Zbigniew Piekarski on From apathy to bondage
"If a man acknowledges the facts of race, he is a racist. I suppose if he acknowledges the facts of sex, he is a sexist!" - Carleton Putnam.
Cycles of expansion and contraction have occurred throughout history. They have similar causal factors, similar consequences and a similar pattern as described by the Elliott Wave Theory. The motive forces driving these changes are alterations in the social mood of the masses. When optimism prevails, stock markets rise, benevolence increases, multi-cultural societies are established, major conflicts are avoided, democracies flourish, supra national bodies are formed and our differences are ignored by the dominant imperative of a shared common humanity that is underpinned by the illusion of limitless bounty. Before the emotional extreme is reached, the laws established at the time of the last trough, designed to prevent its most brutal effects, are repealed.
When pessimism begins to assert its dominance, stock markets fall, intolerance increases, authoritarianism and totalitarianism dominate, major conflicts explode and we begin to emphasize our differences, as the dominant imperative is survival and the exclusion of those not like us from sharing in the limited bounty. Before the emotional extreme is reached, the very structures that were established at the time of the last peak fragment and ethnic cleansing occurs.
Throughout these cycles, politicians, the press, the spokesmen of academe and even religious leaders reflect the dominant social mood, but they do not lead it. If a politician attempts to go in the direction that is not accepted by the herd, he is replaced by his peers; if a newspaper does not pander to the current prejudices, it loses circulation and advertising revenue; if an academic uses his overdeveloped sense of rationality to provide evidence of an alternative to the conviction of established opinion, he does not appear on TV; if a priest presents a view that is counter to the current orthodoxy, he loses his congregation and is branded a 'heretic' and faces excommunication.
These changes in social mood can be seen in the endless debate as to whether the dominant forces shaping man are the result of inheritance or of learning, of nature or nurture. At extremes of optimism, differences which are inherited and are part of nature are ignored and rebuffed, and this attitude becomes institutionalized and codified through the laws that are passed (such as anti-discrimination laws and 'positive' discrimination). When the most fundamental of natural differences has been rejected, that between the sexes, with 'gay rights' and the legal approval of gay marriages, one can only conclude that a hysterical top has been reached.
For over 200 years, we have experienced a positive social mood, a huge bull market and the growth of democratic institutions throughout most of the world. The foundations were laid by the American Constitution of September 17, 1787; the constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of May 3, 1791; and then by France in the same year (France could not make up its mind and had four different written constitutions in that decade, plus a few more over the years). There have been 'corrections,' but these occurred within an overall bullish trend.
This 200 year timescale is also supported by Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University of Law, St. Paul, who maintains that the average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years and that the people within these civilizations have progressed through a specific sequence, which is as follows: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back into bondage.
We are now at the apathetic stage of this cycle as evidenced by the low voter turnout in most democratic systems and by the subconscious need to seek security from, and be dependent upon, the State at a time when even the State itself seeks reassurance in the creation of even larger structures.
In the realm of the spiritual, man found solace in the belief of one all powerful God. This saved him from making decisions as to which deity to placate when things went wrong. Yet even in matters spiritual, the cycles have ruled. At times God was benevolent and love triumphed, at others he was vengeful and the persecution of heretics and the elimination of non-believers were the primary goals. During the peaks of the bull, when love and benevolence shine, minorities are included. Thus we have the ordination of women and gay priests, and even gay bishops. During bear markets, religious orthodoxy increases and religious intolerance thrives. The minorities are persecuted and excluded and form their own belief systems. Even God seems to be guided by the 200 year cycle.
Natural Laws prevail. Our herding instinct is one such law. We herd when we are optimistic, and we herd when we are pessimistic, but we alter the boundaries. At peaks of optimism, we emphasize our common humanity and lay our most grandiose plans as nothing seems impossible to achieve. Thus, the plans for the world's tallest buildings are laid just before market peaks and the effigies are invariably constructed during recessions (The Erection Index). This principle also applies to our economic and political structures which reflect the optimism and idealism prevailing at peaks, and stress our shared attributes but ignore our cultural, religious and ethnic diversity. When the social mood changes towards pessimism and our aspirations remain unfulfilled, cultural, religious and ethnic differences provide the excuse to single out the weakest or most visible group and turn them into scapegoats. Ethnic cleansing follows.
The union of the Slavic tribes with the Franks, the Gauls and the Saxons is a typical display of hysterical optimism prevalent at market peaks and is doomed to failure once the cycle turns. However, it does firmly illustrate the genetic predisposition of the Slavs for positions of subservience and collectivization.
Cycles of expansion and contraction have occurred throughout history. They have similar causal factors, similar consequences and a similar pattern as described by the Elliott Wave Theory. The motive forces driving these changes are alterations in the social mood of the masses. When optimism prevails, stock markets rise, benevolence increases, multi-cultural societies are established, major conflicts are avoided, democracies flourish, supra national bodies are formed and our differences are ignored by the dominant imperative of a shared common humanity that is underpinned by the illusion of limitless bounty. Before the emotional extreme is reached, the laws established at the time of the last trough, designed to prevent its most brutal effects, are repealed.
When pessimism begins to assert its dominance, stock markets fall, intolerance increases, authoritarianism and totalitarianism dominate, major conflicts explode and we begin to emphasize our differences, as the dominant imperative is survival and the exclusion of those not like us from sharing in the limited bounty. Before the emotional extreme is reached, the very structures that were established at the time of the last peak fragment and ethnic cleansing occurs.
Throughout these cycles, politicians, the press, the spokesmen of academe and even religious leaders reflect the dominant social mood, but they do not lead it. If a politician attempts to go in the direction that is not accepted by the herd, he is replaced by his peers; if a newspaper does not pander to the current prejudices, it loses circulation and advertising revenue; if an academic uses his overdeveloped sense of rationality to provide evidence of an alternative to the conviction of established opinion, he does not appear on TV; if a priest presents a view that is counter to the current orthodoxy, he loses his congregation and is branded a 'heretic' and faces excommunication.
These changes in social mood can be seen in the endless debate as to whether the dominant forces shaping man are the result of inheritance or of learning, of nature or nurture. At extremes of optimism, differences which are inherited and are part of nature are ignored and rebuffed, and this attitude becomes institutionalized and codified through the laws that are passed (such as anti-discrimination laws and 'positive' discrimination). When the most fundamental of natural differences has been rejected, that between the sexes, with 'gay rights' and the legal approval of gay marriages, one can only conclude that a hysterical top has been reached.
For over 200 years, we have experienced a positive social mood, a huge bull market and the growth of democratic institutions throughout most of the world. The foundations were laid by the American Constitution of September 17, 1787; the constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of May 3, 1791; and then by France in the same year (France could not make up its mind and had four different written constitutions in that decade, plus a few more over the years). There have been 'corrections,' but these occurred within an overall bullish trend.
This 200 year timescale is also supported by Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University of Law, St. Paul, who maintains that the average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years and that the people within these civilizations have progressed through a specific sequence, which is as follows: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back into bondage.
We are now at the apathetic stage of this cycle as evidenced by the low voter turnout in most democratic systems and by the subconscious need to seek security from, and be dependent upon, the State at a time when even the State itself seeks reassurance in the creation of even larger structures.
In the realm of the spiritual, man found solace in the belief of one all powerful God. This saved him from making decisions as to which deity to placate when things went wrong. Yet even in matters spiritual, the cycles have ruled. At times God was benevolent and love triumphed, at others he was vengeful and the persecution of heretics and the elimination of non-believers were the primary goals. During the peaks of the bull, when love and benevolence shine, minorities are included. Thus we have the ordination of women and gay priests, and even gay bishops. During bear markets, religious orthodoxy increases and religious intolerance thrives. The minorities are persecuted and excluded and form their own belief systems. Even God seems to be guided by the 200 year cycle.
Natural Laws prevail. Our herding instinct is one such law. We herd when we are optimistic, and we herd when we are pessimistic, but we alter the boundaries. At peaks of optimism, we emphasize our common humanity and lay our most grandiose plans as nothing seems impossible to achieve. Thus, the plans for the world's tallest buildings are laid just before market peaks and the effigies are invariably constructed during recessions (The Erection Index). This principle also applies to our economic and political structures which reflect the optimism and idealism prevailing at peaks, and stress our shared attributes but ignore our cultural, religious and ethnic diversity. When the social mood changes towards pessimism and our aspirations remain unfulfilled, cultural, religious and ethnic differences provide the excuse to single out the weakest or most visible group and turn them into scapegoats. Ethnic cleansing follows.
The union of the Slavic tribes with the Franks, the Gauls and the Saxons is a typical display of hysterical optimism prevalent at market peaks and is doomed to failure once the cycle turns. However, it does firmly illustrate the genetic predisposition of the Slavs for positions of subservience and collectivization.
