Rise of the Everyday Psychopath, And Why Your Neighbor Is a Zombie

Looking at the actions of all the evil people in the world is possibly the most discouraging experience to us all, with respect to our faith in humanity. The mass murders and genocides of history almost seem to pale in comparison to the gruesome murders carried out by today's most inhuman killers. Predators and cannibals, murderers and rapists seem to roam the streets. The sixties gave rise to a surge of new serial killers being born. The sociopath personality seemed to have found circumstances during this time period in which to fester and grow within society unlike it ever had in history. At this point sociopaths are almost considered an uncorrectable evil, and mainstream media delights in fascination with how sick the human mind can become (SAW [all of them], Hostel, The Human Centipede) But, what are the conditions that allow this type of individual to spawn? What is different in this time period that has never been seen before in history?

I would point most significantly to the rise in population. Nothing so cheesy as ‘more people means more crazies’- no, I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that. Looking back in history, before WWI life was still decently hard. People died from disease, industrial accidents, and any number of common hazards. I think we can all agree that WWI was dangerous and killed large sections of the population. After WWI there was a boom, which was immediately followed by another ‘hard time’ depression. America came out of this into WWII- won WWII, and immediately rolled into the Eisenhower years and the baby boom. Medicine had conquered many major illnesses. The evils of the world had been vanquished and greatness had been restored to the people. The struggle just to say alive had ended for the most part- (discounting building up to be ready for the commies). Not only this, but also television became essentially a standard in the household, pumping images from across the world. These factors combined to produce an effect whereby the average person was exposed to more and more new people than had ever occurred in history. Before, villages and towns would keep the number of new people low just by geographic restriction. Even those that lived in a city had small groups that they saw regularly and everyone else was just coming through in some fashion or another. Now was the first time in history where a human could be exposed to a seemingly never ending line of strangers. One could be exposed to thousands of new faces every single day. I would imagine the shock is not unlike putting an angry gorilla in front of a mirror for the first time.

People are assaulted with strange new faces that we don’t know or understand on a daily basis. The effect is compounded when one can turn on the evening news and expose themselves to images of the events across the world (covering mostly negative events). We paint quite a grim picture of these strangers. The news recycles over the stories of fresh murderers and violent criminals that plague the world. Individuals recoil from their neighbors in defense from the horrors that they are sure exist among those that surround them. Men have begun to become islands- the frightening strangers of the world have caused people to recoil into their internal worlds of turmoil. All their interactions become false walk throughs of what they believe real people do. Their mind retreats to its internal fortress, where his psyche will surely wither over time. In extreme cases of internal mental isolation (being exposed to people, although not connecting with them) we see disturbed individuals form consistently.

The effects of these conditions can be seen on the more common person in our most mundane thoughts about others as well as our fascination with the extremes of evil. We recognise that this is a new and terrifying effect of our world on men's minds. Commonly this takes its place in modern story and art: you know it as the horror film. In such stories the evil takes the form of any number of characters: Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Zodiac, Psycho, Se7en, Clockwork Orange. Even more interesting is the rise of the zombie movie. Old world zombies rose from the dead to KILL you and eat your brains. New world zombies were alive, got infected (bites normally), and now you have to chop your neighbors to bits to stay ‘alive’ in the conventional-non-brain-eating sense of the word. What more direct analogy is there than framing all strangers as ‘zombies’ that are out to eat you! If strangers are scary zombies, then what does it mean when the group of survivors die one at a time until only you remain, alone, and scared on your island… It’s a story that reflects our view of the world as being frightening and generally out to get us. Unfortunately the more we think about the world this way then the more these things feed themselves like a negative spiral with no end except maybe the end of all, right?

Essentially what I’ve been writing about is starting the same cycle in the positive direction. If the common person began spontaneously being kind and caring towards the few people they encounter in the course of living, there would be no need for retreating of the mind. Once enough of this behavior had persisted, even the media would begin being affected- painting a more positive image of those around us. Not a world without threats, but a world that shouldn't be shied away from. Images of neighbors worth befriending, and most likely not being forced to decapitate (no I’m not saying the slasher should end- I love zombie movies!). All I am saying is that trusting and caring for ALL those that surround you in your life could save someone from becoming the monster we all fear.

Why the apocalypse is actually a good thing, and how it's already begun

When most people hear Apocalypse they think fire and brimstone… demons and angels… molten lava running in the streets… and most definitely everyone you know becoming a zombie. These are the images we see in film and television. These are the stories that speak to our population. Consider the contrast to ancient legend or myth. The first stories ever told, and many stories for centuries to follow, were stories of a heroes journey (Joseph Campbell reference intended). When the hero and his village/city/country are threatened from without he battles gods, monsters, and villains to secure peace and safety for him and his people. Clearly there are variations, but these basic elements are a fairly common repeating theme.

Contrast this to the stories we tell today. Our world is threatened from every source imaginable that could destroy a planet or a life form. Zombie films are more popular than ever- where every stranger becomes a monster that you need to kill before he kills you. The monster movie has had several revivals as of late. The 5^th Element frames an evil that even science cannot comprehend hell bent on destroying life on earth. Out of all the planets in the universe, evil chooses earth to attack, only to be defeated by love. Armageddon, Deep Impact, 2012, Day After Tomorrow, Sunshine, Outbreak, The Happening… The list practically populates itself. All of these films predict a seemingly plausible event that would end life on earth. Then we have the alien civilization films: Independence Day, Signs, any Star Trek film with the borg, District 9, War of The Worlds, Avatar, Predator, Aliens, Transformers, Men in Black, Cloverfield… I could do this all day! All films with aliens from other worlds hell bent on destroying us, and/or our lovely planet. (Interestingly enough Avatar sets us as the aliens out to destroy… Discuss on your own…)

It is like we are aware that our very existence hangs in the balance. Nobody quite has the words to express the feeling, but it does kind of feel like the world might actually end any day now. Unable to discuss this deep feeling we all feel, we are drawn to the stories that speak to our mutual dread… and we clamour for a hero- Spiderman, Batman, Iron Man, X-men, Incredible Hulk, Hancock, Fantastic Four. After all, the hero always saves us in our most desperate hour, right?

But that's just the problem isn't it? This ‘savior theory’ holds that one person has to rise up and defeat this great evil that plagues us all. There aren't many alternative scenarios offered all that often... What if in reality, we are all the heroes of our story? People have already begun to come together in ways not possible before. Communities are joining all over the Internet- and one of the largest growing communities is the one talking about this feeling of impending doom- the community coming up with solutions for it. There are people trying to rethink the foundations of society all the way to normal people that just agree that something needs to change for the better. There are organizations forming like: The Zeit Geist Movement, Or The Venus Project. All the way to events seen in films like Budrus- where Palestinians and Israelis have simply stopped fighting. Up to the recent “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” At which people of all political alignments gathered together to acknowledge that our situation is quickly growing dire. There’s strength in numbers, and hope is more contagious than any zombie bite…

A Society Conflicted About Conflict

Religion has been entrenched- truth versus truth- for thousands of years. Blinded by the details we’ve allowed the arguments to rage on. We focus on debate and conflict because it is what we are used to. Nations squabble like children, backstabbing and in-fighting. You can practically hear the governments squeal as they fight over land. If all the worlds a stage then our players seem to have forgot their audience. It is as if we have forgotten our capacity for honor and compassion, and we’ve all agreed that these traits are the things of myth.

In that spirit we have moved such mythological traits into the realm they belong: modern myths. Our films, television, and books are crowded with heroes who commit great acts of love and compassion. Despite the odd anti-hero, look to the stories being told in the media today. Ironman: a selfish wealthy man risks life and limb to undo the damage he’s done to the world. Pick almost any romantic comedy you want and you’ll find its about miscommunications almost leading to misconnections, when truly our hero and heroine clearly belong together. Spider man can’t date the woman he loves because it will put her in danger. The action star goes to great lengths to protect his fellow man from some impending doom. All of these are acts of love, compassion, and honor, yet we behave as if we are incapable of such acts in the real world.

The archetype ‘action star’ is interesting to explore closer. First element needed to create an action star is mortal danger. Our lives have become so safe and secure that we instantly have respect for those who have come close to death. War veterans, emergency response personnel, and even some athletes are held up as super human heroes that have braved death. We crave these higher stakes to feel as if our actions matter. If you’re NOT going to die today no matter what, then your actions will feel without consequence. The second element necessary is the villain. We are conditioned that all heroes need a villain to conquer. Even if that villain is a volcano and Pierce Brosnan is the hero- there is still a fight to be fought. This example sends us out into the world looking, always, for our own heroes and villains. If you look hard enough you will find these villains everywhere, but the correct response is not a battle as we have been prepared to think. Instead the proper response is understanding. Pause and look into your villains world and try to understand how he could be the hero. If you both still find yourself at an impasse, conflict can still occur with love and respect. Respecting the person you fight against is normally called ‘honor’. True conflict is devoid of hate, and battle serves the purpose of introducing each other to deeper levels of yourself. In this spirit we compete in all sorts of combat with the purpose of knowing your enemy. This activity is usually called a sport.

This concept of me versus the world has been so ingrained in collective consciousness that you will begin to see it everywhere. Elections are split into two sides that do battle against each other in a ‘political arena’. Getting into a good college involves competing against every other applicant. You have to ‘fight’ to ‘get ahead’ at work. Businesses ‘fight’ for markets, and sometimes perform hostile takeovers. Even our language for the world makes it out to be a hostile and dangerous place. It’s pretty clear why people have trouble trusting one another, but when it’s apparent that we are all after the same ultimate goal, it also becomes apparent that we no longer have any reason to distrust each other. All it would take to change the world is a very plural leap of faith in humanity.

The World Needs Some Hope...

We’ve destroyed our own faith in humanity, and we continue to batter it into the ground. We stand together like a bunch of gunslingers, but nobody wants to lower their muzzle first. We've forgotten life isn’t a gun fight. We are not separated by steel and lead but connected by copper and fiber. We look across the world and see lines and divisions, groups and separations. We still cling to the idea that we must belong to a group and oppose another in order to be. We define ourselves by conflict not realizing that in conflict we are connecting to an opponent, to a team, to other people. Loving your opponent and accepting the conflict is called being honorable. Our hero's normally fight with honor and compassion, but we trudge along as if it were impossible. We all want to think and be this way, but the first step is trusting the world. Lower your muzzle and the world will lower theirs.

Last night I was arriving at my friends house late into the morning. On a dark street a man crossed from the other side and began walking in front of me. Being a marine- I listen intently and look behind myself. Sure enough I had caught his partner slipping up behind me. I engaged with them before they could start whatever they had planned- introduced myself. a block later we began to part ways and I wished them well. I found myself turning around and going back to ask them if they were alright, being out so late and all. The first thing out of his mouth was that they were hurting for money. I gave him the $40 or so that was in my pocket, looked him in the eye and wished him well... then went to my friends couch to pass out. That's my drop in the bucket for today... next time I'm going to sit down and talk to them. This is how we fix everything one step at a time.

now tweeting @ItsJustAnIdea

The Notion of Enemy

Considering a new rise of ‘the big idea’ is still incredibly difficult for some. Looking at the reasons for past failures is the best way to prevent future disaster. Once we understand why we have fallen we can simply dance around the hole this time around.

The big idea is about unification of people. Creating that sort of beautiful all in it together feeling. In the Marines I learned the most common place for this feeling to exist is where there is a common enemy. This gives the unifying party a reason to band together. However, this is then doomed to failure on its foundation. The foundation is in rooted an idea of separation- which was the whole problem in the first place! The big idea can catch and hold only now because it can be based in the human desire for positive contact with each other. The Internet is the catalyst that lets this core idea be stripped to it’s barest bones and spread in collective thought. Its ability to remain pure this time lies in the fact that no falsehood can exist under the scrutiny of the collective eye.

The idea is nothing new, and you have probably come to a similar conclusion at some point. What I am saying is that we all share the same idea of how this could work and we should just start doing it and talking to each other about it. No rules, no rallies, no protests, no organizations, just starting with being kind and understanding to one another. The rest will come later.

Where do we fit into this idea? Firstly I’m not special, or magical, or mystical… and have already fended off suggestions of ego tripping since talking about this. Forget the previous ‘savior’ model of this event. We are each a voice among many all saying the same thing. "I refuse to do nothing at all", but we would never EXPECT the world to change from our words- well it can. There were people born with earth as center of the universe and died the sun as center- yet man did not shift the cosmos. Who's to say we can't do the same? I hope only to give form and focus to the already existing thoughts of others.

the "Ah, but the internet" eureka moment...

Most people consider this a pretty insurmountable problem so it helps to look at this from a logical mind as well. After all the idea isn't religious, but religion has had the same idea. So, it’s very easy to confuse the two.

History is a wonderful place to start when exploring the idea logically. If we look at what’s been done before that’s going to help us get a good idea of what’s going to happen. Unfortunately so far it’s a pretty big mess of people being generally quite rude to each other. This too is a pitfall. The excuse comes out, “we’re doomed to repeat”, which essentially we are unless we learn to act as a group. Remember all that teamwork stuff you learned in school and such, yeah, this is what they were talking about when you zoned out to your gym teachers speech on working together. Who can blame you, it’s a pretty crappy way to try and learn that lesson. However, now we have the Internet. Remember how cool we all thought it was that we could send email even though dial up took 10 minutes just to establish a connection and even web pictures were barely plausible, we all knew it was a big deal, but nobody fully understood why. This is why: now that that level of global communication is at our fingertips once the idea gets up steam again, it will spread without resistance through everything. Like minded people on the Internet tend to be very good at finding each other. Enough people stick… eventually the media has to address it- Bill Gates calls this a positive spiral. History has shown that this concept can be very powerful once it starts to pick up steam. Most religions just took forever to get up any steam and by the time it was big enough they had to use these elaborate narratives in an attempt to communicate to as many people as possible. These were the means of the time to market an idea to a global audience. You can see the logistical nightmare- like plugging holes and each one you plug springs another leak. However, we have the Internet. THAT is why we wont fail…

A little more emotional way to say this- with no intent of comparing myself to , but merely simplify the point of this essay: What if Jesus had a facebook? What if Gandhi was tweeting? Except in this scenario, we are ALL the saviors because we know it and we live it.

All of these concepts are usually discussed in vague terms that try to describe slippery concepts, so it’s very easy to lose the message. Religion hasn’t had much success because they have chosen to make rules to help everyone get the concept even if they haven’t fully grasped the idea that drives those rules. Think of the rules as a way of jump starting the niceness to each other. This usually has the effect of people not liking being told what to do. Nowhere in my message is there any “you have to do this” “this is what you’re supposed to do”… just the idea that if everyone behaved kindly towards you, then you wouldn’t be able to stop returning the emotion, and now that we have the Internet… jump starting this is an actual possibility… Yeah it’s a bit naive but it’s awfully fun and nobody gets hurt if we do actually fail so pretty much we’ve run out of excuses.

I figured out the meaning of life

On an unusually warm summer night I find myself walking down the streets of San Francisco with a group of friends. I am recently returned from Afghanistan on my second tour with the Marines, and the city scene is a stark contrast to the places I’ve recently been. In my head, as we walk, I realize the overwhelming plesantness of my situation. The weather is a perfect summer night. The restaurants are teeming with activity that spills out of the open doors and windows then down on the street. Our pace is slowed by a person in an electric wheelchair, but there’s no reason for this to frustrate us. It’s like she’s there as the universes way of forcing us to slow down and appreciate our surroundings. Several blocks down, an ambulance drives through the intersection, seirens wailing. A man passes us going the other direction wearing what can only be described as a onesie, dreadlocks, elton john glasses, and a man purse. I suddenly feel connected to all of it all at once. How great of a place do we live in that we have medics just waiting to help us? How great that you can be born handicapped, but still have the freedom in your life to enjoy the night walk with us? How great that people can dress how they want and live how they want?

Despite the crap that the news showers us with every day insisting that the world is in immediate danger of ending at any given moment- that our neighbors are dangerous and violent. They feed the danger that fuels fear. It’s like the night is proof that the world isnt quite the shitbox everyone keeps saying it is. And if that’s true, then maybe we aren’t such horrible lifeforms after all.

For a while I can see in everyones face, the proof that they love. It’s not always apparent immediately. Some people have forgotten that it’s there, but for this moment- I feel like I can see through all of their convoluted personal bullshit down to somewhere where we all wish every stranger well because they are a human being, and that’s the only reason anyone needs.

The illusion of hosility falls away and I suddenly realize the illusion of conflict. It’s as if we’ve all been fooled into believing our horrible behavior was a normal part of the world. We have believed that the world could be filled, like a giant bowl, with all the bad things that happen, but I have seen that there is no bottom to the container of the world.

The left thinks that the government is an evil body, and the right thinks the terrorists are out to destroy our way of life. But even the most evil men believed they were improving things in the world. Their violence was itself an act of love for humanity. All religeons were founded on ideals of love for fellow man, yet both Christian and Muslim look to pasages for words of hate. We lock our doors, and shut our windows in fear of the outside world when the only thing that is out there is eachother, and deep down none of us have anything to fear from eachother. The evidence is staggering- %100 of internet users want to get in contact with other human beings.

Imagine the change to society if the drug addict felt loved every day by every one. Imagine the change if sexual deviants werent looked down on for talking about their feelings. What if thievs weren’t too proud to ask, and you were selfless enough to give? What if that was just how everyone thought about everyone else? Disputes between countries would be settled with the grace and dignity of the most amicable divorce. What if Israel and Palestine all together at the same time started living together?

We hide behind the excuse that it’s just not possible. One person would start the chain, and like dominos the hate would tumble along. In this time, for the first time ever, there are massive collaborations on global scale. We are all literally connected by wires and networks that we can see, and not just the mystical magic we used to point at. Now all that has to happen is we all do this together. If we can agree and act under this one idea, then we can evolve to a new level of humanity.

That’s the meaning of life… That’s what everyone has been trying to say this whole time… that one little stupid thing: love everyone. Now that we have that mystery cracked we can move on.