"It isn't about smart vs dumb

[pscot]

there are plenty of intelligent people who are unable to accept raw reality and its implications."

This is a thought provoking read. It was posted at a goldbug site, but it's not about gold.

http://www.goldsubject.com/the-enlightened-and-the-clueless/

The enlightened are quietly converting fiat money into gold bullion, because they don’t fancy losing their hard-earned buying power; the clueless are holding on to their fiat money and dismiss gold buyers as survivalist crackpots.

The enlightened are quietly liquidating assets that clearly cannot perform in a Second Great Depression; the clueless are buying assets in the mistaken belief that there will be a V-shaped recovery.

The enlightened are spending as little as possible; the clueless spend money at every opportunity.

The enlightened are getting rid of houses other than the one they live in, because they understand that the price deflation of real estate is going to be very steep, which means that the more they wait to sell, the less money they will get; the clueless are holding onto their “investment properties” in the vain hope that they will be able to rent apartment units that have been vacant for six months.

The enlightened are at least considering the possibility that we are more or less back in the 1930s, with all the terrifying geopolitical implications of that comparison; the clueless think that there will be a 1960s-style boom starting in the middle of next week.

The enlightened are extremely vigilant and do their best to get hold of some real news every day; the clueless only listen to the vacuous nonsense spouted by the mainstream media, if they even bother to do that.

The enlightened understand that unfortunately the economic meltdown might produce complications that are rather more unpleasant than empty grocery stores; the clueless would rather not think about it.

The enlightened are not emotionally attached to an ideology and are willing to embrace the grieving process that lies between an old paradigm and a new one; the clueless laugh at anything that is alien to their personal experience, thinking that the recent past is reliably predictive of the future, smugly confident in the belief that they know better.

The enlightened know that governments are not in the business of creating wealth and that in this economic meltdown we are pretty much on our own; the clueless think that “the government will never let bad things happen.”

The enlightened do their best to take as many friends and relatives to the lifeboats with them; the clueless are only partially receptive, and ultimately turn back because the lifeboats look too scary.

The enlightened might not have an easy life over the next two decades, but their material and mental preparation will significantly improve their quality of life; the clueless are in for perhaps one of the nastiest wake-up calls in history.

I was originally going to entitle this post “the smart and the clueless,” but having written it I decided that this title did not accurately portray the message of this post. You see, there are plenty of smart people who are unwilling to accept raw reality and its implications. The limiting factor here is not cognitive ability, but a willingness to recognize that the assumptions carried so far have mostly been incorrect and that their model of the world needs to be revised.

This principle is nothing new. It is generally the case that self-improvement requires the abandonment of old models in favor of new ones, with an inevitable grieving process in between. Most people are not capable of even recognizing that what they have been doing or thinking is wrong, let alone embark on an arduous process of self-improvement.

Human beings in general are simply not wired to accept and implement substantial changes in their worldview. The classic example here is that of the Greenland Norse, who starved to death — right down to the very last one of them — because they insisted on living as farmers instead of adopting the fisherman/hunter lifestyle of the Inuit, even after it became clear that farming in Greenland was simply not viable. Willful and timely change, and the acceptance thereof, is more than most people can cope with.

The enlightened and the clueless: two very different groups with rapidly diverging destinies.

[Robert DAH Bruce]

1. The link didn't work

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Except it is about gold

You know, that first sentence. And that's the tone of the rest of it ("getting rid of houses other than the one they live in", oh right, it's aimed at landlords, or millionaires with a spare house or two).

It's one goldbug's claim that he knows the future. Meh.

[bemildred]

3. He sort of assumes his conclusion ("I'm one of the smart people") if you see what I mean.

The Greenland Norse are not a classic example of anything, although they are an earlier example of people adversly affected by climate change.

[pscot]

4. I knew the tone of this would put people off

and I debated whether to post it. But I thought the recognition of the paradigm shift, and the difficulties people are having in adapting to the new realities, were significant. The conventional wisdom isn't working. As a society, we need to take a hard look at our assumptions. And it's not just us Amerikans. The wolf is at the door globally. Without major changes in the way we live, the human race is going to be in a world of hurt, probably a lot quicker than most of us want to believe.

[sea four]

5. Libertarians are the "enlightened" ones?

:eyes: