For the past 3 years or so i have been following a number of subjects of interest in both traditional media and cybermedia. Topics such as peak oil and alternate energy, climate change, bubbles and meltdowns, and political instability have all absorbed their share of time. Each topic vies for space and attention with the others and few are willing to give the others any agency in shaping the future. It would appear to me that all of the above mentioned topics are both cause and effect, granted some more immediately one or the other, but still a circle of dominoes waiting to fall. I certainly understand why the proponents of each camp turn almost a blind eye to the others. The proliferation of information on the net almost requires a level of stridency that precludes, not awareness of, but in many cases taking notice of different perspectives. It doesn't help matters any that many of the writers on the net are preaching and reaching similar minded individuals and so are reinforced in their own viewpoints.
As a neophyte getting educated to all of these topics I was fortunate in having a couple good friends who were far more savvy than I. They introduced me to a broad range of topics and then allowed me to make my own conclusions. I suspect that what they did was rather unusual. Like most people, tenuously entering in on an exploration of all or some of these topics, I was overwhelmed by the quantity of information out there. The quality of information isn't always as great as the quantity but that is difficult for the neophyte to initially see. My own reaction to the bombardment i was taking followed one of the two usual courses, I became doomer. I could have followed the other course of denying that there was any problem at all. My perspectives have shifted over the years, but that's a different post.
My main point, in this openning post, is that everyone in all of these communities need to remember that the vast majority of people are where i was 3 years ago or you were 3, 5, 10 years ago. The intent of all of the informants out there should not be to frighten people into either auto doom mode or "I see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" mode. All of it is enough to baffle the mind, it certainly did and does mine, and likely yours at times too. So keep that in mind all of you marvellous writers out there, who put me to shame, and keep informing and fostering thought but remember the neophytes.
