It is really a pretty big question. My output on this blog has dropped off radically. Most of this is because the issues that I feel to be important have been written about by yours truly and I find rehashing the same old thing to be intellectually stale.
Most of the doomer literature fobbed off in blogs are TEOTWAWKI in nature. The world is ending. Life is going to be a pile of shit.
I think that the world is going to be just fine. The human race will adjust population-wise to a more sustainable level. The energy use of the smaller population will decrease in net and per-capita terms. A lot of the technological appurtenances that we hold so dear will be defaulted on. In other words, we will be living a life appropriate to our means, not our desires.
I beat a drum which no one likes the rhythm. The discordance of saying "we have taken too much, we cannot all be rich, we cannot all have everything"' is not appreciated in the vast majority. Hell, it really isn't appreciated by my fellow doomers.
I really can't see how the whole thing is going to play out. We might go Wiemar, or we might not, we might have a revolution, or we might not. A new Andy Jackson might rise and start things fresh, or he might just stay at home.
What I do know is that I feel strongly that change is coming. Unlike Harold Camping, I don't pretend that I have a secret formula where, if, I can just get my calculations straight, I can peer though a clear glass into the future. My glass is dark, and its reflections show much more of my prejudices and fear than the visions of a future world I so desperately wish to get a glimpse of.
3 comments:
That post is exactly why you should write. Well said.
I've always tried to stress the AWKI part of TEOTWAWKI. The world will not end (unless some interstellar cue ball knocks us into the corner pocket). But life will be very different for us, soon I think (hope). Dialing society/technology back to sustainability would be absolutely wonderful. But you're right, the vast majority would rather keep barreling right on over the technological cliff than dial back their comfort level.
Me, I'd be happy as a humble fisherman in a small sailing skiff. I rather enjoy lamp and candle light. I like it to be DARK at night so I can marvel at the stars. I enjoy riding horses much more than dodging traffic. I much prefer the sea breeze on my front porch to "air conditioned comfort" Etc., etc. But I'm "screwy" that way...
1. Sometimes writing things down helps to get them clear in your own head. So, write for yourself or don't write at all.
2. It helps to have a record of one's musings for humility's sake. There's nothing more effective to check the ego than looking back a year or two and read about that which we were *absolutely* sure.
3. Doomer porn comes and goes, and there will always be a market for it. But the average bear looks to be reassured and craves concrete information when his/her own personal fit hits the shan (and, btw, this is how collapse happens: one family at a time).
4. Flip the process. Write about what you did over the past week to try to improve your life in one way or the other. Record what worked and what didn't. Over time, you'll be able to go back and see your own personal patterns of success emerging. And you'll be able to refer others to a rich source of documentation without having to repeat yourself over and over.
Some days I am more optimistic than others.
But I am continually amazed at all the strange stuff going on out there.
I am also amazed at how much, even with our current world’s unique blend of high tech and poverty, so much of what is talked about has happened - usually more than once.
But people latch onto a scenario and tend to stick with it. The current culture -best as I can tell- is an outgrowth of the nuclear bomb scares of the 1950s and 1960s. Thus they continue to insistence on fast collapse, bug out bags, and distant retreats.
The other common brand that intermixes with that group is the militia movement. I associate them with the black helicopter conspiracies of the 1990s. With them the collapse is often instigated by a group for the purpose of a takeover. If it is not intentionally started then some group uses the chaos to their purpose. The popular "Patriots" mixes both elements.
Of course the Apocalyptic and UFO crowd are still out there. They just run in different circles. Of course if you take the popularity of the "Left Behind" series as agreement, they make for a pretty large group.
I remember over at the survival blog, there was some guy in the comments section who was almost seventy, had an invalid wife, and he is busy building camouflaged (to look like boulders) concrete crash barriers around his house. ?
If you look at the demographics of most prepper sites, the people who follow them have some post high school education and are around 50 years old. I am just a little more educated, and a little younger than the average. At some time listening to people talk, you would think they were all in their mid-20s. I am with Mayberry. Some preparation is good, but most of us are getting on in years. We should try to enjoy ourselves.
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