Downhill Struggle

I really love it when scientists weigh in on the little issue of our impending doom. Perhaps my pleasure in this arises from the fact that the dispassionate language that they use almost always seems like they really don't give a flying fuck personally, but they are obligated to say something from some sort of humanist sympathy for the unscientific masses. A recently published study funded by NASA gave me some seriously dark chuckles indeed (here is the article). 

It pretty much says what everyone not actively ignoring reality is already aware of, the only difference being that scientists are all about specifics. The primary conclusion of the research said that most historical collapses are the result of rapacious elites wanting to consume absurd amounts of resources. This multi-disciplinary grouping observed that this is certainly true of our current situation, with elites in developed countries being the most responsible for our imminent demise.

What they failed to mention is that people emulate elites as much as they can manage in our Capitalist system. Consumption is equated with status, status with quality of life and the power to control it. I think it is from this fact that the arrogance and careless abandon of the wealthy has been transmitted down through the classes to the point that as a whole, we are not concerned with any number of scenarios the study listed resulting in an 'irreversible societal collapse'. 

This state of apathy has rather brilliantly been achieved by the elites allotting only enough of the world's wealth to the masses to keep them servile, while telling them that any downturn in the economy will destroy their lives, and that taking comprehensive action to avert the disasters the scientists promise would invariably be economic suicide. Given our value system, who can be surprised that people seem to believe that half measures and a faith in technology (which has so far only increased per capita consumption) will save us in the 11th hour. 

People are selfish and myopic, or at least the society that they have formed is. How to change that is a tough nut to crack. The old anarchist dream that when this massive modern edifice collapses that we will close ranks and work voluntarily towards our collective survival is the best possible scenario I can imagine. Hell, I'm even down for the far more popular belief that Jesus will show up in the final act and fix it all up in a jiffy.

"The only hope is that our Civilization will collapse at a certain point, as always happens in history. Then, out of barbarity, a renaissance." -Pierre Schaeffer

Regurgitated thoughts half digested

So once again I sit down to my strange machine and try to regurgitate my mind onto this surreal space we call the internet. Why, might you ask. Because the unfathomable depths of absurdity that is this world we live in is something that I feel is worth contemplating.

For example, I read several articles glorifying the people who managed to overthrow their government in Ukraine, much of it saying that this was 'fulfilling the democratic aspirations of the people'. First of all, say what you will of Yanukovych, the man was elected, and overthrowing an elected leader because he is doing what those who voted for him desire is about as undemocratic as you can get. Add that to the fact that the oppositions goal of joining the EU is illogical considering the economic block has no interest in the Ukraine joining, that the only way their entire economy is even viable is with Russian help and you got yourself some people protesting reality as much as anything. Not that that isn't heroic in and of itself; and basically the premise of virtually all revolutions. Having said that, loyalty to democracy for democracy's sake is idiotic anyway. Hitler and Bush were both elected, and their respective citizens supported those two maniacs, so why not Yanukovych? I just can't get over the fact that people are so quick to sympathize with protesters even if they haven't got the foggiest idea why they are doing it.   

Now lets get to something a bit more important, the economic rise of China. People all over the place are getting all sorts of worked up about this, none more so than Americans. Lets consider for a moment that every country that industrialized to become a mover and shaker in the world did so through organized pillaging on a massive scale. This was inevitably done through the barrel of a gun and was the reason for a lot of the murder over the past 150 years. Now look at China, they did it without having to take anything from anyone; except maybe their own people's ability to see the sun or have political opinions. Now one would think that the other economically powerful countries that achieved that status by rather ruthlessly murdering, robbing and raping every damn corner of the globe for generations would have the cognizance to tip their hats to China's remarkable accomplishment. But NOOOOO, they have contracted a case of convenient historical amnesia and thus can go on about 'human rights issues' and not following trade rules. Pretty sure the millions of people (past, present and future) who had to die and suffer for Europe and North America to become developed would have something to say about human rights. 

Somehow its fanaticism when someone wants to enact Sharia law, but its totally different when we impose our made up ideals/hypocrisies upon other societies, often through the use of explosives that fly through the air and kill with the greatest of ease. We accuse China of censorship and then seek to imprison or kill those who dare publish the raw facts of how the American Empire is run. The public loves 'reality tv' but isn't interested in anything resembling fact based reporting on actual events. 

I wonder if the day will ever come when the world has the courage to look in the mirror and realize that all our societies, culture, religion, ideals and the rest is nothing but a bunch of clutter and that anyone who is willing to get excited over it is a hoarder of the most pernicious kind of crap. We are all people, the hour is late, we might be doomed already, can't we just accept that we need to stop judging each other as if we had a leg to stand on. If this hellacious clutter cluster fuck ever stops I suspect we all look around and within us, and realize that the whole shithouse need never have been built, and deep as the shit may be, we would be better off without it.