Paradox: Linchpin Of The Long Emergency (Carolyn Baker)

[Tace]

Feb. 13, 2011 (CarolynBaker.net) -- When people ask me, “Will the Long Emergency happen quickly or slowly?” I answer, “Yes.” When they ask, “Will it be like rolling down a bumpy hill or falling off a cliff?” my answer is “Yes.”

My response usually draws laughter or a knowing smile, and then I proceed to explain what I mean as I intend to do in this article. Answering “yes” to such questions underscores the paradox that is at the core of both the questions -- and the answers, and without which it will be absolutely, unequivocally impossible to navigate the Long Emergency.

Obviously, the expression, “long emergency” is in itself paradoxical. The very word “emergency” implies a crisis that is sudden, immediate, short-lived, and abrupt. So when James Howard Kunstler entitled his book “The Long Emergency,” he captured the paradox that lies at the core of humanity’s current and future predicament.

The dictionary defines paradox as: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. Psychologist James Hillman in a recent interview, when asked about a number of world events, responded with:

"We have to realize that our minds are our enemy. The current debate has become very ideological, with certain fixed ideas dominating the discussion. This is a result of thinking in opposites; it goes back to Aristotle, and has to do with an either/or kind of logic: If something is this way, it cannot be that way.

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http://worldnewstrust.com/all-content/paradox-linchpin-of-the-long-emergency-carolyn-baker.html

[WCGreen]

1. Wonderfully realistic look at how having two opposites sides to every

issue has calcified our culture.

It makes sense to me that this would be a modern conservative way simply because of the idea of good and evil being adopted to explain each issue. There are no shades of gray to Conservatives.

I think liberals use a wider scope when viewing the world, we are able to discern shadings.

Perhaps that is why the conservatives are gaining the upper hand because they have skillfully transformed every issue into are you with us or agin us, black or white, right or wrong, vanilla or chocolate, no tutti fruiti for this bunch.

I guess that is a gut reaction to take but the leadership of the conservative movement is committing a great disservice to their followers by making things always diametrically opposed.

[truedelphi]

3. K & R for the Op and I'm in total agreement with your

Paragraph on how the wrong headed can and do win arguments - if a person can make an issue into a simple, helpful and cheerful thirty second sound byte, it is much easier to gain mass acceptance. Unfortunately truth often needs more than thirty seconds to explain.

[Demeter]

2. The Longer the People in Power are in Denial, the Longer the Emergency Lasts

and the more likely that the People in Power will be out of power soon.

[4dsc]

4. The sheeple don't want to hear this crap

People want to read about the good times coming back and everyone lives happily ever after. We are narcissistic society that believes nothing will ever go wrong.