Reinventing Collapse by Dmitry Orlov

If you are foolish enough to read Gifthub, you owe it to yourself to get a copy of this book: Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects, by a Russian emigre, Dmitry Orlov.  It belongs to a genre of satire that might be called Utopia/Dystopia.  Orlov draws lessons from the collapse of one impressive empire for the coming collapse of another. His orientation is towards survival, good humor, and making do without gasoline, heat, electricity, running water, televsion, for that matter, illusions. A sample of his extraordinary prose is below. Every paragraph is as well made as this one:

People in the United States and the Soviet Union have had broadly similar attitudes towards politics. In the United States this is often referred to as "voter apathy," but it might be more accurately described as non-voter indifference. The Soviet Union had a single , entrenched, and systematically corrupt political party, which held a monopoly on power. The US has two entrenched, systematically corrupt political parties, whose positions are often indistinguishable and which together hold a monopoly on power. In either case, there is or was, a single governing elite, but in the United States it has organized itself into opposing teams to make its stranglehold on power seem more sportsmanlike.

After the coming collapse, gift culture, or favor trading, will thrive as will blackmarkets, war lords, private security operations, and moonshine stills. Suburban lawns will sprout tomatoes. Nomads will roam a landscape much like our inner cities today, with buildings stripped of their wiring and copper plumbing.  The best career options will be repo man,  auctioneer, or undertaker. A sense of black humor is the best defense against despair, when the Prozac runs out. Via.

Comments

[O Lucky Man]

...A lot of the people, who just waddle to and from their cars, seem unprepared for what comes next. If they suddenly had to start living like the Russians, they would blow out their knees....

[Phil]

O yes, you got the book, or found passages online. What wonderful stuff.

[Money, Orlov?]

...The problem is, once the economy is removed, so is the profit, along with the services it once helped to motivate...

[Phil]

Once the money becomes worthless....