I, Society

By Anthony North

Here's my second volume of reasoned rants. I call it I, Society because many of the short essays are the result of my concept of socio-psychology - that the social and psychological are often mixed. The idea has led to some interesting, if off-beat takes on life, society and you. Enjoy. And if not, maybe you’re part of my concept of psycho-sociology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony North
• Release date: Jan 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301610129

Anthony North

Thinker & Storyteller****7,453 Words to Save the UK and I,Writer are now FREE. Scroll down to find them.*****1955 (Yorkshire, England) – I am born (Damn! Already been done). ‘Twas the best of times ... (Oh well).I was actually born in the year of Einstein's death, close to Scrooge's Counting House. It doesn't mean anything but it sounds good. As for my education, I left school at 15 and have had no formal education since. Hence, I'm self-taught.****From a family of newsagents, at 18 I did a Dick Whittington and went off to London, only to return to pretend to be Charlie and work in a chocolate factory.When I was ten I was asked what I wanted to be. I said soldier, writer and Dad. I never thought of it for years – having too much fun, such as a time as lead guitarist in a local rock band – but I served nine years in the RAF, got married and had seven kids. I realized my words had been precognitive when, at age 27, I came down with M.E. – a condition I’ve suffered ever since – and turned my attention to writing.Indeed, as I realized that no expert could tell me what was wrong with me, I began my quest to find out why. Little did I realize it would last decades and take me through the entire history of knowledge, leaving me with the certainty that our knowledge systems are inadequate.****My non-fiction is based on P-ology, a thought process I devised to work with patterns of knowledge, and designed to be a bedfellow to specialization. A form of Rational Holism, it seeks out areas the specialist may have missed. I work from encyclopaedias and introductory volumes in order to gain a grasp of many subjects and am not an expert in anything, but those patterns keep forming. Hence, I do not deal in truth, but ideas, and cover everything from politics to the paranormal.When reading my work I ask only: do I make sense? Of course, an expert would say: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I agree. And an expert has so little knowledge of everything.I also write novels and Flash Fiction in all genres.

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I, Society

By Anthony North

Copyright Anthony North 2013

Cover image copyright, Yvonne North 2013

Smashwords Edition

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission

Other books by Anthony North

Beginning in 2019 I’m publishing 14 volumes of my fiction, inc 7 novels in most genres, & 21 works of non-fiction covering cults, politics, conspiracies, religion, disasters, science, philosophy, warfare, crime, psychology, new age, green issues & all areas of the unexplained, inc ufology, lost worlds and the paranormal. Hopefully appearing at the rate of one a month, check out the latest launch at my bookstore at http://anthonynorth.com or buy direct from Smashwords for all devices at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/anthonynorth

In addition to the above, you may like my ‘I’ Series – 8 volumes of flash fiction (horror, sci fi, romance, adventure, crime), 4 volumes of poetry & 5 volumes of short essays from politics to the unexplained. Available from same links as above. Also check out my bookstore for news of my books out in paperback.

CONTENTS

Introduction

On Rivalry

The Machine Society

Crime & Society

Superstition - How the Modern World Works

The Inefficiency of Efficiency

Put It In Yer Head

The New Superbeings

Feelgood Television

Bye, Bye Love

We're Specialist Crazy

The Forever Gods

Evil & Morality

Religious, or Not

Nature Provides

Speed of Change

Individuality

When Good Becomes Evil

Psycho-Analysis

On Destiny

The Corporate Junkie

What Is Foul?

On Empowerment

On Passion

And I Want It Now

How to Explain You

The Root of Desire

Obsessive Essay

Extreme Behaviour

The Things We Fear

Little Voices

Moaning Men

It's No Joke

What an Insult

The God Man

It's My Opinion

It's His Castle

The Natural Umbilical Cord

About the Author

Connect With Anthony

INTRODUCTION

Here's my second volume of reasoned rants. I call it I, Society because many of the short essays are the result of my concept of socio-psychology - that the social and psychological are often mixed. The idea has led to some interesting, if off-beat takes on life, society and you. Enjoy. And if not, maybe you’re part of my concept of psycho-sociology.

ON RIVALRY

The world seems to thrive on rivalry. The greatest themes of classic literature involve rivals for love. The business world runs on rivalry. Who has not heard of sibling rivalry? And is not war the ultimate problem of rivalry?

Today’s capitalist way of life couldn’t exist without rivalry. In the UK we have the term, ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’, to identify our need to keep our purchases higher and better than our neighbour’s.

Rivalry is also at the heart of sport.

And it is here that we see the great contradiction in the term. You see, sport brings us together in friendly rivalry – sometimes – yet sport itself was arguably devised to keep warriors fit during peace time so as to be always ready for battle. Think karate. Think jousting.

The contradiction, however, is a peculiarity of the western mind-set. Religions are all about opposites, best seen in eastern concepts such as Yin and Yang. One is preservation, the other destruction, yet their real purpose is to find balance and harmony.

In the west, the concept was changed into good and evil.

The balance is taken away and the two polar opposites exist only to conflict. But this was done for a very specific reason, and it is all to do with politics.

It was the sociologist, Foucault, who best identifies a process in society where power is held by those who control the ‘knowledge’ a particular society has. In doing so they define what is ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. The former is obviously good, and the latter bad, even evil.

In this way, a rival is identified as an enemy instead of someone with whom to find balance. And thus, a socio-political system becomes a ‘truth’ through identifying abnormality, and conflict is guaranteed within the world.

THE MACHINE SOCIETY

Do you get the feeling that society just isn’t working right any more? I know many do, including me. It almost seems as though we’re just going through the motions, as if we exist in a huge, unfeeling machine.

Well maybe we do. But don’t get me wrong. Some societal ‘machines’ are essential. The armed forces come to mind. I’ve experienced the sense of the ‘machine’ in the forces myself. It is essential for professionalism. But modern society is far more fundamental