# I think the world has tipped its axis....



## Lisa (Sep 27, 2006)

I was discussing this today with my boss how everything seems out of sync somehow.  How there are crazy things happening to the ones we love and in the world around us.

World Leaders calling George W. the devil, the pope making the comments he did, another shooting in a high school.  Even at my work we had a weird incident between the students.  

It all feels like something is just "off" for the lack of a better word. Did I shift dimensions, or what?

Anyone else had this feeling lately?


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## Jonathan Randall (Sep 27, 2006)

Lisa said:


> Anyone else had this feeling lately?


 
Since 9/11.

Something blew a hole in the space-time continuum that day and opened us up to Bizarro World, at least according to one writer!


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## Hand Sword (Sep 27, 2006)

Is it a full moon?

I agree, I think what I brought up on women's talk is part of it too.

I think so much negative energy is spewing and has been spewing for so long, the balance is tipping in it's favor, where it becomes the norm. I think something BAD is coming soon!


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## Carol (Sep 27, 2006)

Lisa said:


> Anyone else had this feeling lately?


 
Yeah, I've been having the same feeling too.  

Salem, Massachusetts...the vicinity near where I live...is having gang trouble.  Considering Salem, Mass. is ground zero for a lot of Hallowe'en celebrations, this is of particular concern.  

There are also reasons why this is a surprise.  Reason #1 - this area, Essex County, has some of the lowest crime in the country.  It's not a coincidence that I live here.  Reason #2 - Salem is a diverse community and somehow we all get along.   There isn't a whole lot of "me vs. you" here.  

Now something fairly routine...such as getting together for a D&D game (yes, I am a geek) has turned in to a discussion of who is giving whom a ride where, who is packing what for weapons, why no one must ever walk alone even if it's just down the street for a coke, and do we even want the games to continue in Salem to begin with or do we relocate them out of downtown until the Hallowe'en festivities and gang arrests blow over.

It doesn't seem fair that at Beverly Hospital there lies a man that walked for about an hour to his job as a telemarketer, hoping to earn enough cash to put his car back on the road....took a hit to the head with a hard object simply because he was walking home from work.   The doctors kept him at Beverly because he was not expected to survive the medflight to Boston.  He has regained consciousness, but not all of his functions.  

All for walking home alone in one of the safest areas of the country.  Its not fair.


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## Jade Tigress (Sep 28, 2006)

I noticed the weirdness everywhere too. It feels like a full moon everyday, it really does.


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## JBrainard (Sep 28, 2006)

Hand Sword said:


> I think so much negative energy is spewing and has been spewing for so long, the balance is tipping in it's favor, where it becomes the norm. I think something BAD is coming soon!


 
That thing is called Big Brother, and it is coming...


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## Lisa (Sep 28, 2006)

JBrainard said:


> That thing is called Big Brother, and it is coming...



I think it is already here.


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## Tarot (Sep 28, 2006)

Lisa said:


> I was discussing this today with my boss how everything seems out of sync somehow.  How there are crazy things happening to the ones we love and in the world around us.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oh yeah in a big way.  I dunno what's going on but something is in the air and it ain't pretty.


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## mrhnau (Sep 28, 2006)

It would be nice if things were back to "normal", but its hard to really say what is normal. We have almost always had some form of issue. Like my signature implies, I'm not sure we ever had it perfect.

Still, I'd enjoy not having to worry about terrorists, school shootings, stupid new laws, general paranoia... Thats has sure seemed amplified as of late...


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## bluemtn (Sep 28, 2006)

I've noticed it quite a bit since 9/11.  There have been everything from doomsdayers to politicians.  Also, since I don't live too far from a major city, I'm always hearing things.  For example-  70 yr. old lady was trying to cross a street just behind her husband and got hit by a car (saving details I heard). The mayor of that city held some sort of service, because 3 teenagers died this week in some sort of crime (all seperate).  That is also a regular thing.


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## exile (Sep 28, 2006)

I have a somewhat different take on all this. I grew up in the 1960, and from the time of the Cuban missile crisis on, my friends and I knew we were all going to die in a nuclear war---probably very painfully, because we lived well outside the City. (It was worse than we knew, of course---during the CMC, as Richard Rhodes documents in his history of the hydrogen bomb, Curtis Lemay sent a wing of SAC bombers into Soviet airspace, apparently trying to provoke the Russians into military action. We came that close.) When `detente' went out the the window in the 1970 and both sides were exploring first-strike options and preparing launch-on-warning policies, when the US put intermediate-range multiwarheaded missiles in the European forward theatre, when the Soviet Union was on the verge of sending troops into Poland to suppress the Solidary-movement popular uprising agains the puppet communist governement... again, everyone I was friends with (and plenty of people I wasn't) figured it was going to happen any day now. We lived from day to day with the expectation that there was no way to avoid it---too many missiles out there, too many near-misses based on errors of strategy or of warning systems... We really expected that any day might be when the world's cities would all burn up in two flaming hours of hell and most of the survivors would die of radiation sickness, or starvation.

What I feel these days is mostly intense disappointment and bewilderment. We dodged a bullet that we had no right, by the odds, to escape; somehow we came out of the Cold War in one piece. And instead of taking a few deep unsteady breaths and telling ourselves, we're not going let that happen ever again, we've allowed the world to be subject a new set of crazy dangers. All those resources that were freed up after twenty years of all-out arms race, and here we are... why???


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## Blotan Hunka (Sep 28, 2006)

Dont think it's anything new.

Try going back to Dec.7th 1941.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 28, 2006)

Lisa said:


> I was discussing this today with my boss how everything seems out of sync somehow. How there are crazy things happening to the ones we love and in the world around us.
> 
> World Leaders calling George W. the devil, the pope making the comments he did, another shooting in a high school. Even at my work we had a weird incident between the students.
> 
> ...


Put that feeling aside an gape at all the child molestation and cruelty that has gone on for thousands of years that no one spoke of in polite company. This comming to a head you feel is just the media making you aware of the constant crap that has always been going on.
Sean


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## shesulsa (Sep 28, 2006)

Lisa said:


> I was discussing this today with my boss how everything seems out of sync somehow.  How there are crazy things happening to the ones we love and in the world around us.
> 
> World Leaders calling George W. the devil, the pope making the comments he did, another shooting in a high school.  Even at my work we had a weird incident between the students.
> 
> ...



While many events worldwide have been helter-skelter for some time, it certainly does seem as though some magical man in the sky has re-trenched his outhouse in our general direction.

I just got my personal life turned upside down, so did another friend and I just received a call from a colleague who is going through a major crisis in her family as well!!  No matter where I turn, something hugely and disproportionately tragic is happening to just about every single person I know!

Maybe I need to talk to those bible-thumpers who knocked on my door yesterday .....


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## Hand Sword (Sep 28, 2006)

JBrainard said:


> That thing is called Big Brother, and it is coming...


 
I was thinking BIGGER than that. Big Brother is a part of the bigger whole.


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## SFC JeffJ (Sep 28, 2006)

The world shifted on it's axis when my ex-mother in law moved back in 93 I think.


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## Hand Sword (Sep 28, 2006)




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## exile (Sep 28, 2006)

JeffJ said:


> The world shifted on it's axis when my ex-mother in law moved back in 93 I think.



Um... what if she's a MartialTalk member, Jeff? And there's your crystal-clear avatar... ;-)


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## michaeledward (Sep 29, 2006)

Normally, I would say that things are no different than they usually are. It's just a time to recognize what is going on all around us. And we get to look back on the 'Good Old Days' with the fondness of forgetfulness.

But . . . 

In the last 24 hours, I have seen two separate news reports. 

The United States Senate approved a Bill that authorizes torture of detainees, in violation of the Geneva Conventions. 

The United States House of Representatives approved a Bill that authorizes warrantless wiretapping of American Citizens, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

When our leaders intentionally, and willingly give away the very things that define our country as a great nation, you have to wonder what ailment has overtaken us all. 

When did our nation become pee-your-pants afraid of the world?

P.S. - This post could also have been copied, word for word, in the "When did we lose our collective Minds" thread. And, it probably could stand on its own, in light of the upcoming mid-terms. I don't wish to muck up the thread too much with a left/right rant, but I do believe politics touches us all, every day, in many ways. And certainly, with these issues - up is down, down is up, strong is afraid, afraid is strong - If I weren't so damn mad, I would be terribly, terribly sad.


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## Jade Tigress (Sep 29, 2006)

shesulsa said:


> While many events worldwide have been helter-skelter for some time, it certainly does seem as though some magical man in the sky has re-trenched his outhouse in our general direction.
> 
> I just got my personal life turned upside down, so did another friend and I just received a call from a colleague who is going through a major crisis in her family as well!!  No matter where I turn, something hugely and disproportionately tragic is happening to just about every single person I know!
> 
> Maybe I need to talk to those bible-thumpers who knocked on my door yesterday .....




That's how I see it too. I'm not talkiing about worldwide, nationwide events when I say it's like a full moon every night. I'm talking about the general weirdness happening all around ME, from tiny stuff to big stuff, touching either my life directly or the ones I know personally.

Some if it is just nonsense weird stuff that makes you think, where the heck did _that_ come from? There will always be things happening around the world that makes us wonder what the world is coming to. But when those little off kilter things, or those big life altering events, are dropping like bombs all around you, it makes you wonder what the hell happened!


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## JBrainard (Sep 29, 2006)

Hand Sword said:


> I was thinking BIGGER than that. Big Brother is a part of the bigger whole.


 
That reminds me; The documentary "America: Freedom to Fascism" opens in limited release this weekend. I can't wait to check it out.


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## JBrainard (Sep 29, 2006)

michaeledward said:


> When did our nation become pee-your-pants afraid of the world?


 
911. After a scare like that people had to put their faith in something. Unfortunately, all of the sheep put their faith in good ol' GWB. I could start going off at this point, but I won't.
:soapbox:


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## Lisa (Sep 29, 2006)

Whether it is the media flood we have been getting lately or not, I have been finding myself shaking my head and saying/thinking "my that is strange" an aweful lot lately.  

Good to know I am not the only one feeling it.  Safety in numbers.


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## FearlessFreep (Sep 29, 2006)

JBrainard said:


> 911. After a scare like that people had to put their faith in something. Unfortunately, all of the sheep put their faith in good ol' GWB. I could start going off at this point, but I won't.



Much longer ago than that.  Possibly post WWII when life got comfy and people wanted to keep living like that forever without outside cares or threats.  Maybe post-Vietnam for varous reasons.


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## exile (Sep 29, 2006)

It's true that this sense of things unwinding is nothing new. Here's something that H.G.Wells wrote in a kind of extended pamplet titled  _Mind at the End of its Tether_ shortly before his death:

_A frightful queerness has come into life. Hitherto events have been held together by a certain logical consistency as the heavenly bodies have been held together by the golden cord of gravitation. Now it is as if that cord had varnished and everything is driven anyhow, anywhere, at a steadily increasing velocity. The writer is convinced that there is no way out or around, or through the impasse. It is the end._

Kierkegaard echoed the same note a century earlier---for him, dread was perhaps the dominant emotion of his era. I think, if we look for it, we'll see evidence at just about every age and stage of history that some vital network of connections has been lost.


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## wee_blondie (Sep 30, 2006)

Wow - glad its not just us Brits that think the US has gone a bit nuttier than usual lately!  I find it reassuring to know that there are some in that big ol' coutry of yours still capable of independant thought!! (no offense intended but thats just the general impression over here)

Mind you, Tony isn't much better.  At least your head honcho is coming up with ideas (even if they are whack); ours is happy to follow on which begs the eternal question: whos worse? the fool or the fool who follows?

Maybe its always been that way, we just haven't noticed.  Hell, I'm just gonna start up my own country right here in my living room.  Free speech, martial arts and all the ice-cream you can eat.  Anyone wanna join??


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## Hand Sword (Sep 30, 2006)

JBrainard said:


> That reminds me; The documentary "America: Freedom to Fascism" opens in limited release this weekend. I can't wait to check it out.


 

Still, even bigger than that.


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## Jade Tigress (Sep 30, 2006)

wee_blondie said:


> Free speech, martial arts and all the ice-cream you can eat.  Anyone wanna join??




I do! I do! :wavey:


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## Kacey (Sep 30, 2006)

wee_blondie said:


> I'm just gonna start up my own country right here in my living room.  Free speech, martial arts and all the ice-cream you can eat.  Anyone wanna join??



Me too, me too!!!


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## Drac (Sep 30, 2006)

Jonathan Randall said:


> Since 9/11.
> 
> Something blew a hole in the space-time continuum that day and opened us up to Bizarro World, at least according to one writer!


 
Yes...


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## Hand Sword (Oct 2, 2006)

wee_blondie said:


> Wow - glad its not just us Brits that think the US has gone a bit nuttier than usual lately! I find it reassuring to know that there are some in that big ol' coutry of yours still capable of independant thought!! (no offense intended but thats just the general impression over here)
> 
> Mind you, Tony isn't much better. At least your head honcho is coming up with ideas (even if they are whack); ours is happy to follow on which begs the eternal question: whos worse? the fool or the fool who follows?
> 
> Maybe its always been that way, we just haven't noticed. Hell, I'm just gonna start up my own country right here in my living room. Free speech, martial arts and all the ice-cream you can eat. Anyone wanna join??


 

Absolutely!!! Count Me in too!


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## mrhnau (Oct 3, 2006)

Lets see.... Three school shootings (Colorado, the principal shot, Amish shootings), the Foley scandal, the Brazilian airline crashing and a Greek airline hijacking...

all in one week...

*sigh*

what a world


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## Lisa (Oct 7, 2006)

Adding to that a college shooting up here in Canada a couple of weeks ago.

I walked into work on Tuesday to find on my desk the emergency plan the Univesity has in place for the campus.  After the rash of shootings lately the University sent information to every employees, staff and student to remind them and make them aware that they have a plan ready should something happen there.

It caused my stomach to flip.  The reality of it all just seemed to hit me a little harder.


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## dubljay (Oct 7, 2006)

I agree it seems like there is more and more tragic things happening.  I am no less disturbed by this than anyone else.  But I don't dwell on it.  Though when I do stop to think about it day to day I see more acts of kindness (or at the very least civil and tollerant behavior) than I do negative things, including what I read about in the news.

Focus on the bad and that is all you will see.  Just because the news focuses on all the negative things in the world doesn't mean that our prespective has to match that.


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## Arizona Angel (Oct 7, 2006)

Too many people on the earth.  Where are they all coming from?  Guess you get the good with the bad.  And, life steadily gets worse, but at least we aren't living in the dark ages.  I would miss my computer.


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