Comments | gwendally: Money, Energy & Medicine

gwendally

Money, Energy & Medicine

Jun 20, 2010 14:44

I've got a jumble forming in my head that I want to capture for a moment.

I was at a hippie conference yesterday where someone was earnestly explaining that we can all live happily in a post-peak-oil world without excess energy. ( I disagreed. )

death, marxt, wwo, values, unicorns, aging parents, health care reform

Comments 21

soldiergrrrl June 20 2010, 19:00:11 UTC

OMG so much rage. I *LOATHE* it when people tell me we're not all incredibly dependent on Big Medicine, as you put it. Preventative care is great, and I'm a HUGE fan of prophylactic measures, but NO matter how many freakin' kitten I pet, or how much B12 I take, the medicine that keeps me functioning isn't found in nature. It's found in a lab, and I want to stab people if they want to tell me that my depression and PTSD would be fixed by a whatever unicorn pee they're drinking.

Sorry. This message brought to you by the letter Oh Em Eff Gee.

(ETA the "want to" in front of "stab," lest you think I'm much crazier than I am. :-D)

rev_mac June 20 2010, 19:57:13 UTC

MMMMmmmm, fermented unicorn pee! :)

soldiergrrrl June 20 2010, 19:58:22 UTC

Nothing but the *best* fermented unicorn pee, thank you very much!

rev_mac June 20 2010, 20:04:22 UTC

I recommend Beagle's The last Unicorn Fermented Unicorn Pee.

Thread 9

rev_mac June 20 2010, 20:01:53 UTC

"...it wouldn't work in THEIR specific case."

Ah, but other people should do it, maybe even be forced to do it (but not them).

They are willing to talk about the problems but not actually be part of a solution, particularly if it will be inconvenient for them. Yup, they are so screwed.

darksumomo June 20 2010, 20:07:37 UTC

Thank you for demonstrating that there are still at least a few people on the Right (I hope you don't mind me identifying you as such) who are rational and have a firm grasp on reality. The latter are the kinds of conservatives I grew up with, and I miss. I almost never see them any more.

As for the hippies, they are, IMHO, a bunch of woo-woos who are still hoping for a green nirvana. They are kind of irrational and overly idealistic people who make what passes for the Left in this country look bad--and I'm saying that as someone who now identifies as a liberal. They really haven't thought things all the way through. At least you seem to. Good for you.

prester_scott June 20 2010, 20:13:42 UTC

I still don't think most of the people who are (or seem to be) looking forward to peak oil, the decline of the global economy, high technology, etc., have really accepted that the hyperbolic increase in the world population over the past century or two is directly related to these factors. In other words, if/when we run out of oil and/or "return to the earth," there will be a massive die-off. Should there be a "crash," maybe 9 out of 10 people alive at that time will die -- some immediately, most far sooner than they otherwise would have -- and they will not be replaced. Malthusians who think this is just peachy will not be so quick to let their own aging parents or ailing children go.

exvapi June 20 2010, 20:47:56 UTC

Considering, I'm all for big medicine, even it it is currently kicking my ass.

gwendally June 20 2010, 21:00:20 UTC

You have an ass to kick because of Big Medicine.

If a side effect gets you it won't be Big Medicine gone wrong, it will be cancer having snuck past the guard to get you anyway.

Poor people can feel so smug about their superiority over wealthy people, wanting less, etc etc etc. But my experience is that poor and rich are exactly alike when their three year old has peritonitis.