What a great read. And WELCOME!
Your path resembles mine and though where we ended up at different URLS (I'll check these links out, thanks!), the thinking seems to be of the same.

The thing about rabbit holes is they're made by rabbits before you got there. Or maybe it's a badger hole. Either way, it's made to get you to follow it. I'm glad to see someone else got themselves out of that stickiness and put a plan of action forth to counter strike. <- hey full circle lol from Counter Strike to a COUNTER STRIKE.

It wasn't Zeitgeist that did it for me, it was this even more obscure 63 part YT doc from the Middle East called The Arrivals: a Noreagaa Production. I've looked for it since i gobbled it up in 2009 but so far no luck. Closest i got was an archive site that mentioned it but didn't have any live links. I can find chunks of it but the juicy parts have long been removed.

I still think about that doc and what they laid out. I would give anything to meet these people and talk to them. I liked that it was from the complete opposite of our Western society; their critiques on our culture felt more true and thought-out, because of the outside perspective they have.

I still don't know how i would word what i believe is happening. I've turned to action instead, as no one's waiting for my opinion and I can make something beautiful instead of overthinking.

That said, my search for truth doesn't stop, just the conclusions have. It even got me all the way to the English countryside making crop circles, but that's another story altogether.

I'm looking forward to reading more of your thoughts. You write beautifully, I'm surprised you haven't been to higher education.

There's this quote I think of when in this realm:
"At the end of open-mindedness is skepticism." no one important said it, it's just true.

<3