When you stop and look at the world and see all of the terrible, awful, bloody conflagrations and wars and hate and bigotry and fear and greed running rampant, crushing this whole world down into a giant muddy shit hole, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Yes, it is very easy to get overwhelmed by the apparent complexity and momentum of it all and want to go get yourself snockered until you can thankfully pass out leaning upright against a brick wall somewhere or in some other way change the channel on your personal reality TV.
But I have always suspected that even the most seemingly complex issues between people, cultures, societies, and even countries, aren't really complex at all. And after seriously running that theory through its paces with my wicked whip of observation and dot connecting skills, (the same stuff I learned in kindergarten btw), I can report to you in earnest that my theory is correct. All that nasty ass bad behavior and ugly human stuff going on out there can be boiled down to a few simple truths about who and what people are and how and why they do what they do.
I think it's safe to say that a majority of my fellow humans would agree with me that there is a simple equation in life that leads to much improved quality of living and interpersonal relations, if we could only get everyone to do the math. Simply put that formula is, "Get out there and have a fun and wonderful and meaningful, exciting life, but just don't hurt anybody in the process or prevent anyone else from doing the same for themselves". It's so simple, isn't it? It's beautiful. So logical. So hard to argue with. It's reasonable, rational, fair. It's honest. Decent. Common sense. What excuse is there for anybody to not behave according to this good old golden rule?
There's just no good excuse at all, at least not from my perspective or anyone's perspective who can see and appreciate the valuable truth in that equation. What's so confounding to so many people is finding out about those people who don't like our little equation and who blow it off like a bit of cigar ash on a dinner jacket any time they like.
What beastly manner of men are these? Who are these offensive, pugnacious destroyers of peace and prosperity on earth, to claim that it is good and right to be unfair, ravenously greedy, cold blooded and hard hearted; to hoard all of the wealth and all of the choices and all of the meaningful access to thriving, healthy living and creativity and sovereign golly-boy-howdy good times for all? Just what is their problem? Exactly?
This very same question has been asked many times over many decades and centuries and ages, by many and diverse peoples most of whom were probably much smarter than me. And it is eternally fascinating to notice that the answer to that question when and where ever it has been asked is always and remarkably the same. Oh the names, dates and places are different to be sure, how could they not be? But the meat and the essence of the answer, whether it comes from Caesar or Hitler or Nazis or Zionists or your employer, your government, your church or even your spouse, are always the same. Often verbatim the same.
At first glance, and even after taking a closer look, it is more than likely to surmise that the essential problem is a corrupted nature in such human beings; that they are somehow broken, that they need Prozac and an in-patient stay at their local psychiatrists fun house, that they've sold their soul to various demons or devils, that they're Satan's minions; or for the truly emotionally passively blissful among us, that they are just the other half of the yin and yang symbol; where there is day there must also be night and so forth.
I say nyet. Nope. It's far simpler than that. You only have to take it down another notch in order to expose the root and get a good look at it. When you can get a real good look at it stripped of all the usual fanfare, costumes, bull pucky and propaganda, without the control freaks running around with their hair on fire, without the warmongers for fun and profit schtick, without the billions for billionaire bankers or we're all gonna die routine, minus the "for God and country" b.s. and other meaningless dreck, you can easily see it for what it is. It's a naked, skinny, hairy little ugly dude, raked and teeming with insecurities, testosterone overload, and truly selfish (i.e. childish and irresponsible) bad manners. What it really all boils down to is this: SHEDS. That's right. SHEDS.
SHEDS: Standard Human Exceptionalism Delusional Syndrome.
The fact of the matter is that human beings suffer from SHEDS like crazy every single day; and like all mental aberrations, the people inflicted with it can never tell or ever believe they are inflicted. Those who have it worst will staunchly believe and stridently insist that they are absolutely, 100% sane and correct and right and perfect just by the fact of their existence. It is so overwhelmingly obvious to them that they exist in a perpetual state of effortlessly achieved perfect rightness and goodness and correctness about all things and in all ways, that if you don't see it that way then there is something terribly wrong with YOU.
And further, since they are unquestionably good and right and for sure absolutely perfect, pristine, entitled, correct, and righteous in their beliefs, that means if you should disagree with them in any way that you are clearly their enemy. And an enemy is a scary and evil being hell bent on your destruction who must be punished.
And if punishment isn't enough to make that enemy shut up and go away and disembowel himself for you, then that enemy must die. And you must be the one to kill him. Killing that enemy is not only a necessity and a right, it is a duty. A duty to all of your kind whom you must fight for and protect because they, like you, are absolutely and automatically perfect and right in every way, no matter what they do, and no proof of that is ever necessary. It is never in question. It just is. Period. So there. Neener neener.
I know you've heard a great many voices of SHEDS before. I know you're hearing them now in today's newspapers, on the radio and on the brain-death inducing techno-weapon called the television set. You recognize the flavor, the argument, the deluded snottiness of the SHEDS position. Whether it is done in the name of someone's God, someone's country, or someone's irrational greed, paranoia or bigotry, it's got the same ring, the same pungent odor, the same twisted irrational non-facts asserted as solid three dimensional truths provable and reproducible in any well equipped laboratory near you.
Assuming the laboratory technicians are not your biased, lying, hateful enemies who will lie about the results claiming there is no such proof. But of course there is no such proof which is why when we approach SHEDS infectees and tell them they are silly preposterous wind bags and they are wrong, the reaction is always something to the effect of, "How filthy you are to say such filthy things when everyone knows the truth of our wonderfulness and perfection which we alone possess by mere virtue of our existence! You are our vile and hated enemy who is wrong about EVERYTHING and probably should die." Sound familiar?
Some prominent examples of severely SHEDS demented individuals include the nauseating and caustic Ann Colter, the nauseating and caustic Rush Limbaugh, the nauseating and caustic George W. Bush, the nauseating, caustic and super creepy Dick Cheney, et al, to name just a few. Institutions severely demented with SHEDS include the US Military, the CIA, the FBI, the DHS, the airport snooping degradation league, local law enforcement, institutions of higher learning, public schools, and toxic waste distributing grossery stores in every city and town in America.
Unlike other plagues on humankind, SHEDS does its harm in reverse. It doesn't kill the inflicted; it kills and makes to suffer the uninflicted. So much of what we see happening today that makes all of our hair stand up and sends our blood pressure skyrocketing to the moon can be chalked up to SHEDS inflicted people and groups teeming with the nasty stuff. So many things that don't make any sense at all to you and me because they cause so much harm and injustice to so many people in order to benefit the few can, without exception, be chalked up to SHEDS. Examples include:
The US Military shows up in earthquake devastated Haiti claiming what is needed above all else is 'security'. Why? SHEDS.
Israel bombing the life out of Palestine, carrying on a sixty year long genocidal land grab, mass slaughtering thousands of unarmed, starving and trapped innocent people, creating a racist fascist apartheid state and acting like there's not a thing in the world wrong with that. Why? SHEDS.
Oil cartels having the USA bomb the snot out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, with several more Arab countries on their to do list. Why? SHEDS.
The USA carrying out CIA run coup d'etats anywhere and everywhere that existing or forming democracies threaten to force SHEDS back into the hell hole it came from. Why? SHEDS.
The USA's honorable military forces and battalions of high paid CIA mercenaries trampling the globe, killing, imprisoning, torturing and terrorizing young and old, men and women, helpless, defenseless, poverty stricken people in the name of a 'war on terror'. Why? SHEDS.
A man comes home late after getting drunk at the local strip club after blowing his whole paycheck on stuffing $50 bills in WandaLoo's pubic hairs and the wife gets mad so he beats her up. Why? SHEDS.
The all too common but totally misguided belief that even though every person can only see anything from his own perspective, that the perspectives of others are irrelevant and only our own perspective is more important than anyone else's and whoever doesn't like it deserves to be squashed out of existence. Why? SHEDS.
Hypocrisy and double standards are what? SHEDS.
The reason you can't sit through ten minutes of television without being interrupted with inane, brain putrefying ads that drive you up the wall and occur in voluminous measure utterly destroying any chance of just getting to sit and watch a program and enjoy your rare leisure time uninterrupted. Why? SHEDS.
Corporations claiming to be persons with all of the rights of human beings when they're neither persons nor even three dimensional objects while the persons sitting on their boards are antisocial deviant personalities who put their money before your life. Why? SHEDS.
Catholic pedophile priests protected by the church. Organized pedophile rings, child kidnapping, drugging and forced prostitution so that disgusting old men can get off. Filming drugged, kidnapped children being violated by putrid scum bags to use the film for very effective blackmail in order to get your senators to give away the country to crooks. Why? SHEDS.
You've got your religious SHEDS, your nationalist SHEDS, your medical SHEDS, your capitalist/fascistic SHEDS, your bone chilling psychopathic monopolist SHEDS like Monsanto, Goldman Sachs, the Bilderburgers, the Trilateral Commission, the FDA, and many more. There's the military/industrial SHEDS, major pharmaceutical SHEDS, the WHO SHEDS, vaccine pushing SHEDS, your congressional SHEDS, Mafia SHEDS, and the crippling and pervasive mass marketing SHEDS to name a few in the public sector. All of these entities wreak havoc and destruction on the lives, health and well-being of billions of people due to unmitigated, unchecked, raging SHEDS. And none of them would take your phone call if you wanted to point that out to them.
SHEDS is well ingrained in the private sector too, you just about can't walk down the street without stepping in a pile of it. There's dating SHEDS, marriage SHEDS, rude next door neighbor SHEDS, and gated community SHEDS. There's status SHEDS, employer SHEDS, credit check SHEDS, and bank account SHEDS.
I know that some of you are saying, "Gee Ang, every word you say is true, but how can it be that SHEDS has become so pervasive? Where is it coming from and can't it be stopped at the source?"
To answer in reverse, no it cannot be stopped at the source because we are all born with it. It is pervasive simply and exactly because it is a part of being an animal, like every other animal in the world. Your inner beast is not a mythological thing, we all have them. But unlike the animals in the forests and jungles out there, we human animals have the option to rise above our animal selves. We have the choice to wear clothes and decide what we want to do with our lives. Honey bees, whales and tigers don't have that choice. Who and what they are is predetermined for them. All they have to do when they get up in the morning is go on about their business, which just happens to be encoded in their DNA.
For the wild species, being encoded to be what they are and to do the only thing they can do, which is to exist and function as their species does, there is no time lost and no emotional angst wasted on guilt, conflicting thoughts and feelings or deep seated insecurities. Tigers show up as if to say, I am a tiger, I do tiger things, that's my job and that's who I am. Vultures show up as if to say, I am a death eater. It's gross to you but it performs a necessary service to all the rest of you, that's my job and I love my job, it is who I am. Wild species never have to question their reason for being, or come up with excuses for killing a baby deer for dinner. That's their job and they all do their jobs without questioning why. Wild creatures cannot do wrong. They cannot commit crimes. They do not seek wealth or power. They are not hate filled or perverse. Wild creatures are incapable of such things.
Humans on the other hand are the only species that must struggle to define themselves and must constantly reign themselves in to achieve personal betterment and create harmony in the hope of living successfully with others. Humans can choose to do and be many things, including things that are brilliant and wonderful, creative and beneficial to everyone. Humans can also choose to be and do things that are stupid, violent and destructive, contrary to nature, truth, reason and common sense. Humans need to ask questions about why we are here and how we got here. Human motivations can often be questionable and human desires can and often do run out of control, causing irreversible harm, damage and death.
The point being, humans are very different from the other animals on this planet because who and what humans are is not predestined, it is chosen by us. This is the justification for the claim that humans are better than animals. And it is pure SHEDS to make that hypocritical unsubstantiated claim when it is humans who behave so violently, destructively, and cruelly to animals as well as to each other.
SHEDS is the product of refusing to control the simple animal within. SHEDS is giving in to the thoughtless instincts that safely go unchecked in other animals. Animals can't really steal or murder, they just do what they are supposed to do. The same behavior in humans though can quickly become criminal because humans are not entitled to take or do whatever they want. Humans are not entitled to exist thoughtlessly and behave as if nobody else matters but themselves. Even animals don't behave in that way, there is no ill will in the hearts of wild beasts. Scarce water holes are shared between diverse wild species in peace. Animals are not genocidal, homicidal or suicidal. These are strictly human aberrations.
In order to excuse their own bad behavior, many SHEDS infected humans will point to animals and say things like, "It is only natural to be a predator and predators do a service to the greater good of the whole". This is, of course, bullshit. We do not live in the forest or swing from the trees nor is our DNA preprogrammed with built in stops that prevent the mindless aggression, greed and slaughter that so saturates the human species. Our stops are not built in, we must build them in ourselves. Neither is our reason, or decency, or anything else for that matter built in, we must build it in ourselves. Everything about humans that rises above existing in a primal, automatic animal state is something that must be worked for. This requires allowing the invisible being inside the animal body to take control of the self and remain in control throughout the entire course of one's life.
The problem is that it is really hard to do that. The appetites and drives of the inner animal are every bit as strong as the drives of our friends in the jungles and forests and fields and cubby holes of the planet. If we are to be "better" or more than just an animal we have to work at it. Constantly. And vigilantly. It requires learning self control so we do not rape when we see someone our bodies become stimulated by; so we don't kill people and take their stuff just because we want to; so we don't use force in all of its myriad forms both physical and mental to control one another. We, the human animal, are possessed of so much potential and intelligence that we, if we are basically fearful and untrusting and selfish with others, can do tremendous harm. If however we consciously choose to face what we fear, if we uphold higher ideals like honesty, fairness and common decency, common courtesy and common respect, if we know the difference between our own business and the business of others, our own rights and property and the rights and property of others, we can achieve tremendous harmony and prosperity on this earth and learn to live very well indeed.
But we don't do that. We don't value truth above appetite fulfillment. We don't value intelligence over crony ineptitude. We indulge in our greed instead of doing the right thing which means, basically, not thinking past our own selves in the here and now. We hate doing that. We prefer to give in to the urgings and appetites of the single minded beast within and to seek gratification for our animal selves regardless the harm done to others so that we may be satiated. Our claim to being more than wild animals rests solely on proof that we are making the effort to do that. Where that proof is nonexistent, so is our claim disproved.
A truth about being inflicted with raging SHEDS is that those so infected know full well they are misbehaving and are doing harm to others. They know it but their drive for animal satisfaction is so strong that they lose the ability to care about others. They lose their human decency, they lose compassion for those they are harming. They do not want to empathize because feelings of empathy would likely cause them to change their behavior in order to avoid the terrible guilt that empathy inspires.
Because losing one's capacity for human decency and simple respect for the lives of others does provoke guilt and calls for the work of looking at oneself and judging oneself honestly which usually will provoke guilt and other unpleasant insights about oneself, SHEDS infectees want to avoid that at all costs. They become what we call cold blooded. They decide not to care and are absolutely open and shameless about it insisting in fact that they have no obligation to care for anything or anyone but themselves and their own self satisfaction, regardless of the cost to anyone else. And because this is so egregious and unacceptable, (i.e. criminal), SHEDS infectees constantly seek excuses they can use to not only get off the hook for not working to control their baser instincts, but also to find ways to excuse their bad behavior so that they may continue to engage in it without interference or threat of arrest and imprisonment. This is the holy grail of the SHEDS infectee. They strongly desire to remain in their unbridled, uncontrolled animal self and not have to behave themselves.
Having large amounts of money has long been asserted and widely accepted as a reasonable substitution for controlling one's raging SHEDS. In addition to or in lieu of large amounts of money, overpowering physical force has also been asserted though not as widely accepted as a reasonable substitution for human decency. The more money and weapons you possess the less you need to control your baser instincts, or behave like a decent human being. In addition, with the simple donning of a uniform and/or the wearing of a badge, you need not show any signs of innate humanity at all.
Raging SHEDS is very common in people holding positions of power and control over others and especially in positions where they can make all the rules. Being able to make the rules is the only way to legitimize SHEDS behaviors and claim they are legitimate even though they clearly are not.
Making the rules can only go so far though, and much of the worst of SHEDS behavior could never be carried out in plain sight of others or they would get their asses kicked pronto and be sent out of town tarred and feathered or spend the rest of their lives wearing orange jumpsuits with their ankles shackled together inside their barren little prison cells. This is why SHEDS infectees are often big fat liars and huge secret keepers. Claims of needing to hide information due to national security are a current and easy to spot example of SHEDS misbehavior. The assertion of a national security need is now made for any and every reason without any conceivable need. It has become a mainstay and standard guise because it is a very effective way to cover SHEDS criminality or just hide it in plain sight. The tactic of calling SHEDS behavior something that sounds credible and noble and good when it's really despicable and criminal has become rampant in our society, and it is destroying our country.
SHEDS is terribly destructive because it sees no reason to self impose restraints of any kind. It keeps pushing its bad behavior further and further and the more it is able to get away with it, the further it pushes. SHEDS infectees pay billions of dollars to propagandists to market cover fluff to hide their criminality beneath attractive but utterly fictitious marketing mind control spin and sadly, most of us buy it. I believe this happens because people are made to be confused about right and wrong behavior and they are encouraged to unleash their own inner beasts and not make it obey their higher consciousness. We see this happening almost everywhere we look in the public realm. It is hurting us all very badly. We are now told that greed is good, when it is not good, it is inexcusable and harmful. We are told corruption, extortion and undue lethal force are good and necessary to keep us safe when clearly and obviously those are the very things that take our safety away from us.
SHEDS exists in us all which is why we all are bound to always try to overcome our baser feelings and desires. It is hard work to say no to an unthinking, unapologetic demand of the inner beast. We often don't say no, we very often give in. If we are not total and hopeless infectees though, this is absolutely normal. This is the basic struggle of humanity, to conquer the beast within us all and choose instead the invisible self to guide us and evolve ourselves and our species. Perhaps God and the devil are inside us all, the devil being the body and the invisible self being God. The fight goes on. The question truly is which of the two will win?
Those of us who long for truth and possess the ability to care about others will glean over time that giving in to the beast ends up hurting us as well as hurting others. Eventually, in order to avoid that hurt again, we finally stand up and exert the power of our wiser self and tell our inner beast, "No."
Sometimes that means having a minute to minute struggle of higher mind against ravenous beast that is protracted and exhausting. Often it only means holding firm until the struggle diminishes. Either way it's never fun. But to never attempt to control the beast at all, for any number of excuses or selfish reasons, turns the better self into a beast of its own and the two teamed together in beastly form can do nothing but wreak havoc on our world, causing senseless harm to innocent others, mindlessly defiling and destroying the beauty, dignity and possibilities that being human can afford. It's a choice we all have to make, over and over again.
The inner beast never stops nagging us, confusing us, tugging at us, filling us with guiltless desire; but if consistently told "no" it will over time shut up. It can never go away, it is literally a part of our physical being, but it can be trained, like many other animals can be trained, to obey our commands, to serve the will of our better selves and in doing so it can cease to be merely a physical shell for the human animal. It can become a fitting physical embodiment for the higher self, the spiritual self, the human being. At least that's something to shoot for.
We don't need to judge each other too awfully harshly for not being perfect accomplished totally evolved beings. We all need help learning how to handle existing in this crazy world. Some of us are lucky to have all the help in the world while many of us have little in the way of help. Many of us grow up undermined, sabotaged outright, living in environments where thinking is extremely indoctrinated and calcified and where different ideas are not welcomed. Many of us must exist in environments where everyone is conditioned to behave in certain ways, and we are expected and required to go along with that conditioning, even when we can see that it's wrong or harmful or unjust. It's a conundrum for those among us who know there is more, that we are all capable of more, and that engaging the mind and soul is only a heartbeat away and that doing so would bring so much light to the world it's not even funny.
We have to be patient, tolerant and aware but not stupid, and we have to try to teach each other and cut each other reasonable slack. We also have to try not to be so full of ourselves that we forget that we too struggle with our own beast every single day of our lives. Nobody is perfect and anyone who claims to be perfect should be held at arm's length and ridiculed loudly for their silliness.
The people who we shouldn't be quite so patient with in their struggles with SHEDS are those who affect the lives of countless others. No right can exist or ever shall exist to cause harm or unwanted change to others lives and well-being against their will or without their knowledge and consent, and yet, it seems our "government" does little else these days. No one should ever be elevated to positions where they may harm others at will without full accountability or for personal gain. No one should ever be allowed to perpetrate crimes without fear of prosecution. The increasing existence of these things is the vulgar proof that SHEDS has infected our society and if not stopped, it will utterly consume us. To allow that to happen is nothing more than stupid. We are not stupid. But SHEDS infected persons become stupid and when a SHEDS pandemic is underway it causes mass stupidity to rule our lives.
The list of private individuals and businesses and public, governmental and nonprofit institutions utterly saturated with SHEDS is far too numerous to list. They cannot all be listed but it's not important to make up a master list. What is important is learning to recognize SHEDS in order to call it for what it is. What is important is to explain SHEDS to your friends, family and loved ones, to your coworkers, cab drivers and school teachers, to your friendlier cops, lawyers and judges so that they too will begin to see the SHEDS everywhere they look and they too will be able to stand up, point and call out, "SHEDS!" Just like a white tailed deer signals it's fellow white tailed deer so all may bolt in every direction all at once in order to avoid the stalking predator in their midst and save their lives; learning to recognize SHEDS then pointing right at it and calling out, "SHEDS!" would without a doubt in the mind of this writer, do untold good for all humankind. Our simple refusal to be duped by the lies of SHEDS infected others would systematically, nonviolently, and invariably bring an end to the terrible, raging SHEDS pandemic enveloping the globe today.
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