I once met David Byrne in a coffee shop in Berkeley, California close to where he lived. He was having tea at a table by himself, so I asked if I could join him and everyone else seems to have passed by not knowing who was in their company. I gave no indication that I knew who he was. The only question I asked when I left the table was, is there anything I can do to be of service to you before I leave? He said yes. He said I was thinking about ordering a tuna salad sandwich, but I can’t eat the whole thing. Would you share it with me? It was a great lunch.
I have long thought that we stopped talking to one another when the smartphone and internet was invented. I'm old enough to remember the first internet chat boards in the mid-1980's and things took off from there. This was even before cell phones were invented for public use.
We'll never be the same anymore and it continues to get worse every year. You're right, it won't be much longer before the only talking that will be taking place between people will be from behind a gun barrel. At least in the west anyway. While we destroy one another, the far east will be looking on and smiling behind polite hands over their mouths.
The U.S. empire is finished and is slowly heading towards a big fall. Like a very large tree that the ground underneath will no longer support anymore, causing the tree to slowly tilt over until a big storm comes along someday and finally knocks it to the ground. The U.S. is leaning over pretty hard right now, waiting for that big storm to make that one last push. No one knows when that will be but it's only a matter of time.
That's what happens when people stop talking to one another and there is only one person demanding everyone pay attention to them. Everyone else points a finger at someone else and eventually they grab a gun.
One of your best columns... THUS FAR...which is saying something, like our society you are always moving back the goal posts as far as your thoughtful provoking columns.
I think for better or worse you've gotten yourself identified as a prepper, which I guess you are, but you are also so much more than that. Might I add a philosophy and a sociologist
I found out last year that the word “prepper” can have good connotations, as well as the bad, which I had. You CAN be a prepper in a good way, which is what Jessica is and what I aspire to be.
I think that there might be some humans who survive somewhere. But who knows how long they will survive in small pockets.
When does “collapse” happen to me, is the question that people are asking. Not when will it happen, or matter, but when will I personally feel the pain of societal collapse?
I think collapse is personal. Societies collapse. Millions murdered in Genocide. Millions murdered in war. Millions murdered by starvation. Millions murdered by enslavement.
Personally, “collapse” happened to me when my ancestors were kidnapped and enslaved.
Collapse happened when my great-grandparents escaped from the pogroms in Vilna.
Collapse happened when my cousins died from covid.
Collapse happened when my sister died, because a window wasn’t locked, and it should have been.
Collapse has happened and is happening to my loved ones with cancer. Cancer caused by toxins that we eat, drink, and breathe.
Maybe collapse is personal. Maybe there are many “collapses.” Humans cannot think of 8,000,000,000 people dying at once. It’s too much. Too big for our primitive brains.
So, when will collapse impact you?
-When you, or closest loved ones have cancer.
-When you, or your closest loved ones die from a treatable illness, but can’t get care.
When I first heard the expression "alternative facts" I got a serious deep sinking feeling in my stomach. I had the feeling that we'd passed some sort of threshhold of no return.
I've spent the last 50 years working on this ideal of sharing the world - primarily through the practice/praxis of popular education. I recognize Davidson's point and, though unfamiliar with his work, have encountered that point in the works of many people. Though i might quibble with the notion of what "conversation" requires compared to "dialogue." And i think Davidson might agree. I feel that what we call "conversation" has a pretty low bar apropos of "sharing" our world. "Dialogue," especially apropos of mentioning Bakhtin, is a more precise (rigorous?) term. I do take the point that things have gotten so bloody bad that even the low bar of conversation has become virtually insurmountable in many contexts. Still, i think it is Dialogue that we should be seeking to practice. Popular education is founded on this notion of dialogue and draws on the work of the likes of Paulo Freire, Martin Buber, and, less obviously, philosophers like Bakhtin and, perhaps even Davidson. I agree with Terrance Ó Domhnaill's comment here that smartphone, internet (and, by implication, social media) have undermined our cultures of dialogue (and conversation). And that has me wondering about this very medium of Substack and what we publish and share. Is this conversation? Or dialogue? I am uncertain. I certainly want to believe it is. I want to believe that we are engaging in a shared world here. But, while i value the information shared here in posts and responses, i remain hungry or perhaps, undernourished is more true. I do think your point, Jessica, of the fundamental value of a "shared" world is at the heart of our struggles for society and planet. Thanks.
I once met David Byrne in a coffee shop in Berkeley, California close to where he lived. He was having tea at a table by himself, so I asked if I could join him and everyone else seems to have passed by not knowing who was in their company. I gave no indication that I knew who he was. The only question I asked when I left the table was, is there anything I can do to be of service to you before I leave? He said yes. He said I was thinking about ordering a tuna salad sandwich, but I can’t eat the whole thing. Would you share it with me? It was a great lunch.
Awesome lunch, awesome story, and I'm so glad this was the first comment on this post. :)
I have long thought that we stopped talking to one another when the smartphone and internet was invented. I'm old enough to remember the first internet chat boards in the mid-1980's and things took off from there. This was even before cell phones were invented for public use.
We'll never be the same anymore and it continues to get worse every year. You're right, it won't be much longer before the only talking that will be taking place between people will be from behind a gun barrel. At least in the west anyway. While we destroy one another, the far east will be looking on and smiling behind polite hands over their mouths.
The U.S. empire is finished and is slowly heading towards a big fall. Like a very large tree that the ground underneath will no longer support anymore, causing the tree to slowly tilt over until a big storm comes along someday and finally knocks it to the ground. The U.S. is leaning over pretty hard right now, waiting for that big storm to make that one last push. No one knows when that will be but it's only a matter of time.
That's what happens when people stop talking to one another and there is only one person demanding everyone pay attention to them. Everyone else points a finger at someone else and eventually they grab a gun.
Psycho killer, qu’est-ce que c’est?
Some days I just want to … run run run run run away.
Parce que je le connais 😢
One of your best columns... THUS FAR...which is saying something, like our society you are always moving back the goal posts as far as your thoughtful provoking columns.
I think for better or worse you've gotten yourself identified as a prepper, which I guess you are, but you are also so much more than that. Might I add a philosophy and a sociologist
I found out last year that the word “prepper” can have good connotations, as well as the bad, which I had. You CAN be a prepper in a good way, which is what Jessica is and what I aspire to be.
Humans. When have we ever had conversations?
When have we ever cared about beyond ourselves?
I am not sarcastic.
I think that there might be some humans who survive somewhere. But who knows how long they will survive in small pockets.
When does “collapse” happen to me, is the question that people are asking. Not when will it happen, or matter, but when will I personally feel the pain of societal collapse?
I think collapse is personal. Societies collapse. Millions murdered in Genocide. Millions murdered in war. Millions murdered by starvation. Millions murdered by enslavement.
Personally, “collapse” happened to me when my ancestors were kidnapped and enslaved.
Collapse happened when my great-grandparents escaped from the pogroms in Vilna.
Collapse happened when my cousins died from covid.
Collapse happened when my sister died, because a window wasn’t locked, and it should have been.
Collapse has happened and is happening to my loved ones with cancer. Cancer caused by toxins that we eat, drink, and breathe.
Maybe collapse is personal. Maybe there are many “collapses.” Humans cannot think of 8,000,000,000 people dying at once. It’s too much. Too big for our primitive brains.
So, when will collapse impact you?
-When you, or closest loved ones have cancer.
-When you, or your closest loved ones die from a treatable illness, but can’t get care.
-When you are homeless
-When you are hungry
-When the world becomes too much to bear.
He had shockingly white hair.
When I first heard the expression "alternative facts" I got a serious deep sinking feeling in my stomach. I had the feeling that we'd passed some sort of threshhold of no return.
I've spent the last 50 years working on this ideal of sharing the world - primarily through the practice/praxis of popular education. I recognize Davidson's point and, though unfamiliar with his work, have encountered that point in the works of many people. Though i might quibble with the notion of what "conversation" requires compared to "dialogue." And i think Davidson might agree. I feel that what we call "conversation" has a pretty low bar apropos of "sharing" our world. "Dialogue," especially apropos of mentioning Bakhtin, is a more precise (rigorous?) term. I do take the point that things have gotten so bloody bad that even the low bar of conversation has become virtually insurmountable in many contexts. Still, i think it is Dialogue that we should be seeking to practice. Popular education is founded on this notion of dialogue and draws on the work of the likes of Paulo Freire, Martin Buber, and, less obviously, philosophers like Bakhtin and, perhaps even Davidson. I agree with Terrance Ó Domhnaill's comment here that smartphone, internet (and, by implication, social media) have undermined our cultures of dialogue (and conversation). And that has me wondering about this very medium of Substack and what we publish and share. Is this conversation? Or dialogue? I am uncertain. I certainly want to believe it is. I want to believe that we are engaging in a shared world here. But, while i value the information shared here in posts and responses, i remain hungry or perhaps, undernourished is more true. I do think your point, Jessica, of the fundamental value of a "shared" world is at the heart of our struggles for society and planet. Thanks.