Planned Peasanthood

A decade and a week ago, we suffered through what was one of the worst days of our life as a nation on September 11^th, 2001. On the day of commemoration, Mike Ruppert spoke in a church in the Portland, Oregon area. The man who wrote “Confronting Collapse” and “Crossing The Rubicon”, and the star of the documentary “Collapse”, had much to say that, sadly, I find I am no longer willing to give as much credence to as I did a year ago. One might ask why, in light of the fact that it was our viewing of the film that sped us along the path of preparation, I was no longer willing to pay as close attention to one of Peak Oil’s elder statesmen?

As with so many things in life, the answer is multi-determined, but some of the larger reasons have to do with core beliefs. Mike has come out and said he is a believer in Gaian philosophy, and that is his faith system. I cannot listen to him on this issue – worshiping the creation as if it were in fact the Creator goes against all that I understand. During the speech he gave in Portland, “Re-Writing Genesis One & The Forgiveness of Debt”, he made several statements that point up a flawed understanding of theology and a flawed God concept before his reveal about being a Gaian. There were a couple of points in his talk that pointed up his exposure to 12-Step recovery – I wonder if he considers himself to still be in recovery? In some of the updated footage that is on the DVD of “Collapse”, he owns up to smoking dope – don’t know if that’s ongoing behavior or not, but it puts a question in my mind.

So many other little things bothered me about his speech that, by and of themselves, I could (and likely would) pass over them as being idiosyncratic but when put together with comments made in prefacing articles on CollapseNet, I get more than a bit concerned that Mike is drinking his own Kool-Aid. He has been calling out to all who will listen that “until you change the way money works, you change nothing”, but I still haven’t heard him offer up a replacement for the monetary paradigm. The world has tried barter and continues to use it in myriad ways, but it doesn’t work for groceries or gas on anything like a large-scale basis. When a sincere questioner asked him to more specifically define what he means by the phrase, he (in my opinion) went off on a tangent that almost seemed to be attacking the questioner – not a fair way to treat someone looking for answers. The ranting about Alex Jones has gone on long enough for me to know I won’t be visiting his site for news and views, but it has been getting a little thick.

On the ongoing collapse of the global economy, I find Mike’s take accurate on what but the when he seems to keep missing. That I can understand easily enough – leaders keep finding ways to kick the can down the road a bit farther. He does get the methods right, but enough already with being a master prognosticator, and it’s time to ditch the comparison to Ted Williams. On other related news stories that point up things that are positive, and could offer encouragement to those who are just waking up to the reality of collapse – like a recent article in USA Today on the growth of urban farming – his site says not a word. What would it hurt to put up links to more positive articles, Mike? As it is, very few of the featured articles (available to paying members only, almost all written by other subscribers) offer the first-time reader any sense of hope or encouragement – and this is a website “holding a lantern at the crossroads”? A lantern throws light on everything within its range, not just the negative. Those of us who are aware of the inevitability of collapse that find ourselves out here looking for resources with which to help our neighbors to wake up and deal with reality – that which is, and not what our ideology would have us believe – need to be able to offer hope as well as practical instruction, else why not all just give up?

Perhaps I expect too much of a journalist turned celebrity?