1.21.2006

RATS IN A CAGE

Decades ago, research scientists showed that when a population of rats in a closed environment grows beyond a certain density, the rats began to display aberrant behavior, ie: the more rats, the crazier.

This is a perfectly frightening model for what’s happening in the realm of humanity. Let’s talk about home. America.

Whatever the causes may be, the number of “misfits” in our society has increased greatly. They have come out of the closets and dark basements. But they are still more comfortable in the shadows. Some may actually be intelligent, but unless genius is applied to solving societal problems or somehow enriching our culture, it is actually of little value. Unfortunately, many who feel outcast from normal society, those who have been rejected by their peers for various reasons, especially in youth, gravitate to taboo enterprises which can be carried out in the penumbra of our culture. Sexual deviancy, gambling, drugs as a lifestyle, binge drinking, extreme tattooing and body piercings of all kinds, neon hair, a fascination with death, zombies, ghouls, vampires and Satan. Dark films, music and gaming. Political rabble rousers, street thugs. Just plain misfits.

The farthest borderlands of culture are populated by extremists of all kinds. The worst are attracted to mass murderers, jihad, suicide; making secretive plans, writing bizarre manifestos in their twisted attempts to be enrolled in the grisly pages history. Today, with access to vast audiences in the cyberverse, self-produced videos often display their aberrant ideas, getting heroic followings.

Rather than following the well established paths out of their jam-packed cages and into the antiseptic light of the sun, those just barely on the wrong side of “normalcy” tend to prefer the irresponsible ways of the shadow world. After all, many of these rats will procreate. What chance do their offspring have of leaving the cage? It takes work and dedication to get out. Often, interest in the most elemental current political, military and world events which will radically affect their lives in the near future seems to be completely off their malfunctioning radar screens.

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Today, with a broken immigration policy, America has been packed tighter and tighter with diverse cultures – each with its special “demands” – none of which have any desire to melt in the pot. In the past, little attention was paid to these demands because the groups were small with little in the way of lobbying funds. Today, the groups are large, well-funded by foreign sources, and refuse to adopt traditional America values. Add to this the apparent fact that our Federal Government seems unable or deliberately flouting their duty to keep track of the whereabouts of these new entrants.

As a result, the country has become increasingly Balkanized with larger and larger non-traditional groups with special demands, too large for uncaring politicians to reject, and large enough to elect their own representatives and local officials. Is this the kind of freedom the Founders had in mind? Is a divided house what The Constitution ultimately leads to? Did not Lincoln declare the Civil War in order to keep the Union undivided? Can a divided house stand?

Let us take a look at just one aspect of all this. Michael Savage’s best-selling book, “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder” – funny title? – pretty well describes just one of the kinds of aberrant behaviors you might expect from a cage packed too tightly. Looking at every day’s news, it’s not so funny is it?

It’s humanity – people – not rats, in this cage called America. Of course, not every rat in that cage goes whacky. The soft-minded ones lose it first. In the case of humans, I suggest it’s those who grew up with their mommies and daddies (if they were around), teachers (if they had any), politicians (especially on the left), Big Media, and social media “friends” reinforcing all the things progressives and socialists believe. For example – and this is just one simple example – the government should take care of people who can’t (or refuse to, or don’t have a lick of sense to) take care of themselves and their families.

Now this must have seemed like it might be a good idea way back when. But it can only happen when the rats are so densely packed that they can no longer think straight (assuming a rat ever did). Densely populated humans are just like that... dense. They still do not grasp what the pages of history show... well-intentioned ideas always have unintended consequences. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” 

This well-intentioned idea has created a large and exponentially-growing class of citizens who are now dependent upon the government to take care of them. A permanent underclass; people who feel entitled to an ever-growing list of free benefits. And this class merrily passes the sense of entitlement (I’d call it helplessness... or maybe happily gaming the system) ...passing it all along to their young’uns who are raised with the curse of hopelessness weighing on them like an over-fed albatross. This is nothing better than caged rats who attack one another for no other reason than density. Like people packed tight in cages called cities, living day to day without hope, stealing scraps from one another to survive; attacking, and now cannibalizing themselves with huge numbers of abortions, drug addiction, loose guns and knives. How can a child hope to overcome and escape the cage? There is nothing more awful than extinguishing the spark of enthusiasm which is borne in the eye of every child.

The Great Society is not great. It is a failure. Some smart, upstanding, responsible individuals among the poor have fought their way out of the cage pretty much on their own initiative. Some have done it with the help of government programs – but certainly not enough to justify a continuation of this boondoggle which will never free us all from the cage. Obviously this doesn’t matter to politicians because, hey, the poor rats will always be there to vote for the rat keepers who promise them a little more grain. Libs may be crazy but crazy like foxes (or is it rats). They have engineered an ever-growing base of voters, most of whom either don’t believe, or don’t care, that they are being had by their smiling, fast-talking, rat-loving representatives. Caged in perpetuity.

A wild guess of course – but the population of the US was at its most efficient when it stood at about 125 million. It’s a virtual guarantee that unless we get down to that level again, things will only get worse in the cage. Don’t even think about trying to get into a better cage. A better cage is still a cage. Most of them are over-filled anyway, with occupants acting even crazier than us.

We have two choices. Either the rats have to be culled, or the cages must be expanded. The cage can’t be expanded to any of its sides for they’re pretty much butted right up against other cages. It might be expanded upward or downward. If we can’t manage the upward thing (downward is just a big grave) we will have to go through the culling. 

But culling!? Ah, don’t worry, we probably won’t have to do it ourselves. When the density reaches critical mass, nature steps in, as it always has in the past, and will do the job for us. In the case of rats, their chemistry changes and they begin attacking and killing one another without provocation. In the case of man, well there’s always the old reliables: violent mental disorders, disease, natural disaster, man-made disaster, war, “social engineering” like that which limits or eliminates procreation, or perhaps a giant flaming asteroid... nature’s quiver is full of poison arrows.

So, what are we doing about all or any of this? I will leave you to ponder: a Congressman of my acquaintance tells me he believes this is all poppycock. In his view, things are peachy.