Ignoring the Writing on the Wall

It is incredible how the human mind is capable of ignoring something that appears right in front of its eyes. We are able to exist completely in denial if we so choose, convincing ourselves that things aren't as bad as they really are, or even sometimes that they are worse.

We are constantly bombarded with evidence of the inevitable collapse of first world society. Inflation spiraling out of control, governments that have exponentially more debt than income, people who grow increasingly selfish and self serving, dissent not only in the world around us but within our own borders, neighbor against neighbor. We not only deforest and desecrate our own land but also land around the world, places that should be untouched are violated and robbed of every resource. In fact it is the globalization of our technology that allows large greedy countries to prey on less developed areas and take what we want.

When we think of the Roman empire we think of war and conquest, but also of refined civlization (much of which is reflected in our own civilization). Rome conquered lands around them to bring in more money, territory and resources. While first world countries today may not physically conquer lands, we do it in our own unique way. All that cheap labor in China, Mexico, and other less developed countries? Buying up the crops and other resources of other countries? We justify it as not being conquest because the people in those places are willingly trading their goods and services for money - but it's still robbing them of their resources under the guise that they too may one day capture the glimmer of American society that seems to shine so brightly in our households that have a car, a tv, a computer, a room and a phone for every person, and that is just the middle class!

From the outside we are hated, pitied, and viewed as having it all depending on who you talk to. Some wish they could live here in our multitude of opportunities, other wish we'd disappear off the face of the Earth. We may not have the conquests as Rome did, but don't doubt for a second that our corporations are armies of their own sort seeking global conquest and untold money and power. The government itself sits back and feeds these beasts because like the tiny fish that hide behind the fins of the shark, they are sucking up the scraps that fall to the wayside and trying to pretend they are still in control of anything.


My question is this: What was going through the minds of the poeple in the Roman Empire as it began to collapse? What about all of the other civilizations which ultimately collapsed? (RE: pretty much all of them, with few exceptions)

It seems logical to me to assume that in the Roman Empire, the people in power may have seen the signs of collapse appearing, but did everything they could to keep the common people from knowing. The simple reason being to prevent panic and to prevent speeding up the collapse, both of which kept them in power longer.

As we all know all too well - those in power prefer to stay in power.



There has been speculation for quite some time now that our own government has heard the death knells of our society and yet has kept that information from us. That they are attempting to control and prevent disaster without out ever letting us know that it is happening. All of the speculation about population control, forced sterilization, various situations with food and supplies, and the government keeping secrets about everything seems to be tied to the concept of trying to avert a major crisis. And yet, I don't think it's possible for them to do so.


Today, our society is quite young and yet has grown exponentially in the last sixty years, and significantly in the last hundred or so years. We've grown and grown and grown and very little was put into place to compensate. Now we find ourselves in a state where we are dependent on technology, dependent on commerce and dependent on our government. Self sufficiency that was widespread merely a hundred years ago is now decayed and neglected, and for millions of Americans it simply doesn't exist. Or, their self sufficiency is a perverse notion of taking what they need or want from others rather than finding a way to produce it themselves.


The burning question is how long will this American empire survive? Our globalization has managed to both grow and sustain us for quite some time, but it seems like we are on the verge of that support collapsing. China, for example, is a potential trigger to that action. As they are working to develop themselves into a more technology based nation, American companies who have been riding on their backs with inexpensive labor and materials will see an increase in those costs and possibly even a refusal to provide them at all.

Ultimately, our way of life is completely unsustainable, and even thus far it has been short lived as much of what we enjoy and expect today has only been around for about 30-40 years. America will collapse, as will all other large unsustainable civilizations, it's merely a matter of when at this point. Our swift uprising owes a lot to our industry, the least sustainable part of our society, and our fall is likely to be equally swift.

For anyone who hasn't thought about the situation in this context before, I am sorry if I am the bearer of bad news. But really, I think that we all know this on some level, and there are voices out there expressing thoughts like this as loudly as they can. It's hard to ignore, but we are masters of denial. I don't know how close we are but I feel like we are far closer than concious society understands.

Afterall, there isn't anyone rioting in the streets just yet.