Thought of first in my article The First Fad, but from an entertainment angle, and Consumerism of goods and services and the marketing that surrounds that. A whole area of psychological study around how people can be encouraged and manipulated into thinking certain things, wanting certain things and becoming a tool. Useful Idiot or Useless Eater covers an angle of what type of tool that may be. And recently I wrote a piece A State of Mind, And Fear, which looked at the psychological effect something can have without even having to happen, just the worry and fear it will can change a person, their thoughts and way they live thereafter.

But rather than just using fads to sell products, and entertainment and fantasy, they are also using it to sell fear. As a side package almost to the things you pay for, you get it as a free extra. In movies, music, education and history, in media and news, trying to insert itself into some aspect of your daily life. It’s only been within employment mostly it seems that people were left alone to get their head down, don’t be distracted and pay your taxes. Unless you were in the military of course, then your job would be one with an overtone and undertone of a fearful, high alert environment, using the fear of it possibly being any moment now, or just around the corner. For the average person it would be fear of some section of society, of drugs, of violence, of terrorism, of the weather and so on. The lines are becoming somewhat blurred though, where the everyday fears, the military fears and a grouped version of them all are being thrown at everyone. The vision of the future appears laden with fear if you believe the constant stream of horror and distress being funnelled by way of the internet and media, trying to make everyone Ready for Doom, if they hadn’t already succumbed to the conditioning going back generations.

And it seems many different fads have been put out there, to try to capture each group and type along the way. And it may be only a short-lived interest or fad for some, creating a temporary hold, or fascination but for others, it seems it can turn into something quite different, with idolisation and obsession feeding into what it becomes. And if you then add fear into that, as a trigger, or undertone, or emotional manipulator, then people can become very unstable, and unpredictable, to a point. There are a certain number of variables when it comes to behaviour, but people do mostly follow a set pattern, so predictably unpredictable. And that’s where maybe thinking can be our undoing sometimes, because you can spend an awful lot of time going over things in mind and end up nowhere further on from where you were. Remember, there is a time for thinking, and there is a time for doing, you just need to know which one is required when the time comes…

(c) K Wicks

Welcome to the Thunderdome. Or at least that’s how it’s starting to feel, on purpose I believe, because it’s a general feeling of unease and foreboding that has been well laid and topped up accordingly. Where we appear to be in a time where ‘the lunatics are running the asylum’ as one might say. With logic and reason being sneered at, shouted down and treated as though that is the mental dysfunction, with ego pushing anyone and all ideas aside to hold fast to the festering self-need and want that governs it. And this is where we appear to be watching in real-time, the evolution of a type of madness, of wealth, deviance and greed creating a rather disturbing mentality and social landscape before us.

What is even more disturbing, is tracing the path of how it came to be so corrupt and ingrained by those who seek power over others, because it’s not just about money, it’s about what money then affords you. Factor into that some sinister ideas under the guise of philanthropy, and some strategic planning and foresight, then much can be possible. Even more so when you know others who help to facilitate certain ideas and wants for their own personal gain, that saying, ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ springs to mind.

We definitely appear to have reached a turning point, where much had to be revealed to steer everything towards ‘net zero’ and the plan to reduce everything humans need to flourish and sustain themselves. Food, health, travel, money, employment and ultimately it seems, people are what is what they want to cut back, but do it by way of stealth. When they do things in history like kill all the buffalo so the American Indians starved, and poisoned upstream rivers to taint their water supply further down, you realise the level of sneaky some will go to achieve what they want. But also to come out of it not looking like the villain, that is a different type of sinister and one that is indeed quite prevalent today as it always was. Politics would be the main player where it appears to be an advantageous strategy to cause maximum mayhem, and be able to blame it on the people who are affected by it, or just lie your way out of it and never be held to account. No wonder the insanity has now grown to a monstrous level, because it has been allowed to.

And that just might be because people who are charged with making decisions, no longer do so, and are on someone else’s payroll. If your commission and extra’s was dependent on customers, then you wouldn’t be rude to them, or ignore them, or knowingly lie to them, would you? You would lose your commission, bonus, extras and ultimately your job. But not in politics, they are beholden to different rules which they themselves have put in place, to their benefit. Not even pretending anymore to ‘serve the people’, as it is quite obvious, they serve themselves, and those who pay their extras and buy their temporary allegiance. Contracts, deals, meetings, incentives, gifts, jobs and all the other things they are busy organising while ’employed by the people’. Seems farcical now when you see it laid out, that average people put their trust in, and give their money to, complete strangers in suits who we are told are respectable and want to help us, educate us, and make society better by ultimately then employing us. So, it would seem they can then take more of our money, and keep telling us what to do while getting rich off the ‘taxes’ we pay. A sick cycle we play a pivotal role in and even ‘vote’ for, as we are meant to. I can’t help thinking that although it looks to have no walls and a cage as such, our society does seem to be a big lab, and like The Beautiful Mice, has a set agenda or purpose, with it being adapted for a larger human version. Or at least that’s how it is starting to feel…

(c) MKW Publishing

A word, to denote the lower orders and those of ‘common’ living standard, ideas or ambition, as would say those who created the divide of class we have in this country. But I thought of where it gets used in a practical sense, as that is where it seems awfully applicable sometimes as a useful word.

Common Sense – something we thought was prevalent in society, but alas, it really does seem as though sense is something that really isn’t very common after all in that context.

Common Ground – to find the middle ground and a starting or joining point for an idea or way forward. Lending it to something logical, or a compromise to whatever the point of issue that can be resolved somewhat or an agreement reached.

Common Enemy – where you learn to understand that certain differences are to be put aside to observe a common threat to your territory or way of life. If you have ever given thought to or read about wars and skirmishes, and the changing of borders, it is often you will find temporary alliances are formed to combat that common enemy at the time. Thereafter often those alliances fall away and are replaced by new conflicts, and without a bigger enemy, it seems people find ways to destablise themselves with smaller matters.

A Common – piece of land designated as common land, for grazing and walking and cannot be restricted they say. But as with much, it has changed because the areas of common land in the UK used to be bigger and gradually it has been changed, bordered, gated, fenced and no longer affords the rights it once did.

Common Law – “a system of laws based on customs and court decisions rather than on written laws made by a parliament.” Not really much I can add to that, we have seen of late how the law ‘works’ so it may be common in name, but not serve any of those that may think it is there for a lawful society.

Common Good – ideally where the people falling under the banner of that ‘good’ are the ones to decide it. Otherwise, it gets used as a weapon for an individual to enact a more personal or deviant agenda, as we well know.

Lowest Common Denominator – in mathematics, yes, but also as an insult. To insinuate someone is stupid it is said, or a particular audience may be of the ‘lowest common denominator’.

I find it interesting to give thought to words and their place in our understanding. How they came to be used as such, because they, like many things they are twisted and used for purpose. In education, communication, language, propaganda, psychology, and general thought. So it’s good to know how others might be using them, to make sure you are at least all reading from the same page…

(c) K Wicks