In the comments on my post The Breakdown Of Economic Expansion In The 21st Century, faithful DOTE reader Gail (who I like) linked-in a video from CollapseNet's Michael Ruppert called We Have Until July at Latest Even a Caveman Can See It (video below). Apparently, starting with bad corporate earnings reports due to the effects of the earthquake on Japan's multinational corporations, the stock market is going to crash. And after the stock market crashes, the world economy is going to crash. And high oil prices are a major cause of this collapse. Apparently, farmers and fishers all over the world are not planting seeds or catching fish because they can't afford the oil. Here's Ruppert's conclusion—
We have between now and July to get ourselves as ready as possible to feed ourselves, to protect ourselves, to keep ourselves warm, to stay out of the way ... as much as possible until things settle down. I really do not think we will be living in anything like the society we have known, the civilization we have known, by this fall. I'm as confident about this as I've ever been.
This is a serious alert, we now have a calender, we now have a clock, get your stuff together, no later than July, and that's assuming any one of a half-a-dozen other things don't go wrong to bring it [the collapse] about before that. But it's pretty clear, a caveman could see it.
Maybe a caveman can see it, but not being a caveman, I can not. Let me explain to you how Doomer Porn works and why I despise it.
The United States is in Big Trouble. I document it everyday. Notice that I used the word "document," which means I take the time to explain what I believe and why I believe it. I cite my sources when necessary. I stick to the facts. I never lie. Why would I? There are now 44.2 million SNAP (food stamp) recipients in this great country of ours. This fact speaks for itself. If I'm speculating, as I sometimes do, I make it clear that that's what I'm doing. I even have a lively sense of humor! It's pretty dark, though.
Doomer Porn is all speculation with a few carefully chosen "facts" mixed in. Doomer Porn is an industry with a product sold at a price, which is some variation on "we're all gonna die!" or "we will [not] be living in anything like the society we have known, the civilization we have known, by this fall." A certain sort of person laps this stuff up. They clamor for it! It's music to their ears! And they're willling to pay for it.
I remember about 15 years ago sitting in my therapist's office. We were talking about bullshit. And I told him that in order to fly, bullshit must have wings. What did I mean by that? I meant that bullshit, including Doomer Porn, must be grounded in reality to some small but misleading extent in order for it to "work" in some sense. Let me give you an example. I started fact checking what Ruppert was saying about oil. He quoted from this zerohedge article, which itself referenced (without a link) this Bloomberg report based on data supplied by Oil Movements, which tracks oil tanker movements. You can estimate OPEC's oil shipments with that data.
I don't have time to get into it, but zerohedge (and thus Ruppert) made some claims that are not substantiated by the Bloomberg report. I am going to leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out the difference between what zerohedge (and Ruppert) said and what's really going on. Needless to say, they are not the same thing. It took me 5 minutes to find Ruppert's sources and figure out what was going on. I've already given you the links. All you've got to do is read and understand them. And by the way, if I want to understand the oil markets, zerohedge is just about the last place I would look.
But now let me tell you what infuriates me about Doomer Porn. And yes, this is personal. I could just kill somebody (not really) every time some idiot lumps me in with people like Mike Ruppert. The "reasoning" surely goes something like this: Ruppert talks about things falling apart. Cohen talks about things falling apart. Same thing!
And thus any serious, meaningful message I might give you about deteriorating conditions in the United States is contaminated, completely polluted by being mixed in with bullshit. And once it has been mixed in with bullshit, and since bullshit is, well, bullshit, my message can also be safely dismissed by those who do not subscribe to Doomer Porn. And worse, I give you insights into Reality for free, while Ruppert charges you for delusional speculation. And by the way, I could definitely use some donations.
I'm in the wrong business! I should start a religion.
I have tried to distance myself from Doomer Porn, but ultimately I know it doesn't work, at least for the vast majority of people. This vast majority are asleep, they are dazed and confused, they are imbeciles. You know who they are—they are called Americans! That is why I despise Doomer Porn, and this is just one of the many reasons why I Love Mankind.
Ruppert's video is advertising. It is marketing. Which is why I've included a Bill Hicks video after the Ruppert clip. I don't endorse the Hicks solution to the problem of marketing in America, but you'll get the idea. I wish Hicks had lived. (He died young in 1994.) I wonder what Hicks would have said about all this 21st century crapola. Sometimes, I try to say it for him.
And finally, the 64 thousand dollar question: is the global economy going to collapse in July? Will we all be living in caves and hunting squirrels by September? Lots of things are possible—no one can make exact predictions about the future—but Ruppert's call seems pretty damn unlikely to me. And when July comes and goes without the world ending, you can be sure there will another Doomer Porn Alert coming down the pike later on.
Quit putting a god damn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!
Hi Dave,
You present reality, which can be a downer, which turns some people to doomer porn. Many people realise that most things related to our current way of life is unsustainable. And those that follow it closely, like you and your followers, understand that one day, the house of cards will fall. However, no one knows when that day will come, and what will finally be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We are stuck in between two world realities, the fake propped up world that society is currently based on, and a future world where the facade is lifted and we see how destructive we have really been. Many liken it to living in the Matrix. However, living in this limbo world is psychologically taxing, and many yearn for the curtain to drop so that we can transition to something more sane. People are then seduced by the Ruppert's of the world that relieve them of the stress they feel about the uncertain path the world will take to its demise.
Posted by: Remi | 04/13/2011 at 10:37 AM