Since I'm new around here I don't yet know what types of articles and essay's you folks like to read. I found this book a few weeks ago and just got around to reading it yesterday. It has nothing to do with survival and preps as we might normally discuss here. It's one mans view of what's wrong with our system and how it got to this point. The general premise is "The Elite vs. The Average Citizen" and how difficult it can be to break free of this trap because the status quo has become comfortable for most people. I enjoyed it so I thought I'd pass it on.
It's 118 pages so you'll need to set aside some time to get through it.
I pulled out a few paragraphs to give you an idea of the type of read it is.
The first task is replacing the crumbling intellectual framework of the present status quo system with one grounded in reality.
There are five distinct issues to sort out:
1.The elements of human nature which lend themselves to cycles and manipulation
2.The nature of the energy, financial and environmental trends/crises which are heralding the Great Transformation
3.The nature of the negative and positive feedback loops which determine the system's stability and direction
4.The responses which have a high probability of making the Transformation positive
5.The nature of future work and the skillsets best suited to prospering during the Great Transformation
If we mischaracterize the nature of the crises and fail to grasp the forces powering these trends, then we will select inappropriate responses which will not prepare us to prosper. If we fail to understand how the status quo benefits various Elites, then we will inaccurately frame the "problems" and reach guaranteed-to-fail "solutions."
You may well disagree with much or perhaps most of this book; that's fine, because the primary goal of the book is to spark a reappraisal of our situation and generate practical responses. I don't claim to have "the answer," or even answers; what I hope to present is a way of thinking about the challenges which is more productive than the status quo.
You may also find some of the ideas presented here difficult to accept. None of us like to think of ourselves as debt-serfs (yes, I have a mortgage, too), yet how can we move forward if we cannot be honest about our responsibilities and dilemmas? We are all vulnerable to groupthink, propaganda and marketing at various times; there is no shame in simply being human.
Some of you may find parts of the analysis smacking of warmed-over Marxism, while an equal number may find certain sections "right-wing." This urge to categorize any idea or analysis ideologically is part of the simulacrum of thinking we accept as "obvious"-- the largely unconscious politics of experience. That much of what we accept as "obvious" might be wrong is deeply unsettling. The entire book is here.
http://www.oftwominds.com/survival-plus1.html
