How to recognize that a society is about to collapse?
When historians analyze what factors that caused the collapse of a civilization, they often focus on the most salient events and indicators, while the creator of the Alternative Market movement, Brandon Smith, estimates that it is important to consider the many factors that determined that social decline because "It happens with time and not overnight."
"The decline of a nation or civilization requires the complicity of a multitude of saboteurs," from "people in positions of power" to "useful idiots among the masses," explains this analyst, who chooses to look at "the foundations of our culture" to better understand why today there is "a clear and definable destabilization". For Smith, in the nature of the human being "there is always a conflict between benefit and personal conscience." In a stable society, both factors "tend to balance", but in those suffering from a social decadence, the gain and even comfort and gratification "tend to dominate to a large extent" on moral principles.
This man is "sad" to admit that, although he lives in a rural area of the United States - "where there is more likely to be self-sufficiency and cultural stability" - he can still see "a tottering nation bleeds" and puts numerous examples on the matter carried out by both people and institutions. The psychiatrist Carl Jung calculated that about 10% of people in each culture were sociopaths and latent psychopaths. In normal times, they acclimate themselves to the rest of the population, but "in times of decadence" show their true selves and "the most dangerous" is when they "assume leadership or power roles," warns the creator of Alt-Market.
During a broader cultural collapse, it can be fashionable to ridicule actions of people who defend their principles or even estimate that they threaten the 'status quo': When doing the right thing is treated as ridiculous or 'crazy', we are really in the middle of a Great decline, alert Smith. Brandon Smith believes that a culture based on protecting and nurturing individualism and voluntarism "is the only one" that will avoid disaster, but warns of the danger of self-isolation and the more people worry about themselves "the easier it will be for evil people to do bad things "without others noticing. Those who lead a system based on corruption will encourage this behavior to control the population, so "if you are surrounded by people who reject any organization," then "your society may be in the final stages of a collapse," he concludes.
When a crisis develops and society realizes the problem and reacts, all is not lost. On the other hand, if you deny that the danger exists when you are presented with strong evidence, you are likely to suffer a complete disintegration and probably have to start over from scratch with "a set of principles and ideals based on awareness and honor ", says the author of the article. In short, the strength of a culture and its ability to survive can be determined by its willingness to accept its shortcomings when they arise and their willingness to repair the damage caused, concludes Brandon Smith.