Cowardice of Culture for Collusive Consensus - 6

By Randy Gonzalez

     In the multifaceted entrenchment of societal collusions for simplistic explanations, the idiocy of the communal context knows no boundaries to offend. While exceptionality always applies, regardless of context or setting, the fascinating world of the “humanities” in academia fosters a diversity of myth, magic, and maladaptive metaphor. At the same time, these various schools of thought, from their metaphysical basis, plunder the world of the natural sciences. As one science writer wrote in a nationally recognized scientific journal, there is real science, and then there is “science”, or sometimes referred to as pseudoscience. Craven collectivism, primarily in “careerist cowardice”, behind the disguise of “academic freedom”, pretends to masquerade as scientific queries. No longer relegated or content to remain on the fringe of an affinity for pseudoscience and the meditative postures of philosophical introspection, the realms of the “social studies arena” lurk menacingly into every socio-political process.

     As to this discourse, the reference to the “humanities” and alleged research or “social studies” refers to those spheres of speculative enterprise. For this domain, often supported and perpetrated by governmental funding of one sort or another, it is associated with the arts and crafts of literature, philosophy, history, etc. Additionally, the more prominent adventures in pseudoscience with regard to the big four are also included. As to the foursome, the tetrad, or the quartet, also known as criminology, psychology, sociology, and theology. These “ologies” make up what some consider the “four horsemen of the intellectual apocalypse”. As to that, an “ology” is a field of study and exercise in research. For that, all manner of subjective validation for the salacious chase of cognitive bias, absent authentic scientific confirmation, promulgate assertions of specious conjecture. Spewing redundant blather, superficiality transforms actuality.

     At the same time, ascribing the additional affinity of pseudoscience is intended to describe investigative efforts that represent organic or natural processes of nature. Science, as expressed here, refers to scientific methodology and authenticity in the realms of astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics, to cite a few.  And, many will recoil in psychic horrors at the mere suggestion of pseudoscience in connection with the social studies philosophies. On the contrary, as to criminology, for instance, some regard such a descriptor with appreciation for things unknown, or outside easy quantification. Human behavior is not easily quantified, nor is it simplistically relegated to easy understanding. No, it is very dark.

     Within the field of criminology, as with other social studies endeavors, there are various schools of investigative assessment, speculation, and opinionated analysis. Nothing is exact, and nothing is foolproof. Here, the classical school is the primary background in furtherance of this commentary. Furthermore, with appreciation for attitudes, beliefs, ideologies, and fundamental foundations steeped in philosophical speculation, activities in “social studies” replicate a resemblance to real, genuine science. Yet, there is no solidified kinship, contrary to protestations in social media, mainstream media, or infotainment portrayals. Unfortunately, as hope springs eternal for wishful thinking, some metaphysicians labor valiantly to be viewed as “scientists”. From which, an array of con artistry unfolds with intentional preference for self-serving aggrandizement. Another observer, expressing commentary in a magazine devoted to psychological endeavors, exposes several cases of outright investigative fraud.

     Accordingly, it is asserted that falsifying data or fabricating research is not uncommon within this realm of social studies. In addition, some studies suggest that 75% students in the social studies arena, who later become faculty, indulged in academic dishonesty. Assessing that spectrum, there is a strenuous possibility that a constellation of complexity lurks below the surface. That is to say, human thinking is complicated. Many factors come to bear in the free-willed, premeditated instigation of illicit behavior. There is a multiplicity of reasons as to the ramifications of choosing a particular field of study. To that end, gaining respectability in the process while pretending to be a scientific endeavor, aids and abets the perpetuation of ideological frames of reference. Basically, views are speculative at best, based on the opinions of others, reinforced by the mystique of “peer review”, and redundantly cited excessively. In one publication after another, the pandering promotes the façade of “special knowledge” by which others find reassurance.  

      Offering a contrast to the opinion that invites “scientific validation” is the crucial element of practitioner-driven criminology. For those who work in the real world of human interactivity, such as law enforcement, hardcore science shows up at the crime scene with technicians from the crime lab. Now forensics enters the picture and applies artful skills, summoning the potency of real science. From autopsies to ballistics, the spheres of biology, chemistry, and physics come to bear on the serious problems at hand. With regard to the police officer, he or she becomes a professional witness to represent the scientific coordination of evidentiary validation. For the criminology practitioner, his or her observations acquire a special kind of expertise from the field. With regard to the purely academic, the non-practitioner, the viewpoint is somewhat limited.

     As such, guesswork becomes the focus. Fiction, based on ideations of the “mind”, which does not exist and is a metaphor for brain function, foments the fantasies of wishful thinking. In the impotence of self-serving “hope springs eternal”, personal weaknesses desire the amative carnality of external divinities. Primeval nature worship of sorts, brought into the modern context, finds those to be worshiped as the contemporary gods and goddesses. Of such immaturity and salacious flirtations with narcissistic infantilism, multitudes boast of all the answers to mysterious questions embodied in some elusive conjuration. Across social media, mainstream media, political spectrums of disinformation, and the occupational cowardice of academia, arrogance spawns illicit ideological offspring. Speaking of that, back to the social studies domains of unnecessary societal influence, wonderment unfolds as to the never-ending saga of babbling blather. All of which contributes to collectivist cohesion of cowardice.

     Sometimes it seems that, in order for many people to avoid self-evolving differentiation, the default status is someone else’s opinion. So much so that when confrontation occurs in any venue of communal encounter, a warped sense of consensual “normalcy” must be enforced. Monsters of selfishness collude to ensure cowardly ways terrorize any semblance of bravery. Paraphrasing one 19th-century writer’s comments, in contemplation by a pond, the monster is seldom where one thinks it might be. It is everywhere, lurking inside and insisting upon the hesitance to sharpen the cutting edge of resistance. Justly atrocious, the monstrous nature stems from cowardly choices and slothful obedience to status quo subservience. An echo reverberates from the halls of ivy towered homage to the presumed intelligentsia of educated confines. Children in adult bodies play in a sandbox of yellow plastic shovels and blue, synthetically molded buckets. Some bully as others cower, while playing in the shallow depths of sandy, boxed-in limitations.

     Repressiveness unfolds in one form or another, as a few argue their frustration with assaults upon the very fabric of a republic. Free speech is vital, without censorship, cowardice, or selfish admonitions, to control behavior by authoritarian machinations. To the contrary, free to say and do anything is fundamental to profound individuality. To become a well-differentiated self-evolving personality of ascended maturity, personal rebellion is vital. As to the cries of many who are fearful of their rights and the potency of human potential, persuasion is easily accomplished by social dictators desiring to create humanity in their image. From that, purges erupt in diverse forms to enslave by political correctness the benefit of predators. In collusive connectivity, the blogospheres of “adult-child” flagellation pump the bilge of spewing psychobabble.

     And, from one general to the next, the younger and younger, the consensus becomes more insidious in the devolution of psycho-physical capabilities. Weaker, less intellectually equipped, feeble in personal potency to self-evolve, and lacking a courage of conviction, a majority labors to stifle a minority. Of course, a tiny voice echoes in the dark recesses of shadowy thoughts, lurking behind the uniqueness of cynical observations; there are always exceptions. A few divert from the mainstream and claim the vital efficacy of self-evolving adventurers. These are the ones who profess an abnormality outside the manufacturing structures of the status quo consensus. Corporate, government (federal in particular), and institutional networks (academia) collude in the conspiracies of enslaved ignorance. And, through a cowardice of culture, many abide by the subtle tyrannies of gluttonous consumption. Bloated, fattened, and ready for the sacrificial altar of a devolving species, the smug piety of arrogant idiocy celebrates its debauchery.

     In what has been called an age of anti-intellectualism, where science is often shunned in favor of feel-good emotional reactivity, the collusive consensus of diverse cowardly hoards pursues censorship behind the disguise of “equity”. Political correctness across societal spectrums plots and schemes for safe places to vent the regressive venom of whining, sniveling, and easily offended divisiveness. A shallow dimensional veil cloaks the harsh realities of the real world. Demonic human intentions, the evil that all promulgate, creep in the shadows of smoky gutless perpetrations. Authenticity falters as spineless conniving ensures the safe weakness of hesitance in the face of controversy. Corporate, government, and institutional environs often fear creative individuality for the satiation of the “collective” so that the setting safeguards the banality of sameness. Trite, boring, and unimaginative, most often the drone of humdrum deafens the prospects of innovative and visionary maturation to greater productivity.

     For the immoral sanctity of thumb sucking, the commonplace consistency of “normalcy”, the organizational “inbreeding” prefers the stifling of uniqueness, differentiation, and individuality. Regressive purposes to perpetuate the status quo infringement upon intellectual advancement are degraded by the incompetence of each subsequent generational transgression. History conveniently fades from truthful viability by treasonous efforts of selfish revisionism. Complicitous are the many who blithely acquiesce in willful submission to advance self-serving validation for the meager justification of primal existence. Regardless of pretenses begging the legitimacy of personal credentials, the abnormality in reality hides in the recesses of infantile narcissistic debasement. Heroism is criticized as cultural cowardice is fantasized.

     As heroic adventures and noble confrontations wane on the cultural horizon, the goblins of opportunistic deceit slither into action. For the free-willed choices of illicit instigations, the con artistry rages through daily actions of selfish enrichment. Politicians and pundits, not the most intellectually advanced members of society, foment dangerous rhetorical babbling to fear-monger the masses. Cowardly malevolence ensues to capitalize on the cowering debasement of social herding. For one instance of an attempt at analyzing the fearful landscape, a non-practitioner theoretician from the realm of academia suggests contemporary society as a “culture of fear”. Non-practitioner here refers to those who never served in any significant capacity in areas of voluntary public services. Public safety services, as well as various security aspects, pertain primarily to the military and or the law enforcement community. Lacking real-world experience, non-practitioners delving into the realms of crime, corruption, collusions, and other assorted criminalities tend to speak from an inexperienced, albeit philosophical perspective.

     Regardless, one such perspective, as alluded to previously, explores the many-faceted spheres of cultural cowardice or the mainstream fear factor. Exposing the scare-mongering perpetrated by politicians and pundits in the vast realm of infotainment, not to forget academic enclaves as well, the admonition is made that much fear stems more from imagination than reality. Naturally, since the foregoing point of reference is cited in a 1999 magazine article, a question arises. Why should that come as a surprise in the 21st century? It really should not. Yet, the article reporting on alleged “findings”, neither scientific nor solution-based, definitive, points out the never-ending necessity of data analysis. Simply conducting interviews, researching, and reviewing previous works, citing other opinions, and regurgitating redundant consistencies, does not invoke scientific authenticity. It’s more or less storytelling that has been done before. Reinventing the wheel and calling it round is not startling, spine-tingling news. So, knowing that, what is the solvability factor?

     For a positive reminder, the notation is that fear is personally contrived and mainstream media, along with social media, collude to foment a terroristic social landscape. Thus, a healthy sense of skepticism is vital. Additionally, careful analysis of the data, the facts, and the proof is essential regarding every conjecture, no matter who is selling it. Any appeal to “authority” invites cautious assessment as to the efficacy of the conjecture. And, sales is what it’s all about. Not only that, but entertaining characters in political systems likewise enjoy the salacious comfort of an ugly adventure. Deceit, deception, and devilish intentions spread an atmosphere of fearful anticipation. This is yet another elemental factor in the devolving cowardice of culture.

     As heroism dies a painful death, the cowardice of self-serving malevolence rises. Mainstream media is a part of that regression. In complicity with various political interests, including politicians, veneration of weakness characterizes the devolving cultural status of whimpering, weeping, and wussy malcontented malaise. Creativity falters across all manner of artistic genres, from graphic arts to movie making, and the child-like regurgitations of grade school storytelling expose the loss of imagination. With regard to one writer’s lament, U.S. politics, for instance, contributes to promoting a “nation of cowards”. With a diminished proclivity toward brave, risky innovations, social consensus colludes to ensure the passive spinelessness of timidly craven emotional reactivity. In the business world, as well as in government, as another point of departure, so-called customer service degenerates to the dictates of entrenched bureaucratic condescension. Not in every case, of course, but more often than not, clients, customers, and consumers encounter subtleties of organizational animosity. Arrogance abounds in immaturity and ignorance.

     In the 21st century, a wave of childishness washes over the sandy grit of time-worn experience of profound historic warnings. Leering at the past as prelude, youthful arrogance, lacking the maturation of experience by service, and suffering from the hard knocks of pains and pleasures, delude consciousness with an idiocy of children hiding in adult bodies. Facts, figures, proofs, and evidence are easily shelved in order to safeguard the self-efficacy of subjective validation. By which, the truth erodes, and cowardly behaviors become the antics of social media entertainment. As such, the collegiate academic, with no real-world experience, espousing the consensual rhetoric of the “social studies arena”, easily promulgates the psychobabble of academic science fiction. As a subset of a culture of cowardice, careerist stupidity mutates into mainstream media propaganda with little attentiveness to evidentiary validation. Truth erodes in ominous ways.

     Regarding all that, a reporter, allegedly with a writing background for credit, alleged nearly a decade ago that America was a “wimp nation”. Writing in a national magazine publication about politics, the columnist lambasts the degradation of a society that embraces safe places, cupcake coddling, and offensiveness to “trigger warnings”. In an entitlement culture that is easily offended by any controversy, the future invites collapse and hastens extinction. Notable exceptions always exist, as some persist in their dedication to resist. Overall, though, most regress and intend by willful choices to relish in the safe and secure weakness of the status quo consensus. For the few, the challenge is in the self-evolving rigor to become well-differentiated from the rest of the herd. Courage to be different is a lifelong perseverance to transform.

     Fixation on deterministic externalities as probable efficacy of correlation to causation, as some schools of thought in “social studies”, approaches the dangerous regions of regressive inconsistency. Regarding the essentiality of the primacy of thinking, the inventive eccentricity of freely transforming and choosing in the best interest of personal individuation, provokes actions of courageous behavior. Within the post-modern context of an easily offended social continuum, where creativity suffers painful tortures of near extinction, the cowardice of culture promulgates the probability of egregious evils. In reflection upon one philosophical treatise, an exposition on courage, one commentator spouts that in an era of victimhood and fearful anxiety, the concept of courage is severely deficient. Going further in a lecture series on the subject, the expositor discusses how frequently most succumb to their fears. From the analyst’s perspective, courage is part of a skillset that can be mastered over time, place, and circumstances.

     Summoning the tenacity to face maladaptive emotional reactivity demands dedicated discipline to prevail in spite of the risks, the repercussions, and the wrath. As to the notion of “emotional reaction”, the individual personification is incumbent upon the primacy of thinking. In the ideation of a totality of perceptions, such is a matter of intense private proclivity. Organizing thoughts, braving the experience of inner darkness, and accepting confrontation with dangerous ideations invites a lifelong quest for adventure. Self-evolving motivational impetus is highly individualistic and requires profound maturation in personal transformation. Many will not venture toward such treacherous realms of one’s personality. In fact, vast numbers will be satiated in the complacency of remaining the “child-adult” until the finality of organic existence. Instead of an intuitive assessment of emotional reactivity that produces productive personal management, the likelihood is often a child-like response that becomes maladaptive.

     Acts of courage in challenging the option for subservience to feelings of cowardice become bravery, asserted to confront adversarial feelings. Calling them out of that secretive abyss, embracing the duel, the joust with oneself, and engaging in conquest enlightens the darkness of self-deceit. Fearsome possibilities challenge the resistance to take command of the opportunities to rise to higher states of wiser maturation. While there will never be an absence of terrifying skirmishes of all kinds, it remains individual exceptionality that foments spirited resistance. An enigmatic uniqueness of individuation forsakes the admonitions of communal normalcy and status quo condescension. Self-evolving differentiation breaks free of crowded, cowardly attempts to impose enslaved submissiveness. Cowardice of culture hastens human devolution.