Tuesday, November 15, 2016

OPR's 3 of 3


OPR’S 3
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note: a minion lovingly gifted me the last Kunstler novel ( harrows of spring, I believe the title is ) and I was quite impressed with it-as far as his series goes I'd say it was the best one.  If not the best, at least as good as the first.  The middle books were not all that great, just adequate.
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It would be easy to simply say, hey, why even talk about surviving THROUGH a collapse.  Real life, day to day, from 1970 until now, life has been all about living through an economic collapse ( a very slow one-which doesn’t mean it will keep going slow.  All it takes is the threshold of too many people and not enough food to be reached and it all comes unraveled.  The difference this time, unlike all of recorded history since the Agricultural Revolution started, is that it isn’t local this time, but global.  Not to mention that little problem called thermonuclear weapons AND their offshoot power plants-and yes, we really are that much of morons.  Did you notice Japan stop using theirs even after Fukishima? ).  It isn’t like we don’t know how to do that.  But that would be falling into the trap of reverting to total pessimism ( this article being about moderating that, remember? ), assuming all is like it was, then, BOOM, sudden collapse and it is all about just surviving in your little corner.  The sad fact is that at one point we will see no jobs, no welfare, but still the nation state government trying to rule us ( even poorer in performance than today, giving zero protection but increased extortion ). 

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Here is the problem as I see it.  You can’t keep paying on your homestead.  Either you lose your job and can’t pay the mortgage, or at today’s insane property taxes without outside income you can’t pay those and the county repossesses.  So, even trying to just feed yourself is going to be an issue.  And the State will be in no mood to hear your problems.  It doesn’t want to give you welfare, nor does it wish you to grow your own food without paying a too high tax.  Think this is impossible?  Look at Venezuela right now.  The mess will get sorted out, but probably after you are a corpse.  And that secondary income you earn?  That self employment that got you through the initial phases?  You can be the world’s best Gizmo repairman.  If none of your customers have money, or surplus for barter ( that comes AFTER the die-off, not during.  You need security for trade, on any level ), you don’t have a viable business. 

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So, all those financial independence moves you engaged in?  Not much help after all.  It is like saving money.  Great in the initial phases, worthless after a certain point.  Stockpiling tangibles?  Not the worst move, but past food and ammo it is just lifestyle retention.  You can’t barter for your property tax.  Finances only work while the system is functioning and barter only after the system is done collapsing.  In between?  This is where you should start to get happy, although the phrase “be careful what you wish for” should be foremost in your mind so wipe that grin off your face.  The in between part is conflict.  Not trade and not finances.  After a certain point, to listen to the authorities will kill you ( before that point, NOT listening to the authorities will kill you ).  I’m certainly not advocating rebellion.  I’m saying that once the government puts you in the position that it won’t protect you and it is actively trying to kill you through its actions, well, what choice do you have?  The nation state has a specific contract with its inhabitants.  You protect me, I’ll pay taxes and follow the rules.  Once the state reneges on that agreement they are just another protection racket that only extorts and doesn’t protect. 

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Despite what the Libertarians tell you, mankind has NEVER lived in a state of anarchy ( and remember, this is an anarchist telling you this ).  There is always a leadership to follow.  Even when you are part of an egalitarian war tribe, you can’t merely do as you please but have certain responsibilities that override your individual desires.  Libertarians try to point out the state is illegitimate.  That it is a protection racket.  Well of course it is, and you can’t tell me you can live without it.  They try to “prove” an anarchist society can survive attacks by nation states because no one central body can surrender for each individual.  And?  When has that stopped nations from attacking, say, guerrillas or terrorists?  In short, you are stuck with some kind of government, always.  You can’t overthrow one and expect to be free, because another WILL take its place ( in the near future, this will be more decentralized.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t a government ).  The only time you want to rebel is when not doing so will get you killed.  Not because “you aren’t free enough”.  You haven’t been free to do much of anything long before you were born.  Stop trying to be macho.

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This took a bit of a detour from pessimism verses optimism, eh?  It almost sounds like yet another excuse for me to advocate even more paranoia.  Almost.  The pessimist part is, the die off isn’t as easy or simple as you desire.  The optimist part is that while the human species drastically shrinking is going to suck, you at least can have a say in how you manage the transition if you can defeat those trying to wipe you out so as to have less pressure on resources.  That is what things are going to boil down to.  Rwanda, globally.  Hiding and waiting out the process in preferable.  Realistically, you might have little choice but to engage in survival via combat.  The problem with most of our plans is that we think defensively.  I’ll survive by keeping a low profile and just defending myself as needed.  Right?  That might not be the smartest default setting.  As far as planning less pessimistically, it doesn’t take more gear.  Gear is, while necessary, also an encumbrance at a certain point. 

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Planning for the period during the REAL collapse ( living standards free falling is not a collapse but a precursor ) means you stop thinking like a consumer ( what worked in the present ).  Stop thinking of the past success of barter and pre-petroleum.  Focus on the devolution of the present prior to the arrival, once again, of the past. 

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9 comments:

  1. “I’ll survive by keeping a low profile and just defending myself as needed.  Right?”


    Perhaps James, but realistically, that's probably about the only hope that most of us here have at any shot of long term survival.

    And now I'm going to commit blasphemy. It's probably going to be the super survival guru and his minions, with their arsenal of semi-auto's that are going to be able to take a more proactive approach to such post collapse defense strategies. Not that you can't do the same with a bolt action, but you'd better be well versed in long range sniping techniques.

    Of course, the super survival guru's undoing will be PC. For the moment he's stormed by a band of minorities, he'll fail to pull the trigger, because well, that would be racist :D

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    1. I think the Survivalist Guru's undoing will be high tech/luxuries mistaken for necessities. In other words, they are soft. Inferior weapons against Marshmallow Battalions will be less of an issue with minimal attention to detail.

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    2. Warlord needs superior weapons, so superior to a 16 year olds 20/16 vision and carrot-fed NV that it seems like magic. $3K is only a week pay to the top 5% of earners, so why not have a Gen3NV with thermal high-rez for your loyal commanders? For regular people, having a 7x50mm pair of binoculars (with one eye good) is an affordable advantage over "savages". The warlord who thinks that having kitchen garbage disposal and unlimited hot & cold drinkable water in each house will have the support of all the ladies, but will be short of resources to defend/beat the neighboring marauders. Water is a necessity, but it can be made a convenient luxury if taken too far. Flush toilet! Hahahahhahahahaha! Why you waste water like that? Children in Elko are thirsty and dirty.

      pdxr13

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  2. I have been living every day for 30 years as an anarchist. I recognize no authority, no one gets to own my ass. I understand completely that there are thugs around everywhere and I have adjusted my life accordingly. Hiding out in plain sight. I own nothing worth while so I have nothing for them to steal, as far as they know. The next step in my hiding in plain sight effort is to kick this whole internet/email thing to the curb and that is going to happen pretty soon. Step by step I'm going back to the 18th century. The further I go into the future the more I am unadaptable to it, so I am going the other direction. If the US population was about 10% of what it is I would probably have a different attitude.

    The world began the day I was born, how could it be anything else?

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    1. I was pretty happy off grid with no internet. Living again on grid, it is just as addicting as I remember. I tried to get my kids to write me letters out there instead of calling so I would save money-they were NOT going for it. To them, cells are the addiction.

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    2. I pretty much feel the same way about the internet, and almost wish that I never discovered it at times, since it's simply another modern addiction that I could do without. But now that I have it, it would be really hard for me to give it up. It's simply too natural now to “google” something that I want an instant answer for, or click “buy it now”. Though lately, I've noticed that I find myself frequenting fewer and fewer sites, this being one of the few sites that I visit regularly, so there is hope. That aside though, I would be happy living a very back to basics lifestyle. If there was such a thing as a community similar to the Amish that you didn't have to be religious to join, I'd join it. I simply can't stand what the left has turned our government and pop culture into. Worst of all, I'll die single and alone by choice, because good luck finding a non-feminist woman anymore.

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    3. To be fair, the Right is just as guilty with business greed and infrastructure neglect, civil liberty infringements and etc. Our Republican governor is just as bad as Reid.

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    4. That's not quite what I meant James. It's not as simple as republican vs democrat anymore, so it generally matters not in the end. Though I admittedly would never support the side that brazenly runs on the platform of socialism, I'm hardly a republicrat either. In other words I get that your vote doesn't mean a thing.

      I'd be lying though if I said that I wasn't gloating like hell at the recent election results, and at seeing all of these leftist retards crying in the streets at their loss. Since one, it demoralized the hell out of these liberal idiots, and two, it put the final nail in the coffin of the career of that awful, shrieking, corrupt queen bitch of theirs. But ultimately, it's not going to make a bit of difference. The country's not going to magically transform back to some small government paradise, and I understand that all too well. It will be business as usual I'm sure.

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    5. The next two posts are political-essentially saying the same.

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