Kunstler's clusterfuck and militant leftists
I sometimes think James Howard Kunstler is a bit over the top, always playing Mr. Superior, telling us how ugly our lives are under the cheap world of fossil fuels and suburban sprawls.
http://www.kunstler.com
Well, I think of him more as I see the INVISIBLE ugliness that supports our cities and suburban landscapes, all the places in the world being ruined for actual life being supported there for decades or even centuries, and I think, WELL, something's not right here.
And I work for an engineering consulting company, largely mining, so our livelihood is largely supported by these distant mining operations. On the good side, our consulting projects help keep people safe or minimizing environmental impacts, but mostly they're "cost saving" work, trying to maximize profits with minimum risk, nothing more, nothing less.
And even if I took a different job, the exploitation of natural resources is what drives absolutely everything modern, so EVERY job is ultimately subsidized by the free flowing wealth of this activity. There's no escape and still being a part of a modern city.
THEN I can stop being a cry baby and look at so many others, much worse off than me, again, just trying to get by, doing whatever they need to feed their family, and have a little compensation, whether virtuous, like a flower garden, or viceful, like drinking, or just senseless, like needing constant entertainment in all "spare" moments, of the "art" world of mass entertainment.
I do wonder sometimes what sustains me, like the sand tar boom of Alberta, an inconvenient "glut" of cheaper oil or iron or whatever funny unlikely thing that might happen by our successfully expanding production above consumption temporarily, it can send boomtowns like Alberta into ghost towns, and can send my company into who knows what. At least we want to live here, my engineering coworkers and I, but I try not to be too dependent upon the income, while they are many less likely able to scale back their lifestyles if their jobs or salaries are downsized.
No I have no sympathy for professionals making good money these days, if things turn sour. I just hope "we" take best advantage of whatever prosperity we know now, NOT that I'm convinced "professionals" are screwed in the future, only that their security isn't necessarily any safer than anyone elses'.
And lastly I think of much worse places to live, where people are really suffering NOW, and where violent responses expand the suffering. Apparently even Mexico is heading into trouble as oil revenue declines, and poverty aids movements to use violence for political leverage.
http://noticias-oax.com.mx/articulos.php?id_sec=14&id_art=54285&id_ejemplar=1477
What do the "upperclass" do when the people start uprising? Those of us who are "comfortable" as things are don't have the same incentives as those who have become hopeless that they can get ahead within the system as is.
And on a different side, I wonder about places like West Virginia, with the mountain top removal coal mining, where the governments at all levels are beholden to mining revenue, what is the political response to violence against your community's welfare EXCEPT open rebellion? If enough people are affected, things can change, but what if the vast majority can be protected from immediate knowledge or effect? How do you mobilize them to fight when they just want something of the pie for themselves?
And I mostly don't know where to draw the line. I mean I can draw the line against murder, but NOT against destruction of property, if that property is being used to destroy something else. AND if I'm not against property destruction, THEN I have to accept my own "property rights" are under threat, if I'm a part of the problem, even for just prospering under a system that hurts people.
It all can come back to us, what we do, what we close our eyes and ears from.
I mostly wonder today, what my place is in the rebellion, in the revolution? How can I prosper in the short term and remember the costs I don't bear myself? What burden can I bear now to remind me DAILY what my life is based on, and what is worth protecting?
I can think in the smallest things, like consumerism, like buying a new digital camera, so I can focus on a silly hobby, so I can distract myself of my powerlessness to make the world a better place tomorrow than today.
Anyway, an open question. What can I do, if not to change things, at least to know things are not well as long we all must depend on distant economies to provide for our way of life.
Things are not well, even if it can seem otherwise. I know this, and yet I want to forget.
http://www.kunstler.com
Well, I think of him more as I see the INVISIBLE ugliness that supports our cities and suburban landscapes, all the places in the world being ruined for actual life being supported there for decades or even centuries, and I think, WELL, something's not right here.
And I work for an engineering consulting company, largely mining, so our livelihood is largely supported by these distant mining operations. On the good side, our consulting projects help keep people safe or minimizing environmental impacts, but mostly they're "cost saving" work, trying to maximize profits with minimum risk, nothing more, nothing less.
And even if I took a different job, the exploitation of natural resources is what drives absolutely everything modern, so EVERY job is ultimately subsidized by the free flowing wealth of this activity. There's no escape and still being a part of a modern city.
THEN I can stop being a cry baby and look at so many others, much worse off than me, again, just trying to get by, doing whatever they need to feed their family, and have a little compensation, whether virtuous, like a flower garden, or viceful, like drinking, or just senseless, like needing constant entertainment in all "spare" moments, of the "art" world of mass entertainment.
I do wonder sometimes what sustains me, like the sand tar boom of Alberta, an inconvenient "glut" of cheaper oil or iron or whatever funny unlikely thing that might happen by our successfully expanding production above consumption temporarily, it can send boomtowns like Alberta into ghost towns, and can send my company into who knows what. At least we want to live here, my engineering coworkers and I, but I try not to be too dependent upon the income, while they are many less likely able to scale back their lifestyles if their jobs or salaries are downsized.
No I have no sympathy for professionals making good money these days, if things turn sour. I just hope "we" take best advantage of whatever prosperity we know now, NOT that I'm convinced "professionals" are screwed in the future, only that their security isn't necessarily any safer than anyone elses'.
And lastly I think of much worse places to live, where people are really suffering NOW, and where violent responses expand the suffering. Apparently even Mexico is heading into trouble as oil revenue declines, and poverty aids movements to use violence for political leverage.
http://noticias-oax.com.mx/articulos.php?id_sec=14&id_art=54285&id_ejemplar=1477
What do the "upperclass" do when the people start uprising? Those of us who are "comfortable" as things are don't have the same incentives as those who have become hopeless that they can get ahead within the system as is.
And on a different side, I wonder about places like West Virginia, with the mountain top removal coal mining, where the governments at all levels are beholden to mining revenue, what is the political response to violence against your community's welfare EXCEPT open rebellion? If enough people are affected, things can change, but what if the vast majority can be protected from immediate knowledge or effect? How do you mobilize them to fight when they just want something of the pie for themselves?
And I mostly don't know where to draw the line. I mean I can draw the line against murder, but NOT against destruction of property, if that property is being used to destroy something else. AND if I'm not against property destruction, THEN I have to accept my own "property rights" are under threat, if I'm a part of the problem, even for just prospering under a system that hurts people.
It all can come back to us, what we do, what we close our eyes and ears from.
I mostly wonder today, what my place is in the rebellion, in the revolution? How can I prosper in the short term and remember the costs I don't bear myself? What burden can I bear now to remind me DAILY what my life is based on, and what is worth protecting?
I can think in the smallest things, like consumerism, like buying a new digital camera, so I can focus on a silly hobby, so I can distract myself of my powerlessness to make the world a better place tomorrow than today.
Anyway, an open question. What can I do, if not to change things, at least to know things are not well as long we all must depend on distant economies to provide for our way of life.
Things are not well, even if it can seem otherwise. I know this, and yet I want to forget.
posted by Ares Olympus at 3:23 PM
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