Are We Too Soft .....

[King Stromba]

Personally i would not mind living through some tougher times. Why the ****** do i need a mobile phone that takes pictures or a new Audi anyway?

I would quite happily lose the new car, phone, TV, internet, and swap it for a rifle and some land which i could build my own house / hovel with less interference from the authorities

Let me think: 8 hours in front of a PC slaving away for some ****, or 3 hours fishing, some building, build a fire and then cooking before reading an early night? HARD CHOICE.

Modern life is shite, its sterilised nannied nonesense which gives you no sense of actually being alive. You float from one day to the next thinking of stupid things to do to distract you from the boredom that arises from the safety we have around us.

Every man should own and know how to use a rifle and a fishing rod.

I would love to live off the land and then pass those skills onto my children. It makes the day kind of exciting if you know that if you dont bag some rabbits then its no supper for you again.

Im no luddite, but i fear we have become too reliant on technology that serves no actual purpose, doing jobs that are not needed, and the skills we have that are useful are being lost.

Edited July 15, 2009 by King Stromba

[Snow Birds]

Personally i would not mind living through some tougher times. Why the ****** do i need a mobile phone that takes pictures or a new Audi anyway?

I would quite happily lose the new car, phone, TV, internet, and swap it for a rifle and some land which i could build my own house / hovel with less interference from the authorities

Let me think: 8 hours in front of a PC slaving away for some ****, or 3 hours fishing, some building, build a fire and then cooking before reading an early night? HARD CHOICE.

Modern life is shite, its sterilised nannied nonesense which gives you no sense of actually being alive. You float from one day to the next thinking of stupid things to do to distract you from the boredom that arises from the safety we have around us.

Every man should own and know how to use a rifle and a fishing rod.

I would love to live off the land and then pass those skills onto my children. It makes the day kind of exciting if you know that if you dont bag some rabbits then its no supper for you again.

Im no luddite, but i fear we have become too reliant on technology that serves no actual purpose, doing jobs that are not needed, and the skills we have that are useful are being lost.

Although I agree with your basic philosophy of life, yes I can use a rifle, you have to face the problem that to live like that you will need an awful lot of land and there isn't enough to go around. You will also discover, as we did, that agriculture is far more effective at providing food than hunting. Raising a couple of steers gives a guaranteed 1000 lbs of meat but bagging a moose might or might not happen.

A more general comment on this thread is that I agree with those who think we will all rise to the occasion though I must point out that those woosy, goody, goodies are not as woosy as you might imagine. Take your average late drinker and kick her/his puppy and true wrath will be demonstrated! He/she might give you a ho-hum over deaths of people but he/she does care passionately about their own interests. Hell hath no fury like a liberal scorned!

[Guest Skinty]

Personally i would not mind living through some tougher times. Why the ****** do i need a mobile phone that takes pictures or a new Audi anyway?

I would quite happily lose the new car, phone, TV, internet, and swap it for a rifle and some land which i could build my own house / hovel with less interference from the authorities

Let me think: 8 hours in front of a PC slaving away for some ****, or 3 hours fishing, some building, build a fire and then cooking before reading an early night? HARD CHOICE.

Modern life is shite, its sterilised nannied nonesense which gives you no sense of actually being alive. You float from one day to the next thinking of stupid things to do to distract you from the boredom that arises from the safety we have around us.

Every man should own and know how to use a rifle and a fishing rod.

I would love to live off the land and then pass those skills onto my children. It makes the day kind of exciting if you know that if you dont bag some rabbits then its no supper for you again.

Im no luddite, but i fear we have become too reliant on technology that serves no actual purpose, doing jobs that are not needed, and the skills we have that are useful are being lost.

My philosophy as well. The trappings of modern society are a sham to distract us from our lack of freedom and the meanginful life that we should be leading.

All this nonsense by how we are better off now than before all seem to concentrate on irrelevant stuff such as ipods, fancier cars, gadgets etc.

It's all icing and no cake.

[juvenal]

My philosophy as well. The trappings of modern society are a sham to distract us from our lack of freedom and the meanginful life that we should be leading.

All this nonsense by how we are better off now than before all seem to concentrate on irrelevant stuff such as ipods, fancier cars, gadgets etc.

It's all icing and no cake.

That's a very nice phrase.

[Guest eight]

So what happened to this couple, on that foggy dark night after a serious rail crash... well as they put it, ambulance and emergency help was focused on the injured people.

So they just walked a number of miles home and sorted themselves out.

They'd probably be tracked down and arrested for that now. Seriously.

A while back a friend was on a train that ran over a person. They came to a halt in the middle of nowhere and were stuck there for a couple of hours. Some of the passengers became agitated/claustrophobic (remember, you can't even open the windows on some modern trains) and others were in favour of just making their own arrangements. Things got heated.

It turned out that nobody could move until their details had been taken by BTP as potential "witnesses".

If going back 60 years means an end to episodes like the above then I say bring it on!

eight

[Luke Skywalker]

That's a very nice phrase.

In Yorkshire we say: "All fur coat and no knickers"

[Stars]

...train crash story....

So they just walked a number of miles home and sorted themselves out.

Thats the kind of spine that I think most of us now lack. Imagine the uproar if anyone had to walk home two miles let alone some extended distance like these people had to.

The above doesn't seem that weird to me, i may have missed a few meetings

[Snow Birds]

In Yorkshire we say: "All fur coat and no knickers"

Back in Blighty we used to say "Kippers and curtains" over here they say "All hat and no cattle" We do enjoy these colloquialisms! Bring 'em on!

[D.C.]

My philosophy as well. The trappings of modern society are a sham to distract us from our lack of freedom and the meanginful life that we should be leading.

All this nonsense by how we are better off now than before all seem to concentrate on irrelevant stuff such as ipods, fancier cars, gadgets etc.

It's all icing and no cake.

Beautifully put!

There is an excellent lecture (the link to which I have sadly lost) analysing household spending patterns in the USA from the fifties to the noughties.

It was fascinating because people now spend a lot less of their income on discretionary spending like clothes and entertainment and holidays etc despite the fact there are now two earners per household instead of one.

Today essential bills like housing costs, heathcare and childcare take up the lion's share of a household's income. (Food is cheaper though) People have far more debt and far too little in the way of savings.

If one person in the household becomes unemployed they are far more likely to be repossessed now even though there are two earners.

The idea that people in the fifties, sixties and seventies somehow had this dire struggle against poverty and were on the brink of starvation despite toiling 700 hours a week is fiction. They had (on average) far more job stability, more disposable income and worked fewer hours.

So there!

[Snow Birds]

Beautifully put!

There is an excellent lecture (the link to which I have sadly lost) analysing household spending patterns in the USA from the fifties to the noughties.

It was fascinating because people now spend a lot less of their income on discretionary spending like clothes and entertainment and holidays etc despite the fact there are now two earners per household instead of one.

Today essential bills like housing costs, heathcare and childcare take up the lion's share of a household's income. (Food is cheaper though) People have far more debt and far too little in the way of savings.

If one person in the household becomes unemployed they are far more likely to be repossessed now even though there are two earners.

The idea that people in the fifties, sixties and seventies somehow had this dire struggle against poverty and were on the brink of starvation despite toiling 700 hours a week is fiction. They had (on average) far more job stability, more disposable income and worked fewer hours.

So there!

Totally agree but there are a few signs that things are beginning to change. We gave up TV long ago and I'm finding more and more people doing the same thing. I've seen TV dumpers on this site. I have a friend in the car business and he reports that folks don't care much about what car they drive anymore. The car as a status symbol is losing ground. All fun "toys for boys" like skidoos and atvs are not anywhere near as popular as they once were. I used to be in the boating business and that is a mere shadow of its former self. Boating is just hardly done anymore. Even the computer business is showing signs of age. Property is doing the same thing. Big houses are not nearly the status symbol they used to be

I submit that there is a change going on in society towards the values you suggest. It is not a massive, sudden shift but it is definitely a trend. The question that goes begging, of course, is where does it all go and what will society look like in ten years. In spite of predictions to the contrary; nobody is pulling a giant plug out of the Atlantic and Britain will indeed still be there and the vast number of those living there now will be living there still. There is more than enough food to go around so our quest is to figure out what all everyone will be doing for fun and a living.

[council dweller]

Totally agree but there are a few signs that things are beginning to change. We gave up TV long ago and I'm finding more and more people doing the same thing. I've seen TV dumpers on this site. I have a friend in the car business and he reports that folks don't care much about what car they drive anymore. The car as a status symbol is losing ground. All fun "toys for boys" like skidoos and atvs are not anywhere near as popular as they once were. I used to be in the boating business and that is a mere shadow of its former self. Boating is just hardly done anymore. Even the computer business is showing signs of age. Property is doing the same thing. Big houses are not nearly the status symbol they used to be

I submit that there is a change going on in society towards the values you suggest. It is not a massive, sudden shift but it is definitely a trend. The question that goes begging, of course, is where does it all go and what will society look like in ten years. In spite of predictions to the contrary; nobody is pulling a giant plug out of the Atlantic and Britain will indeed still be there and the vast number of those living there now will be living there still. There is more than enough food to go around so our quest is to figure out what all everyone will be doing for fun and a living.

Could be just me but I think the writing on the wall says 'and now for something completely different.' But we have no idea what's coming so perhaps that's why some of us go all survivalist as can take some comfort in the thought that we are tough enough and well prepared enough to survive anything. Umimaginable change is the most frightening thing, even worse than a total social and economic collapse?

[Snow Birds]

Could be just me but I think the writing on the wall says 'and now for something completely different.' But we have no idea what's coming so perhaps that's why some of us go all survivalist as can take some comfort in the thought that we are tough enough and well prepared enough to survive anything. Umimaginable change is the most frightening thing, even worse than a total social and economic collapse?

The change that is coming is most likely fairly simple. Keep in mind that change has been happening since time began and most likely will always happen. Total social collapse is extremely unlikely. For that to happen the poor people have to riot and have nothing to lose. The rich people have learned to keep the beer, pizza and TV coming. Nobody is going unarmed against the police and/or army with a full stomach, beer in the fridge and Coronation street on. The middle class won't riot because they have a lot to lose. Short of an asteroid strike or all out nuclear war (even a terrorist nuclear attack is pretty small potatoes on a national scale) then folks will simply get by somehow. Some will even do very well if they have prepared for the change. So what is the change? wish I knew but how about: smaller houses, simpler lifestyles, community spirit, way more barter, raising your own food, smaller government, home schooling, locally controlled police, no foreign entanglements (like wars and aid), holidays at home or nearby, more kids, family matters, extended family. Feel free to add to this. BTW survivalists are real losers. Your fortified bunker is static, the enemy is mobile, you lose. Survivalists to stand any chance at all must form a community . . . see above.