[JPL]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', 'T')his truth being, that there is nothing civilised, nothing nice about the way we are currently trashing the place. To some of us it already causes immense pain.

But like I said earlier, that 'some of us' figure is probably about 10% of the people here. The rest still treat the running-out of liquid fuels as fundamentally a 'bad' thing. They would rather fight the inevitable than face it.

And that, my friends, is what may well cause your 'die-off'. The concept that Peak Oil is somehow a problem that needs solving, rather than a solution that should be embraced.

[JPL]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', '
')And that, my friends, is what may well cause your 'die-off'. The concept that Peak Oil is somehow a problem that needs solving, rather than a solution that should be embraced.

[Narz]

JPL, I feel your pain & your disgust w/ many aspects of modern human behavior & culture but I think you're throwing the baby out w/ the bathwater if you think everything was hunky dory before. Look at the way humans treated each other during the middle ages, even after the "renaissance". We've come a long way. Now one of the main things people bitch about is that our society is too "P.C.".

Granted people are working in sweatshops, medicating themselves (drink, drugs, food, TV, Internet, whatever) to attempt to deal w/ their isolation & disappointment but I don't think the answer is in the past. If it was we wouldn't have created this. We can recreate things w/ the wisdom we have now as well as some of the wisdom we've lost along the way.

[xerces]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'A') confession:

Three nights ago, my husband and I lit a fire in the fireplace in the bedroom, turned out all the lights, slowly took our clothes off and slid under the covers. Then we turned the dial on the radio to Coast to Coast with Ian Punnett, and giggled like schoolchildren, as economists rattled off their predictions for 2008. It was awful, yet strangely exciting.


I should be sad, freaked out, worried for people, including myself, and how do I feel-- Like I've just taken a bracing cold shower, exhilerated....alive!

How sick in the head am I?

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', '
')There is nothing to fear about a life without electricity. We have had several thousand years of civilisation & only in the last 80 so has this little gimmick been widely available. It's not 'essential'. Why do you think it is???
JP

[Ferretlover]

For myself, I understand the excitement. While I wish I could just time-jump to the afterwards, I know that the upcoming future is going to be bad.
But!
It is the possible corrections, after the chaos, that I am hoping to see. And, I understand that the correction cannot come without the chaos first.
That's why I am prepping...

[mmasters]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('xerces', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'A') confession:

Three nights ago, my husband and I lit a fire in the fireplace in the bedroom, turned out all the lights, slowly took our clothes off and slid under the covers. Then we turned the dial on the radio to Coast to Coast with Ian Punnett, and giggled like schoolchildren, as economists rattled off their predictions for 2008. It was awful, yet strangely exciting.


I should be sad, freaked out, worried for people, including myself, and how do I feel-- Like I've just taken a bracing cold shower, exhilerated....alive!

How sick in the head am I?

[threadbear]

I just reread my original post. I think what I find exciting (and not all in a good way) is just the uncertainty. The giggling is partly a nervous reaction.

The exhilaration is about the challenge and interesting times ahead. This is the first time I've lived in "historic times". That has to be a big part of it. I consider it a challenge and approach it as head on as possible. That's probably why I frequent this forum so much....even though I don't agree with the politics or ideologies of some of the posters, and don't even think energy is going to be a dire problem, there is something everyone here shares. They are facing the future with their eyes wide open.

One more thing...as my opening post sounded callous. I'm in B.C, We're getting ready for the Olympics in 2010 and the economy is very strong for the moment, so many people think that a global downturn won't affect them and are spending themselves into oblivion.

It's irritating to hear people talking about buying an 800,000. house to renovate and flip, at this point in time. I hate to admit it, but I do actually enjoy the thought of these people getting their economy 101 lessons the hard way.

Is that cruel?

[Heineken]

Threadbear, my feelings on the basic subject vacillate. Some days I have the Schadenfreude you've alluded to. Other days I feel empathy for the suffering of others.

The Schadenfreude is motivated by my bitterness and anger toward people's ignorance, stupidity, and destructiveness. Sometimes it seems to me that no punishment is severe enough for a sentient being bent on destroying the loveliest planet in this arm of the universe.

The empathy is driven by my own experiences of suffering.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')hreadbear, my feelings on the basic subject vacillate. Some days I have the Schadenfreude you've alluded to. Other days I feel empathy for the suffering of others.

The Schadenfreude is motivated by my bitterness and anger toward people's ignorance, stupidity, and destructiveness. Sometimes it seems to me that no punishment is severe enough for a sentient being bent on destroying the loveliest planet in this arm of the universe.

The empathy is driven by my own experiences of suffering.

[Heineken]

[quote="threadbear"]It's those who don't appreciate the suffering of others; not human pain, animal pain, planetary pain, who I want to see suffer. Is that vengeful, judgmental, or just a yearning for justice? [quote]

I'm with you there, T. 100%.

(I capitalized "Schadenfreude" because it's a German noun. But on second thought I realize that you are right to lowercase it, since it's been absorbed by English.)

[FreakOil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'I')t's those who don't appreciate the suffering of others; not human pain, animal pain, planetary pain, who I want to see suffer. Is that vengeful, judgmental, or just a yearning for justice?

[FourOfSwords]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')he moment disaster becomes personal, the fun ends. The giggling ceases.

I don't feel excitement at the prospect of total collapse so much as anger---anger at the foolishness, stupidity, and greed that have brought us to this brink.

Also, I'm damned scared. I know that there's a very good chance I will be a participant in future nightmares, not merely an entertained spectator.

[JPL]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', '
')There is nothing to fear about a life without electricity. We have had several thousand years of civilisation & only in the last 80 so has this little gimmick been widely available. It's not 'essential'. Why do you think it is???
JP

[Ludi]

edited because I'm a jerk.

[FreakOil]

How bad it gets has a lot to do with location. If you're in a sparsely populated area with a decent sized woodlot - and you know how to survive in such a place - you have a lot less to worry about. Other locations may be just as good.

[JPL]

edit: post deleted

[Ludi]

I'm sorry. I wish this had not been such a serious thing and ended our friendship.

[Revi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FreakOil', 'H')ow bad it gets has a lot to do with location. If you're in a sparsely populated area with a decent sized woodlot - and you know how to survive in such a place - you have a lot less to worry about. Other locations may be just as good.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', '
')Seriously though, this 'fear' of a life without power, factories & technology is one of the tools that the current (Capitalist/Industrial) set-up uses to keep us all in line. Loose the fear and then you start to see the world for what it really is.