[Lokutus]

I've been reading a great deal since last August about Peak Oil and the various other theories about the imminent collapse of civilization (or "empire", if you prefer).

The shocking thing about my own reaction is that I realized that I wouldn't shed any tears over its collapse. (My ideal scenario is that we break up into smaller regions and live the way people did 150 years ago.) The whole damn thing has just become too large and too complex. We have 300,000,000 people and it's just impossible to care about my "fellow citizens", especially when they don't give a crap about me, and elect a chump like Bush twice. The sense of "we are all in this together" has long been replaced by "it's every man for himself".

American society has deteriorated into nothing more than a big fucking scamfest where the rich and strong prey on the poor and weak. Shit truly does roll downhill. As Tainter points out in his book on collapse the returns of being a member of civilization shrink over time to the point that the average citizen must ask if there is anymore point in even being a part of it. I have reached this point of questioning its value.

I could go on about my reasons for reaching this point such as the Neocon thugs in the Whitehouse, concentration of capital in the hands of fewer and fewer with each passing year, the complete sellout of government to big business, the ending of the inheritance tax, the total balkanization of society along ethnic/racial lines, fundies hijacking the GOP, etc.

In a nutshell, I find myself secretly hoping that PO arrives this year and knocks over the whole shitpile we call civilization a.s.ap.

Anyone else feel this way, or am I just having a bad hair day?

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lokutus', '
')In a nutshell, I find myself secretly hoping that PO arrives this year and knocks over the whole shitpile we call civilization a.s.ap.

Anyone else feel this way, or am I just having a bad hair day?

[dissimulo]

Political systems rarely die in a peaceful and orderly fashion. I think it is best to live before or after the transition; not during it.

If you think the strong prey on the weak now, I think you would be unpleasantly surprised when major changes arrive.

[hotsacks]

The antidote to a bad case of whooper-doomer is to think of a world where gulags and slave labor camps are regarded as wise career moves.

[PhilBiker]

I used to think as you do when I was well indoctrinated into the peak oil concept by reading Ruppert, Heinberg and others.

Now I think they're largely full of shit.

Maybe in 6 months you'll think so too! Don't think these guys are automatically right just because they say they are. They might be full of shit. Don't stop learning and being curious, keep reading, keep learning.

[AmericanEmpire]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')olitical systems rarely die in a peaceful and orderly fashion. I think it is best to live before or after the transition; not during it.

[Lokutus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AmericanEmpire', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')olitical systems rarely die in a peaceful and orderly fashion. I think it is best to live before or after the transition; not during it.

[Specop_007]

You sound like a fucking socialist crybaby to me.

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')y ideal scenario is that we break up into smaller regions and live the way people did 150 years ago

[Lokutus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'Y')ou sound like a fucking socialist crybaby to me.

[oowolf]

Hey, WE'RE the worst thing to happen to planet Earth since the big asteroid collision 70 million years ago. We have forfeited any right to continue and will pay the supreme price soon. We deserve to become extinct. And it'll take the Earth a million years to recover from our stupidity.

Homo sapiens? That's gotta be a joke. More like Homo ecopathicus (extinct)

[Lokutus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smiley', '
')
I think you are romanticizing the past. I do agree that some aspects of our present day society are going horribly wrong. But to actually long back to society of 150 years ago?

You are talking about a society which was characterized by inequality at all levels, about segregation by race and gender. A life expectancy of 50 years does not sound appealing to me. Nor does the prospect of not having any teeth in 20 years. Just to mention a few practicalities.

Life was very harsh 150 years ago. We made a lot of progress in the past 150 years and it would be a shame to throw it all away over some fantasy about an era that never really existed.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lokutus', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'Y')ou sound like a fucking socialist crybaby to me.

[Lokutus]

Good grief, you really are one of dem Republicans!

My points just whistled in one ear and out the other without coming into contact with any brainmatter whatsoever.

People like you are oblivious to what's happening in the world around you. You're the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. You won't wake up to your fate until it's too late.

The entire world has come to hate us over the past five years--despite the intial support we had right after 9-11. What is the reaction to this global acrimony by people like you? It's the simpleton's, "Why do they hate our freedumbs?[sub]TM[/sub]"

Anyone who dares critiscize anything about America is an unpatriotic liberal to people like you. Ironically, you types would have loved it in the old Soviet Union where you could turn in neighbors who spoke critically of the government and watched as they were shipped off to the Gulag for a life of hard labor.

While I do love this land, I hate the fact extreme rightwingers have taken over. The fuckers didn't even win the first election, but rather had it handed to them by a conservative SCOTUS. There are also questions about suspicious voting tallies in several Ohio counties from the last election. (Funny how those Deibold machines gave the GOP several totally unexpected wins.)

So now Bush is starting to act more like a self-appointed King than a president. The laws don't seem to apply to him. He can act like Stalin did. American citizens just dissappear (Padilla) without being given due process. The country is sent into war on nothing more than lies. He orders the NSA to spy on Americans. We now also torture people.

Big business has completely corrupted government. Wingnut fundies have hijacked the party in power for two terms now.

But you see nothing wrong. There's no problem for people like you. Ever. You just drink the propaganda that everything's fine so long as Big Brother is there to protect us from bogeyman. We have always been at war with Oceana. War is peace.

When the majority of Americans think like you, then the country is truly fucked.

[Lokutus]

I highly recommend the book What's the Matter With Kansas for anyone curious as to why we have all these sheeple today who can't bear to hear any dissent over the policies of the Bush administration.

[Lokutus]

I highly recommend the book What's the Matter With Kansas for anyone curious as to why we have all these sheeple today who can't bear to hear any dissent over the policies of the Bush administration.

[Lokutus]

I don't mean to denigrate all conservatives in my statements. I know several true conservatives who are horrified by what the neocons and fundies are not only doing to their party, but their country as well. There have been times when I've voted GOP myself. My issue is with what Kunstler calls the "born again Krispy Kremers" who never question anything they are fed by the neocon propaganda machine.

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou must be a Cornucopian if you think we can avoid reversion back to a low energy civilization.

[AmericanEmpire]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') say that we will have throw away all the stuff we didn't really need

[Specop_007]

Oh good, I get to point out your stupidity again.
Libtards never learn do they......
And why the yhell am I argueing with a noobtard like you? Oh well.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lokutus', 'G')ood grief, you really are one of dem Republicans!