This just goes to show that you never, ever know, just what’s going to happen next. Life always surprises, unless you happen to live only inside your tiny little head and your conceptual helmet is clamped on, tight. In which case, you probably wouldn’t even see this headline where it appears that “good” might come out of “bad.”
Thai Coup Ushers in Organic Farming Initiative
Speaking of which, did you see this one?
Chinese Army Bans All GMO Grains and Oils
Or this one?
Geopolitics of Global Food: Russia, China and France Ban GMOs
Lookin’ good, eh?
Wow, maybe we can reverse the awfulness after all.
Geez, look at this!
This Floating Grass Billboard Can Suck Pollution out of Filthy Rivers
Great photo, eh? Really lifts the heart.
Oops! Ouch! Check out this one, by “doomer” Guy McPherson, who is generally right about so much, and yet, and yet. Even he can’t predict the future, though he thinks he can. There is always so much more to what’s real than we can imagine. Not mention so many “variables” outside the “box” of any “controlled experiment.” I.e., science itself (the “facts” on which McPherson bases his conclusions) is, as an endeavor, no matter how much it tries to include in making its predictions, just another, albeit larger, left-brain conceptual helmet.
Shadows and Lies
When you’re stupid, you don’t know you’re stupid
June 7, 2014
When you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead. People around you feel it, though. It’s the same when you’re stupid.
My promotion of a gift economy seems stupid because it doesn’t involve the pursuit of money. As a result, I receive gifts, especially when I travel. Books and shirts are among the most popular items I receive, and the latter often contain witty historical expressions. Among my tee shirts is one with a phrase from Benjamin Franklin: “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”
Most people I encounter clearly do not agree, at least in practice. In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is. Still, I’m astonished at the prevailing mentality among the American citizenry I encounter.
Apparently we are so afraid to question authority, so willing to believe blatant lies, that we willingly capitulate to liars and thieves dressed as CEOs and politicians.
I provide few links in this essay. Evidence for each of the following claims is abundant and easily obtained. If you’ve not grasped these tidbits by now, additional evidence will remain unconvincing. I suspect your ignorance is willful, your inability to see a direct result of eyes sealed tightly shut.
Most notable is the inability of nearly everybody I know to pursue radicalism. For starters, most people I’ve met cannot distinguish between a radical and an extremist, despite the clear difference.
If it’s unclear I’m writing about you, ask yourself this question: “What have I done recently that runs counter to the status quo?” If you don’t have a significant response, you’re likely to squirm while reading this essay.
Plunging down a rabbit hole — any rabbit hole — apparently makes one likely to pursue radicalism on additional topics. Fortunately for governments, few citizens are willing to look deeply into any topic, no matter how important. The shadows in the cave are far too comfortable to risk facing reality head-on.
And then there are the Strong Suggestions of Thermodynamics Laws of Thermodynamics. The official story of 9/11 violates the Laws of Thermodynamics, yet few people I know are willing to question the official narrative. After all, doing so would adhere to Franklin’s maxim, a notion foreign to the typical modern ‘murican. The Orwellian absurdity continues with the disparaging term applied to those who question the impossible official narrative: “truther.”
A few additional examples are presented below. They provide an opportunity for me to launch a too-infrequent rant into the void. Ergo, my latest attempt to combine reality with its common partner, absurdity.
Civilization is not the only way to live. Indeed, humans lived without civilization for more than two million years. We’ve lived within the shackles of civilization for a few thousand years. Civilization clearly is omnicidal. Few notice. Even fewer care.
Civilization is an expression of patriarchy. The current version of industrial civilization benefits a few Caucasian men at the expense of every other living being. Most civilized people believe this set of living arrangements is wonderful.
If you are reading these words, you benefit from imperialism. American Empire is real, and it covers the globe. There is no escape.
The two dominant political parties in the United States represent twin cheeks on the same ass. If you believe the next person to occupy the Oval Office will improve the situation for the masses, then you do not understand the issue.
Elizabeth Warren, or any other “progressive” candidate (i.e., contemporary neo-conservative) — the next great hope of many forgetful Democrats — will prove as disappointing as the current president to these deluded, die-hard dims Dems.
Warren, by the way, is worth about $14.5 million, owns a $5 million mansion in Cambridge, was paid $350,000 to teach just one class at Harvard, and has the audacity to say that “the system is rigged to benefit the rich.”
The United States is dominated by a corporate government and corporate media. When greed is your only god, sociopaths assume control. We’re there, fully embedded within patriarchal fascism. The standard response of my fellow citizens: “I want more. I deserve more.” Apparently I occupy the land of the me and home of the crave.
The big banks have run this country for a very long time. They orchestrate everything from laundering drug money to cracking down on any form of resistance. They’ve been in charge for a very long time. Few notice, and even fewer care.
The American system of public education is designed to “dumb down” the populace. Critical thinking belongs to a bygone era. Nearly every one of the so-called, self-proclaimed teachers I know refuses to acknowledge reality on this issue. And most other matters, for that matter. These teachers are paid to think, and also to teach others how to think. They have overwhelmingly failed, and they continue to fail.
The prison-industrial complex, like almost every other aspect of American culture, is designed to enrich the wealthy and enslave the poor. Some people claim the system isn’t working. Au contraire: It’s working as planned, as indicated by the beneficiaries of American Empire.
Monogamy and the marriage-industrial complex are part and parcel of patriarchy. The dominant paradigm is not superior to other ways of living. Deep down inside, you surely understand.
We cannot sustain the unsustainable, including civilization. Nor should we attempt to do so. Civilization requires tremendous violence. Industrial civilization is the most violent version yet.
American exceptionalism is a myth. American military power, largely supported by willfully ignorant taxpayers, is necessary to maintain American lifestyles, including grid-tied electricity, the modern banking system, and all that follows.
Abrupt climate change is under way. Global climate change causes suffering and death of humans and other organisms. There is no escape.
Net energy decline is under way and soon will contribute to the early death of most humans on Earth. Fossil fuels have peaked and the Age of Expansion has been replaced with the Age of Contraction. The Age of Conquest has nearly reached its overdue end.
Collapse of industrial civilization is under way and will be complete soon. When collapse is complete, the world’s remaining nuclear power plants will melt down catastrophically, thus shortening the lives of many humans and other organisms. There is no escape.
The interaction between anthropogenic climate change and collapse of industrial civilization affects every aspect of human life in the industrialized world. There is no politically viable approach to addressing either issue, much less the interaction between them.
Many centuries ago, Plato presciently wrote a line that resonates strongly with me: “Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed by the masses.” Indeed, we’ll disparage them by, paradoxically, referring to them as “truthers.” We will therefore remain in the shadows of our cave of blissful ignorance.
____
A.K. again: So, to me, the point is, no matter how drastic things may or may not be, to direct my life as if “all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” — Julian of Norwich.
And that, for me, means, incubating and demonstrating, within my own inner state, and in my own person, including my lifestyle, values, attitudes and relationships with humans, and other earthlings, a profound gratitude
for the astonishing miraculous Presence
that shines through all of Life
on our dear Mother Earth.
1 thought on “So what’s real? And CAN we predict the future? And does it matter?”
I completely resonated with this article. As a mature woman with grown up family my efforts to speak about the truth of what is happening on our planet have been met with opposition and blantant indifference. I thought my children were critical thinking adults who would at the very least listen to what their mother was trying to share with them. Not so. I have finally given up on bringing them into the loop. It causes too much friction and I’m fast being distanced from my grown up kids for trying to bring this information to light. I know what Iknow. Not thorugh someone telling me and simpky believing it. It’s been four years on indepth study and getting to know what media to trust and who to pass by.
Thankfully there are thousands of us “out here” that DO know the truth. The flouride is workig. The TeLIEvison PROGRAMMING is working. The WiFi, cell towers are all doing their job. Can I really judge them when all of this and more is being thrust upon them and manipulating their thinking? No I can’t. But nevertheless it is a painful experience to see ones own children being led down the abyss and there is nothing I can do to help them see a way out.
Yes.. we are TRUTHERS. The irony is not many people want to know the truth, preferring to stay in their bubble of ignorance and sip their lattes. I’m one of the lucky (?) ones who live completely off grid, grow organic veg and fruit, drink rain water (which believe me is much better than tap water), no fluroide for the past 10 years, and are conscious of being conscious. We are the few and “they” be many. Frequently wonder how we can unite community when they don’t know they are batting for the other team.