Thursday, July 30, 2009
ToDaZeD Who Said That?
*
"The need for de-development presents our economists with a major challenge, ... They must design a stable, low-consumption economy in which there is a much more equitable distribution of wealth than in the present one. Redistribution of wealth both within and among nations is absolutely essential, if a decent life is to be provided to every human being."
*Bonus Question: And why weren’t they beaten with a cluebat upon saying it?
“Angry opposition to de-development can be expected from some technologists who are used to having their schemes for progress accepted without question by a dazzled public,” the authors wrote. “SSTs (solid state technologies), space colonies, thermonuclear weapons and delivery systems, geodesic domes over cities, fission power, giant automobiles, plastic wrappings, genetic engineering, disposable packages and containers, synthetic pesticides, and the like are supposed to be accepted as self-evidently desirable.”
SSTs / geodesic domes over cities: Bemember—this was written in 1973
space colonies: which might prosper and re-conquer this “Holistic, Cooperative World Gubbmint” Also send dopes like this OTA.
giant automobiles / plastic wrappings / genetic engineering [Franken-foood!!] / disposable packages / synthetic pesticides: sound familiar?
...“However, many technologists now correctly perceive that, if the ODCs [overdeveloped countries] are to be de-developed and civilization is to persist, the halcyon days of unquestioning public acceptance of technological ‘progress’ must disappear forever. ...
“The only way to divert the rush in the LDCs to mimic overdevelopment is to change the model--to trim from the lifestyle and supporting technology of the ODCs their energetic and material profligacy while increasing the quality of life.”
Not in the quoted material, but running as a thread throughout discussions of the “halcyon days” to be expected with de-development is the requirement to limit the world’s population [yes, world’spopulation] to some 500,000, skin-wearin’, root-grubbing, un-medically treated nasty, brutish short folks. I’m assuming those who advocate this take for granted they will be among the Chosen—why they’d want to live this way is beyond me.
What is clear to me is that none of these intellectual wankers has ever left their Ivory Tower [or Upper West Side neighborhood] long enough to see Mother Nature, much less be stuck on a Colorado mountainside as a sudden snowstorm surprises them and a hungry mountain lion is looking for some easy dinner for her cubs. Stringy, but easy.
Why they don’t cowboy up and live this way now is clearer; if they did, we’d never hafta hear from ‘em. Except for the occasional plea demand for help scratched on tree bark, wrapped around a rock and thrown thru the window of FEMA.
Check out these assumptions about human nature:
“Only when that course [de-development of the ODCs] is firmly established, will there be any real hope for all of humanity to generate a worldwide spirit of cooperation rather than competition and to plan the development of our (planet) with the holistic perspective that is so essential to the survival of civilization,...
Only then can consumption in the (less developed countries) be linked both psychologically and physically to production in the ODCs and a substantial transfer of wealth accomplished.”
Let’s de-construct that first part a little. When there are less of the essential Goods which are produced by the “ODCs” the whoooole world will suddenly develop a “worldwide spirit of cooperation rather than competition.” Contrary to the evidence found in the entire history of humankind, scarcity will generate cooperativeness.
Stunning. Let’s lock these folks in an apartment building with a case of tofu-burgers for a week, turn off the electricity and pizza delivery and see how much cooperation emerges on Day 3. Simple experiment.
Better yet—let’s corral these fulks on an island for a year; not one of the rocky Aleutians—a nice, fecund tropical island. If we remember to When we check back with them, I bet we’d see an almost Eden-like tranquility with Committees in charge of Water Delivery, Food Rationing and Holistic Cooperation.
Also a buncha dead guys with gnawed bones and a few strong, fat survivors with clubs.
And to the second part: When the “ODCs” have their economic pins knocked out from under them, “only then” will the Turd World LCDs be given all our shiit “be linked both psychologically and physically” to our lack of production? Whaaa?
Yeesh. They ain’t even competent thieves.
And they are now our Czars. People who firmly hold these views and intentions are in charge of our “Science” our federal regulations, and soon our “health care” and our Carbon Derivative Markets.
Yes, their views are way extreme; too dope-driven, too hippy-dippy, too juvenile not to be dismissed out of hand. But we ignore them at our own—and our children’s—mortal peril. We must deal with them—both the people and the views/intentions. The chore at hand is to debunk the kumbyah factor and replace it with facts. Our task is to force ourselves to discuss—widely and publicly—the embarrassingly childish and cringingly power-seeking details of their plans. We must overcome our own distaste and drag this crap out into the light of day so that everyone—even those of limited attention span or delicate sensibilities—can see the inherent danger of such horrifyingly banal evil.
They. Are. In. Power. Now.
Mech nailed it t’other day:
in preface of The Screwtape Letters:The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.
This is a war of ideas, a counterinsurgency of culture.
Statistics
This page has been viewed 18348062 times
Total Entries: 5718
Total Comments: 4193
Total Trackbacks: 714
Most Recent Entry: 06/14/2011 06:44 am
Most Recent Comment on: 11/27/2011 05:18 pm
{/if}
