WatchAn excerpt from his weekly "Clusterf*ck Nation" column:
"Over here, in this sorry-ass edition of America, the election will look more and more like a World Wrestling Federation staged dumb-show between two catamite hostages of a foul corporate oligarchy. Imagine that horse's ass Mitt Romney spending the next four months denouncing Obama-care, modeled on his own health care reform in Massachusetts, while Obama pretends he has a grip on an economy where the rule of law is absent due to Obama's own omissions and negligence. And if you can't stand that spectacle, just look around at America itself: a wasteland of futile motoring and discount shopping populated by depressed, overfed clowns bedizened with sinister tattoos, pretending to be Star Warriors."
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He is entetaining, even with all the run-on sentences.
Kunslter is a struggling fiction writer who (much like Ron Hubbard who started out writing fiction also) chanced upon a subject that is really popular. So then once he 'found a way to make $ by writing' - which is always difficult - he ran with it.
Once in a while i read the comments on his 'peak oil doomster site' and its funny. I read about one article, this yuppie couple moved out to the styx to 'be prepared for teotwaki' and after a few years of no end of world they realized if it did end, then all thier redneck 5th generation neighbors would kill them and take what they wanted anyway since those dudes are hard core hunters. So they moved back to NY. Funny.
I for one am gonna ride the train until it stops.
(BTW kunsler also predicted teotwaki from y2k! really! hes that dumb! Its basic con man 101 that end of world prediction is always in the future, never ever set a date!!! duh!)
Also he is boring, only making fun of fat people who drive cars. I get it. same old saw.
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Yes, he's definitely a "pundit", which means he sells wacky ideas (that contain a kernel of truth) for a profit.
He's sort of like the Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh of the left.
PockyClipsNow says
Yeah that doesn't surpise me.
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Funny thing about 'oil running out' it will be probably 500 years before its all gone. Cars can run on nat gas when oil is too pricey.
People are able to take a bus, carpool, ride a bike (almost NONE of this is happening now in the us)
So worse case we just all get fit and save money if gas is 8$ a gallon.
Once its super rare it will be for military use only, but THATS really far off. I could totally afford gas at double what it is - it would be a nice way to end gridlock. So im like WHERE IS PEAK OIL? Im pretty sure were gonna see the end of the ponzi federal reserve fiat money printing before oil runs out. And its the money printing causing high oil prices right? Kunslter NEVER mentions that, he wants to attribute ALL of the high cost of oil to peak oil theory.
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I'm sure we're going to discover Oil's true purpose for being the ground, when it's to late.
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Yeah there's plenty of "tar sand" around if we run out of the liquid stuff.
Of course by then, the oceans might be too acidic (from all the extra CO2) to support life.
Any marine biologists out there?
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I like Kunstler but he's basically the same article phrased differently lots of weeks.
He did a TED video on burbclaves that was hilarious in places.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html
I like his term "nature bandaid" and find myself using it.
Favorite quote:
"I've been talking about this for years.... PLEASE PLEASE stop referring to yourselves as consumers. Consumers are different than citizens. Consumers do not have obligations, responsibilities and duties to their fellow human beings. And as long as you use that term you will be degrading the quality of the discussion we are having, and we are continuing being clueless going into this very difficult future that we face. Please go out and do what you can to make this a land with places worth caring about and a nation worth defending. "
Hubbert pinned American peak oil in 1965-1970. And indeed the peak was in 1970, although it was some years before it was recognized to have occurred. Many assumed there'd be a BIG FIND that would change the facts because they didn't like the notion of America becoming dependent on foreigners.
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Vicente says
Pretty much yes. I just like is occaisonal brilliant insights and satirical commentary. I don't take his "predictions" too seriously. He's one of those perpetual doomsters.
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Yeah if he wasnt funny he would still be working for a lame local paper making $100 per article, freelance, no benefits.
Basically he's like a comedian who also plays music (old adam sandler from SNL) not funny enough to stand out as comedian, must include 'another gimmick' to sell seats/content.
Basically Kunsler is merely part of the content engine streaming 'whateva u wanna see' to you for a small price. Its all zeros and ones and so are his noises and 'ideas'.
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Yep. It's not just the right wingers that are willing to "sell their soul" for a buck.
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Kunslter get big speaking fees to tell people how shitty their town/country is.
How awsome is that? So rare!
I've read a lot of his content. (its all the same) for fun I will summarize:
1. Suburbs=the devil and its ugly too
2. fat people driving cars gonna hafta walk everywhere pretty soon! hahahaha (And they have low IQs cuz they dont ride a bike to the store like I do! which is the only sustainable activity I do and it cancels out my many and numerous global trips on a 747 to tell people I think thier town is ugly)
3. Its hopeless because everyone is an idiot but me i 'get it', join my club and be cool too.
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Pocky,
That's a pretty good summary of "Kunstlerism", yes.
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I would prefer to call it 'Kuntology' - its like the global warming religion only with way more insults (the snarky smarty pants backhanded ones where you are like....waitamin, did he just insult us all).