Y2k, go away!

Mark (markl@buylocalfood.com)
Thu, 23 Dec 1999 11:38:27 -0500

Whew what a headful those last two long y2k posts were...I certainly
appreciate Misha's perspective-reminder; after all, how can the internet be
a truly global network when 2/3 of the people on earth do not have a
telephone?! Our technology is vastly overrated and it's impact on real
people is overstated. All the time, and especially with the y2k stuff. I
can't stand computers anymore. I have to use one for work, and I obviously
use email, but my laptop at home is buried in the back of the closet.
Early on in my computer infatuation phase I quickly learned that the
computer is not your friend, and that it sucks more time out of you than it
ever saves you, personally or professionally. I still stand by that
statement. When the handle on my shovel breaks, I can make a new one and
get back to work. When my computer breaks, I am on hold with tech support
for hours, or it is in the shop for weeks, or I need to throw it away and
buy a new one! Which is the better tool?

There are all kinds of people willing to exploit our fears -- techno geeks
looking to make a big buck (or who are genuinely afraid that their beloved
technology will collapse); religious megalomaniacs looking for an ego
feeding; and simple hucksters cashing in on the latest trend (you know the
type; they used to sell counterfeit Rubik's Cubes on the streets of NYC;
now they are selling home security systems and water filters. They know how
to follow the $$!)

But the saddest part of this Y2K thing to me was the well-intentioned
nouveau (or old time) hippies trying to turn this millenial tension into a
"community building experience." I don't know which depresses me more --
their naivete or the understanding that humans are singularly selfish and
that there are more people willing to exploit a disaster than help other
during one. I have good neighbors and I know if we need anything during
the next year we will help each other. But its a wide world out there and
it is full of people too afraid, apathetic, angry, vengeful, and psychotic
to create the "community response" to Y2K that these activists are working
toward. A moment of clarity for me was a report from the NE ice storm a
few years ago. A fellow in Maine was stating that he was getting by OK
because he traded his shotgun to his father for some cordwood to keep his
home warm. I guess the point of the story was supposed to be to illustrate
how these backwoods folk help each other out, but dammit, why didn't his
father just GIVE him some cordwood? Are we Yankees so tight that we won't
even help out our own families in a crisis? Yikes...

These isolated community builders can hold all the meetings and pot lucks
they want. I can't imagine any of them going into the ghetto to help the
people whose social security, disability and welfare checks aren't coming
anymore -- they are the most likely victims of Y2k anyway.

OK so enough ranting. Go ahead and flame away. I'm not sure how much of
this I believe after reading it over anyway!

Happy Holidays!

Mark
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