That 18K medical bill would likely cause a lot of working people who work jobs with no benefits to end up out on the streets.

It’s especialy intimidating cause this is the internet.

Of course, you DIDN’T do that, guilty white liberal that you are.

You’re just lucky they didnt run a train on your girlfriend while they made you watch.

Tar,

You are such a cynic!

ook at Africa, post-WWII: it’s awash in the old guns we replaced in the “first world”, and tribal chiefs will bankrupt the tribe trading cows for M-16s nowadays.

Indeed, Africa is a prime example. Tribal cultures shattered by the violence of civilized colonialism, awash in bloodshed with civilized weapons, as a consequence of civilized encroaschments against them. The turmoil in Africa is the legacy of colonialism–the very essence of civilization itself.

What I ask is: how do you strip ALL the technological, industrial civilizations of their industry base and ensure a level playing field for those who’re playing along with yer plan? Honestly, were I a megalomaniacal dictator, I’d happily pretend to be going along with such a scheme until everyone seemed disarmed… and then come out, guns blazing, to conquer the world.

If the question is a technical one, you’ve already set up the conditions. It’s a systemic problem, so its solutions must also be systemic.

The only way you’ll ever end violence, is if there’s no incentive in it. Not building up artificial disincentives, like, “if you do, we’ll beat the ever-loving shit out of you.” Take away the incentive itself. Make violence a stupid idea.

We have lots of fossil and archaeological evidence for violence after the Neolithic, but none before. Why is that?

I’m intrigued by your statement about various social structures and potential for violence. Yeah, tribes don’t make napalm: they don’t have the industrial base… but they wouldn’t be above USING IT. Look at Africa, post-WWII: it’s awash in the old guns we replaced in the “first world”, and tribal chiefs will bankrupt the tribe trading cows for M-16s nowadays.

You can expect much the same in an American collapse if people return to a tribal culture… though I suppose it’ll only hold out as long as the ammo does. Then you’ll get a tribe that knows how to “reload” bullets, primer and powder into empty brass casings, and the other nearby tribes will become sattelites of that tribe, dependent on them for protection.

What I ask is: how do you strip ALL the technological, industrial civilizations of their industry base and ensure a level playing field for those who’re playing along with yer plan? Honestly, were I a megalomaniacal dictator, I’d happily pretend to be going along with such a scheme until everyone seemed disarmed… and then come out, guns blazing, to conquer the world.

Much easier to to get the peoples of the world to embrace the idea of controlled violence, that there’s a time and place where violence is correct and necessary, and that time and place is not beating people down in the streets for $2.75… or bombing a nation for billions in oil profits flowing to the same pockets.

Look to the flower in awe… and the tiger in terror and fascination. The ONLY “rules” are Learn from All, and Adapt or Die. As to corporations… you’re not looking high enough up the food chain. Look to the banks: they control the companies, the government, and public opinion through the media.

We don’t create rules. We create myths. We create living legends that show them what it was like in the middle of the collapse, even though they had never been there.

And we forge stories of what their destiny can be, if only they listen to what the World provides to them.

Just my humble suggestion.

The Collapse and Post-Collapse periods will certainly require religion.

Perhaps we should start drafting a new version of The 10 Commandments?

1. Thou shall not allow corporations to take over the world.

2.

What else?