[RonMN]

That could not be more true!

Get the "i told you so's" out of your system...when everybody is looking to YOU for direction, the LAST thing you want to do is alienate yourself from them.

Nobody will survive for long without COMMUNITY and that begins with family! If you start pulling "i told you so's" out of your butt when they are panicing...they will form a community without you & there you'll be with a 6 month supply of food & NO prospects after that for survival.

It's extremely irritating to have news of PO and not have any family listen to you...we all know that. But give them a break...their just not ready for such a painfull identity crisis in their lives.

[ArimoDave]

Is my family the only one which is wierd. I mean everyone in my family takes to the
POP like ducks to water.

My sister, for instance, has had the idea that die-off would be a great thing for the world
for many years.

My mom is currently considering adding both a micro-hydro system, and a wind generator
to her 20 acres. She has a substantial stream running through the middle of the property,
and the wind blows quite often and with substantial velocity. She experiences
daily 20 - 30 mph winds for 2 - 3 hours -- often more.


Even my brother, brother-in-law, and soon to be sister-in-law, don't object to the idea
that there is going to be a shortage of oil in the not too distant future.

What the heck is wrong with my family? They are all essentially Peak-Oilers.

I thought it might be due to genetics, and choosing mates who think alike, but the more
I read about most families -- I am thinking genetics has little to do with it. Does anyone
have an explanation, or am I just "lucky."

ArimoDave

[eastbay]

Now I'm some kind of end-of-the world cult weirdo. All I wanted to do was encourage them to pay down their mortgages and maybe plant some veggies out back just in case.

Yes, this is typical of the responses most received from others... until recently (!!!). There is now a change in thinking; a general paradigm shift validating those who in the face of ridicule talked about Peak Oil in the past is well underway.

A recent quote, "hey, I think you may be right about your world running out of oil stuff", from a co-worker who in the past had vocally ridiculed (behind my back, of course) my break-time talking about peak oil.

This is all BIG progress! Peak Oil will be considered 'common knowledge' within a few years IMO. The blame will be placed in the simple fact of running out instead of tapping around blaming Congress, oil companies, and all the rest.

EastBay

[Kickinthegob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')s my family the only one which is wierd. I mean everyone in my family takes to the
POP like ducks to water.

[jimmydean]

I've tried talking about it with friends but most of them just sit there and quietly wait to change the subject. I haven't had any criticisms but maybe silence is the harshest.

I don't think they are aware how much of our lifestyles depends on cheap oil. Most people get their feed of world information directly from daily newspapers or places like CNN who would rather spend 3-4 hours a day covering the Michael Jackson trial than anything serious that deserves political action.

Maybe Chomsky is right. Advertising and the media are focussed on creating a non-thinking population base of hungry consumers.

[Liamj]

Thought i'd add a personal experience on the 'persistence' theme. I live (5 yrs now) with like-minded peacenik/deepgreen folk, several of whom gradually over a few years built a wall of 'oh Liams depressed again, hes talking about oil/energy'.

In the end, no matter how i tried to frame it, all they heard was catastrophe and defeatism, which they refused to listen to never mind engage with. They thought i was trying to bump 'my' cause up above their laudable work & causes. In short, these ppl who i knew should be my gold if'n'when TSHTF, were turning into a positive hinderance and i wasn't helping.

Then 2 new folk appeared on the scene, both newbies to oil depletion and to holistic biophysical facing-facts. But they had open minds, were prepared to consider it. And both, in their own way, at their own pace, have raced down the path familiar to many here, from personal denial to attempts to falsify, anger, sadness etc. When my old recalcitrants discovered they were being left behind or out of animated discussions of where/how/why, and that it WASN'T just me, they started looking fo ways to edge into the discussion, and all i had to do was look the other way as they did so.

Highlight for me was one recalcitrant chucking a hissy fit over "theres conversations happening in this house and i'm not being invited!!", despite having flatly refused for over a year to engage in same. It was surreal, hilarious, i had trouble not laughing hysterically, but demonstrative of how ppl can & will 'come around', even as probably not aware they've done so.

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ArimoDave', 'I')s my family the only one which is wierd. I mean everyone in my family takes to the
POP like ducks to water.