BC: PEAK OIL AND TPTB
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By "Writerman" on TOD ..
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Stories, or alternative perspectives, ideas, criticism, potential problems... that require us to focus our attention on "structural weaknesses" in our socio/economic system, are subject to "filtering." That is, they are not exactly buried, all of the time, but they are downplayed and moved sideways, out of view. This doesn't mean that highly educated people are kept in blissful ignorance, but that the great mass of the population, are. Peak Oil is one of those kind of stories.
Another is the economic crisis we are mired in. It was obvious a crash was coming and the bubble economy was going to burst, with devastating consequences for ordinary people. But in the mass media the crisis came as an almost total surprise, like a bolt from the blue; not as a logical consequence of the clear structural flaws in what still call "capitalism." The "credit crunch" is presented almost like it was a form of natural phenomenon like the earthquake in Haiti, rather than as a consequence of how society is organized. This means that most of us cannot learn anything from what's happening, which I suppose is the whole point. We are meant to live in an eternal present, no past memories and no uncomfortable future to worry about, only an eternal present.
If we are to deal with "peak oil" which, surely, is a big, structural problem; we need to apply a big dose of democracy to the problem, and the solutions we need to employ. We have to organize society in a different way. No more business as usual. No more casino capitalism. More sustainable, farmyard, economics.
Yet, this approach, far more social and economic democracy, runs up against a really big problem, like a wall made of granite, protected by razor-wire and armed guards. The people at the top of the social and economic pyramid, the people behind the fortified wall, are having the time of their lives, and have been for the last thirty years! They and the politicians, who they own, rolled back social and economic democracy, and have absolutely no intention of letting these dangerous ideas rise up again. Democracy has been replaced by an oligarchy. We are ruled by the rich and they own the system, lock, stock, and barrel.
Of course, the oligarchs can do an incredible ammount of damage, still. Especially as there is no opposition to their rule. The will of the people simply doesn't count. One can always just hire another president when the old one has outlived his usefulness. Presidents are two a penny, and about as important. They can be knocked down as easily as they can be lifted up.
Obviously, I'm not describing a democratic system here, that's because it isn't a democractic system, where the people rule. The people are allowed to have influence, up to a point, but they certainly aren't allowed to have political power, that would be far to dangerous and radical.
So the old system of "gentleman's democracy" or "elite democracy" has been superceeded by "corporate democracy" which is, if anything, even worse, even less democratic, and even more dangerous. As a greedy, selfish, narrow-minded, all-powerful, corporate/financial elite; subject to no checks and balances, can lead society towards total disaster, which is of course what they are doing.
The big question is, how do we re-organize society, which we have to, if we are to have a hope in hell of dealing with our myriad problems, which Peak Oil is only symptom of, without challenging the power and vested interests of the oligarchy that rule and own society?
How far down the road to collapse does one have to go before people are roused from their slumber, awaken, open their eyes, see the reality of the world around them, and take action? History shows that this process of oligarchic misrule, of decline, leading towards collapse, can take an awfully long time, as the great mass of people are simply way too peaceful and reasonable and don't react in time to the signals of decay, and perhaps don't even see them before it's too late.
Reversing the decline and fall of an empire or a civilization, isn't easy, even when people are aware of what's happening. There seem to be social mechanisms at work that are highly complex, and seemingly inexorable, like turning a super-tanker heading towards the rocks, or the Titanic steaming towards its meeting with the iceberg.
Sorry about all this. It isn't what people want to hear. But, Peak Oil is a symptom of a far deeper crisis. There is no techological solution to the muliple crises we face. We cannot just conjure more worlds, and their virgin resources, just because we need them. Our current economic paradigm has reached the end of the road. We need an alternative way to organize our civilization. Unpleasant as it sounds, we need to address our Politics, our lack of democracy and participation in politics; and at the heart of everything is the struggle to break the stranglehold the oligarchs have over society. We can live without them, but they cannot live without the rest of us, so I suppose that's a cause for a sliver of optimism?
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