You can avoid reality, but you can’t avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. — Ayn Rand(ish)
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In what I hope (no doubt in vain) is peak reality-avoidance, the British Evening Standard has written an article attributing the dramatic rise in youthful heart problems to a new psychological malady, Post-Pandemic Stress Disorder.
Suddenly, in 2021 — notably not in 2020, the first really traumatic year of the permademic — previously healthy young men are becoming so freaked out over COVID that they’re increasing the UK’s rate of heart problems by nearly five percent.
The article doesn’t mention — not even as a dismissive throwaway — that COVID inoculations play a role in the new illness. And this despite the fact that the vax-heart connection is no conspiracy theory, but is a phenomenon even mainstream “science” acknowledges.
We’ve all read plenty of stunning “journalism” in recent years, but this was my personal worst.
FWIW, the term Post-Pandemic Stress Disorder was apparently coined by a feelgood psychologist, and in case you were bothering to wonder, there’s zero medical basis for applying it to the sudden plague of youthful heart problems.
But even if there were … holy cats. A formerly respectable news source suddenly invents a whole new cause of heart problems, simply to avoid having to mention the great big elephant standing in the middle of the room.
—–
However, this post is not about COVID.
It’s a speculation on the long-term consequences of chronic reality-avoidance. And because, sadly, the Evening Standard’s fantasy isn’t going to be the last and already isn’t the worst example, we need to be looking ahead to those consequences.
We’re being treated to reality-avoidance in many aspects of life (most notably at the moment 1) how to treat and cope with respiratory viruses; 2) the biological realities of sex; 3) racism presented as anti-racism; and 4) the belief that horrific crimes are not so bad as long as they’re perpetrated by the “right” people for the “right” reasons). And not all of that is coming from the insane left. It’s so bad that even a person like Scott Adams, widely seen as a smart and impartial prognosticator and problem solver, is making demonstrably howl-worthy statements, then sounding even more nuts when he attempts to backtrack on them.
Obviously the specific consequences of specific delusions are destructive enough. But what happens when some large and influential segment of the human race simply concludes that any random aspect of actual reality doesn’t count? That reality is whatever they decree it to be from moment to moment? And that becomes the everyday madhouse “truth” the rest of us must cope with.
Yeah, that’s already happened. The Soviet Union operated on that principle. Whoever’s running the Biden administration seems well along that road. Academia … OMG. But it’s way bigger than that. It’s global — and it’s ours and our descendants to deal with.
I drew a chart of potential long-term consequences of chronic, civilization-wide (or at least society-wide) reality-avoidance. Of course, this is not only pure speculation, but speculation upon the broadest generalities. Consider it food for discussion, not actual projection. (Click to embiggenate.)
From most dire to most optimistic:
1. WORST CASE: EXTINCTION. The direst predictions about leaky vaccines come true. Some Faucian figure unleashes a lab creation more akin to Stephen King’s Captain Trips than to COVID. A megalomaniac gets loosey-goosey with nukes. Farewell, human race as we know it. We sleep with the dinosaurs. Unlikely, but can’t be excluded.
2. FALL OF THE WEST; EVENTUAL RISE OF EAST OR SOUTH. The West, cultural leader of the world for centuries, commits intellectual, spiritual, and economic suicide. Global collapse ensues, but this dark age leads eventually to new cultural leadership arising from Asia, South America, or Africa. The new culture has its high points, but respect for individual liberty is not one of them.
3. DIVISION OF THE WEST INTO EQUALLY TOXIC FACTIONS. Think fascists vs communists, anti-racist racists vs unabashed racists, extreme nationalism vs globalism without regard for freedom (though both sides may use the word), good sense, or sound economic principles. Voices of good sense and good principles are shouted down by both sides. A continuous downward spiral.
4. DIVISION OF THE WEST INTO REALITY-BASED VS REALITY-DENYING CULTURES. Seems to be where we’re headed at the moment, but all we’re seeing currently is the short term, not a long-term trend. Scenario 4 ensues if, say, the reality-avoiders continue to plunge into disaster, but likewise continue to be unable to concede that their dogma doesn’t work. Another, perhaps larger, segment tries to live according to either traditional or simply more workable principles and does better. But the healthier segment keeps being dragged backwards by the jealous, self-righteous, and increasingly militant reality-avoiding faction.
5. THE HOPEFUL WOBBLES. In this path, those ever-hopeful “if only we could elect the right leaders” people have some success. But of course the leaders, even the few who give their best try, can’t win against the forces of inertia. Other leaders replace them who are either weak or aggressively bad. There are repeated good, or at least hopeful, times. But civilization gradually wobbles downhill until something puts an end to it. (See the last few centuries of the Roman Empire.)
6. SANITY RECOVERS IN TIME TO AVERT MAJOR DISASTER. Some major reality check kicks reality-avoiders in the backside. Maybe Harvard or Yale goes out of business. Maybe it becomes undeniable that COVID inoculations are killing millions. Or that little girls suffer terribly from surgical and hormonal fulfillment of their pre-pubescent wishes to turn into boys. In other words, wish-based or authoritarian policies cause crises whose damage even the intellectually blind must finally see. In scenario 6, however, there is no real countervailing force for good. Societies at least turn away from the worst policies they had been pursuing and stagger along for a good long time, but there’s little uplift.
7. SANITY RECOVERS AND SPARKS A RENAISSANCE. Some major reality check kicks reality-avoiders in the backside. As in path 6, their most vaunted institutions begin to fall or to betray the reality-avoiders. It becomes undeniable that their policies are killing not only us peasants, but their kind of people. Major crimes strike even their super-protected neighborhoods. AND, simultaneously, people of wisdom reassert themselves to rebuild the culture of principles of sanity, progress and human decency. This is the first truly upward possibility in my depressing chart. The better news is that there are various degrees of success for this renaissance, depending on factors like how well a future renaissance “lifts all boats” and how much the reality-avoiding mindset can be educated away, not to return. Could be a minor upward bump; could be a revolutionary uplift for the species. I’ve given three lines to hint at the possibilities.
8. A BLACK SWAN FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANITY. The intelligence of the human race takes an unexpected leap due to some new scientific discovery. Benevolent aliens (ha!) arrive to help us straighten ourselves out. A genetic mutation makes us more sensible or empathetic. Or … Well, let’s just say this is slightly less likely than the Extinction line on the chart and doesn’t really belong here because it isn’t based strictly on things we and our fellow man do to each other. But it’s nice to end on a positive note.
So what do you think?
Long term (really long) where are we heading?
And what’s the best thing you and yours personally can do while we’re on the road to that eventuality? Or to avert that eventuality?
#2, done deal
The only hopeful sign of late is that CNN fired Chris Cuomo. Tiny but at least something.
“embiggenate” This is definitely the best new (at least to me) word that I have heard in a very long time. I like it!
“if only we could elect the right leaders” This makes me cringe every time I hear or read it. It’s the use of the word “leaders” here that makes me grit my teeth. In our system of government, the people we elect (or appoint, or hire) to positions of power in government are not supposed to be leaders. They are supposed to be public servants. They are supposed to do a specific job. They are supposed to do that job competently, honestly, transparently, efficiently, frugally, legally, etc. We can even hope that some of these public servants, particularly those in the more powerful positions, might bring a bit of wisdom or foresight to the job, and might even do their job very well. But the bottom line is that they are there to do their damn job, their whole job, and nothing but their job! They are not there to lead!
To answer the questions:
I keep hoping for some version of Option 7, but I think I see a mix of Options 2 through 6 being more likely, with Options 3 & 4 seeming to dominate the mix for the time being (with a sprinkle of Option 5, but this is more just for decoration and variety, and still trends downward, as in the drawing).
In general terms, I try to spread the seeds of knowledge and enlightenment wherever I can, and when I see the occasional sprout, I do what I can to nurture it. In more every-day terms, I try to be nice to the animals, the plants, and most people, and I do what I can to be part of the solution(s), and not part of the problem(s), whatever those things happen to be at the moment. And they can be anything, large or small, long-term or short: bringing in a shopping cart from a parking space to the store, picking up a piece of trash in the road, participating in neighborhood projects, having jumper cables and some tools in my truck, supporting worthwhile alternative news sources . . . .
On the “Bright” Side I do not think it is #1, but I do not think it gets higher than #5. Even the small, semi-hopeful signs I have seen lately have done precisely nothing to change the overall curve. People have issues overcoming their inherent biases, and even if they agree that things are worse and that policies that their version of their Our Political And Social Betters (OPASB) have led to this point, they still cannot break out of the mold of “but we have to trust them; after all, they are the experts; after all, we cannot support ‘The Other Side'”. Any Renaissance – which would be marvelous – will only come after a rather painful experience; in order for their to be a “rebirth”, there has to be a “near death”.
The chart is amazing though, and (I think anyway) covers all potential outcomes.
There is another possible scenario. Within the next 10 to 20 years, the world’s population has decreased by over 40%, with the world’s “Elite”, who never received the experimental drug, in control. The natural increase in population growth has decreased drastically as a result of many of the people who were inoculated becoming sterile. However, there was a large block of people worldwide who refused to get the experimental drug and they formed an underground that became very effective over the following decades in confronting the “Elites”. And the story of humankind continues to unfold…!
Great chart. If you showed it to one hundred percent of the population the response probably would be close to the following:
19%- We are somewhere between numbers 1-5 things are bleak.
80%- “This is all your fault!” and “I don’t understand the chart.” mixed in equally, and they are throwing things at you while yelling.
1%- I like number 8 best cause I like swans.(These would be little kids)
America, an “impossible dream”, became possible against ridiculous odds, because of the intervention of a Higher Power. At that time of “birth”, a small band of desperate believers offered up “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” upon the alter of sacrifice. With ways and means which were, again, “impossible”, the most amazing nation state in the history of the world came into being–and flourished.
We have, largely, LOST that crucial sense of humility which guided our forebearers. However, the Almighty continues to stretch out His hand to us: [2 Chronicles 7:14] “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Despite the betrayals, and treasons, and deceits, and cunning plans of the enemy of all righteousness, we can yet humble ourselves and beseech that Higher Power to intervene…against all odds. In my ignorance, I still expect miracles. And I join with believers around the world to plead for the salvation of this sacred place–a light to the world.
I’m with Fred M, here. I do think that the 40% decrease in population from the not-vax may be low. Remember the 500,000 population goal of some of our “Elites.”
Persistent reality avoidance, at the worst the Green New Deal, will lead to mass starvation, since modern farming requires lots of fossil energy, and the topsoil is seriously depleted…That results in #4, and the reality avoiders largely starve to death…
Long term (really long) where are we heading?
We’ve been off course for decades, consistently below your nice straight line. This is the moment to grasp minute of angle, to see how the slightest error in direction at the outset of this trip precluded our arrival at a desirable destination.
It’s far later than anyone thinks. (Hell, it’s later than I thought!). We’re well into this journey and now way off course below that line. There are no more exits, the gas tank is almost empty and there isn’t a gas station in any direction even close to our remaining range.
To me, the realistic (earthly) outcomes are few and below the line:
#1 (extinction) isn’t likely. No matter how badly we screw things up, some sort of primitive tribes (perhaps the descendents of inbred elites!) will be around at least for the next ice age, perhaps for the supernova.
#2 (fall of west, rise of east or south) is pretty much baked in. I part with Claire in that I’m stymied trying to imagine any high points in the next dominant culture. This culture WAS the high point in so many ways.
#3 (division of west into toxic factions) happened long ago. This became the “distraction” that kept us from checking the map or stopping for gas…
#4 (division of west into reality based vs reality denying) happened long ago as well. As with #3, we started out just a minute off course, but have traveled so far that no one bats an eye at our counterfeit make-work economy, fueled my multi-trillion dollar epi-pen injections every few months. As with #3, this road actually merged onto route #2 a while ago.
I’m intrigued by a fantasy hybrid of #6 and #7. There’s no averting major disaster, but what if the deliberate deadliness of the covid shots dawn’s on enough armed Americans? Can all these soft men turn hard? A Sherman style scorched earth campaign through government, wall street, academia and pharma would certainly be a good start…
#6 is null and void… sanity may be recovered/return, but it is too late to avoid major disaster.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I have no idea what sanity looks like anymore, or whether I would have a place in a sane world. I am unlikely to live long enough to see it; I don’t think anyone will.
Pitiful as it sounds #2 is already a reality.
Leftoxenomorphs have won without a shot being fired in anger in pitched battle.
They won by PSYOPS and by the default of a right (non-leftoxenomorphs) that decided “better dead than rude” and gave up without a struggle.
Leftoxenomorphs did the job of termites. And now the edifice of Western civilization is crumbling.
Ayn Rand was right 100% But people paid little attention.
Unfortunately the world is not a novel and the cavalry is not coming.
Some are talking about the next elections. People don’t understand the extent of the rot and the determination of the leftoxenomorphs.
Both the Vietcong and the Taliban made us abandon and run away. We don’t learn. They are savages. But they won. Why? Determination. Consistency. Balls.
The right was defeated by our own moral heirs to the Vietcong and the Taliban. They had the balls to go for their evil ends. We didn’t have the balls to defend America.
Biological processes go on in a carcass and for a while. But they are the processes of decay not of life. That is what we have today.
I call it Venezuerica. Because the late Constitutional Republic the United States of America (July 4th, 1776 – November 3rd, 2020) is no longer and we are emulating Venezuela.
The globalist’s techno dystopia is coming. “You will own nothing and you’ll be happy” The first part is true enough. People are about to become ants in a leftoxenomorph ant-hill with a one-wokeraty-hive-mind.
They won’t be able to keep technology, though. The world of Ayn Rand’s “Anthem” is coming, in the end.
[Q] And what’s the best thing you and yours personally can do while we’re on the road to that eventuality? Or to avert that eventuality? [/Q]
Find a way to disappear as far away as possible from the poisonous cesspools of a decaying West.
Find a hole. Dive in. Cover the entrance with camouflage, cover yourself, cover everything. Try to live a life of as much freedom as you can enjoy away from the dystopia. Ghost. Shrug and ghost. Become a secret refugee somewhere safe. Become grey and blend in with the background. Hide your freedom and your individuality. Protect yourself. The world is about to enter a paroxysm of collectivist poisoning. Leftoxenomorphism is a religion. We are about to experience the worst level of religious persecutions in history. Become like a Jew in nazi germany. Your life depends on your ability to not being detected.
We can’t avert what’s coming.
Ayn Rand mentioned how you can’t explain the world previous to WW1 to the people of this age.
And we can’t go back to sanity and health.
We can try to create a small bubble for ourselves and try to live our lives in it, very careful not to attract the leftoxenomorphs attention.
I am with Fred. It looks like fairly major depopulation coming, though they’ll keep it gradual if they can. Which will shift everything the way the Black Death shifted things. I see us definitely dividing into reality/unreality tribes. The resilient will thrive, and carve out spaces where such thriving is possible. The elites will leave them alone, because their world of utter sheep and psychopathic masters will be a dismal world running itself into the ground over time, and they will need decent genes and creative, lateral thinking & ideas produced by unafraid brains from somewhere. They will also need to have a secret outlet for the most daring (and obnoxious) dissidents among them.
When this happens, both factions will have a sort of renaissance, because both will be able to forge ahead guided by very different visions, leaving the insane bickering (and worse) behind. The unreality faction will create a dystopia where the some of the richer people will try to disembody into computers with disastrous consequences. However, their robots will show whether it’s possible to create a society where much labor is done by machines, and what happens as a consequence (both good and bad). Their experiment will also show how much you can squeeze people into a world of constant surveillance, bullying and cruelty before they go mad and start destroying all around them in their reach. Crime and governance will merge openly.
The resilent will go on to create a great variety of ‘tribes” similar to the Amish in the sense of “local quirky cultures and pockets”. As happened when Rome unravelled. Technology and medicine and indeed science will be viewed with suspicion, while each Quirkdom will create its new understanding of the old paradigms, and will forge new pathways in these areas once science loses its elite status with the massive subsidies and corruption. Today’s science has also succumbed to unreality, but its healthy core and its original mission remains, and they will build on that. The spunkiest, bravest and most creative serfs from Singularity will try to escape in their direction, and some will make it and enrich the Quirkdom with cross-polination. In order to preserve their independence, and prevent massive predation from Singularity, Quirkdom will expend large resources on solving the “problem of power” and the development of lateral-thinking type defensive weapons. They will become illegible.
I think there will be relief on both sides, frankly. 🙂
Somewhere between 2 & 4, with a healthy dose of Fred’s idea….
You see, I’m in a red state where we have lots of guns. Folks here are already discussing the logistics of a nationwide body hunt ‘purge’ style for these folks that feel they are our bettors.
We know what has happened, who did what, and where they live.
Imagine a breakdown in general law, and ya know, groups of F250s with class 3 licenses rolling into your ‘vote biden’ cul-de-sac in your deep blue CRT-School district state.
You think anything won’t get burnt to the ground?
They snark and mug for the camera on twatbook that they are the ones who are out of patience with us. Echo chamber much?
Oh dear Lord, for they don’t even know what they don’t know! We hang animal carcasses off our front porch to tenderize it?!?! Do you have a CLUE what you’re about to unleash?
I can’t speak to the short(er) term, but over the long haul our options are what they’ve been for a long time: extinction or an continuing, increasing recognition of the (natural) rights of the individual. Think about it, think about the long, meanderin’ arc of history. We’ve come from the ‘then’ of slaver kings (you were slaver or slave) to ‘now’ where large numbers of folks live their entire lives as free men and women. In the shor(ter) term there’s gonna be a lotta ‘two steps forward, three steps back’ (we’re goin’ thru that right now) and a lotta associated misery, but that recognition always wins out. So, yeah, ‘tomorrow’ we may see overt, global, tyranny, but ‘next week’ or ‘month’ we’ll put the slavers down (again). So, don’t kneel: keep fightin’. And extinction? Well, the consolation, should that be our end point, is the slavers will be dead too… 😉
Now I know how Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan and the tall foreheads feel as they argue about the realities of time, the cosmos and reality!
Claire – Your model is flawed from the point forward of ‘We Are Here”. We have to know where we are, before we can make a guess at where we’re going. Currently we are in an artificial state of unreality. As we have seen, in this bubble inflated in turn by artificial prosperity – you CAN have girls be boys, and boys be girls. You CAN print money as fast as the presses can go, and run debts without limit. Evil White Christians CAN emit magical invisible rays of racism that keep good blacks from becoming neurosurgeons, great leaders, and scientists. And viruses can magically change the way they propagate and mutate. Magical potions CAN combat the dread plague and are blessed by our moral and intellectual superiors. Like sexuality – science and morals and ethics can be whatever you want it to be and you will suffer no consequences or comeuppances. It’s been like that for about 70 years – almost an entire human lifetime.
Human existence is circular in nature; not linear. Hard times create hard people. Hard people create good times. Good times create soft people. Soft people create hard times. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. Going forward… the soft people are going to be culled by hard times. All the human condition is – is a circular pattern of alternating phases of reality and prosperity.
There is only one stable, anchoring force that has been able to survive the maelstrom of Romans, Phillistines, a parade of kings and emperors, and later the communists, fascists, the rainbow of sexual degenerates, the nihilists, etc. America (and Canada as well) are just passing memories and sand castles that are blown away by tides and winds. Only that old beat up wooden cross remains. That is my reality anchor these days, and for me at least… it’s enough.
the only thing certain in life is things change.
Real simple. Read the Bible…Select people will disappear, a guy the world loves shows up fixes everything only asks for a sign of allegiance, then he get serious and says he’s god. The people that buy in to the guy are doomed, then the fun starts.
According to Strauss and Howe, time is not linear but circular. What goes around comes around. The last Unraveling of society in the West happened in the 1920’s leading to a massive crisis resolved only through Depression and War. None of us are old enough to have any direct experience with it.
But the signs are there and many people can feel the wheel turning again. Winter is coming! Our society will be remade out of the chaos that is rapidly coming down upon us. It’s up to us what the the new society will look like. And there is hope. For those who survive, there will be a time of renewal.
Spring always follows winter. “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”
Yeah, Scott Adams is a classic example of, “He’s not as smart as he thinks he is.” And, when he found-out to NOT be smart about something, he’ll claim he was a) kidding or b) experimenting or c) messing with people’s minds.
He’s a pragmatist – whatever seems to work for the next moment – two moments from now will take care of itself. A real sentinel to a LOT of people these days – just get through today, I’ll worry about tomorrow tomorrow. It’s hard to fight against the crazies with that sort of “plan.” Say what you want about the crazies – at least they have a plan.
As for where we’re headed – I think we’re on the knife’s edge between figuring-it-out – or – descending into complete 1920’s Russia. ( 1790s France, 1930s Germany….sigh ). BUT, the hope here is that because ‘Murricans are, in fact, armed to the teeth – that a Holodomor 2.0 is not possible.
The internet is the key – can “they” shut down the opposition? Not so far. Leia’s prediction, so far, is accurate.
They can’t shut down the internet completely – it’s designed to stay aloft after parts of it are struck by nuclear weapons. You can’t have mass media without the internet – and “They” need mass media to continue. Otherwise, even the dullest marxist can see what’s going on when Uber-Eats doesn’t show up.
Jolly
#2 is assured because TPTB are not living in a world of reality but an unnatural world of their creation and instead of admitting to their mistakes and learning from them, TPTB will be doubling (tripling, quadrupling, infiniting) down.
My only question is (in minutes, days, weeks, months ); are we there yet?
And until we reach that designation all we can do is prepare ourselves on how we might be able to survive it and most importantly enjoying the ride until we get there.
Egads! We’re all going to become like Greece!
I’m going to go with the observations of “Joe Blow” and I think we will see a real large and ‘violent’ push back. When Rome fell and other past civilizations imploded there wasn’t the American philosophy around and I think that “can do” and unique western social idea will prevail. Also, all the other times the local peasants were not armed to the teeth such as many of our modern peasants are.
Really there are just to many variables to be able to say however Clair has summed up a good analysis of how it can / will work out. I’ll go with a modified 6 outcome where some sort of western/American culture comes out on top but with a lot of blood shed to get there.
While I disagree with some of the points raised by FRONT-TOWARD-ENEMY, specifically that any involvement in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq,,,,,,,etc., etc, ad infinitum, ever had as its purpose the ‘defense of America’ but was rather for the power and control of the empire State and the profit of the military industrial complex; I nevertheless fully concur with his advice excerpted below:
“Try to live a life of as much freedom as you can enjoy away from the dystopia. Ghost. Shrug and ghost. Become a secret refugee somewhere safe. Become grey and blend in with the background. Hide your freedom and your individuality. Protect yourself.”
It is a mistake and a potentially fatal error to regard withdrawal from a conflict with society where one is overwhelmingly opposed as surrender. Self preservation is not surrender. To surrender is to embrace and adopt the beliefs and behaviors of your enemy in order to fit in with their expectations and to comply with their demands. Surrender is the willful and knowing forfeiture of yourself. It is suicide, even if the body still lives. No collective was ever anyone’s defender, much less their friend. Again, protect yourself.
Good chart. Pulls people’s attention and gets them thinking. I think that the reality would be closer if a three dimensional chart were used, as this is not an either/or world. Probably we will have all those effects going off at different times and at different levels. Will one of them hold true into the future? Most probably we are gearing up for a really nasty s**t show that will get a lot of people (the survivors) left in misery and pointing fingers at everyone but themselves. That is the most dangerous point in the future: will it be Adolf, Stalin, Pol Pot, or George Washington that will lead the way forward. If there is a forward.
You forgot one possible outcome: they win and the Great Reset becomes a reality…
@Joe Blow – I don’t see a serious resistance really materializing, there might be a couple of Dorners but that’s it. For people to rebel TPTB would have to push too hard and they are not stupid (evil, yes but not stupid.)
Great chart, Claire. The only scenario you missed is the Sweet Meteor Of Death that was popular awhile back.
I’m seeing #3 as most likely. It’s becoming very obvious to anyone not buried in the Left’s bubble (and more people are getting rudely awakened, every day) that the Progressive gameplan sucks. I think the elections of 2022 and 2024 will be Red deluges.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid the Right, instead of thinking about liberty, will look upon the results and say, “Now it’s our turn!”
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away”
-Philip K Dick
I think what larryarnold said:
Unfortunately, I’m afraid the Right, instead of thinking about liberty, will look upon the results and say, “Now it’s our turn!”
is a very safe bet. Neither of the government factions gives a rat’s patootie about individual liberty. They occasionally pay it some lip service, but that is all.
Hmmmm… well, I’m in the “old, rugged, cross” camp. I expect the Lord’s return – but only He knows when that will be. In the meantime, I’m in the sort of “ghost” position, while expecting persecution, while making sure every moment of every day is not destroyed by the Insanity going on around us. My head is not in the sand, I prep like the dickens. I work on making sure that my mind is prepared to kill in self-defense. I watch politics insomuch as I need to know where the wind is blowing in order to be prepared, then I turn it off. It *feels like* we have entered TEOTWAWKI and it’s only a matter of time before it’s on my doorstep. In which case, I plan to shoot it. If that doesn’t work, I only hope I die on my feet and not kneeling in submission. In my opinion, the country will be balkanized if something doesn’t change. There will be region-wide “no go zones” rather than just parts of cities. I hope I’m in a “safe zone”. I am prepared to take in my family. I am facing reality, but I’m not going to let the darkness take over my heart and mind, even though what I described is dark. I’m practicing have a sense of humor about everything. Like, today, when I locked myself out of the house and had to break into my own home! (just testing the security! LOL).
Scenarios are smorgasbords when looking into societal movements. What I suspect will happen is both third and fourth world conditions being normalized and intellectual ghettos were the ideas may by outstanding but always focused toward a two question solution. Elites only suffer from their personal choices normie world doesn’t notice that, only what is produced to consume.
Apologies first bit at writing when I felt an ounce of freedom
You forgot one possible outcome: they win and the Great Reset becomes a reality…
That’s #2. Progressive policies are already wrecking havoc; fully implemented they will lead to economic and social collapse. See: Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.
We’re at 5 right now. The hope that the next election will bring “better” people into office is about all that is holding things together right now
I see things going from 5 to 4to 3 and reaching 2 is as far as we get. Without SMOD or global nukes, some life will continue.
But I wonder, as we progress toward collapse, what good is it being an elite? Their goods and supplies come from the same place as us commoners, so if production and transport fails they’re limited to stock on hand like the rest of us. Many of us have the advantage of being able to provide for ourselves, so I see that as a plus.
They rely much heavier on others to provide for them, in a world WROL, I wonder how long the service people, especially the guards they hired will stay loyal. Will the first of the roving gangs start forming in the gated communities after they overthrow their masters?
For all the technological advances we’ve made, when the power goes off and worldwide comms fail, it isn’t going to matter much what happens in MOTP any more than what happens in Peoria.
You forgot 9.:
If 2022 is like 2021 and 2020, I’m gonna need a LOT more scotch.
+1 on Sir Wilder’s suggestion but add in the cigars too!
something I took care of this week!!
Only two of the 11 alien races are peaceful towards humans and maybe these globalists are not from around here. (hint)
Pfft, Comrade and Wilder, you can keep the cigars. I’ll stick with the chocolate! (And if I can figure out how to cultivate it in my greenhouse, I will become very wealthy when global trade collapses.)
Just Waiting, I have wondered much of those same things before, especially the guards. And the food. I can’t fathom how totally ARROGANT they’ve gotta be, to think (as they apparently do) that they are somehow above the laws of physics or physiology and will not somehow eventually suffer the same fates they inflict upon us little people. I guess there is that reality-denial! But we will be more resilient because we DO things and PRODUCE stuff.
Granny, you took most of the words right outta my mouth. I hope there is a “safe zone” between your state and mine immediately to the north of yours, so we can visit someday! And I laughed aloud about having to break into your house. The day after we closed on our retreat, my husband locked us out of it when we went hiking, and I had to climb in through the kitchen window! Our kind neighbors came to help, and we all laughed a LOT.
R R Schoettker, I especially agree with:
“It is a mistake and a potentially fatal error to regard withdrawal from a conflict with society where one is overwhelmingly opposed as surrender. Self preservation is not surrender. To surrender is to embrace and adopt the beliefs and behaviors of your enemy in order to fit in with their expectations and to comply with their demands. Surrender is the willful and knowing forfeiture of yourself. It is suicide, even if the body still lives. No collective was ever anyone’s defender, much less their friend. Again, protect yourself.”
I have a family member who cannot understand why we are moving to Nowhereville, even though he was the first one of us who took the red pill–decades ago. I have tried to explain that it is about freedom. He doesn’t think we’re being infringed upon now, and it is true that in Florida, the frogs might be cooking more slowly. But I’m not going to stick around and become a refugee; I have the next generation to train up for FREEDOM. This family member is also convinced that we’re going to be Raptured out of here any day now. He has said this for years. While the idea of “live each day as though it’s your last” has limited utility in helping to clarify priorities, it cannot be the be-all end-all philosophy. If I knew for certain we were off this rock tomorrow, I sure wouldn’t scrub any toilets or do any laundry today! 😉 But I cannot waste decades of my life or my children’s in a holding pattern; we must LIVE and learn and grow and build and create in the meantimes.
Joe Blow, I cannot disagree with your prediction, though I personally won’t be participating. I hope collateral damage (children) is minimal, but we’ve all seen angry hordes.
radu, I like your description of Quirkdoms. Our ragtag little group is definitely quirky!
FRONT_TOWARD_ENEMY, I’m working on shrugging and ghosting as hard as I can. Gonna dig a hole and pull the whole mountain in after us. I’ve no delusions of “easy,” but we will be free.
And Claire…once again, thank you for your writings and hosting these discussions. This has been a great one as always, and I really do think that apart from the lack of cute cat pictures this is one of the best places on the internet! 🙂
Their goods and supplies come from the same place as us commoners, so if production and transport fails they’re limited to stock on hand like the rest of us.
I heard one of the talking heads saying that most of the country’s GDP (or one of those alphabet statistics) is created in the financial centers of NYC.
Of course, he doesn’t realize that however essential the bankers and traders are in the modern world, what they “create” are ones and zeros in electronic media. When the power goes out, all that vaporizes. Even if they can keep power, ones and zeros do not a balanced diet make.
I suppose they’ll be spreading plastic sheeting on grass, tossing some dirt on top, and planting crops, like they did in one of the autonomous zones. They don’t realize it takes three or four years to climb the learning curve and then get a food-producing garden established.
Reminds me of “The Admirable Crighton,” a British movie that’s a fun look at Class on a Deserted Island:
Had a lovely Rocky Patel in the hot tub tonight . . . glorious.
For me it was a Don Carlos with some Glenmorangie single malt during a zoom meeting last night, life is good.
Yes, yes it is.
Amen, Granny. I’m with you on your assessment of the situation.
FWIW, I’ve been thinking about a coast-to-coast I was listening to about 11 years ago while working a night job. He had a few ex military, “in-the-know” type guests claiming to have knowledge of what TBTB were planning. In a nutshell, it was the collapse of the US and west and the propping up of china. The dollar being replaced as the the world’s main currency etc. They also had a psychic on the program, because, you know, coast-to-coast. And she said she made contact with a person in the future (not sure how far out) and they were living in “New Omaha” after the 2nd civil war.
Didn’t think much of it because I used to listen to that show for entertainment mostly with a hint of curiosity. But I keep thinking about it lately.
As for what I can do? I’m not sure. I have unsuccessfully lobbied my family for a relocation to a smaller town living in relative freedom vs the suburbs we exist in now. I fear that if/when they come around, it will be too late. I prep as best I can and try to fish a lot.
Merry Christmas to you all.