Flummoxed by Quandaries

Appreciating those moments when nothing makes sense

What’s up with China?

The following may be a bit freeform, but I hope it is comprehensible. These are ideas —  or fragments of ideas — I may explore in more depth in different ways over the next few months. Or not.

I am going through a moment when I feel a tad “over-swarmed.” There are just too many books on my reading list, too much news to assimilate, too many possibilities to explore — too many things that seem relevant, even urgently important, necessary. I face a long backlog of subjects I wish to investigate, to comment upon, to rage against, but no time to do so.

If only some billionaire would gift me a media company¹! Then I could assign subjects to teams of eager reporters and fussy editors who would scout, dig, excavate, scavenge, assimilate, and generally do my bidding. I find myself utterly frustrated by what I find across the media, both the establishment and the alternative press. I hardly trust any source.

Just to take a few examples:

I am insatiably curious to know what the actual scientific verdict is on the Covid vaccines, now that some time has passed. A few weeks ago, the Center for Disease Control, without fanfare, completely changed its guidelines around COVID-19. Many alternative sources (some with a pronounced Libertarian bias or Leftist paranoid tinge) declare that evidence reveals far more deaths and health issues as a result of the vaccines, particularly among the young.

Are healthy young people who were not at great risk from the Coronavirus but did all the boosters now dropping like flies? I don’t know. In any event, I don’t get the sense that the establishment still touts the vaccines as a medical miracle, and Fauci is out.

I suspect that the outcome of the mass vaccinations has turned out to be utterly ambiguous. But I feel we should have some consensus around this before the next pandemic outbreak of Covid or some new scourge and they want to force everyone to get shot up again with more experimental biotech that reaps tens of billions for Pharma.

There was a DIY “windowfarm” movement for urban apartments a few years back. It doesn’t seem to have picked up.

Another thing I am completely flummoxed by, at this point, is how close we are to a traumatic break in the global food system, leading to large-scale famine, due to the acceleration of climate change and its chaotic impacts on rivers, floodplains, droughts, and harvests. Should I be learning how to sprout sunflower seeds on my windowsill? (The answer is probably yes). Should I be trying to move to rural Vermont before the crash? (But what would I do there?)

I sort of decided, a few years back, I wasn’t going to fight too hard to survive the Apocalypse, although I admit I still waffle on this from time to time. I admire the friends of mine who are building regenerative communities in exotic hinterlands, learning how to farm, reseeding food forests, creating local bartering networks, and so on. I just don’t feel like it is for me. I still somewhat believe in synchronicity and