Earlier cultures found the loss of daylight and the deepening cold weather bound them to their huts and cottages, eating the last of the fruits and vegetables, carving ever-thinning slices of increasingly gamey meat, to flavor their porridge of grains. Keeping warm and dry became full time work. Layers of animal skins and coarsely woven cloth harbored hungry populations of lice and fleas. Typhus, cholera, and plague vied with starvation, exposure, and accidents to decrease the survival rate.
Cold winds howling down from higher latitudes, inland from icy seas, and off barren glaciers brought voice to legends of Frost Giants and banshee.
As we became more civilized, better able to build shelters that did more than slow the wind and blunt the force of winds, the manner of survival became more important to the survivors. Pagan festivals merged with those of supplanting cults pushing old traditions into a mix with new to celebrate the return of light and warmth to the lower latitudes.
The industrial age increased the separation between the social classes, accenting the gap in wealth between workers and the industrial barons. The rise of unions helped to create a middle class of professionals and workers that lasted until a new group of ultra rich decided that it was allowable for them to destroy the world and the global economy as long as they profited immensely in the process.
We find ourselves in December and in a mental December that takes power from the solar dark and cold. Millions of unemployed find that they lack the money for the winter festivals. The dominant cult and the dominant culture insist that existing economic behaviors favoring the ultra wealthy be continued.
The physical and climactic violence of December gets incorporated into the customs and cultures that control behavior. The increasingly violent “black Thursday” demonstrates that violence has become acceptable in preparing for the winter solstice.. From there it is only a short step to the point where we find mass murder an acceptable gift for those who sit for hours playing video games that simulate high numbers of killings as the players rack up body counts. While video game manufacturers and firearms manufacturers claim there is no link between games and violent spree killings, the evidence of the link was widely broadcast during the Gulf War as one American pilot declared “This is just like a video game!” as he guided a missile onto its target via radar and optical guidance. The removal of the enemy pilot from the reality of the situation bothered me then and bothers me today.
December 2012 has tallied at least two major mass murders and several smaller incidents. The end result will be a stalled effort to limit these incidents and a spike in gun sales.
The supposed end of the world (Mayan) along with other end of days scenarios playing out under the encouragement of Christian extremists and others who foresee societal collapse because of Obama’s re-election and/or financial and cultural meltdowns; have instilled irrational hatred and fear in the minds of millions who lack the ability to separate high-pressure sales ploys from reality have primed the pump for those who want to mark their exit with a splash..
December is a time when depression increases among the mentally troubled as daylight and warmth decrease in the outdoor world that is becoming an enemy of too many. The pharmacologic celebration of the solstice is not of great efficacy when the outdoor world becomes an enemy again. As the wind howls in the wires, wolves howl in the minds of the out of work and out of reality who take on the guise of a paladin who, alone, can chase away the winter’s dark and the winter’s cold.
Lock up the mentally ill, lock up the guns; lock up the NRA executives who feed fear into the already fearful. Option three sounds most likely to bring back some semblance of sanity in a dark and bloody month.
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