[HamRadioRocks]

I've always felt an obligation to know what's going on in the world. But the more attention I pay to keeping up, the worse I feel. Conversely, the less I pay attention to what's going on in the world, the happier I feel. The problem is that I now feel like I'd have to be as dumb as Jessica Simpson in order to be happy. Now I'm thinking that Jessica Simpson isn't that dumb, as being dumb must be making her happier.

I am 33 years old. In the days of double digit inflation, I was too busy watching "Sesame Street" to know what was going on. I was aware of the nuclear arms race and Cold War as a kid in the 1980s, but I didn't obsess over it, and my gut feel was that we'd somehow muddle through. (Of course, my attention was on school and growing up.) I remember that Gulf War I monopolized the news in 1990-1991. I was against the war, but it didn't really weigh on my morale. I was too busy studying because of the torrential workload of my junior year of high school. (I can't believe I survived that and graduated as salutatorian. I'd never be able to handle that today. From the stories on the academic hyper-competitiveness I've read about, I think that if I were in high school today, I'd get crushed academically like Nicole Richie in a mosh pit.)

But since the 1990s, the world news has been dragging down my overall morale. It's been a consistent stairstep downwards. One major step downwards was the Oklahoma City bombing. An even bigger step downwards was the September 11th attacks. The biggest step downwards was finding out that Peak Oil was close at hand and that it would end civilization as we know it. In between these steps was a gradual erosion of my morale.

Of the downward steps in my morale, Peak Oil has been the biggest, exceeding that of the September 11th attacks. The implications of Peak Oil are far-reaching - the end of civilization as we know it and a major die-off.

In the case of the September 11th attacks, I have the good sense to avoid the news on each anniversary and to instead distract myself with funny, fluffy movies like _Porkys_, _Porkys II_, etc. I also have the good sense to change the TV channel or radio station every time the news turns to Iraq. (I'm glad I don't have cable TV. I think CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News are in cahoots with the manufacturers of blood pressure lowering medications. Whoever decided to force the crawl on all of us should be locked in a padded cell and forced to watch those stations.)

I've been noticing a subtle and gradual changes in myself over the years. I'm much more impatient than I used to be. My outlook on life has been on the decline when it should be improving because the rest of my life has been improving over the past several years. And I've been paying more and more attention to the adventures of Paris and Nicole for comic relief.

I'm not quite sure how else to describe the change in me. The trouble with Peak Oil is that it's been a backdrop in the two years since I came across this web site. Every major tragedy that happens (such as the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in New Orleans) seems to be connected in some way to Peak Oil. So many things remind me of Peak Oil. Ever since I learned how close Peak Oil is, a part of me has come unglued. I really notice it when tragic news dominates the headlines, such as yesterday's bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

It also seems that no matter what I do, I can only temporarily shake off the Peak Oil gloom before it creeps back into my psyche.

Do any of you have any suggestions on how to deal with Peak Oil? I've NEVER been so obsessed about an issue before in my life. I want to turn the clock back.

[Roccland]

Look bro...get your brain wrapped around what you care about...

the rest is easy.

Keep well.

[HamRadioRocks]

In 2004, I discovered dailykos.com. It's MUCH more informative than the popular news channels, but it's also MUCH more depressing. See the conundrum? It seems that happiness and knowledge are mutually exclusive, and a part of me feels obligated to be informed about what's going on in the world. I wish I were one of those idiots who had to rely on Jay Leno for the world news. At least he (OK, his writers) can put a humorous spin on anything. Kip and Kim (Jaywalk all-stars) aren't so dumb. Being so ignorant is so blissful for them.

[Jack]

If you think being informed is depressing, ask yourself what destiny being uninformed will lead to.

Be certain of one thing - our civilization, and everything we're attached to will surely die. It's called change. If someone discovers "the answer" - the magic bullet that permits eternal growth without tears - then the civilization will be transformed (die) as certainly as if the worst-case peak oil scenario is true.

Enjoy the show. The scenes pass and change, as will you and I.

[SeasonOfPain]

HamRadio, I'm in about the same boat as you (35). Not a single day goes by that I don't dwell on PO to some degree. Add on top of that the stress of trying to sell a house with full awareness of an imploding housing market (again... I bought this house at the peak in 2005, but misfired and got a good house close to everything but in the wrong neighborhood).

Ignorance is indeed bliss. There are many days I alternate between envy for those who are unaware and extreme anger at those who are willfully in denial (i.e. who have been shown the likelihood of impending collapse but choose to ignore it). However, I know that I wouldn't have it any other way. I've always been a pessimist, and I'd rather know the truth and anticipate the worst, even if it's much more protractedly stressful than living an ignorant life. I couldn't live with myself otherwise.

9/11 was a big catalyst for me. I was very politically active in the early 90's, but then fell into a suburban stupor the latter half of that decade, and didn't really pay attention to the world around me. When 9/11 happened, the shock was so great that I swore I wouldn't be taken by surprise like that again. This led to be becoming very world-aware and politically active again, and I also discovered Daily Kos. However, I felt the community there to be too "establishment-centric" and found the more free-ranging, chaotic community on Atrios's Eschaton blog to be more my cup of tea. When Bush was re-elected in 2004 my optimism and faith in the political system pretty much died, and misanthropism took over. Not long after that someone on the Eschaton blog posted a link to LATOC, and the rest is history.

I think if there's one ounce of comfort we can take from understanding the painful truth of the situation is that we're being mentally toughened now. When everyone else is reeling from shock and bewilderment and trying to figure out why the world they thought they understood is crumbling around them, we'll be able to more coolly analyze the situation and adapt as necessary. At least that's my hope.

[Colorado-Valley]

Man, you should have been around in the sixties when Nixon and Vietnam were raging, kids were getting drafted for slaughter in S.E. Asia, both the Kennedys and Martin Luther King had been assassinated, the National Guard was shooting students in Ohio ...

Well, you get the picture ...

[savethehumans]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')owever, I know that I wouldn't have it any other way. I've always been a pessimist, and I'd rather know the truth and anticipate the worst, even if it's much more protractedly stressful than living an ignorant life. I couldn't live with myself otherwise.

[syrac818]

I think the most important thing to remember is that the world is always shifting/moving/changing - and this is just one aspect of it.

You will be ok, as long as you choose to move with the flow of change, as opposed to fight against it. Being depressed or anxious about what is ahead and how bad it will be is both pointless and ineffective. Humanity can and will survive - it always does - the important thing is how you position yourself prior.

Another important things to realize is that this forum moves from poin A to point Z in no time. It goes from a happy Walmart-growth-wealth-lifestyle to the 13th century. This is always possible, but not probable. The world shifts, and there's a lot of gray area, there's a lot of letters between A and Z.

Basically, you're not helpless. If you choose to accept that a dire peak oil apocalypse is in front of you, then that's cool. But if it makes you scared, nervous, depressed - then work to change it. Whether you do or you don't make an incredible change isn't what matters, what matters is that you're still alive and have the power to make some difference. If you're simply waiting for your own slow, dark death - then the truth is you're already dead.


Every generation has their reasons to be filled with doom - we're no different. It's just a matter of deciding how to approach it.

Just my opinion.

[timbo]

Hence the saying "Ignorance is bliss."

[bart]

Depressed about events?

Read history. There is something soothing about reading how people made it through situations much worse than we have faced... and how they often did it with style and courage.

It puts things into perspective.

The older I get, the more valuable I find history and the less seriously I take journalism.

Bart
Energy Bulletin

[seldom_seen]

Fore me. I like to go deep in to the remotest wilderness I can find. After 3 or 4 days time slows down, the senses awaken, and life takes on a different rhythm. You settle in to a state of calm awareness.

You begin to realize that underneath 'this' world there is a different world that seems to be humming along just fine. Doing its thing with complete indifference to 'this' world. It didn't miss a beat before we were here and it won't miss a beat when we're gone. (Even if it comes down to nukes. As Bob Marley wrote "have no fear for atomic energy 'cause none of them can stop the time.")

You can't experience this on a day hike or a weekend. You need to be out there, in the back of beyond for at least a week. It's cheap too. No hotels, rental cars, plane tickets. A journey into the wilderness is the freest, cheapest, most nonprivileged of pleasures. Anyone with two legs and the price of a pair of army surplus combat boots may enter. (ed abbey)

When you come back you realize that 'this' world isn't the only world. Come to think of it, reminds me of a scene from The Thin Red Line:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ITT (blinks back tears)
I can take anything you dish out. I am twice the man you are.

WELSH
In this world a man himself is nothing. And there ain't no world but this one.

WITT
You're wrong there, Top. I seen another world. Sometimes I think it was just my imagination.

WELSH (smiles)
Well, then you've seen things I never will. We're living in a world that's blown itself to hell as fast as everybody can arrange it. In a situation like that all a man can do is shut his eyes and let nothing touch him. Look out for himself. I might be the best friend you ever had. You don't even know it.

[Battle_Scarred_Galactico]

I nominate that as post of the year by Seldom ^

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Battle_Scarred_Galactico', 'I') nominate that as post of the year by Seldom ^

[kevincarter]

If the news depress you... stop watching the news! but... but... but... THROW YOUR TV AWAY, that's the best thing you could ever do. Refuse to read newspapers or magazines, refuse listen to the radio news or people talking about the news at all. That's pretty much what I've been doing for more than 2 years and I promise you the results are worth it, most important thing is to get rid of your TV, you'll be surprised how much time you get back and how your perception on things change. I used to watch TV news while having dinner with my wife, usually I'd punch the table all angry "Do this bastards think we are a bunch of idiots?"

Where do news come after all? Just a few agencies, what you see is never reality, NEVER, so why watch it at all?

Worried about PO? just watch the oil price if you will and forget about the rest, keep busy, do something positive like you are already doing by selling your house, concetrate on that, the world can take care of itself.

[Barbara]

ASPO Italia President Professor Ugo Bardi discovered PO on 9.11.2001.
World record of depression!

[Ferretlover]

Ham, you know about peak and post peak oil. IMHO, you are doing better than a great many others. Yes, it is depressing-I am suffering occasionally from depression and nightmares. But, then, I want you to remember that there are a great many others who haven't got a clue, and wouldn't recognise a clue if it jumped up and slapped them upside their empty little heads:

Life is tough; It's tougher if you're stupid
Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.
I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "divider", looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK," and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.
A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thing y."
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" I asked. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about th e batteries. It's a long walk."
Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.
My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?"
A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take h er kid to the emergency room, the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and it should be fine . The mother says, I just gave him some ant killer..... Dispatcher: Rush him in to emergency room!

[savethehumans]

You made my night, Ferretlover! Thanks!

[cestlavie]

Hey,

I'm in my 30's too. I still hear the words from Tom Brown Jr echo through my head and they give me comfort (can order his books at Amazon.com). It feels good to hear (and know) the truth that comes from living (or literally growing up) in the wilderness apart from this insane civilization. I also get a great deal of confort, probably much more so from knowing that I have a garden, and potatoes growing. I know I may not live, but at least it won't be from starvation. Although I'm not so worried about that. Life comes and it goes. We're here once and then we're not. There is no death and there are no deaths. Life is about change. We are who we are. What bothers me is the upset. The upset about civilization and where we are. It's like we have the blinders on and no amount of evidence will change that situation. We just keep plugging along and can only play one game. It all makes no sense, its senseless, it makes no sense to play. Although my greatest happiness is meeting other people who are peak oil aware and seeing what they are doing. Though they are few and far between. The rest are watching TV (we don't have one) or watching videos (we don't have time to) or reading the newspaper (we don't subscribe). So in a sense I am ignorant, and in a sense I am not. Go figure...

[sameu]

roflol @ Ferretlover

[Homesteader]

If I might add to Ferretlovers list;

My wife used to work for MBNA. She took a call from an irate woman who didn't recognize a $29 charge on her monthly statement. To quote the woman "I never shopped at Late Fee".

Another woman who didn't recognize the payment amount on her bill stated "someone is fraudulently paying my bill!"

Two days ago on Yahoo this appeared regarding the Minneapolis bridge collapse. . ."federal investigators determine bridge had structural weaknesses." No kidding, really?