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David McElroy

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Counting on the status quo? Do you have a plan in case things collapse?

By David McElroy · June 16, 2011

I believe we’re going to see some form of social, political and economic collapse in the next few decades. Most people reading this probably don’t believe that. But do you have a plan about what to do in case you’re wrong?

People predict doom all the time. No matter what world economic conditions are like, you can find someone who’s predicting the end of the world and the collapse of life as we know it. Most of them turn out to be wrong. Every now and then, though, they’re right — as was the case at the start of the Great Depression. And every time things collapse, most people are caught unprepared.

If you want to read the case that things are going to collapse, there are plenty of articles, so I’m not going to try to scare you by linking to a million of them. (Here’s one that I was reading earlier today that made me starting thinking about the subject, though.) I’m not trying to convince you that I’m right. I’m just asking if you’re prepared in case the worst happens.

Even though most people have vague feelings of worry about the economy (in the United States and in various parts of the rest of the world), most people are still acting as though things aren’t going to change much. People are still buying houses and going into debt and spending money for consumer goods. They’re still making plans for retirement and kids’ college education and all sorts of other things — all based on the unspoken assumption that the economic and political world as we know it will continue.

But what if that assumption is wrong? Do you have a plan for what to do then?

For a number of years, I’ve been thinking that bad times were coming. Compared to the kind of bad times I’m thinking of, the economic slowdown of the past few years has been a mere hiccough. (I think what we’re facing in the future is going to be a restructuring that will make the Depression look like a picnic as well.) For a long time, I’ve considered where to go and what to do, but it’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve started to do more than idly speculate. I don’t want to get caught up in what I expect to happen. I want an exit strategy.

I think there are two reasons why people don’t plan for a collapse. First, they’re not convinced it’s coming. Second, they’re not convinced there’s anything realistic they can do about it. I’ve been convinced for years on the first point. It’s the second I’m working on now, which is why I’m looking to meet more and more people who are also planning for the changes coming in the future. The more people I talk with, the more I realize that lots of people want an exit plan. They just don’t know where to look.

Where am I going to go and what am I going to do? I don’t know yet. I’ve considered several places that might be safer, but I’ve generally come to the conclusion that the safest thing is going to be is to have a place where other people are looking for escape, too. It might be an island in the Caribbean or the South Pacific. It might be a free city in Honduras. It might be a floating platform in an ocean. It might be something else. I don’t know.

The only thing I’m sure about is that I’m actively engaged in finding an escape plan — and I’m actively looking for others who want such a plan for themselves and their families. If you’re one of those people, I want to get to know you. We might need each other soon.

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For “throwback Thursday, let me introduce you to For “throwback Thursday, let me introduce you to Sam. In 2009, I took in a young feral cat who I named for the early American revolutionary Samuel Adams. He was one of the most confident — downright arrogant, in fact — cats I’ve ever been around. He had an amazing personality and I immediately loved him. He was no more than 8 or 9 months old when he suddenly died for reasons that my vet couldn’t explain. Even though I had him only a short time, he was one of my all-time favorites. #tbt #cats #tabby #feral #birmingham #alabama
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Except when he’s asleep, Thomas always looks as Except when he’s asleep, Thomas always looks as though he’s on high alert and ready to run away from danger. His feral early years still dominate his internal programming. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #tabby #tabbycat #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
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My favorite photos of Merlin tend to be those — My favorite photos of Merlin tend to be those — such as this one — in which he seems to be contemplating difficult issues. Feline philosophy or quantum physics or something else that he figures I wouldn’t understand. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #merlin2024 #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama #caturday
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On a live awards show Sunday night, one man made a joke about a female celebrity. The husband of the celebrity was offended and hit the man who made the joke. Or maybe it was staged for entertainment. Who knows? Who cares? Social media is full of discussion — and even arguments — about this idiocy today. This baffles me. Let’s assume for a moment that the event happened as reported. People have been having such idiotic fights ever since there have been humans. Half the bars in the world see such brief dustups regularly. It simply doesn’t matter. The fact that so many people believe they need to talk about this — or even need to have opinions about it — is more evidence of the bizarre media brainwashing that convinces many to care passionately about brain-dead trivia. Your life will be happier and saner if you focus on yourself, your family and your friends, not on whatever scripted (or spontaneous) bilge that the media wants to pipe into your home.

I’m in the middle of migrating this website to new servers this week. This means you might encounter some unexpected behavior until I get all the bugs worked out. Clicking on my links (including this one) might cause your browser to give you the message that it’s a site without a current security certificate. It’s not actually unsafe, but there’s something which isn’t yet set up for the security certificate. I apologize for any such errors you might encounter while the process is going on. If you notice any problems with content which didn’t migrate properly, I would appreciate you letting me know the details at davidmcelroy@mac.com. Thanks for your patience.

I often wonder what animals think when they look at us and consider the society we’ve created. Yes, I know this is fanciful and unrealistic, but what if they could? Would they be astounded at how we treat each other? Would they be disgusted by the ugliness and pettiness which fill so many of our daily interactions? The truth is that I’m feeling pretty disgusted with humanity tonight. I made the mistake of reading some online interactions that I should have avoided — and it sickened me. The people involved appeared to be vile and stupid and arrogant. I wish I could pretend they’re a tiny minority, but I know better. It’s times such as this when I most need to escape much of “civilization” and disconnect from their world. If humans are going to be worthy of “ruling this planet,” we have a lot of growth to do. And I fear that growth is nowhere in sight. So my buddy Thomas, above, and all of his friends would be right to judge us harshly — and to think, “Why do you folks get to be in charge?”

I should have expected this, but I honestly didn’t. The article I wrote last week about disagreements over treatment for autistic children brought me angry emails. You could almost call it “hate mail.” Of the five emails about it so far, two have been to tell me that I’m wrong to even listen to critics of the most popular therapy for autistic children — and the other three tell me I’m wrong for not condemning the treatment as the “obvious” abuse it is. If you read the article, you know I didn’t take a position on the issue, because I simply don’t know enough to have an opinion. But by talking about the issue, I stepped into a heated controversy. The emails from the two sides convinced me of nothing. But they did give me even more empathy for the unfortunate parents who have to figure out for themselves where the truth lies for their children.

Have you ever had what you thought was a new idea — and then discovered that “old you” had the same idea years ago? I had that experience tonight. And it’s been wonderful. I came up with an idea tonight for a very short satirical film that would be a promotion for a fictitious college. The point is to make the college promote — as good things — everything which is actually terrible about most modern colleges. Then I remembered a fake college that I invented back when I was in college. I had created student recruitment brochures and various newsletters back then, so I decided to call my “new” college by the same name I’d invented years ago: Ochita College. As I searched my computer for any old material I might still have about Ochita from the past, I discovered an email I sent to someone in 2009 — outlining essentially the same idea which I came up with tonight. Since I didn’t remember writing that, it felt like magic. So my next film project just might be this one instead. If all goes well, you might soon see “Ochita College: Your Future Starts Here.” This should be fun.

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