by Dreamtwister » Mon 19 Jun 2006, 10:45:45
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Declan', '1'). What would you do to prepare if you were rich, politically influent and believed that Peak Oil and the subsequent crisis were inevitable?
2. How would those at the top go about keeping their “thrones” in a Post-Peak world?
To answer both of those questions, I refer you to a speech made in 1712 by a man named Willie Lynch.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')Gentlemen. I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First, I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me on my modest plantation in the West Indies, where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest methods for control of slaves. Ancient Rome's would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious King, whose version of the Bible we Cherish, I saw enough to know that your problem is not unique. While Rome used cords of wood as crosses for standing human bodies along its highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasions. I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree, a couple miles back. You are not only losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, You suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed. Gentlemen, you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I have a fool-proof method for controlling your black slaves. I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least 300 years. My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it. I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves; and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use fear, distrust and envy for control purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On top of my list is "age" but it's there only because it starts with an "A." The second is "color" or shade, there is intelligence, size, sex, sizes of plantations, status on plantations, attitude of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you a outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that distrust is stronger than trust and envy stronger than adulation, respect or admiration. The black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Don't forget you must pitch the old black male against the young black male, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skin slaves against the light skin slaves, and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. You must use the female against the male and the male against the female. You must also have you white servants and over- seers distrust all blacks. but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. they must love, respect and trust only us. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. If used intensely for one year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful. Thank you gentlemen."
The concept is a simple one. If the slaves are preoccupied with fearing, hating and mistrusting eachother, they are too busy to rise up and overthrow their masters. We can see the very same principles at work today: "Those damn immigrants are a drain on the system!" or "Those pesky homosexuals are destroying the fabric of our society!" or "Those evil muslims are all terrorists!". Bigotry is a tool by which the ruling class sets the slaves against eachother and perpetuates the social order. But it's not just black slaves any more. The system enslaves all of humanity for the benefit of a few overlords.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Declan', '3'). What about the possibility that “the government”, after seeing no way out of the mess (and I am pretty sure that there isn’t one) will hoards all resources so that they can feed an “oppression machine”, instate Martial Law and takes away all freedoms. How does that possibility affect your plans?