Isolation

Friday, October 10, 2008
Spent most of the day following the financial crisis on TV. I really have nothing else to spend my time doing. Besides, it is like a train wreck, the conditions are so horrible that I can’t look away. Tonight, all four of the guests on “The McLaughlin Group,” who never agree on anything, agreed that we are headed for a long, deep recession. Then George Soros was on Bill Moyers’ show and said the U.S. is undergoing a fundamental change in which we will no longer be able to spend more than we produce like was have for the past 30 years. It seems like everyone in the media agrees that we should all bury our heads in the sand now.

The political news continues to be Obama’s increasing lead in the tracking polls. McCain can’t really debate the economy now since we are under a current Republican administration so his campaign has been focusing on Obama as a dangerous candidate, with a strange name, Barack “Hussein” Obama, from a foreign place, with ties to a former domestic terrorist named Bill Ayers. It probably won’t work but it is his only option.

Made the usual trek to Springfield with Gabby tonight. He was late due to a board meeting so I ate at home and just got coffee while he ate at Arby’s. The only other stop we made was at County Market for groceries. Watched an 48 Hours” episode called “Invitation to a murder” that investigated the 1995 double murder of Donnah Winger and Roger Harrington in Springfield, IL.

The good news (if you call it that) comes from Loren Coleman’s blog and his book “The Copycat Effect”: “Historical studies conducted by sociologist Steven Stack and others have discovered a noticeable dip in suicides and related violent events when there is society-wide anguish, for example, in times of massive immediate grieving in periods of wars and economic depressions.” So “it appears to be more urban myth than historical fact that the suicide rate is higher during financial recessions and economic depressions. Some of the best research studies on this subject have been conducted by sociologist Steven Stack, Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, who found that during the periods, for example, after assassinations and during the Great Depression, the suicide rate was lower.” Loren adds, “It is a truism that it takes energy to kill oneself, and societally, this translates into actual chronic psychological (not fiscal) depression resulting in less self-inflicted deaths, through a stabilization of suicides or a real decrease.”

People say we got it made, Don't they know we're so afraid? Isolation. We're afraid to be alone, Everybody got to have a home, Isolation. Just a boy and a little girl, Trying to change the whole wide world, Isolation. The world is just a little town, Everybody trying to put us down, Isolation. I don't expect you to understand, After you've caused so much pain, But then again, you're not to blame, You're just a human, a victim of the insane.

As for myself, I don’t think I’m doing much better. I still feel completely detached from the world. Not like I am above the world or better than anyone else, more than I am outside the world, only an observer. I just don’t ever see things changing much. Each day brings darkness but the drudgery is even worse. But lately I haven’t been depressed and cowering in the corner, it is more just a feeling of resignation. Another day, another dollar.