Bad Choices ~ We all make them in the Social Imagination

What are bad choices and why do we make them?

Bad choices are firstly choices made based on a lack of information. We have only so much information in our heads (personal databank) as we can largely there due to the socialization which begins with mother. 

Bad choices are also made based on one's world view: how did it all happen and why am I here? So, you choose a world view (based on the information you have) and you make choices based on ther world view. So, if you reject the absolute truth that the world (universe/reality) was created by the Creator then you will rely on your relative view and your group, while at the same time blaming others outside of your group and including the 'state', to appeal to and seek support from them for your bad choices and or disgruntled opionion as to why things happen.

But, if you hold the world view that there is a Creator (God) and that He holds all things together, for He alone is the absolute truth you will seek Him when you make bad choices and not blame others including your own mother.

Most of the time, we make bad choices because we don't want to recognize the Creator nor are willing to submit to the absolute truth = a higher being, our Creator. So, by rejecting the absolute truth and all other absolute truths that follow the first, we become rebels without causes. Then there are those who recognize the absolute truth (s) but try to dominate the absolute truth which is what Lucifer 'Satan' did and does. Then there are those who use the absolute truth to get others to submit to and or worship them... like Lucifer 'Satan' did and does.

Now, you can be in denial of all what has just been said which still puts you in the rejection category and likely to make bad choices, but I would rather call those kind of bad choices, grave choices.  Yes, of course, anyone can make a bad choice who does not reject the absolute truth and declare that willingly he/she submits to the Creator's Will. Those kinds of bad choices are called transgressions - sin (s). But, thank God, the Creator our Lord and Savior that He sent His Son to redeem us.

If you are in rejection and still think there is an explanation, I can still give you one. You put yourself at the center of the universe and think that you have a right to do what you want with your own body and you have a right to say and think what you want and you have the right to make bad choices; ...and guess what? You do. The Creator accepts your free will because He gave you free will. He would never force anyone to love Him and would never force anyone to do what He thinks is best for you/them. If you want to make bad choices, He will let you in hopes that the consequences will draw you back to Him.

So, essentially by submitting ourselves to our own will, we dominate the Will of God and in our domination of Him we will lose His ability to dominate in our life, even to save it by His domination over our bad choices/sin and the evil one. 

In a secularist society, you pay for your bad choices. In a secular humanist society, you will be humanly put down for your bad choices.

Who pays for your bad choices? You will unless you let Jesus Christ who already did it.

UnMasking Creativity ~ Becoming Creative Part II

The problem when it comes to unmasking creativity is that it suggests the need for letting go of management and administration. Which many people have a problem with because within those mechanisms of control, they feel secure even risking freedom and creativity.

We know that this world is in a fallen state - subject to entropy. We thus observe this and want to control, but total control is not possible in a fallen state, so the best option is to manage and administer entropy. Which is necessary for social imagination, social reality otherwise the imagination would be unstable, and social reality chaotic.

Yes, management of entropy is necessary to experience social imagination - social reality. In order to have order, disorder must be managed. In order to have any society whatsoever, recognizable as such, we must have management of entropy. That means collective social agreement regarding the management of its order. And, in the very least, in order to understand each other in that society, the means of identifying it as such using symbols and language must be ordered and or managed.

How then can creativity be part of that management? That is a good question. Many people out of fear think that only the elites at the top of society however they 'manage' to get there must know the best way. Out of fear, those people will risk creativity that they possess for the safety in the confines that others think is creative enough.

The danger in this kind of entropy management is the loss of creativity regarding the management of entropy in favor of control in the false hope of establishing total security in an entropic universe. The best means of secuity is the dispersal of management, trusting those at the lower levels, at the grass roots level to manage entropy in a creative way in the place that they are. Rather than from a top down pyramid scheme. For the top of that structure can only remain solid if the top trusts the bottom.

The liberal progressives think in reversal... they think that the top directs, the top knows what is best but it must be from the top that direction comes and promises everything for the bottom. As a Christian, I would agree that God is at the top and He directs using His Word. And, it is His Word in us that we are able to become a solid foundation brought up to manage entropy. If we collectively recognize God and His role, we will know our role in entropy management.

That is why conservatives are not afraid because they know who has the con - and it is not a man made top down centrally steered government. They know that in knowing who has the con, the bottom is able to do its part regarding entropy management, they have the freedom to be creative to figure out what is best in the place that they are, building a solid foundation that supports the layer above and so on from there - finally glorifying the one at the top...The Creator of heaven and earth of all things seen and unseen - Jesus Christ. He was before all things and in Him all things hold together ~ Co 1:16-17.

Un-Masking Creativity ~ Becoming Creative: Part I

In the previous blog, the masks of creativity were revealed - top down management and administration by people and institutions (controlled groups of people) who think THEY are the source of all creativity. In this 'Part I', we will begin discover how to unmask creativity and become creative. We need first to understand and embrace the fact that there is a Creator and His is the absolute Creator. Otherwise, all creativity is relative and no 'creativity' is anything special nor does 'creativity' exist. Without such a Creator, there could not be a 'path to creativity' or a path of/for creativity.

Point being... in the social imagination there has to be a recognized an absolute, infinite, non local constant Creator that is all things and holds all things together. Thus being a platform of departure for the social imagination - social reality and creativity. This absolute must be seen as the ultimate source of all authority, knowledge and truth. You see, we cannot be creative in a state of entropy unless we define, accept and or agree upon an absolute that never changes.

If we do not commit to that absolute, there is no creativity ... whatever creativity we imagine is not essentially creative and in fact,  cannot be recognized as truly creative by anyone. This is the beginning of unmasking creativity that we experience here and now by a top down management and administration of men/women who think that they are the source of creativity. Because, without an absolute, they/we are just a hollow mask and any creativity isn't really creative.

Masks of Control ~ Where the jobs are and shouldn't be in the Social Imagination!

One does not really need to look at statistics to know that the majority of jobs are in management and administration; not in creative jobs. These are jobs that manage and or control society at home and at work. We have administration and or management over and above us all the time telling us how to live and what to do. Yet, ironically, all levels of education and parents and communities cry out for creativity in education and in the work place. There is no need for creativity unless we are talking about how to better 'creatively' manage as in control society.

The masks of control are everywhere.  Took a look around at the strongholds of control. The levels of management work as control mechanisms. They let blame be passed on and once near the bottom of the totem, its easier to cut those off than those at the top who control the system. We have too many people working in management and or in the administration of people's lives: in our communities, in education, in health care, social work and the final business of management is the prison system.

Most Americans are hypocrites. They like to preach forgiveness and moving forward in love and peace but actually they are far from it in any sense of a real life practice. Hence, they like to lob onto control mechanisms to feel safe and secure from others and even from themselves knowing that they are the root of all their social pitfalls produced by a dysfunctional social imagination.

We should be imagining and encouraging creative jobs not administrative jobs; and in this way, begin to see a drop in criminal and or deviate behavior, a love for education and genuine concern for our fellow men and women... and with that a genuine concern for families and children, the elderly and handicapped. And, in that concern, see and practice early intervention in health care and forward thinking in re-socialization that does not promote the prison system as a business, a place of jobs.

We need to take off the masks and let freedom in creativity pave the way. The freedom to be creative and innovative requires people to think for themselves and not be made to think by managers and or administrators.  People really can imagine what is best for them and they don't need someone else to do it for them.  But then, Satan creeps in and whispers, "that's dangerous, they are too ignorant to think for themselves".  And, we listen. Thus, we can't imagine that different opinions and worlds views are good things and we can all benefit no matter how much we may not like those 'other' world views and 'other' opinions.

How do you know that people don't trust or respect each other for their input for their 'different views' and or 'other' opinions? When they call for a top down centrally steered structure to make laws (that manage/administer) to control people, to shut them down. When you see people protesting against others in a slanderous and mocking way, screaming and crying against someone who simply thinks differently... then you know who still wants to and needs to wear a mask, hiding behind it as it is protecting them and us from each other.

Socialization in the Western Social Imagination!

Socialization begins with mother. So, if you think you that most problems in the world have been introduced to individuals by someone else, some other major influence... you're wrong. Mother is the first source in the social reality that we encounter and are initially programmed by. This is not bad. It is naturally engineered that way. Now, mother has only so much information at the time of one's birth. It maybe deemed good or bad by the wider society or dysfunctional or limited merely by lack of social interaction outside her small group 'community'' and wider social knowledge. This is true for all groups, every race, color, creed civilized or primitive.

In smaller a successful group 'familiar community', mother likely has more quality information because the information received is experienced as good given the group is successful using it; this applies to wealthy and poorer groups. So, in that sense, the information mother has gained from the group is seen as an advantage from being in a place. She transfers this information to the child even before birth and certainly immediately thereafter.  That information gets in on the ground floor, it gets embedded at the lowest, the deepest level of our social programming.

Now, if the mother and group especially is not surviving 'successfully' or being able to continue to survive successfully in the place that she/they find herself/themselves then that kind of information is transferred as well. There may be a decision to flee the group essentially becoming a refugee seeking another place for survival. She/they may decide to change the place as in move on, and attempt to  integrate into a group that is surviving because what it is doing is working a their place which may be just a better place. Which is not easy for her/them because she/they come with information attached as in embedded in her/them that did not work for her/them and or was false information or lacking in better information and or just different from the group to which she/they now attempt to belong.

Will other groups let her/them in? Yes, if it needs 'newbies'. This even applies to attempting to find a new partner/spouse who is of a slightly similar or certainly of a different group. Healthy newbies that can work for the group and maintain the group in their place with the least amount of imposition, successfully able to integrate without too much effort for the host will be allowed in. No, if the newbie wants the host group to change and or imposes on it rather than brings something to it.

We like to think that here in America, all groups have always been integrated well. Not true. Most or at least many groups will differ in their opinion. Some groups are excluded based on obvious physical differences, others because their information package is different (education/religion/income) and this has little to do with color.


















Those that integrate well have fully adapted to the change of life in a new place and or are attempting to at least improve their information package by: learning the language (symbolizes/wordage/communication), the laws, the local ordinances, the way of life in that community -taboos and other. Can those trying to integrate be suddenly excluded? Sure, because they may suddenly appear as a threat or as a burden or unable to integrate and be 'like us'. This is true for all groups civilized or primitive. This is also true in the corporate world of work.

If you want to become one of them, join the 'in-group' then you have to make behavioral changes. You have to mimic, you have hang with them, talk like them and be them if you want to survive. This is true for all groups on the face of the earth and in the corporate world of work and it is true for liberal progressives. If you don't get with their program, you will be on the outside of that group.

Problems Today Between Racial Groups ~ Instigated by the Social Imagination at theTop?

... "nonconformists who are dedicated to Justice, peace and brotherhood."

Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history. Dr. King drew inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950’s and ‘60s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the United States.

While other groups were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary,” including violence, Martin Luther King, Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals.

He went on to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always maintaining fidelity to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family.

Dr. King’s "I Have a Dream Speech" is one of the most revered orations and writings in the English language. His accomplishments are now taught to American children of all races, and his teachings are studied by scholars and students worldwide ~  http://www.thekingcenter.org/about-dr-king

In light of Dr. King's humble and practical words for justice, peace and brotherhood, what does the title of this post then imply? It attempts to point that disparity and tension between groups is being caused by or instigated by those at the top - the ruling elite. Why? Because, they have the most to lose and the most to gain.

But you say, "I don't see them doing anything like that". No, the ruling elite (those with money, power, prestige) are clever enough to hire/get others to do their 'dirty' work; or to stir up others to do what they themselves would never do publicly. It is a strategy, a tactic that gives and ends in total control. So, if you 'conform' or do what they want or what they lead you to think or believe is the 'right' thing to do and you do it or at least imitate what they do or seem to be doing, you will never be out of their circle of influence, friends and social networks. Hence, the reason Dr. King stated that disciplined nonconformists will be the ones dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

But, what about all those people who in their small little worlds/communities/churches seem to be the most prejudice? Most of the time but rather always, it is due to a lack of information which leads to a lack of choices as it is for anyone in that environment no matter what color.

Max Weber one of the most genius sociologists observed that choices are what really set people apart. Its how a person spends their time and money no matter how much and or little.  We make choices that set us apart from others. This is an absolute truth that applies to groups. Of course, it seems like others have more opportunities for better choices. Yet, we know that even coming from poor surroundings and or conditions people have risen up and overcome their situation; for example Dr. Ben Carson, George Washington Carver, Condelessa Rice and many others now and in the past.

There are plenty of people of non-color that also have come up from very poor or dysfunctional families. How? They made better choices! But, the ruling elites in positions of power and many who run and teach in our universities don't want people to know that.  They want the general public and students to think that they are being made into racists at the grass roots level.

The reality is that they are being made racists by the top who stand at the podiums putting labels on people while delivering a 'righteous' lecture that people hate each other as if it is in their blood. And, there will still be that some will say it is really due to unfair laws, or unjust practices by people of non-color which are in place because they have the majority. The truth is they are in place in many places because of their shear numbers but not necessarily because they are all privileged or haters and certainly not put in such positions by all local people as in neighbors but put in place by those who rule and look for those who will conform to their rule regardless of color.

Yet, people are led to believe that the disparity they experience is really caused by being a minority due to their 'hater' neighbor and not the person (s) in power.  Even if we were to accept this as a truth, disparity between people is still ultimately based on the choices people make regardless of color. People make choices based on their comfort level, their desires, and world views and those choices shape who they hang out with, what they read, what they look at and what they will do if they think it will move them up or provide more comfort or recognition within their 'small group' as in local and larger social reality.

I would however still argue that those in positions of power and prestige control information and they thus control choices; everyone's. Nonetheless, looking at choices, you can be sure that if you have a nice big house or a great job then you made certain choices and certainly better choices than someone else did. And because of that, because you made better choices or were able to make better choices someone else who did not nor cannot nor will ever have that big house or great job because you got it; you made the better choices.

And, those who make the better choices, they get better lives. They thus want to protect their better life and their children's lives. So, they get people in office and in their schools who will protect their life and their children's lives.  The mechanisms they use are laws, and property taxes, ordinances, regulations, which get people to either conform or move along as in move out.

But, of course, we want to think that if we just make the 'right' laws that prohibit this kind of discriminatory behavior and make all good  information available to all people things will improve. Just remember who makes the laws, who raises the property taxes, calls for particular ordinances and regulations. What can be done then to give the most people a fair access to information and a chance to make better choices and have a better life. One positive aspect is that the founding fathers of this country did consider this and wrote such sound and fair social doctrine. That is why this country is one of the most free in the world.

Because this is a free country, we do have sources of good information which has been made readily available to everyone - its called public education and the public library. And, this is true in some of the poorest communities and public schools there is access to good information and such even exists in the school libraries of all communities. Nowadays, most people have access to the internet where many choices exist and not all are good choices. Max Weber hit the nail on the head so to speak... its the choices we make that matter most.

Dr. Martin Luther King realized this too and hence he had a dream in which he proclaimed exactly what has just been said here. He was silenced because it was the truth and the ruling elites don't like the truth when it hurts them or puts them in a bad light. Yet, perhaps its not fair to put all blame on the ruling elite. Its really about making good choices and as just touted we all have access to information in this country. All I can say is what Weber said ...there will always be some who make bad choices. Their bad choices allow those who make good or even better choices have more power.

If you really want to be 'free at last'; then, do Thank God Almighty for only He is the Creator of all things seen and unseen and in Him we live, move and have our being ~ Acts 17:28. Giving your life to Christ is the best choice and good choices will follow that best choice. That's the one ultimate and absolute truth that Dr. King advocated the most and yet we hear so little of it. Why? Because, that is the truth that sets you free.



 

Cycles 'Turnings' in the Social Imagination and What we Can Expect ~ Part I

Recently read a book titled, "The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy" by William Strauss and Neil Howe. In this book, one can read of generational cycles and turnings in American history. It reminded of the work of Pitirim Sorokin. Since this blog post will be in two parts, it is necessary to only briefly describe 'The Fourth Turning" as already mentioned, a read about generational cycles and turnings in American history; and, turn to ...describing firstly the work of Sorokin. Before doing that, it is also necessary to provide a brief background on Sorokin.

He grew up in a rather poor family in the village of Turya, in northern Russia. Sorokin did manage to complete higher education in criminal law and sociology. He established the first Department of Sociology at Petrograd University in 1919–1920. However, he soon came under attack by the Soviet police after fiercely criticizing the government as ineffective and corrupt. Sorokin and his wife, Elena left Russia in September 1923 and moved to the capital of the Czech Republic, the city of Prague. Not long after there move to Prague, they opted to settle in the United States where Sorokin continued his research.

Pitirim Sorokin soon became a famous and well-respected scholar. In 1924 he was invited by the head of the sociology department to teach at the University of Minnesota, where he stayed for six years and wrote six books. Sorokin was then invited to be one of the founders of the Department of Sociology at Harvard where he continued to teach from 1930 to 1955. In 1965, he became the 55th president of the American Sociological Association.

In his Social and Cultural Dynamics, his magnum opus, Sorokin classified societies according to their 'cultural mentality', which can be "ideational" (reality is spiritual), "sensate" (reality is material), or "idealistic" (a synthesis of the two). He suggested that major civilizations evolve from an ideational to an idealistic, and eventually to a sensate mentality. Each of these phases of cultural development not only seeks to describe the nature of reality, but also stipulates the nature of human needs and goals to be satisfied, the extent to which they should be satisfied, and the methods of satisfaction. Sorokin has interpreted the contemporary Western civilization as a sensate civilization, dedicated to technological progress and prophesied its fall into decadence and the emergence of a new ideational or idealistic era.

1. There are two opposed elementary cultural patterns, the materialistic (Sensate) and spiritual (Ideational), along with certain intermediate or mixed patterns.  One mixed pattern, called Idealistic, which integrates the Sensate and Ideational orientations, is extremely important.
2. Every society tends to alternate between materialistic and spiritual periods, sometimes with transitional, mixed periods, in a regular and predictable way.
3. Times of transition from one orientation to another are characterized by a markedly increased prevalence of wars and other crises.

Here, we begin to get a picture of what Strauss and Howe were writing about - cycles and turnings. And, looking at such cycles and turnings helps us to understand where we are at in the social imagination and where we are going.  Looking at Sorokin's patterns, America has been in my sociological observations a blend of the Sensate and Ideational = Idealistic.

However, going back into American history/culture, we can certainly find when the spiritual was more dominate in the social imagination of America when certain groups came seeking religious freedom and if we read slowly the language and context of early American life we find a kind of spiritual attitude in the daily life and in the very words of American doctrines: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Wars have seemed to encourage the sways in that integrated pattern in America, one has only to follow the trail from the revolution to the civil war and to the first world war and second and the Vietnam war followed by the cold war.  The last mentioned end brought about a huge materialistic rise in American culture. The lewdness of that has now stirred in the social imagination a return to the spiritual.

Perhaps now, after a long time in a more materialistic dominated Idealistic pattern, a return to a spiritual high. Not that there have not been spiritual revivals, there have been but certainly now is a nationwide growth in spirituality and its not just in the pronounced religions. One can see it in many forms and in many practices- yoga for one example and or in Free Masonry and in its civil religion. It seems that Strauss and Howe were influenced by Sorokin's work. There is a high, followed by crisis, then unraveling and then rebuilding due to awakening.  Though looking at the above illustration this all seems to run counterclockwise. I say, if you are high there is nowhere else to go but down...

Strauss and Howe looked at generations rather than patterns of cultural mentality. But there is not much difference... just semantic. But, their book is worth the read and thus enlightening as it appears to be a clean innovation on Sorokin's work if it was intended to be.

Before looking at their generational labels lets look at their names for 'turnings'. The first is a high (feel good time) turning, followed by an awakening (spiritual upheaval)  and then an unraveling (downcast era) and then a crisis (decisive era) . Strauss and Howe label generations which line up with the turnings: prophets are born during high, nomads born in the awakening and heroes born in unraveling with artists born in crisis.

According to Strauss and Howe, my parents were born in the crisis turning and they became the benefactors of the high turning. I was born in the awakening and was disappointed being caught up in the unraveling. Children born in the unraveling become heroes who have to deal with the next crisis.

Expectation in the Social Imagination!

All to often you hear people say... "Don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed." Sure, we cannot expect anything, and guess what... we won't receive anything either. We won't even be able to engage in social interaction because it is there that we experience social reality with its social dynamics - subordination and domination largely discharged by and governed by expectation. It may not seem fair because many people think of those words as being harsh. But, they are not. They only illustrate as in describe what is going on when we are socially engaged which is all the time.

Such words express the 'real' social interaction between social actors in which they sometimes 'you' win and or sometimes lose and sometimes gain indirectly by tolerating as in letting go or giving in to keep the peace. And, sometimes one has to take a stand, one has to be brave and or courageous when  something has to be done so that peace is won and prevails.

One can read in the book of Job exactly this "For all their expectations, they are doomed to disappointment; even though they have come and searched this far". So many people (Christians too) think that this message applies to every instance in their life. It does and it does not. It does NOT when expecting is hoping, trusting and believing in something greater than oneself (God the Creator who is Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ) and it does when expectation, hope, trust and belief is in man for it is in men that we will always find disappointment and be disappointed. Because, man exists in an entropic world whereas the Creator exists outside of that, outside of what we call time.

Yet, being a sociologist and a Christian, one has to agree that expectations among men are necessary even though we may be disappointed. We need to expect something from every man and woman in society. Why? Because, expectations help to serve, guide and regulate behavior so that as many people as possible can live with some sense of security, well being/happiness and peace.

Don't you expect a policeman to do his job when you call for their intervention? Don't you expect a doctor to prescribe the right medicine and a dentist to pull the right tooth? Don't you expect that the food in the grocery store is safe to eat? Don't you expect your child to do well in school or at least be polite to the teacher and to neighbors and to all others they encounter and or engage in that are of a different race, ethnicity and creed? Don't you expect your spouse to care about you and to love you?

Yes, we expect these things and we also expect that we deserve to expect them in our society. The problem however lies in the weight that we give to such expectations. We all to often to put our full weight of trust in people that cannot fulfill an ideal expectation. We expect our doctor to heal every disease. We expect our children to excel in certain things. We expect our food to always be fresh and tasty. We expect the sun to shine on our parade always.

But, people often lay too much weight on their expectations. Do you put your spouse and children on a pedestal? What kinds of expectations do you have? Are they unrealistic?... in that you fail to fully understand that this is a fallen world, a corrupt world in which people are not perfect. Tame down your expectations and you won't be so disappointed in this fallen world. There is nothing wrong about expecting as in awaiting as in anticipating something wonderful, that is what keeps us human and engaged socially.

But know this - Only from the Lord God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth can we expect much and much will be given! "Shouldn't we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?" 2 COR 3:8.
































My hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him I will never be disappointed because only He can fulfill all my expectations! Psalm (s) 71:5, 38:15, 39:7 and 130:5.

The New Atlantis in the Social Imagination of the Ruling Elite

Are the ruling elite imagining for themselves a new Atlantis? Yes, didn't you see the movie ~ Elysium. But even before that, one could have read the novel by Sir Francis Bacon titled, the New Atlantis. What is hard to imagine is that was Bacon's first publication back in 1627.  We read in this incomplete utopian novel, Bacon's vision of the future of human discovery, knowledge and ideals. It is a place where everyone is enlightened in the meaning as being on the same 'spiritual plane' or philosophy and where everyone has the same public spirit with all living in splendor and a kind of piety. It is the mythical Bensalem not to be confused with the new Jerusalem.  


Essentially, it is the ruling elite's plan for the new world order and it is being orchestrated now by the ruling elite. It was born of a British/American/European elite whose wealth and power is centuries old and historically documented. These people control the politicians, the courts, the education institutions, the banks and most nations and let us not forget the media where the real mind control is executed.

But why... why do they do it? Aren't they benevolent human beings? Don't they care about all of humanity? That is a good question. They care about humanity, firstly their own and their kind of humanity. Secondly, they care about the idea of humanity which does not mean that everyone who is a human belongs in the same category as they see themselves as or think they are in. The ruling elites see themselves as the true caretakers of humanity and everyone else that thinks of their own humanity first is selfish because they don't look beyond that, they don't have the ideal of humanity in them.

Ironic, as even the elites themselves think the same thing first. What makes them different is their love for the ideal and its monument to them. That is why so many liberals, progressives and elites think of themselves as the voice for humanity and all social ills that create pitfalls, obstacles, and transgressions for humanity are to be forever removed or barred or sealed up as in archived one way or another. Perhaps, even met with fire and total destruction. The only problem is who gets saved since this is not yet the new Atlantis. All are guilty of such causes in humanity, right?

For the ruling elites, its 'naturally' them. Because, they have the money, the power, the mind set and time to make things right... to bring about Bensalem. What can we do? We can imagine with them as in if you can't beat em join up. Or, we can imagine Masada. Of course, that sounds pretty defeatist. What can you imagine? Are you going to imagine the New Atlantis and if so, what will you be doing, yes that is the question. Likely, in Bensalem the ruling elite are the ones who will find something for you to do in their New Atlantis or what you find yourself doing is what you imagined to do in such a place as you find you are there and that makes you one of them in the social imagination.