pansceptic
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I have befriended a homeless person, and from this limited sample can tell you that they are not only totally dependent on the present economic arrangements but are also dependent on the relative prosperity of the surrounding community.
For example, she has a stategy when she has to “sleep rough” (outdoors); she buys a $15 sleeping bag at Wallymart. If it rains or whenever it gets dirty, she just abandons it wherever she is and hustles up the money for another one.
Another anecdote – a place where she was hanging out (vacant lot near a church that gives out food) has a huge Ficus tree (a tropical fig tree here in S Florida). The ground was littlered with little figs, so I asked her if she ate them. She said no, the word on the street was they were poisonous. I picked up a few and opened them; they had the same structure as the figs in the supermarket. I ate a few, they taste just like figs, and I suffered no ill effects. If they covered the ground with all the cheap sleeping bags, sheets, etc from their shopping carts, they could gather many pounds of these figs for free. But they don’t have a clue. Whenever the handouts and easy shoplifting come to an end, they are going to be in a world of hurt.
In 1989 Jack Katz released “Seductions of Crime”, an empirical study of the motivations of murderers (he went to prisons and interviewed a statistically significant number of convicts).
One of his key findings was what he called “righteous slaughter”; he learned that many of the convicts had killed in what they regarded as a defense of important values. For example, what seemed to be a silly killing over the location of a fence turned out to be (in the killer’s mind) a defense of the inviolability of private property rights. Many of the cases of spouses killing an unfaithful partner or their illicit lover were viewed by the killers as a necessary defense of the sacredness of marriage vows or an unforgiveable betrayal of social contract to be faithful.
Those are the empirically derived facts, I will now conjecture…Possibly in his mind the Batman killer was performing a Purification. Maybe he percieved everyone who drove to the theater as guilty of supporting the killing of anyone in the Middle East who has the temerity to demand something other than paper dollars for oil. Or perhaps he was disgusted that American’s relentless, voracious consumption is causing an end-of-the-Cretaceous level extinction event. Or maybe just expressing how he felt about people who support the movie’s dark, violent vision with their dollars. He has clammed up for now, but perhaps he will eventually explain his motives, if he is conscious of them.
Hircus, it is true that rural areas are low population because life is more difficult there. That’s why there has been a century-long migration from rural agricultural areas into cities, all over the world. Permaculture-style production of your own food exposes you to the vagarities of rainfall, diseases, insect infestations, soil loss, etc, so the agricultural surpluses created by the mechanization of agriculture made it less of a struggle for people to survive in a city (or even a slum surrounding a major city).
However, the decline in available extrasolar energy will bring the mechanization of agriculture and long distance transport of food to an end, so reversing the migration into the cities. Eventually food distribution failures and impossible levels of crime in the cities will make life in rural areas more attractive for many than the cities.
I also disagree that “ownership” (subject to taxes) of productive land will necessarily make the owner a target of the authorities. If the level of production is very low-scale and remote from transportation arteries, it won’t be worth the energy of the authorities to make any real effort to seize production (a losing proposition for them). This is one of the reasons my ancestors literally headed for the hills; it really impedes the “damnedrevenoooers” (till I was 10 I thought it was one word ’cause they always came together 🙂
I will also suggest considering the third-world parts of the US before bugging out to a foriegn country where gringos stand out like a sore thumb. When I lived in Mississippi in the mid 1960s, that’s where the ‘third world sweatshops’ were. My father worked at the local “garment plant” as an industrial engineer (slave driver with a clipboard). A punitive, victorious Union had exacerbated the depression caused by the South’s loss of their economic system, resulting in a depression that continues in some ways to the present. Consider Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia as pre-collapsed for your shopping convenience – they have a lot less far to fall!
Ashvin, I can understand why the concept of NWO/Illuminati is attractive – after all, isn’t it more reassuring to believe that at least SOMEONE is in control, even if they are evil geniuses? What if the more frightening reality is that there’s really just a loose confederation of psychopaths, driven by individual greed, lust for power, and short-sighted decision making?
Regarding the NWO, the USA did not spend all that money on weapons sytems and bases just to let some other organization rule the world. If there is a world government, as long as that military machine is functional it sure as hell won’t be headquartered ANYWHERE other than the US.
Functionally the US empire is the NWO; its reach is truly global. It operates on the neo-colonial model: we don’t waste our time trying to physically occupy countries with resources, we just set up our puppets to collect and forward the tribute to the US.
There was a damned good reason Osama Bin Laden had to be taken out; he was a pretty effective Orkin Man. He correcty observed that Manahatten is the capitol of the present Evil Empire (TM), and shot it right in the head when he took out the “World Trade Center”.
Jal, I’m currently also thinking along the lines DNA being a big part of humanity’s problems.
Selco, who writes a blog about his experiences during the seige of Kosovo, made a discovery that truly horrified me. He learned that one of his neighbors, who seemed like a ‘regular guy’, turned out to be a psychopath who was delighted that the anarchy allowed him to behave the way he had always want to. The neighbor joined a self-organized gang that stole whatever they could from the weak and vulnerable, kidnapped women for repeated rape, and generally enjoyed terrorizing anyone else who didn’t happen to have something they wanted. This neighbor suggested that Selco join them, saying this would be his golden opportunity to “do what he had always wanted to do”!
I’ve also read recently that some social scientists estimated that about 10% of Americans qualify as psychopaths but are mostly kept in check by social pressure and a system of laws and enforcement.
Is this situation due to the basic sickness of American society, or is that a typical distribution based on genetic predisposition?
I would sure support an Orkin Man who could take this segment of the population out of the gene pool; they are the ones who are drawn like moths to positions of economic, political, or religious power so they can do “what they always wanted to do”.
Before yall grind on me about eugenics, try to keeep in mind this is a forum for inquiry, not a call to action!
The Truth and Reconcilliation Commission was indeed a shining example for humanity; if we could achieve the same in the US as its empire unravels, that would indeed be perfect. Perfect is an important word there: conditions in South Africa were about as perfect as humanity can get…Mandella had paid his dues, the industrialized world was still enjoying the peace and plenty of increasing net energy, and the international community was watching and encouraging the process. Once things get ugly in the US, probably none of those conditions will be present at the time.
