you are the media you consume.

If the majority votes to walk off a cliff, then over the nation goes. The west depends upon a capitalist/consumerist economic system and all efforts are aimed at fostering this. This ranges from education (where we teach students how to be good consumers) to advertising and mass media, subsidies for oligopolies (to make them more "efficient") and even colonial and neo-colonial foreign policies.

This has been going on ever since it was discovered early in the industrial revolution that textile factories could quickly produce more goods than actually needed. Thus was born all the psychological tricks to create demand - fashion, status, obsolescence, etc.

The kind of person that goes into government or business, and succeeds, is the kind who best understands this social system and can operate the levers of power to advantage.

Notice that autocracies never have achieved the standard of living of the democracies. With no public to answer to the leaders enrich themselves and let the rest of society languish.

In this latest second Gilded Age, any socialist or environmentalist concerns have been swept aside. The power of money has seeped into every corner of society, so that it is rare to find an academic or even clergyman of any note who questions the basic premises of capitalism.

I can't recall a single instance where a society sacrificed in anticipation of a disaster and used the saved resources to make the future better. Societies are reactive, not proactive. Could a better leader bring people forward and make them change their framework of belief? Perhaps.

You could claim that Gandhi managed to reform the Indian political regime with a minimum of violence (at least compared to other revolutions), but he didn't manage to reform the economic system - a much more difficult task.

Obviously people are hungry for an inspiring leader, hence the appeal of Obama, but I claim that the web of control which permeates modern society means that an individual can do little on his own. People want change, but they don't know of what sort and are unwilling to make any sacrifices of their own.

It is now the 50th anniversary of Pogo's saying:
"We have met the enemy and he is us."

He was talking about pollution, and even that hasn't gotten better. I see no peaceful nor painless paths.

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape

Our governments are totally clueless - or in denial, or filfully incompetent, your pick

Politicians are not ignorant. They are scared. Scared that resolve to act will throw them out of office.

And that's where we come in. We have to "spread awareness" (aargh I hate those pretenious words, but they do apply here). I figure this will be one of the main tasks of ASPO Sweden.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

the term `peak oil' seems to be DG TREN's equivalent to the N-word in civilised society. It's literally verboten, its use presumably creating grounds for disciplinary action. I've checked it out.

Our government must have known this, but it has refused to conduct its own analysis of global oil reserves.

One formulation of Occam's Razor is: "The simplest theory that fits all available facts is the best."

What better theory is there to explain the above citations than that these governments and, of course, that of the US, effectively are thralls of those who control the petroleum industry?

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

Politicians solve yesterday's problems, not tomorrow's.

keep to the Fen Causeway