Preparing for the next collapse

[^_^ 5,021]

That is why we keep it inside the community.

Thank you?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Thank you?

You may.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

http://dumpalink.com/videos/Eddie-Murphy-As-A-White-Guy-49b5.html

[Ban Hammer 13,429]

I don't know how to react to that.

[slim 1,530]

What makes you think we're gonna suddenly have anarchy and return to the 18th century?

Because hungry people do desperate things.

If it hasn't happened in "those African and Asian countries" then what makes you think it will happen here?

Uh, I don't know what African and Asian countries you're referring to, but the majority of Africa and Asia goes chaotic pretty quickly after ther resident dictator/war lord/military junta/corrupt prime minister/European/Asian occupier goes bye-bye.

I'm assuming you're talking about Japan and how they haven't turned all Super Dome on a national level yet. Stay tuned further down in my reply but basically, they have a homogeneous society and a culture that tends to encourage community.

Much like the rest of Asia/Africa..... we do not.

I am not opposed to killing and hurting people. I can be stone cold when the need arises. But why go there unless no other option presents itself? Why make enemies when you can create allies?

I'm a firm believer in establishing a good, strong community BEFORE crisis appears. Unfortunately, what we have nowadays is Jerry Springer folks right next door and people who get mad at you when you scold their kids for messing up. With that system in place, there's no hope for accountability after the fact. If it can't happen before... it won't happen after.

And you could also consider how the folks in St. Petersburg sat starving for such a long period of time, dropping like flies... yet despite a minority of cases, they remained civilized.

I would guess many, if not most towns and places will remain sane if not remarkable in-control no doubt by communities and people banding together, enforcing order.

STP is another good example of a homogeneous society with a well-established sense of community. That is not present here, except in the smaller towns. As you note, the smaller towns will see folks banding together to help one another. Larger places... not so much.

The urban areas I suspect would be another story..... it's not that there are not large numbers of people who would do the right thing... it's just the aggressive thugery would be overwhelming .. though their totals numbers would not be that high.

People tend to do what's necessary to survive and if a mob mentality takes over, you can expect large groups of "I'm still here" folks to take action against smaller groups of folks with resources. If the smaller groups are prepared, they'll survive. If not, they'll be overwhelmed and completely stripped of their resources.

The mob will be parasitic. Once it's "harvested" everything from a weaker community, it'll move on. The key is convincing them your community is not weaker!

Also urban areas are more diverse and despite the Bumper-sticker slogans, people tend to feel "less of a sense of community" and withdraw in so many ways.......which is a huge advantage for the low lifes.

The sad fact of the matter is here in the US we're likely to see race wars pretty shortly after a collapse. It may not be an overt civil war, but it'll probably turn into a "people of your color aren't welcome here" environment simply because of the way we interact right now. We're largely sectionalized even in "diverse" communities.

An easy confirmation of this is to simply look inside our penal system. Everyone gets along alright at County. County's not that bad. Once they go upstate, it's every race for themselves.

My suburb census tract is very diverse. About a third white, a third asian, a quarter black and the rest is hispanic. It's been my observation that the only people who stick to themselves in this very diverse neighborhood are the white families. They don't even talk to each other. It's very strange.

White families tend to be single families. Minority families are often several generations and/or branches on the tree. Simply put, there's more "family" in those communities so of course they'll interact more.

[웃 910]

Because hungry people do desperate things.

When do you predict the world will shut down? Within a decade? 50 years? 100?

I personally think our best days are ahead and that last recession will rank top 2 (probably #1 worst) going forward the next 100 years...

[Danno 1,228]

My suburb census tract is very diverse. About a third white, a third asian, a quarter black and the rest is hispanic. It's been my observation that the only people who stick to themselves in this very diverse neighborhood are the white families. They don't even talk to each other. It's very strange.

I have found the exact opposite, for instance, I am occasionally involved in hosting Foreigners who come to this country for a range of purposes.

Last night we had a dinner for all the guests and host families, I can't think of a single non-white family, who hosts people.

Need I remind that Whites are less than 50% here now

There are a number of organizations who take on community projects such as environmental clean ups or going to low income neighborhoods to do light home repairs,painting house cleaning and similar such things. It's starkly obvious the volunteers are nearly all white. (in a city with huge non-white populations)

Last night, I shared a piano bench with a guy from one of the Baltic States also in the room were a variety people, a woman from India, another lady from Uzbekistan, a Guy Omar who appeared to be from Africa.

I'm sure everyone had a great time, it's not that people with great areas of diversity can't get along...at least in the superficial, it's just that it requires something in common....bigger than their diversity,

to bring them together, in large groups and for a meaningful purpose. Often this is a religious or perhaps business interest.

Which brings us back to our topic, I have every reason to believe there will be instances where neighborhoods with some diversity are not going to pull together for the common defense of their area,

but lets not kid ourselves, neighboring areas of different ethnic or racial (and to some degree class) make up are not going to be meeting at the cross roads of town to work together for the sake of all.

Even in the best of times, people tend to gravitate towards those they are most like.

Even neighborhoods which are composed of sizable numbers of different "groups" would see these groups cementing together rather than -The many becoming one.

[Nasturtium 500]

Need I remind that Whites are less than 50% here now

I'm sure AJ is just sobbing right along with you. I mean... wow. I don't judge someone's worth based on their socially assigned race. I do it by whether or not I feel they are an idiot.

[Danno 1,228]

I'm sure AJ is just sobbing right along with you. I mean... wow. I don't judge someone's worth based on their socially assigned race. I do it by whether or not I feel they are an idiot.

"Socially assigned race"??? WTH

So brilliant people have more value to you?

Thats kinda jacked up.

Anyway, if you don't have a sense of humor, I'll rent you one.

Edited April 16, 2011 by Danno

[Nasturtium 500]

"Socially assigned race"??? WTH

So brilliant people have more value to you?

Thats kinda jacked up.

Yes, race is a social construct. That's why the Spanish had over 500 and we have basically 4. It's not biologically determined.

I didn't say anything about intelligence, which can be defined in many ways but to me is working with what you have a decent speed unless you are physically unable to do so in which case it is not your fault anyway. I have known people who are not the brightest but work really hard with what they have. At the same time, I have met people who have a lot of smarts on paper, but who are idiots-- willfully being stupid. F- for attempting to put words into my mouth. I said idiocy, without definition but now is defined for you, was my level of judgement.

[slim 1,530]

When do you predict the world will shut down? Within a decade? 50 years? 100?

Dec. 21, 2012.

I see gas prices shooting up this summer, outrageous inflation and then the dollar losing it's spot as the world's currency. Coupled with a natural disaster (Earthquake, tsunamis, volcanoes - solar flares!) or something like a large war in the Middle East when Iran and Israel go at it (and we have to choose sides *fingers crossed we ally with Russia, China and India*) could all lead to a major shift in the way the world all works together.

What folks in the US fail to realize is we don't have a sustainable society without "the system" in place. Almost every single consumable good - right down to fresh water - is brought in from outside. When the power stops being delivered, so does the gas, so does the food... and so does the very existence of America.

I'm totally serious when I say we're only a week or two from total collapse at any given time. The mesh that holds our society together is a lot weaker than folks give it credit for.

I personally think our best days are ahead and that last recession will rank top 2 (probably #1 worst) going forward the next 100 years...

I hope you're right. I'd love to live out my days eating Five Guys and watching movies on demand. As much as I like to shoot my rifles, I like to shoot them at paper targets out on the range on nice, sunny days. Not shivering in the mud on an empty stomach - at real people - when I haven't slept in days.

neighboring areas of different ethnic or racial (and to some degree class) make up are not going to be meeting at the cross roads of town to work together for the sake of all.

Even neighborhoods which are composed of sizable numbers of different "groups" would see these groups cementing together rather than -The many becoming one.

This is just human nature. Regardless of how advanced we like to think we are, the minute things go bad, people will be white, black, or some shade of brown and most likely they won't be so tolerant as they are today.

Yes, race is a social construct. That's why the Spanish had over 500 and we have basically 4. It's not biologically determined.

Well, regardless of how it's determined, it's going to be fairly obvious, fairly quickly and you're going to be in one of those "basic 4" in a matter of days.

Sure, there will be a few folks who will be welcome - there's always a token family or two in every small town - and then there are those of us who've married someone foreign whose skin color is going to be different from the rest of our community. In those cases, you'll most likely see them "vouched for" by their spouse but when things get bad, really bad, racism is often one of the first things to rear it's ugly head.

The sad fact is here in America, we're still not over it. We probably never will be until we're all brown.

[Ban Hammer 13,429]

I'm totally serious when I say we're only a week or two from total collapse at any given time. The mesh that holds our society together is a lot weaker than folks give it credit for.

we're only one large scale disaster away from watching civilization run backwards 2,000 years in just a few days.

[Nasturtium 500]

Dec. 21, 2012.

LOL

What folks in the US fail to realize is we don't have a sustainable society without "the system" in place. Almost every single consumable good - right down to fresh water - is brought in from outside. When the power stops being delivered, so does the gas, so does the food... and so does the very existence of America.

In those cases, you'll most likely see them "vouched for" by their spouse but when things get bad, really bad, racism is often one of the first things to rear it's ugly head.

The sad fact is here in America, we're still not over it. We probably never will be until we're all brown.

This is true. We now no longer produce nearly enough in relation to what we import. We cannot sustain that. That is simple economics.

I think if there were to be such a scenario, then it would be more about who you know. I have seen a lot of racism issues myself, and it is still there... but I also think it will be more about people protecting theirs and sticking to those they know versus outsiders.

[Nasturtium 500]

we're only one large scale disaster away from watching civilization run backwards 2,000 years in just a few days.

So is that your idea as well? Do you feel the economy and society has become unsustainable? Just curious.

[Ban Hammer 13,429]

So is that your idea as well? Do you feel the economy and society has become unsustainable? Just curious.

one major disaster that affects a large region (volcano, earthquake, monster hurricane) - i believe would see civilization resort to the lowest denominator pretty quick for a while.

but if some hitler wannabe chunked a nuke or two at the major oil fields in the world, we'd all be barbarians by the end of the week.