[late]

It's been about 50 years since NASA announced a crew was going to the Moon. That happened yesterday. Today is the day a former president gets criminally charged for the first time. Looking at the way things are, we waited too long. Roe v Wade is 50 years old.

It was 50 years ago John Dean gave his damning testimony at the Watergate hearings. Later that year, VP Spiro Agnew resigned. There was also the 1973 oil crisis, when OPEC screwed the countries that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

It's not a transition, but it's also been 50 years since the first cell phone call was made. 50 years ago today I was in Vienna. Vienna taught me how cities ought to be. We still haven't grasped the obvious, hopefully we're not completely brain dead. It was 1972, so 51 years ago HP unleashed the first pocket scientific calculator. That was a big thing in the history of tech development. Basically it put a computer in the hands of anyone that could use it. It was a big part of the tech explosion, but it doesn't get the acknowledgement it deserves.

[QatzelOk]

...There was also the 1973 oil crisis, when OPEC screwed the countries that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

...

Thing is, the transition away from being addicted to resources from the Middle East is still a few wars away.

Empires don't learn very quickly because they can mask their weaknesses with genocidal crusades.

In 1973, the Western countries could have started transitionning away from suburban-bungalows and giant automobiles, but instead, Israel (a Crusader colony) just continued destabilizing the Middle East in ways that have destroyed millions and millions of lives, and perhaps destroyed a few cultures along the way.

The Non-transition of empires is like the non-movement of tectonic plates. It ends in mass destruction, rather than a series of smooth transitions.

[Beren]

Empires don't learn very quickly because they can mask their weaknesses with genocidal crusades.

Exactly.

CruZade.

[late]

Thing is, the transition away from being addicted to resources from the Middle East is still a few wars away.

Europe started getting a lot of it's energy from Russia. Which is more than a little ironic.

America does fracking, we get most of our energy locally. In fact, Reuters is saying we might become a net exporter of oil in 2023.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-12-19/

[QatzelOk]

Europe started getting a lot of it's energy from Russia. Which is more than a little ironic.

America does fracking, we get most of our energy locally. In fact, Reuters is saying we might become a net exporter of oil in 2023.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-12-19/

One of the Empire's strategies to avoid "transitionning" is called *Denial*.

It is one the first step on the long road to acceptance of change - Dealing with grief, part 1: Denial

The order of steps goes like this:

Denial (fracking)

Anger (wars)

Bargaining (more wars, loss of allies)

Depression (USA dollar collapses)

Acceptance (2030?)


Fracking is temporary, and the damages it causes are semi-permanent. It probably won't change anything in the long run except do more environmental damage to poor communities who looked to it as "a savior."

By the way, *saviors* are probably another denial strategy - one which oligarchs and their money are likely to stage in order to protect their investments.

[Beren]

Denial (fracking)

Anger (wars)

Bargaining (more wars, loss of allies)

Depression (USA dollar collapses)

Acceptance (2030?)

That's a good one, here's how it actually looks like.

• Denial (we're still an empire)

• Anger (wars)

• Bargaining (asking for a new world order in exchange for peace)

• Depression (socio-economic and political depression)

• Acceptance (2024 or 2030?)

[late]

*Denial*.

You were wrong, so you're projecting, kiddo.

You're not entirely wrong, but it's sad to watch Putin lead you around by the nose.

[Robert Urbanek]

A lot of things in the U.S. have not changed in 50 years: Motor vehicles are still the favored mode of transportation; millions still stare at a TV set and millions look to a home in suburbia as the American dream. We still have a two-party system.

[QatzelOk]

...it's sad to watch Putin lead you around by the nose.

Um... Western media has been pulling at our nostril hairs for the last two years, spreading lies that it hopes that its stupid readers won't catch onto...

"unprovoked invasion of Ukraine..."

"Victoria Nuland is just a government employee... nothing to see here...."

"It's just Putin trying to be Napoleon-Hitler-Andrew Jackson-etc."

These media lies have been trafficked in order to sustain the Denial stage of Empire Decline.

A lot of things in the U.S. have not changed in 50 years: Motor vehicles are still the favored mode of transportation; millions still stare at a TV set and millions look to a home in suburbia as the American dream. We still have a two-party system.

And all of these institutions you mention are backed up by organized crime and state-of-the-art propaganda.

The Transition will not be televised.

[late]

Um...

Repeating BS doesn't improve it.

[QatzelOk]

Repeating BS doesn't improve it.

Good. It looks like you've advanced to the Anger stage of acceptance.

In just a few steps, you will be at the Acceptance stage, when you realize that rich white northern countries can no longer live off the misery of the other countries that they loot.

[late]

Good. It looks like you've advanced to the Anger stage of acceptance.

In just a few steps, you will be at the Acceptance stage, when you realize that rich white northern countries can no longer live off the misery of the other countries that they loot.

As I pointed out, the first time I responded to one of your posts, that chip on your shoulder is going to give you trouble.

[QatzelOk]

As I pointed out, the first time I responded to one of your posts, that chip on your shoulder is going to give you trouble.

You seem to be calling "critical thinking" by the name "a chip on your shoulder."

I mean, you started a thread about "Transitions" with an OP that really underscored how stagnant our culture is. From pocket calculators to staring at smartphones all day, we are still driving giant pickups to malls - 15 dead oil-producing nations later."

And you even used the word "moments" (of transition) which makes this process sound like it's supposed to be rapid. Which it hasn't been.

Western Stagnation is very real and potentially fatal. Most Americans are carrying assault weapons... and yet they still believe in the Devil. This is an example of technological-change in the face of social stagnation.