Why adopt policies of scarcity and fear unless there is something rotten to be hidden ?

Photo by Nhat Nguyen Hoang on Unsplash

The modern day equivalent of survival is now an economic matter, as refrigeration, trade, modern buildings render us less vulnerable to Natures cycles of feast or famine. Hence survival and thriving has become something that is able to be manipulated by those who hold economic power….because as overtly demonstrated by the Coalition Government, executive power is now openly driven by their economic supporters.

What happens to us humans when our survival is at threat ? The trauma research shows that our bodies tend to move into whatever adaptive responses we learned as children - fight, flight, freeze or fawn and away from parasympathetic responses related to thriving - relaxation, ease and joy. The latter responses create abundance , well being and safety - the former scarcity, contraction and paranoia.

So it would seem counter intuitive to make the population frightened through controlled media exposure and the decisions of Governments if it will contract the economy. People would be less likely to go out at night fearful of crime, to spend discretionary money, trust others and unwilling to plan entrepreneurial activities when the future is so uncertain. Families are more likely to be stressed with each others, the reliance on addictions to manage emotions becomes stronger, people develop physical and mental health problems as their nervous systems are activated, there’s an increase in suicides and a reduction in birth rates, as hope for the future diminishes and despair rises and relationships tend to be more fraught with greater rates of domestic violence. All things counter to healthy human functioning.

Here’s just one example of the knock on effect of scarcity behaviour .

What good can come from such policies and media practices for our communities ? I struggle to see anything. I struggle in particular to see any rationality in these choices. And that’s the biggest indicator that executive (political) actions are being driven by unconscious fears…. the limbic system in trauma has no ability to access the central executive rational function of the brain. There’s no capacity for creative imaginative solutions when people are frightened, people will simply act in reaction to the threat and one of the main strategies in modern culture is the wielding of coercive control over others through fear.

What could be the threat facing the people seemingly with great power and responsible for making these decisions ? After all if you have economic power, why on earth should you be feeling fear at this time ? It suggests that the threat might relate to suppressed and hidden wrongdoings or mistakes coming to light.

The current case of an eminent ophthalmologist covering up a murder involved with methamphetamine and sexual exploits might give some sort of indication of what lies beneath the surface of the lives of people holding power. https://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=403475&ref=rss

You could say this is an isolated case but who was Dr Polkinghorne interacting with - sexually and in the course of using methamphetamine ? He clearly was operating in a social cohort presumably with other professional people in health and aligned professions and this appears to have been both socially sanctioned and connected with regular supply. Knowing what we do about the supply chain of methamphetamine from Asia we might then want to ask questions about why have there been so many Asian murders in recent years. Questions about what is the role of extortion and addiction in the property market and construction and allied industries ?

One might want to consider we are being distracted with the narrative of gangs as the sole drug perpetrators when there is clearly a bigger network at play. And we might want to consider what is the function of methamphetamine for these people holding power ? What operates in these social systems that people in power find themselves in that requires them to need artificial uppers such as methamphetamine and cocaine ?

We can easily be caught in the horrors of the content of the accounts of the victims of abuse in care and here with Dr Polkinghorne’s actions and in doing so overlook the sinister indications of suppression which clearly is operating at high levels when the Crown Law Office is involved in trying to suppress what went on at Lake Alice. We can remember the same coverups in the Colin Brouwer murder of his wife, the fact that his mistress’s name was able to be suppressed for so long, that he was released from custody to his lawyers to “discuss” his case, that his legal bills were covered by legal aid. We might remember how public land has disappeared all over the place surreptitiously transferred through complex title transfers including that of a QC’s involvement in his wife’s building development that has resulted in the blocking of public access and the extension of boundaries and height restrictions on North Head reserve land in Auckland . We might also consider how ownership of many prime New Zealand land sites are now held in solicitor nominee companies, contrary to the Law Society’s own operating rules for nominee funds with the purpose of hiding ownership details - after pre the National Government, overseas property ownership was supposedly limited and of course politicians couldn’t be seen to be involved in influencing the housing or property development market.

The best way to achieve the goal of manipulating the public attention away from inconvenient truth is to ramp up fear about economic survival. That way people worrying about their financial situation will have no cognitive space to critically consider the implications behind scandalous media reports. Implications that the great and good amongst us are not only stained but prepared to hide that by hurting others amongst them their own families and ultimately themselves. The costs of methamphetamine and indeed all drug addiction are much higher than the cost of facing up to living as you are. ..warts and all. It’s ironic that those calling for tough on crime are likely the very ones who might well have to face those sentences themselves as the truth finds its way out. Maybe by then we will have a more humane way of understanding why people do bad things and be sanctioned to assist them to heal and change. I sincerely hope so.

Photo by Liam Edwards on Unsplash