There’s a lot of anger in my heart this week and even though I know this is debilitating, unproductive, and stressful, I can’t seem to let it go. I’m going to write this out and try to let it go.
I believe the twilight of our civilization is beginning and soon we’ll be thrust into a giant experimental reaping of the legacy of bad ideas. My years of optimistic solution searching has yielded little tangible result except: RUN. The anger is a result of listening to my senior generation, the Baby Boomers. As the ultimate narcissist generation, the Boomers are full of awareness plights these days — now warning us of untold danger in amazingly prophetic and increasingly irrelevant ways. Of course, nary a solution amongst them. Thanks a lot.
My generation, The 13th (or Generation X) is the slim middle between two gluts of Useless. I keep hearing about how “tech savvy” the Millennials are, but this is like comparing a junkie to a pharmacist. Just because they’re master users of technology doesn’t mean they really understand fuck-all about how it works. And, no, texting really fast is not a marketable skill. The X’ers are stuck between two populations of entitled managers and now represent the harvesters of unintended consequences and the holders of the giant shitbag.
James Wesley Rawles has millions of words devoted to survival, but the most important elements: How to Get the Fuck Out, are essentially missing despite the tome of rhetoric on Christian worship and obscure Winchester rounds. I would love to be living on my private 80 Idaho acres with barns full of MRE’s, but that ship has sailed, and I was about 12 years old when he started to unravel the Economic Matrix. Quite inconveniently, I don’t have the half million dollars it now takes to join the elite secure class.
James Howard Kunstler is a brilliant writer and I love his stuff. He’ll actually pretty much tell you you’re an asshole for trying to come up with any solution, and he’s probably right. Of course, he’s got his house upstate with a nice garden, a comfortable income derived from issuing poignant warnings and scaring the shit out of me.
Paul Farrell, Chris Martenson, Charles Hughes Smith, Louie Psyhoyos, Michael C. Ruppert, and George Ure have all influenced me and my thinking, and I have respect for these Boomers. But not one of these guys I’ve mentioned has ever answered a single email I’ve sent over the years or seemed to give a shit about anything of substantive community. Go to their sites, look at the ads, and watch a new machine work in the background. Now, I can’t fault anybody for trying to make a living producing something of value, but I also can’t help but see a prevailing attitude from my senior soothsayer generation of “Fuck You. Feed Me.” Oprah Winfrey, Paul Krugman, Dave Ramsey, Madonna, Ben Bernanke, and Bill Gates will all abandon you just like the blogger boomers. Sure, they’ve got tons of advice that’ll lull into thinking ANY of them give a shit, but it just ain’t true. Their time, money, and energy is now directed at creating legacy throughout the world as they’ve figured out that they will indeed die and no amount of plastic surgery, celebrity book clubs, or billions of dollars will change this conclusion.
So as the we enter the twilight, these guys are pulling in the remaining dollars, Congressional seats, solar panels, Pulitzers, PhD’s, and Oscar nominations while they look forward to their disproportionate share of the carcass. In the meantime, I’m meant to feel foolish for being that asshole who believed in America and believed in opportunity. I’m the asshole who believed anything is possible if you work hard enough. I was duped into thinking that “you can do anything you want” (a common Boomer manifesto). The price of not doing anything you want is the overriding feeling of failure that has come to define my generation. We have the distinction of being the first American generation to see our standard of living decline and then be convinced it was our fault. Turns out, we were born at the worst point in human history as the oil-based Western civilizations peaked in the early 1970′s. The Baby Boomer lifeboats have been built on the foundation of oil glut and many are crash proof, and the rest of the world stands ready at the rail to launch them. Behold G.W. Bush’s Crawford Ranch — a sustainable energy enthusiast’s wet dream. Behold Al Gore’s Tennessee mansion — the most authentic sunbelt mansion that runs on a mere 30x the national energy consumption average. Behold the Boomer Bullshit.
The Boomers have earned the luxury of being the first to die off toward the beginning of what Kunstler calls “The Long Emergency.” After all the lobsters have been eaten, the champagne has been drunk, and the frequent flyer miles have been cashed in, they will slip into their narcissistic coma of unachievable health care expenses and State sponsored “retirement.” Of course, as they receive their daily MRI’s and heart valve surgeries, they will claim that every human life has unquantifiable value (part of the Boomer spiritual belief system is that no amount of money can be spared if you really, really, really need it). Meaning, of course, that THEIR human life has value. Behold, the circus of Bill Clinton’s heart stint the past few days. The ultimate “thumbs up/did not have sexual relations” Boomer Hero credited with creating a surplus (hee, hee), is forgiven for all his shenanigans and disruption because he’s such a great humanitarian. Boomer Bullshit.
At the pinnacle of the Narcissism is the Boomer Deity, Barack Obama. As he strides by, the Boomers sigh and genuflect for the Republic surely be saved. Again, I wish I had the time to sit and have that beer with the President, but I’m a bit busy figuring how I’m going to get my family off the Economic Grid right now. I’m a bit busy trying to figure out how to get my makeshift cane raft ready for sea. Because, as it turns out you can’t pay for groceries with Hope and Change, Motherfucker. YES WE CAN!
So, I’m a bit angry this week even though I love my parents and even though I actually do have respect for my elders despite the hypocrisy of this rant. I know that no harm was meant, but can I at least appeal to the Boomers to shut the fuck up? At least get the fuck out of the way, how about? Because, I know you don’t have any solutions, so I’m no longer going to try to read between your lines of bullshit to glean usable information or insight. Your generation is incapable of solving problems that don’t involve elaborate math tricks, expensive awareness campaigns, misdirected blame, disgusting levels of energy consumption, and unwinnable war. As you celebrated your narcissist Summer of Love, we had a narrow opportunity to do something of substance, and you fucked it up. So, please just shut the fuck up, go get your MRI, and let us handle this because I do have the energy, and I am not used up. Right now, your greatest contribution to humanity would be to sit quietly in a corner and stop trying to help. Just… stop. I get it, I’m at fault too. I should’ve somehow known better as a teenager that the world is unsustainable and that there is no way out of the Great Math Equation. At this stage of my life, I thought I was supposed to be harvesting the wisdom of those that came before me, but there is no wisdom to harvest.
In the end, when you look to me and my generation to cast off your own blame and help right your foundering state-of-the-art lifeboat, I promise I will be there. I will never abandon you so long as there is breath in this angry body.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. Being only technically a Boomer (My brothers and sisters are all older than I, and I’m at the tail end of the Boomers, I think, with an ear for the music of Rush and a nauseated hatred of all things Beatle and Peace and Love and Harmony.
But that’s not why I am here today. I am here to give you this link: http://sinkinglifeboat.blogspot.com/2010/02/there-really-is-only-one-kind-of.html
I especially like this part:
“3. Social justice doesn’t solve resource shortages . The integrity of the lifeboat is more important than how the passengers treat each other. Food can be shared equitably between passengers, but if there are too many passengers, the boat will sink. The law of gravity doesn’t care about social justice, human rights or human political arrangements.”
Anytime the law of gravity is mentioned, I get a hardon to explain how we have been lied to about energy and physics and oil. Hence, the Auntiegrav moniker.
I like that you are angry. So am I. I have been angry since Clinton and her husband dropped the Iran-Contra ball.
You first have to lose the left brain for a while. No more fantasy. Just use your Now and Here right brain to see and smell and feel and respond to stimuli. The left brain makes up excuses and fantasizes about what ‘might’ be in the past, the distance, or the future. It is lying. The Boomers are all about Left Brain and smoking pot (the largest cash crop in the U.S. until corn ethanol came along to pump the markets). As one of their favorite icons (I hate that word, too.), George Carlin said, “THEY don’t give a FUCK about YOU!”
I know where you can get a cheap bugout place. How do you feel about living in a cheap church someplace cold?
I’m thinking of an advert for the local paper:
“Doomer Party Barn Dance: If you’re still watching TV to get your news, don’t bother showing up.”
It can’t be worse than the CSA invitation, where we got (not counting friends) 2 people to show up and nobody to sign up.
Hey Man, I love Strauss and Howe too.
Indeed. Apres moi, le deluge. Only this time it’s for real.
I’m going to tell you a story, but you have to promise to unload your guns first…
A while back, in Minnesota, the Boomers could get vanity license plates for 100 bucks a pop and they were told they would be able to keep them forever.
A few years later, Minn decided to change the state color scheme, and the old vanity plates were canceled. Boomers had to pay the 100 bucks again.
Some lawyer Boomer sued the state because his parents had 7 (count ‘em, SEVEN) cars with vanity plates.
(Reaches for sniper rifle…)
I personally apologize for leaving you and your generation with this mess (I have offspring your age). No, I didn’t do anything personally, but as an African-American I know how much it helps to hear *somebody* say it, so I will: I’m sorry.
Wow, Kimberley. You don’t need to say anything to me or anybody else, but I won’t take anything away…so, apology accepted if you want to extend it.
There is no one person to pin down on this, otherwise I’d have nailed that sucker long ago and we’d be done with it. It’s a prevailing thought pattern that has its own life that no single person is totally responsible for — thereby making it all the more maddening. My rant is a way to move on because there’s a lot of people my age feeling this way but also feeling like complete failures despite the impressive titles and nice income that gets you nowhere.
My sense is that if you’re on this site offering a heart-felt mea culpa then you’re not exactly the person I’m after, and I’d rather you didn’t hold onto the guilty feeling that you could do anything about where we’re headed. There’s plenty of Boomers with plenty of “too little, too late” knowledge for sale.
Thanks for mustering some courage and writing to me for the first time to say something like that. It’s very humbling and much appreciated.
Bang! That was awesome.
By the way, you CAN have whatever you want and everything is possible: As long as that consists of a very simple life removed from the society that currently exists. If we all just abandon this sinking ship, go off in our separate ways, collect our individual senses, then regroup, we can possibly start this anti-civilization over into a real, functioning one. Unfortunately, such actions would lead to millions of people dying because they are so far removed from reality that they could not function without the charity (or unsustainable society) of others. Then again, I’ve always believed that overpopulation is the key to all our problems, so a great die-off, though horrible would probably be to our benefit in the long run. Especially since we can’t seem to be mature enough to handle our birthrate responsibly on our own.
You may be angry, and understandably so, but you may have the last laugh anyway.
The large majority of “boomers” (I one, born in 1955) have no idea what is about to hit them. Like conditioned lab animals, their comfortable existence has left them passive, inured, and in denial about the approaching catclysm. Most have little or no savings, and are still carrying big debts into their approaching retirement. Solve the math problem involving no money, either their’s or the government? The answer is in high inflation and cuts in their “entitlements” which is in either case (or both) a recipe for a disagreeable, if not actually destitute, old age.
Not exactly what they signed up for, wouldn’t you say?
You on the other hand are young, tough, and motivated. Comfortable survival, if not huge fortunes, have been made by those with such characteristics in the past in this country, where challenges and difficulty were historically much more the norm than not.
Good luck to you and your family. From what I have read about you on your site, you probably have nothing to worry about.
I understand the anger, and for the same reasons, but I want to be done with it. I too feel like I’ve been left with a world of shit, but I still have to make the best of it.
The most visceral way I can relate to whole generations before me is through the experiences of my own parents and grandparents who lived during those times. As angry as I’ve been in the past, I feel like cutting them some slack, because much of what they went through (that subsequently molded me) was the result of their environment and upbringing, which was ruled by the same monetary slavery that rules us today.
In my mind, this helps explain some of the “bullshit” that’s been handed down. It doesn’t make it right, just more understandable, at least to me. Despite it, I honestly believe my parents and their parents did the best they knew how. I don’t blame them for things they had no control over yet were forced to deal with as a result of their respective era’s equally disturbing realities. Previous generations’ lack of awareness and ethical conduct seems shocking in retrospect, but no more so than the shock future generations will feel when looking back on us.
When I look back, I see the common thread between our respective generations is suffering, most of which I feel helpless to combat. There’s so much sad history, and I wish we as a human community we could finally rise above it.
When I say I love humanity, one way in which I mean it is that I have compassion for the common struggles we all share. My parents damaged me the same as any kid, but no more than their own parents did to them, and much of that was in one way or another the result of economic hardship and ignorance. Some things have changed for the better, but our fundamental condition remains the same. None of us is enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in the most exalted sense of those words, and we’re not going to until we create a truly egalitarian world that includes everyone.
There’s an obvious clash between profit based interests in this country and the ideals on which America was founded. I don’t see a Republic or a Democracy. I see Corporatocracy. I see an empire built on the backs of slaves, and I’m one of them. Despite the liberally circulating platitude that “it’s all good,” it most definitely is not. Too much of this country is based on making mud bricks for our captors and being punished for it if we don’t comply. Our reward, if we do comply is to keep making more. That’s not liberty, and that’s what pisses me off about this country. I’m here to be part of an amazing civilization, not a freak show of infinite cruelty, depravity, destruction and self-sacrifice. If anyone expects me to live this way without experiencing psychological problems, excuse me while I puke.
In previous posts, there’s been discussion about the meaning of life. Thinking about it today, I’ve concluded that one of the things we’re here to do is right wrongs. Since Kimberly was bold enough to step forward, so will I. As a non-African American, I hear where you’re coming from. Though not my fault, I apologize for slavery. I apologize for all the ignorant racist bullshit you’ve had to endure in a country still too immature to practice “liberty and justice for all.” I’m sorry. My life is infinitely richer because of black culture and its many luminaries, be they political, activist, athletic, musical, or comedic. I appreciate the collective African-American contributions to every walk of life in this country, and for that I say “thanks.”
I don’t really have the words this week to express how I’m feeling (must be something in the wind), so I just wanted to say thanks for this post. It’s how a lot of ‘Gen X’ are feeling. We see the need for a different type of life, have some great ideas about what needs to be done to move in that direction, but don’t yet have the power to make it happen. Until the balance of power shifts, the status quo remains.
Did you ever get around to reading ‘The Fourth Turning’?
Judging from this post, he must have.
The devil will be in the details. As Tommy wrote: “Your generation is incapable of solving problems that don’t involve elaborate math tricks, expensive awareness campaigns, misdirected blame, disgusting levels of energy consumption, and unwinnable war.”
So..how does one live without these things? What useful skills does a group of significant size possess that would allow them to live well enough to have some ‘off’ time? Where could they apply these skills and not be harassed by the Boomers’ legacy of urban/suburban/exurbanization and Systems of systems?
I think that regardless of the answers, the key is to have a knowable group (search “monkeysphere”). The Constitution supposedly protects the individual’s rights, but it is applied by groups which have been deemed ‘persons’ by the incompetence of the Supreme Court. The critical point is to define within one’s own mind what a “human” being is, and whether you feel like allowing anyone else to define your value for you.
What usefulness do you and those you know wish to be for the future?
There are deep questions to be answered by every single person, and soon. In the past, humans have created vicious religions on lesser goals than the survival of the planet’s life forms. We have to decide for ourselves whether we are going to try to save ourselves, save our memes, save our nation, save the children, or save our planet. I don’t think there is a big enough Math Trick to save anything but perhaps a few offspring while we hope that the majority uses its current consumptive inertia to eat each other soon enough to save the planet, but we are inundated with people trying to save all of the in-between horseshit: be it Green or otherwise.
I read the Fourth Turning… very worthwhile and prophetic. Thanks for the suggestion.
Looked into Monkeysphere. Some of these implications of “The Great Transformation” are hard to wrap my head around because of heaps of uncertainty. Everything seems to coming back to a baseline, however.
That was a great rant. I’m a Boomer too, but I’ll forgive you, as I’ve exressed the same sentiments many times myself. The Boomers as a generational whole really have to be considered one of the all-time hypocritical collections to come down the pike in recent history. I had the privelege of using the GI Bill to complete my education after 25 years in the military (yeah, I know, I’ve ALWAYS done things ass-backwards), and I expressed these same sentiments during the prelude to Bush II’s second coronation to my classmates who were mostly 20-30 years my junior. Needless to say, they thought I was some sort of demented old crank and would have none of it. Now, only a few short years later, most of them are doubtlessly wondering what happened to their dreams of endless prosperity. Which goes to show that when times are good, everyone’s a bull, and when times are bad, everyone’s looking for someone to blame. Wasn’t the first time, probably won’t be the last, but may very well likely be the most severe and most persistent of any in recent history. We’ll see.
By the way, becoming a commissioned military officer probably ain’t gonna help you get off the economic grid, although I suppose it may help with the survival skills. Just sayin.
Oh don’t worry the Baby Boomers who aren’t prepared for this Depression are going to eat it very badly in old age, like divine Karmic retribution. Boomers are the first generation of Americans who this country can’t support in retirement. Let’s see we have a generation that has no savings, record debt levels, no equity in there houses, no pensions, and there only real wealth is still in the stock market which will be falling as we go down the next few years of this depression. Soon enough there will be more Boomers receiving Social Security and Medicare than younger workers putting in. Didn’t Boomers since the 1980’s read news stories about how Social Security was going broke when they reached retirement age. Gen X’ers and Gen Y’s have 20 plus years till they reach 60. We have time to save up because when we see how broke old baby boomers are and so many boomers working low paying jobs in there 70’s to make ends meet I suspect we will be more fiscally responsible as a generation just like our grandparents and great grandparents (Eisenhower’s and the GI Generation who lived during the depression) They didn’t like debt and they were very frugal as a generation
even decades after the 1930’s. I guess baby boomers should of saved there money instead of dropping acid with Abbie Hoffman and Wavey Gravey talking about “Revolution Man!”
Your vitriolic rant against an entire generation makes me laugh. Most of the sad policies and practices of this country were put into place before the baby-boomers were born, or when they were still children. Do you think the next generation won’t blame you and yours for the country’s woes? The children always blame the parents, until they themselves grow old. I enjoy your blog, but it seems to me you should stop whining, and get back to changing the world.
Roger that. Great idea.
Thomas:
You rant and rave about our civilization’s shortcomings and that, basically, the world is going down the shit hole. I couldn’t agree more, however, just one question: why did you choose to subject your ‘unprotected heart’ to this god-awful situation that is unfolding? Seems a bit foolish, not to mention exceedingly selfish. People who are aware of the coming upheaval and are still having kids really shouldn’t be throwing stones at ANYONE.
Bags,
I love comments like this because you’re getting into the basics of human existence, and that’s something I love examining. It’s a good question, and one that I’ve considered, but you’re definitely making some assumptions (as a result of lacking information I don’t provide). You’re equating having children with being selfish, and you’re saying the world is going down the shithole. You’re effectively saying people with children = what’s wrong with the world without regard to how those children are parented or why. I’ll take the stance that having children is 100% selfless and that we’re already in the shithole. I think the numbed existence many of us are living is worse than anything my “unprotected heart” will experience when she’s my age. The so-called third world status we’re collectively headed toward is an improvement over America’s first world social order. My job is just to get us through the transformation.
Most parents have a natural instinct to protect their children, and the outer world is inherently dangerous for every child left unprotected regardless of the context or environment. I would likely feel this way regardless of the current space and time. I believe Humans do have context in the world but have been largely separated from that context in the last 100+ years, so I equate your admonishment with asking why I haven’t killed myself then telling me not to attempt to push out of the numbness.
My guess is that you either don’t have children or your children are old enough to be independent, effectively rendering your parenting status ceremonial. This is an assumption, but I’d bet on it. If not, then this is how your comment appears. I’d also guess that as a result of your “choices” you feel a sense of superiority over anybody who wants to talk about sustainability, conservation of resources, or social decay — thereby calling me “foolish.” Is this your trump card? I’ve met people like this before.
The truth is that having children during this period is the most selfless thing I can imagine ESPECIALLY in light of current events. On my own, I could be long gone out of this “grid” and easily save myself — never giving a second thought to the rest of the world or the future. On my own, there would definitely be no job, no MBA, no attempt at salvage, no freedomguerrilla. What you don’t understand is that having a child puts you on the hook for making things right, and represents a level of commitment to the future that is generally unsurpassed by your childless peers. What you don’t recognize is that I’m the creator of this blog, and you are simply commenting on it. Without children, we have given up the idea that anything is worthwhile, and makes considering the future all the more futile. What “god-awful” event is unfolding? Human Extinction? Without children, this is assured. Have you considered that 2 people producing 1 child represents a population decline? I believe the god-awful event has already occurred, and we’re living it. We advance further into the upheaval the further we separate ourselves from our own humanity.
Many of my rants and raves are simply that, and should be taken at their value. I usually try to provide a disclaimer like “this is a rant” meaning, it may be a bit irrational, but I guess that doesn’t matter. I rant because I know other people are thinking it and not saying it. I rant because it lets me put an idea into the public view and let people (such as you) examine, analyze, and improve. It shows me what’s wrong, and it shows me what’s right. I rant to get over it, move on, and construct.
The internet is fantastic for this, and here’s an example: Have you ever called a stranger on the street a “fool” when they were with their children? Have you ever told your parents they were stupid for having you? Maybe you have, but do you think anybody would ever stop having children because of it? Yet, how many times have you thought it? Well, you’ve just said it to thousands of parents through this forum regardless of your level of ownership to the comment.
The traditional parenting model is just as broken as everything else, and since children won’t be eradicated anytime soon (I hope), now is a good time to support our future to help nurture our society back to REAL humanity in the fashion that we think is right. We all have a role in this lest we humans leave a legacy of stupidity and waste behind.
So, there’s the answer to your question. I chose to do this because of faith and hope. I chose it because I’m human and because I have visions of something better than this. It may be foolish, but it’s real, and I am 100% committed. I will continue to shine a light on what I see and how I see it. I will continue to be a voice until I think there’s no value in it, if for no other reason than people like you can show up and air out their shit.
Amen to that. My mother always said that children represent hope, and if people choose not to have children just because it’s a shitty world, then they’re giving up all hope. Children will always be “hostages to fortune.” And as a wise man once wrote, despair (or the lack of hope) is for those who know, beyond any possibility of doubt, the outcome of the situation. And who can lay claim to that?
Answering the question ‘why have children?’ when discussing the challenges of our human predicament generally touches a raw nerve for people who have them or are planning to have them. I have never heard anyone answer the question with anything other than what on the surface appears to be selfless and benevolent intentions. I don’t doubt that you believe that having a child is in the best interest for the planet and our civilization. By the way, I did not call you foolish and selfish, rather the choice foolish and selfish. Your response indicates that you consider yourself worthy of the task and that your parenting skills will ensure that your child will be a fine addition to our swollen numbers. I don’t know if you have studied population statistics and projections, or if you’ve read William Catton, but given that we live in the U.S., having even one ‘homo colossus’ far exceeds the carrying capacity of our environment and perpetuates the deterioration and exploitation of other places and people. Perhaps you are living in a hut in the woods, but somehow I doubt that is the case. At any rate, I certainly do not consider myself ‘superior’ for choices that I have made. Honestly, I am intensely saddened by the state of the world and could not stomach subjecting a child to what I believe is overwhelming violence, greed and corruption. I am an ‘X’er and my husband and I terminated a pregnancy that was the result of failed contraception. We then decided that it was wise for him to have a vasectomy. We are both committed to living out our lives as unselfishly as possible given our circumstances, and we believed that it was the responsible choice not to have children. The fact is that I am a hypocrite because I live in a warm house with modern conveniences and eat food that I purchase primarily from the supermarket. I am in a state of constant torment because how I feel is disconnected from the life that I am living. I am not numb; I feel as though my skin has been stripped away. There is also not a small amount of jealously involved in my reaction to people with children. I wish that I had hope enough in the future to justify having one myself. I am simply irked by people continuing to have children in the face of this ecological disaster that we are witnessing and who criticize their forebears for having behaved irresponsibly.
Why do you think that having children puts a person more “on the hook” than not having them? That’s quite a stretch of reasoning, not to mention a tepid advocacy. There are innumerable individuals throughout history who have given their lives for the betterment of others: human and nonhuman. Cravenly fleeing the scene to save one’s own ass isn’t the answer either. We all need to clear the cobwebs of the outmoded world-view that ‘things are dandy’ and do what we can to help ourselves and others make it through the difficult times ahead. The less of us there are, the easier it will be. We need to sacrifice in an attempt to save the future for the planet’s sake, not necessarily for humanity. There are other living beings that deserve to exist; humanity is not essential. If we make it, we make it, but if extinction is the outcome, so be it. I still believe that it is selfish and irresponsible to willingly subject a child to the grim decay of our planet, and yes, I have and will take ownership of that opinion. However, that opinion comes not without a substantial degree of anguish. I appreciate your response and I apologize if I’ve offended you. I hope that you will continue to publish freedomguerilla. I hope that you continue to have reason for faith and hope. I hope that your decision was the correct one. Good luck.
Bags, you take too much anguish into yourself. The over-population problem will probably take care of itself the old-fashioned way — disease or food (the lack of it) or war. It might actually cheer you up a bit to read Kunstler’s World Made by Hand if you haven’t already read it. You are right, that it probably is a selfish act to have children, both selfish and hopeful at the same time. Do you know the end of the story? Then do not despair.
Bags, Kate, and Tommy: GREAT DISCUSSION!
I’m glad I checked.
I can only add that I hope you try to put it in the context of the comment I made on http://freedomguerrilla.com/?p=1139 (human capital).
I see Bags’ point and raise it a little first. If a farmer has a full barn, he doesn’t keep every calf that is born to his dairy cows. There isn’t room or food for them. However, he WILL eventually need some replacements, AND part of being a cow is to have calves and produce milk for the calves. Humans are a lot like that: we are natural beings with attrition (a fact especially disguised by my Boomer advertising generation in order to sell life extension schemes). The idea that we could just completely stop having children for a while is absurd because it wouldn’t be human. Overpopulation isn’t an answer because some children contribute to the future. Most western civilizations see them only as potential ‘consumers’.
The key is to make them net useful to the future of their own universe, and it won’t matter how many there are (but I’m willing to bet that if they were taught to be net useful, they wouldn’t be making so many babies, either).
The question at this point is this: how are we going to transition from the current system of Boomer-type thinking (Beatlemania and Hummers) to a world not necessarily all made by hand, but a world much more hands-on and locally friendly to humans as part of it, with humans more friendly to the world?
Oops. I meant to say “Overpopulation isn’t an accurate description of the problem.”
Tommy, Kate and Auntigrav,
Thank you for responding. First of all, please forgive me for my initial posting. This is my first time commenting to a blog, and my hastiness resulted in bellicosity and emotionality, rather than intellectual contribution. I am grateful for your kindness and decency (especially Tommy, who contacted me directly and is an unparalleled gentleman).
Kate, J.H. Kunstler is one of my favorite contemporary authors, and I’ve read nearly everything that he has published, print and electronic. He wrote a very funny Roman a Clef called Maggie Darling whose main character’s traits were suspiciously similar to Martha Stewart’s. I picked up World Made by Hand at a time when my interests were more aligned with nonfiction topics, and I returned the book to the library after reading only 40-50 pages. Thanks for reminding me of it; I will revisit per your recommendation. You’ve piqued my interest to find out what happens at the end. As you’ve guessed, I could use a little hope and/or levity.
Auntigrav, At the risk of sounding contrarian, I would like to point out the following flaw in your example:
If you were to argue that a genius along the lines of Stephen Hawking or Albert Einstein will be born one out of every million humans, what are we to do with the other 999,999 individuals that will foul the air and water, consume resources and generally take up space? I’m not suggesting that these other beings are not worthwhile, but in light of our present (and to project forward, most likely more tumultuous future), the unremarkable are going to make the process of transition more difficult, regardless of their good intentions (or not) and ‘net usefulness’. Of course, most people are not willing (or in some situations, able) to make the decision to ‘not follow their animal instincts’, even if they are aware of what is underway. That is an irrefutable truth, but shouldn’t the suggestion be clearly related as a method to dissuade those for whom it hasn’t occurred?
What I am undertaking to suggest is that our current situation has arisen because human beings have behaved in a manner that assumed we are outside of the animal realm; if we are to improve our chances of survival, our species needs to have the humility to reverse, as much as possible, the deleterious effects of our historical lack of humility. One path to this reversal would be to opt not to add to the world’s population woes. More is not always more. It’s trite, but in this case, more is less. Unfortunately, the more that we so desperately need, namely brilliant individuals such as Tommy, come about only once in a million or so. That’s a lottery that we cannot afford to play at this point in humanity and the Earth’s history.
Thanks for the response, Bags. You pointed out to me that I miswrote what I wanted to say. (I do that a lot..sorry). I should have said “some LIMITED NUMBER of children are necessary to contribute to the future”, and it would have made a lot more sense. I wasn’t implying any kind of game of chance about geniuses. At the risk of being sappy, I think almost every child I’ve met has some kind of genius ability when they are allowed to go where their brain wants to go.
Children aren’t consumers until we turn on the TV. I have seen this directly with my own children, and at the age of 6 or so, it takes about 2 weeks for an advertising spot to wear off if it is removed from their environment.
Hi, glad to have found and bookmarked this interesting blog!
As a guilt-ridden baby-boomer and mother of three daughters between ages 22 and 31, I just want to remind you that although there is plenty of blame for ignorance and selfishness, it’s important to remember that there has been for decades and continues to be a well-funded campaign by fuel industries and corporations dependent on fuel to control the debate, to lie directly and by omission, about the facts of peak oil and climate change. The only way the average person could have any clue about the imminent dire consequences of the industrial revolution and its exploitation and pollution would be to actively seek information well beyond the mendacity that is perpetrated by the mainstream media, even by supposedly liberal venues like NPR and the NYRB. If it weren’t for the internet and much time devoted to searching and reading, I never would have become “enlightened”.
It’s the same cast of criminals that strove for decades to confuse the public and policy makers – and bought members of the legislature with their obscene profits – as the tobacco industry.
So while I fully support your outrage towards previous generations (mine especially) I think it might be a good exercise to focus your ire upon the truly reprehensible, deliberately obfuscating, obscenely profiting individuals and corporations that have made it their business to hoodwink the voters.
just sayin’!
Hi Gail,
Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment. I just checked out your site… good to know you’re just across the river in NJ doing good things.
You make good points here about the generations, and when I wrote this, I was mostly frustrated by “wasted opportunities” or a lack of unity to act on the things that your generation knew about.
Now, in many ways, it’s too late — we missed the opportunity to make any transition that is a gentle decision rather than an abrupt infliction.
It’s a rant, so take it for what it is. Mostly just blowing off non constructive steam. Thanks again for stopping through…
Tommy
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