I've heard it mentioned a few times that guys don't much go for girls who think, or have opinions.. so... in honour of that, for my SMS post today I've decided to do some thinking, which I'll share with you:)).. because I love youx
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I’ve been reading an interesting book about unequal societies called the 'Spirit Level'. It talks about the fact that we live in one of the most unequal places on the planet, where the top 20% earn approx 8 times as much as the lowest 80%
Despite our ‘wealth’ living in the West (and I’ll focus on the UK) we are at our most anxious, depressed and insecure than ever before.
We eat more, drink more, smoke more, (including narcotics) have the most meaningless sex, and have a terrible record of maintaining relationships and marriages.
( which may actually sound like heaven to some of us!!) still...
This gives plenty of food for thought, and I have to say... I got it. Here is a book confirming much of what I’ve thought for a while, whilst giving me new insight into things I would have never even considered.
Paradoxically, despite being at our most anxious we are also more likely to report feeling at our most ‘confident’
Sound odd?...
Well not when you think about it...
The more anxious we feel as people is the more likely we are to ‘talk ourselves up’, play make believe, act as if..... que... positive affirmations, NLP, coaching, and the plethora of support out there, all designed to ‘teach us’ confidence, and how to live a ‘happier’ and more fulfilling’ life.
But it’s not real.
It’s false confidence; or what the book calls... insecure high self esteem... ‘Threatened egotism’
They may appear real... but in truth these tactics treat the symptoms, and not the cause.
So, what is causing us to be anxious in the first place?
I’ve thought about this and included a few of my own... I’m sure more can easily be added to this list...
Being unemployed
Not being able to read or write
Lacking credible qualifications
Not having nice things like ‘your neighbours’
Being in debt
Not having friends
Not having anyone to talk to
Not being listened to
Feeling unsure
The look on a person face when they look at you and you know you’ve been judged unfavourably
Being single
Being in an unfamiliar environment
Being a woman
Being black
Being Irish
Being white
An unhappy childhood
Feeling unwanted
Being disrespected
Feeling unappreciated
Feeling undervalued
Not having a purpose
Lack of trust
Being lied to
Divorce (or marital breakdown)
Not feeling liked
Being overweight
Lacking social capital
Yet all of those things on their own – still won’t trigger insecurity necessarily..
How we feel about those things go hand in hand with how unequal our society is..
Apparently, it’s all about the way we are viewed by others, our ‘Status’ in society...
Where we sit on the sliding scale of social mobility...whether we are mobile... or stagnant and festering at the bottom with 'no hope' of reprieve.
In an odd way ‘we’ are responsible for the anxieties of those around us..
How we treat each other is a very simplistic way of putting it
(yet we cannot and should not abdicate personal responsibility)
You see, most of us will be unaware of that, but having said that, there are people out there who will deliberately cause anxieties in others... why? Because it feeds their ego and the need they have to feel superior... why? Because they too are insecure, hurting, lacking in something, and have found a quick fix remedy that works for them...again, treating the symptom, and not the cause.
Our government, and dare I say the international world is concerned with economic health and well being... not the heath and well being of its inhabitants/citizens... despite the fact the ill health’ comes at a cost.. and the ‘richer’ we get, the more unequal we are, the sicker a society we become.
What's that you say?.. our government, the polices, and the ruling classes are making us ill?
Now there's a thought
Happy SMS y'allx
and remember..
You are great
Likewise you are the Greatest Dawna.....nice post
ReplyDeleteand where you mention 'the top 20% earn approx 8 times as much as the lowest 80%'....
I mean how do you work out the mathimatical equation to create a distribution curve or pie chart of the statistics. And even if you do achieve one it will certainly be SKEWED out of proportion and there you have a society gripped with ill mind indeed.
Status
Why is it Macy works all the hours god sent yet her bank account has nothing to show for the input. Yet Kathelene works 20 hours a week, she goes on numerous holidays and still has time to enjoy high tea at the ritz. (not hating but thats just how things be)
I feel government policies and rules have created such a huge gap in the class system they don't have enough material to rebuild and buffer the void. The 20percentile will always be at an advantage because they already have a 20minute head start, the race is tough and dirty only the fittest shall survive god help your state of mind.
Life is hard, but when you look at the UK and think we have homeless people sleeping on street corners, you have the mentally incapable who just get deeper into despair, no families to turn to or for those whose family have washed their hands off where do they go where to start!!!
It's not right but the government think their policies have tackled the problems we face I beg to differ here.....from what I see there is a steady and rapid decline in most things we look for in our country.
Economy is now caput just simple food expenditure now quadrupled in the last two years, healthcare system in shambles you will be lucky to go in for a minor op and leave without MRSA, education in tatters if you don't have savings of at least 9thousand pounds your child will just have to muddle through life..
what do we have left but our sanity if that goes what the hell do we do???
Thank you for those kind words at the start there Chilled!!... a kind and beautiful compliment on a sunny Sunday... what more could a girl ask for? (don’t answer that!!)
ReplyDeleteOkay - recently I read somewhere a head teacher (who had taught in South Africa) saying we’re sleep walking our way to apartheid (he was referring to the education system)
I’ll adopt his vernacular for a mo and say that we (Britain) are sleeping walking our way to becoming a third world country.
(You painted a very vivid picture of that )
It’s a fact that those who work the hardest are some of the lowest paid members of our society, and as we live in a society that respects high earners, or treats those who earn more with a certain reverence or respect, is it any wonder why the lowest paid are among the most unhealthiest.
Processed food, cheap chippys and whatever else can numb the pain of being of ‘no regard’ in this society.
What can we do? is a good question. Economically there is a lot the government can do with regards to wage distribution, and taxation.
Will they do it? I doubt it.
So at the moment we have protests popping up, the disturbances (aka riots) and higher unemployment figures for our young people, whilst our old people struggle to pay bills on pensions ( regardless of whether or not they fought in the war) and the list goes on
The right to protest has been overrun by the police’s right to ‘kettling’, or use plastic bullets, and the courts right to up the anti with regards to sentencing protocol ( message.. stay in line)
We need fair policies, and a ‘world’ commitment to value life, and a national commitment to value its citizens, put a cap on greed, and tackle inequality... this Chilled is what our ‘leaders should be doing for us.. on our behalf
Wow! That's worth thinking through. I never looked at it that way before but yet, I believe that there is an underlying core to stress. It just didn't "arrive" out of nowhere. Now, how do we get rid of it?
ReplyDelete