Collapse Wallops

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I went right over to my favorite Starbucks work station (at Bay and Cumberland) right after seeing Chris Smith's Collapse, which jolted and melted me down like no documentary has in a long, long while. And as I started to work on a reaction piece, I discovered that Hollywood Elsewhere had gone down. Yes, again. A similar-type wipeout happened last April, and there's just no alternative at this stage but to sign up with another server, which I'm in the process of doing. HE is back up again, but that's all she wrote for the Houston-based Orbit/The Planet.

Michael Ruppert

Back to Collapse...

Shot over a two-day period last March, Collapse is basically a Spalding Gray-like soliloquy piece in which Michael Ruppert, a former LA police officer turned independent reporter, author and truth teller, explains in a blunt spoken, highly detailed and extremely persuasive way that our economic and energy-using infrastructure is on the verge of worldwide collapse.

There's too much debt, too much greed, not enough oil and it's all going to start falling apart -- in fits and starts, bit by bit and then more and more, and then eventually...well, look out. A vast and terrible turnover that will devastate and destruct is just around the corner. Ten years, twenty years...forget it. I listened and listened to what Ruppert said, and "a hard rain's gonna fall" ain't the half of it. A survivable scenario, but a very different and much tougher world awaits.

Before I saw Collapse I would have readily agreed with the view that things are very, very bad in terms of the world's economic and energy scenarios. After seeing Collapse I'm 95% convinced that we're on the brink of Armageddon -- that we're truly and royally fucked. Get hold of as many organic vegetable seeds as you can and start growing your own food. Hey, Viggo...nice shopping cart!

The 5% of me that isn't fully convinced has concerns about Ruppert's personality and temperament, which seem a little bit wiggy at times. He's been called a 9/11 Truther and, according to a CBC News summary, "claims to have met one of JFK's shooters." He seems stable and knowledgable enough and is obviously quite bright, but he chain smokes, is having trouble paying his rent, and is clearly emotionally distraught over the data he's gathered and the information he's sharing. Collapse gets into his head and soul the way Erroll Morris's The Fog of War burrowed into Robert McNamara.

The reason I'm only 5% concerned with Ruppert is because he fits the paradigm of other crazy prophets who've been right. He's the aged soothsayer who went up to Julius Caesar and said "beware the Ides of March." He's Elijah, the man in rags who warned Ishmael in John Huston's Moby Dick that "there will come a day when ye shall smell land but there will be no land, and on that day Ahab will go to his grave...but within the hour he will rise and beckon." He's I.F. Stone, whose newsletter called it right on so many issues in the '60s and '70s.

Isn't it in the nature of most whole-equation alarmists to be alone and uninvested in establishment currencies and memberships with a tendency to shout from streetcorners, publish nickel-and-dime newsletters or expound in low-budget documentaries such as Collapse?

There's another reason why I believe Ruppert and why his manner doesn't bother me all that greatly. The reason is that everything he says in Collapse seems or sounds, to the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, to be absolutely dead-on.

There were three basic kinds of group mentalities aboard the Titanic, Ruppert remarks, once the crew understood the extent of the iceberg damage. The first was the reaction of sheep -- "We don't know what to do, we're scared, we're cold, and all we want to do is huddle together." The second was "yes, this is serious, we get it -- and what can we do to build lifeboats?" And the third was "you're crazy, this ship can't sink, the people who are saying this are pathetic alarmists, and we're just going to sit at the bar and enjoy the pleasures of decades-old bourbon."

The thought that kept hitting me as I watched Collapse was everyone needs to see and really listen to it without drifting into the usual denial patterns. President Barack Obama really needs to see this thing. Even though his ability to do anything about the collapse is limited, to say the least. Ruppert says he's basicaly a prisoner of the organizations that surround and fortify the power structure that supports his Presidency. Obama doesn't have the power (and perhaps not even the will, much less solve) to really address the coming calamity. It's really in our hands.

So what will it be? Huddle, bourbon or lifeboat-building?

Paranormal Activity<< previous | next >>Regrets All Around

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 17, 2009 at 10:24 AM

comment #1

corey3rd says ...

but for the men on the Titanic, there'd be no lifeboats. just go for the booze so you won't notice the freezing water on your ankles

Posted by corey3rd at September 17, 2009 12:08 PM

comment #2

Rich S. says ...

"[S]eems a little bit wiggy at times." From Jeffrey's description of the film, it sounds almost like an examination of an extreme paranoid, rather than his message itself.

I can't help but thinking that had anything in Ruppert's background suggested that he was coming at this from any sort of religious angle, Jeffrey would reject it out of hand.

I once dated a girl that called me up in the middle of the night and told me I had to be on a plane the next morning so we could get married that day. She wouldn't tell me why. After over two hours of coaxing, she admitted it was because she'd attended a presentation by a former Apollo astronaut where he'd proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, based on Biblical prophecy, that the world was ending within six weeks. She didn't want to die alone. Needless to say, we did not get married.

So I guess my reaction, based on this post, would be to say pass the bourbon.

Posted by Rich S. at September 17, 2009 12:19 PM

comment #3

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Great, Rich. Seize on anything at all that will fortify your much-needed sense of security.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at September 17, 2009 12:22 PM

comment #4

Mr. F. says ...

Come on, Wells -- you can't deny Rich's point.

For me, once you mention that he's a "Truther," that's it. You might as well have called him a Flat Earther, or say he believed the moon landings were a hoax, or...

While I'm sympathetic to the argument -- yes, the world's oil is indeed a finite resource -- I can't accept scientific claims from a man who seems to willfully disregard science itself. Of course, I haven't seen the movie, and I know nothing of Michael Ruppert, so maybe I'm off base... but as you describe him, he simply sounds like a paranoid madman.

Posted by Mr. F. at September 17, 2009 12:27 PM

comment #5

Rich S. says ...

Jeffrey, you panic about everything that comes down the pike. First it was global warming. Then it was the wall street meltdown. Then it was Barack Obama, who you were absolutely convinced was never going to be elected president.

Then when Obama was elected president, you panicked because everything didn't fix itself overnight. You've even talked about turning your back on the poor guy, even though he's only been in office for about 8 months.

Sometimes, you have to have some faith in the principles and institutions that formed this country and have kept it going for over 200 years. Should you be an activist for important change? Sure. (Though to be honest I don't know how much change you can effect by blogging about movies from a Starbucks in Toronto.)

But if you fly off the handle every time some nutjob tells you "we're all doomed," it's a sure way to a stroke and an early grave. (Elijah isn't even in the book Moby Dick, for Pete's sake!)

Posted by Rich S. at September 17, 2009 12:32 PM

comment #6

lonniechung says ...

I knew a guy pretty well who decided it was time to "drop off the grid before the shit comes down" nearly 15 years ago. All of the Illuminati stuff played right into his paranoia, and he just walked away. Every generation is convinced that they're seeing the end of times, probably because if you stop and think about it, society and life itself seems too fragile to succeed. And yet it does, regardless of what happens. This country's a mess, but then again, it almost always has been in one way or another. There are decade long lulls where things seem relatively okay, and then you get the wrong people at the wrong party and it starts falling apart again. Sure I'm worried. I'm worried about everything. Inward, outward, most of it out of my control. I'm most worried that life is going to slip by and all I've done is live in fear.

Posted by lonniechung at September 17, 2009 12:51 PM

comment #7

Mark says ...

I don't think Jim Jones would have had much trouble convincing Jeffrey to drink up.

Posted by Mark at September 17, 2009 12:53 PM

comment #8

sellusWallace says ...

Be very wary on this one Jeff. I started reading Ruppert's work shortly after 9/11. He is far more than a Truther, he's one of the original 9/11 conspiracy campaigners; he's a hero to the movement. His work contains compelling arguments and straw men in equal parts, such that it is hard to nod and go along with his many counter-universe hypotheses.

Check out http://www.fromthewilderness.com/ for some archives of insights from this lunatic fringe. At one point, Ruppert was convinced that shadow elements of the government were trying to stop him/kill him. There are long windy outbursts in his blogs about his office being ransacked and his life being threatened. A paranoid Ruppert ended up shutting down his site and work and roving through South America, location unannounced.

While there may be elements of truth in his reports, and his investigative roots are real (former LAPD), he has the consp.theorist's insistence on seeing monsters under every bush (often connected back to Bush). I didn't know he had a new movie out, will be interesting to see it, but really Jeff, take a read at the site, at some of his raving writing, before championing this one.

No doubts, bad shit is happening. Our comfortable way of life is going to change, perhaps profoundly. But Obama knows it and doesn't need to see this guy go on about it.

Your 5% intuition was bang-on.

Posted by sellusWallace at September 17, 2009 12:57 PM

comment #9

Michael says ...

Boomers have this fear because they associate the end of themselves with the end of the world. If it's not done by us, it will never be done. Exhausting.

Posted by Michael at September 17, 2009 12:57 PM

comment #10

Muscle McGurk says ...

"Sometimes, you have to have some faith in the principles and institutions that formed this country and have kept it going for over 200 years."

Considering how long man has been on Earth, and how long the earth existed before the advent of humanity, this sounds incredibly narrow and shortsighted. Modern principles and institutions are the exact reason why these problems exist -- it's only taken about 100 years to bring the world's natural resources to the brink of exhaustion and create massive shifts in the earth's climate. How much longer do we think we can sustain the world at this pace? History has taught that species is guaranteed a future, no matter how much faith it conjures up to suggest otherwise.

Posted by Muscle McGurk at September 17, 2009 1:06 PM

comment #11

Circumvrent says ...

The CBC link is down? Conspiracy? No, probably not.

I'm sure there will be a shitstorm of press, flowing in both ways, about Ruppert as the film nears it's release.

Posted by Circumvrent at September 17, 2009 1:10 PM

comment #12

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

There are a load of counter-conspiracy theories that the big renewable energy source has already been discovered, but oil companies are paying its inventors billions to keep it hidden until they've squeezed every last drop out of the oil.

They should make a documentary about David Icke. Now there's a fruitcake.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at September 17, 2009 1:17 PM

comment #13

JR530 says ...

Preach it, lonniechung.

Posted by JR530 at September 17, 2009 1:20 PM

comment #14

Josh Tate says ...

While I think we should devoutly be pursuing alternative forms of energy, there is no doubt -- NONE -- ZERO -- that the peak oil scenario is a myth.

While the costs of procuring it would have to rise, there are thousands of years worth of oil -- THOUSANDS -- locked in shale fields around the world and/or available to us via the Fisher-Tropsch process. When we had the oil shock a few years ago, the estimate for producing a barrel of oil via Fisher-Tropsch was around $50 once the infrastructure was put into place (which would admittedly cost billions of dollars, but hey we spend that every month in Iraq).

I'll stick wtih my theory that humanity will reap its ultimate reward in the most common way imaginable -- a flu bug far more pernicious than the current one.

And, Jeff, before you tell me to tuck my hand into the sand and ignore the oncoming apocalypse, google "shale oil reserves" and "fischer-tropsch".

Posted by Josh Tate at September 17, 2009 1:28 PM

comment #15

Josh Tate says ...

That should "head into the sand".

Posted by Josh Tate at September 17, 2009 1:29 PM

comment #16

sellusWallace says ...

sorry to multi-post, but I've gotta talk you down from this one, Jeff. not saying we live in rosy times, or that we shouldn't be gearing up for new challenges. but mike ruppert is not the one to lead us to the future.

check this insight into the mind of Ruppert, from 2006, before he left the US "for good":

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/081606_burning_bridge.shtml

highlights include
- 9/11 facilitated and executed by US government
- he begins his exile in Venezuala, because of the "courageous, intelligent, and inspired leadership of Hugo Chavez"
- he compares the burglary of his office in Oregon to Kristalnacht
- he goes into mind-boggling detail about the events leading up to his 'exile'/shadowy threats to his life. Somehow connected to the fact that his staff knew he loved the HBO series Deadwood, and a "sexual blackmail plot" with a newly-hired writer and other staff members...

he goes on and on, shedding credibility with every graph. god bless him, but ruppert went away over the edge a long time ago.

Posted by sellusWallace at September 17, 2009 1:32 PM

comment #17

George Prager says ...

"Suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly someone will say, 'Plate' or 'Shrimp' or 'Plate of shrimp,' out of the blue. No explanation and there's no point in looking for one either. It's all part of the cosmic unconsciousness."

"You know the way everybody is into weirdness right now? Books in all the supermarkets about the Bermuda Triangle, UFO's, how the Mayans invented television, that kind of thing? Well the way I see it it's exactly the same. There ain't no difference between a flying saucer or a time machine."

"People get so hung up on specifics, they miss out on seeing the whole thing. Take South America for example. Every year in South America thousands of people turn up missing. Nobody knows where they go. They just disappear. But if you think for a minute, realize something: there had to be a time when there was no people right? Well, where did all these people come from? I'll tell you where: the future. Where did all these people disappear to: the past. How did they get there? Flying saucers, which are really, yeah, you got it: time machines."

Posted by George Prager at September 17, 2009 2:14 PM

comment #18

arch451 says ...

We have been warned about peak oil for a long time and the warnings are more valid than ever. However, this does not mean society is going to collapse. Society is going to rearrange itself and finally learn how to be sustainable. We are like children who don't want to eat our broccoli and the time is coming when we can no longer avoid it, but it's actually going to be good for us. Relax.

Of course, billions of people will starve to death but that will only happen in 3rd world countries. Be thankful you live in the USA.

Posted by arch451 at September 17, 2009 2:25 PM

comment #19

YRG says ...

As with most of his ilk, he gets the prediction right, but not the timing. Is it next year? 5 years? 10? I'm sure it'll happen, but when?

It's appropriate you compared this to McNamara's Fog of War, now he was a crazy man, except he had power...

Posted by YRG at September 17, 2009 3:32 PM

comment #20

austin111 says ...

Ha! So billions will starve to death but only in 3rd world countries....dream on, brother. There are already people starving in this country and the numbers are likely to grow as greedy corporate interests continue to grab up everything around us including water. We ain't see nothing yet. WE are on the verge of an environmental catastrophe, be it 10, 20 or 30 years down the road, a teensy pittance of time. Man's days are numbered and it's going to be quite interesting watching it happen.

Posted by austin111 at September 17, 2009 3:41 PM

comment #21

arch451 says ...

Austin111, if some people are starving in the US, it is because they are poor, not because there is a food shortage.

I was probably making too much of a generalization in saying the mass starvations will only be in 3rd world countries, but the USA (and Canada) hold an extremely advantageous position when it comes to food production and fresh water.

Posted by arch451 at September 17, 2009 3:52 PM

comment #22

frankbooth says ...

Old news.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7203633/the_long_emergency

Posted by frankbooth at September 17, 2009 6:49 PM

comment #23

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Good God...frankbooth is more correct than he knows. James Howard Kunstler's 2005 Rolling Stone piece, "The Long Emergency," summarizes much of what Ruppert states in Collapse. Trust me -- this article is pretty much the gist of what the movie (i.e., Ruppert) says aside from the personal stuff. All of you denial queens who've tried to dismiss Ruppert as an unreliable nutter are truly pathetic, I must say. I can't wait until you guys start whining and squealing when it all starts to collapse in earnest. The swell swanky days in this country's life and culture will one day be over, and sooner than you think. Certainly the ease and plentifulness and perk aspects. Savor them while you can. The whole thing is going to slowly tank in ways that are going to freak Megan Fox out big-time. Don't even talk about privelege bitches like Paris Hilton.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7203633/the_long_emergency

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at September 17, 2009 7:30 PM

comment #24

sellusWallace says ...

"all of you denial queens who've tried to dismiss Ruppert as an unreliable nutter are truly pathetic" ??

so this is what it is to feel jeff's scorn. check back my posts and i've defended and saluted you time and again, but yep, no call for such slather. civility, dude. and mcluhan aside, there's a difference between medium and message here... bad shit is coming - it's being broadcasted all the time all the time here in canada, if not the US. but Ruppert *is* a nutter.

He may be a truth-teller on this issue and others (CIA involvement in drug trade was where he started), but he is so full of scatter-shot conspiracies about secret government intent that it is hard to know when he is stretching the evidence to make a point. He openly called for revolution in the US by any means necessary (see last blog link above; you should at least scan it? ). He is one of the leading 9/11 truthers. I haven't seen the movie COLLAPSE, so maybe he plays all this down in it, and if so, good for him.

Do you believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that 9/11 was an intentional act by the US government? If not, do you believe that someone who does believe unequivocably and who spends years trying to prove it *might* be a nutter? I was trying to do you a solid on this one.

Posted by sellusWallace at September 18, 2009 5:55 AM

comment #25

alan says ...

"I can't wait until you guys start whining and squealing when it all starts to collapse in earnest."

Classic Wells. "Can't wait till the end of the world! That'll show 'em!"

Posted by alan at September 18, 2009 8:06 AM

comment #26

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

This is exactly why we need the Lord Humungus For Governor:

http://www.inch.com/~william/humungus.html

Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante at September 18, 2009 10:21 AM

comment #27

dkaye says ...

Ruppert could well be nuts, but in the grand scheme of things, history is against us. I'm not even talking about the world; I'm talking about our beloved U.S.A. No empire -- Roman, British, etc. -- has ever lasted, and this one is already deep in decay. Whether that will coincide with, or even partially precipitate, a worldwide calamity is less clear.

Posted by dkaye at September 18, 2009 4:25 PM

comment #28

Nate West says ...

Oh, well. We're humans. We'll figure something out. We outlasted those beastly Neanderthals, after all.

Posted by Nate West at September 20, 2009 5:23 PM

comment #29

Nate West says ...

And that's a nice shot of Cigarette-smoking Man.

Posted by Nate West at September 20, 2009 5:24 PM

comment #30

Todd says ...

Jeff we all die sooner or later it maybe alone or in mass groups. The way humans survive on this planet is always in a transitional phase. To get excited because someone is pointing out that one of the constants of our existance will eventually change and as I type this is changing already is odd to me. I thought you had more intelligence. The way man exist today will definitely not be the way man exist tomorrow. The constants in life are ever changing. Sit back and enjoy the now. Have faith that man will adapt and if it does not then so be it. The end eventually comes to all.

Posted by Todd at September 21, 2009 2:13 AM

comment #31