Thoughts

What is going on?

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This one is about the people. Not ‘We the People’ – that would mean we were together on this. But we are not, a very distinct divide has emerged and not by accident. I have seen the word sociopath attached to the ones who are pushing for exclusions, separations, detention and even being denied life saving treatment for ‘non-compliant’ people. And having looked up the definition to be sure, they may be right with that assessment.

“Those with ASPD (anti-social personality disorder) have no regard for others’ rights or feelings, lack empathy and remorse for wrongdoings, and have the need to exploit and manipulate others for personal gain. Nature and nurture play a role”

All of that fits an awful lot of people right now.

No regards for rights or feelings. Previously we had a clear view on what rights were and that you had the right to not be interferred with, either your private life or your body if you weren’t doing any harm to anyone. For some reason people are extremely quick to put that to one side. And when it comes to feelings, I think that’s part of the problem. Feelings are being put above rights, mainly a feeling of fear to be specific.

Lack empathy or care for wrongdoings. Weirdly, people appear to be overlooking massive wrongdoings in the establishment and trying to focus on perceived ones seeming from the ‘feelings’ created by the propaganda machine. I wonder if it is just because people can’t face the reality of what is really there and going on. If you lack empathy though, you won’t be able to feel what others feel, and you won’t want to, because your feelings are more important than theirs, regardless.

The need to exploit and manipulate others for personal gain. This can be as basic as wanting to appear better than someone else, showing your allegiance to the cause by publically denouncing or humilating others because they don’t ‘conform’ to the group view. Or can be with a much more sinister motive and purpose depending on the person and their position in society. Opportunists are not new and will step up when the situation arises, where we find ourselves now is no exception.

Nature and nurture play a role. Well, that can be said of anything, but these times and odd happenings of late have been well nurtured. And some will have been of this way by nature, but never had an outlet or opportunity for it to ‘flourish’ shall we say.

I’m sure there will be much to mull over and dissect with regard to peoples behaviour in the present and coming times. And so far, it isn’t looking pretty or stable, but as they had a whole team of ‘behaviourists’ planning their project fear, I can only presume this was an intended consequence. Hopefully one we can recover from collectively.

(c) K Wicks

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Forethought and Consequences – a follow up

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This is a follow up from my previous piece Forethought & Consequences, which was from the angle of Hyperphantasia and Aphantasia. I now find myself giving it thought again since we the many, find ourselves being dictated to by the few, in a rather haphazard way. And there are two ways to look at it – incompetence, meaning they have no idea what they are doing and have no concern for what happens after. Or they are severely corrupt and are well aware of what will occur and what that might be.

I really did believe until a few years ago that everyone could think things through properly, especially people in a decision-making role. I have been grossly mistaken. Not everyone does in fact have the ability to plan out future scenarios mentally, or even acknowledge or understand the forethought that goes into them and the consequences that are considered along the way. This was proven to me way before this recent episode unfolded, and what often may have been overlooked as being careless or thoughtless behaviour, could in fact just be ignorance or inability to see the outcome of their actions. They really didn’t think ahead to what may occur from their words or actions, because they can’t and therefore don’t foresee that as a possible outcome.

And this is where it seems that the people in charge of presenting information and making decisions are lacking in this ability. I have been using predictive modelling my entire life, but the human version, which uses your brain and factors in variables as necessary and can adapt to new information, upgrade and revise the data as needed to predict the range of possible outcomes. And as part of the data yourself, you are able to change the outcome if so desired. As I understand it, we are using computer modelling programs to construct our society currently and basing important regulations on it which affect people’s lives. It would appear to me that we are running a much slower version of that, where a human has invented a program to model in the same way – but will only be as good as it’s programmer and the data it has access to. And cannot ‘think on its feet’ or factor in anything new without it being input from the human. That’s where we have the problem, clearly for all to see, which this isn’t a theory, it has been proven time and time again, the computer models and those behind them have been wrong. And those with a faster, more competent in-built modelling system are having to just sit and painfully watch the slowness at which we now operate. Surely, we could be utilising these inventions in a more effective manner if we are to be at the whim of them?

But on a more interactive level, people’s inability to view the consequences of decisions being made around them and for them is alarming. It’s more than a lack of vision and imagination, it’s as if general reasoning is also missing. So I have to question, was it there to begin with? Is there a certain amount of life you can indeed go through without requiring the need to think things through or consider what will come of it? When people say they are disappointed to see so many complying and not caring about their freedom and future being taken away, is it perhaps their expectation of people was misplaced? We just presumed people cared, or thought things through, or were able to reason and until faced with something to expose those differences, we didn’t see them. But it turns out they are very important in the bigger scheme of things. Nearly all of the consequences I saw coming have unfolded already, so I will definitely continue to follow my own thoughts in this and try and stay on top of the strange things that appear to be coming for 2022…

(c) K Wicks

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Separate Realities

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Never has it been more obvious that we aren’t all taking part in the same reality. I had always thought we had two realities co-existing within each of us anyway, our own personal one, and what I have referred to as a shared reality. The construct of society we all take part in together. But the shared version appears to under quite a bit of pressure and is unsustainable. Split and fractured into multiple ones converging and overlaying. Reality is what you make it they say, what you believe, what you see. But is it?

I have covered this as a chapter in my book Meeting in the Middle of Nowhere, from the angle of being able to imagine in visuals or not. And have previously tried to explain within that to someone who has Aphantasia, how other people are imagining a whole host of things in mind. Causing a separation from what is going on externally. To someone who has no internal monologue, or visual imaginings, it sounded like a very foreign concept.

But right now in society, there is a serious level of separation and divide between what people believe to be reality. And not by accident. It has been encouraged and engineered to be that way. Incorrect data and ever-changing parameters, misinformation on the part of the establishment and press, and people’s own fears used against them. All of that seems to have created a very murky set of ‘facts’ for people to work with. If you weren’t paying attention before this and didn’t instinctually know something was up, surely an alarm has been tripped in your brain by now? Apparently not for many people, or if it has, they are keeping it to themselves.

Many people have lost all perspective of what is a real threat, and how to respond or behave. I personally had someone online tell me it was ‘people like me who killed their loved one’. I corrected them instantly of course, that I had in fact been working from home all the way through and barely gone out, and that they were projecting their perceived fear in the wrong direction. But that is what some people feel the need to say, and made much easier from the comfort of being behind a screen without having to deal with the debate or truth of what they are missing.

But that is their reality i realised, they have formed a belief system around some partial facts. They seem to be awfully disturbed when you might try to introduce some new information or ask them to consider an alternative view. Oddly so. I have decided they either lack the capacity to assimilate new information, or can’t think on their feet to be able to adapt and ‘upgrade’ their thought process. They remain stuck in their version of reality. Which works to a point, until it encounters a different one, or one that would disrupt their own.

Some people now believe that their fellow human is a walking biohazard. That they should be afraid of them, keep them at a distance, to worry about touching them. For no good reason. It’s cruel what they have done to people. Life was hard enough for some and already a struggle without all the relentless fear, doom, pressure and changes being implemented and threatened.

We need a shared reality that works, and some coherent talks about how that can be achieved. But while manipulated fear is leading the way its going to be very difficult to find a clear path. I get the feeling they are not done with their grand deceptions, so it will remain to be seen if we are ‘allowed’ to stabilise and find our feet. Stay sharp and question everything.

(c) K Wicks

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Memory

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I like the subject of memory, but this is a particular piece about one of my wild theories, pulled together from what I have read which does not appear to be wild theory, but actual possibility.

I’ll go straight in as I don’t know how else to lead into this, and it comes back to that special book that I bring up now and again. The People Shapers. Two things really led to this thought, firstly, a part on painkillers and how it was discovered that use of some of them dampened empathy and compassion, so while it killed feeling pain, it also kills other feelings for a time too.

The second part which concerned me the most (for more than one reason) was as follows.

They took mice and hamsters and conditioned them to be afraid of the dark. Then they liquidized them, and injected them into rats, who previously had no fear of the dark. Once you get over that awfulness, that we do things like that ‘just to see’, the results revealed (although contested), that the rats who were injected, developed a fear of the dark. Same with flatworms – once they were conditioned to know an electric shock was coming when they turned on the light, they began to show recoil at just the light being turned on. Then they chopped them up into pieces (which all regenerate), and the new ‘brains’ which grew had memory from the cells. So they liquified them too and fed them to other flatworms that had no experience of the stimuli – and guess what? Very shortly after consuming the conditioned worms, they too displayed the same responses – meaning all the cells of the specimen had held onto that memory.

That’s the speed version of those experiments, but the idea stayed with me about cells and memory and I applied the thinking to humans – however basic that might sound.

I theorised that not only are we able to condition humans to the same responses, but what if they are putting that into others? This theory led to my fictional short story P113, written before this game changer was thrown into our lives, which details where my thought process went with that one.

But in my mind, I see the potential for things to occur. By dampening and possibly switching off empathy and compassion, whether it be by use of drugs or conditioning, isn’t a good thing. Humans have a cruel streak we all know of, and people without feelings for others do not usually look out for others. And we have many drugs now that seem to disrupt the normal flow of thought and creativity.

There is another angle I have on it too, which I have been called an idiot for sharing before, but I don’t care if my ideas sounds ridiculous, until I sound them out, how will I know for sure? Based on the above premise of all cells having memory and their final state of being before demise could in fact be imprinted on the cells, could they be passed into the next environment? This was already a loose possibility in my mind way before I read The People Shapers, from a few angles. I watched a film many years ago called Brainwaves (1982), laying the idea that memories can be passed on through organs. Years later I read various stories from transplant survivors who say they have feeling and memories from their donors, so the idea stuck with me and waited for more information. I didn’t expect my brain to jump to a wild conclusion though (you would think I’d be prepared by now with what I think and write), but it linked a scenario that I come back to now and again. Things made from aborted fetal cells. I was quite horrified when I knew we did that, but with my theory, the idea that human cells at their point of being distinguished, may have felt abject pain and fear, then being recreated as something else and then put into new living cells. Could that memory have crossed over? Possibly not, but the idea it might is enough for me to be wary.

Steering back to what we do know about memory, it’s been proven that it is not always the best judge of the past. They say that a witness is the weakest evidence, and many experiments have been done to prove the brain can trick itself as well as be easily manipulated or influenced to change or fabricate memories. Some antibiotics apparently prevented short-term memories being stored in the animal tests, so I run with it that over the decades since the book was written, we have discovered a way to do this in humans (by accident or on purpose I don’t know). But many people unable to assimilate or really remember some events or information at certain times, potentially not being a problem or even noticeable on a day to day basis. Or put down to other things and overlooked. But in a much larger group, it would be noticeable wouldn’t it? That you weren’t remembering recent events as someone else did. It sounds familiar maybe? And isn’t always down to memory, as we know people see things differently and perceive a different world – which is another piece currently underway called Separate Realities, but memory plays a part there too I feel.

There is also the theory of genetic memory, so potentially we are already born with a set of memories which already aren’t our own as such – or because we are born with them, are they more us than what we subsequently learn?

And I will throw in the Mandela Affect, where they have decided to give a name to when people cannot recall events correctly and distort the facts in their mind, and insist it is the truth. Apparently they aren’t lying or deceiving you though. But clearly are to themselves perhaps? I am not sure what mechanism it is in the brain that conjures up falsities and lies in place of facts, and then chooses to run with it, but it does appear to be there. I’ll look into that more in the other post as it probably is a bit part of how someone constructs their personal reality.

There is much to mull over…

(c) K Wicks

Getting to know yourself

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Becoming yourself. It sounds easy doesn’t it. Two simple words right? Be you.

But to be you, first you must know who you are. Again, it sounds like it should be a given, an obvious thing for a person to know themselves. And maybe the majority do, and I have miscalculated how difficult people can find life.

From what I have experienced and observed, people most of the time appear to be presenting a version of themselves they believe to be real or know to be the one required by society. Many things can influence this – parents and family, teachers, colleagues, friends, media and entertainment. An array of things and expectations to shape you, guide you and influence who you turn out to be. But where in all that do you actually become you? I guess some people might never become who they should be, forever beholden to what they think they should be, or what someone else decided for them.

And it was part of that construct, of things being decided for you that led to some internal conflict for me. As I neared being a young teenager, it was becoming starkly obvious that there was a divide of opportunity, and one I would not be able to overcome. Being female would always mean I was second rate, paid less, overlooked for promotion and would be expected to marry, have children, and do what was necessary. If you didn’t, you would probably be viewed as a traitor to your own kind. As a child most of my friends were boys, I climbed trees, played war games and although had no real issue with being a girl, still wanted to be ‘one of the boys’ as they say. Then nature did its thing. Becoming a woman as they call it, seeing and feeling your own body spiral off into the future, leaving you mentally behind and feeling like you are playing catch up. Sometimes forever. For me two things simultaneously occurred – what happened physically and mentally, both running alongside each other. I resented the bodily changes as they represented the expectations of society on women and I was a bit pissed off that I didn’t get a say in any of it. How I thought or what I did wasn’t ever going to make a difference, it would always be based on what I looked like. Having to cover yourself up, feel awkward and to suddenly be of interest to boys. And limited career options because of it. It was an awful lot to take on board. But mentally I was confused about what my role was as a person and where it was all going. Every disruption and dysfunction going on around me added to my thought processes. Every film and impressionable thing I read, had an effect. I could feel myself being pulled this way and that, being told what I should be, what I should want, what I should do. It drove me over the edge in the end. Trying to keep people happy and trying to make yourself happy when you haven’t got a clue who you are.

I had what I now view as a typical response to my environment and difficulties, I developed a low grade eating disorder, behavioural issues, spent an awful lot of time on my own and dropped out of mainstream education. Was diagnosed with various mental health labels and really couldn’t see myself fitting in to society at all, being an outcast and not part of what everyone else deemed ‘normal’. I knew as a teenager I didn’t want children and that I wanted a career, and to be a writer. That was my starting point. Everyone else however, felt they knew better and should tell me so along the way. Why I cannot fathom. But from before I was even an adult, I had to defend my views, ideas and reasonings. Against family and strangers alike. And in return I was told I was opinionated and stubborn. I decided it was because I knew my own mind. Many a discussion and argument has been had over difference of opinion, and people having differing ones to my own I don’t mind at all. It is at the point they decide to trample or dismiss mine in favour of theirs with no basis or reasoning that I draw the line. I will not be told I am wrong, simply because you believe you are right. I guess it might have seemed odd to be a child with an unwavering will. I was gullible, naive and trusting, yet know when something isn’t as it appears. You just can’t always put your finger on it or articulate it properly.

I knew the rules of being female, as I said above, less money, not as good blah blah blah. Yet I was still disappointed to encounter it personally with being paid less than a male counterpart who did the same job, even being paid less than a female counterpart, because you know, she has a family. So I ended up being discriminated against by both sexes along the way, ironically. Have to say I didn’t see that coming, but realised that once you hit the world of being an adult, it is highly competetive. Within education, employment, socialising, life choices. You end up competing in and for relationships, jobs, housing, friendships even. Ticking boxes, jumping through hoops to ‘qualify’ for their standard. But what if you already have your own standard and do not really feel the need to be what they want? Three sayings that have been repeated to me in life that have stuck – Know Your Place, Get in Line and Fit In Or Fuck Off. They mean what they say and while understanding them fully, you do not need to do them unless it suits your purpose.

It seems it is an odd landscape these days to be able to have conversations about being male or female, or what it is that defines that, I don’t mind what people want to be. I am me, and you are you. That’s all I need. Others however have a very different view and approach. I will use my own family as an example as I cannot speak for others or know what other people really think. For this one I will use my mother and something she said that stayed with me, and made me wonder very much about how someone ends up with an attitude like that. What their thought process must be and how that affects who they are and how they come across. She said “I would have been a lesbian but I hate women as much as I hate men”.

Now, how do you try to unwrap that? I was around 15 when she said it, and it was in response to my sister having a relationship with a girl. And it wasn’t anything to do with my sister, it was part of the odd one upmanship that began when we became teenagers (my sister is a few years old than me). Anything we wanted to do or did, my mum had already done it, but better and more spectacularly. She was a great teller of stories and tales one might say, but the edge of bitterness to them all didn’t escape me. And that comment in particular really made me question what type of person she was deep down, how could someone show such hatred to others simply because of their gender? And was it perhaps that she was so miffed about her own? Like me she hated being held back or judged based on what you look like and that you are seen as weaker, whereas I turned it inwards and tried to work through what it was that made me feel that way, she turned it outwards and projected it onto others. Unfortunately she didn’t make it past her 40’s, so I never got to learn more about the hows and why’s for her, but I didn’t want to end up like it, so still took it as a lesson in life and how not to be.

All of this was before the internet, and with that now prevelant in most peoples lives, I theorise on how much further it would have influenced me into a way of thinking – or her. Of being able to present the version of myself I want the world to see, without knowing who you are or how they are percieving it or you. And having an audience now for your tough times, as well as constant reminders and records of them isn’t necessarily a good thing. Makes me realise that some things are meant to be left behind for a reason, otherwise you can’t move on and get caught I guess in your own time loop. But it is what you make it, real life and time on the internet, and they inevitably cross over now and are intertwined, so it’s more important than ever to know who you are and always question where your thoughts come from and if they are truly your own…

(c) MKW Publishing

Holding Us Back

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I had observed this over the years and have given it thought previously. The infantilising of people, groups, and society as a whole. Mainly discussed as a point of interest when wondering why so many people like to hold onto childhood memorabilia, or never quite leave a part of their attachment to something from their youth. I defended people initially, saying it did not make them childish that they still appreciated something from their childhood. But I wasn’t quite seeing it from the bigger picture. It was not the appreciation that I should have been questioning, it was the distraction of it and why people felt the need to.

I thought it was just a normal social evolution, after a previous time where you had to grow up quickly, expect to be married with children by your early twenties and in a job until retirement, working hard to get by. It doesn’t sound like there was much time to indulge any ongoing childhood wants or interests, it was a case of grow up or drop out. But that has all changed, for the better I thought. Now I am not so sure. Many people now stay living at home well into their thirties (engineered in some instances by society making living on your own unaffordable), thereby making it easier to put off, miss out on or sidestep very important character-building experiences. Being shielded from life. Helped and protected for longer than is what we would consider normal. Now, that is a touchy subject, what is normal? And each of us have our own differing view of it, but we like to believe there is a ‘shared normal’ we understand and mostly stick to. But it would appear that two consequences of making it appear normal to stay at home, is that firstly no-one addresses making it affordable to live, followed by the possible delay or stunting of mental, emotional and social development. I understand even the scale of those are measured against what the system determines as ‘normal’, but does it have an effect on people? Do they feel they are missing out and not able to move on with their lives? Putting things on hold all the time until years down the line. I suspect the same could be said of anyone to be fair, people with mortgages and responsibility may say they would happily swap it back for living at home in a second. Easy to say with perspective and having been on both sides. But the long-term effect of holding people back has to be noted, as we are currently seeing in society with restrictions and lockdown, and the unknown being wheeled out whenever they need to shake things up.

They say you only get one life; my grandpa says it best in my opinion “Lives come but one per customer”. I took this literally, as well I believe I should have. It is upsetting to see so many lives derailed, side-tracked, destroyed, uprooted and tampered with in the last two years, and there appears to be no let-up in sight. So within that I wonder about those people too, how is everyone coping with such loss, grief, fear and confusion and everything being reconstructed around them? I believe the strategy is that they are trying to keep people in a state of dependency through healthcare, benefits and a helping hand, to make it feel as if you are being looked after. That there is an overall ‘parent’ looking out for you ‘From Cradle to Grave’ as they put it way back when. But that in turn seems to have made the government think they are the caregiver to us, in charge of us and therefore able to tell us what to do with each waking moment of our lives. They want to decide where you can go and when, with whom you may meet, where you may work and travel. And many seem ok with that, that is what is quite disturbing. For no good reason and with no data to back it up, only because they feel like it.

Feelings. They appear to have a lot to answer for here. We do not have an emotion called logic, or reason. But we have one called fear, and that appears to be the one causing the issue and really can make people behave in a strange way. Argument being, people want others to wear masks and jab up to make them ‘feel safe’, I find this a very strange request, mainly because I want to be safe, not feel safe. They really are quite different. And feelings are very personal, so it’s necessary for me to understand why I don’t feel safe, work out what the risk is and determine what can be done, if anything to minimise the risk. Then, if the risk is unavoidable, you weigh up whether you put yourself in harms way. Mostly, that does not involve another person initially.

I was hit by a car when I was a child, completely my fault as I ran to cross the road without looking, but for a long time thereafter I was frightened to cross the road in case it happened again. I reasoned I was correct to be afraid as it was a real danger with a very painful and real consequence, and although was taught to cross the road, thought I knew better in that moment, as you do. Despite the fact I knew other people had also been hit by cars, and even got killed by them doing the same thing. I was eight I think, so old enough really to know better. After though, I got anxiety every time I went to cross the road, for years, and looked 5 times each way, or however many it took until I was sure a car wasn’t going to just pounce on me. But I knew I wasn’t safe because of me and how I felt towards something, as long as I didn’t fall into the road, or run to cross, then the risk would be minimal. I didn’t expect all drivers to get off the road because I was scared, or to even know I was scared. So I am little bemused at how many people seem to think others (perfectly healthy others I might add), should give up their time, experiences, futures and lives, because they ‘feel scared’ and want people to indulge their fear. So far there has been very weak, if not false data to try and whip up fear in people, who are then encouraged to project that fear onto others. Yet so far, our reaction to everything has been extremely disproportionate to the risk and without merit in reality. And that way people are too busy fighting amongst each other to collectively think about where the fear is coming from. Because it doesn’t appear to be in the general day to day folk. It is mostly online, in the media and as a relentless stream of doom and threats from ‘up above’. It is wearing thin, for many.

By all means, be afraid, if anything I think it is appropriate now given how quicky this situation has escalated. Afraid for the future and where this all leads. But we should be aware that by making demands of others, whether they appear reasonable or not, is a very slippery slope and one we are travelling down. Especially when it comes to someone’s health. It should be reasonable to say I simply will not put my own health at risk just to make someone feel better because of what is going on inside their head, when I am of no threat to them in real life. Just as I would not take any drug to make someone else feel better, or drink alcohol to make them feel better, or eat food I don’t like to make them feel better. Sounds weird doesn’t it when you apply reason to it. It should. So, I have to wonder about that – how is so many ‘adults’ are using what appear to be very childish tactics to ‘get their own way’, practically by way of tantrum or ultimatum in some cases. Similar to how our government act at the moment. Childish one minute, then strict parent the next, maybe it’s a collective breakdown has occurred? Is it just a natural go-to, even when fully grown? Or is it a reaction to this situation where you feel so powerless and mistreated, you just pass on the frustration and fear and force it on others so you don’t have to face it? I guess I have many questions around this still, and even though I generalise, I understand we aren’t all the same, despite how much they would like us to be, and I will always wonder on why people do things and treat each other the way they do. The good, the bad and the ugly.

(c) K Wicks

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They had an idea… (poetry)

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They had an idea

If you will, a plan

Something quite dark

To see if they can

Change the world

That came to be

For a new purpose

And reality

Taking our time

And wanting more

Letting the past

Become merely folklore

A long time coming

From its inception

So many complicit

To achieve the deception

That we now see

Before our eyes

It’s no longer something

They can disguise

Whatever their goal

They seem rather late

As if it’s collapsing

Under the weight

And desperately now

Their cast their new net

Wanting their future

And for you to forget

~

All that came before

(c) K Wicks

Do We All Have It In Us?

~ MKW Publishing ~ 5 Comments

This is a question of psychopathy. When asked why do I think some people can’t see through the charade and seem unable to unravel what is right before them. My answer was that ‘we the unconvinced’ are all potential psychopaths who have the capacity to be but chose not to use it. And the others are gullible and too trusting. That’s the short answer, and now for the slightly longer analysis of it.

The definition of the term first – “Psychopathy is a neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioural controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial deviance and criminal behaviour”.

Sounds scarily like our ‘rulers’ at the moment doesn’t it, although there are many disorders running alongside each other there, and would take more than one post to pick that apart!

But the definition is the starting point, or for how most people see or believe psychopaths are rooted out and identified. I do not entirely agree as it is too broad and the meaning has changed over the decades – so I will do my best to explain what I think about it.

The above definition is an odd one because often when people who are deemed psychopaths, like serial killers for example (the obvious go to), most people didn’t know, or had no idea until they were caught. So were they just faking required emotional responses? Masking if you will, as many people do in society or through life, to ‘fit in’. Is that any different? Showing a lack of empathy towards others – definitely not isolated to psychopaths, but what is the scale we are using to decide? Interestingly, it’s a person who decided the criteria, so what if they themselves were a psychopath who wanted to single out people who they might have deemed unfit – you know, in a eugenicist kind of way. The people who struggle with emotional responses, or who can’t show their empathy, and who might lash out when society gets too much? That doesn’t sound psychopathic after all does it. The original term translated to ‘suffering soul’, and I can’t help but suspect that with many a term for the workings of the mind, they have been changed and repurposed since their conception.

But let’s consider someone who knows what emotional responses they should be deploying, and has a distinct lack of empathy but manages to hide that too behind a facade of concern and outrage. And they have a very tight grip on their behaviour controls, meaning they don’t get caught, and knowing exactly what to do to keep people running in circles around them. Are we to give them the same label? Surely, they are more psychopathic than the first? So maybe I am wrong to even use that term for what is going on now, or for what dwells deep inside most of us, if not all, it just manifests in different ways given different environments and stimuli. And the ones who get caught and defined under societal law, are just the ones who spiralled off into oblivion, and separated themselves from the collective mantra of suppress and deny? We also have a tendency as a species to want to survive and protect ourselves, so maybe the ones who don’t spiral off into what they call anti-social behaviour, are just the ones who realise their ride through society can be an easy one, as long as they ‘play the game’. Having your cake and eating it might be the applicable saying for that.

Bringing me back to the theory that we have it in us, all have the potential you might say. But it is not until given the correct incentive, environment or opportunity does it rear its head or flourish unfettered. And just maybe some people didn’t know it was in them, and never learnt to manage, understand, question or control it and it comes through in different forms. Could be that being a little bit psychopathic helps people survive, and is indeed an evolutionary response as some have theorised? Maybe we will see…

(c) K Wicks

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It’s Been A Trade

~ MKW Publishing ~ 1 Comment

I wanted to reply to a social media message, but do not have the space for what I believe needs to be analysed here, so another post coming your way.

They have observed a rather calm demeanour amongst the people who have chosen to wait and not be duped or cajoled into following the ‘government program’ currently underway. Versus what appears to be a somewhat hysterical attitude in the ones who have been following and repeating the party line. I gave it some thought, and have to an extent already. Seeing online what the post spoke of, and have of course wondered about where the anger and hysteria towards us has really come from too.

They say it is because ‘us lot’ are keeping the restrictions in place and coming back, which is a rather odd take on it. Considering we did not impose said restrictions, are not the ones succumbing to illnesses and are definitely not the ones dangling freedoms in trade for being able to use your body as a medical experiment. Which by the way you don’t get anything back with that trade, they just take more, as we have seen.

But there is plenty to be angry about – trading your body as a medical experiment so you can go on holiday, or to the cinema, or pub, or college, or work. Yes, I can see where the anger might have come from initially, but that is where it seems to get interesting. Because in a normal world, people should have put their foot down then, as many of us did, and said, I don’t fucking think so! But to our absolute horror and dismay, a fair portion of people just said, ok then. And then didn’t get what they had been promised. So something else occurred, whether it be natural or because of what they lined up for, but a blockage has transpired. Of logic, reason and humility. So instead, they can’t or won’t accept that they were and are wrong (and we know a very strategic behaviour and media campaign was put in place to help this along), and have mistakenly chosen to channel all their confusion, mistrust and anger in the wrong direction. Because all of those are normal feelings to have here and should be felt by those people – there is just cause. The behaviour department worked hard to make them scared and angry, but also how to deflect it away from who is actually causing it.

And so we come to where that is deflected to. Towards the folk who just didn’t buy it, weren’t just going to go along with the crowd or do as they were told with no good reason. Just because someone tells you they know better, doesn’t mean they do. Even with models, charts and predictions, as has been proved. They worked hard though to make sure we were vilified, demonised and set up to be the focus of their instincts trying to tell them something is wrong. I, like others, are amazed at the amount of sheer gullibilty and ignorance being presented in the general population. Without question, they are handing themselves over, like I said, to be a medical experiment as well as it turns out, a psychological one too.

Everyone should be worried, concerned and scared of where this is leading at an alarming pace. Be mindful of your thoughts if you want them to stay as your own, they are being highjacked as well as personal liberties.

(c) K Wicks

Turning Off The TV

~ MKW Publishing ~ 4 Comments

Sometimes things come to an end or just run their course. My recent article Walking Away illustrates this and was written in reference to something else. But this may have been the start of it, I turned off the television. Permanently. I have only done this once before in my life for a few months, and within a week or two, started writing my first book. I went back to televison, and have spent much time, too much time, watching it, thinking about it and even working my schedule around it back in the day before super convenience and timed recordings. Although I grew up with it, I am not sure you could say I was one of the TV generation who were put in front of it as a babysitter. I had to haggle and bargain for my television time, against a mother who did not care for technology and wanted me out playing instead. And for that I commend her foresight and observation of my love of it, making sure I went out, but using it where necessary to gain my compliance for chores.

Movies have always featured heavily though, more than TV, but of late things have changed. I used to joke that I watched certain movies not as entertainment, but as reference and research. And I meant it, but no-one believed me. I would often watch programs and movies as background noise while doing something else. It wasn’t stimulating enough on its own. I used to be captured and enthralled by it growing up. Fully immersed in the audio and visual experience and my concentration on it almost unbreakable. It may not surpise you to know that my favourite as a child was Alice in Wonderland. The only thing in life that did seem to make sense then, and turns out now as well.

But the box doesn’t seem to be what it once was. The unending feed of ridiculous constant adverts, the dull blandness of the programes and the odd definition of entertainment these days had spelt the end of my relationship with it. There is more going on that requires attention. It’s no longer required. And although I may not have regretted the time given to it already, I certainly would if I continued to give it more.

There is no need to be distracted by their ideas and images anymore, when there are plenty to be had of my own. Research is over, the clock is ticking…

(c) K Wicks

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