Expressing pessimism, makes people appear intelligent and concerned. However no complainer ever solved any problem or improved anything. Yet complaining has become a national pastime.
People foolishly think, that merely by wringing their hands and clicking on 'likes' on social media their problems will somehow magically get resolved.
People who can do anything, usually do something. However those that cannot do anything, only grumble & complain.
Actually, most people can do something, but most rarely even try. This is because they suffer from something called 'Burn Out'.
What is burnout?
First reported by researchers in 1974 to describe long term unresolvable stress. Simply put 'Burn Out' is the feeling of helplessness and the realisation that it is futile to even try to effect any change.
There may be many causes of Burn Out. However social expectations and work pressure born out of so called 'modernisation' seems to be the main culprit.
Burn Out produces cynical, bad tempered people, who are physically and emotionally exhausted. Numerous studies reveal that Burnt-Out individuals display 80% of the same symptoms as people suffering clinical depression.
Modernity, has mostly produced a depersonalised humanity. We now exist in a society of organisations, which are directly or indirectly connected to an obscenely oversize government.
Being bureaucratic in nature, over time, most organisations rot and become dysfunctional. They tend to be unresponsive and completely detached from the needs of the people they employ or are paid to serve. On the contrary they become obstructive.
The result is, no individual is free to say, do or pursue what he or she wants without being challenged or obstructed by some organisation, usually a government department or organisation.
Its important to remember that, in any conflict between a good individual and a bad system, the bad system inevitably wins. This is because the faceless organisation, has the resources, self acclaimed authority and infinite time to frustrate and exhaust the individual.
A cruel but powerful illustration of Burn Out can be observed in a laboratory experiment carried out by scientists on rats.
In this experiment rats were placed in two different cages.
Both cages were wired so that very disturbing electricity could flow through the floor of the cage. However in the first cage there existed a red lever, which, when pressed would turn off the electrical current. In the second cage there were no options for the rats to turn of the flow of electrical current to the cage.
When the experiment began, the first group of mice very quickly learnt to stop the current by hitting the lever. They neutralised the threat having learnt how to respond.
In the second group the mice went into a frenzy when the current was passed and after some realised there was no possible solution, exhausted they merely lay down to await their inevitable death.
Now the group of mice were interchanged between the cages. The same current was passed. The mice that had learnt to respond from their experience with the red lever, kept on trying to find solutions. Eventually this group of mice tore open the bottom of the aluminium cage, chewed through and short circuited the wires which shut off the flow of the deadly current to the cage. They had developed an attitude to find solutions and survive.
The second group even though having an option to stop the current, simply lay down and waited for death rather than look for solutions. Solutions that were there glaringly right in front of them. They were experiencing burn Out.
This is why a small chain can tether a large elephant , because as a calf, the baby elephant is conditioned to believe, that fighting the chain is useless and the creature should stay put when the chain is fastened around its foot. Its Burnt Out in childhood.
The human animal is not much different. This is why organised religions take so much interest in the education of the young. Mass education results in indoctrination and Burns Out children long before they can even flower.
One can often notice that, except for government organisations where people possess a great sense of privilege and entitlement, many private organisations regularly phase out people after a particular age.
Why do they do this in spite of these individuals being knowledgeable and experienced?
Because the system has burnt them out and they are unable to cope with change and adapt.
Burn Out, helps explain why citizens are unmoved by harmful things like inefficiencies, pollution, crime, corruption, violence and unresponsive organisations and corrupt governments etc. Burnt-Out emasculates people making them passive, docile and unresponsive
This is why revolutions and changes are almost always initiated by young people that have not yet burnt-out. They do not know what they cannot do, so they often do the seemingly impossible or inconceivable.
Even for the not so young, there is hope, for humans are very resilient. 'The Yellow Vest Protest' revolution currently consuming France shows that, given enough provocation, passion can often be reignited in Burnt-Out people.
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