I believe we’ve arrived at that point where there’s nothing left to say. Only choosing and doing (or not doing) exist anymore. The 800 pound gorilla has been fully identified, acknowledged, and weighed. The pill has been swallowed.
Reverse gear has been long since stripped.
BTW, the illustration is the first page of a graphic novel I’ve been working on for longer than I care to admit. This is the first public look. No more hiding.
[Thanks, Jonathan, for the vid link.]
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve always been more of a shoot-sprint-hide kind of person, myself. Too many people think the messenger is the threat.
I’m also choosing less and less and find that life as a squirrel is better. Let the problems come to you. There are plenty of them and you don’t have to go looking for them.
Looking for guerrillas, now that is a different story, because it is seeking help solving a problem that is already here.
On the video:
“2% loans to all business”
Yeah. That will help.
The missed point is that the extraction has willing participants who think they are making “choices” about Coke vs. Pepsi or Democrat vs. Republican T-shirts.
The only real choice is to just say “no” to using money. I think we’ve established that in past discussions. As long as money is used to determine value, then someone will sneak in ways to slice up the money without consideration of the people or resources that created the money. It is the detachment of money from reality and the subsequent consumption culture it creates that is “extracting” our future from our selves, our soils, and our air and water.
All taxes should be consumption taxes.
All representatives should be selected at random.
All transactions should be conducted no farther away than you can reach with your pitchfork.
Welcome to the Random Party. 5 tines. Too few, and you miss vital organs, too many and you don’t get good penetration.
Ha!
It’s not just me, either:
http://patrick.net/forum/?p=1129156
Seems to me we’ve forgotten how to manage gorillas. They’ve been behind bars for far too long. We’ve been under the impression the bars were there to keep the gorillas in. Doesn’t it seem now that the bars were intended more to keep us out?
This gorilla has been feeding and growing stronger and stronger since we left our neighborhoods, and turned on our televisions, and stopped reading books, and stopped thinking for ourselves. Hell, we don’t even have to know how to change a tire anymore. There must be an app for that, isn’t there?
Went to an “Occupy” location yesterday. Holy crap! What a passive experience that was! Some signs were up. Some had fallen down and were lying in the bushes. A handful of people hanging around who wouldn’t engage in conversation. One car (an old beater) tooted once. One! Really? How passive have we become when protestors don’t know how to protest?
Yeah, there are those out there who do understand and can rant about it all but we are so disassociated from each other in general I have to wonder where all this is really going? I’m not certain we can figure out how to manage the gorilla at all. If we can’t, the gorilla wins and we continue to feed it at its will.
We can’t just hang our heads or plant our gardens or go sleep under the stars and talk about the gorilla. It’s still out there. I really do applaud all those readers and contributors to this blog who are thinkers and doers. Is that really enough though to manage the gorilla? Individually, most of us can cope in some way and realize we have control over ourselves. Throughout our society, however, it’s still being fed a steady diet.
We are in an awareness phase. Next comes and action phase. When?
Swung through both DC and NYC Occupy protests. They’re a bit more vocal and heated, sounds like, but “occupy” sort of just means take up space and create a constant reminder. Although I wasn’t there, the protests of the ’60s seemed to have a more party-like atmosphere with a very clear objective — end the war, and get stoned doing it. I don’t agree with the criticism that this protest lacks coherency. This is a result of SO MANY things being broken, that “occupy” seems fitting. If we don’t know how to protest, then maybe somebody needs to show us.
We’ve got separation of church and state (supposedly), and the new religion is money and finance — it’s the medium to which we can attain a deity status on Earth. I’m thinking everybody doing the occupying just knows that THIS isn’t working… hence the incoherence of the rant in the video. It’s wrong. How do we fix it? There is no fixing it — just let it play out and get out from under the falling rocks. A magic 2% loan or whatever is just silly, but he’s got to say something. Somebody losing it on primetime is awesome. I’d love to see our President completely lose his shit on somebody. It’s unnerving to see everybody so calm.
At least there’s a rant. Many of my peers are fathers with young kids, and we talk about this current state virtually everyday. We are constantly talking about the future our children will have to encounter, and — yes, there is plenty of action (at least from my own experience). I believe there is a huge undercurrent network that is solidifying every day that cannot be quantified or measured. It’s a cultural shift, but my network and hence my “wealth” grows stronger every single day because we treat each other like family.
Anybody else wonder how we’re able to to still eat and drink even as trillions of dollars get siphoned out of our economy? To me, it proves that money may not have as dominant role as everybody thinks. It also proves that there is a giant underground economy that always occurs when government is out of control. So — sure, protest taxation, campaign contributions, and blah, blah, blah, but there’s a lot of us out there busy canning our backyard tomato harvest and trading for hand-cut lumber and small engine repair. Stop bitching, and start hustling. It’s now almost a foreign concept that Americans sort of invented.
Want a “real protest?” Tell Del Monte, Kraft, and WalMart to fuck off by never giving them another dime. Now, that’s hard work in today’s society. Want to “stick it to the man?” Stop drinking, smoking, or any other shitty habit that’s weighing you down. Healthy, vibrant people who get tired of saying and start doing are extremely dangerous.
The Occupy movement is important in that we will figure out that it doesn’t matter… this is not small potatoes, and I will continue to applaud and champion the necessary futility. I see it as an absolutely essential step in our collective development, and I think there’s still a lot of courage out on those streets. Once people figure out that they cannot change anything with a sign and a chant — we will likely REALLY dig in and we’ll ignite guerrilla vs gorilla. But, how could we know this until we try first?
Our job is to come out the other side stronger and with enhanced respect for each other and our planet.
Don’t get me wrong. I agree the Occupy movement is essential but I do believe it is only a baby step right now. If you want somebody to show us how to protest, the video you put up of the One Marine v 30 NYPD is a perfect example. He’s the kind of “citizen soldier” who really is both citizen and soldier but he’s fought for American people – not Kraft Foods. He’s the kind of guy the 60′s was all about. If it wasn’t for the 60′s and civil rights that guy would have been shot before he finished his first sentance just because he’s black. But today, look what he as a man can do.
It was about belief in ourselves; not the bulshit government or Kraft or Ford. It was about letting people just be people. Like letting a little black girl go to a school of her choice. It was about ending stupid, wasteful war that served no purpose but to pad the pockets of the already rich. It was to demonstrate we really didn’t need any of that shit they tried to sell us. Sounds really stupid now but “Flower Power” meant that flowers were more important than guns. Nature was more important than steel production.
It all did make a difference. It gave the Occupy movement the freedom to Occupy now. The problem I see, and the great disappointment I see at this point in my life, is that we all forgot what we accomplished and, zap, right back to the way it was. Big government, big corporations, and big apathy.
I totally agree there is a new culture coming and it really is hard to find anyone who doesn’t agree this is all out of control. And, yeah, I’d love to see the President explode on somebody. Get so excited he spits as he shouts out words. Our elected representative have been for sale for too long and do not represent. They work for Kraft and whoever has the most money to throw at them. I kind of like the idea of randomly selecting our representatives. Would probably work better than what is happening now.
Yes, vote with your dollars. Actually withhold them more. Totally agree. But have to also be politically active on some level because those votes count too. It blows me away that a candidate’s “war chest” is the best indicator of ability to be elected. What about an indicator of “serving?”
We face huge problems today. And they have been decades in the making. And maybe I was totally disillusioned in the 60′s. And maybe I’m an idiot for still caring about those ideals I thought we stood for and fought for. Maybe. But I do still believe them. I do believe we can be better than we are. I believe there are more guys out there like that Marine. And, notice, the cops did back off.
The 60′s allowed us to argue openly. It allowed a freedom that had never existed before. We have not used that opportunity.
Not yet, anyway. I hope we will. Soon.
It’s not a gorilla, it’s a virus. Humanity has become a consuming disease on nature. Like most viruses, once it’s in the ecosystem, it cannot be eradicated, and it has to consume enough to become weakened and starved before an immune system can kick it out of the body or at least come to balance with it.
Our action phase may be to find new paths that aren’t diseased yet or that have been consumed and left behind by the disease. To fight is to simply be consumed, as some must be in order to slow the disease.
“You know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed.” – Zoe , “Serenity”
“Reverse gear has long since been stripped.” I love it!
I watched a TV show the other night about Greece’s history. One of the interesting points was that democracy is an anomaly in the history of human political organization. Nor has it ever been “pure”.
Maybe this charade is finally making it’s true identity known.
congratulations!!! you’ve come out! I wait very eagerly for your energy to be expressed in a graphic novel! I’ve seen you do it with words, photography, music, film, and now–with an instant thousand words at high voltage.
You are SO right: give your money to those who do it right. Not a penny to the wrong guys, for every single purchase.
Scott Olson. Oakland, California. Occupant. Veteran. This is how the violence really starts. When there is a figure like him who is injured enough to get news attention on a personal level.
Now more people will come. And so the movement will become historic with outrage in the streets. More violence. All the good advice on this blog and the wonderful discussions will be put to the test very soon.
It’s about time. No more hiding.
Anybody hear the discussion on NPR today about junior Republicans not hitting their 3rd quarter fund raising quotas? They promise to do better next quarter. They get pressure to meet their financials. What about their service performance? 9% approvals? Really? I’m holding my dollars for local small business as much as I can and only when I really need something.
Actually the violence started when the Oakland occupiers threw bottles at the police. Who injured Olson? The occupiers throwing bottles? Unknown at this point.
GWTW, you are right. “Unknown at this point.” The real point is, however, the probability of escalating violence. I really expect someone to get killed before too much longer. Some idiot in the crowd. Maybe some young jumpy cop. Who knows? Something terrrible will happen and then there is no turning back. A martyr will be born and the whole complextion of this protest movement will change. My fear is what will come out of hiding.
It’s obvious the world is changing. Which direction is up to us. (Can we manage the gorilla?) The thought of someone being seriously hurt or even killed is painful to me. But the thought of this Occupy movement being manipulated by some corporate power is even more painful and I think it’s possible. Makes for good news. Good news makes for good ad revenue. Why not escalate this – could be good for business after all. And on it goes.
I don’t think it really matters who throws what or that it could just be a mistake. Wrong place at the wrong time can change this so fast. I’m becoming more and more pessimistic about what we’ve already lost: the ability, in general, to think for ourselves. That’s one of the reasons I follow this blog. It is thought provoking and, gee, every time I’m challenged to think about something I actually learn something.
Thanks for the reply, GWTW. I hope more of you readers weigh in. Keep writing and doing good things. Rock on!
“I’m becoming more and more pessimistic about what we’ve already lost: the ability, in general, to think for ourselves. ”
Reading the “Dark Mountain 2″ book, I am finding more and more that the most important part of thinking for ourselves (working for ourselves) was lost when the Luddites were lost. From a wiki article (“The Luddite Fallacy”):
“Besides job destruction, Luddites claimed that automation made the rich richer and the poor poorer. Economists have found that between 1980 and 2005, American jobs vulnerable to automation were lost, forcing workers into either low paying manual work or high paying technical work that is inherently difficult to automate. One study by MIT economist David Autor and David Dorn drew on evidence from the United States Department of Labor to show that automation caused sharp losses of middle class jobs, forcing a polarization of wages and greater income inequality. The phenomenon of polarization due to automation is not confined to the US, also occurring in 15 of 16 European countries for which data is available.”
It isn’t the machines or the automation of work that is really the problem. It’s the application of people to useful tasks (or useless tasks) at the behest of people with no motive except to increase their profits. When profits (versus real need) are the decision-making force, then morality, community, and generosity are thrown out of the equation on “economic” grounds, as the rule of corporate behavior/sociopathy is that ALL decisions must be made based on profits. Failing to do so will get a CEO fired by the shareholders, whose only participation is through their money-based desires. Rarely does a large investment come from altruistic purpose. Capitalists and corporatists (yes, they’re different) argue that this is why we need the profit motive: to get people to invest. I argue that this is why we should NOT have a profit motive. I don’t want people to ‘invest’ in more plastic crap, I want them to DO useful shit themselves. What the Luddites were fighting was the loss of the ability to do shit for themselves. They lost to a massive onslaught of military force (for a time, more British troops were fighting the Luddites than were fighting Napoleon). There has not been such a fight for human right to work ever since (as compared to the Civil War, which was a fight for the right to make OTHER people work for nothing: which was lost to the industrial power to make people work for ALMOST nothing).
PS. Big societies require Big Systems. When the daily living becomes the daily grind instead of a new day to face, then we’ve lost.
WTF!?!?!
Why is People’s Jewelers got an ad on here?
I come here to get away from that shit.
Diamonds!? They’re plugging fucking diamonds!! The penultimate expression of consumer society and delusion, for spoiled little westerners and westerner wanna-be’s.
Fuck that.
OUT!
Oh stop whining and get yourself an ad-blocker. No one has to see ads on the internet anymore if they don’t want to, and I’d have thought most of the people on *this* site would have done that long ago.
This site needs paid for somehow. If that’s putting up ads that none of us actually see…what’s the problem?
I left a comment on this book review:
http://transitionvoice.com/2011/11/collapse-could-happen-literally-overnight/
I think it helps explain why FG’s are less silly than Occupiers.
New bumper sticker:
“Live Like Collapse Already Happened.”
It will go well with my other idea: “Evolution Happens..Try to keep up.”
It might be better on the Amish carriage, though.
That cracked me up!
Frey Carriage Co. Fulfills Demand for Horse-Drawn Carriages:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/133409748.html
“I pledge allegiance to the Earth, and the living things upon it. One biosystem, under all, with no mercy for useless consumers.”
Miss Y’all.
Here’s one for the Team to ” try on for size” – our Freeman Walking was ahead of his time!
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2011/12/occupy-million-dollar-view.html
LOVE to All.