"History doesn't care if we're incompetent!
History doesn't care if we make blunders!
History doesn't care if we're sloppy!
History doesn't care if we don't pay attention!"
Mr. Kunstler is explaining to his idiot audience that "history" is a concept, not a person, and that concepts are simply incapable of caring about anything whatsoever. For this, we are to thank him.
The video also features Russian emigre and peak oil "expert" (they're all referred to as "experts" by the Nation, putting two comedians on a par with Noam Chomsky) Dmitry Orlov. I will simply type out a passage in all its jaw-dropping absurdity, and if you can't spot the logical pratfall, then Goddess help you. The issue being described is the proposed upcoming decline of oil production, whether the curve will be "smooth," or something else:
"I've identified many factors that combine in many unpredictable ways. It's really too complicated to predict, but the chance of this very smooth decline I would say is zero. It's going to be a stepwise decline, and various parts of the planet are going to be cut off from transportation fuels permanently."
Only someone of the caliber of Mr. Orlov can give us such a precise figure on a phenomenon that is "too complicated to predict." Unfortunately, he is not so precise about time or place, that is, whether the fuel runs out in Zimbabwe in 2050, or in New Orleans during the next Mardi Gras.
The third comment is short, swift, and hideous. It blasted into the discussion like the Prophet Daniel's rock cut out of a mountain. The particular "Two Beers With Steve" podcast that the comment originally appeared in is called "The Mythology of Progress With John Michael Greer." From Mr. Greer's on-line bio at the Ancient Order of Druids in America:
"He began studying the Golden Dawn tradition of Hermetic spirituality in his teens, and followed the "golden thread" of esoteric teachings into a wide range of related subjects, from martial arts and Asian mystical traditions to environmental science and sacred geometry."
I was eager to hear a self-professed "Archdruid" lecture us about our myths. Here's Greer's line, quoted in the previous day's post:
"Most of the people who are currently dependent upon drugs for survival are going to die."
One observation about this will suffice: Every person on The Oil Drum who responded to my excoriation of this comment DEFENDED Greer.
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