Dimitry Orlov for New members:

threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 7738

I was just rereading some Dmitry Orlov, by Carolyn Baker, a journalist I admire more than any other, when it occurred to me that many new posters are probably not familiar with Orlov's work. Orlov survived the collapse of Russia which he docments while comparing and contrasting what he see in the cards, for the U.S. It's really valuable. I just read this passage and was struck by Orlov's description of American reaction to powerlessness.

Energy Bulletin--Carolyn Baker book review--Reinventing Collapse--Dmitry Orlov

A key psychological factor in the individualization of oppression, deeply embedded in the American psyche, is the notion that in the face of utter powerlessness, blaming oneself provides the last semblance of empowerment, i.e., "It's my fault; I caused it; if only I hadn't...."

This is not unlike the internal psychological mechanisms that engage within a child during and after abuse in which the child unconsciously blames him/herself for the abuse because not to do so confronts the child with an intolerable, overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

http://www.energybulletin.net/40989.html

Ayoob · Expert Joined: Jul 15, 2004 Posts: 1110

That was a hell of an essay. I've come to several of the same conclusions Orlov wrote about. The sailboat thing for sure, the legitimate doctors and nurses, the nomadic lifestyle, they are all on my list.

The asset stripping is just terrible, though. What a shame. I guess it's a given, though. We'll watch it happen for perfectly good short-term reasons...

Ad-hocracy.

threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 7738

They're both dynamite writers. Elaine Pagels, a theologian described the same psychological dynamics when parents lose a child. The parents blame themselves, not because they are masochistically overly scrupulous, but because self blame is easier than having to live in a world that is capricious, unfair. People will jump through incredible hoops to avoid feeling powerless. It's going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out in the future. Family dynamics will probably absorb a lot of the blame, "Why did you make me buy this house? Why did you have to have the big SUV? etc..etc...

seldom_seen · Fission Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 2037

Orlov's new book is out! I just cracked it open.

http://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Collapse-Example-American-Prospects/dp/0865716064

taizy8

thanks Threadbear...just read that essay by Olrov. It doesn't surprise me at all..I can certainly see His reading of US future times.

It is a shock for the first time to see the busyness, the highways, the food, the "car" culture, .....I still stand in wonder at the massive parking lots...specially when they cover beautiful river frontage which you know would be the best land for growing stuff. Who knows in a few years they could be digging them up.

I have read Elaine Pagels .....brilliant writer

bromius · Heavy Crude Joined: May 26, 2008 Posts: 142

I'm having trouble opening threadbear's link in the first post. I'll try back later. Anyone else having that problem or is it just me? (haha, I ask myself this question a lot)

threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 7738

Bromius--Here's a link to Carolyn Baker's site with the original article. Enjoy!

http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/349/

Another snippet:

The old normal is that life will go on just like before. The new normal is that nothing will ever be the same Rather than attempting to undertake the Herculean task of mitigating the unmitigatable-attempting to stop the world and point it in a different direction-it seems far better to turn inward and work to transform yourself into someone who might stand a chance, given the world's assumed trajectory. Much of this transformation is psychological and involves letting go of many notions that we have been conditioned to accept unquestioningly. Some if it involves acquiring new skills and a different set of habits. Some of it is even physiological, changing one's body to prepare it for a life that has far fewer creature comforts and conveniences, while requiring far more physical labor.

These words from Pages 125 and 126 of Dmitry Orlov's Re-Inventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects leapt out at me as perhaps the most definitive in his marvelous new book in which Dmitry illumines the collapse of the American empire, now well underway, with his insights from living through the collapse of the Soviet Union.

RedStateGreen

I just started reading his book, so far it's pretty good. Smile

_________________
Conservation is conservative

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. -- Charles Darwin