Despair-The Engine Of Destruction

   Despair has a very simple definition, it’s the state of a complete lack of hope. True despair defies its own definition. When in the throes of complete despair, the mind cannot even fathom hope. But there are many degrees of despair, from a fade to black at its worst; to a slight background of nauseating helplessness. Let us delve into the world of despair, and its causes. I will delve into the four main causes of despair; calamity, toxic closeness, self worship and background dissonance. Then we will explore how despair can be used as a tool for societal manipulation.

 Before we start I would like to mention another category of despair of which I am not qualified to speak; physical health. Actual clinical depression can be debilitating and dangerous. Insert all the standard “see your physician “ warnings here. The only thing I would inject at this point is to be careful of the doctors-as-pill-dispensers only, do your research. Don’t forget to research things like diet and exercise as possible mitigators.

   Probably the most recognizable cause of despair is calamity. You know, the tragedy that strikes almost everyone who breathes. Death of a loved one, extreme injuries or disease, bankruptcy, etc. These are understandable causes of despair and take time to get over, it’s essentially a period of mourning that simply needs takes time to heal . A less debilitating despair is caused by anxiety; like the loss of employment, or a falling out with a friend. The anxiety flows out of the fear of a tangible unknown. This was a fast overview of some common calamities, most people can fathom these causes; they are understandable.

   I’m not sure if “toxic closeness” is real terminology, but it will get the job done. I’m talking about the despair that ensues from having toxic people in your life. Barrels of ink have been spilled on this topic, so I won’t spend a bunch of time on it. Be cautious about what you read in the popular media about “toxic people”. Every shrink/pastor/councillor/life coach/etc hands out advice in this realm, some is good; much is bad, and repeats itself in an endless loop. Anyone you’re close to; significant other, parent/guardian/ circle of friends/ etc can be catalysts for despair. The bottom line has to do with control, some broken people like to control others. Some control others with the the aggressive narcissistic/sociopath end of the scale, others use the passive “I’m a poor victim” technique; control is always the objective. Loss of control over ones own life (or even the illusion of it) leads to feelings of inadequacy, helplessness, and despair.

Before we move on, some thoughts on the players. Toxicity from parents is hard to discern, it happens in our most formative years, it becomes “baked into” our character. You may need to see a “professional” to untangle your mind if you were raised by a “toxic” parent. Beware, many a “professional” makes a good living hand holding whiners, patients who are only looking to pass on the blame for their own lack of judgment. Much has been written on this topic as well, we will leave it here.

   The loss of a circle of friends is different from losing a “close friend”. Losing someone close is more akin to mourning. It’s my observation, however, that in this (fast paced) time period there are very few true friendships. A change in lifestyles, jobs, or cities; and “friends” naturally move apart. The despair from this type of change is more “background” and caused by anxiety. The anxiety flows from the fear of losing ones support system or network. If the circle of friends are toxic (say, can’t stop partying) this anxiety can stop you from moving on (even though you know you should), and the feelings of entrapment turns to despair. The solution is fairly simple, screw up your courage and move on. You’ll find that much despair can be ground out with a few ounces of plain “grit”.   Self worship is not as well known as a cause of despair. Self worship is a strange animal, it is a poison offshoot of self reliance (or just plain selfishness). A good example is the phenomena of exploding (or imploding) celebrities. Not all “stars” have this problem but many do, they begin to believe their own hype, begin to think they are a cut above everyone else.The celebrity becomes surrounded by people who only applaud; it goes to their head but leaves the heart and soul empty. No fallible human can think of themselves as a god for very long. Cognitive dissonance causes a melt down. Many explode spectacularly.

   With everyday people self reliance and “super motivation” can go the same way, one becomes bi-polar. When everything is going well you push yourself toward greatness, everything is awesome and go-go-go. When you crash, however, there is nothing (and no one) around to pick you up, you only believed in your “awesome” abilities.

   This is why the “millennials” strange idea of “working on themselves” mantra to me is troubling. There is nothing wrong with exercising, dieting, learning new skills, etc but it seems that if it is elevated to self worship they are setting themselves up for a crash. Life cannot be one long, (nauseating) motivational poster, failure is always possible. Looking beyond the self for strength (and belief) is necessary to avoid selfishness, and the possible despair that could follow it.

   Now comes the main point of what I wanted to talk about, we’ve covered the main causes of despair that can happen at an individual level. There is a more systemic and background cause of despair that seems to be prevalent in these “progressive” times. It’s about lies, lies built into the system. Many, many lies. You see, progressives love despair, it is the main driver for their compulsion to “fundamentally change” everything. Despair keeps churning out “victims”, the bread and butter of “progressive” evolution. Race? sexuality? Gender? Social status? It really doesn’t matter what is used as a fulcrum to lever “social change”, as long as there is outrage.

   Leftism loves lies, confusion, pathetic weakness, emergencies (never let a crisis go to waste); every catastrophe (real or imagined) becomes a sorting game of victims and oppressors. Every breathless emergency becomes a reason for pointing out enemies and prattling about vague solutions. Every solution is a combination of removing personal liberty, and getting more taxes for more government power. The half-truths, lies and damn lies become a poison fog, a constant backdrop of noise. The normal people living in this clown world of lies just want it to stop, nothing makes sense. The rules constantly change, hope dies, despair follows. Watching politics the last few years begins to make more sense, the elite don’t care if the leadership contenders are corrupt idiots, this just adds to the despair of the common people. A despairing people give up, shoulders shrug in acceptance of the bizarre. A despairing people are easily duped, why bother hoping for common sense?

   So who is pumping this sewage into the system, who are the bullhorns for this nonsensical corrupt noise? Well there are several sources. The Hollywood/media industrial complex keeps up a constant stream of confusion. The media doesn’t even care if it makes money anymore, they don’t care about ratings, all that matters to them is the narrative.The entire education/university system is more about selective propaganda than truth, the stuff they teach becomes more bizarre each day. The supposed “intelligent” class; the pundits, scientists and experts are carefully managed to only get attention/funding if they stay in the “progressive” narrative.

   Lately we are seeing a new breed that adds fear to the despair; the leftist shock troops. A 1400 year old belief system that stands in complete opposition to leftist beliefs (homosexuality, feminism, etc) now gets special protection. The violence and hatred of “Aunty Fah” ( an old communist institution), is applauded by the “tolerant” progressives. The world is turning upside down, evil is considered good, and good becomes evil. Any person who tries to bring sanity, stability or hope to the world is mocked, attacked and destroyed.

So what can we conclude? Well. We cannot look for hope in the future, because bad things can happen. We cannot look for hope from others, people are fallible. We cannot look inward for hope, because we can fail. We cannot look for hope in a system, the system can become evil. Hope must come from something above, something transcended, something outside of the constant noise. It seems we have only two choices, allow despair to push our face in the mud. Or look up, and believe in something (or Someone) bigger, with all our might.

-Ranger