Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Bourgeois Survivalism
















OK, I said I'd talk about the backlash against some of the ideas being purported by this blogger, and many other well-meaning and, frankly, scared consumers, journalists and politicians out there.  Ideas like downsizing in a hurry, getting green and thrifty in a hurry, and getting spiritual FAST about the fact that wealth has eluded them, and maybe financial security, too, even with a small "s."  So, here it comes:  For every one of these bourgeois survivalists, there's a real survivalist out there – or there's about to be – stocking up on non-perishable food and cleaning his guns.  

The last time we saw this was in 1999.  In the interests of full disclosure, at that time I had a touch of millennium fever, myself:  A two-month supply of emergency food and water; a Russian assault rifle with two banana clips and 1000 rounds; a 12 gauge pump action shotgun; and an ex-police 357 magnum, which I practiced with at the range until I could get all six shots off in the chest, every time.  

But when I woke up one sunny New Mexico, new millennium morning, a few weeks into the continuing to be un-collapsed state of civilization as we knew it, I finally came out of my paranoid trance.  I looked around at my paintings and the white walls of my house and decided I really didn't want to get any blood on them.  It also occurred to me that I wasn't all that into actually killing anyone, or running the risk of my guns being stolen by those with fewer scruples – and maybe less abstract art – than myself.  To make a long story short, I sold my guns and donated the nasty-ass food.

But things are a little different this time.

To be continued.

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