On Dec 19, 2008, at 10:44 AM, Dwayne Monroe wrote:
> Besides all the above, I don't understand why so many lefties admire
> Kunstler when we have our own, much more comprehensive critique of
> modernity's problems, wasteful energy policies and the ugliness of
> the built environment.
Speaking for myself, he's funny and makes for good radio. That said, the last time I had him on was more than two years ago, so he's not exactly a regular.
> I must tell you that as a black guy, when I read
> Kunstler's descriptions of the groups most likely to survive and
> thrive after his projected post "cheap energy" collapse (in, for
> example, "The Long Emergency", assorted essays and the novel "World
> Made By Hand") I feel a prickling on the back of my neck. I hear the
> unmistakable voice of an old white guy who isn't merely "cranky" but a
> cleverly entertaining style of soft bigot, passing judgment on people
> he's already inclined to dislike, but using unpreparedness for 'Peak
> Oil' as an excuse.
But aren't his targets fat American suburbanites, who are mostly white and Republican? Certainly my mostly black neighbors in Brooklyn haven't been living large on cheap oil.
Doug