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The Forum > Article Comments > Mass delusions and their consequences > Comments

Mass delusions and their consequences : Comments

By John Perkins, published 4/11/2008

The god delusion is pathological. Not only America, but the whole world, has been forced to pay the price.

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Well said DEMOS.
----
John Perkins blames the god delusion for all of our major global woes.

I think that he is badly overstating the case. In fact, I fear that as an economist, he is trying to divert the blame away from the human fallibility to the profit motive and onto a stool pigeon.

There is no doubt that misguided religious beliefs have a fair bit to do with it in much of the world. But in Australia, religion is not a huge force, nothing like it is in the US, and yet we are in pretty much the same sort of pickle as the US, in terms of our grossly unsustainable lifestyle and addiction to continuous growth.

I doubt that our somewhat better financial situation is particularly strongly due to us having a much less manically religious population.

The addiction to the profit motive, has led to the big end of town accumulating huge power and strongly compromising governments in their fundamental duty to mitigate the downside of the profit motive and make sure that wealth is reasonably equitably distributed. It has also led to people who are supposed to be experts being bought or duped into towing the line of the greed merchants. Many others actually believe that never-endingly increasing resource consumption, population growth and environmental impact is ok, because they live in a world where everyone around them promulgates it.

Unfortunately, many ‘scientists’, most ‘economists’ the vast majority of politicians, and a very large portion of the general populace fall into these categories.

An economist that believes in unending growth is at best a pseudoeconomist and probably outrightly a false-economist (Is Mr Perkins one of these?).

The absurdity of our addiction to continuous growth sits right at the extreme end of the spectrum of MASS DELUSION, deception, blind-eyedness and perhaps even psychosis.

THIS is what is rooting our future! And it has STUFF-ALL to do with religion, in Australia and in many other countries.
Posted by Ludwig, Tuesday, 4 November 2008 1:02:02 PM
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MASS delusions [give to me that mass means the majority]

so the majority of economists WERE DECIEVED thus we have had a catostropic failure of the securities industry [led by ecomonic fools having faith in a lie ,

putting economic theory on a pedistal based on their own delusional beliefs [in market forces ,not spiritual forces]

there are few eco-optimists found in churches [in good times]

this collapse being accorded to religious faith is a red herring [the bible predicted this [recall the christ upsetting ONLY the money changers tables]

so we know the consequences and the cause

[the faulse god of economic theory ,followed by a religious TYPE of zeal , that accorded faith in an economic[with the truth] THEORY

[that was betrayed even by its believers[indeed economic theorists and evolutionry theorists ,have gods with feet of clay,

that as it is revealed tries to muddy all beliefs
and any believers with the same deceiving brush #

yes many religions too have been decieved by this flesh delusion[but just as unseen market 'forces' interact with the market [higher good forces interact in this reality for the good

[of god and his creation]

that evil occurs isnt for god to cure
[but for man to realise the weak falibility of their flesh incarnation]
[jesus was offered these realms[he wisely refused it]

so why shouild he come back and rescue [or destroy it]or whatever delusional armogeddonist theoristss expect

god is love
light sustaining life [live with it its not worth dying over]

many are decieved and decieving
thus know them by their [GOOD] fruits

or their faulures
[then blaming it on others]

oh ye of little faith
shared so little of the plenty when it was good
Posted by one under god, Tuesday, 4 November 2008 1:21:20 PM
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Now, now O-U-G, don't get ahead of yourself. What (I think) John is saying is simply that it is almost certainly causal - i.e. the relationship between "religiosityness" - surely a Bushism (esp. the evangelic type that folksy folks like Sarah P subscribe to) and some of the madness that has unfolded in terms of the USA's domestic and international affairs in recent times.

He's not saying that every Wall Street CEO is a hand clapping believer, although I suspect there will be plenty of "Court Steps" conversions sometime soon.

U-O-G, do you know polyc**p, you sure type like him, so tebbut tells me.

;))
Posted by not tebbut, Tuesday, 4 November 2008 1:51:10 PM
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no tebbut ,i dont know polycarp in any way
im presuming ar are the ** marks meaning
that name seems familiour [but definatly not known personally]

re your other comment i take the words of an athiest economist chosing to divert the debate [attention] on the monetory failures into a debate about religious delusions[

as most of the early responses appear to have directed their responses to that religious delusion aspect bidden through out his words]

most of what ALL of us believe must of nessisity be based on this carnate reality

but religion is about revealing the unseen sp[irit forces surrounding us [where as the eco theory is mass delusion based purely on the material made into formula [their prayer equivellent]

but like i try to say we are all decieved to greater and lessor extent [on so many different areas of this material realm] any who presume to know it all are decieved

[not by satan but decieved by this flesh ,fear , want ,need , greed , a lack of charity, a lack of forgivness [of self or others]

but that is my second post
so see you all in 24 hours
Posted by one under god, Tuesday, 4 November 2008 2:16:18 PM
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If Ludwig will let me, I want to stand in his tent him - piddling outside onto the opposition. In my opinion he has things pretty much right.

I have one serious disagreement when he says:

“The absurdity of our addiction to continuous growth sits right at the extreme end of the spectrum of MASS DELUSION, deception, blind-eyedness and perhaps even psychosis.

THIS is what is rooting our future! And it has STUFF-ALL to do with religion”

Religion – it has everything to do with religion. Belief in unlimited continuous growth is against reason, contrary to the ever-accumulating evidence confronting us. Such a belief, the foundation of the present dominant economic paragidm, can be nothing other than an illusion built upon faith, upon the religion of voodoo economics
Posted by colinsett, Tuesday, 4 November 2008 3:56:34 PM
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I try my very best to understand what you are saying ONE-UNDER-GOD but you don't seem to me to be able to offer any kind of rational argument when presenting your case.
All you are able to do is offer some disjointed quotes from the Bible which bear little relevance to the matter being discussed. My only conclusion is that this confabulation tends to confirm that faith is indeed blind and that you have a very confused mind which only proves that the whole tenet of the article has some basis.
Posted by snake, Tuesday, 4 November 2008 4:00:04 PM
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