Society, Mental Health, Capitalism

So I’ve been back to the whole ‘society’ and capitalism issue again.

It really disturbs me when someone who has struggled with something feels negatively about the struggle.  Struggles are an inherit part of life and I don’t trust anyone that pretends like they have never struggled with anything at all.  These people are usually in denial.  And why would someone who struggles not want to help another through their struggle?  "Well NOBODY helped me".  They say it with bitter pride.  Congratulations.  There’s a difference between a ‘physical’ struggle and a ‘mental’ struggle.  Mental struggles just require empathy and compassion and open understanding, but people seem more burdened by offering this kind of assistance.  My own stepmother said derogatively to me that when I would call when I was upset, my father was so burdened by having to ‘talk me down’.  Hello.  That’s caring.  There’s some convoluted thinking that you shouldn’t ‘encourage’ negative emotions, as I’ve heard it.  Everybody has negative thoughts.  They aren’t BAD or EVIL or WRONG.  They just are and helping somebody in the moment of that negative thinking can really help empower them through it.  Hearing somebody say to me "Yeah I’ve felt like that before" is the most comforting thing ever, because you realize, you aren’t abnormal for having these thoughts or feelings.  Though I feel like there is influences that make it seem so.

Why aren’t you happy?  What’s wrong with you?

We get upset at things.  Something didn’t go as planned? Is it wrong to be upset about it?  Being ‘depressed’ about a situation is often times a highly reflective period in ones life and I believe it’s important to reflect on one’s life.  We live in a society that promotes mental disorders. Our current society promotes selfishness and alienates people from one another.  Take the example of my mother’s husband.  There is strain in the relationships that he has with his offspring because he feels that they have taken advantage of him and they have.  You know why?  Money.  It’s a ‘dog eat dog’ society and do we really think it’s possible to build meaningful and trusting relationships in a world like this?  How many people cheat on each other?  How many people lie, cheat and steal their way ahead in life?  Am I really supposed to accept that being caring and kind is a weakness?  One that means I don’t deserve healthcare, adequate housing, and food, because I have a hard time working for a company that I am morally opposed to?  Even moral companies go astray in the face of diminishing profits.

People innately feel a need to justify and/or give meaning to their behaviors and thought processes.  An advanced ego holds on to convoluted thinking in the name of self preservation.  I often worry that I do this, though I don’t believe I have too much of an ego.  More than I have had in the past, but I would never put myself ahead of another person.

"Emotional / Mood Disorders v. Society

People with extreme anxiety issues are extremely self focused. Now I’m not saying having anxiety is a bad thing. I think it’s perfectly normal and rational to have anxiety when entering a ‘new’ situation.  Learning things is difficult, because often times mistakes are not tolerated. How do you learn? By making mistakes and repetition. We all know this. We have all heard this rhetoric a thousand times, yet we have a hard time admitting them.  Is admitting a mistake a show of weakness? And why do we have to be so strong all the time.  This goes back to caring.  We live in a world where caring is not profitable.  If a corporation cared about it’s employees would they expect them to work in a totalitarian environment where productivity and profits are more important than life quality?

My father is a manic depressive.  I believe he maintains this as an excuse to be selfish and a way to control people around him.  I do believe that chemical imbalances can exist in the brain, but I don’t think they are incurable.  A true desire to change a behavior can bring about change.

I have struggled with both anxiety and depression. I was extremely anxious when I was younger. I have accepted this and I push my comfort limits now and it helps.  I used to be terrified to be in a public place that is typically a social activity by myself.  Eating in restaurants was hard for me to do alone.  However, nowadays, I find it much easier, though you still won’t find me in a fancy ‘date’ type restaurant by myself.  I am still working on these things.  I find that having a purpose helps alleviate these feelings.  When I go to the bar to play pool, I usually have no problems doing so.  Sometimes I get a little uncomfortable when people say things to me about it, but I can tell them "I just like to play pool".  I realize that people can get that.  Though I know you can think "awe why are they all alone? Is there something wrong with them? Why don’t they have friends?" I’ve thought those thoughts and they are highly unnecessary.  Would I mind playing pool with other people? No not at all, but I’m not going to let the lack of having someone to play with deny me the enjoyment of playing.

People are social beings.  I am pretty sure this is widely accepted and confirmed thinking.  We do enjoy the company of others, so why do so many people deny themselves of it?  Yes sometimes people infuriate me and piss me off. You know why? Because you can’t control them.  I think there are a lot of people out there that struggle with control.  I mean how could you not. Our society is quite uncertain.  If you can’t find a job, it becomes hard to provide for yourself the basic human necessities.  We have to depend on these companies to fulfill our needs well and honestly who can’t help but to be distrustful of a company where the quality of the goods or service is at the whim of profitability. People are also afraid of being controlled, so therefore we overcompensate by trying to control others, which is just not the way it should be.  However we happily allow companies and governments to control us.

I feel like I’m not properly formulating my points and getting off track often, so watch the documentary "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward".It has some compelling psychological and social commentary and finished up with an idealized ‘resource based’ economy model in which money does not exist.  The ideas are not complete on how this value free society would function.  But it’s a nice thought.  There are compelling studies in there about nature v. nurture. 

It is available streaming on Netflix or on their website.

I don’t really care for mindless productivity.  It depletes our resources. Maybe we don’t need to be busy all the time, but society tells us we have to prove our worth. But how can anyone really believe that some people DESERVE to live more so than others?  People think differently.  People have different values and goals.  Perhaps if we could just accept this and stopped trying to mak

e everyone the same, the world could be a more free and accepting place.  Free from want and fear, because we would never be lacking with meaningful relationships, because everyone can potentially be a meaningful person to our lives.  For me personally, people are the most important thing and building better relationships of acceptance and trust.  Knowledge is important. Opinions are important as long as we can remember that both of those things should be pliable.  We like to remind people that once we thought the world was flat and the sun revolved around the earth.  We should be open to possibility, not afraid of the unknown in all aspects in life.  Especially with other people, because shutting people out is potentially detrimental to growth and understanding.  And perhaps if this openness existed in all people, we would realize what our true needs are.