Pissed Off, Open Thread

An examination of my traffic on DOTE reveals that the number of visitors has fallen dramatically since December 21st when the holiday break began. Prior to the break, I had set all kinds of traffic records in the weeks leading up to holidays.

That is very disappointing to me, especially in so far as traffic on DOTE did not recover much last week after the holiday break. Here I am, a mere 9 days away from the 3rd anniversary of this website, and I feel like I've got to start from a base level I had 18 months ago in mid-2011.

I will not put up with that. Fuck that. I write to be read and understood. I am aware that my stuff requires effort to read and absorb. I understand that I am generally telling humans things they don't want to hear.

That said, I don't think it is not too much to ask that DOTE not be entirely crushed under the astonishing welter of callous self-serving bullshit—political bullshit, markets bullshit, optimistic economic bullshit, advertising bullshit, mainstream media bullshit, social media bullshit, doomer bullshit, tech gadget bullshit, celebrity bullshit—which passes for human discourse during the Empire's Decline and the Decline of the Natural World in the early 21st century. It is un-fucking-believable, just how limited these humans, especially the Americans, appear to be.

And yes, I am fully aware that I am writing this blog during the Great Deterioration, which does not help DOTE's "popularity" because people generally, especially Americans, are too fucking dumbed down to read something as sophisticated as this blog.

Am I pissed off? You bet I am.

Today's post is yesterday's post The LImits Of Free Will In Human Action. Read it, re-read it, tell others about it, spread the word. Let its meaning and many implications sink in. You might also read or re-read Friday's post Shark Finning — The Carnage Continues, which prompted yesterday's long overdue post.

You can discuss that post here. And here's a video from Steve Cutts to rub yesterday's message in.

 

Comments

[Aboc Zed]

Dave,

I think part of the cause behind falling reader numbers of DOTE may be accounted by the fact that surviving and continuing "comfortable life" requires investment of more and more time that would come at the expense of "non money making activities".

i can oly speak for myself but I do spend much less time reading blogs and searching for likeminded people on the Internet. That is because I had to look for a job last year and I am going to look for a job again now because my contract expires soon. And on top of that I have to work for another so called "designation" - I already have one from investment management world and now I am doing another one in accounting.

Needless to say all of that requires time.

And I have family to take care of and I have to excersize rtegularly otherwise my RA strikes often and puts everything on hold.

I manage to read DOTE because I like your style and the way you think but I consider it is luxury that can go away any time.

I think a lot of people that found DOTE are in similar circumstances and I would expect that for all sophisticated blogs (those that are not BS that you mentioned in the post) the readership will decline as continuing BAU requires more and more time from "economy slaves" who I consider all of us are.

[Brian]

I have often, only somewhat jokingly, said that humans are basically yeast, with money, guns and lawyers.

The idea there is that, fundamentally, we really don't behave much differently from yeast, bacteria, or any other life forms. We expand to consume all of the available energy in our environment. We take in the energy, give off waste, and survive only while there is still energy to be had and the environment is not too fouled for survival. This behavior is, I believe, probably inherent in all life forms.

What makes us different, to some degree, is that we are able to fool ourselves into thinking that this analogy does not apply to us. We talk ourselves into believing that we are superior because we have Free Will. But to what extent does that Free Will really affect the overall behavior. I would say, very little. It may allow us to choose various ways of getting to the same place, but appear destined to end up in the same situation as the yeast.

If the trip you take has different scenery, but you end up in the same place as all other travelers, are you really dealing with Free Will or Physics? I would say it is the latter. To the extent that we (mostly individually) can "choose" the "sights" we see along our path, I think that is pretty much the extent of any free will or choice. The overall course and the final destination are, I think, more determined by physics.

Free Will is a story humans tell ourselves to make us feel better. We like to feel better. We like to feel superior. Still, at the species level, it is just that, a story (or, perhaps, more accurately, a lie).

[Ken Barrows]

Maybe humans do have free will. It's just that few of us have the guts to use it (I speak as not one of the few.).

[Ryan Brooks]

ahh, do not give up Mr. Cohen. Although I feel your pain, your blog does serve a purpose and I have taken a lot from it and will continue to visit each day. You give valuable information coupled with personal experience which is what people need to hear.

As far as free will is concerned...I'm not too sure how to delve into that. I feel it would be a fairly long essay that would need to state different cases between the poor, rich and middle classes; or properly educated/not so. It is a tough topic to understand to say the least and brings me to be confused more often than not when observing those around me.

But anyways....as for the site: keep on keeping on. It's a great blog and if people don't take anything away from it then so be it.

[Chris]

Dave I read you as much as I can, then its the cliff thing. I think there is good news, Free Will always ends up with consequences. Tie these up with some physical and etheral laws and Humanity isn't going to get away with anything. So eventually out of all bad----good will happen. Thats the way it is (Bible).

[J. Drew]

Awww. What an Adorable Video. The animation is Soooo Cute!

Seriously though Dave, the market for your kind of writing isn't getting any bigger, and on top of that you go out of your way to insult large swathes of the the kind of people who might otherwise read your blog.

[Shawntoh]

My condolences, Mr. Cohen, or Dave, if you prefer,

I, too, am extremely disturbed by what you have noted. Unfortunately, I can only conclude one thing, it comes down to this...

What is the real motto of the human race? It is...

"Tell me 'The Truth', as long as it's what I want to hear!"

Over the weekend, I went to the local film society and watched an excellent film that had be restored called "All Quiet on the Western Front". I read about it for years but waited until it came to a movie theater.

While some of the direction and the acting was stagey by today's acting standards, the scenes of the battles of the French and German soldiers clashing and sometimes gruesomely resorting to murdering each other in hand-to-hand combat in the trenches was so moving, I wondered...

Why didn't the human race put an end to war, right then and there? What more evidence did we need that technology is a killer in cuddly consumer drag?

I was told in school that it was "The War to End All Wars" --yet what happened, my dear ancestors?!?! (from both the German, French and British sides, btw)

The sad thing, there were hardly any people there to see this magnificent, albeit, mere reproduction of just another dated exhibit of "man's inhumanity to man". No young people to be seen anywhere.

I'm told part of the problem was, it was in black & white film, not color. Further...

While there were plenty of explosions, not enough car chase scenes and no state of the art special effects, I guess, to dazzle them, either.

With panoramic crane shots of the battlefield, though, I'll never forget how well it showed the overall horror--as if you were a lonely little bat flying overhead trying to escape away since your home was destroyed in the middle of the daytime from these socially-acceptable-insane humans!

The only sex scene was shot well after the act happened between a French woman and a German soldier and was only hinted it, at best.

It was sobering and I see that a remake was made in 1979 in color, so I'll have to see that, too. But I wonder...

Will somebody make an update for the 21st Century? Maybe a American veteran from the Afghanistan theater could do the job. But, gee, there's so much material, I guess we'll have to wait and see what springs forth.

I'll keep reading, Mr. Cohen, or Dave, if you prefer, I don't have any choice. I know too much to pretend, don't you think?

Peace.

[Oliver]

Dave - For all we know, the Great Cull has started and the earth's population has dropped dramatically since late December, starting with surplus non-Alpha intellectuals, which would account for the drop-off in your traffic. Just because it's not on the MSM means squat.

As for J. Drew's comment - you go out of your way to insult large swathes of the kind of people who might otherwise read your blog - the Truth sure hurts. Keep on telling it like it is, whatever the numbers show. I think of you like the gutsy orchestra on the Titanic, playing on manfully as the ship goes down. We hardly remember the melee of me-first-into-the-lifeboat Darwinism, but we do remember the orchestra.

[Oliver]

Wow, I've just seen Jleagan's comment. Pass me a hard hat someone.

[Dennis McCaffrey]

Well, Dave, I understand your frustration. One of the things I've always admired about your blog is your principled refusal to indulge in hope. That sets you apart from most blogs. You're much more industrious than I am so DOTE informs me of facts and opinions I'd be too lazy to research on my own. So, although your audience is small, your blog does fill a niche. I imagine a marketing expert would call it a boutique.

Best regards for 2013.

[Fran Joseph]

Thanks for being here. Going away for a few days to check in with folks and folk-in-laws.

[J. Drew]

You know why you're readership is a bunch of assholes? Because Nice People are too busy doing yoga and believing in the basic goodness of their fellow man and making vegetarian lasagna and whatever the fuck else it is nice people do with their time to read a bunch of crap they don't want to hear, let alone leave comments.

[JK]

To J. Drew. You are so right. A pretend world is easier to the mind than the real world.

To Dave. Hang in there dude! I check your blog out daily and agree with a lot you say. Many of us are tired of working like dogs to pay our bills like the guy further up said and can't read too much of any blog anymore. Sometimes it's just headlines. But, but, but...I am enjoying your blog with a good cigar and beer after work at this moment. Praise the Lord, there is still some good in the world!

[Jim]

Two thoughts: one, you're naturally going to have more doomer interest as we approach millenial-type events. The drop-off after 12/21 was only partially the holiday break. I think a big reason, though, was the Mayan thing. As irrational as it sounds, the masses get a bit edgy in the lead-up to such things. The day came and went without incident, and I think a large segment of doomers shrugged their shoulders and went back to their Xbox (or whatever form of preferred distraction). I think there's really only a handful who understand and care about the deeper rationales. I'm afraid doomerism is a form of fantasy to many people - a means of feeding the desire for apocalypse (for whatever personal reason).

Secondly, why care what kind of numbers you get? You're never going to draw like Perez Hilton's blog or Ashton's Kutcher's Twitter feed. Do their numbers mean anything? A site like this has always been about the quality, not the quantity, of readers. Is it better to have 10,000 nitwits as your readership or 10 like-minded and thoughtful souls?

Kunstler has a pretty good readership, and nearly every post of his starts with a commenter saying 'First!'.

[Rob N. Banks]

Caring is a practical joke people play upon themselves.

[Clyde]

The irony of this post, just after your excellent piece on free will, has not been lost on me, Dave.
Keep up the good work, for what it's worth.

[Rob]

Dave,

To be honest, I'd stop by more often as I enjoy your writing and value your opinion, but the foul language is a major turnoff.

[Ean Gray]

Well, Im sorry for you, Dave. Perhaps some of those readers just realized were screwed and there is little we can do about it. It is just our collective fate to destroy ourselves. So, why not live in fantasy world? Doesn't matter in the end wether you're a true Realist or a dumb sheep-- the outcome will be the same for every human and other animal on this blue orb. Hell, the only reason I'm still reading instead of retreating into the fantasy land is because I don't like being uninformed and delusional. Also, I have never been a huge fan of fiction.

-Ean

[Joanne]

I've read your blog for a couple of years now and enjoy it most of the time but frankly it's rants like this that make me stop reading it for a while. The info you put out is excellent, depressing but informative. You just need to get over yourself and stop obsessing about your numbers.

[Toozy]

Dave I read every posting, admire your style and insight.
I carefully re-read all your postings for the last year.

Please keep up your very important work !!!

I've never read anything like that before.

-Gene

[Ray Blaak]

Dave, you say:

"I will not put up with that. Fuck that. I write to be read and understood. I am aware that my stuff requires effort to read and absorb. I understand that I am generally telling humans things they don't want to hear."

Rightly or wrongly this comes across as arrogant. Humans are social animals as you surely know, and these kinds of sentiments rub people the wrong way, it is simply not politically effective.

My advice: just keep churning out the articles you do, but do it because you are compelled to, because you so passionately believe in it. Spread the word. That kind of thing convinces people more.

I wonder also if it is worth applying some of the energy and drive you have for persuading the world that we are all-so-fucked could be applied more positively as well.

What would happen if you make a website called itcanbebetter.com or something, and there you only put in positive articles. Not false hope ones, nothing fake, just articles driven by this premise: given the task of saving as many billions as possible, what steps can and should we take?

(And you know, we really do have to try to save as many billions as possible, because it looks very probably that billions will indeed die. Even if all attempts look futile, we have to try, to give shot, don't go down without a fight. What is the alternative, giving up? "Quietus" pills?)

Have generous back links to this site to convincingly establish the very real problems and then talk about what we can do. I can imagine a few articles about trying to go nuclear, stop burning oil for god's sake, saving it for the important stuff, look at ways we can manufacture the valuable hydro carbons we need.

Long term humans need to go to space to infect the rest of the solar system, at least in an abstract "don't leave your eggs in one basket sense" of ultimate survivability. Near term it is ridiculous to think we can do so. What can be done to make things better, given that we cannot realistically curb our current eneregy levels without massive population die offs?

A "positive" site would be powerfully attractive, giving that spark of hope. Is it possible to do? I don't know, we just got to try. You can play the sites against each other, whenever you get stuck on declineoftheempire.com write an article on itcanbebetter.com and vice versa.