"Irritable Male Syndrome," the end of the economy, and what might come next

[villager]

How the Jobless Era is Driving the Irritable Male Syndrome and Destroying Families: 5 Things You Must Do Now to Save Yourself

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I believe that Richard Heinberg is one of the most consistently perceptive and optimistic social scientists in the world. I’ve followed his work for the last 25 years and he knows his stuff. In a March 3, 2010 article, Life After Growth: What If the Economy Doesn’t Recover, he makes the following observations:

“In late 2009 and early 2010, the economy showed some signs of renewed vigor. Understandably, everyone wants it to get "back to normal." But here's a disturbing thought: What if that is not possible? What if the goalposts have been moved, the rules rewritten, the game changed? What if the decades-long era of economic growth based on ever-increasing rates of resource extraction, manufacturing, and consumption is over, finished, and done? What if the economic conditions that all of us grew up expecting to continue practically forever were merely a blip on history's timeline?

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“Let's be clear: I believe we are in for some very hard times. The transitional period on our way toward a post-growth, equilibrium economy will prove to be the most challenging time any of us has ever lived through. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we can survive this collective journey, and that if we make sound choices as families and communities, life can actually be better for us in the decades ahead than it was during the heady days of seemingly endless economic expansion.”

Will Men Survive the Transition?


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How Can Men Choose Life in a World Without Work?

We may be going through the most difficult transition that humans have ever experienced on earth. These are strong words, I know. But the truth is that we have been living out an addictive fantasy for some time and we must change if we are going to survive. We can not continue to have a growing economy, one that takes more and more of the earth’s resources and turns them into garbage. We have to live more sustainably if we are going to live at all.

Daniel Quinn, the visionary author of Ishmael said, “The problem is that man's conquest of the world has itself devastated the world. And in spite of all the mastery we've attained, we don't have enough mastery to stop devastating the world, or to repair the devastation we've already wrought." He reminds us that if humans are going to be around in 10, 20, or 100 years, we will need to change our ways. It is often the ones who are most devastated by the present who lead the way to the future. Here are 5 things that men can do now.

1. Accept that this is the end of an era.

Despite what many will tell us, the economy as we know it is never going to recover. The sooner we face that fact, the better. Here’s how Heinberg puts it: “We have reached the end of economic growth as we have known it.” The "growth" we are talking about consists of the expansion of the overall size of the economy (with more people being served and more money changing hands) and of the quantities of energy and material goods flowing through it. The economic crisis that began in 2008 was both foreseeable and inevitable, and that it marks a permanent, fundamental break from past decades—a period in which economists adopted the unrealistic view that perpetual economic growth is necessary and also possible to achieve.

When I work with alcoholics and drug addicts in recovery, the first step is to acknowledge powerlessness. It’s paradoxical, but we gain power the more we accept the things we cannot change. One of those things is that the world of employment we have known is over. When we accept that fact, rather than fighting it, we can move on.

2. Define “being a man” in new ways.

If we continue to define our manhood based on our ability to work in the old economy, we set ourselves up for failure. It would be like holding on to the horse as a symbol of manly transportation. “Real men ride horses. Choosing any other way to get around means you’re not a man.”

In the new era, manhood will be defined less on what we do than by who we are. Are we kind, compassionate, understanding, supportive? We’ll have to learn to take on qualities that have been traditionally more associated with women. For some men, they’d rather die than do that. Others will find it a relief to let go of the old macho constraints and learn to live in new ways.

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http://lifetwo.com/production/node/20100308-Jed-Diamond-5-things-to-save-yourself