Ebola.
ISIS coming across the Southern Border.
Russia and NATO facing off.
China overtaking the US as the world’s biggest economy.
The U.S. still apparently in some kind of recession, with some people predicting more bubbles to burst.
Disastrous weather systems dropping huge floods on the Southwestern U.S.
Enterovirus killing kids across the Midwest.
Is it all really starting to close in on us?
Or are we just more aware in the modern era due to the internet and things have always been this bad?
Is the current administration to blame, or have we just forgotten that we were having these same fears during the last administration?
Ever seen V for Vendetta? They bombard the population with horrible news stories about crime, disease, economic collapse, water shortages, etc. so the people remember why they need government.
Most likely a combination of readily available information (opinions for the most part) via the Internet, CNN, Fox…; sensationalism to sell more copy and add space; focus on bad things to sell more copy and add space and propaganda/distraction.
I seriously doubt that the average reality TV watching FSA member is more aware of important stuff than say the ole buck tooth hillbilly during the Great Depression.
Doc-
YES, is the answer. YES…things really, truly are that bad. And YES, we are more aware, because things really truly are THAT bad. And even tho they do…there is no need at all for the “media” to sensationalize any aspect of the dangers and problems we as a nation, and world face. We are living in an eighties sci-fi movie right freakin now.
It isn’t as bad as some people think. It is worse than others think.
But it isn’t any worse than it has been in the past. You should read the opening to Mel Tappan’s Survival Guns. It WAS going to be TEOTWAWKI. He laid it all out.
We are all still here, most of us richer than we were then, more well armed and with better TV shows to watch (:D) and some people are still afraid that it is going to be TEOTWAWKI in just a few blank.
There is no harm in being prepared, but there is on not living and enjoying what time you have now for fear of what may come.
Because tomorrow might not be here, but it is much more likely to come via cancer or heart attack or car wreck or something like that than dying of Ebola or the US becoming a 3rd world country or the total collapse of the world economy and a Mad Max/Road/Fallout/Book of Eli type scenario.
Things are bad, but there’s also outrageous “news” media slant to keep people constantly scared and pushed into doing things that rich and powerful people want them to do, but aren’t in their own interests.
Economically, our main issues are stupid trade treaties (Ross Perot was right on NAFTA, and the WTO is worse yet), a fiat currency reaching its normal end of life, and genuinely diminishing supplies of oil, coal, and other important natural resources. Yeah, people like to claim we aren’t using what we have, but as just one example, the best coal mined today in the US (or almost anywhere else) was considered worthless junk a century ago. Nearly all the really good coal (anthracite) has been mined and burned. The oil situation should be obvious too, unless you fall into the half-truths regarding the Bakken shale (it is a welcome temporary resource, but it won’t last more than 5 years at current production rates, and only 10-15 as economically significant).
Nature always has the last laugh. California’s drought may or may not be climate change - it may be just reversion to the normal for many centuries before white settlement. But whatever the cause, California and many other parts of the west are looking at a permanent water shortage that probably is not fixable. Just one example.
On the flip side, a lot of supposed political issues are just stupid. ISIS is no threat to the US. Terrorism in general isn’t much threat to us. Even including 9/11, your risk of dying from a terrorist attack is incredibly tiny compared to all other risks to your life.
Countries, as political entities, have lifespans just like people do, and the USA is running towards the end of its expected lifespan. That doesn’t mean we’re all going to die, but it does mean the country is going to change radically, probably in our lifetimes, and however it comes about (even if peaceful, as with the USSR’s fall) a lot of people are likely to die as a result (as did with the USSR’s fall).
It’s fun to sensationalize on message boards guessing as to what will happen with Ebola, ISIS, et. al., but as you note it’s something more mundane that is likely to kill us. We need to be more defensive drivers. We all need to eat better, and exercise more I’m sure. Those are probably our biggest threats individually and collectively.
Nonetheless, the idea of a marauding terrorist organization swooping up cash from banks, materiel left in Iraq and other places by us and other armies, taking over swaths of the middle east all while beheading people publicly certainly does get one’s attention.
It’s been better and worse. I still don’t think today is as screwed up as 1969 with the SLA shootout with the LAPD, the formation of the Weather Underground, the subversive elements of the civil rights movement and the hippie culture and cult of the Manson murders.
While society as a whole might have been nicer in the 1930s, the government was implementing an actual program of eugenics where those deemed “indigent” could be forcibly sterilized by the government despite having committed no actual crimes. Germany modeled their “eugenics” program on the one pioneered in the UK and implemented in the US. The whole depression and “public enemy number one” gangsters probably was worse than many of the problems we face today.
Quality of life in the US is a bit like stock market prices, sometimes it’s way up and it seems everyone is winning and sometimes it’s way down and it seems like we exist to satisfy our overlords. Sadly we seem to have very little control over the direction we’d like to send it and a huge population of “gimme free shit” morons support everything our overlords suggest would benefit them directly now without drawing attention to the consequences.
Nobody seems to understand that EVERYONE pays for free shit, and that includes those who receive the free shit. They pay in loss of jobs available, loss of money that could instead be used to improve their community and create employment opportunities. And they pay in loss of freedoms and the ability to meaningfully direct the future of their children in ways they deem productive. And of course they will never be told and even if they discover the cost at that point they are “locked in” and it’s harder to break out of a welfare cycle than it is to break out of jail. Your entire existence has become dependent upon it and you will actually be penalized for productivity, responsibility and initiative.
Well it’s not like we’re in a Great Depression and living hand to mouth. It’s also not like we’re at war with a belligerent nation that has an equal or greater military capacity, with no certainty that we’ll prevail.
However, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen such political apathy or fragmentation of our society. With the globalization of our economy and wealth, we seem to be even more susceptible to pandemic or economic collapse. It’s amazing how a seemingly small confluence of events can begin a cascade effect.
I’d say that while we’re actually better off than we’ve been in the past, that seems to fill us with fear and foreboding at the same time. I’m not sure what to make of that yet.
Polarized politics had a lot to do with it. While we were no fan of Carter or Clinton and those on the left thought little of Ford and Reagan the perception of a “stolen election” during the Bush / Gore contest really set the stage for the creation of “us” and “them” camps. Both parties seemingly radicalized with an agenda to punish, rather than represent, the “other” Americans. And it has gotten progressively worse ever since.
Except of course with the actual leadership who engages in political theater for the masses while coordinating for “their” benefit behind the scenes.
Keep ur power dry, it will be coming to a city near you: Ferguson / Saint Louis Protestors Burn The USA Flag – “this is not our flag” – Occupy “Ferguson October” Begins Today…
Some of you guys should have been here in the 1960’s & 70’s, LOL. Many (maybe even most) of this forum’s membership weren’t even born yet. Assinations, serious widespread civil unrest and Viet Nam. What a party! I truely believed then that I would not live past 30 and I am still here 40 years later, an old fat cat.
Just remember, however bad it is at any given point in time, it can always get worse. But truly long term things almost always get better overall. Would you rather be alive during the Dark Ages?
taxes for business and personal are more than they were and less to show for it business are way tougher than they were even 30 years ago
the gov and its corruption is way out of control and things like check point stops and stuff is crossing the line
like my being a kid post you can just go fishing anymore with out all kinds of lic and registrations and stuff
I used to be able to bring my gun to HS !!!
these days everything is PC policed to the point of insanity
when the ft hood shooting is workplace violence I think that is all we need to know where things are going with the PC ! and why your rights are under attack to get guns away from you
its not about weather or anything like that its about our freedoms
I used to tease my wife (Canadian) about her funny money not being worth as much and the health care and other things now things are flopped around basically and Canada has not risen !!! its the US has fallen
While I was not, I am a good enough student of history and a good enough listener to know about it.
I talked to both of my parents about “the good ole days”.
They weren’t all that good.
Yes, you could leave your doors unlocked - Because no one had anything worth stealing
No, there weren’t people living off the government - Because they just starved to death or sold their children/gave them up
Yes, people were in better shape - Because people only ate meat on Sundays, the rest of the time they had milk and cornbread or nothing
Yes, there was less unemployment - Because people were doing menial low paying jobs like picking/chopping cotton and doing piece work at the local “pajama factory” and share cropping
Yes there were fewer people on drugs - Because the drugs weren’t around, instead people got drunk and beat their wives/kids (my Grandfather) and nothing was done about it
There wasn’t as much bad stuff in the news - Most people didn’t have a TV to even know if the news was even reporting it and if they did it might pick up one station or maybe 2 if you lived on a hill
Combine all this with nearly subsistence farming, no indoor plumbing, no air conditioning and a lack of educational opportunities and it really used to SUCK way more in the Southern US than it does now. If my Father had been born even the same time I was, he would probably have been either a nationally recognized artist/car designer or he would have been a mechanical engineer like me. My Father was nearly a genius in math and he could draw/carve anything without ever having any training. I am only a faint echo of his talents.
I would much rather live with the crap that I hear/see and experience now than to live the way my parents and grandparents did.
Heck, I was born in 1973 and I can vaguely remember some of the crap that was going on then. I also remember going to school with patches on my pants, not because it was cool, but because I was the 3rd person to wear those pants being handed down to me from 2 older cousins. We didn’t go on an actual vacation (Great Smokey Mtns) until 1981 and that was only 4 days and we stayed in a Family Inn. I also remember getting a large portion of my toys 2nd hand from yard sales and hand me downs and my parents BOTH had excellent union jobs working for South Central Bell/Bellsouth/AT&T and both retired from there. I don’t see or know of any of the children in my life that have to do this today.
Unfortunately people always remember the good times from the past and only worry about the bad times that might occur in the future without realizing how good they have it right now.
