Here's James Kuntsler contemplating what's going to happen when everything goes down the crapper in 2010. He foresees a full-blown depression and all of its attendant disasters. For the complete helping of end-of-the-year depression, you can read the article here. It ain't pretty. No prettier than this, just one of the dire consequences of our folly:
One wild card is how angry the American people might get. Unlike the 1930s, we are no longer a nation who call each other "Mister" and "Ma'am," where even the down-and-out wear neckties and speak a discernible variant of regular English, where hoboes say "thank you," and where, in short, there is something like a common culture of shared values. We're a nation of thugs and louts with flames tattooed on our necks, who call each other "motherfucker" and are skilled only in playing video games based on mass murder. The masses of Roosevelt's time were coming off decades of programmed, regimented work, where people showed up in well-run factories and schools and pretty much behaved themselves. In my view, that's one of the reasons that the US didn't explode in political violence during the Great Depression of the 1930s - the discipline and fortitude of the citizenry. The sheer weight of demoralization now is so titanic that it is very hard to imagine the people of the USA pulling together for anything beyond the most superficial ceremonies - placing teddy bears on a crash site. And forget about discipline and fortitude in a nation of ADD victims and self-esteem seekers.
Happy New Year!
4 comments:
Well, it seems he nailed it...even though I think 2010 is a bit early.
He admits to being off on his timing, but he has not deviated from the substance of the dire prediction. If it happens at all, we're in for very hard times, my friend.
Truly said...there is so much evil we have become accustomed to.
When I learned that we have been killing insurgents in the Phillipines for 100 years - on and off - I wondered where that history had been hidden.
We have been unfortunate to be in a generation which has seen the masks pulled away from our country, and have seen the ugliness beneath.Now, what do we do about it?
I hate to be a Gloomy Gus, but it's hard for me to be too excited about the coming year, for reasons we've been discussing now for months.
In re the Philippines, are you not aware that we have troops (special ops forces, to a large extent) stationed in roughly 165 countries in the world? And that these guys are engaged in nefarious deeds if the situation calls for it? . . . and we know how loose that definition can be. Unfortunately, as an American historian, I was all too aware of the ugly substratum and have been for some time. But even now, when it's exposed for all to see, the truth doesn't register with millions upon millions of people.
I wish there were something we could do about it. Alas, I can't think of anything other than to transmit the truth to as many of the generations behind us as possible.
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