Thursday, June 14, 2012

The National Psychosis: Conquered by Miobi


Psychosis: a serious mental disorder (as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality often with hallucinations or delusions

I have recently come across a children’s tale, The Monster Who Grew Small, by Joan Grant.  This is a story about a young boy, Miobi, who was thought a coward by his uncle.  The uncle regularly would frighten the boy by telling him tales of terrible monsters that lived in the forest.  The boy, being a boy and trusting what his elders told him, believed the uncle’s horror stories.

Whenever the boy had to go down to the river he thought that crocodiles would eat him, and when he went into the forest he thought the shadows concealed snakes and that hairy spiders waited under the leaves to pounce on him.  The place that always felt specially dangerous was on the path down to the village, and whenever he had to go along it he used to run.

Miobi’s uncle has succeeded in creating a boy fearful of what might be under every rock.  A fear so penetrating that he could not walk to the village without being consumed.  However, one day while walking on the path, Miobi – hearing a voice crying out from the forest – decides that he must investigate, as the owner of the voice might be more frightened than he is.

The voice belongs to a hare, tangled up by the leg.  Miobi explains his constant fear to the hare, and the hare offers to grant Miobi that which he most desires – courage.  But the hare cannot simply give courage to Miobi; instead he shows Miobi how to find it.

Miobi began the journey according the hare’s instruction.  He first crossed a river of crocodiles.  A few days later, he used his wit to pass by two snakes, each large enough to swallow Miobi whole had the boy not been so verbally creative.

Eventually he comes in sight of a village.  Everyone in the village is sad and frightened.  They fear a monster, one that they believe would eat every living being in the village – human and animal.

Miobi asks the village Headman, “There seem to be a quite lot of people in your village.  Couldn’t you kill the Monster if you all helped?”

“Impossible!” came the reply.  “Too big, too fierce, too terrible.  We are all agreed on that.”

Could it be that such a terrible monster exists?  One that threatens an entire village – threatens the very existence of village life?  With a threat so incredible that it scares even the will to fight back out of the community?  The villagers certainly think so.

Miobi volunteered to go kill the monster if the Headman would only tell him where it lived.  The Headman replied, “Perhaps you are wise, for then you will be eaten first and won’t have so long to think about it.”  The headman then gave Miobi the directions to the monster’s cave.

Off Miobi went.  When he first saw the monster in the distance it looked very large, fire breathing out of its nostrils.  Miobi continued his climb up to the cave.  After a long climb, he looked again and the monster looked much smaller.  This was confusing to the young boy.  The monster snorted, and Miobi ran off a ways down the hill.  When he turned to look back at the monster, it now seemed larger than ever.

Miobi said to himself, “This is very curious indeed.  The farther I run away from the Monster, the larger it seems, and the nearer I am to it, the smaller it seems.  Perhaps if I was very close it might be a reasonable size for me to kill with my dagger.”

Miobi went back up the hill, all the way inside the cave.  When he arrived, he found nothing that needed killing.  Did he run to the wrong cave?  He felt something touch his foot.  It was the monster, no bigger than a frog.  He picked it up; it was comfortable to hold. 

Miobi returned to the village. The village acclaimed him a hero, believing he had slain the monster.  Miobi showed them the monster, held in his hand.  A little girl asked the monster’s name.  Miobi did not know, but the monster answered in his stead:

I have many names.  Some call me Famine, and some Pestilence, but the most pitiable of humans give me their own names….But most people call me What-Might-Happen.

From what I gather, this short story is adapted from an Egyptian folk tale.  Joan Brook wrote it as an illustrative way for children to deal with and confront their fears.

However I found in this story the possibility for a much broader target market, significantly larger than the frightened childhood population.  The target audience should be most of the adult population in the United States.

The government has done a tremendous job of frightening Americans – around every corner is a potential monster. 

Hitler is going to take over the world.  The communists are coming, the communists are coming.  We must stop them in Viet Nam, or the dominoes will fall all the way to California.  The Soviets will destroy us all.

Watch out, the Arabs are coming.  Every Arab is a potential threat to our freedom.  The Muslims want to force us to live under Sharia law.  Ragheads in caves half-way around the world want to bomb us because we are free.  Every passenger at the airport is a potential risk.  Check the grandmothers and the infants.  Virtual strip searches must be conducted for our own safety. 

It’s the Chinese.  They want to extend their sphere of influence all the way to the Western Pacific – Taiwan, if you can imagine this. The nerve of those Chinese.

We need a missile defense shield against Iran, who one day, maybe, might have one bomb.  Saddam Hussein is the next Hitler.  Gadhafi is the next Hitler.  Ahmadinejad is the next Hitler.  Bashar al-Assad is the next Hitler.

If we don’t fight them over there we will have to fight them here.  The only way to win this war is to kill all the terrorists. 

I haven’t even listed one of the economic horror stories told by the government to the frightened children.  These are legion.  Food?  Most apparently wouldn’t know what to eat without a government seal of approval.  Medical care?  Too complicated to be left to free choice.

The United States lives under a national psychosis.  Miobi conquered his.  When he did, the “monster” made no attempt to play the part.  The monster knew he wasn’t a monster – once Miobi understood this, the monster did not fight back.  The monster spoke quite clearly – you fear that which you yourself create in your own mind.  It is not real.  In fact, confront your fear and you will find comfort.

I remember watching a wonderful Rick Steves' documentary on Iran.  After watching it, I thought (sarcastically) to myself: “Wow!  They walk on two legs, just like we do.  Look, on Sunday afternoon they take their family for a picnic.  What!  They ski?  On white snow?”

The pictures would be the same if taken anywhere else in the world.  These are the so-called monsters.

Are there monsters in the world?  Certainly.  Yet, we are brainwashed to overly fear monsters that would harm us illegally, so we allow others to harm us legally instead.  It is sick.

A national psychosis.

7 comments:

  1. It is foolish, yes, to see a bogeyman around every corner. And yes, the government most certainly uses bogeymen to scare the populace into mind-numbing obedience. On all these points you are correct.

    But one of your examples is flawed.

    The Arabs are not coming; they are HERE. And they ARE trying to turn our country into a Muslim state; for that is what they do in EVERY country they control, except the UAE, and they're working on removing the "corrupt" Western influence there.

    I'm not speaking of the terrorists. I'm speaking of the ones that peacefully invade your country under the guise of immigration, legal or illegal, and then try to force their faith on the general populace, mostly by outbreeding everyone else.

    This is a threat that the government ignores, because it is convenient to do so. Until it is too late. That is the flip side of your false bogeymen threats; the real threats are ignored. Just as Miobi ignored the lions and alligators that could eat him. Until, some time after your story, one of them eventually did.

    Get educated:

    http://irishjoeharrison.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-muslim-threat-grows.html

    and

    http://american3rdposition.com/?p=10233

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    Replies
    1. From the link you provide: “I’ve stated on many occasions that I feel there is no such thing as a peaceful Muslim. There is no such thing as a Muslim who does not pose a threat to all non Muslim people…”

      This is what lies behind your exhortation for me to “get educated”?

      I believe this statement is so easy to prove as false that it isn’t worth addressing. It is a rant of a bigot, absolutely devoid of any factual basis.

      I will offer a counter assertion: most Muslim fathers hope for the same thing the rest of us hope for – an opportunity to provide for the family, education for the children, a peaceful life. I believe it is safe to say that my statement is closer to true than is yours.

      “…and then try to force their faith on the general populace, mostly by outbreeding everyone else.”

      To the extent researchers understand birth-rate demographics, much of it is tied to education, employment, and standard of living. As these increase, birth-rates decrease. Arabs (or Muslims) are not immune to this.

      From the Pew Forum:

      “The number of Muslims (adults and children) in the United States is projected to more than double – rising from 2.6 million (0.8% of the total U.S. population) in 2010 to 6.2 million (1.7%) in 2030…”

      That’s 1.7%....by 2030… This 1.7% is going to force their faith how?

      “The Muslim share of Europe’s population is expected to grow by nearly a third, rising from 44.1 million (6% of Europe’s total population) in 2010 to 58.2 million (8%) in 2030.”

      That’s 8%...by 2030… This 8% is going to do what?

      http://www.pewforum.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/New-Pew-Forum-Report-Projects-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx


      You belief in “outbreeding” is not supported by facts, for example:

      The Myth Of Soaring Muslim Fertility Rates

      http://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/the-myth-of-soaring-muslim-fertility-rates/c3s4990/

      Muslim Birthrates Falling Worldwide

      http://terryorisms.com/2009/05/09/muslim-birthrates-falling-worldwide/

      Do Muslims Have More Children Than Other Women in Western Europe?

      http://www.prb.org/Articles/2008/muslimsineurope.aspx

      Falling Muslim Fertility Rates Raise Grave Concerns

      http://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/falling-muslim-fertility-rates-raise-grave-concerns/d/7659

      Will Pew Muslim birth rate study finally silence the “Eurabia” claim?

      http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/01/27/will-pew-muslim-birth-rate-study-finally-silence-the-eurabia-claim/

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    2. the only thing "outbreeding" is ignorance and stupidity. it's to keep people scared. I fear those people.

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    3. ~~ Im neither yay nor nay, but your belief that Muslims being "only" 1.7% of the population and therefore not a threat to influence our U.S. culture, is ree-diculous, since the queers are only 3.8%, and likely much less when they really began changing our society for the worse....
      --
      Americans dramatically overestimate the gay and lesbian population, a recent Gallup poll suggests. The average American apparently thinks that more than one in five Americans is gay or lesbian when, according to Gallup, only 3.8 percent of Americans self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.May 23, 2015 < www.nationalreview.com >

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  2. Wonderful article and I'm so glad LRC published it, because I seem to have missed it here.

    Here is a 3 out of 5 stars movie, that I still found to be very powerful and with a theme similar to the story you told. The film "The Village" by M. Night Shyamalan is even more explicitly aimed at the intentional psychosis, the gift we are all expected to receive.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Village_(2004_film)

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  3. well put.

    Only one small, itsy-bitsy correction:
    the fear or. . . "awakening to the train fast approaching on the tracks that we are sitting on" . . . is not unfounded when it comes to the US Military psyops and secret EM weaponry. With EM technology it is not difficult to change people's emotions believe it or not. I would even venture to say they might literally be "beaming in" fear and doom right now at the airports, restaurants and other places where crowds congregate ... not to mention whole blocks of private homes. This is the kind of unconventional weaponry that they are using now -- but it is only ONE kind. There's other invisible EM/Scalar artillery that is quite lethal. This too is why they want everyone micro-chipped so the person's known location is exact.

    Unless people KNOW this kind of weaponry exists, most will not have a fighting chance because they will not be able to discern that the strange things that are happening to them ... are actually being caused by a black ops FBI/CIA agent sitting in a van down the street or by drone helicopters flying above.

    No joke.

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