One of the more interesting factors about becoming a Digital Recluse is the fact that one's flow of information is largely informed by the indicators that one sees and by who one follows. It strikes me that this is the way things used to work once upon a time before the advent of the InterWeb or even of the concept of a media: indicators were the signs the weather and the wildlife and people and goods one was familiar with and information was exchanged with ones friends and neighbors in the vicinity.
By either metric, I get the idea that folks are none too happy out there.
On the indicator front the economic news, from what I can see in the markets and reporting, seems to look a bit silly. And concerning. A Brick and Mortar game store in an age of games delivered by e-mail rises 34% in value before crashing, driven up by a whipped up InterWeb Craze. An Oil pipeline is canceled and not surprisingly jobs are lost; no idea what those folks will do nor do I get the impression that a whole lot of individuals that said they were for "working folk" care whether or not they find other jobs. Rent and loan repayments continue to be deferred, the elephant in the room that everyone knows will have to be dealt with some day although no-one is willing to say how. And, of course, the continuing course of the economic woes driven by The Plague.
On the "informed by who you know" front, there is a certain tension running between the lines, a sense that something is going to happen - waiting to happen - and that it is just a matter of time before it does. Or a complete decision to go very, very quiet. And some of this people that on the whole, I would consider sane and thoughtful individuals.
These are only impressions of course, vague reflections of events as seen by those that I follow. And of course depending on your sample size, it will definitely impact how your data appears - so there is not necessarily a great deal to read into it other than "interesting" (On the informed by who you know part. The economic indicators seem a lot more solid - and alarming).
But interestingly, the other sense I get - rather an overwhelming one - is the sense of a lot of people getting their houses in order.
They are doing it quietly, on the side, not advertising it out in the big wide world (but thankfully, they do write about it and thanks to the InterWeb we can benefit from them). In some sense just getting on with their lives, but in another getting on with them the way individuals that expect a long bad winter or a merciless summer do.
With determination. With a quiet, grim speed. And with a silent efficiency.
This is the sort of thing, were I in a position of power or authority, that would worry me. It is not when people are out complaining or yelling that there is a real issue. It is when they have gone silent but you know there are steadily busy in the background doing things - things that they are not talking about.
Because they are no longer talking to you or the larger society. They are working as if you did not have the ability to impact their lives.
In this case of course, it can be nothing nefarious. Folks plant gardens or make things (candles, for example) or do home and property improvements or learn a new skill or even save money. All quite legal and proper. But they are not out there talking about it or advertising it on Social Media, making a production about what they have done. They just quietly carry on doing it.
Sometimes, you can learn a lot by simply stopping and listening to what is around you instead of always training your eyes over the horizon.
These things are always nasty, TB. There is that awful point where you look at someone not as a family member, or a friend or a countryman... and you realize he is actually an adversary. For whatever reason he hates you, and he will act against you with deliberate malice and intent... and the only way forward is to reciprocate. There is no common ground, it’s scorched earth and that’s it.
ReplyDeleteGlen, it certainly - in a strange, horrible way - makes how civil disruptions occur. The individual becomes in a way not the individual but a representative of something - an idea, a thought, a belief - and in the moment loses their "person-ness". Which is then responded to, I guess. And thus, the cycle.
DeleteOne of the most important things my dad taught me, was to watch the horse's ears. They are a prey animal. They have permanent PTSD, so they don't miss much. They have decent eyes and excellent hearing. When those ears are pointed in the same direction as their eyes, take note.
ReplyDeleteYou are describing what we learned to do as a kid. Watch mom and dad, and you can even do it subconsciously. You pick up the mood, and work accordingly. If mom is about to blow a gasket, you tread lightly.
Proles know how to do that in society, the oligarchy doesn't. Gott protect the remnant...
The martial arts equivalent (which I sure you know, based on your training) is "situational awareness", sometimes referred to in Japanese as "zanshin".
DeleteRabbits are also excellent animals at this, as is any prey animal.
Glad it is not just my overactive imagination.
Very astute, TB. It seems to me that we live in a world of two realities. In one reality, folks are crowing about how relieved everyone is over the election results and that life can now move on in unity and civility. In the other, for example, popular seed companies have to shut down their websites after being overwhelmed with seed orders. Am I wrong in thinking that things just don't add up?
ReplyDeleteThank you Leigh!
DeleteNot having really "followed the news" except in driblets over the last 1.5 weeks, I get the impression that there is a significant situational dissonance, which you very aptly describe: one group going on as if the world has turned the corner one way, the other as if world has turned a corner another way. Both groups are choosing to put their interpretation on the same set of events; which one is the correct one? I do not think both can be true at the same time.
I have grown tired of the changing of Current Occupants mainly for the tit for tat legislation that always follows, even if the deeper repercussions are against everything they stand for as a party. It is divisive. If it were me and I think the pipeline needed to be canceled, I would not do so without a solution for keeping those folks employed in other sectors. "I'm sorry you can't use that bulldozer anymore to lay a pipe, but say, would you be so kind to use it to make stable bases for the wind turbine industry?" You create a lot less enemies that way and who knows, maybe some loyal voters in the future.
ReplyDeleteSadly as Glen illustrates, it just scorched earth policies.
Ed, we have become a political system much more about statements than actual policy. In theory this is what the concept of "the party platform" and a non-political civil service and some kind of shared understanding was supposed to protect against. It has failed, as party platforms become more extreme, the civil service politically motivated, and a ceasing of a shared interest and the concept of "we".
DeleteThis is not unknown in representative democracies. As the shared interest fails, the role of the individual leader - the "dictator" in Latin - become more important. And then the next one comes which has to undo the previous policies to maintain their support (or else they will be disposed of). Oscillations continue to be greater and greater, until finally society is divided into two or more elements, both of whom come to see each other as "the enemy".
The reality is that a society cannot continually tear into itself and have any hope of surviving.
Indeed, TB; I'm seeing the same thing. Did you read "Alas, Babylon?" Mark Bragg told Randy Bragg that he knew something was coming. How? Usually there was the back and forth saber rattling between the U.S. and the USSR. That chatter had gone silent, and that's how Mark knew something was up.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I'd been reduced, by certain people, to some kind of proxy for every person who voted for Trump. Some felt they could get away with it because I was family, while others had no real interaction with me, and felt they could unload on me without "losing anything." The latter I just looked at, shook my head, and walked away. The former... well, they know not to do that anymore... 'Bet they didn't see THAT coming...
It is indeed the "indicators" I watch, TB. In short, I believe what I see going on right in front of my eyes, in my own neighborhood, and in my own town. There's a subtle undertow... not unlike the drawback before a tsunami...
Pete, I have read it and I do remember that line. It is not any different from a failing marriage, really: when the partners stop talking entirely, the end of nigh.
DeleteThis "attacking by proxy" - on either side - is exactly the sort of thing that tears people apart, not together. Assuming that someone is "something" because of one or more opinions they hold (or you think they hold) is foolishness. I say that as someone that has made that mistake in the past, not truly grasping "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
If these are the indicators you watch too, then I feel that I am in good company - and that my eyes (and that indeterminate "sense") are not failing me. A tsunami may not be a bad comparison...
I had just posted a comment on one of Glen's latest posts about the "persona" being the mask that actors wear, and that personality is the mask that we all wear. It is in looking behind and beyond the mask that we find the heart and the truth.
ReplyDeleteAs for indicators, I'm seeing and hearing a lot of silence, a very ominous silence that is more disconcerting than anything else. It's not the clumsy attempts at censorship, it's so many of the voices I used to read frequently that are utterly silent. It makes the tsunami reference as apt as anything else.
Greg, I think the current environment encourages the wearing of masks as the risk of being one's self is just too great - if one is to be metaphorically driven from civilization, why bother? To quote The Penguins of Madagascar, "Smile and wave boys, smile and wave."
DeleteYou make a great point - it is not the enforced silence of censorship as it is the chosen silence of non-communication. Ominous indeed.
Indicators?
ReplyDeleteThere is no physical silver to be purchased in the land.
Every shelf empty (digital shelf).
I purchased another 100 ounces on Friday, the purchase order was verified, but I haven't seen it on my doorstep yet. Perhaps they will cancel and horde it, perhaps I got the last shipment out. There are signs everywhere that the game is up, or close to it.
Just So - It certainly seems like something is up, does it not. I just read about the silver imbroglio this Sunday and all of a sudden, here we are (yes, physical possession beats everything else). Glad you got your order in; hopefully it will make its way to you.
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