Doomer documentary gets rave reviews at Toronto film fest

[mos6507]

I got this one from Sharon Astyk's facebook feed.

The guy from the Post who talks about "Obama Socialist" and points to a bike rider as an environmentalist (environmentalist as an epithet) is even more of a caricature than the CG stiffs in my show. I'm telling you. Truth is stranger than fiction.

[KevO]

Do some people think voyeurism of the mentally ill is a form of entertainment? Mental illness is no joke. It is not something decent people find amusing. We are all susceptible, as are our friends and family. The degree of suffering it can bring is real and profound. Much of it is not very treatable.

On the other hand, accusing those with uncommon points of view with being "crazy" just to discredit them, that is pretty low and desperate-IMHO. If you have rational, fact based rebuttals, make them. Smear tactics should be beneath all of us.

So you get Big Brother on your televisions too?

[lexicon]

When Technology Fails, Don't Panic

A Movie Review of Collapse

It was Friday the 13th, but I felt luck would be on my side. Everything was perfectly prepared for my viewing of Collapse at the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood at 7:30pm and the Q&A with Mike Ruppert after the show. Full tank of gas, list of questions written (just in case one or more were answered prior to my asking), microcassette recorder with a fresh battery to record the Q&A session and my copy of Ruppert's latest book, A Presidential Energy Policy, keeping my fingers crossed that I might get an autograph.

Yes, I knew what to expect as far as the content of the movie was concerned. Being a resident of L.A., common sense should have told me that my hopes to leave downtown at 5:45pm and reach West Hollywood so that I had enough time to eat dinner without wolfing it down would be dashed to hell. As I hit the onramp for the 101 North, the veritable tidal wave of red brake lights prompted an inner voice in my head to say, "This is Friday Night Gridlock. Be happy if you catch the opening credits". The irony was not lost on me that rush hour might prevent me from seeing a movie about how our overconsumption of finite resources through an economic infrastructure predicated on infinite growth would lead to a collapse of this paradigm. Reaching the Sunset 5 at 6:40pm, I had to wonder if Americans would one day be nostalgic for the days when it took 55 minutes to travel 8.38 miles.

Needless to say, I caught the opening credits and everything else. My high hopes were not disappointed: on an artistic level this is the best documentary on Peak Oil I've seen yet. Stylistically, what director Chris Smith has done is given this film, and by extension its subject matter, the sense of immediacy that it deserves. Title cards announcing what subject area would be focused on were in stark black and white. The score is one of the most evocative I've heard in any movie this year; mysterious and dark, moody and foreboding. What really sets this film apart from the rest is its editing. The first sustained cut to a completely black screen is jarring. My reactions jumped from, "Is this intentional-Did the projector malfunction-Did the electricity go out-Are we witnessing Collapse for real?" Experiencing this along with scenes where we see the cinematographer slate in front of the camera all help give this film the sense of "This is happening NOW. Pay attention! Collapse could occur at any moment".

As an adaptation of the book A Presidential Energy Policy, Smith does a marvelous job of keeping the nearly 90 minute interview focused within that framework. We get the explanation of Peak Oil (oil production follows a bell curve, peak is the halfway point where decline becomes permanent), geopolitical factors (Saudi offshore drilling, NEPDG), petroleum over-dependence (food production, pharmaceuticals), worthless alternatives (ethanol, clean coal), and worthwhile alternatives (localization). What keeps it from being an academic exercise is the personality of Michael Ruppert. In spite of the grim subject matter, there is an irrepressible spirit illuminating the map of this terrain. He can be very funny (the pregnant pause before the punchline that, "ethanol is......a joke" is almost professional comic timing), very passionate (the defense of his life's work being too important to "walk away" in spite of the adversity ranging from death threats to office sabotage is especially moving) and very straightforward (those who panic during the collapse, i.e. run to the hills, will probably be the first to perish).

Above all, he has a gift for taking complex subjects like economics and geopolitics and breaking them down into simple but vivid explanations that anyone can grasp. By the time he's done detailing the basics of fiat currency, fractional reserve banking and compound interest, you know in the moment before he says it that this system equates to a large scale pyramid scheme. But there is a clear emotional component that comes with this comprehension: anger. Probably the loudest positive reaction from the audience came when after detailing what the National Energy Policy Development Group headed by Dick Cheney in 2001 prior to September 11 went through to keep their records secret, including an ex parte duck-hunting trip with non-recused Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Ruppert hypothesizes exactly what an enraged American public would do to Cheney and company if the truth behind those records came out. Let's just say there was a 'throaty' approval from the viewing public at my screening.

My only quibble with the film is that I wish Smith had used more clips from Ruppert's lectures in 2005 to illustrate his veracity. There are clips shown from Denial Stops Here that highlight his economic predictions in a general manner. But there were far more specific predictions, such as the fall of General Motors, as well as how the economic collapse would be tied into oil prices peaking. As Ruppert put it in one lecture in my former hometown of Ashland, Oregon at the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library, "I have seen a completely new term creep into the lexicon around Peak Oil and it just came out of the blue: it's called Demand Destruction. How do you destroy demand for oil? (listens to audience response) No. You collapse the economy. People who are out of work, unemployed and starving don't drive cars, they don't take vacations, they don't borrow money, they don't buy second cars, they don't fly on airplanes! Demand Destruction." Perhaps better selection of lecture clips might have helped avoid some confusion over whether Ruppert answered Smith's question, "What about human ingenuity?" Some critics felt he didn't answer that question. I felt the response was quite clear ("No amount of technology, no amount of human ingenuity can overturn the laws of physics and the laws of the universe."), but it's possible my understanding is enhanced within the context of Ruppert positing a so-called best-case techno-scenario to illustrate how human ingenuity cannot overcome how vast our over-reliance on fossil fuels for the variety of needs industrial society requires for growth: "So let's assume tomorrow that we had a whole new source of energy: cold fusion. Which would solve all the world's prob- well, it wouldn't solve the fertilizer problem, it wouldn't solve the pesticide problem, or the plastic problem..."

Bottom line: our infinite growth paradigm is not sustainable within our finite sphere. This is one of the book's most salient points and it is to Smith's credit that he allows Ruppert to drive that point home vividly in the movie. It is a scary point because of its revolutionary nature, but by the end of the film we understand that the end of the paradigm is not a death sentence for humanity. It is an opportunity for humanity to reevaluate what is truly important, what we value most deeply. The revolution we face is a revolution of thought, where we face a transformation that will affect every aspect of our lives. To drive that point home, Ruppert mentions that every major religion will have to address this and evolve if they are going to remain relevant to humanity. Which part of humanity survives the paradigm shift is dependent on how receptive we are to this civilization-altering switch. Ruppert analogizes this on a societal level to the sinking of the Titanic: there are those frozen with fear, those proactive enough to get lifeboats ready and those so deep in denial they go back to the bar for a drink. But Ruppert also analogizes this on a personal level with the story of the 100th Monkey: an island of monkeys were provided by scientists with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. One monkey discovers washing the potato removes the sandy taste. One by one, from friends to family, the washing is taught until by the time the 100th monkey learns, the washing behavior instantly spreads to all monkeys everywhere. By the end of the movie, whether you agree him or not, I don't see how you can't admire Ruppert for his tenacity, emotional openness and concern for humanity in his quest for his own 100th monkey.

The lights came up at the end of the credits. Nobody moved. Moments later, Michael Ruppert came down the aisle and stood in front of a microphone, greeted by rousing applause. During his 30 minute Q&A session, he was engaging, funny, receptive toward all questions positive and negative, and at the end I must commend him for doing a wonderful job of crowd control so that the next group could see their screening. He also had two pieces positive news: 1. His rent was paid through December, (the movie mentioned he was having trouble paying his rent) 2. The book would be re-released as Confronting Collapse and would be published by Chelsea Green Publishing hopefully in December. I was one of the first people to ask a question. Since one of the questions I wanted to ask had already been answered by him within the film, (Q: What should be done about the Federal Reserve? A: The Fed will go bankrupt.) I had this question prepared that I asked:

My question concerns two recent events: your economic warning last month of a run on the dollar and the senior IEA whistleblowers who told The Guardian the IEA has been fudging their numbers under US influence; that Peak is NOW not in the future. I'm wondering if you think there will be mainstream media confirmation of Peak Oil orchestrated to coincide with the dollar run to give the Financial Elite a pretext for profiting off our Great Depression again, or will Official Denial continue past the peak when the lights are going out as long as there is a publicly acceptable boogeyman or scapegoat?

This is where technology failed me. I had my microcassette recorder on record with a new battery, but perhaps since this piece of equipment is a relic from the Clinton administration, Ruppert's response sounds like it is recorded underwater. From memory, he didn't answer directly but addressed the question from the perspective of how the mainstream media has shifted their focus on the film from the message to the man. The mainstream media is trying to make it look like he is the only one out there spreading the message of Peak Oil when that just isn't the case. He mentioned those who supported him, Jenna Orkin and Stan Goff. He mentioned his correct prediction record as being at an .800 average. The point, I believe, is that Official Denial will continue even if the truth is spelled out in bold caps. So ignore the drinkers at the bar and find a lifeboat!

My overwhelming impression of the crowd that night was an atmosphere of positive connection. It was wonderful to reach out and share with complete strangers after the show. One of the more interesting crowd reactions was when in response to a question, Ruppert mentioned two politicians he considers his friends, Ron Paul and Cynthia McKinney. It seemed like half the crowd cheered when he said Ron Paul and the other half cheered when he said Cynthia McKinney, yet the good vibes made the crowd seem united in Green-Libertarian (Ruppertarian?) solidarity. When the Q&A session was over, I was fortunate enough to shake Mike Ruppert's hand and he was gracious enough to autograph my copy of A Presidential Energy Policy, now a "collector's item". I couldn't leave the theater completely, viewers were gathered outside sharing their thoughts and feelings. One of the viewers I met was someone who posts on Mike Ruppert's blog http://mikeruppert.blogspot.com/ as Oregon Survivor who traveled from Oregon to see this screening. It was invigorating sharing our thoughts, opinions and experiences. He and his wife are good people and I wish them both the best.

But as soon as I got to the parking garage, technology failed me again. Apparently I stayed parked beyond my validated time and owed $4.50. No biggie as far as L.A. rates go. The problem is that there was no security guard at the gate and the machine couldn't read my credit card. It took another 10 minutes to find a gate with a security guard who would accept cash. I turned out of the parking lot onto another sea of red brake lights on Sunset Boulevard. Checking my rearview mirror, I was startled to find my vision completely blocked by my unlocked trunk. The inner voice in my head, with reassuring familiarity, said, "Don't panic". I pulled out into the flat center median, stopped, put the emergency lights on, got out, shut the trunk and as I got back in the car, noticed my seat belt was wrapped around a lever near my feet that opens the trunk. Unwrapping the seat belt, I rolled my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

http://americanjudas.blogspot.com/2009/ ... panic.html

[shortonsense]

When Technology Fails, Don't Panic

A Movie Review of Collapse

Excellent story!!

Now I have to go see it for myself, Mike's idea's presented as "documentary" certainly means the only way to know for certain is to pony up the dough and check for myself. Wish I could see one where he hangs around to answer questions.

[bratticus]

CHRIS SMITH, COLLAPSE

... To me, the film was about who he is and how he ended up here and the effect that this process has had on his life. I personally wasn’t interested in making a movie about energy or sustainability or food or overpopulation or economics.

... I find Michael to be an incredibly entertaining person. His philosophy, the way he looks at the world, is more unique than anyone I’ve ever met. That was what we wanted to focus on, on him. We wanted to make a character study as opposed to an issue driven movie.

[shortonsense]

CHRIS SMITH, COLLAPSE

... To me, the film was about who he is and how he ended up here and the effect that this process has had on his life. I personally wasn’t interested in making a movie about energy or sustainability or food or overpopulation or economics.

... I find Michael to be an incredibly entertaining person. His philosophy, the way he looks at the world, is more unique than anyone I’ve ever met. That was what we wanted to focus on, on him. We wanted to make a character study as opposed to an issue driven movie.

So Chris just made the movie because Mike qualifies as an interesting nut? Well.....better him saying it then us I suppose....and I have to agree, nuts are fun to watch sometimes.

[mos6507]

I think it does raise the issue of what the purpose of people's lives should be.

The road of a red piller is a lonely road, and I think a lot of people would rather go the road of Cypher in The Matrix. To be aware of doom, but to just grab as much pleasure for yourself on the downslope and write off everything else. So we're kind of shocked and amused that anybody would basically sabotage their lives by going the other way.

[shortonsense]

I think it does raise the issue of what the purpose of people's lives should be.

Purpose is important, tis' true.

The road of a red piller is a lonely road, and I think a lot of people would rather go the road of Cypher in The Matrix. To be aware of doom, but to just grab as much pleasure for yourself on the downslope and write off everything else. So we're kind of shocked and amused that anybody would basically sabotage their lives by going the other way.

Is "sabotage" what its called? I always figured, make a bad decision, notice the bad consequence, learn from the experience.

Apparently this concept is more difficult for some than others.

[mos6507]

Is "sabotage" what its called? I always figured, make a bad decision, notice the bad consequence, learn from the experience.

Certainly some of Ruppert's mistakes are not related to his doomerism, and for those he only has himself to blame. I am speaking more generally about what it is to be a doomer and to dare to express doomer ideas outside of echo chambers like this, or to actually walk the walk, and head out to fulltime doomsteading, causing all your family and friends to question your sanity.

I certainly don't think being an out-of-the-closet doomer is a "bad decision" in the sense that people should ultimately express who it is they are, regardless of how other people feel about it. Repression for the sake of conformity isn't good for the soul, even though the best fruits of BAU are reserved for those who play the game.

Of course, Ruppert talks doom but---he lives in southern california, the very place I got the hell out of because it's ground zero for TSHTF.

[shortonsense]

Is "sabotage" what its called? I always figured, make a bad decision, notice the bad consequence, learn from the experience.

Certainly some of Ruppert's mistakes are not related to his doomerism, and for those he only has himself to blame. I am speaking more generally about what it is to be a doomer and to dare to express doomer ideas outside of echo chambers like this, or to actually walk the walk, and head out to fulltime doomsteading, causing all your family and friends to question your sanity.

Yeah, but Mike isn't doing any of that. He moved to Oregon claiming that LA wouldn't survive peak oil, peak oil happened in 2005, and after some uncertainty as to where he would live out his days ( to put it mildly ) he moved back to LA. Is that because he was full of crap when he left, or is assumptions for what post peak would look like have been so disproven by reality that his assumptins on that front are now crap to, and he knows it now? So its "run home to momma" time? Thats not walking any walk, thats selling snake oil. And the movie is just another sales stunt to pay next months rent, something he has been having trouble with as of late. None of this requires him to actually BELIEVE what he's selling, he just needs to SELL. Ain't no commissions otherwise.

Of course, Ruppert talks doom but---he lives in southern california, the very place I got the hell out of because it's ground zero for TSHTF.

He knows it too, its why he left for Oregon. And the US. But without the courage of one's convictions, look what happens? Right back where he started. Except now he's a singer. I suppose next it will be acting, and in the meantime he'll wait tables and continue to bum rent money off fans.

[mos6507]

He knows it too, its why he left for Oregon. And the US. But without the courage of one's convictions, look what happens? Right back where he started. Except now he's a singer. I suppose next it will be acting, and in the meantime he'll wait tables and continue to bum rent money off fans.

So you think he's just jumping on the doomer bandwagon as a cash cow? It's easy to think that way, but it doesn't seem to be paying his bills that well. I guess he's just a really bad businessman.

Also bear in mind that the guy is not a young man anymore. If doom isn't literally around the corner, does he really need to prep that much? And when you get old enough, it's easy to kind of pull a Fats Domino and just sit around while the storm passes by.

[Ludi]

So Chris just made the movie because Mike qualifies as an interesting nut? Well.....better him saying it then us I suppose....and I have to agree, nuts are fun to watch sometimes.

I've said for a long time Ruppert is a loon, but that doesn't disqualify everything he says.


<<< also a loon

[bratticus]

CHRIS SMITH, COLLAPSE

... To me, the film was about who he is and how he ended up here and the effect that this process has had on his life. I personally wasn’t interested in making a movie about energy or sustainability or food or overpopulation or economics.

... I find Michael to be an incredibly entertaining person. His philosophy, the way he looks at the world, is more unique than anyone I’ve ever met. That was what we wanted to focus on, on him. We wanted to make a character study as opposed to an issue driven movie.

So Chris just made the movie because Mike qualifies as an interesting nut? ....

'Fraid so.

I wanted to know who would make such a movie and why so I did what nobody else on this forum did: the research into the producer.

Did you read the entire interview?

[shortonsense]

He knows it too, its why he left for Oregon. And the US. But without the courage of one's convictions, look what happens? Right back where he started. Except now he's a singer. I suppose next it will be acting, and in the meantime he'll wait tables and continue to bum rent money off fans.

So you think he's just jumping on the doomer bandwagon as a cash cow?

For all of my looking, I have not yet been able to find the "critical moment" where Mike started using peak oil as the trigger for his Doom fantasies.By the time Pfeiffer was writing about it at FTW, I think it was already an operative trigger in Mike's mind.

But no, Mike started out as a conspiracy crank, it just turns out that those types and peak oil types tend to intersect heavily, like in a Venn diagram. His cash cow was when he went into business as a pamphleteer.

It's easy to think that way, but it doesn't seem to be paying his bills that well. I guess he's just a really bad businessman.

That appears to be a strong possibility. But tell me, if the owner of the company shows up at your office door wearing nothing but underwear and a smile, is that a primary characteristic of a bad businessman, or something else?

As far as paying his bills, well, his life has been an interesting, and certainly character building, story ever since he resigned from being a beat cop in LA. He paid his bills then, and now with the ability to just use the internet to beg, I doubt he's afraid of starving.

Also bear in mind that the guy is not a young man anymore. If doom isn't literally around the corner, does he really need to prep that much? And when you get old enough, it's easy to kind of pull a Fats Domino and just sit around while the storm passes by.

It was only 3 years ago that he fled LA because of its disadvantages, you really think in a 50-ish guy that makes enough difference to now decide its a great place to ride out the collapse?

[shortonsense]

So Chris just made the movie because Mike qualifies as an interesting nut? Well.....better him saying it then us I suppose....and I have to agree, nuts are fun to watch sometimes.

I've said for a long time Ruppert is a loon, but that doesn't disqualify everything he says.

True. It does however mean that everything he says is suspect.

[shortonsense]

Did you read the entire interview?

I actually read another one, and am surprised that there are multiples available for a movie which has gone straight to video/ondemand.

Then, as I was examining where to go to see this movie, I discovered what I would call "alternate" theaters which appear to show quite a few Indy films. Its been a long time since college, just seeing the titles and languages brought back the flavor of watching some German language films in college, at some small and tidy theater versus the chain stuff.

Its been a long time for me, I just wish I didn't have to drive so far to see it.

[HeckuvaJob]

First, the good news, SoS

Philosophers through the ages have pondered the nature of schadenfreude. Schopenhauer wrote that its presence in a person's heart was a clear sign of evil. R. C. Trench, a 19th-century British archbishop, wrote that even having a word for such a damnable emotion was evidence of a culture's corruption. But scientists who study schadenfreude take a more charitable view. However contemptible schadenfreude may seem, they say, we are programmed to feel it. As Professor Smith said, ''It's human nature.''

-and now the bad

Of course, not everyone feels schadenfreude at the same events or to the same degree. Research has shown that people with low self-esteem are more susceptible to schadenfreude than those whose self-regard is high. And while some may bask in this glee unapologetically, others might quickly feel ashamed of it, and successfully shut off their schadenfreude valves.

By the way, what's the word on December's rent? Did I miss your last update?

[shortonsense]

By the way, what's the word on December's rent? Did I miss your last update?

If you read the review of the complete movie experience about a page back, the author mentioned that this question came up for Mike at the end of the movie, post-indoctrination as it were. He said that he was good for rent money.

So I'm guessing once the newness of Collapse wears off, or the college kids are busy back to paying tuition rather than the entrance fee for some smalltime movie, he'll be back to begging again. Its like a mouse on crack, once they realize all they have to do is put up a pretend plea on the internet, and people paypal them cash, they just can't stop. Why work for a living?