Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:40 am Post subject: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
A film about converging catastrophes, human carrying capacity and the fate of industrial societies;
Quote:
A middle class white guy comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Population Overshoot and the demise of the American Lifestyle.
What is it doing to us as thoughtful human beings as we face the overwhelming challenges of:
• Dwindling fossil fuel reserves?
• Critically degraded ecosystems?
• A changing climate?
• An exploding global population?
• Teetering global economies?
• An unstable political climate?
• And what is it doing to the rest of the life on this planet?
Featuring interviews with Daniel Quinn, Derrick Jensen, Jerry Mander, Chellis Glendinning, Richard Heinberg, Thomas Berry, William Catton, Ran Prieur and Richard Manning, What a Way to Go will look at the current global situation and ask the most important questions of all:
• How did we get here?
• Why do we keep destroying the planet? and
• What do we truly want?
• Can we find a vision that will empower us to do what is necessary to survive, and even thrive, in the coming decades?
Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 1943 Location: kiwibush
Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:51 am Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
Middle class white guy...you mean the same scum bag whose ruined my planet...like I care about his angst...... _________________ Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!
Joined: May 15, 2005 Posts: 4142 Location: THE MATRIX
Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:06 am Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
You feel nothing for the misled oil addicts? _________________ It is easier to enslave a people that wish to remain free then it is to free a people who wish to remain enslaved.
Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:26 am Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
There may be some hope in the form of the youth of this generation. Although music videos and movies portray our young adults as brainless, oversexed sheeple willing to lead a life of servitude (college loans, high-paying job, mortgaged and maxed out on credit for life), I'm aware of some who don't want to buy into it.
Comments I have recently heard from some of these enlightened individuals:
"Why should I get a college education and then have to pay back $20,000 in student loans, and not be able to afford a place to live?"
"I'm not going to buy a car - gas is too expensive and I can't afford the insurance."
"It's stupid to have a huge mortgage on a house and pay for it for the rest of my life, and not have any money for anything else."
"We're wrecking the environment - we need to change the way we live."
They have seen Al Gore's movie, watched programs about the erosion of the middle class, and they know college graduates who are struggling with student loans. They just don't have any faith in the American Dream. Perhaps some of these youth will lead us through a period of change.
Joined: Oct 23, 2005 Posts: 1800 Location: East of Eden
Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:21 pm Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
WildRose wrote:
Perhaps some of these youth will lead us through a period of change.
But they're not doing anything. They care in the same way one cares for a dying hero in a movie: hypothetically, and from a distance. They didn't bother to vote this year, even though most of them said they would. They can't be bothered, and they expect someone or something else to come fix the problem for them.
John Mayer wrote:
now we see everything that's going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
we just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it
...It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change.
Great song, and I understand what he's saying... they feel disenfranchised and shut out of the process. I'm sure the smarter among them are aware there's something seriously wrong in the works. But they seem to just throw up their hands and say 'Oh well, nothing we can do then. Fark it. Pass the pipe.' They've lost their spirit.
A week after this last election I informed one of my classes that California voters had just approved 42 billion dollars of new debt for the state (not counting interest... if you include that, we're talking about nearly 84 billion!). These students will have to pay that back, because California voters don't have the balls to be responsible and just raise taxes to pay for what they want done... they vote to issue bonds instead, effectively doubling the cost of everything and pushing the payment into the future. ("This bill will not raise taxes!" ...idiots.) Every single student in the class was struck dumb with shock. They had no freaking clue what had just been done to their futures, and is done regularly... because they hadn't taken part in the process. Or even read a newspaper.
I don't mean to be harsh to that generation. It's just a little disappointing, that's all. I'm currently teaching these 'Gen Y'ers in college, and with some brilliant exceptions they are seriously one handholding nosewiping needing bunch of kids. You should see their honest bewilderment when they get a poor grade... for not doing anything. (And that, of course, is when the parents come marching in to the office to demand a grade change...)
It's not like I was all that much different. But at least we voted. And argued. And protested. These kids don't know how to make any noise. _________________ "If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." — Thomas Hardy
Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 4:20 pm Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
coyote wrote:
[I don't mean to be harsh to that generation. It's just a little disappointing, that's all...It's not like I was all that much different. But at least we voted. And argued. And protested. These kids don't know how to make any noise.
Coyote, sorry to hear that the kids you've observed haven't been very active or vocal. The kids I've been talking to have done some protesting, have made posters and put them up all around the city and actually did vote in our most recent Canadian election. They seem to lean toward more radical change, though, and I don't know how to direct them as they don't have a lot of faith in the political process. I really don't even know how to advise them about education - it seems that career paths that were once important aren't anymore, that this generation will need training to help them deal with a whole different set of problems.
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:39 am Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
coyote wrote:
It's not like I was all that much different. But at least we voted. And argued. And protested. These kids don't know how to make any noise.
So ... you did vote, and you did argue, and you did protest. And some of the social actions of the 60s and 70s generations could be seen as radical or even somewhat subversive today.
And maybe the youth of today look at it all and wonder, what did it accomplish? What changed? What has improved? For all the revolutionary spirit of 30 years ago, the world's state of affairs has gotten worse.
Maybe some of these kids are thinking "making noise will have no effect, why bother". _________________ "We have seen the enemy, and he is us." -- Walt Kelly
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:56 am Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
I feel sorry for the young today because of the lack of hope many suffer from. This is genuine in many cases due to the amazing overburden of debt that everyone is facing because of real inflation and stagnant wages. Of course this will impact those just starting out way more than the elderly or middle aged who own assets and property. Of course all the other issues the planet is facing are equally dire which doesn't breed happy thoughts in the minds of many young people.
But the blame game tires me. Yes we have trashed the planet, yes we have squandered things, yes we have f!@#%%^ ed up. We have carried on blissfully unaware for the most part because people are mostly followers. We work for others, we vote for others, we listen to others.
I was once very radical in my politics and my beliefs and have slowly given up. I have been involved in union activism, and leftist thoughts and beliefs, even protesting once, and found that most people dont give a rat's ass about leftist beliefs or politics. They are also completely ignorant of the issues of the day, even ones of mainstream interest.
People grow old, start families, and are trapped for the most part by this. Everyone needs a home, everyone needs a job. Very few can afford a home without a mortgage. Very few can work on their own cars, so need to buy into that trap too. Once you are trapped by debt your options are quite limited. Try missing a few car or mortgage payments and see what happens.
This debt scares people into submitting, as does a lack of education. Most people are worried about keeping their jobs and paying the bills, not overthrowing the government. They don't even understand simple connections between money and influence. Those who are aware often vote for the party that will do the least harm, as opposed to one that is actually good.
The power structures that exist today are beyond most people's comprehension, and what are they to do about it anyways. Who has the time and influence to combat mass media or lobbyists? Who has the time and inclination to spread the news? Who really belives anyone is listening anyway?
Joined: Oct 23, 2005 Posts: 1800 Location: East of Eden
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:09 am Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
JustinFrankl wrote:
And maybe the youth of today look at it all and wonder, what did it accomplish?
Well... you've got a good point. But it still seems they'd get a little more... pissed off. _________________ "If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." — Thomas Hardy
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:11 pm Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
coyote wrote:
JustinFrankl wrote:
And maybe the youth of today look at it all and wonder, what did it accomplish?
Well... you've got a good point. But it still seems they'd get a little more... pissed off.
I was a student at a more, um, activist college a little while ago, and I'll tell you that IF a kid survives the brutality of public education, the gauntlet of social and cultural conditioning, then he might have an inclination to organized protest and political action.
In which case, he faces evolved paramilitary tactics in the street backed up by local, state, and federal government agencies.
The message "conform or else" has grown up since the 60s, gotten a shot of steroid, and is now armed with near-lethal weapons, with the full force of the cultural status quo behind them.
The sentiment expoused by David Bowie:
Quote:
And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds
are immune to your consultations, they're quite aware of what they're going through.
... is no longer true. Their power has shrunk, they no longer try to change the world, and they certainly do not believe it is "their" world. They do not have, as Bush would put it, an "ownership" mentality. They are leasing the world, and know the choice is rent or the street.
And I don't think they are aware at all what they're going through. They're in the dark, with paper bags over their heads and their hands tied behind their backs, being punched by unseen assailants. They don't know what to believe, or who to trust.
Modern life is like "American Idol": one winner, a million losers. Without a civic, cultural commons of goodwill, life is Darwinian. The young are enjoying themselves now because they know there is nothing to look forward to except cleaning up the Big Mess. Hedonism of a type expressed in WWII soldiers on leave the weekend right before they get in the boat and charge up the beach under hostile fire. They hear the whispers in the wind and sense the impotent paralysis of the adults. This awareness arises in the brief span of time after the emergence from the magical realism of public schooling and before the ritual enslavement as a component of capitalist enterprise.
The atmosphere of college also probably compares poorly to the atmosphere in the 60s. Gone are the revolutionaries and visionaries in leadership positions. Some speculate that colleges have simply become degree factories, the faculty a bunch of tenured salary-collectors who have no idealism.
Joined: May 15, 2005 Posts: 4142 Location: THE MATRIX
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:25 pm Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
This confirms my theory that you are a negative creep
I do not deny the existence of the "conform or else" mentality amungst TPTB but I do think you are way off on the youth of today and the fact that it seems a large portion of them are choosing "OR ELSE WHAT BITCH?!"
I can think of one very immediate and powerful example.
The youth who created Loose Change.
There!!!
I do not need to think of anymore examples because that one example is so powerful it needs no assistance in debunking your negatively charged apathetic conclusions about the youth of today.
Just because your own apathy oozes out all over the place like some kid with diarhea wearing a G-string who just crap himself is no mete or measure of the rest of us! _________________ It is easier to enslave a people that wish to remain free then it is to free a people who wish to remain enslaved.
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:52 pm Post subject: Re: WHAT A WAY TO GO: LIFE AT THE END OF EMPIRE
NEOPO wrote:
This confirms my theory that you are a negative creep
I do not deny the existence of the "conform or else" mentality amungst TPTB but I do think you are way off on the youth of today and the fact that it seems a large portion of them are choosing "OR ELSE WHAT BITCH?!"
I can think of one very immediate and powerful example.
The youth who created Loose Change.
There!!!
I do not need to think of anymore examples because that one example is so powerful it needs no assistance in debunking your negatively charged apathetic conclusions about the youth of today.
Just because your own apathy oozes out all over the place like some kid with diarhea wearing a G-string who just crap himself is no mete or measure of the rest of us!
When will the new boss stop being the same as the old boss?
Is this just on the heels of another revolution?
Tip your hat to the new constitution?
Smile and grin at the change all around.
Then get on our knees and pray.
That we don't get fooled again.
(paraphrased lyrics from The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again") _________________ "We have seen the enemy, and he is us." -- Walt Kelly
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