The Hassle Free Zone

    In the video, David Icke refers to the accepted forms of behavior and beliefs within society as a "hassle free zone", where one can feel comfortable about their own behaviors and beliefs. Earlier in the documentary Thrive, Icke talks about "grouping of beliefs", the act where someone attributes their individual beliefs to the beliefs of a particular group. A certain number of groups form and represent a finite amount of acceptable beliefs for a person to have. Like being a sports fan. I like the 49ers because I was born in San Francisco, lived in the Bay Area, been a 49er fan my whole life, etc... This example is a very basic example but you can expand the framework to other walks of life. Whether it be work, or school, or politics, anything really. It is always prevalent.
   So I am standing in the mall just last week, shopping and people watching. Just observing the whole group of people. A massive group of people walking in basically 2 different directions, right at each other. All unique but all really the same. Each one walking very quickly, plastic bag in one hand and cell phone in the other, all looking around to see who is looking at them, all wearing something (clothes, jewelry, hair, accessories, attitude, etc.) that they feels individualizes them in a way. But all of these items that represent each individual are only being chosen because they feel everyone else will think they are cool or hip or edgy or whatever. It is crazy how the cycle works. It is funny to eaves drop on people and listen to their conversations too. All talking about what they bought, what they want, which store they want to go to next, etc. Though they are saying different things, they are all really having the same types of conversation and the possibilities are dictated by these norms.  This scene made me think of this dialogue by David Icke, he is so spot on. While we do have the ability to make individual choices at the small level, those choices have to be within the parameters that society has created for us.
   Then I look down at myself and realize I am no different. I have a plastic bag in one hand, cell in the other, looking around, wearing things I feel individualize me. It is an inescapable trap. We are all within its grasps. It dictates so much of our life, what is possible and impossible, what is normal and what is weird. This cycle leads us to believe that Capitalism is the best possible way and the poverty is an unavoidable state of mankind. This cycle makes a lot believe that there is not enough for everyone and that we must rely so heavily on natural resources. It creates an environment in which all groups believe that there way is the right way and  the only way even though there is endless possibility. It becomes a process of restrictive competing ideas as opposed to open cooperation of ideas. The system creates limits in which we are encouraged to adhere to and if not we are caste out, tagged as different, not normal. We become agents of the system, drones to its intentions and not our own.