Venezuela’s K-shift Begins To Go Hot

You can only load amygdalae for so long, before they begin to drive action:

What has happened today is transcendent, on many aspects.

In not even 48 hours the opposition managed to organize spontaneously what is probably the largest NATION WIDE protest ever in our history. If the Caracas one was not as large than the one on September, it remains quite impressive as per the picture above in front of the military base of La Carlota, without even bothering to ask for permission tot he regime. Think about that for a second. The opposition simply called it and people came. What makes the day noteworthy is that in many cities of the countries huge opposition rallies materialized at the same time, resulting in a major show of strength for the opposition, duly noted even on French TV tonight.

The only thing chavismo could manage was a handful of “supporter” public employees at the gate of Miraflores. They did not even tried to have some thing significant, they knew that they would not be able to fill up the buses with enough people to carry, no matter how much pressure and/or cash to attend they would provide.

There is an image of the rally, which was spontaneously organized, here.

Each day you activate amygdalae, they develop like muscles. The aversive stimulus grows stronger. The drive to act grows stronger. The anger grows stronger. Once that force grows strong enough, it can make you do anything. See someone kill another person, and end up in jail? That was amygdala. See someone do something suicidally stupid that ruined their lives? That was amygdala. See someone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? That was amygdala.

Venezuelans have been on a rigorous regimen of amygdala exercise, and their amygdalae are growing stronger every day. Where strong amygdala meet uncomfortable, and rectifiable circumstances, action will result.

On the other side is a circumstance which diminishes the amount of amygdala it takes to trigger action. When you are all alone, storming the castle gates and killing the king is a big, amygdala-stimulating idea. On the other hand, when tens of thousands of men are storming the castle, suddenly joining the fray is not such a big idea.

The only question is how long the Venezuelans need to experience misery, and how strong their amygdalae need to grow, before the tipping point is reached, and the winds of change begin to blow.

This is the future, of the entire modern world. What happens to Venezuela will one day be seen outside all of our windows.