Jamesh wrote:Since 1960, there had been a more than 500-percent increase in violent crime; a more than 400-percent increase in out-of-wedlock births; almost a tripling in the percentage of children on welfare; a tripling of the teenage suicide rate; a doubling of the divorce rate; and a decline of more than 70 points in SAT scores
Crime, Drugs, Welfare—and Other Good News
Written I would imagine by a right winger type, but still a good reminder of the ebb and flow of humanity.
I just finished uploading Gibbon-
http://daybrown.org/gibbon/gibbon.html , not had time to see if its all working, but seems to be there. Anyway, Gibbon picked up on something about the flow. He noted that none of the really successful emperors were raised in Rome; they all grew up on the farm out in the boonies someplace. He goes on about the rigors of the outdoor life, and we see that idea was used to found the Boy Scouts.
But archeology has finally left the marble monuments of the city and gone to look at the ancient farms. Seen also in the bog body stomachs and bone middens going back 8000 years, we see over 100 wild plants and animals in the diet along with the domestic species.
But in the cities... the power elites promoted monoculture. Maize in the Americas, Rice in the Orient, wheat in Europe, barley in Egypt. And the problem, revealed by neurology, is that maximal mental development needs the trace minerals- iron, copper, manganese, zinc, etc to empower some of the 150 or so neurotransmitters (so far identified) in the laying down of new neural pathways during childhood mental development.
You may have turned out to be a rational adult even tho raised on sugar cereals, junkfood, and soda. Lotsa folks aint so lucky. We see their insane rants all over the net.
So- there's this cycle of civilization, then decline, revolution and anarchy, and everyone who survives is back on the farm in the boonies. Now, as it turns out, of all the grains, wheat and oats grown in Northern Europe do the most to promote mental development. And indeed, the Scots who were known for eating oats, have the highest rate of innovation per capita. But if what I wanted was stupid kids, I'd raise them on soulfood.
And now, Jared Diamond reports that 80% of global agribusiness raises just 5 crops: corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, & cotton. And they do it by dosing the ground with Nitrogen, Phosphorus, & Potash. [that's a period] All the essential trace minerals and micronutrients from the natural biota in soils have been leached out long ago.
Some of the women I know in healthcare understand this problem. Hippies have known about it for 30 years. When my son graduated with the other hippie kids at the podunk Leslie AR high in 1996, 20% of the class scored over 30 on the ACT. That's over the 95th percentile.
Robert Kaplan, in his study of the military, "Imperial Grunts" notes that half of the Green Berets grew up on family farms. This us but 1% of the total population providing 50% of the nation's most competent soldiers.
The National Autism rate is posted at 1:155. The Leslie nurse is still a friend, and she tells me that up there, they may have 1 out of 4000 back in the Ozark boonies.. which are still family farms. The posted autism rate for the Amish kids, who never see sugar cereal or junk food at all is 1:15,00; and so it goes. I could go on.
I see some shift in the media, some awareness by smart white women, and a shift back to locally grown produce. But I dunno if the message is getting out over all the ad money on TV promoting profitable junk.
So Jamesh, what I've been telling people to do is get the fuck out of Dodge. you do not want to be in a major metropolitan area if all the mass insanity and incompetence produces economic panic and civil disorder.
Out of wedlock births are not the problem per se. I see increasing numbers of dykes moving into my neck of Ozark woods, and their kids are doing fine. Course, they are all being raised on much healthier diets and going to schools that still work. The small Ozark hill town schools have zero rates of violence. I dont see that its a problem with the Amish kids either.
I passed thru Leslie in the wee hours coming back from out of state. I noted, passing the basketball court, the basketball parked on the grass in case some kids showed up the next day who wanted to play. How long do you think the ball would have stayed there in the city? There is no theft. The teachers in small schools all know which kids own what, so nobody gets away with shit.
Sure the incomes are low, and most kids are on subsidized school lunch. But since they dont have all the glitzy shit in the house with a remote, when the kids get home from school, they go outside to play.
I can see how we should be raising the kids, just as Gibbon did. But you know how neurotic the parents are, so there's no help for it. All you can do is find a place to live that is out of the way in case it all comes down like a house of credit cards.