MASS PHENOMENA EFFECT: ITS DANGERS AND THE CASE FOR GLOBAL SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY Making general philosophy popular is more than a noble goal, it is required in order to help insure that democracy and freedom of expression exist and continue to exist. What is Mass Phenomena Effect? Mass Phenomena Effect is another term for Cumulative Effect, Group Mentality Phenomena, Mass Effect, Mass or Group Impact, etc., and refers to any condition, circumstance or state, environmental and/or social, that arises from the accumulated group effect of ideas, attitudes held and consequent actions taken/done by either a large group or significant minority of individuals who either unwittingly or intentionally collectively share such attitudes and partake in such actions arising from such attitudes. For example, if, say, ten people are marooned on an island and all or even most of these ten people are convinced that they would each be the best person to be the leader of all the rest then the mass phenomena effect will likely be that they will end up fighting and killing one another, thereby jeopardizing the interests everyone on that island. Or, if all or a majority or a significant minority of people begin to get into the same type of business then the mass phenomena effect will be that the market will be over-saturated with that particular businesses service(s) and/or product(s) and most if not all involved will lose. Some notable negative examples of mass phenomena effect are: the rise of Nazism and Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain and the overwhelmingly negative consequences of those populist ultra-nationalist movements on the overall welfare of their own adherents and those they harmed; the lack of available affordable adequate housing in the U.S. real-estate and housing market caused by too many real estate investment speculators and high rent profiteers (which forces service sector employees to live further and further away from the communities they serve and which forces them to pay more and more for transportation costs, etc…leaving them without the means to afford health insurance, health care, and other basic needs); the dramatic drop in the value of per capita donations to environmental and social organizations as a result of the dramatic increase in the number of   such organizations, the worsening environmental and social situation and the accumulated effect of compassion fatigue; the Great Depression which was the result of a mass phenomena effect caused to a significant degree by  the widespread use of the home mortgage and credit purchases of automobiles and furniture which boosted spending but created a vast consumer debt accompanied by over-speculation on the stock exchange leading to unrealistic and unsustainable wealth creation for a small minority of people (at the expense, ultimately, of all the little investors and the working-class poor in general);  the environmental threat created by an increasing world population and the increasing use of fossil fuels in such over-populated nations as China and India, etc….  These are just some of the more obvious forms of mass phenomena effect. A less obvious form of mass phenomena effect is a result of the attitude of most people in society that if you are not highly accredited by an institution of higher learning then your opinion is not worthy of the attention of the media and the public at large, thereby severely limiting the ability of true new geniuses and brilliant non-traditional thinkers from getting their views known and applied. Given the very complexity of our modern day world that is to a great extent the result of over-population and advances in the speed and volume of information communicable, mass phenomena effect is more of an issue than it has ever been before, and should thus be a separate topic for high- school students and college students to study and understand. Unfortunately the very opposite is happening and an increasing percentage of each new and every subsequent generation since WWII is less and less conscious of the dynamics of mass phenomena effect and why we should all be concerned about it. Obviously, as usual, certain people or groups of people do not see it in their interest to have a world that is more enlightened and aware of the dire social and environmental consequences of mass phenomena effect. They may think that they can truly benefit from dividing and conquering people’s minds and manipulating human behavior, but sooner or later things will get way out of control and even they may have to decide whether or not to promote greater levels of knowledge and wisdom or find ways to eradicate a significant majority of the world’s human population! Right now the mass phenomena effect of most people rushing back into the cave of religious extremism and unscientific superstition is a reality, for humanity in the post-WWII era was just beginning to explore outer-space and the universe and most people seem unable to cope with the idea that we humans are not at the center of anything and are only as important as we make one another and ourselves to be. With the “leave it to a greater force” laissez-fair attitude so prevalent today, accompanied by the prevalence of skeptical technocrats and corrupt opportunists taking over our governments, it is becoming more and more likely that we will experience mass global social meltdown and the subsequent chaos, anarchy and brutality that will ensue (and to an extent has already begun to happen). And while it is true that intellectual thinking and exchange of ideas will never by itself solve our problems, without such thinking and communication we won’t even begin to be able to seek the kind of elaborate mechanisms and complex solutions to the overcomplicated and difficult problems we now face! This is by no means a damned if we do and damned if we don’t situation; it is simply a damned if we don’t one! Only a dramatic increase in space exploration and research activity and the technological breakthroughs that result from such quests, can save us from over-indulging in religious dogma and superstition, not to mention all the problems that such limited vision and ignorant attitudes cause. And only in a world that is much more equitable and fair, a social democratic world, can we be able to find the resources to engage in such exploration and research. Capitalism, to a reasonable extent and in its healthy form, is fundamental to human freedom, the rights of the individual and, thus, to human progress, but when private enterprises abuse and/or neglect the welfare of society and the environments then there should be a way for government to exercise its power to restrain and, if need, be seek compensation in an effort to dissuade further and greater abuses. Socialism, without nationalism, also has its merits in its ability to protect the rights and provide for the needs of those who, as a result of no fault of their own making, find themselves unable to provide for the most basic essentials to live a relatively healthy and meaningful life (such as the poverty-stricken sick, elderly, weak and young). Social democracy is the only political social structure in which there can be healthy balance between the rights of the capitalist and the needs of society at large, between capitalism and socialism. Yet a social democratic world can only become reality when the masses are sufficiently educated and wise in order to be able to use the tools of democracy and freedom to insure the welfare and rights of all persons. In a social democratic world mass phenomena effect will be well understood by almost all citizens and each and every individual will be socially and environmentally conscious enough to know where to set the limits on their own behavior! In such a world only quality products and services at fair and sustainable market prices will be able to exist and cheap, shoddy junk will be a thing of the past. In such a world alternative transportation and energy technologies will be the rule and not the exception and we will have more time and energy to spend on quality living and developing our own unique and well-rounded character identities. In such a world the individual will not be as susceptible to the whims of the majority and vice versa, for the role of government will once more be as it was originally intended; to protect the rights of each individual and group from every other individual and group, and never become a mechanism that inadvertently dehumanizes and destroys the individual!