Site Status & Blog Questions – Part II
Many of you have written publicly and privately to the round of blog questions that I’ve recently asked. Your answers were informative and “common” to all. If you remember what you wrote, you’ll probably quickly understand what I mean.
Here’s what I learned in a summary format:
a) Everyone is basically working alone. Not a single family reported in that they were all on the same page with their thoughts, plans and efforts towards preparing for collapse. Most reported divisions in their efforts to inform spouses, family, kids, friends and neighbors, with what I judge as “mediocre” success at best.
This is as I personally suspected, because I have found out the same things. It’s nearly impossible to find someone even in your own household who embraces this information as seriously as you do.
This is creating a lot of tension, disagreement and hardship in these relationships. Most of you are limping along, doing the best you can while this “ball and chain” keeps holding you back. I mean no disrespect here, but a divided house cannot stand very long. Nor am I suggesting you do anything differently about it, I’m only pointing out that this is true for everyone.
b) The feeling of being alone, disconnected from the “other world” that people are living in and failure to communicate effectively are also being experienced by all of the respondents. This too is as suspected, meaning I find myself at odds with the other world everywhere I go.
We are all noticing the disconnect from this reality we perceive and the so-called reality perceived by everyone else. Being in a decidedly tiny minority, this excaberates our feelings of being alone. We’re not connecting with other people in meaningful ways (which means meaningful to us). It’s really a Twilight Zone “out there” as the disconnects to what is really happening just keeps right on going over everyone’s head.
Any news or information we share is usually looked at, but it doesn’t sink in or change anything at all. Life goes on as “normal” and our frustration and disbelief grows a bit worse. Some of us, myself included, are more or less throwing our hands up in the air and we’re basically saying “I give up trying to convince these dunderheads to save themselves“. We feel the time has come to save our own selves.
As already shared, this is even happening on the family / friend levels and is causing some tension. I’m receiving an increase in request to “secretly” handle shipments and orders from spouses, neighbors and friends. The level of trust is actually dropping as the level of our concern increases.
c) Despite any evidence we may be bringing to the table in our discussions with family and friends, deep entrenched denial rules the day. Nothing more needs to be said here.
d) Nobody has enough money to do what they believe needs to be done on a personal level. A tight balancing act is being waged trying to keep one foot in and one foot out of the system. It’s hard, tiring — actually downright exhausting, and wearing everyone down.
e) Age is a big concern. The age group of those who are aware, awake and prepping is the older generations, averaging between 40 – 60 (not everyone commented on this, but this is the clear trend).
f) The need to interact with others of like mind and concern is acute for most. The need is both real and perceived. Mitigating the feelings of aloneness, being crazy or just going out of your mind because nobody else “get’s it” is a driving factor for this. Many want or are already participating on forums elsewhere.
This blog is perceived as being essential across the board, offering a perspective and insight not found elsewhere. Everyone wants to see it stay up and operational.
g) Many feel that they are holding themselves back on their own preparation plans. This is a hard one to discern for me and share with you, because the reasons are so varied, but most feel that they could do much, much more. They are not because they are still caught in the present system, do not have enough money, have no help at all, do not have the moral support to encourage them to move ahead, find the entire process overwhelming and difficult to cope with far too often, and some believe that it’s actually futile to do much.
h) Most feel the need for timely, accurate and concise information would help them break their own deadlocks. A single source for this info would be greatly desirable.
i) The need for community, group and organization is also a tough one to describe. Most feel it is too late, too dangerous and too much work. Some expressed this need to have someone “with them” and are open to doing this.
j) Many have gathered the tools, books, experience and supplies they believe that they need that will help them. This was very common, with almost (but not quite) no one not doing anything in the way of physical preparations. Even so, nobody felt that they really had “enough”, since the need to have more supplies, tools and especially experience was seen as being a big concern.
k) Most felt that hard core survival skills were highly desirable skills to have. Most already have some skills in gardening, living rustic lives, basic animal husbandry and other such skills and experience. Most felt that this was not nearly enough.
i) Most feel that no matter what they do, they stand a very limited chance of survival considering what they believe is going to happen. All felt that preparations of varying levels were necessary, most feel that very serious preparation levels were best, but even so, this only offered them a limited chance of survival in the face of how bad it’s going to get.
The reasons for this limited chances of survival was primarily because everyone else, all the “others” were not doing ANYTHING towards their own future survival in the face of collapse. Most feel that the collapse will be quite severe and will create conditions of widespread chaos. Most fear hungry hordes, confiscation, difficulties with neighbors, family and friends and a police state. Most feel that they will not survive this “invasion” because they would be overwhelmed, quickly. Most felt hiding if possible would help them with this, but most also felt that this may not be enough.
l) Not many have found cooperation or support among their neighbors with one notable exception (from those that reported). Michael exemplifies the hard work and conscientious effort to “break ground” with neighbors and build relationships and a modicum of trust.
m) Many wanted to know where the “safe place” will be. All are concerned about population levels. Not all are willing or desiring to move. Some will dig in right where they are, others will depart and go to their chosen spots.
n) Most expressed concern that our nation won’t survive this intact and that the future would be radically different then the present. This was not a question that I’d asked, but quite a few either made comments or references to this.
o) Most are prepared for differing levels of self-defense. Nobody is looking forward to this either.
p) Most believe that they will enacting their preparation plans very soon. This varied a bit, from a few months to less then two years.
q) There was a wide variation on what plans and preparations meant to the respondents.
r) Almost, if not all, feel that there will not be a sudden awaking of the public to their actual plight until it is far too late for them to react with any efficacy at all. Many stated that it would take a huge, massive event to shock “the others” from their somnolent states.
s) Almost forgot — respondents came in from Canada, the USA and England — did I miss anyone? I anticipate more as this and the earlier posts gain some history.
There you have it, a very unscientific “results” of the questions I’d posed. I wasn’t taking a real survey and won’t bother to do so either. But as indicated, there are a LOT of commonalities here, in fact, almost everyone that wrote was on the same page on most of the issues, even issues / questions which I did not bring up on the original blog posts.
There were a few exceptions, such as not needing to prepare at all and staying in the city.
What does the answers above mean? Well, it means what I’ve suspected all along, nothing “new” was uncovered. In other words, the blog remains pretty accurate on how would-be crashstead survivors feel about our situation, our future, our neighbors and their chances. That’s good.
Now for the bad…. can you say toast?
No, it’s not that bad, just hoping to get your attention. The need to find others is very large and ever present as expressed by most, especially in their own family units. Many single people are really concerned about their aloneness, and I agree, I see this as being a huge factor in their chances.
The present magnetic force holding everyone back is the ubiquitous “system” that we are all a part of, and the need to be a part of it as long as possible. Almost everyone is still stuck with the iron filing in their shoes to what it offers, what it limits and what it controls. This isn’t any surprise either, but it does indicate our ongoing dependency, which nobody has resolved.
Again, no surprises there, our need for a new culture cannot be realized as long at this existing culture remains in control. We interface with this at multiple points on a daily basis, even if we are secluded up on our mountaintops. And this creates a dichotomy with our reality and the other reality we’re constantly bumping into.
I have absolutely no answers for this, this is a characteristic I have seen in every group I’ve ever seen. The group (if there is one) can take on its own reality and perceptions, but that changes nothing on the “outside world” and in fact, this creates a point of contention at the interface points. It makes no difference what the interface is — it can be a visit to the local store, the dentist or getting your car registered or a friend comes to visit, but the “rubbing of elbows” with the “unbelievers” creates several things: tension, disagreement, distrust and avoidance. Not always, but often enough.
Who is doing this? I think both groups are doing this, but I don’t know who’s doing this more. And I’m not sure it matters who’s doing it more anyway.
How we / they deal with it is probably more important. Most are dealing with it by staying quiet and keeping their information / opinions to themselves, and thereby blending in as best they can. Others “take the risk” and periodically attempt to present their opinions / arguments or information, almost always with dismal results.
What this means is we are as a group, pretty much failing to convince anyone, even our own family members of our viewpoints, which we further believe to be life-saving and theirs to be life-threatening. For us, it’s very serious, a matter of life or death, for them, it’s a point of amusement, or disbelief or downright anger. Their threatened way of life is the “question at hand” and they do not want to hear about anything that may challenge that perception. And they are quite willing (right now) to “go down with the ship”, adamant to the end that they will never need to.
We believe that they will hold to that that position until they are personally suffering, which we also believe will happen pretty soon as the dominoes of collapse fall faster and harder, eventually hitting them smack dab in the face and knocking them clear off their feet. We even believe that they will die in large numbers because of their intractable positions. They think we are basically nuts for having such views.
This basic disagreement underlies many of our interactions with “them” and they with us, once they actually understand how we feel. Our relationships are actually suffering quite badly in my opinion as a result.
This is all quite serious in truth, because it reveals just how far and how different our world views really are, and how this perception (real or not) is impacting our daily lives and how we experience and even enjoy life.
Wow, that was a mouthful, even for me. But I think this is pretty important. Our feelings of being alone are running pretty deep, exhibited by almost everyone and override a lot of our concerns. How we are able to interact with the “other world” and it’s vast majority of the population is as a result, being limited by our perceptions and theirs. Nothing is being done about this either, and is in fact, worsening as our perceptions become more real to us.
Strangely, even though the daily news is actually reporting some of the truth to our perceptions (a perception in itself), the distancing we’re feeling from our family and friends remains. This is probably true because we ourselves are still “running ahead”, still distancing ourselves as we race to make our own preparations and gather the skills and experience and supplies we need. They’re way, way behind us and not even half-trying to catch up.
The cognitive dissonance is actually worsening despite the news reports now found in the mainstream media. I’m not clear why this is so, possibly because the MSM is still failing to report the whole truth and is often caught lying in their broadcast, such as the theme that “things are going to get better” and that “this is a temporary setback” after reporting something fairly serious and threatening.
Our efforts to counteract this propaganda are truly failing. This is one reason why I’ve seriously questioned the direction and even the content of this blog. The “converted” are already here, already on board and the evidence I have presented remains disbelieved by the majority. The main stream media contacts that have recently come up (there have been three already in the last two weeks or so) have disappeared entirely after I pointed out a few things to them. I find this amazing myself, since I do not write the news nor create it, I’m pointing to sources of the news that should be believed by them because they are main stream sources themselves (not always, but often enough).
Most of us feel that there really is nothing we can do about this. So do I. The effort and energy and cost and time spent to wake them the hell up is exhausting, bankrupting and seemingly futile. So I’d like to point something out — if all of that is true.
Why should we persist with this line of direction? Why keep knocking ourselves out, jeopardizing our marriages, our relationships and even our jobs if they simply won’t hear / read / investigate or take any real interest in their own future?
We do this because we care — we care so much that we are willing to suffer the ridicule, the derision, the arguments, the blacklisting and the ostracization that this creates. They don’t see that — and they don’t care enough either (in my opinion) to even try to see that. They fall back on a very old theme and that is “the world will continue on as it always has”. They say this because they know nothing different.
All we can do — and all many of us actually are doing, is trying to “be there” when they fall, for fall they will, of that, we are absolutely certain. We are certain because we have digested enough information to believe that this is the reality we all face, including ourselves. And this is what is lacking in their arguments or disagreements with our position. They have investigate little or nothing at all. Therefore, one line of attack to correct this dissonance would be to somehow get them to read more.
Perhaps an impossible task and many have reported exactly that. But it’s what I’ve said — education is key. We’re trying to get them to fix themselves, they first have to want to and secondly, they have to have the information available to them to do so.
I don’t think this is news, but spelling it out might help someone here to understand that this is a very common dilemma we are all experiencing.
Ok, where was I? Other then our “continued persistence” with our own levels of awareness, knowledge and preparation, I can only suggest that solid information sources might help others understand our position and activities. This has always been true, but admittedly, we’ve all been very busy trying to take actions to help ourselves and worrying about the ones we care about.
I do not presume to say that we’re going to make any headway at all. There is a very valid argument that say’s, “No, we will not” and I am largely persuaded to this position myself. This is because the information is already out there, everywhere you look if they would just read.
I can’t (seemingly) get anybody to actually read my own food site, I get a ton of very basic questions that are clearly posted in multiple locations that are constantly inquired about. I’m 90% convinced Americans cannot read, do not understand what they do read and can only comprehend about 10% of that. I know that’s harsh, but have you ever worked with the public?
I also admit that I am now, largely as a result of this blog, the food site and the former forum, quite unwilling to beat my head against the proverbial brick wall and try to “fix this” comprehension / reading / awareness / knowledge / “lets get it together” problem. This is because I personally believe that Americans are in very serious trouble regarding several factors, such as:
a) situational awareness — they have no idea what is going on around them and have no interest in it either;
b) comprehension limitations — they are so brainwashed that anything out of the ordinary is completely lost to them;
c) cognitive dissonance — they are quite unable to perceive anything outside of their comfort zone and will continue to vehemently deny their own suffering as long as possible;
d) they actually prefer their own bias, ignorance and laziness, it’s preferable to them because it does not require of them any personal responsibility or accountability;
e) they like their dependency and expect others to take care of them;
f) they find the “need” to be self-reliant, self-responsible or even autonomous to be quite foreign and even distasteful to them, as this represents work, comprehension, understanding, awareness, education, intelligence and probably a good deal of sweat.
Don’t bother telling me that this is a strong indictment, believe me, I held back. I will not put together a forum again for this reason because they turn into “chat-fests” and disagreements all too quickly and very few do all the work. It is my opinion that when most ask for such resources, they themselves will not be contributing. I believe this is true because they are not contributing now.
I ask a lot of people — but in reality, nothing that isn’t common sense. I expect you to be able to read, comprehend and investigate — and take personal responsibility for yourself and your life. If there is something you want — what are you doing about it? This is common sense and a very reasonable expectation. Unfortunately, I believe it is also widely disregarded, exhibited by the actions I see and even the belief systems I’ve witnessed and investigated.
It does not take leadership to exhibit these qualities. It simply takes responsibility, a trait not often taught or practiced. And no wonder, look at what our so-called “education” and daily indoctrination teaches us. The only people held responsible are the victims caught by the system. The politicians, corporations, government, lawyers, the famous, the cops and the rich are almost always not held responsible for the actions (and inactions) and we are actually taught to desire to become like them or even one of them. It’s an insane, upside down world we live in.
So, by long-winded explanation, I won’t be doing a forum or spending my days trying to educate the uneducated. I personally believe it is largely too late for that and apparently, quite a few of you do too for your own reason. Most of you are just quite tired of trying and perhaps have discovered the same things I did. Therefore, this blog will not take on this focus anymore then it already has. What is already here should be sufficient.
Finally on this topic, I also believe that there is a very strong collusion of government and media, deliberately and viciously misinforming the public at large on almost all things. This is also a common belief held by many of you and one of the reasons you even read this blog. Truth is very important, lies and misinformation aren’t.
We are alone — we will largely remain alone. I am not personally persuaded this will ever change. For me, I say “whatever”, I’m moving on already. I’ve got to, since I cannot fix this. I am not convinced you can either, and furthermore if I dare so say, I think those that try are spinning their wheels to their own peril. It’s a reason I don’t vote — it’s too late to think we can fix anything. You’ve heard this before.
Furthermore, it is my opinion that the points I’ve presented in the blog articles, and especially the collapse and future prep series are as accurate as ever. Why this is important is for the reasons I stated earlier, this blog will remain up (if possible) as a “history” of the coming collapse, why it happened, what we felt, what we thought we should do and why we were both alone and disbelieved by everyone else.
Perhaps this point isn’t particularly important, I do not know yet. But as the collapse deepens, there will be those who will “come looking” and perhaps find something here that will help them accelerate their own level of awareness and understanding and thereby, gain some value for themselves. It’s really the best I can hope for, and by the recent responses, what most of you hope for too.
We’re moving on it seems because we all feel like we must. Definitely I say, let’s move on, it’s time, even a bit past time I’d say. This is not an easy road, but change never really is. There is hope and it’s a very simple hope — we are doing the best we can given the situation we find ourselves in, each and everyone of us. We are not alone, there are more of us then it seems, and even though we are badly “outnumbered”, we’re moving ahead as lights in the sky appear with the coming darkness.
We all loathe the thoughts of what the future could really mean, we do not perceive our neighbors as our enemies, just ignorant and unconcerned about their own selves, too dependent and uninterested to change. We fear what this might mean when they come knocking on our doors. We hope they knock — and not just take. Our biggest fear is the unknown, which includes the hungry hordes and the government agents and informants and the police state. Shortages are actually secondary and rightly so.
We all seem to believe something else too — that there are no “set answers”, no canned responses and no pat solutions. Most of us have come to understand that the techno-fix solution is an absolute myth. I say good — because this only increase the dependency and resource destruction and is in fact, part of the problem that caused this collapse in the first place.
There you have it. I’m sure I missed plenty, but my fingers are tired and so am I.
Oh, a public thank you to Steven and Michele and Sean for your donations! Much appreciated.
We are all islands and the only responsible action to take is to our sleves.
Best to all
Admin, just give the word if this isn’t something you’re comfortable with on your ‘blog.
**
admin wrote, “Age is a big concern. The age group of those who are aware, awake and prepping is the older generations, averaging between 40 – 60 (not everyone commented on this, but this is the clear trend).”
To put it with brevity in a way that we Americans all understand: I am a “perfect” candidate to enlist in the military. I’m male, 21, single, smart (ACT 32) with no very close friends and no career prospects, college dropout for financial reasons.
Lately I’ve been doing day-to-day work as a substitute public school teacher, which pays crap, but I find it relatively tolerable because I don’t have to interact much with cubicle-types. It sure beats soul-killing factory work. But when I think about it, I know that in reality’s reality, I can never hope to build a crash-stead on such a meager wage. I can’t even afford an automobile or a phone. Ordering a basic year’s food supply from here took half my savings; I would never have done it if the dollar weren’t blatantly collapsing.
What I’m getting at is, I’m alone and free to travel and have very little to lose. Y’know the scene in Star Wars where Luke looks at the desert sunset with longing for adventure, well, that’s me.
If the shit happens and I have no better option, I will retire alone to the wilderness of the Colorado Plateau (I live in northern Utah in a suburb) and try to survive as best I can — better to die after one or two years in the wild, I think, than after five or ten in a FEMA workcamp.
Yet man is a social animal; we’ve evolved to live with teamwork. But my real-life friends, all except for one possibly, have no future plans in common with me.
Thus in this regard I am out of ideas except to extend my figurative hand, and say that I would like to talk seriously about joining forces with someone. If most people here are middle-aged, well, I’m young. I suppose most things I know, like calculus, are not surival skills; but I’m intelligent and in good shape and can learn new things. And I am not a total citybred; I have some outdoor experience and earned Eagle Scout at least. I can’t offer money, just my hands and the willingness to work sunup to sundown.
There, I wrote it. I feel pretty damned awkward but there it is. If anyone wants to talk to me privately, my email-address is katamaritaino@gmail.com
I need a slave… must do ditches, dishes and backbreaking work for food… guard duty not optional.
Seriously, I understand your dilemma. I really do hope you have taken to heart the commentary on this very subject found on this blog. What you seek is dangerous — and necessary. Proceed with caution.
I don’t mind the comment by the way — no reason at all you can’t ask such questions, I’m sure such things are on everyone’s mind these days.
I could write a book on this subject (and have), so my concern is very real.
Admin, Amazing. Thank you.
Whatever.
To your list of intellectual defects I would add magical thinking. This takes a lot of forms, but it includes “Jesus will make all things new” and “someday, they will think of something”.
Truth is, there are plenty of somethings that have been done since our ancestors hunted and gathered. These old tech solutions can be employed in a context of contemporary understanding.
How does change happen? Generally it is driven by discontent. I don’t think historically there has ever been a system of distraction and displacement of perception quite the equal of our current media and habits. It looks to me that the average person’s day is in in a state of distraction from the Ipod to the cell phone to the computer to the TV. One of the things that hits me pretty hard is that young people are always plugged in to some kind of electronic stimulation (it is not that different for older adults with TV addiction). Once you step off the distraction train you begin to see things, and hear things. It is like an awakening from a media coma.
A lot of what prevents learning and change efforts are this distraction and displacement of thinking. Add to that, that the few messages (that are not infotainment) are disinformation and irrelevant, and you have a prescription for inertia and effectively denial.
I don’t want to appear too optimistic, but some of the conditions that will potentiate change are reaching a noticeable level for average people, even in this din. This has unfortunately been at a glacial pace, but more people will be open to strategies for self-reliance in response to these perceptions.
All of us are very early adopters, canaries in the cave, but I believe the other cave dwellers are starting to look around. My perception is that this awareness is picking up speed. Ironically, I find myself being grateful to the Bushies for being so transparently corrupt and fascistic. Their ineptitude has laid bare for everyone to see that the government is about the interests of multinationals, not us, and specifically, it is incompetent most ways. Removal of government as one pillar of “they will think of something” is a huge plus.
I am also weary of talking about how everything is falling apart. We are probably doomed, but it is probably many years away, varying according to your preferred doom. It’s all coming down. What to do?
We must become the change we seek as Gandhi said. I will be starting a website soon that will focus on the solutions and strategies I have found and am finding. I suspect it will be as thankless as doing this blog, but I feel strongly that I must put it together for my progeny. It will be about small scale solutions, and it will be about how to think about change and embrace it as best as one can.
One of our challenges is how to sort through the massive amount of information on the “what to do”. Arming up and hoarding will only work for a while, at some point we need to find relatively durable, personal solutions. There is plenty of very good work out there by the permaculturists, I want to offer very specific how-to’s and recipes for free. Maybe it will be useful for my kids. Dunno. But I will do it because of how I feel, and not how I think.
To all of you in dysfunctional relationships, I had to retool in mid life. My current partner is 100% with me on world view. It was painful to change, but essential for emotional and probably personal survival. It does become personal when you are asked to deny your identity so that your partner might deny reality. This is difficult ground. I wish you all the best.
Cloud, don’t overlook the mid-south as a potential destination when you finally leave the big city. Arkansas is the Colorado of the south, and the climate points are probably easier for self-sufficiency than Colorado, especially around the many state and federal parks. It is VERY affordable, and quite wild. We have bear, deer, elk, mountain lions, and just about everything else in abundance. I didn’t know anything about it until I visited it three years ago, and I bought a house within 3 months. I remain astonished even as a resident. I feel like I came home for the first time.
MD
I suppose I am lucky, my wife is 75% on board.
Absolutely keep this blog just as it is. Although we do not change many people’s minds radically, but even a little bit helps (plant the seed and it will grow, as the events unfold to nurture it), and I still point the few I’ve talked with at length to this website to “see for themselves”. Those that desire, will. Those that do not, doom themselves by their own choices.
“…trying to keep one foot in and one foot out of the system.”
How true! I’ve been struggling with making needed changes to get ready but keep bumping up against both not having enough money to buy all that I will need and space limitations for storing everything. I live solo in a single family house and have used up most all of the closet and garage space available.
I also identify with the problem of convincing both my family members and friends about what we will all be confronted with and have had limited success in that. LOTS of denial out there. But these are people who still believe a jetliner hit the Pentagon!
Developing a core group of believers in collapse is very difficult but I think it may/will become easier as energy and food cost continue their upward trend.
Predicting when all of this will happen is very tough as well. But I do believe that it will be delayed as long as possible by the “powers that be” to maintain the charade and the status quo. Which gives us just a little more time to prepare.
Imagine what masses of emotionally explosive, argumentative people who are not capable of clear thinking would bring to the table(and forums)…especially once we are urgently in the thick of designing live or die solutions. We might find ourselves longing for the old days and wishing they would all just nod off again.
I loved the Onion’s nickname for this unaware mass: the “reactionary dimwit vote” It does seem like the bulk of our population mimics many symptoms of brain injury, and given that the factors that account for over 50% of all neurogenesis are all missing from our modern lifestyle, it might come as no surprise that we are having trouble communicating. (It certainly has nothing to do with a lack of skill or effort on our parts.)
Admin, I think you have heroically woken the correct folks, you have applied your own air mask first, and now it is my opinion that we need all hands and minds working on creating essential community support systems for the next phases. (or what are other people feeling impulsed to do lately????)
as to spouses: staying focused on solutions and plans(rather than anything that could be interpreted as a mad max/implausible scenario) seems to help a lot. Also giving multiple reasons to be doing preparation tasks seemed to really change our discussions. for example: (gardening,apiaries,wormbeds.. increase overall health, ordering bulk food is cheaper and reduces shopping time, alt energy is low footprint and cheaper in the long run, reducing electricity dependence is cheaper, the govt recommends pandemic flu prep……etc)
That way it is possible to agree on specific preparation tasks and still disagree harmoniously on our individual reasons for those tasks.
Thank you all for your kind comments. I am in the “unenviable” position of having to do something that I thought might happen – quell the panic.
It’s truly disconcerting to spend years of effort to try to sing a siren’s song with clarity, and then discovering you need to stop because your audience is no longer manageable.
The was inevitable. No system on earth is big enough to handle a mass panic. We saw this during Y2K and during Katrina. Our institutions are instantly overwhelmed if even 5% react.
It was a gift in a distorted sort of way to know that not many were taking part in their own preparations, but those days are now over. It’s already chaos here, I don’t know where each of you sit, but from my perspective and daily workload, yeah, it’s here. And I know it will get much, much worse.
I don’t personally hold the view that we have many years left. Personally, I have been withholding a lot of news that I find or others have sent to me. If anything, I think these reports are revealing just how fragile our civilization is and how each domino drops a dozen more in all directions.
I think we’ve reached critical mass for collapse now. The only thing holding it together is the sheeple we deride. Their “faith in the system” is tenuous but still there. Already, many other countries are moving beyond the United States and rightly so.
It is truly ironic to realize that the very ones we’ve tried to awaken are the ones who are presently keeping this still-sinking ship afloat. We should all send them a “thank you” for their ignorance.
But on the other hand, the slow crash scenario will truly destroy us all and everything else on the planet. I think this by far is the most damaging scenario we could have and I’m not for it at all.
In a sense, “enough already” is my viewpoint. We know what we’ve done is wrong, we know it cannot be sustained much longer and we know that we’re headed for a crash no matter what — so let’s just get on with it.
No, I am not ready, I do not know anybody that actually feels that they truly are. Some feel close, personally I feel pretty overwhelmed. I’m trying to service as many people as I can and it’s becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous.
A sound of silence is coming from all of us — because it must. Michael, I think it is quite noble to consider putting up a website, but I also think the time for doing this is already past, because the preparations that are needed take many years to develop and the data is already out there.
I respect your position however and feel comfortable enough to post this comment publicly, you’ve done a wonderful job in a very short time commenting with insightful contributions, I’m sure your website would be just as good.
It IS a thankless job, that must be weighed against what you can do in your family, your neighborhood and in your community. The longer we depend on high-tech, including the Internet and computers, the less we offer the real world we live in, and the more we wind up taking from the natural world.
I see all of this as attempts to “postpone the inevitable” to be honest. Yes, we need community, even online-community for now, and we need information, but what we need more then anything else is to just “do it” out there in the real world. We do not need anyone’s direction or approvals to do that, and the longer we seek this online interface with others, the less time (and life) we have to be living in the real world.
I think this is important because nothing can replace real experience, not even volumes or encyclopedias of information.
We really only learn by doing – or being shown how in real life and then going forth and doing. This comes from hands-on experience and real living.
My advocacy for a new culture and a new way of living, that lives from the increase of the Earth and not the decrease, is the basis for this argument. I see a danger in trying to postpone collapse, or trying to build online communities that replace the doing with the chatting, while still actively contributing to the ongoing resource destruction.
In other words, if we were all really “doing” as I envision, we would have no need for an online anything. Not really. Nor would we even be particularly willing to do so either, because we would recognize that we’re still contributing to our own destruction by doing so.
The fact is, we’re all trying to hang on. I know only 1 person who’s ready to truly “chuck it all” and abandon technology, and thereby, abandon his own contribution to the world’s destruction. Personally, I feel this perpsective to be very important, it is after all, the reason why we are having a collapse.
If a new ethic needs to be developed, and I am strongly argue that it does, if we won’t do it, who will? Where are those that will stop contributing to the collapse? I’m having a terrible time finding them — it’s not even me and I admit it.
This is more then being a Luddite or anti-technologist, it’s about putting into practice the positions you personally hold, a.k.a. personal responsibility.
I can’t do it — not yet. And I can’t find anybody else who can do it either, and I see a huge danger in this as we continue to consume the remaining world’s resources in our desperate bid to hang onto our present way of life and technology. And none of it will help us, because we will have STILL failed to learn to live without it.
This is not to pick on you Micheal, you’ve done wonders already, but it is my argument as it were and one of the reasons why I don’t do forums myself anymore. I cannot keep contributing to that which is actually helping to destroy us. It was an “easy step”, much easier then stop driving in truth, but one that I could take. I can’t contribute to anything that keeps this present world going with it’s techo-gadetary gluttony. This blog is bad enough, but I’d go hoarse without it.
I am not pleased with my own levels of dependency either. The future world I can envision would have none of that, or very little. But we’re a long, long ways from that, if we ever arrive and between here and there is this thing we call “collapse” and our present challenge is to figure out how we might simply live long enough to work towards that future world.
Most of our approaches on collapse survival has been to go back to using our technology, which is kind of weird, really. We know it will break down and fail, we know it requires massive energy inputs and maintenence, we know that it cannot last forever and on and on. But it’s “better” then sticks and stones, and in truth, it is. But it is also contributing to our ongoing weakness and dependency on things that must be wrested from the Earth and thereby, contributing to even more destruction.
So…. I only want to say that can we learn to do without all of these things? Someday, somebody will and will certainly need to know how to. If we are not laying the groundwork now for them to learn how as we learned how, then who will? I’ve long argued that collapse is generational, and that the real issue is not our survival – but theirs. What are we really doing to help them survive if we teach them the same dependencies that we have already? If we teach them to rely on things that they can neither buy or build?
I see this entire approach as incredibly short-sighted, the same short sightedness that caused our present condition.
So if you do a forum — I hope it can teach what is not being taught and show what is not being shown. How to live without all these things and how we can be happier and more fulfilled without them and how by doing so, we will finally permit the natural healing of the planet to commence.
Didn’t mean to make this so long.
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was both bless and cursed by the Gods, to know the future, yet be powerless to change it (no one would believe her). Sound familiar?
It’s an old tale, and a “tragedy”, being retold again today.
Yet this online interface that Admin correctly connects with the current, failing, doomed system continues to serve a vital purpose…..it reminds us that we are not alone, there are other Cassandras out there, and thus we are encouraged to keep trying, rather than just throwing in the towel and giving up (sometimes ignorance really is bliss). I know it has made a difference for me.
Most of the time, I do my prepping, thinking if I say anything to the hubby about it without a “plausible” explanation, he’ll think I’m nuts. I even keep my conversations with the kids to a minimum because I don’t want them spreading my prep plans to his school mates (not sure if I can trust their parents). However, a few weeks ago, hubby just about blew me away. “We need to get an XYZ…just in case the world as we know it ends.”
So ya…I do have an adult someone on my side. He just doesn’t talk about it, and when it comes to purchasing things, he just leaves that up to me. Thankfully he already knows how to fish, hunt, and tan leather, or I’d be hitting him over the head with my cast-iron skillet.
I have attempted what Cloud is talking about and encountered people who are are” doing this” just in case.
One was building a resort/ crashstead. in case the crash didn’t come he would have the resort. None wanted to pay. Still hanging on to their dollars.
I am going into the wilderness when it all gets to that point. Instead of stocking up on things I learned to make them or not need them. Instead of contending with the hoards, gov’t, etc. I will be where they are not.
i think everything, except guns, that is stocked up on will eventually be gone and one must learn how to replace it by the time it breaks or runs out.
The sooner one learns the survival skills and mindset the longer one will survive IMHO. Because, eventually we will all have to stay one step ahead of …. or make our probably fatal stand.
It is going to get savage; primitive. Suddenly.
I too rely on the system, but only because it exists. If it didn’t exist I would not need it.
Not much left to say to the sheeple. That’s why they are sheeple.
Oh, goodness – CNBC is on my screen here – they just went thru’ the covers of about 6 financial magazines, all talking about the economy tanking. Yesterday, one thought he was joking when he said that folks were heading to Whole Foods and stocking up on grains as a commodity play. And the Dow is down 280 points.
Grocery store flour, 5 pound bags, at ALDI’s fer chrissake, were over $2 today. I bought beans, and came home to tell my husband and son we could no longer afford to eat. I put them in charge of finding new activities to do in place of meals.
I can’t convince them that buying bulk grains, for example, is a time saver. They’ve seen me grind it! I can’t convince them that mung bean sprouts are lettuce.
Maybe food riots this summer will convince them. I don’t WANT food riots – I wish that they could live oblivious to the doom I see and have long happy lives.
Fern
Bush: US Is NOT Headed Into A Recession
Economy Skids to Near Halt
Gee, who you going to believe?
They’re both lying, but we’re not supposed to figure this out. Both articles offer a “reality view” catering to your personal perspectives. Our idiot Pretender in Chief believes that giving away your own money in paltry sums is going to “stimulate” our failing economy, which is now in the trillions of dollars. Only a fool could be so stupid — or an accomplished liar.
In the other article, just like Lonewolf had pointed out, it offers a “bright spot” we’re supposed to be left remembering, forgetting everything else we just read (which was still inaccurate):
Gee, no mention that the dollar is worth less then HALF of the Euro. And it’s “funny” how we could be losing all these jobs while our exports are allegedly “growing”. Must be making magic from sunshine I suppose. Wish I could do that.
If you all are stocking up on grain, consider amaranth if you haven’t. Amazing stuff, makes spectacular white sauce that taste’s a bit like asparagus (one of my experiments last week). One of the things I consider in buying food is to buy away from the fuel/food competitors like corn and more customary foods. Another food I really like are small red beans. They cook very fast for dried beans and should be energy star rated. Plus, they taste just great.
I appreciate anyone who is critical of what I say, and I never take it wrong. The struggle to find the best solutions is always improved by honest frank discussions of competing ideas. That’s really how I learn, and I love learning.
I do realize I have a long way to go, but I try to think through what I have to do, and I set priorities. Today I dug out a hillside seep spring and was pleased to learn it flows about a half gallon a minute. Another water source. Now I have three and I haven’t built the roof based rainwater capture system yet. Weird to have springs at 2,200 ft, but we do.
I don’t expect to ever be done with what I am doing to get off the many grids, but I am quite certain it is important to get on the track toward the goal. I think we can think of it as discounting the severity of the collapse. If I think about everything I need to do, I can shut down in overwhelm. If I chunk it up and prioritize my work, it feels possible. This may be little more than a contrived delusion, but it is the only way I know how to move ahead. I try to immerse myself in the zen of plowing ahead. Works for me. I think we all have our way of attacking huge tasks. This survival think is a mother.
It is a beautiful spring day. Feeling a little out of jail after a cold snap. T-shirt weather.
MD
So much has been said, it’s tough to add much of anything except for a few stray comments.
Many peasant women in India “purify” their drinking and bathing water by filtering it through their used and worn out saris. The sari, as most know, is made from silk. The older and more washed it is, the more frayed it is, both macro- and microscopically, and that is precisely why they make better water filters than new silk. I’ve been buying silk clothing from yard sales for years often washing it without wearing it, and even keep several silk shirts in my backpack. I should mention this filtration process does not address the complicated issue of water contamination by organic chemicals such as PCB’s, dioxins, etc., but addresses only microorganisms such as bacteria, mold, etc.
Now if only I knew how many layers to use–more is always better I suppose.
On the issue of preaching to the choir because nobody else is listening, a most bizarre thing happened tonight. A good friend/neighbor happened upon my husband tonight, a neighbor who incidentally has for his entire 45 years been a die-hard “my country right or wrong” type, and in spite of that we love him and his family dearly. He has been a total naysayer about any of the things we all know are looming in the distance, things my husband and I have hinted to him, to no avail.
But he said he had seen something on the History Channel called “Crude” and he is still in shock, literally. Our neighbor, father of 3 including an infant, said to my husband, “if I knew this stuff I would have never had children!” He then continued on, commenting on the issue of petroleum and how it is 100% tied to food production and he says he is blown away by the implications of things such as, “where will all our food come from?” The longer he talked, the more he began sounding like anyone on this blog.
So, it is possible that those on auto-pilot can wake up, but I suppose the right message has to hit the right person at the right time, and in the case of our neighbor it has really happened. Believe me, if THIS guy can open his eyes and his mind, ANYONE on the planet can!
I do not think all will starve equally…not even close. One of the things that’s not considered a lot on these types of sites (or anywhere, really) is US hegemony; military power being used; police power being used to secure food and other resources wherever they need to get it…
Also: What is China, for instance, going to do as their people starve (could happen any time with drought, etc).
I know you post a lot of good things about the Fascist maneuvering going on. What I want to know is: to what end?
What do people think the Elites are going to do to prolonge the crash as long as possible for themselves?
Will Americans Allow, or even help the people in certain poor, but valuable, lands starve to death?
How likely is genocide in the future?
I just have this terrible feeling that America will be the very last to starve…..take for example, the Ethanol nightmare: They all know what the cost is to other nations. Americans know, or should know, their exhorbitant lifestyles cost hundreds of other lives…people and animals, alike.
Maybe Americans aren’t only Dull-witted, but viscious gluttons to boot; willing to push 100 million into starving to death so they can have their creature comforts? 1 Billion? 4 Billion? How many will die before Americans start feeling the pain?
Or do people think Americans will go out without a wimper….even with the Largest military on the face of the Earth?
Food for thought, hopefully.
Tree
While I don’t believe it will save us, and I do think we are all doomed, those of us who have believed this all along and seen it coming can really help the second wave crowd. (I do realize this is logically inconsistent so far. How can you help when you feel doom is certain?) We can help by pointing out what second wavers might do to mitigate what is coming. People need to get in motion and get on task, even if it doesn’t work long term. There is always something that can be done now. For instance, everybody should have a big backyard garden, something like “square foot gardening” or some other intensive model. Lots of food can be raised in a very small space. This is well understood and explained all over the place.
If we don’t help the late comers get off the “I go to the store and get my food” lifestyle, they will shift to the “I go get my food wherever I get it, whatever it takes”. Better to help them understand the path toward self-sufficiency so they can begin a learning process that will never end. Just like us.
If you remember Kunstler’s comparison of the coming US collapse to the recent Russian collapse, he drew one particularly huge distinction. Russians all had their backyard gardens in place because they already had problems with food availability, so when it really shut down, they ramped up what they were already doing. They knew how to eat, and the path to some measure of self-sufficiency.
I don’t think anything will prevent our demise, but perhaps we can mitigate the suffering of the collapse until it really gets terrible. My bitch with the many lofty models pitched out there by so many is that they are all or nothing solutions. These climax designs of “eco-communities” and various gee whiz solutions are not in reach of regular people. Pipe dreams are great, but something has to hit the ground for regular people. I believe we can help regular people take their best shot in terms of what resources they have at their disposal now, i.e., solutions in the context of the art of the possible. We all need to get off our collective asses and get in motion or sink in a pit of despair.
My daughter is working in New Orleans now right in the belly of the beast. It might be a good lab for what is coming because it is a real shit storm. She and many other young people are working to create community gardens and help rebuild at least habitable housing. She is a highly skilled organic farmer and is real excited about the prospects of getting vacant lots into production. They are rebuilding community and food supplies in that huge mess without governmental support. It is prairie law around there, but those who are helping the community rebuild are safe.
I have talked with her plainly about the unhinging of our economy and the unfolding of the environmental collapse. She remains positive about life and has found the balancing points to move ahead and be happy. To my mind at least, she is modeling the best we hope for, and doing what she can do. She is not spending time worrying about doom, she is building what she can in the here and now in a life lived moment by moment. I am proud of the things she is doing and how resourceful she is. Having said all of that though, I doubt she will die a natural death of old age.
For me, every moment is a gift. We never know when our time will come and we had better treasure the ones we have. When it’s not bad, it’s really good. Getting busy with my garden keeps me positive. When it is time to go, I will go. Today is another perfect Arkansas day and I am still here now. There are planting boxes to build. Garden plans to make. Chickens to feed. Wood to cut.
We need to face our difficult future with courage while still treasuring our moments here and now, and doing what we can.
MD
Tree – I thought I’ve addressed those questions here. Not recently, but several times in the past.
What is China, for instance, going to do as their people starve (could happen any time with drought, etc).
What China always does. Most countries faced with resource shortages go to war and steal what they need from someone else. And they starve.
They will also implement harsh measure such as slave labor, a practice they are known for.
I know you post a lot of good things about the Fascist maneuvering going on. What I want to know is: to what end?
So that you are aware of how serious this is getting and that you should be making plans to deal with it. As mentioned above, there are a few that are being slapped in the face about things like food shortages and oil shortages, but this is only a drop in the proverbial bucket of collapse. Much, much more is going on.
The fascist police state is already here, I’m hold back BIG TIME one all the machinations and evil going on, because it tends to run everyone off, they do not want to accept the fact that their country has already been completely taken over and that they really do not have any rights, protections or freedoms at all. All we have left today is the illusions of these things and it will get much, much worse as the police state ramps up to enforce the fascists policies that MUST come in the face of collapse and resource shortages. When that happens, they’ll finally see it, as they are carted off to prison.
Did EVERYBODY just happen to miss the recent “news” (not news, I’ve said this before) that 1 in 99 Americans are now in jail? Does this mean we are more “law breaking”? Of course not — it means we have an absolutely out of control legal system that is creating crime and “justifications” for arresting and incarcerating people.
This is higher then the top 3 or 5 countries combined on earth — with higher population levels!!!
It is plain as day where this is heading — Americans are “the enemy” in their own country. All those stories and pictures of prisons camps aren’t hearsay either, they’re getting ready to attack Americans under many different pretexts of “protecting us”. Why do you think we now practice rendition? Or torture? Or have passed a gargantuan amount of legislation that permits no-knock warrants and seizures based on nothing but hearsay? Or illegal wiretaps? Or the recruitment of truckers, churches, clergy, doctors, teachers, postmen and every other quasi-official to be informants and spies?
It’s all leading to one thing. It’s plain as day, in-your-face but too damned obvious for people to grasp its full meaning.
Specifically, “to what end” — be prepared to deal with it. You CAN fight back. You can also hide and let these rotten scumsucking bastards kill each other off too. We are neither powerless or without options. We outnumber them about 1000 to 1 or even higher. I’ve already mentioned that brutal war is coming to the United States, this is not inconsistent with history and the logical course of action that will be the results of resource collapse, economic collapse and political collapse.
What do people think the Elites are going to do to prolonge the crash as long as possible for themselves?
Who say’s they will prolong it? I’m not sure they will. 2008 looks like a pretty good year to me for this to occur. That doesn’t mean it will though, but the signposts are all there.
What will they do? They will seek to save themselves, protect themselves and insulate themselves from everybody else. This means their wealth, property, assets and holdings, their privileges, positions and power bases and centers of control. You have noticed the very large land grabs their making? And the resources they are accumulating?
You know — they’ll do what they are doing now, and continue to practice the double standards that only money and power and privilege buy. Except I do earnestly believe that this will worsen exponentially. We are lightyears away from a “fair and just world”. We first have to degenerate into total chaos before we can begin again.
Will Americans Allow, or even help the people in certain poor, but valuable, lands starve to death?
You’re kidding right? Of course not. Are we helping now? Sure, there are a lot of aid efforts and a lot of institutions and programs, but they are dealing with graft, corruption and indifference — including in America and in the countries they are trying to help. Why should any of this change? Basic human nature has not changed, even when we are facing our own destruction. We will become vicious animals as we realize that “we” are finally threatened too.
How likely is genocide in the future?
Future? You mean right now, right? It’s happening in many locations around the worlds as I type and we are doing nothing to stop it. So that means it’s 100% likely, including here in America. This is what resource collapse means, the strong, young and ruthless will rule over and destroy, plunder and attack the weak.
Americans have this insane idea that our “modern country” cannot experience such things and do not take part in such things, but they don’t even remember their own recent history. We wiped out tens of millions of Native Americans gleefully a very short time ago — we will do it again.
And we’re mighty busy training our “young and ruthless” how to kill in many other lands too. It is very easy to see where this will wind up in America.
I just have this terrible feeling that America will be the very last to starve…..take for example, the Ethanol nightmare: They all know what the cost is to other nations. Americans know, or should know, their exhorbitant lifestyles cost hundreds of other lives…people and animals, alike.
You are probably right. We will permit unbelievable suffering to go on elsewhere — just like we do right now. We will attack ourselves and reduce our own numbers without any outside “help” too. And we will do it out of fear and stupidity, trying to protect our non-negotiable “way of life” that really means “lets trash the planet for our personal privilege”.
Maybe Americans arenâ’t only Dull-witted, but viscious gluttons to boot; willing to push 100 million into starving to death so they can have their creature comforts? 1 Billion? 4 Billion? How many will die before Americans start feeling the pain?
How about 5 billion? Don’t think it will happen? I do. We’ve been deeply brainwashed into believing arrogance and indifference are quality characteristics that “set us apart”. What we’re too stupid to realize is this just makes us monsters.
Or do people think Americans will go out without a wimper….even with the Largest military on the face of the Earth?
I give up on what people think — if they were thinking, they’d get off their asses and stop this shit and do something about saving themselves, their friends, their families, their country and their future.
But they are still stupidly enamored that “life will go on as before” not knowing, not caring, not understanding that it all depends upon cheap energy and plentiful, abundant resources.
Things like “democracy” and “justice” can ONLY exist when there are such things as plentiful supplies, these things are GONE when shortages or depletion occur, and civilization after civilization had degenerated into war, chaos and anarchy when their resource base was consumed or destroyed.
Whimper? No, we’ll launch our missiles, we’ll invade other nations, we’ll attack any who question our “moral superiority” and right to existence (translated, “the American way of life”) and we will gleefully commit genocide and the extermination of billions. We are well on our way there now in a myriad of ways.
Are we any different then any other nation on Earth? In some ways, yes — just look around. How many other countries are actively invading and stealing other countries resources? How many are presently practicing the genocide we’re doing?
We’re not alone in this, but there are many countries that don’t do this – and never have in modern history. But what will they do when faced with resource depletion? Many do not have the bombs, missiles and armies we do, which makes them targets, especially if we get bent out of shape with them.
It’s been said before that the last drop of oil will be consumed by a piece of military equipment someplace on Earth, and this is quite probably true.
I am definitely not picking on you or your questions, and realize these were only meant to make people think, but I’d like to make one final point.
NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE
What we’ve already done — what we are already are doing will continue. War, resource destruction, indifference, apathy, theft, genocide, attacking other nations and groups of people, letting others starve, letting others suffer, insisting on our non-negotiable way of life — all this will go on as before.
Because we have not changed. And we will not change until and only if — we have personally suffered a great deal.
Change comes from being truly discontent with yourself and outside forces are the best way to experience change. As long as we can hold onto our present privilege and status as the worst planet-raping-indifferent-monsters we are, we will.
America has a large, highly trained military force and the political will to use it. And use it here too. The suspension of habeas corpus and posse commitatus represents that and bears ominous warnings to our future as “average joe citizen”.
The illegal spying of telephone, email, websites, microwaves and postal mail bears witness of where they intend to take this. Notice that none of this has been stopped?
The tasking of military satellites, “gifting” of military equipment to law enforcement and paramilitary training to these thugs has been going on and increasing for years. Anybody beside me notice the huge surge in police brutality — or how these bastards are not being held accountable?
The “free speech zones” behind caged, chain link fences, the harrassment of journalists and reporters, the smashing of cameras and faces, the illegal arrests and incarceration of protesters, the denial of First Ammendment rights, the list is nearly endless.
And Americans by and large – don’t care. They don’t even believe it’s going on. They are daily brainwashed by the lying complicit media that is very busy keeping them stupid and uninformed.
Everybody notice that the real news sources for original stories (oft repeated here on alternative website like mine, Baker and others) are all offshore? Or how if you flip the idiot box channels, they’re all spouting the same inane nonsense that informs nothing and reports absolutely useless crap?
America has already been taken over, all that remains now is to incarcerate the trouble makers. The lines have been drawn and quite frankly, the problems of other countries really are not our concern. America has turned inward, against it’s own citizens in a myriad of ways. Now, your cell phone can be searched, laptop computer or papers if your simply pulled over for a traffic violation. You can be arrested for anything and often are. Scratch your eye? You just made a threating move to a law enforcement officer — you’re going to jail.
This is no accident, anymore then a 4 year old kid drawing a picture and being arrested and placed in handcuffs and carted off the school grounds by cops. The level of intimidation occurring is meant to make you afraid and helpless and too scared to think about what your “rights” once were, or what you can and should be doing about all of this.
Television programs are replete with “cop themes” and how bad guy or even bad cop is dealt with by the good guy and “justice” prevails, except none of this is true. Our law enforcement institutions reek with corruption, as does our government, caught red handed importing drugs, prostitutes, sex slaves and illegal contraband into this country.
I can’t watch television anymore and haven’t for years, but it’s all lies, lies, lies. I rant on these subjects because we’ve lost focus, we’ve lost belief, we’ve lost hope and we’ve replaced it with infotainment that dulls the mind and deadens the senses and keeps us from knowing, caring or understand what is really going on. It’s very, very bad.
We’re robots on autopilot, deadened within and simply unable to truly comprehend our plight or imprisonment. I call us slaves often because we are, unable to break free from the many, many chains that bind us, and unbelievably — they want more and more chains on us all the time.
There are too many of us, far, far too many and yes, they fully intend to kill us by the billions and billions. All the signs ahead point to this as the only outcome there is as the world consumes the remaining resources of cheap, plentiful energy. We can’t support 7 billion, it’s impossible when the energy runs out. Climate change is also a stupendously huge factor that will impact every human on earth. Without yearly record-breaking crops, we are right now, facing famine as a result. This is impossible because our climate has already changed irreversibly. There are many other impossibilities in the works – such as us changing, or a techno-fix, or voting our way to freedom or any number of things. Civilizations do not unravel the messes they’ve created — they collapse.
I see it, a few others see it and it’s so far “out there” that it is rejected out of hand as being just too much to be true. But that does not negate the mountains of evidence we have compiled that this is indeed, our future.
It’s my “day off”. Yeah, right. But I do have some work to do and will shut up for now.
Thanks for providing so much insight into a problem that is only going to get worse. We need people to get prepared or they will simply take from those who are prepared. Preparation without protection is no preparation at all. That means you need: secrecy (regarding all preparations -particularly what you’ve done and where you’ve done it), isolation from danger (isolation doesn’t mean an enormous distance although distance helps) and arms.
The dollar is dropping like a ton of bricks and you would be foolish not to use it to buy durable goods (and storage food!) that will only escalate in price. You don’t need lots but you do need basics. I think one person can get “the basics” for under $1,000. I’m preparing an article on this subject that I will submit to Admin for possible publication on this site.
To Cloud – youth has its advantages but it also makes you a prime candidate for the draft. Keep your ear to the ground on that one and if it looks like the military is going to be busy on multiple fronts you might want to consider relocating in a big hurry.
Here’s a couple of pictures that might help some understand how willing we all are to go to war and destroy others in our quest for land and resources:
“Land Transfer: Native Americans To Whites”
Palestinian Loss of Land
We could do this in pictures, all over the world.
More evidence on my latest rant – plenty out there, if Americans would just read it — and care. Bolded emphasis mine.
There’s much more, everyone should study the article carefully. Such as:
and:
It’s both racial and not — the risk of (real) crime is lower, yet the number of possible offensives is greater. You can break the law more easily these days due to the sheer preponderance of assinine laws. I’ve long held that “victimless crimes” are not crimes at all, but 2/3’s of today’s incarcerated are deemed “guilty” of such offenses.
Basically, law enforcement has pulled this shit out of their asses because for them, crime pays. Making up more crime pays even better. All this is a supposedly “free country”. The only thing free here is the air, and that will soon change too.
The trend is very clear, despite lower real crime, it’s not been reversed, the huge budgets given to the prison industry and contractors like Halliburton make it very clear that this is a huge industrial enterprise marketing in the souls and freedom of men.Â
As I’ve long said, it is business as usual and we can expect and know that a lot more of this is coming our way.
I didn’t mean to what end are YOU posting this, but where is it leading that they are doing this; which you’ve answered well.
I think this is the kind of activity we DO still need the internet for. We all need to stay informed about what the guvmint is doing, and the general tone of the people, as well.
Yes, admin, you’ve addressed these questions in the past, but it just seemed like people weren’t realizing just how horrible our country might become, and also I felt that subconciously, many of the nay-sayers ‘know’ that we have a massive army that will take what ‘we’ need in the future, and that’s why many aren’t worried. I wonder if we shouldn’t just flat-out ask them about this? I just have this feeling that Amerikkka and a few other places will be the last to crash…as in: I don’t know that ‘the crash’ will be as soon as people think (except for the useless eaters), but I think the Fascism will stop ‘creeping’ and be here in earnest first. We would need Fascism to support the military actions.
As you write, Admin., what scares me is the fact that a lot of Amerikkkans will be fine with the total loss of freedom in exchange for food and security.
Thanks for your response, Admin.
Tree
We need resource depletion to support military actions. Fascism is a reactionary response to the Empire trying to save itself by wresting control from it’s own institutions and from other nations. The military supports this action and has done so in the United States for hundreds of years.
This list in incomplete, but an example of how we militarily intervened to protect our “interests”.
Driving all of this is resources. This is why we do not defend the helpless, weak and poor countries, they have nothing we want (not even their freedom or democracy). American government practices democracy at the point of a gun and always has.
Cuba for example, has suffered from economic sanctions for over 50 years, while posing absolutely no threat to the United States for decades. We let them starve, 90 miles from our shores, while they went through their own early oil depletion, forcing them to gear up their own food production and backyard farms.
Americans are quite clueless how ruthless, inconsiderate and uncaring this country really is. Unfortunately, what our politicians do is a large reflection of what our people do too. We’re not all like that, but we’ve been invaded by the body- snatching Jesus jumping idiots who think they are going to rule the world. They’re much too stupid to realize that they are largely the problem.
I’ve often viewed history as a pendulum, swinging back and forth since much of history seems cyclic and oft repeats itself. The pendulum swipes at and destroys everything it touches as it progresses. We call this civilization.
As history and time progress, the pendulum swings wider and wider, creating more and more destruction. It also seems to speed up, shortening the time of its destructive swing.
We are smack dab in the middle of that swing right now, and its width is very, very wide. All will be swept away and affected. Where you stand and how you react to this is what will determine your chances of survival. Those that remain caught in the headlights of magical signs from heaven will be destroyed. Those that are enamored with the capitalist march towards Empire will be the destroyers, they do not care what your card-carrying membership has to say.
Those that see what’s coming and are trying belatedly to get out of the way will be crushed beneath the behemoth. Those that got out of the way will be hunted down. Those that stayed hidden and unfound or were somehow fortunate to be left alone, might survive.
Civilizations turn inward and destroy themselves as a result of resource depletion. They do not go “quietly into the night”. There is a very real and ever present danger that those nations with large standing armies will employ ALL of their power and resources and military might in order to sequester the resources that they need to survive. This is their “self-preservation” response.
Ostentiously, this is going to be sold to us as being necessary “for our own good” and our “protection”, just like the Patriot Act and other bullshit they’ve tried. But in reality, this is to keep the military strong and the entire defense industry. It has nothing at all to do with us and never has.
“We” don’t need a military to “protect us”. All people have ever really needed is to be protected from government, especially in the modern world. That, and corporate rapists that would abuse the public, both in business and in private.
The ancient world needed protection from warring tribes and factions. Today’s world is much differently organized that this.
The average man or woman simply wants to live in peace, but this is not sufficient for government, politicians, big business and especially the defense industry. They need to rile us up and sell a bill of bullshit that we are “threatened”. This has worked very well so far, killing and enslaving millions and millions.
But now we’ve got big problems. The military is consuming most of the budgets in countries like ours (especially ours) and consuming most of the resources, and everybody knows it even if they won’t admit it. And it’s a very threatening situation because they won’t give up this position of power and prestige and think that it’s very important to “their” survival that they continue to exist on the top of the food chain. And they will try to do so for as long as it takes.
What America needs to do is to dismantle most of this and stop creating these conditions for ongoing resource depletion, bankruptcy and intervention by drastically reducing it’s military. We should be working on our own inward problems and issues now that resource depletion is becoming so severe. We could do that — but we won’t. Not a politician in America that stands a chance in hell of being heard has the balls to do the right thing.
Therefore, in the business-as-usual theme that we can all expect, we will deploy our military forces to fight more wars and kill more people and make more enemies, both real and fabricated and spread more lies and disinformation and on and on, all in the defense of the Empire as it goes through it’s last death throes as a world superpower and all under the pretense that this is all for our “own good and protection”.
We need NONE of it and I for one, will never, ever support this bullshit because it is one of the largest and most significant problems this world has ever created for itself.
Finally, in a desperate bid to both protect itself and to justify itself and retain control over an increasingly restless population, the military WILL be used against Americans on American soil as they nationalize the critical assets and infrastructure. Of that, I am absolutely certain.
Remember – they believe that they are “protecting us” when most of us just want to be left the hell alone. We’ve almost never needed them and it high time we admit it.
Ah shit. Nobody shoot me, not yet, I’ve still got too much to do. But I keep stumbling across current news articles that support my arguments above. Not trying to dominate this thread.
You Think You Are Free? contains some good points:
Must go get some work done now.
I was awakened to how serious the worlds problems a few years back when I visited and became a daily reader of SURVIVAL ACRES. This blog seeks to tell the truth whether people can handle it or not. The writer has emersed himself in the issues for a long time and knows his shit! He too has been trying to help by providing the best selection of freeze dried food any where. Most of his products have a 30 year shelf life!
My page focuses on self reliance and I find it a much easier message to sell and leave current event reporting to those more qualified such as yourself. When it comes to “collapse science” or food storage you have no equal in my eyes. People can only handle so much truth, so I limit it to what they can handle, as you know it takes its toll. For me the news can be summed up in four words “it is all bad” and no longer feel the need to disect it, but it was you that put it all in perspective for me. It may be a violation of rule 2 but I pray God keep you and your family.
I’ve been quiet for a while because I was off scouting for a retreat location in Scotland… Yes, it’s part of Big Brother Britain (albeit the best part) but I may not have the time to arrange a move overseas so fast is this nightmare unfolding, so I had to look into the best immediate options. That said, I am trying for much further afield if the global situation doesn’t escalate before I can get there, so Scotland remains very much plan B.
The “Tavistockisation” of western society seems more or less complete now. Those who aren’t blind to it all are breathtakingly apathetic, which I find even more disturbing than the blindness. People are docile and lazy; as admin points out, they find self-reliance and responsibility (core elements of true liberty) abhorrent. They have arrived at Huxley’s desired state of taking comfort in circumstances that ought to be felt as abominable.