A Bowl of Stupid

Those of you who, to your great misfortune, have been reading this dribble for some time, may recall my discussion several months ago about the movie ‘A Crude Awakening’ and the phenomenon of ‘Peak Oil’.

As noted in that post, the movie shows that the ever-diminishing supply of petroleum will have effects that, to the modern industrialized world, will make global warming itself seem like a walk in the park. According to experts, first will come oil-based political disputes between the West and those areas still producing the larger amounts of oil (cough, cough, … Iraq, Iran, Nicaragua, … cough, cough).

Next come inflated petrol prices, the collapse of international economic markets, and various other economic and political upheavals in (or caused by) those Western countries most reliant on foreign oil (cough, cough … fuck it, you know I mean the US).

Then finally, the utter collapse of Western civilization as we know it.

At this point, if you pay attention to foreign media reports, you can already see where this whole thing is heading. If not, well then … enjoy your turkey, you bloated fucker.

I say ‘foreign media’ because, as of the time of writing this (early Thanksgiving morning in the U.S.), there are absolutely no significant stories in the U.S. online press (i.e., CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo/AP News, etc.) discussing the issue that seems to dominate all the foreign press today — sky high oil prices and the effect on the global markets.

In contrast, both on TV and in print, BBC World, Yahoo International, and the International Herald Tribune, are at the time of writing, leading with the story of how:

‘World equities were hammered Wednesday by soaring oil prices and fears over the global economy, with steep falls in Asia and Europe after volatile trade overnight on Wall Street, analysts said.’

Briefly, for those of you who aren’t aware, oil went up to its highest price ever today — just shy of US $100 per barrel. The causes apparently pertain to US ‘policies’ in West Asia, production issues leading into the upcoming winter months, and, since barrels have always been priced by the US Dollar, which is doing poorly on the international markets, the barrels just ain’t worth as much (as it were).

You would think that this, combined with the fact that the UN just published one of its most scathing reports about the state of global environmental issues, would be some cause for concern. Or at least a front page news slot.

I guess not.

Rather, at the time of this writing, in contrast to (what at least I consider to be) this very important global story, CNN America’s lead story is … wait for it … wait for it …

’3 charged with causing Natalee Holloway’s death.’

What. The. Fuck.

With those fucked up priorities, I’m guessing the new Shrek float in the Macy’s Parade will be Wolf Blitzer’s lead story on ‘The Situation Room’ tonight.

This post initially was going to be about how all that shit they talked about in ‘A Crude Awakening’ may perhaps, despite the recent oil discoveries in Brazil, all be starting to come to fruition.

Indeed, we are, as always, one bad bottle of Tequila away from all-out war in West Asia. We are slipping quickly into a global recession (or at least, a US recession). And, as noted, oil production is down and demand is up – leading to the highest petrol prices in history.

And yet, when I research to find some US media reports on all of this, all I could find there is a stunning investigative report on how workers are inflating the Scooby Doo balloon for Macy’s 81st Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.

For that reason, I didn’t go off on the whole ‘doom and gloom’ scenario … again.

Instead, I went off on the state of the US media … again.

I know some of you may think all I do is sit here and think about ways to bitch about the media and the government back in the States. But I honestly don’t see it that way. I don’t go looking for this kinda Anti-American type of shit — it just come to me.

Regardless, you may have a point.

I really shouldn’t complain about the state of ‘journalism’ in the US today. Really, the press is only giving the American public what it clamors for.

So, for Americans, that means CNN issuing a breaking report on how the Macy’s Day Parade this year will be featuring the cast of “Legally Blonde.” Whereas in the rest of the world, it means reporting on how they’ll be feeding themselves in the next couple years.

Yep, maybe you guys are right — it’s good to be the King.

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