The Scapegoat

JohnDenver · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Aug 29, 2004 Posts: 1878

Suppose that peak oil flushes the American dream down the toilet: the McMansion in the suburbs, the SUVs, Walmart etc... Lifestyles are destroyed and people are hysterical.

Who will be the scapegoat? The party in power? The Democrats? The Republicans? The oil companies? OPEC? The Chinese? The environmentalists? The media?

What's your theory?

WebHubbleTelescope · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 08, 2004 Posts: 911

linlithgowoil · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 4:27 am Post subject:

i dont know really... maybe it will be the EIA? There is no way the government of any country will take resonsibility, they'll just say 'we took the advice of the EIA and they were wrong - nothing to do with us'.

It all depends on whether they actually come out and admit to oil peaking and declining for geological reasons, or if they try and lie and pretend its because of the arabs and the environmentalists. i know there will be a lot of people who would gladly accept putting the blame on someone and trying to do something about it (kill them?), rather than accept the idea that oil producion is in irreversible decline - forever.

The problem is, there will be people who will deny that there is such a thing as peak oil - and they'll be people high up in power, and the ordinary guy will think they are right and support them. Anything, other than accept a lower standard of life.

RonMN · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 5:12 am Post subject:

All this finger pointing & "blame game" is going on right now...everybody is blaming everybody...except themselves!

That's right...it was McDonalds that made me fat! My own personal over-consumption habits had nothing to do with it!!!

JohnDenver · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Aug 29, 2004 Posts: 1878

GD · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 7:42 am Post subject:

Fresh from my inbox:

RonMN · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 8:33 am Post subject:

If it will STOP the finger pointing...then I will take responsibility!!!

HEAR ME WORLD...RON DID IT! RON used up all the worlds oil! Now can we move on???

Smile

julianj · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 9:01 am Post subject:

oooooh! I'd watch it Ron, mate. You may be joking but the Patriot Act aint. People have ended up in Guantanamo (or elsewhere in the US Global Gulag) for less.

Smile

RonMN · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 9:30 am Post subject:

I'll just pull a grizley adams & move to the mountains & have a bear for a pet & listen to john denver tunes Laughing

some_guy282 · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 18, 2004 Posts: 691

Good topic. I think who takes the blame will be largely dependent on how things play themselves out. In a slow and gradual decline scenario, it's possible the realization we have Peaked could be made. On the other hand, people could just as easily point the finger at OPEC and oil companies and say "Those bastards are gouging us at the pump!"

If there is a steep and sudden decline (like Ghawar falling off a production cliff), then natural depletion would be hard to hide, and the general populous will probably blame the establishment (government in general. Democrats and Republicans). Unless of course, our leaders called the Saudis or whoever else can't pump enough oil liars. They might say they can't pump enough oil, but we all know they're holding back and trying to destroy our way of life because they hate our freedom. Of course there is also the possibility that the Saudis themselves could blow up their own equipment when a serious decline starts and blame it on... that's right, you guessed it, Al Qaeda!

Personally, I'm a bit of a cynic and that's sort of how I see things playing themselves out. If natural declines are allowed to (rightly) appear as the immediate cause of the problem, it doesn't matter too much exactly who is blamed because the cat will be out of the bag - Peak Oil will be widely recognized. Once the implications for our entire civilization are widely understood, there might be a panic. Even if we have a soft landing, we're in for years of some very, very hard times. Our leaders don't want to tell the people this.

It would be much easier on them if there were a "permanent carrot on a stick" scenario. Take my Saudi scenario as an example. Ghawar falls off a cliff, and the Saudi's blow up their own equipment to hide the decline and blame it on terrorists. Over night oil shortages. Will people blame depletion and geology? Of course not! They'll think plenty of oil is still in the ground, we just need to rebuild the infrastructure to get at it. Just wait a year or two and all will be well. When another year passes and a new incidint or crisis occurs that further prolongs these "artificial" oil shortages, it will be purely coincidence of course. A terrorist attack here, a war there... it could go on for a long time without ever addressing the real problem: depletion.
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In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. – Nietzsche

Time makes more converts than reason. – Thomas Paine

History is a set of lies agreed upon. – Napoleon Bonaparte

RonMN · Posted: Tue May 17, 2005 12:32 pm Post subject:

You know who the masses WONT blame is themselves (ourselves)!!!

It could be everything from SUV drivers to people who commute 60 miles or more each day to even land owners! Yes i said LAND OWNERS! why them? because that's what the people will NEED to grow food (or starve) so when faced with that ugly situation, they can rationalize anything...even war against land owners for "doing this to us".

Fast crash or slow...it's bound to get ugly at some point so really LISTEN to who's being blamed...if you are in the crowd being blamed (or even "perceived" to be in that crowd)...RUN OR LOCK N LOAD! it could save your life.

venky · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 13, 2005 Posts: 839

A real danger is that with possibly both the Republicans and Democrats discredited, we might have radicals on both the left and the right blaming the establishment, finding scapegoats, offering simple solutions to complex problems, generally stirring up hate; anything to seize power.

some_guy282 · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 18, 2004 Posts: 691

vegasmade · Tar Sands Joined: May 01, 2005 Posts: 85

Let's not forget the capitalists! They are the ones who have set us up for this disaster. Yeah, business 101 almost covers it, but it leaves out all the blind masses who bought the snake oil. If we took all the profit-mongering, wage slaving, morons and shot them now...no more peak. That includes every consumer and producer on earth. Let's just give it back to the tribal natives.
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remember-we don't inherit the earth from our parents, we lease it from our children

0mar · Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 12:25 pm Post subject:

I've been telling everyone that asks me what's/who's responsible for high gas/high oil prices to look in the mirror and think long and hard.
_________________
Joseph Stalin
"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. "