[Free]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeasonOfPain', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Free', 'D')o you know the movie where some guy discovers shades which show reality? People look like aliens and on money and adverts there is written in huge letters "Obey" "Work" "Sleep" and so on. Peak Oil is like these shades to me.

[mgibbons19]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Free', '
')Always when I start to think I have been sucked up by some weird banana sect there is news in the mainstream media which makes it clear it's not some weird nightmare but a reality I have to deal with.

[jdmartin]

Well, thanks everyone. I have to say it is comforting to know that there are others feeling the same exact way. It helps me keep perspective that no, I am not insane, even with this wierd feeling stomping around me about peak oil....

[NEOPO]

"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick ass and I am all out of bubble gum" Rowdy roddy piper - They live

The knowledge of PO is equal to a pair of those special sunglasses

Movies that star over aged wrestlers are generally not on my list but "they live" is definately required watching

Hmmm how real does all this feel/seem.

For those of us who have experienced great change and adapted to it - PO is not all that scary yet it still ranks right up there with all of the other life changing events.

I am over the twilight zone feeling pretty much.
The only time I feel that way is when it seems we wont have time (1-2 years ) to complete our homestead plans before SHTF.
I write it off as paranoia yet I know it is just the awareness of our fragile situation.

I suggest that everyone have some sort of PO plan.
This may help people deal with the reality that can sometimes seem so unreal.

What is insane is the way most people easily dismiss PO.

how does that saying go " better in the right with 2 or 3 then in the wrong with the majority" yeah something like that

[Liamj]

Yep, call it surreal, call it cognitive dissonance, call it differing assumptions whatever, its weird. But hey, it saves on drugs.

When does it stop being surreal? For me, when i commited, accepted the broad reality of our little thermodynamic problem. It made me a luddite, a doomer, 'a real downer', made modern life seem no less stupid, but the surreality eased off. I still get hypnotised by car parks, and waste bins, steam vents and idle land, but i don't flipflop or have sudden extreme doubts any more (some doubt of course natural, good).
Most startling for me is the amount of stuff i used to be interested in that i now nearly never think about, & miss not at all. When ppl talk it (e.g novels, party politics) around me now, its like reading my granma's diary, and the surreal jolt is, "that was once me".

[Brasso]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Triffin', 'M')y problem is that I'm living with the "zombies"

[Pops]

Part of the problem is reading of overnight Armageddon and eating bugs daily on this board. I was one of the original doomers here but strangely have moderated my views in the last year and a half. Partly I suppose because I have made quite a few changes in my personal situation and partly due to those very MZB/ultra-doom threads.

We went to a Pizza Parlor / arcade the other night for my granddaughters sixth birthday. That place was obnoxiously and I assume deliberately loud with cartoons blaring from giant screens, full of 250-pound parents stuffing themselves from the pizza buffet while their hyper kids screamed from money slot to money slot. I thought more of why some people wish for the end of modern US life than the possibility of cannibalism.

The continuum of survival from that ADD/heart attack training ground to picking human flesh from one’s teeth is so huge as to be unimaginable.

Don’t forget that PO.com is merely a bunch of people anonymously daydreaming on the boss’s time – so I wouldn’t lean to heavily on the idea this site reflects ultimate reality.



But then that’s just me daydreaming…

[VinceG]

To give a different perspective on things: I find that some of the people here discussing peakoil have very irrational, unrealistic, pessimistic and sometimes plainly wrong views of our current society and its developments.

On peakoil.com, I read topics about upcoming civil unrest, anarchy and martial law in relation to high oil prices. In reality, there are sporadic incidents, but no indicators whatsoever that very soon our whole society is about to collapse....

On peakoil.com, I read topics about nuclear drills and wargames that are used as cover stories for actual nuclear detonations in the U.S. and upcoming wars. In reality, the threat of nuclear warfare was much higher during the cold war in the sixties and seventies. Even then, not a single nuke exploded. In reality, only twice has a nuclear weapon been used, that was when the U.S. government decided to throw bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the official purpose of forcing the Japanese to surrender unconditionally...

On peakoil.com, I read topics about the lack of food and gasoline in neighborhoods, when in reality, everyone can still easily buy their groceries in their local martkets or buy fuel at their local gas station. Prices have risen over the years, the products are still there...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sencha', 'I') actually feel bad for these people, at least I have a heads up. But everyone else is so clueless. They have no idea what's coming.

[Madpaddy]

VinceG,

You make some valid points and of course nobody can predict with accuracy what will happen in the future.

BUT

It seems clear that life as we know it is unsustainable, that doesn't mean mass die offs necessarily but the days of the 3000 mile salad are surely numbered. Sometimes, I feel that PO is a great opportunity but I fear that mankinds greedy nature will try to hang on to the staus quo for as long as possible ensuring catastophic pollution, climate change and resource wars.

I hope your view prevails though.

[hotsacks]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'P')art of the problem is reading of overnight Armageddon and eating bugs daily on this board. I was one of the original doomers here but strangely have moderated my views in the last year and a half. Partly I suppose because I have made quite a few changes in my personal situation and partly due to those very MZB/ultra-doom threads.

We went to a Pizza Parlor / arcade the other night for my granddaughters sixth birthday. That place was obnoxiously and I assume deliberately loud with cartoons blaring from giant screens, full of 250-pound parents stuffing themselves from the pizza buffet while their hyper kids screamed from money slot to money slot. I thought more of why some people wish for the end of modern US life than the possibility of cannibalism.

The continuum of survival from that ADD/heart attack training ground to picking human flesh from one’s teeth is so huge as to be unimaginable.

Don’t forget that PO.com is merely a bunch of people anonymously daydreaming on the boss’s time – so I wouldn’t lean to heavily on the idea this site reflects ultimate reality.



But then that’s just me daydreaming…

[rostov]

Playing my life like fallout2 right now. Surreal picking up skills.

[mididoctors]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jdmartin', 'S')ome days I almost feel as if I'm watching all of this happen as an out-of-body experience. It almost seems surreal what's going on. What makes it worse is that you people are pretty much the only people with whom I can converse this point without looking as though I've stepped off the Red Planet.

[oowolf]

I often feel like I'm trapped in a version of Fellini's Satyricon. A great film depicting the surreal atmosphere of Imperial Rome. At various times in the film actors just stare into the camera:these are "the knowing ones" who recognize a greater reality--just like those of us here on PO.com. who go out into the petroindustrial Selbst-Vernichtungslager that passes for life-as-usual.
Out current "civilization" is an Existential Auschwitz.

[SeasonOfPain]

Reminds me of a great quote:

Arthur: "You know, this explains a lot. Because all my life, I've had this unaccountable feeling in my bones that something sinister was happening in the universe and that no one would tell me what it was."

Slartibartfast: "Oh, no. That's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe has that."

- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[harlanater]

I agree about the whole surrealism thing. I was at my boyfriend's house the other day and watched cable for the first time in two years. Every commercial, program, etc gave a sense of relief. It was like the world wasn't changing and new products were still coming.

I live in Minnesota, and here in Mn driving is something I need to do. There are no bus routes to my work and the nearest store is a few miles away. So yes, we the united states are a consuming up the oil. But do we have a choice?

I'm twenty years old and starting my junior year in college. My dreams for life have been shattered. Now I spend my days anticipating the fall and crash of my surroundings

Harlanater

[bbadwolf]

Sort of like the kid in "Sixth Sense", I see clueless people! I want to shake them very hard and smarten them up. I filled the tank (always grab it when I see somewhere cheaper) and the attendent told me it wouldn't go down soon. Taking this as a cue, I sort of introduced the idea that we may finally be running short on the stuff. He thought that was actually possible and proceeded to advise me not to worry, "They'll think of something". I mentioned that it didn't look likely to me and then shut up because I have learned to feel a person's defensiveness on this issue. Yes this is all truly weird. There are times I wish I didn't know. Sometimes I wonder if it's me?? Can ALL of them be that stupid? Then I read a Michael Lynch article and realize that YES, they can.

-bbad

[VinceG]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('harlanater', 'N')ow I spend my days anticipating the fall and crash of my surroundings

Harlanater

[FairMaiden]

I gotta agree with Vince...even if a comet was about to hit the earth - why would running around in a state of depression help stop it? It wouldn't! You would want to live it up your last days!

I have spent my life conserving oil bc it pollutes the environment. Now I think - fat lot of good that did me while everyone around me was taking the "easy" way (I cycle 20 miles to work everyday so it is the "hard" way).

But I'll be danged if I'm going to feel sorry for myself or this worry about this problem everyday. So we run out of oil - why on earth will that be armageddon? It may be painful if the transition is a complete drop in production but is that not why we have oil reserves? So that doesn't happen. Yes, they won't last but even before that I suspect there will be signs. High oil prices is one sign. And right now ppl aren't taking heed but they will when they won't go down. Last war, they went down after the war was over - l think ppl are counting on the same thing to happen again. When it doesn't, we might see some small changes begin to take place.