After The Math

[curt]

....or, how to deal with the inevitable aftermath of the approaching collapse of the US and with it, the World economy. We had a thread like this going good over at the first RBC...remember, the one we all moved to from other cyber places like The Smirking Chimp and Project for the Old American Century ?? Those were the days. We were hot on convincing people the USA is fascist. Life was rough. Nobody listened. We screamed our lungs out, some of us. Still, nobody listened. The Bush bashing took the front seat of most every discussion. No time for reality. No "Blick in die Zukunft" (view in the future). Tough titty, too late, the train is gone and now we have to look around for "a place to sleep". (after a personal experience as a young GI in Frankfurt. Life sucks when you realize you blew it big time by not listening to people's warnings)

Quoting Bo......(from a mini crusade he was on today);

"Well, here's your future discussion topic: The USA is dead.

The body's been burned to a crisp, hung from a bridge, and the limbs are falling off.

The RBC is now making plans to survive the aftermath. That's the reality we need to prepare for now."

So bring 'em on, those survival techniques. Copy & Patse from the other other RBC too. What good will it do us o'er there when the damn place (TribeNet) collapses ?

[waldopaper]

Thanks, Bo. Watch "Pickaxe: The Cascadia Free State Story." You'll feel better. I know I did. Oh... and DO NOT go to cascadiarising.org. Obviously been seriously co-opted since this wonderful film was made.

Just part of my own effort to keep that shit off me. It's nucking futz out there.

[BO]

As much as I applaud those folks for their efforts, in reality it's a lost cause. Truth is, the root of the problem is overpopulation. Hell, it's the root cause of just about everything...

"Overpopulation is the root of most, if not all, environmental and many economic issues, timber overharvesting, loss of arable land, ocean depletion, food shortages, water shortages, air pollution, water pollution, flooding, plant and animal habitat loss, global warming and immigration."

http://www.overpopulation.org/

So, tell me BO, what are we to do?

Probably not much we can do 'cept sit back and watch the show. Mother nature will deal with the problem eventually. She probably already is.

I know we can't save the planet. About all we can do is try to fight a little bit of evil before the end does come.

This ain't no country for old men.

[BO]

Deleted that last reply because it just sounded too angry.

Speaking of Cascadia. What ever happened to Gavin?

[pan]

Just submitted my application materials to Evergreen College. I don't have any delusions that it isn't infested with all of that academic bullshit but it is a "hippie liberal arts college" and the instructors get to create new courses on a regular basis with an emphasis upon cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Who am I trying to kid? The regular salary and benefits would make our life a lot less scary financially and I am a fucking great college professor who really misses being in that classroom setting - if only I could figure out a way to just keep my mouth shut in dept. meetings....

[Mouse]

Good luck, it sounds very nice.

Gone into quiet mode here. Survived the last few days. That will do for now.

[waldopaper]

Me too. Still here... problem is down to a dull roar... but I still don't have "administrative access" to my own farkin computer.

Gavin is here. Long story... but we have a bet. He wins... I get "involved" in the "political process." I win... and he (finally) abandons it. Meanwhile... I'm still digging up shit that nobody wants to hear about. This is interesting: the psychedelic secrets of Santa Claus. Related to conversation(s) with Gavin... this critical take on Freeganism that contrasts with the anti-consumerism angle.

Good luck getting the day gig, pan. I've fairly given up on that... and haven't thought of an alternative (yet). Some pretty strange observations and finds over the "holiday" but no inclination to write about them (yet). Still here (yet).

Going to send Em a real-live snail mail.

[BO]

"Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms."

That's a stretch. They blew their cred in one sentence.

Sure, some of the roots of Christmas are in pagan ritual, but that's not to say that all pagans got high off of mushrooms. I'd say superstition was the primary basis for the belief system. Humans really don't need hallucinogens to create whacky belief systems.

I'm thinking this is simply a 'let's get high like the pagans' excuse to take drugs. You know, like man, 'It's part of our heritage', man.

I don't buy it. It's like believing christians needed LSD to believe in the great sky daddy. All it takes is a minor character disorder.

[waldopaper]

How about getting back to basics and enjoying some magical mushrooms with your loved ones this solstice?

That was the cred-blowing line for me. I can't think of anybody I would rather NOT be stoned around more than mi familia. In fact... things is just too fookin weird to be stoned at all. Eatin that yellow shaman snow was before they had the internet. I see enough weird bullshit on this screen every day. I dont need no doctor...

Still trying to sort out a Xmas show at one of the local mega-churches. Long story. Like I aint already in fucking bizarro-world... but it gave maybe some kind of inkle as to why the peeps aint got a clue. They're living in Disney World and they think all the props are real. At the end, pastor Neutics comes out... looking for all the world like the CEO of Lockheed-Martin to tell everybody that story was the only "true" one. I had the feeling he wasn't buying it for a second. Long as the peeps do.

Naomi Klein was just on Charlie Rose talking about how fucked up it all is. Tonight I convinced Mrs. Waldo that the Ohio election was rigged. "Why isn't this more widely known?" Well... it was one of those rare times when we had a real conversation longer than 15 minutes. She usually doesn't want to hear "all that negativity." Usually "too busy." Why can't I think of a "positive" way to tell people we're all fucking doomed?

What happened to all those pom-pom shakers on snarking chump? Did they have an awakening, or did they just slither back to the cube farm with the rats and snakes? Evolution is accelerating... which is why I found mushroom Santa interesting. Not that it was all about dope... and Bo is right- we can come up with candy- bun simple-head explanations for things without no shroons... like "electing democrats." Any guesses as to how long it will be before pom-poms figure out "the process" is just like the steering wheel on Maggie Simpson's kiddie car seat?

My guess is that it will coincide with financial collapse. Who can imagine what kind of fucked-up "solutions" will be grasped like oceanic straws? I don't imagine it will go beyond making a list and then getting bizzly-buzz-buzz bizzy. Altered states... or UNaltered states... or even "facts" can be used to "justify" what we've already decided to do anyway. 2+2=4, there"4" it's OK for me to pocket the pension fund.

Maybe the simulacra is the ergot that will cause the next Great Fear.

[BO]

Waldo, you and I are living in parallel worlds--same wife, same obligations, same reputation.

Yet, I've made some ground on having her think about leaving the country. Seems the move can be justified by the fact that we can live much cheaper and with much-needed sunlight down south. The gray weather here just amps the depression. Wife agrees. So, I'm researching again. Panama, argentina, mexico...

I've gotta have some hope to keep me going. And the only resolve I can come up with is to leave. I don't want to die in the fucking Seattle suburbs. I want to die in a grass hut with bare breasted natives giving me oil rubs. Ok, the sleeping pill is kicking in....gotta drive to portland tomorrow for the yearly family (wife's) dysfunktion. They've got three feet of fresh snow where they live on MT Hood. And everyone looks like a lumber Jack. Even the women.

Give me palm trees, white sands, and grass skirts. I'm too old to get cold. Everything shrivels and gives me hernias.

adios muchachos, fleece navy dads

[pan]

Bo, you are living in the wrong part of the country for your taste in weather.

The magic mushroom Santa article made my bullshit meter go off - too much reliance upon Jung's collective unconsciousness influencing modern additions to the myth - ferexample: "reindeer games". Unless I am mistaken that reference comes from the Johnny Marks penned song about Rudolph that was inspired by a character created by Robert L. May in 1939 as part of his employment with Montgomery Ward. American fakelore is cited as evidence of lingering truths being told about the psychedelic origns of Santa - nope, sorry, don't buy it.

The freegan article was spot on. I have no problem with people willing to opt out of the work to live/live to work lifestyle by becoming scavengers but their grandiose bullshit is just a way of telling themselves that their personal choice is somehow noble. Rather than owning their behavior they have somehow convinced themselves that they are making a stand. Lies - so many lies we tell ourselves. I have a student/friend/landlord (talk about shifting status in a relationship!) who is goes to PETA conventions and has subscriptions to all of the conservation/eco-friendly magazines (hmmm, how many trees does that kill a year?). She talks the talk but will turn around and drive 70 miles round-trip to Seattle in order to go to the organic hair salon so she can get her hair dyed.

[waldopaper]

La Realidad

What is the difference between reality and fantasy… and the physical and metaphysical? Is there a difference? Here is the story of La Realidad… reality… and what it’s like in A Place Called Chiapas, a 1 ½ hour film. A faster intro is in this article by Naomi Klein

The mythology … folklore and fakelore, the personality cult… God, Jesus, Santa Claus, Subcomandante Marcos … vote for hoodie or loodie… maybe Chiapas and places like them reveal the difference between metaphysical hope and comfortable binkie-suck. Compare the Priest and the Bishop.

Then there are the “Social Dominators.” They don’t believe much in right or wrong – it’s more about what they can get away with.>> Maybe that’s why Pastor Neutics at the Megachurch resembles a defensecorp CEO. It certainly explains the fucktards who simply can’t understand why doing anything possible to “maximize profit” might be undesirable: Clean environment or prisons? Sheeit. The “smart money” is on prisons and “security.” "I also see this as a more attractive sector, as many do, than clean energy.">> Hey fucktard… is that a spare planet in your pocket, or did you just get a “bonus dividend?” Usually “social dominators” don’t even bother to bullshit… unless they get paid extra.

The good news is, as resources dwindle- the SDs begin to eat each other (see “Chiapas”). The bad news is, the rest of us are on the gnawbone pile long before that happens. They’re now on the final frontier… hiring thugs who are either small-time social dominators or (like most USAns) followers who will grasp at any asshat “ideology” (and actually “believe” it) that keeps them comfy AND blinds them to the misery of others. SDs really don’t fucking care… unless they’re a “double high.”

Is there a difference between the sweet bullshit that gives hope to the miserable and oppressed and the cheesy bullshit that makes the fatties more comfy-wumfy? Maybe if one is willing to suffer for the sake of one’s bullshit… it might NOT be bullshit. Faith that moves mountains and all that. Or… it might be bullshit of the worst possible kind.

Maybe that’s La Realidad. Tribe goes down soon... trying to maximize their profit... or just trying to stay alive. Is that the difference? Looked at the strip-mall near home thinking of getting some bullshit clerking job to "make a living." Every place was just another tacky cell in the korporat prison. If you got grub and a roof, is it just "maximizing profit?" Toward the end of "Chiapas" there's a really good monologue about life being on the edge of death... when Reaper is a familiar acquaintance at the table. Most USAns aint anywhere near there. I think we will adapt to whatever physical environment compels us to do to. RBC is a lab where we develop something philosophic... maybe "spiritual" (whatever that is).

We can dumpster-dive. We can eat roots and grubs. That's the easy part. The hard part is moving the paradigm for others before it all becomes moot. As Mrs. Waldo said, "make it really simple." So... started with 1. the people who are supposed to be "in charge" care more about money than people. No problem. Most people see/ know that. Then, 2. the levers aren't connected to anything. That was tinfoil-hat lizards-from-outer-space. Did not compute. The levers may be misdirected, but not "connected to anything?" Impossible. Why bother to have "levers" at all? Why all this bullshit about government and voting if none of it matters? But it does matter... only the best analogy/ metaphor at the time was Maggie Simpson's steering wheel. Because it keeps us bizzy... clerking or teaching or schlepping video games fo de boss massah.

What do you suppose was the most brutally-suppressed paradigm-shifting idea in history? My first thought was about Marx. But then... maybe it was Buddha-Jesus. You don't NEED them assholes on the tip of the pyramid... the "double-highs." otoh... maybe the "philosopher kings" weren't double-highs at all. Maybe noblesse oblige has been the historical rule rather than the exception. It sure makes more sustainable/ sense. I think "dog-eat-dog is God's will" is batshit fucking insane. "Maggie's Wheel" is there to distract us from this obvious truth.

Thoughts at the close of the year... and hopefully this life if it doesn't start making more sense.

[littleoldme]

Living in soon to be "water world" (florida). I finally got some family members to listen. Even my daughter who married the repuke is now wondering where would be a good place to move to. Only problem no money. I expect we'll end up as refugees in, god forbid,Georgia. Took a trip to the chimp the other day, someone was saying that after the flood the Blue states should refuse to accept certain refugees. How fucked up is that? I did manage to get into it with MissMarple about Isreal. That was funnish. By the way, I did post a few things about "how to's" at the original (right after the chimp purge) reality based site, do you want any of it here. I can copy and paste.