Don’t Forget to Laugh, It’s all a Fucking Joke Anyway

The point of all of this isn’t to predict the future. Any prediction would seem ridiculous anyway. If you asked me 10 years ago to describe 2008, I would do a pretty terrible job. 10 years ago I didn’t have a clue. Not that I have all of the answers now, but I at least know some of the questions at this point.

So for today’s post, instead of editorializing life’s ills, I will instead pose some questions for everyone to think about.

1. Where does your energy come from?
Automobile Fuel
Almost none of us really know where our automobile fuel comes from. The oil market is a little to hazy to know the answer.
Electricity
I lived in Decatur, IL for a large portion of my life, and I can honestly say that I have no clue where the power comes from when I turned on my lights. This is something that disturbs me, looking back on it now.
Home heating
Most Americans heat their homes with Natural Gas, which mostly comes to us from a pipeline system with both domestic and foreign supplies. The problem here is, natural gas production in the United States is beyond it’s peak output level. Mexican and Canadian gas currently provide the bulk of remaining demand, but demand for domestic use in those countries is also increasing.

2. Where does your food come from?
When I was a kid, my great grandma had a huge garden in her backyard that supplied a significant portion of the food for her home. My parents never gardened, therefore, I do not know how to garden.
I know how to go to the grocery store. Most items that I purchase are prepared by someone, somewhere, in some way that I am not familiar with. This is possible because of cheap transportation and cheap labor in specific markets. As oil rises, these items will become more and more costly, and we will be forced to at least do some of cooking for ourselves (gasp!). The other thing that we will have to do is find food locally. It might be more expensive, but it is fresh and local, and it is usually grown by small farmers – people that we need to be successful.

3. Where do your “tools” come from?
When I say tools, I mean the things that you use in your day to day life. Your cell phone, car, TV, computer, etc are most likely made overseas. Now, there are a number of reasons not to like “outsourced” manufacturing, but a big one is that these items have travel around the world to get to you. Again, as energy prices increase, the feasibility of shipping nearly every thing that we use from the other side of the world will decrease.

4. Where does your income come from?
For most of us, our income is a result of moving something from one place to another. Very little income is actually from making anything. Right now I make my money by helping people buy car parts on a website. This job is basically me aiding in the movement of product from some warehouse, somewhere, to some customer to put in their car. Almost everything that is sold from the website is made in another country then shipped here. You can imagine how I feel about the long term involvement in this business. But, what else am I supposed to do? I need a certain amount of money right now in order to keep my lifestyle at a minimal level and I am not ambitious enough to actually do something for myself.

5. Where does your “support” come from?
I am guilty of this, as I am sure many other are as well. I do not interact socially with the people that live around me, I don’t even know any of my neighbor’s name. They all seem nice enough, but I don’t talk to them and I don’t think I could depend on them if I ever needed their help. Our support – or our social networks – have become remote and dependent on technology. This might be fine, but if the shit hits the fan, my friends that live hundreds of miles from me can do very little to help me where I am, and vice versa.

These are just some things to think about. But remember, no matter how bad things around you look, it is all a joke anyway, so don’t forget to laugh at how absurd things are becoming.

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