Years ago, there was an avid reader of this site named Dorothy. She was a retired pharmacist who lived on a farm somewhere in Pennsylvania with her husband, who, as I recall, was a retired large animal veterinarian. As some of you might remember, she often left feisty anti-Bush comments here. Anyway, at least once every few months, she would send me an email telling me that, if the shit ever hit the fan, and society really started falling apart, the family and I could come and live on the compound with them. I realize, of course, that she probably never really existed, and that Dorothy was likely just the creation of some bored cubicle drone who got off on stoking my fear about the impending collapse, but I loved having this idea that my family had a beautiful farm to escape to… Well, it just occurred to me right that I haven’t heard from Dorothy in a few years now, and that I don’t have the faintest idea where I’d go if things got really bad…
Speaking of the collapse of societies, I just stumbled across a good comment in a Metafilter thread about a 1972 forecast by the Club of Rome which, so far, has proven to be balls-on accurate. (It predicts total economic collapse in 2020.) Anyway, here’s the comment I liked. It reminded me just a little bit of Vonnegut.
Easter Islander #1: Dude, I think we’re running out of trees.
Easter Islander #2: Fuck off, you fucking commie. Trees come from the ground. We have plenty of ground.
[cannibal holocaust]
[fin]
So, where are you planning to be during the cannibal holocaust?
[Tonight’s post was brought to you by Jared Diamond’s “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.” I know it doesn’t sound it, but it would make a wonderful Christmas gift.]