Tag: self reliance

DOOM PORN AND EMPTY OPTIMISM

Submitted By Hardscrabble Farmer

Doom Porn And Empty Optimism

zerohedge

By Charles Hugh Smith

If we can’t discern the difference between doom-porn and investing in self-reliance, then solutions will continue to be out of reach.

I’m often accused of calling 783 of the last two bubble pops (or was it 789? Forgive the imprecision). Like many others who have publicly explored the notion that the status quo isn’t actually sustainable despite its remarkable tenaciousness, I am pilloried as a doom-and-gloomer (among other things, ahem).

Fair enough, and I’m fine with the doom-and-gloom label (we have more fun!) as a generality. But many take any skepticism of the sustainability of the status quo as extending into some perverse delight in the prospect of collapse leading to a Zombie Apocalypse featuring black gunships and firefights over the planet’s last case of refried beans.

That is a mis-characterization of my premise that whatever is unsustainable eventually unravels. We are not god-like (other than the Federal Reserve, of course), and so our heartfelt desire to render the unsustainable sustainable via the power of empty optimism will fail, as magical thinking can change our internal emotional state (happy happy, it will all work out without any inconvenient sacrifice or change), but it can’t change the real world (alas). Continue reading “DOOM PORN AND EMPTY OPTIMISM”

Today and Yesterday

Guest Post by Walter E. Williams

Today and Yesterday

In matters of race and other social phenomena, there is a tendency to believe that what is seen today has always been. For black people, the socioeconomic progress achieved during my lifetime, which started in 1936, exceeded anyone’s wildest dreams. In 1936, most black people lived in gross material poverty and racial discrimination. Such poverty and discrimination is all but nonexistent today.

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An Inquiry into Values: Men and the Art of Life-Cycle Governance

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

 

Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not. The same particle does not rise from the valley to the ridge. Its unity is only phenomenal.  The persons who make up a nation today, next year die, and their experience dies with them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, paragraph 48.

 

Our current modes of rationality are not moving society forward into a better world. They are taking it further and further from that better world.

Robert M. Pirsig, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, Chapter 10

 

A MAN’S JOURNEY

On April 24th, 2017, an author and philosopher by the name of Robert M. Pirsig passed from this world.  Pirsig, born in 1928, was best known for his 1974 book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” which is a semi-autographical account of his personal philosophical exploration into the concept of “quality”.

At the age of 9, Pirsig’s IQ measured at 170 and, at the age of 15, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota to study biochemistry.  After becoming disillusioned with the validity of the Scientific Method’s ability to genuinely reduce seemingly unlimited numbers of hypotheses, Pirsig’s attention diverted from his studies and, within two years, he was expelled for poor academic performance.  At the age of 18, Pirsig joined the Army and developed an interest in Eastern culture and philosophy while stationed in South Korea.  He eventually returned to college and obtained degrees in chemistry, philosophy, and journalism.  He also studied Oriental philosophy at Benares Hindu University in India.

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Back in the day

Guest Post by Angel from Lonely Libertarian

When I went to school, we had the option to take “electives” including Home Economics (cooking, sewing, budgeting, finances, etc.), auto mechanics (basics of car maintenance), building trades (seriously, if you own a home, you need this), agriculture (care and processing of farm animals and crops). We were all encouraged to take advantage of “real life education”. I took a semester of auto mechanics, a semester of building trades and a semester of home Ec. I can do most auto repairs, run basic wiring and plumbing, replace lighting and plumbing fixtures, frame, drywall, cook, can, budget,  and figure taxes (I’ve never paid to have my taxes done and I’ve never been audited…yet.)
While I had a pretty well-rounded high school education, most of the credit goes to my folks. Mom and Poppy never discouraged me from seeking knowledge, especially if it was useful. And much of my practical education came from my parents and grandmas. I’ve told the story of my first car, I worked years of odd jobs and saved every penny I earned. I paid $2500 cash for my 1965 Mustang. And Poppy took the keys until we went over every inch of it, engine and transmission, and he was satisfied I knew how to take care of it. I rotated my own tires, changed my own oil, belts and hoses. I still do all of my own vehicle maintenance.
Every house I lived in growing up was a “handyman special”. We were very very low income blue collar, but always owned instead of rented. The first house was purchased from an old farmer for $1000 cash and a $10,000 builder’s loan. Two bedroom, one bath, less than 1000 sq ft. Poppy later added a master suite, increasing the square footage to 1200. Total investment was $35,000, they sold it a few years ago after 20 years of being rental property for $98,000. I was too young to do much on that one but fetch tools and carry trash, but the next one was different.

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