" We live as if trapped inside a Sunday supplement: obsessed with fame, fashion and the three dreary staples of middle-class conversation: recipes, renovations and resorts. Anything but the topic that demands our attention. Statements of the bleeding obvious, the outcomes of basic arithmetic, are treated as exotic and unpardonable distractions, while the impossible proposition by which we live is regarded as so sane and normal and unremarkable that it isn't worthy of mention. That's how you measure the depth of this problem: by our inability even to discuss it." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/27/if-we-cant-change-economic-system-our-number-is-up
"... salvation lies in collapse." Beautiful Release from the obscenity of what we - bizarrely - call civilisation.
"Statements of the bleeding obvious, the outcomes of basic arithmetic, are treated as exotic and unpardonable distractions, while the impossible proposition by which we live is regarded as so sane and normal and unremarkable that it isn't worthy of mention. That's how you measure the depth of this problem: by our inability even to discuss it." This. This bit. This is where my heads at this morning. I have always been treated as an "exotic & unpardonable distraction" by my family & my peers. The way I have chosen to live has always been viewed as insane, & particularly remarkable for its divergence from the norm. And my insistence on discussing it - that the Emperor is wearing no clothes, & that our expectations of living standards are unsustainable, &, quiet frankly, obscene - has made me a pariah, a fringe dweller. The one positive thing I took away from UTOPIA last night was the deep conviction that I am not insane. I felt profoundly reassured of the correctness of the values I have lived my life by, & the choices I have made. I'm glad to have the company of this forum, to know that I am not alone in seeing the reality of the apocalypse unfolding around us. I hope some of us can build sanctuaries to shelter the generations to come, & make less horrendous the suffering of those who have to endure the last days of "civilisation".
I like George's articles and that one may be his best. Some of us retreat to the margins (physically or metaphorically), get our houses in order, and merely observe the spectacle. Have you read any of the Archdruid Reports Helen?