I don't know about the rest of the planet, but I think the Western world has been gettng mixed messages for some time now, and I think it is driving people crazy.

There is the message that "we deserve it," whatever "it" is, that we have an inherent right to use up most of the resources, buy gas guzzlers if that's what we want, etc. The other side of that message, often unconsciously felt, but powerful, I believe, is fear. We are aware, at some level, that we have what everybody else wants, and perhaps at an even deeper level fearful that not only may it be stolen but that we are unworthy to have it in the first place.

There is the message that technology will save us, make life easier, etc., and in some ways it does. But most of us are steadily moving into a world in which we depend more and more heavily on things we understand less and less. It leaves us on shaky ground. When you get your water from a deep hole in the ground, heat with wood, and communicate by hollering at your neighbor, you may not be living the good life, but you understand the things your life depends on.

Stores are crammed with largely irrelevant consumer goods, w/advertising to create a need for them. Acquiring stuff is a short term antidote to stress, but money is being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer, meaning most of us are being urged to buy what we can no longer afford.

In the West we are all very tuned into various media...kids (and adults too) learn how to act by watching what their peers do in the movies and on TV. Trouble is, acting is exactly what is going on here, causing people to lose their grasp of personal authenticity.

Humans don't, for the most part, do all that well with conflict and complexity. It's deeply disturbing to be told one thing but feel the opposite, especially if that opposite feeling is crawling around just below full consciousness. It makes people tetchious, edgy, and anger is a way to scratch the itch. At least that's what I think.