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Just so we are on the same page here, and given the new surge (once again) of fatalist doom and gloom: The World is NOT going to end.
Even if the US Economy crashes, the world is NOT going to end.
Even if there are eventually riots and uprisings because of the growing poverty, no, the world is NOT going to end.
Even if terrorists manage to detonate a nuke on US soil, the world is NOT going to end. Nukes have blown up cities in much weaker countries before and they survived, the United States will do so as well.
Why am I saying this? Because doom worshiping just isn’t helpful. It isn’t. It just disconnects you from the world around you and creates a distorted version of reality.
There’s enough bad news around to get us all worried. This blog itself, by the nature of the issues covered, revolves around current bad news and how to deal with them, the essential thing being, working on the solution, not getting absorbed by the problem.
USA is heading for some rough times, it’s already going through them, and it’s just the beginning. Things will change, not Obama “change” but another kind that no a single person will like. But the end of the world? No people, I don’t think so.
Anything can happen. I mean, no one holds the crystal ball of divination. A meteor can blow us to pieces or a genetically boosted biological weapon may kill us all. It’s all within the real of possibility.
And then Britney Spears may one day go to med school, be good at it, and find the cure for cancer, but I doubt many of you will hold your breath on that one.
Empires have fallen. Terrible things have happened but the world has not ended.
You have Katrina, 9/11 and there are a thousand other events through out history that have been much worse. Learn from history folks, learn from previews events and come to your own conclusions.
There’s people that have been anticipating (promising?) the end of the world since the 60’s. Every decade or every couple of years there’s a new excuse, some new reason why the end of the world is just around the corner.
USA is heading for some rough times and people will adapt. They wont have a choice. Preparing for it will make such a process less painful, less of a surprise. But you don’t need all that negativity, you don’t need to run to the hills and hide in a hole fearing the boogieman.
Life will just go and those that fall for the doom and gloom will have a miserable existence while those that keep a positive attitude will have rich, enjoyable lives.
When things are ok you can afford to have a few affairs with depression and “the end of the world” mentality.
But during hard times you don’t. When you lose your job and have to put food on the table and pay the bills, when you go looking for a job to do so and spend months getting up and going to job interviews, waiting in line along with 50 other candidates for jobs people didn’t even bother with before, you need all the positive mindset you can muster.
Doomers will find out how little fun all this is. Bills keep coming, food prices keep going up, the dentist and pediatrician still doesn’t accept a pair of handmade boots as form of payment, and well, Raiders never showed up, you never managed to make a living by scavenging the ruins of Walmart, or providing protection to a merchant caravan. It’s life as its always been, only worse regarding some aspects. Tougher and less forgiving… specially less forgiving regarding wrong decisions, buying stuff that was supposed to be worth “its weigt in gold” and that never happened, less forgiving regarding moving to that spot on the map that is just perfect regarding fallout charts and the less likely sport for Martians to land on… but lacks job opportunities, and most of the small towns near by will just go bankrupt and die during long term recession.
There’s going to be changes. Not changes that fit your desires but realistic changes, changes that wont fit you like a glove.
Changes that aren’t fair, because you wont get away with what you thought you would… after the end of the world.
These will be realistic changes: You might even say they are changes you can believe in.
Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre
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Monday, October 12, 2009
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22 comments:
Amazing post. Too many folks are halfway waiting to not need to worry about the mortgage or work anymore. Turns out in the real end of the world as you know it you won't need to worry about work because you will probably be out of work and the mortgage is likely to not be an issue because you won't be able to pay it. I am linking to this.
I'm still depressed.
Mag, in Califorina
A whimper instead of a bang. I think the powers that be will finesse events just enough that the change will happen slowly. That way the impact will be diluted.
So many Fallout references, so little time...
You're absolutely correct Fernando.
Again, this is common sense - something that is quite UNcommon.
The world is not going to end, but some countries may be turned inside out. I think the U.S. has a good chance of a slow slide recession/depression with lots of heartache and misery. However, don't underestimate the current level of ignorance and unpreparedness in the U.S. If there is a nuclear or EMP scenario in the U.S., society could very easily disintegrate into chaos. The average U.S. citizen, doesn't know where their food, water, or power comes from, nor what to do if they don't have them for more than 24 hours. Most societies (like Argentina) aren't as spoiled, ignorant, and armed like the U.S. is. I see a lot of potential for catastrophe; we are not the same country that won WWII.
I wanna move to Uruguay.
This is about the best post I've read in years. Thank you!
An EMP attack in the US would be devastating with our on demand shipping of almost everything and complete dependence upon electronics.
The world would not end, but it might as well have for tens of millions if that happens.
EMP's? I read somewhere due to IRS taxing rule changes US power companies don't keep spare parts of the huge, time consuming to build, devices built overseas, so a simple series of storms could knock out power for months in many areas, but true, it would not be the end of the world. Perhaps TEOTWAWKI?
A story to focus on in hard times: I read about a guy in Japan who was at ground zero for both atomic bomb drops and he lived until the 1990's to be an old man. Think of this when your day goes bad, it could be worse?
lol really.
Of course you're correct. Excellent post.
Many 21st century Doomers, as many who came before, take their personal frustrations out by hoping for the "end of the world," when (so they believe) their lives will suddenly have meaning.
Thank you for the reminder...
I get too caught up in the gloom-n-doom. I get antsy / worried that I haven't gotten all the "stuff" I'm "supposed" to have.
Where, other than Japan, has a nuke gone off?
-Junker
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aRArKQlsc06A <-- Speaking about current problems. I'm surprised Argentines are not lynching her for wasting all the private pension funds in one year. I mean there is literraly no excuse she can make about that. They promised to safeguard the pension funds and what do they do? They spend it all in one year. That is treason pure and simple.
Detonated nukes: India, Pakistan, Bikini Islands, USA, Japan, Russia, etc.
Also there have been atmospheric test nukes detonated in China,in Algeria and French Polynesia, and over the southern Indian/Atlantic ocean (the Vela incident, a nuclear test by Israel and South Africa in 1979)
Granted the Japanese are the only ones to have one set off in the middle of a city-
Sorry, I was referring to Nukes blowing up cities in weaker countries....as the article stated....not referring to test detonations.
Japan is the only one....
-Junker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2qDW34Fr64
This guy has been right a lot so far, he says, a second Great Depression in the USA in nine months. Worldwide too?
riots in nine months... and I just noticed that video is six months old. Three more months to go. Did you ever see the movie The Grapes of Wrath? Are food crop workers down there dirt poor, or ok-ish as far as making a living wage?
Continent-wide EMP requires a multi-megaton nuclear explosion at an altitude of several hundred miles.
That requires the ability to make a true fission-fusion device (not a crude Hiroshima-style fission bomb).
The device must also be miniaturized it to the point it can be placed on an ICBM (no Scud or N. Korean or Iranian missile would do)
That narrows the choice to large nation-states, not any 3rd world country or terrorist group.
One of my fears is that if the U.S. goes under, there will be kidnappings of children. How do we prevent this from happening; do we keep them home from school and homeschool? Are abducted children held for ransom or are they sold in the black market?
This whole scenario is just too frightening.
we prepare for TEOTWAKI which i am sure you know stands for The End Of The World As We Know It. this is NOT synonymous with the end of the world, which implies the end of all life support systems vital to human life. such as a gamma burst or killshot from the sun or asteroid.there are MANY possible END of the world scenarios.
there have ALREADY been teotwaki events.
911 was one of them. it was indeed THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT.
and of course there have been a number of events, like the haiti quake, indonesian tsunami etc. that were indeed the end of the world for those people killed in them.but survival of teotwaki events is possible. there are even survivors that were at ground zero for hiroshima and nagasaki events. together those two events didn't kill as many people as the tsunami or haiti quakes.
the world IS going to end for a lot of people. by preparing you have a better chance that it won't end for you.
Great post. I am constantly amused by posters who are convinced the world will come to a grinding halt, money will no longer be usable, and they'll all need blacksmithing skills.
Aside from the fact that in the US, nearly every village, town, and major city has a number of horse shoers (after all, we love our horses), those who plan to have no money at all will be for a nasty shock when their water gets shut off and an eviction notice appears on their door. Your job will go tatas up long before the utility company or bank will (if they ever do) so saving money makes a lot more sense than buying a year's supply of tampons and hoping to trade them for beans.
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