>>Arun, Maybe I am a nut, just like RJA says. <grin>
Perhaps. Perhaps I am also a nut. The thing is, we are nuts about different things.
A good case can be made that humans are tribal, and it is easy to turn them one against the other.
Here are just a few examples, many recent, all within the last 500 years:
Sunni & Shea in Iraq.
Rwanda.
Bosnia.
The French Wars of Religion (1562 to 1598)
The subdued war between Catholicism and Anglicanism during the reigns of Henry, Mary, and Elizabeth 1 in England.
The Salem witch trials.
The Spanish Inquisition.
And of course, the recent Jewish experience in Germany.
All of this, IMHO demonstrates human irrationality.
And therefore, it troubles me greatly, when I hear slanders of one group against another, because I know the history and what can happen and has happened. It is disturbing to see irrationality of this type loose in the world. I have seen what can happen because of it, again, and again, and again.
Like many on this board, I expect a decrease in the standard of living in the USA.
It is not sustainable that we have 5% of the worlds population and use 25% of its Oil, the majority of which is imported. That might work if we were providing indispensable exports... but now what we seem to export the most is currency... and that time may be ending.
We seem to be near or at Peak Oil... and its price is increasing... which will percolate through everything. If the dollar continues to drop (and I see no reason why it should not) things will get much more expensive.
Eventually J6P will get very, very pissed. Just who he will be pissed at remains to be seen... which brings me back to that history discussed above.
IMHO we will all need to work together to over come this... probably in small self sufficient communities. Tribal warfare of any kind will not be helpful. We will have plenty on our plates without it. There is no sense in making things worse than they have to be.
The Liberal Party of Canada has a good slogan re this: "Stronger Together". I believe this. I believe that those that succeed in the tough times ahead will think this way, and work this way.
RJA |
