Off the keyboard of RE
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on April 15. 2014
Last Sunday Night Mike Ruppert committed Suicide.
For those of you who don’t know who Mike Ruppert was, he was one of the first bloggers to investigate the ramifications of declining energy production, as well as someone who constantly questioned the narrative offered up in the MSM as explanation for things like the 9-11 destruction of the World Trade Center. Some would call him a “Conspiracy Theorist”. More like Conspiracy FACT, but that is a subject for another post.
Like many other bloggers and researchers looking at the problems we face now, Mike became increasingly upset and depressed over the progress and the lack of any real initiatives to try to deal with this stuff in a coherent manner. This is evident in the progress of his writing over the last couple of years, and his demeanor in his podcasts on the Lifeboat Hour, his web based radio show.
Mike isn’t the first Blogger/Pundit to commit suicide in recent years, Matt Simmons also took his own life back in august of 2010. Perhaps even more disturbing is the constant talk of Suicide and Hospicing on Nature Bats Last, Guy McPherson’s blog which concerns itself mainly with Climate Change and the hypothesis that we are on the cusp of Near Term Human Extinction, by mid-century if you accept the arguments made that this is an inevitable outcome.
Not unrelated to this outcome is the fact Carolyn Baker was the first Collapse Blogger to break the news of Mike’s suicide. Carolyn posts regularly on Nature Bats Last, often these days with the explicit theme of Hospicing for people who have incurable illnesses and finding a comfortable way to walk into the Great Beyond. The clear analogy being made here is that the entire Human Race is in need of Hospicing, as we are all condemned to imminent Death under the scenario of Near Term Human Extinction. The difference of course is that while an individual can have a fairly certain diagnosis of Imminent Death in some circumstances, it is hardly a provable certainty that 100% of Homo Sapiens are destined for Death inside 30-40 years or so. Really, even in the case of individuals diagnosed with various forms of inoperable and untreatable Cancers, rarely is there 100% certainty of Death. “Miraculous” remissions do occur with virtually all forms of cancer, though granted at relatively small percentages of the afflicted people.
For the really depressed person though who sees NO ESCAPE from imminent Death and who becomes more focused on getting out of pain or avoiding future pain they are certain is coming down the pipe, the ideas of Hospicing and Suicide become attractive alternatives. The idea here is to Accept Death and become OK with it, and pulling your own plug at a time of your own choosing is a kind of Empowerment for an an individual who feels disempowered by the seemingly hopeless situation they are immersed in.
Everybody should have the right to pull their own plug if they so choose, I have no problem with that idea. What I do find to be worrisome is a developing zeitgeist which tacitly encourages suicide as an option, because people who sink into depression are very vulnerable and can and probably do latch onto this idea as rationale for the behavior.
There is little doubt that as a whole the World and the Human Race are in a World of Shit, and it is pretty easy these days to throw up your hands and say it is all utterly hopeless. Climate Change, Fukushima, Global Wars over resources, Drought, Famine…all you gotta do is read the Newz on any given day and you can hear the Thunder of the Hoofbeats of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Many times in my articles and comments in the Collapse Blogosphere I have used the iconic quote from The Sixth Sense, “I See Dead People”.
Today, Mike Ruppert is one of those Dead People. While he was alive, Mike Ruppert made a difference, many people who otherwise would not be aware of the problems which face us now are aware of them because once there was Mike Ruppert walking the earth, passing on to others what he saw and what he learned.
For those of us not yet counted amongst the Dead People, we still have choices to make, and the biggest choice of all is whether you live to fight another day, or whether you give up the fight, hospice yourself and wait for death, or hurry it along with a Bullet meets Brain combination.
I won’t make a judgement here on Mike’s choice, but for me I don’t see hurrying the trip to the Great Beyond as near appropriate yet. There is a good long ways to go here between now and Human Extinction, even under the most rapid of scenarios. The End Game is NOT written in Stone, and each person can still make a Difference, if not for the World at large at least for the people they know, love and care for. Mike had a clear voice, and it would have been nice if he could have found it within himself to speak a bit longer, but that is not the choice he made.
For those of us not yet Dead, we still have choices to make.
RE
matt simmons didn’t take his own life, he drowned in his hot tub while having what was likely a mild heart attack.
ruppert taking his own life saddens me greatly.
i remember the first time i saw/heard him, he was part of Aaron Russo’s Freedom to Fascism (documentary on the Federal Reserve). he was a “truther” which turns many people off but his testimony and whistleblowing about the CIA and the drug war opened a lot of eyes.
i will be reading more about it because without knowing the details i won’t rule out foul play.
I just Amazoned to Kindle his ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ on Sunday. I remember well the videos of his confrontation as an LA cop with CIA Director John Deutch that resulted in the latters termination from that criminal organization. Powerful stuff.
He was a major voice amongst Truthers and we need more of them and not less.
I have followed Michael Ruppert for several years and have used material from Crossing the Rubicon and Collapse in my classes when covering 9/11 the War on Terror and Peak Oil. He will indeed be missed.
A Tribute from one follower of liberty to another, two song from the British band, The Levellers:
Liberty Song:
One Way:
Aaah. Can’t get the songs to embed. Not the most tech savy. Let me try links:
Liberty Song:
http://youtu.be/lDnnYTQ8Pi8
One Way:
Ok, that worked. Let me try Liberty Song again:
http://youtu.be/lDnnYTQ8Pi8
Thought I would add a link to a great article from the Mises Institute on the Levellers movement of the English Civil War period as an early Libertarian Movement. I think their views on individual freedom and justice would have fit very well with Michael Rupperts world view and of many in the modern liberty movement.
https://mises.org/daily/6704/Englands-Levellers-The-Worlds-First-Libertarian-Movement
R.I.P. Michael Ruppert.
Those that believe in reincarnation say it is the WORST thing to do to take your own life. It sets you back many lifetimes and I for one don’t want to be reborn into this God-forsaken world any more times than it takes to be ‘released’. We all have a purpose in being here and must live out our lifetimes. But having said and believing in that, it’s no wonder even more people aren’t checking out early given the trying times we live in.
CNN reported that an average 22 veterans are committing suicide EVERY DAY.
Depends who you want to believe on Matt Simmons. Maybe he drowned accidentally, maybe Suicide, maybe Assisted Suicide. Perhaps there were no Nail Guns available in his house.
RE
The first time I heard about Mike Ruppert was in the documentary collapse. I don’t know many people who can sit in front of a camera for over an hour talking about the peak oil issue (or any issue) and not become redundant. His passing is too sad.
Redundancy is a major problem throughout the Collapse Blogosphere. Just about everyone from Kunstler to Greer to Orlov writes the same things over and over again now, there isn’t much to be said that hasn’t been said already. The seminal books by Joseph Tainter, Jared Diamond and Jim’s favorites Strauss & Howe have all been quoted a million times already. What is there more to be said anymore?
At this point either you buy it and start doing something or you just sit on your ass and wait for the Collapse to come to a Theatre Near You.
RE
“Redundancy is a major problem throughout the Collapse Blogosphere”
It is true. Finding different approaches is hard to accomplish. Different ideas or new ways to explain problems is difficult.
I’m not sure that different or new ways to explain Collapse would do any good. It’s not that the information is inaccessible, it’s that the message regardless of how it is presented is something people just don’t want to hear or believe.
The changes that have to be made are too substantive, and the reduction in standard of living for even the average still employed J6P too big to accept for most people. The way Work and Housing are distributed out is all wrong and can’t be sustained without the automobile infrastructure that can’t be maintained anymore. You can say this in a dozen different ways, academically like Greer or with creative prose like Kunstler or with a raft of graphs like Jim or with Gonzo like me, but the general population doesn’t WANT to hear this message.
If you do get the message, then you have to do something about it yourself, in your own situation within your own parameters. Rehashing it remains important to hopefully make more people aware as time goes by, but at this point if you do know what is going on you have to take some kind of action for yourself and your family.
RE
This is profoundly sad for myself, as well as many, many others who will learn of this. I met him when he was in the Bay Area and speaking to OVER-FLOWING auditoriums, STANDING ROOM ONLY venues. Standing ovations were the rule at the conclusion of his brilliant talks.
He had a first-rate analytical mind & a nearly photographic memory & recall, which was part of what made him LAPD’s #1 detective year after year.
It’s hard for me to believe there wasn’t someone near him who cared enough to stop him.
I’ve had depressed people talk to me about suicidal impulses they have, and I always stress that when those feelings return, s/he MUST call on me at any time of day or night. Sometimes they were students, sometimes friends, clients, or acquanitances, but it’s crucial that we take all such people at their word, and let them know we are HERE for them.
Perhaps this was meant to look to be suicide: there were many insiders who wished him dead. Very troubling, sad news….
His ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ was way out front in the day, changed my entire world view, one succinct chapter at a time. For years he reported attempts(perceived) on his life, including poisonings. A true Son of Liberty, she will need replacements.
This is just too sad. More horrible news everyday.
“Redundancy is a major problem throughout the Collapse Blogosphere”. Yes, indeed. I suspect the repetition is a function of inaction. Hence we have numerous videos from “Loose Change” to the Italian “Zero” all demonstrating the absurdity of the “official” story of 9/11, a subject which Rupert opened up very early on, but there is no attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice since they are too big to jail. So the same evidence gets rehashed and rehashed again as if each restatement of the incriminating facts could in itself be some substitute for taking action. And what do we do when the various frauds on Wall Street come to light? Often the preferred response is to write more laws and regulations while ignoring the possibility that sufficient codes may exist already to trigger some high profile indictments. The CEO’s been caught passing insider information to his nephew the stockbroker while playing tennis in the Hamptons…Oh Golly, we’ll have to pass a law requiring CEOs to refrain from such conduct while playing tennis…nothing at all on the books about tennis courts. Oh look, Scotus says corporations are people and money is a form of speech. Damn, we’d better have a Constitutional amendment to clear that up immediately. While we’re at it, we better make sure that cats and dogs aren’t considered people either. If they get to vote, who knows what will happen? The founding fathers seem to have left out so much!.
I suppose all one can do is build as strong and independent a community as possible. The problem is that the deluded sociopaths in government are capable of doing damage on such a large scale that no separate peace is really possible. The wilds of Alaska aren’t that far from Fukishima.
Not much you can do about Fukushima, but you can create airtight domes to do indoor hydroponics and recycle your water and keep your exposure down to a minimum if you are unlucky enough to have a cloud blow by with some hot rainfall. In fact I just got back from TX where me and a few other Diners spent a week learning how to build ferrocement domes. 🙂 More on that coming on the Diner when I have time to go through my pics and vids.
The key here is Building Community from the Grassroots level Up, rather than trying to make changes from the Top Down, which just ain’t gonna happen. The bozos at the top will keep runniing the show until it runs straight off a cliff, at which point they will become rather insignificant. To run a global military empire takes a lot of complex systems to maintain, and when key nodes give out, the whole system goes kaput.
I actually feel a lot more upbeat and positive these days, as building community is really quite a bit of fun overall. 🙂
RE
R.I.P. Mike – you will be greatly missed.
I suppose you’re right, RE. I certainly would never trade my New England community with its local resources for a return to Megalopolis. We certainly have more fun though we’re a far cry from self sufficient. One can only hope that our “political Leaders” can perceive through the dim light of their reptilian brains some of the ecological dangers confronting us and do something to avert destruction. I most worry about numerous Fukishimas ulcerating across the landscape in the event of a general breakdown. I read a lot of history, but I don’t believe I’ve ever found evidence of an obliviousness equal to that of the grifters and Neocon ideologues who currently populate Washington. Evil motherf$$kers, yes, but nothing to compare to the insouciance of these fools whose propaganda seems to have worked better on themselves than anybody. Which, I suppose, is your point. I hope to hear more about those domes.