Show cancelled due to technical errors; stay tuned for update re scheduling it for next Sunday 17th February 2013!
Fear is a perfectly healthy and normal human response that comes in handy when reading the environment for clues and successfully navigating reality. But just casting an eye over some of the crazy stories making the news these days, it’s clear that as a society our fear response is completely out of whack with reality.
Reports this week from the U.S. about a ten year old Alexandria boy being arrested and taken into custody for bringing a toy gun to school, a Philadelphia fifth-grader threatened with same for making a ‘paper gun’ in class, a Bronx school sent into full panic station mode because a 12-year-old student was overheard talking about his toy gun, and a 7-year-old suspended from his Denver school for throwing an ‘imaginary grenade’ during class recess are but a tiny sample of hysterical reactions to non-existent threats that indicate society is seriously on edge.
These over-the-top reactions in turn cause real trauma and fear-based responses. As one commentator put it, “administrators are terrorizing and traumatizing students because of a national media panic and their own incompetence.” It’s not just happening in schools; it’s happening all across society. We’ve come to accept that smoking is banned on all commercial aircraft, but does that make it in any way reasonable? Smoking is now banned in many public places, ‘mandatory licenses’ for smoking are under consideration and ‘Obamacare’ and other legislation will covertly and heavily penalize smokers.
Why is it that society has quietly surrendered its rights, one step at a time? The authorities tell us it is to protect us from the scourge of terrorism, guns and tobacco. Then why is it that the more heavily they clamp down on these ‘evils’, the more hysterical and terrified people become? With people feeling less safe, less secure and more stressed than ever, it seems that the very things the authorities claim to be doing ‘for the good of all’ are in fact detrimental to all.
Joining us this week to discuss the hystericization of society and examine the roots causes of the problem are Jason Martin, software programmer, martial arts student and artist, and Laura Knight-Jadczyk, SOTT.net editor and author of Comets and the Horns of Moses. We also want to hear from YOU about your ‘Twilight Zone’ experiences and your take on TSA ‘pat-downs’, government overreach and societal madness.
We go live on air from 7-9pm UTC this Sunday (11am-1pm PST ~ 2-4pm EST ~ 8-10pm CET), so join us then!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sottnet
In case you missed last week’s SOTT Talk Radio show, Joe and I were again joined by Jason Martin, along with special guests Laura Knight-Jadczyk, author and historian, and Harrison Koehli, editor of Red Pill Press, which published the underground classic, Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil, Adjusted for Political Purposes. Together we discussed arguably the most important topic of our time: psychopaths and their influence in our world. Check it out: