Whats your take on James Howard Kunstler vision

[viperred88]

Do you believe he is in his predictions he has been preaching for awhile now? Or is he predicting an overly pessimistic picture of the future which is reminiscent of the Mad Max movies? I find alot of his insight is bang-on although I do have faith in this world will learn to adapt without creating an armageddon.

here is his latest interview on video.
play the video that says, Life Without Cheap Oil link
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/spec...cheap_oil.html

[Boris2k7]

Kunstler purposely exaggerates. He chooses the worst case scenarios for two reasons:

1) It sells more books, thus making him more money
2) It gets the message across to the complacent public

However, he does have good points. He's as much a figurehead for Peak Oil as much as Al Gore is for Climate Change. It is still important to look at the facts behind their positions and neither dismiss them or take them at face value.

[WhipperSnapper]

He's as much a figurehead for Peak Oil as much as Al Gore is for Climate Change.

so like driving Hummers and owning a house that requires it's own substation. Al Gore's a douche. Kunstler, you just know his retirement fund is entirely in oil stock options.

[the dude]

^i don't think kunstler would describe himself as an environmentalist. i do think he's a realist, though. in fact, he's called on the government to drill in the arctic, if for no other reason than to prove there isn't enough oil to make a difference. that said, i highly doubt he holds any stock in oil exploration or the like. also, i happen to agree with his vision of the future. we've got some tough times ahead and virtually no one is even thinking about or preparing for it. everyone's too busy watching reality tv and getting tattoo'd to give a sh*t about what he says.

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

Kunstler purposely exaggerates. He chooses the worst case scenarios for two reasons:

1) It sells more books, thus making him more money
2) It gets the message across to the complacent public

However, he does have good points. He's as much a figurehead for Peak Oil as much as Al Gore is for Climate Change. It is still important to look at the facts behind their positions and neither dismiss them or take them at face value.

I'd say that is a pretty good assessment of him.

However, his intense hatred of suburbs and rather eccentric personality tends to cloud the fact that he actually makes some good points. It might have the effect of scaring off some of the skeptics.

[Riise]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

2) It gets the message across to the complacent public.

I think this is a very important point. His exaggerations tell us more about us the public than the man himself; it takes someone like this to get people interested. I believe we do need his exaggerations for this very reason; he's the intense spark needed to light a complacent fuse.

[raisethehammer]

I've always thought his view is a little pessimistic, until I show up at my neighbourhood gas station the other day and am told that the entire thing is pre-pay now since people are stealing the stuff constantly.
Maybe he's right in his predictions that people will resort to theft, crime etc.... to survive. Lord knows our governments are setting us up by doing jack squat to end the dependance on oil (kind of hard when they all work for/with them).
I'll take Kunstler over more shite box stores and Hummers any day of the week.

[salvius]

He does not have a clue...

There are severe logical leaps and bounds one must take to take this man seriously. I remember reading an article he had written, I think in the Rolling Stone. There were so many logical dead ends, flimsy arguments, and outright falsehoods that a rebuttal would have been several times longer than the original piece.