Reading and writing here, I am reminded of Nietzsche and his famous observation: "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you."
Frankly, I think a glance now and then is heathy but it can become an obsession. Looking long and hard at unsettling topics affects different people differently. Some are influenced adversely, others are not.
On this Locals we look at plenty of 'scary' possibilities, worrisome events, and interpretations of events. We post reports or viewpoints that may or may not be accurate with the assumption that we all can handle it without being drawn off-centre or being harmed. Not everyone can.
Some people who walk confidently across the living room or down the street without ever falling could not walk along a solid steel beam hundreds of feet above the pavement without panicking and falling. Some people can stand calmly on the edge of a cliff, and some cannot.
I am reminded of Nathaniel Hawthorn's cautionary story, Young Goodman Brown:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Goodman_Brown:
“Biggest Transnational Crime Group on Earth”: Why Canada Must Break Free From China
A group of top national security experts is sounding the alarm: Canada’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has crossed from economic engagement into a full-blown democratic threat.
At a Dec. 6 forum in Toronto, former RCMP proceeds-of-crime director Garry Clement called the CCP “the biggest transnational organized crime group ever seen,” warning that Beijing is actively infiltrating Canada’s political, business, and cultural institutions. Through the United Front Work Department, the CCP co-opts elites, business leaders, community organizations, and media outlets—while intimidating and surveilling dissidents “on a daily basis.”
Clement also linked Beijing to the fentanyl crisis, saying the CCP could shut down precursor shipments to Canada “if they really wanted to,” but instead allows the flow as a form of “disruptive warfare,” echoing the tactics of the Opium Wars....
