough money to eat have a place to live and have some spending money. It’s much easier to distract people when they have some money to spend and we’re not talking a whole lot of money just needs to be slightly over “barely surviving”.
Now, you control the media/social media and you basically tell your stars what’s the next big thing for them to focus on.
The extreme preaning of men / feminization of men has happened prior to a civilizations down fall (Greek men and young boys as lovers, Men in drag in the Weimar Republic.
Narcissism also is high in a society before it’s downfall.
Sorry if it’s not very coherent. Just wanted to jot down some random thoughts. I’m sure this isn’t news to anyone but I guess I just never took the time to dissect out all these ideas.
The enemies of America have been hard at work for a century infiltrating our institutions, to weaken us. The slow burn made us complacent and turned us away from our strength- our Faith. Death by a thousand cuts.
The Great Awakening is not just the knowledge of what we are facing, but also a Great Revival and a return to a relationship with God. I believe the overturning of Roe v. Wade and a return to states rights will separate the wheat from the chaff. States like CA and NY will become cursed and states who stand for the sanctity of life will thrive. Just my thoughts.
With the right microphone I think CA and NY can straighten out. So many of these blue haired libs are just touting back what the tv/influencers are saying.
Agreed. Perhaps the tsunami I dreamed of at Deception Pass four years ago is going to be real and God may use that to wipe away the filth and send angels to save the righteous as he did in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and those who look back in hesitancy may be as pillars of salt like Lot’s wife. God promised with His rainbow that He would never again flood the whole earth. He never promised not to destroy the areas where abominations chose to twist and distort His promises into something so vile and disgusting. God must be so frustrated with us and we sure don’t deserve His grace and mercy but He did grant it to those who choose Him and repent of sin.
I had a series of intensely lucid full-color dreams which took place at Deception Pass 22 years ago. A bunch of us home schooling families were camping together when suddenly a civil defense siren began blaring. Most of the parents thought it was a test or some kind of practice drill. But somehow I knew it was signaling a nuclear missile strike. I knew God was about to destroy everything with fire...more of an apocalyptic nightmare actually.
Mine ended with me crying out to God out loud to save me and the two young children in my care or take us home and being suddenly surrounded by angels wings and lifted away from harm while the scruffy man who had tried to drive us to a safer place looked in in tears praying to God for likely the first time ever.
If you go back a ways through my posts, you will find my dream.
I hate it. We are all wrong at some point. When you respect others' liberty, you restrict the harm of your being wrong. When they force what they think "for our own good", their being wrong becomes devastating.
That was an astonishing thing to watch - for two years, the same people that have been terrified about killing the proverbial grandma have no qualms about going all in for a war in the space of less than a month. The only constant is the theme of 'you don't care!'
I think a lot about the seven deadly sins. Pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. I suppose every society has some of that going on at all times and it may seem that it’s relatively worse as time moves on but I can’t help but feel that it is so pervasive across society now. We can only work on ourselves one day at a time and pray.
We can and should continue praying for others as well. It took 25 yrs of praying for my dad to come to Jesus after being a homeless alcoholic.
Oh wow my friend. I’m sorry for all you and your family had to go through. And I’m happy for your fathers triumph against the flesh. It’s not easy. Life is full of so many traps and pitfalls at every corner.
He passed away in 2008 after a stroke and cancer likely caused by the alcohol which began after a 40’ fall on the job that crack several vertebrae that never healed always causing pain. My point was that;
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
I never thought about it that way. That’s beautiful. Sorry again for your loss.
Thanks, I do miss him an awful lot. His life is what God used to placed Camp Yesu on my heart.
High effort, introspective and honest post, thank you. Stickied for a bit to get some eyes on your thoughts, frog.
Thanks. I agree and I'm glad I saw it as a result of the sticky.
It isn't. The lack of correct punctuation doesn't help and "preaning" isn't a real word.
Well, not in my case. Even if the advertised items were available here in Greece, I wouldn't be tempted. Sorry but I simply can't connect with what you've written. I haven't watched TV for years and if I watch any videos with adverts I skip them regardless. However, I know plenty of sheeples who can recite them from memory and wonder why I react with a blank, uncomprehending gaze.
It’s a real word, continue reading- Definition of Preen
n.1.A forked tool used by clothiers in dressing cloth. v. t.1.To dress with, or as with, a preen; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers; - said of birds. [imp. & p. p. Preened ; p. pr. & vb. n. Preening.] 2.To trim up, as trees. 3.To dress (oneself) carefully or stylishly; to primp. 4.To pride (oneself) on one's accomplishments; to congratulate (oneself). v. i.1.To dress up neatly and smartly; to make oneself well-groomed and well-dressed. 2.To feel proud of one's achievement; to swell or gloat. Related Words adorn, array, beautify, bedeck, bedizen, blazon, brush up, clean, color, dandify, deck, deck out, decorate, dizen, doll up, dress, dress up, embellish, emblazon, embroider, enrich, fettle, fig out, fix up, furbish, garnish, grace, groom, gussy up, manicure, ornament, paint, pique, plume, prank, prank up, prettify, primp, primp up, prink, prink up, redecorate, redo, refurbish, set off, set out, smarten, smarten up, spruce up, titivate, trick out, trick up, trim
Thanks fren.
Your random thought is actually very good. Before any civilization's fall, it's a lot of corruption (especially those in charge). Bible talked about the corruption before Nabuccanazer invaded. You mentioned Greece already. China's dynasties were the same. Babylonian was very corrupt before Persian took over. It's the same pattern.
Interesting I was just reading Daniel and it was talking about Nebuchadnezzar and how he wanted the people of the nations to bow down to his material idol but the people of God never did and was saved from fiery deaths by God. This theme seems to repeat in individuals and across societies.
Spot on with consumerism and hypnotizing the masses. A lot of ppl on this thread talk about so much changing in our society post WWII.
Okay, what else changed.... look at the 1950s. Prosperity and consumerism. Life was one big party for a big chunk of America (as compared to the deprivation of the war years).
Thus opening the door for more selfishness (narcissism). Women are working for fulfillment now and not to help support their families. Porn and promiscuity is on the uptick as more men are exposed to multiple avenues for gratification while their wives are less devoted to family. Children observe selfishness and comfort as "normal."
Unseen forces emphasizing self, sensuality, consuming, and the pursuit of wealth to buy these things.
The majority of the population become hooked on comfort and pleasure. Letting men have free reign to express deviance and be free of their duty to protect the vulnerable and the innocent, good men become harder to find. Once they are in the minority, the good men become demonized when they attempt to defend against danger.
Then, once society has degenerated to the point of mostly sensual, pleasure driven people dependent on the infrastructure for their "drug," all that needs to happen to control the masses is to make access to the drug dependent on certain behaviors.
Klaus Schwab enters the room. On his right is Zuckerberg, on his left Bill Gates. Problem solved.
Add in Fauci and it’s the four horseman.
indeed.
Consumerism, in the way its currently understood - a growth based economy where companies need to keep making more and more revenues (growth) to even stay where they are, require more and more products to be consumed by the population.
The inherent problem is not consumerism per se, but the growth based economy that results in consumerism. Growth based economy can only be sustained if there is an infusion of cash into the economy - essentially its an inflationary economy.
So what we are describing is a central bank fiat currency based pyramid scheme, where more and more money needs to be created out of thin air, ladening our future generations with more and more debt, just to keep the system afloat.
In a production based economy, where focus is on producing real value without exorbitant need for capital, where constant profits are sustainable and stock market is based on dividends and not speculative, you dont need this constant infusion of money, and this system will be either very low inflationary or even deflationary sometimes, and the growth is directly related to population and productivity growth.
This is the system which allows us to live free, but we will most probably be not able to afford new iPads every year and new cars and expensive lifestyles. We also wont have too many millionnaires and no billionnaires.
That definitely makes sense but I’m wondering if competition alone would always drive society towards the growth based economy eventually. There will always be certain personality types that just wants to make more, be more , do more. 🤔
Bread and circuses. Sports ball, hollyweird, internet, and crass consumption are the modern day equivalent.
And unfortunately even we here are participating because society has been changed so much, intentionally, that actually meeting people face to face in groups, socializing, is no longer the norm. Even we spend far too much time here because here is where we connect with a larger group of like-minded people.
You're spot on there. Social media has fractured America into thousands of splinter groups. You can find any like-minded persons and develop you own virtual tribe. Where once we had three tv channels to choose from we now have thousands if not millions of social media groups, so there is no more common American identity. These new tribes only reinforce the tribes beliefs and people outside these echo chambers become less human. Social media may be the worst circus of all.
Good point.
I believe it's more the justice angle that causes the downfall. Everyone expects and accepts corruption from their fellow man because they understand people are imperfect.
A bad example is thou shall not steal. Who here can faithfully testify that they've never taken a pen from their workplace, even by accident? Negligence isn't a justification for theft - but based on the size of the theft, most people will disregard it. But the commandment is fairly straightforward - we shouldn't allow it.
That line between rule and reality is where we draw the "justice" line. We expect our political elites to enrich themselves at our expense. We don't like it, but it's not a surprise when we find out that aid money is funneled back to the personal bank accounts of our congress critters.
But as soon as they can't be held to account when they cross that "justice" line that society has drawn in the sand, our civilization starts to fall.
All of the debauchery and other sick things are used as distractions and become more and more flagrant as the elite need to distract from the line the cross. If you read on the cultures, the sources of claims of drag and young boys as consort and etc all come from the end of the civilization. These get bible-thumped as to why the new order is soo much better....but those new elites are partaking of all of them almost immediately. But they return the "just share" back to the populace while doing so, so it becomes okay again.
That definitely plays a part too. But it’s only acceptable or tolerated if there’s a certain level of comfort for the populace.
That's what the line in the sand is. The turn about to the corruption is that the people can toss off those that cross the line. As soon as they can't, the empire starts it's fall.
So, OP, I'm a bit groggy and having probably a harder time wrapping my head around my comment than you had articulating your post. That is to say, "well done" on your part. 😁
This is Behavioral Economics at it's core. It's a very important subject that, just like your post, combines Economics, History, Psychology and Philosophy. Frankly, it's a hellish subject. The DS has been studying it for who knows how long, and it appears - outside of the indomitable Human Spirit and the Power of God and Faith - they've almost mastered it, and US.
Thoughts like yours need to be in every head and heart. It is the wisdom that is both the catalyst, and the result, of the Great Awakening. Cyclical indeed.
Thank YOU for posting. WWG1WGA
Kek thanks. I’m glad it made sense. Writing is not my forte. The ideas pop up in my head but when I try to put it down on paper, sometimes I feel that it’s not in a logical order.
Oppressive government that gains its control through deception. People wake up to that and somehow want truth to reign. When unrighteousness reigns there is a lack of peace and contentment, people wake up and start desiring righteousness, or just simply right. There is a tipping point, and we are at it. Right is getting ready to flow.
If you consider that the USA exports pornography, legalized the murder of the unborn, and teaches evolution as a fact, then we are surprised our population has become fat and lazy? Too many people, including my family, have become brainwashed.
Ever heard of timewave zero? It's going to be really hard to find info on this today, as it appears to have been mostly wiped from the internet, but it was Terrence McKenna's baby. A program he developed based on the i ching. He demonstrated that time is moving in a spiral, where major events keep repeating themselves. So if you draw a line through the spiral you would land on dates from one layer to the next where the events seem to repeat, and because it's a spiral with the past on the outside and the future on the inside, each time history repeats, it's happening faster and faster, until we get into the inside of the spiral where he theorized some form of completion would happen. Timewave zero was very fascinating and I actually do think he was on to something, the problem is he was caught up in the whole 2012 drama and tried to assign future dates to the spiral so that it would end on 2012. This was his own bias interfering with the program. I think if you remove his future dates he assigned way back then and take a look at it again, with all the time that has passed we can now put the dates in the correct places, and have a better idea at where this completion may actually land on the timeline. Also, we can see if our current position on the spiral is about to intersect with the line that would predict some kind of world war or major world conflict that repeats itself.
That is very interesting. Very. I wonder if reincarnation or “previous lives” would tie into that. I do feel that time does move faster as I get older.
Here’s an article by someone who evidently knew Terrence fairly well. Supposedly he had an epiphany whilst tripping but over TIME he realized the theory couldn’t be nailed-down. I think it’s a semi-valid theory as it explains a lot, but basic human behaviors can account for us repeating history over & over. I find it difficult to listen to Terrence’s hippiesque know-it-all way of speaking but I’m sure others find him fascinating.
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/timewave_zero_did_terence_mckenna_really_believe_in_all_that_2012_prophecy
Yes but what made me think timewave zero was onto something, is the fact that he identified a measurable, predictable pattern that seemed to be on a timeline that followed the spiral. That's the part I'd love to explore more. Also no one knew what the whole 2012 thing was supposed to mean anyway so everyone imagined some sort of apocalyptical moment, but what if it just meant we would be leaving our normal world and entering clown world around that time and no one would notice the transition lol, one could imagine! ;)
I have a hard time with the man myself, don't really like listening to him ramble, but timewave zero was always fascinating to me.
Yes…and supposedly a computer model was developed to further analyze major events as to where they fall on the spiral. Nothing more was stated about that. My take on 2012 was us entering into Aquarius…was it a trans-dimensional shift that could account for “Mandela Effects”? It obviously was a shift towards the Great Awakening as we’re experiencing now. Fascinating stuff 👍🏽
But where would the time start and end? What would be the reason for repeating and how with a different set of people, changed behaviors, etc would it exactly repeat over and over? I have never heard of this gentleman before or this timewave zero but will look into it before forming an opinion either way.
This theory is new to me too but some of the concepts seem to overlap with certain religions and philosophers. The beginning and the end part is similar to the universal conundrum of the chicken or the egg. Hopefully we’ll find out one day. The repeating part reminds me of reincarnations in Buddhism or more “new age past lives”. Perhaps our souls need more than a few lifetimes to “evolve” and “refine” into a more pure state.
It’s so true. The image of Homer (Simpson) with the angel and devil on his shoulder always stuck with me. Just like star wars says the force is within you, the Spirit or God is within us and everyday the devil (who also is in us I believe) tries to suppress that side of our nature from coming out.
That’s another way to look at it. I see it as more we have the potential to be good or evil. And perhaps like you said the devil is outside of us trying to lure out our evil potential.
TYLER DURDEN: https://miro.medium.com/max/1000/1*SSSIBUULjPBkHKQ1uVh_Zg.png
Totally
Excellent post, fren!
100 monkeys. I was just saying to my husband last night that we are at the same point of degeneracy as rome was before their downfall. Then I read your thoughts.
Yea from some brief stuff I read on Ancient Rome they’re probably even more degenerate than us if one can believe it.
Maybe. I think alot is hidden from us now. What we do see is more than enough though.
It's true. If you can imagine going to a gladiator game of humans (or Christians) vs lions just for entertainment instead of watching football or soccer.
That's how corrupt they were.
I woke up this morning with the following thoughts, and thought of making a post about it, but it is related to this post: I thought about how the three, arguably most dangerous, sinful activities, drug abuse, pornography, and homosexuality, harm/destroy three aspects of humans. Drug abuse harms a person's body. Pornography harms a person's mind. Homosexuality harms a person's soul. Although I've read that all three alter a person's brain, pornography seems to be more linked to human brains in that it is visually "ingested" and then a person's mind processes that visual information.
THEY LIVE!
That was one of the movies that woke me up
Time is only circular because we put it on a clock. Other than that its trajectory is a straight line.
In my mind time is circular bc certain trends/patterns keep coming back. Ideas we think are “progressive and new” are many times old ideas that went out of fashion. The spiral idea of time is new to me but that makes sense too bc although history repeats itself it’s never truly the same. As I get older time feels like anything but a straight line trajectory. JMHO.
I hear ya. There is nothing new under the sun.
Any ad on YouTube I don’t buy. Those morons on YouTube telling you to buy are given the products. I don’t pay attention. I research abs decide which product would be best for me.
It is what’s happening
Ray Dalio put out a good video on the Rise and Fall of Empires, it paint a broad brush on what you’re saying. Check it out, it’s called ‘Principles for Dealing with The Changing World Order by Ray Dalio’.
I don’t think the Cabal engineers our way to consumerism imo. They certainly USE it to their advantage.
The cabal/DS/evil doers, in my view are Masters of Manipulation and Deceit (Devil stuff)… they are experts at exploitation.
Our Human Condition / Human Nature sets us on a path of destruction frankly if we don’t have a good foundational check — Jesus came to save us from ourselves.
As people we all want a better life, once with less suffering or pain. It’s in our nature to avoid pain. So the cycle begins, our forefathers toil the fields, work hard, break their backs to provide for their families… the necessities of life, food, shelter, etc. All so that the Family can live and prosper.
The next generation reps the benefit, get better educated, take on work that is beyond the fields, earn more, better standard of living, etc…
Then ultimately, a generation is born, so coddled… without suffering or pain, they are free to experience more transcendental thoughts like “what is a man?” “What is a woman?”….
That’s where the evil doers capture them. And as these young minds have no reference, no foundation, they are easily manipulated.
Yes. The luxury of free time can be a blessing and a curse. When you're not occupied with putting bread on the table, you’re free to expand your mind with truth but also with garbage.
What's this YOU shit.
Thinking your statements should be, the more I...
I want to add my .02 cents to this thread.
I have lately been watching these "Amazon/Tik Tok made be buy" videos on YT.
You want to talk about consumerism. Jeez, I have to wonder where these people get the money to buy all this shite on Amazon. Most of it is organizing stuff and knick knacky stuff. Just junk.
They put all this pressure to buy organizer boxes for my organizer boxes. Just useless stuff. It is mostly young women who put these videos out, but I have to believe that they are maxing out their credit cards to buy all this useless junk.
Yea I ask that question too. Some of it is like you said. Some of them are given products by brands to promote it. It’s a commercial made to feel like reality tv. But I can see how young people could easily fall into the debt trap real quick watching that kind of stuff. Not just young people, even mature individuals can fall prey if they watch something that resonates with them.
Interesting topic and I have to agree that consumerism has definitely played a strong role in the demise of society.
Starting a long time ago advertisers began marketing directly to children. Goods became more expensive, but many parents felt the need to "keep up" (with the proverbial Joneses) - "... But all the other kids have those hundred-dollar sneakers so I can't let junior feel inferior..." This, in part, because parents themselves, many if not most both working, were accumulating more and more "status symbols" (homes. cars. expensive electronics) and feeling as if they needed to "keep up" to not feel inferior. It wasn't anymore about the shared experiences of a family, but of the accumulated wealth.
Kids were then inculcated into this mindset from a very early age. Watching the whole Apple iPhone circus year-after-year, people with perfectly good phones lining up to get the next great release, always struck me as a bizarre ritual. The year's top Christmas toy became a rabid obsession for many. The nearly animalistic frenzy on Black Friday of shoppers fighting to get their discounted goods.
All of this and so much more needs to be documented for future generations to learn from these mistakes. God willing, if and when we get through this to the other side and have a much healthier society, we can't forget what occurred during the past fifty years (and more).
All good points. I don’t think we’ve truly forgotten. Those who read the Bible have always known these Truths. Perhaps it’s just the nature of humans….out of sight out of mind. It’s just the easier path to indulge and enjoy in the senses when times are good. The devil is very good at what he does.
This particular degradation (consumerism), like all the others the beasts have perpetrated on humanity, was deliberate. I would love, going forward, for young people to be educated about all of this evil, to keep shining a light on it in perpetuity. Part of the reason we're having an issue waking sheep is that they refuse to believe that others can be so cruel. They need to understand the world we live in, to understand these beasts. The Bible has told us, yes, which is another reason the beasts try and push society away from God.
Enjoying abundance is fine with the right set of values, but this goes well beyond indulgence. It's an issue regarding values and also abysmal parenting by those who embrace the hollow, godless quest for material status.
Anecdotally, years ago as I had just moved to a new neighborhood, still unpacking, when the bevy of trick-or-treaters began to appear, one young boy, maybe ten or eleven (I'm not very good with ages) came to get his treat and he's kind of looking around me into my home and comes out with "Oh, you've got nice decor." Decor?? You want to tell me a ten-year-old cares or even knows about decor? Obviously his mother and/or father told him to get a look at the insides of the new neighbor's home and report back. All I could think at the time was who the hell teaches their child that a person's possessions should be judged? What difference would it make if I was using plastic lawn furniture? I was too stunned to reply, just gave him his candy and shut the door.
I have very wealthy and very modest friends, always have, and whether I'm sitting on a nice sofa in a spacious executive home or a simple chair in a mobile home, makes no difference. The person I'm with, our connection, our conversation, is what matters, not "the trappings".
I agree 100%. It’s the person and their character that should be important. Not their things. It would seem obvious but it’s not. I personally think so many people don’t even know themselves, how can they know others? If they don’t know themselves, how can they find happiness? And perhaps that’s why they go on the hamster wheel of materialism to fill that temporary void.
I’ve always believed that everything went downhill ever since they took religion out of schools and this is coming from someone who wasn’t raised in a religious household. But even as a child I really enjoyed the stories bc there was always moral to it.
This is exactly why even though engineering, technology, and just basic understanding of design has increased, the WAY things are built/designed/manufactured have been done so that they need to be constantly updated. The things we purchase today do not even last a QUARTER of what did so just 20-30 years ago. Especially the larger items that take up more landfill space such as garbage made appliances and vehicles.
Exactly. That’s another great rebuttal to all this green movement. Why don’t companies just make things that last if they care so much about the environment?