Time to Take the Gloves off with Obama

Last week Peacenik was wondering if the staus quo could ever be re-established in Iran. Peacenik didn't think so.

This article in Culture Change raised the flip side of that question in the U.S. Can the status quo ever be overturned in the U.S? Yes the president who ran on change turns out to be a talented defender of the status quo. But Peacenik would argue that just like the status quo in Iran no longer exists, the same is true of the U.S. It is just taking a while for the reality of the new normal in the U.S. to take hold. And what is the new normal? Chaos and Collapse. All the politicking in the world won't change that.

by Jan Lundberg and Jeff Gerritsen
18 June 2009

ImageThe clock is ticking, and we are not building life boats. As the population's options close and a harder ecological and socioeconomic fall is assured more each day, Barack Obama is leading the thumb twiddlers, albeit with eloquence and charm. What passes for policy debate today seldom reckons with the life and death issues of climate extinction, petrocollapse, and the social chaos ahead.

Obama is dealing with a heck of a lot, granted. This alone is supposed to quiet the people quite a bit, and despite the Depression, ecocide and unending war, it has worked rather well. With his likability and intelligence – after the "Führer Bushler" -- Obama is thus the perfect man for our times if you're basically clinging to the status quo.

Read on...

Society's downward spiral must play out first

Written by Jan Lundberg
Culture Change Letter #206, Oct. 18, 2008

Society's sad and terminal state is not an abstraction of issues or dollars. It is the wasted human potential of the intelligent, charitable individual who is stifled and hemmed in. Yet, our many wonderful members of society are creatures of artificial "comfort." Convenience comes at costs such as cancer and heart disease that were rare diseases until the last hundred years. Forced by the present economy to be self-centered, we also suppress our creativity and innate potential for triumphing over a clear threat.

For the most part the modern human being labors in exchange for essentials handed over at whatever the market will bear. Food, shelter and clothing are not won or collected from nature, or in cooperation with helpful tribe members, but rather obtained in exchange for becoming a kind of slave. Neuroses from overcrowding are apparent, but none dare call it overpopulation.

Read on...

Peacenik can't remember the hippies call to action or non-action. This essay has echoes of it though, and though it is generally downbeat it has a glimmer of hope. Times are changing and maybe society's reaction won't be all bad. Turn on, tune in, drop out. That's it. As a matter of fact Peacenik is going off-grid for the weekend. Have a good weekend.