Politics andParties

Spent time at a rally nice party last night and had some great discussions. Health care came up as usual. Its interesting when you meet people who are not full of fear and willing to take a look at alternatives to the status quo. as far as i can tell, 9and most behavioral researchers will verify) fear makes one unable to think or do any kind of critical analysis. So what is the result of millions of people who are unable to think, something akin to mass hysteria, I'm not certain, but looking at behavior in a crowd when fear sets in... well there seems to be some interesting parallels there.

Is this fear a normal thing given the circumstances or is it manufactured? how does one overcome it? An even more important observation is that we as a nation, (and i suppose most nations) use fear, propaganda to demonize people, ideas and concepts that threaten the status quo. Take for example the Roman Empire's use of the Christan religion as a tool to control the masses. Constantine, (Emperor Constantine the Great, was born on Feb. 27, c. 280) A pretty bald faced ploy, Even the concept of hell, as I understand it was a by product of the need to have a carrot for the stick of everlasting life.

Are we all the product of societies that that use our natural fear of the unknown and the different to control us. look around and see what type of controls we have in place, often religion, belief systems regarding the inherent goodness of the wealthy Vs the poor, Caste systems, Class systems and so on.

What baffles me is the in ability of most of us to look, just for a second at the possibility that other ideas might be as valid as our own. I remember discussions of Jung's regarding ego death. Only when one is able to shed the trapping of personality can one see clearly the nature of reality. It would seem that perhaps large scale initiation of psychedelics would be in order.

Fear, what good is it exactly. Don't know, but it seems that we ought to look at ways to grasp the damaging effects of fear and face up to it. Of course I guess that's an intensely personal journey and one that I'll probably never convince any one to take. Some paths you have to decide to go down on your own.
Vern