Social programming and autism

[ampakine]

I think my situation in life gives me a unique vantage point on this matter so considering I may have some rare pieces of the puzzle I'll share my perspective so that others may gain those pieces of the puzzle. Up until I was 20 I noticed that I was gradually becoming more and more of a social outcast in the sense that I couldn't socialise normally and I was becoming more aware of the fact that people viewed me as abnormal. Growing up I just assumed that was my style but the older I got the less socially acceptable my traits were. At one point my brother told me he described me to his psychologist and that his psychologist said "sounds like he has aspergers". I didn't take that seriously because I assumed that was just my brothers perception of me. A couple of years later I went to a psychiatrist to get an ADHD assessment and ended up getting diagnosed with high functioning autism. I was highly amused by all this and didn't take that seriously at all either, I didn't resist the diagnosis because I got the prescription I was after anyway. I decided to read up on what high functioning autism and aspergers are and realised that it explained all my abnormal traits and why I couldn't socialise normally. Looking at the matter rationally I'd say theres a 95% probability that I actually do have high functioning autism but despite the overwhelming evidence it just doesn't sink, I still view myself as just being abnormal for whatever reasons. I've been carefully analysing various aspects of my belief system and tracing various ideas and beliefs back to their sources and now my social programming has become blatantly obvious. On top of that the sources of this social programming has become visible and obvious. Its all around us. Anyone reading what I'm saying here will probably think "no shit, we all know that", I do this myself too but I think most people aren't actually aware of it despite the fact that they theoretically know about it. Theres a difference between theoretical knowledge and true knowledge. True knowledge only comes through experience and observation. Me being diagnosed with autism late in my life gives me a unique opportunity to back engineer various aspects of social engineering. I've started to spot all these seemingly innocuous but deeply insidious "morals" and ideas that are presented as common sense or "something that deep down we know to be true". They bombard our subconscious with a moral and eventually our subconscious mind accepts that moral then they directly present that moral to our conscious minds and make it out like "deep down you know this is true" and our conscious minds often accept it because our subconscious is giving us the "feeling" that it is true. The only reason I was able to uncover these things is because after being diagnosed with high functioning autism I realise that many of these ideas don't apply to me but I can see how they still affect me and this gives me an effective means of back engineering them. Its hard to explain all this so I'll just give examples. Notice how ideas of humans being weak, vulnerable and fragile are always presented as wisdom or common sense? They present it like "fools believe they are strong and invulnerable, wise people know they are weak and vulnerable, deep down you know this is true". Obviously you won't hear someone straight up say it verbatim, its always packaged in stories, implications and other forms of indirect suggestions.

As for who is doing it and why they are doing it, I can only speculate. The governments job is to govern us. Its a lot easier to govern weak, scared, unresourceful and vulnerable people. People who are scared, weak and vulnerable will look to the government for protection, security and things they believe are their needs. In reality its not solely the government that seeks to control the masses. Maybe its these people that are behind the propagation of these mental viruses.

 

[B9]

Theres a difference between theoretical knowledge and true knowledge.

"The heart & mind they meet then the circle is complete" - as the song goes. Yes that's very true - which makes it a bit truer than normal true.

I think you've got a point with the main thrust of your post.

 

[Quantum Perception]

This is pretty interesting.
Humility as a social program enforced by governments to ease the difficulty in controlling people.

I do believe that government's rather have us dumb down then free thinking because its easier to control sheep then it is to control people. But at the same time I don't think that notion in of itself (humility) was crafted by governments, but rather they hijacked it from religion.

Humility is a path toward religious perfection (enlightenment) so being humble helps the ego diminish its disastrous hold on consciousness, allowing one to "take it easy" then rather be worked up over some ego issue. So I can see governments using the already existing notion of humility as a way to keep people in line and not thinking outside of the box.

I agree that this social programming (as enforced by governments) is not very helpful, but I disagree that the notion (humility)is in-of-itself is hurtful.

 

[ampakine]

This is pretty interesting.
Humility as a social program enforced by governments to ease the difficulty in controlling people.

Humility is refraining from viewing oneself as important though. If anything the media encourages the opposite. Humility and weakness are 2 very different things. Weak people are often arrogant because they assume others are weak too, strong people are often humble because they assume others are strong too. When I say weakness I'm talking about a self imposed mental state. The state where one believes they are incapable, vulnerable, fragile etc. Its a self fulfilling prophecy because when one believes they are that way, they will act and approach life in that way. I suppose it would be in the governments interest to make people humble though because humble people won't assume they have some innate right to rule others and won't compete for the positions the government are in. I believe that humility is the opposite of detrimental and I don't think it has anything in common with the insidious social programming I'm referring to. The detrimental programming I'm talking about is the ideas instilled in us which inspire us to doubt our abilities (the abilities of ourselves and each other) and ultimately limit ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. I believe this programming is one of the main factors that turns us against each other. One of the ideas I see presented a lot is the idea that humans are inherently selfish, egotistical, feeble minded, scared and not to be trusted. If one buys into this notion then one will develop negative views of his fellow man which will ultimately lead to negative actions towards his fellow man. I believe that psychedelics are an almighty weapon that if used properly can obliterate this negative mental programming.

 

[Quantum Perception]

^Ah alright, I'm glad you made that distinction between humility and weakness.

"To doubt our abilities"

You think it can be because of consumerism? The lazier and more specialized the consumer, the more willing they are to have someone or something "do it for them". Total opposite of the DIY ethic.
So governments who are controlled mostly by the lobbying billionaires and their proxy conglomerates will favor people who are lazy and do not trust in their own abilities to make or create things (this includes new ways of thinking about government and the community) because of their willingness to pay others for something they could do themselves.

So consumerism is what allows the governments to use this social programming of weakness?

And i do agree with you that this outlook holds back our development as a species.

 

[B9]

I believe this programming is one of the main factors that turns us against each other. One of the ideas I see presented a lot is the idea that humans are inherently selfish, egotistical, feeble minded, scared and not to be trusted. If one buys into this notion then one will develop negative views of his fellow man which will ultimately lead to negative actions towards his fellow man

The culture of envy so well promoted via the visual image is a good example of this

And what QP said seems bang on also

 

[polymath]

Ampakine, it's hard to read your posts because of the lack of paragraphs...

I have aspergers(diagnosed 10 years ago) and I have difficulties trusting authorities too. The morality expected from the ordinary citizen seems to be much like Nietzsches 'master-slave morality'.

 

[jamaica0535]

You might find some of these studies interesting, they took children that were autistic/shizophrenics to degrees where they did not relate to people in any way, self mutilating, never using words, etc. LSD and psychotherapy allowed psychologies to be rebuilt, childhood shizophrenic catatonics going to school a year after the start of therapy.

There is a lot of other stuff like this if it interest you, might be able to find some psychotherapy stuff thats a little more directly relevant, I skimmed it due to wall of text. But the whole social programming and autism reminded me of these kids who built psychologies knowing little but pain, abuse, and neglect until they go so far into themselves that is more of a raving animal than a person, the kicker is that they cured or dramatically changed the psychologies in a positive manner in the vast majority.

 

[fridgebuzz]

You may be interested in the book The Undiscovered Self by Carl G. Jung. Here's an excerpt:

All mass movements, as one might expect, slip with the greatest ease down an inclined plane represented by large numbers. Where the many are, there is security; what the many believe must of course be true; what the many want must be worth striving for, and necessary, and therefore good. In the clamor of the many there lies the power to snatch wish-fulfillments by force; sweetest of all, however, is that gentle and painless slipping back into the kingdom of childhood, into the paradise of parental care, into happy-go-luckiness and irresponsibility. All the thinking and looking after are done by the top; to all questions there is an answer; and for all needs the necessary provision is made. The infantile dream state of the man is so unrealistic that he never thinks to ask who is paying for this paradise. The balancing of accounts is left to a higher political or social authority, which welcomes the task, for its power is thereby increased; and the more power it has, the weaker and more helpless the individual becomes....The suffocating power of the masses is paraded before our eyes in one form or another every day in the newspapers, and the insignificance of the individual is rubbed into him so thoroughly that he loses all hope of making himself heard. The outworn ideals of liberté, égalité, fraternité [liberty, equality, brotherhood] help him not at all, as he can direct this appeal only to his executioners, the spokesmen of the masses.