What’s Old is New Again

Here’s an interesting story I found today; it echoes something I wrote here, and what I also blogged about here.

Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare

Convinced the planet’s oil supply is dwindling and the world’s economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn’t prepare.

The exact number of people taking such steps is impossible to determine, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the movement has been gaining momentum in the last few years.

These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves.

…”I was panic-stricken,” the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking. “Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible.”

Typical sensationalist journalist drivel. :-p Why do they have to make it sound like we’re wearing tin-foil hats or something?

The gist of the story is correct– more people are letting go of the consumerist mentality that is suffocating our society, and opting to live off the land. But the news story opts to paint such folks as either “terrified” or kooky. There is nothing wrong with tossing the television, learning to grow your own food, and having guns! If anything, people who are consumerists are the historical aberration!

Anyway, it’s an interesting story. I’m glad to see more folks willing to take responsibility for their living. Our excessively wasteful society is going through a change, absolutely. There may be a few difficult bumps along the way, but I personally am glad to see it. I think our nation will benefit from more and more people living off the land again– working hard– and taking more responsibility for their way of living. And we’re not a bunch of fuddy-duds, either; I don’t think we would rule out Orlando vacations or fun stuff, like this journalist seems to imply (and by the way, reading “dusty” old books is really, really fun!).

I think the real meaning of the news story comes not from the bigoted vocabulary of the journalist, but of the lady he interviewed, who said that she, “hopes to someday band together with her neighbors to form a self-sufficient community.”

What’s wrong with that?