The tone of commentary lately.
Has rapidly changed.
First there is a rush to the extremes, conspiracy theories and astrology make a comeback. All of the sudden people are conjuring up all sorts of doomsday scenarios. Historic timelines get longer with comparisons going back 100-200 years. A british journalist talks about world wars and reminds us that the last credit crunch gave us nazi germany. The crazy talk is off the charts.
Then the finger pointing is thick, kind of disgusting and in my opinion somewhat arbitrary. We need scapegoats. It all smells of panic and reminds me of "when you don't know what to do, blame someone".
On the positive side, I believe this crisis to be different than every other by the presence of the internet. The speed and the amount of information is a new variable, does it accelerate the timeline of the crisis? Does it make us stronger by allowing us to figure out what is going in a Open Source fashion with wide information sharing (given enough eyes all bugs are shallow)? Does it make us weaker by propagating mass hysteria? I don't know, but one thing seems clear to me, the speed of information can and does have a dramatic impact on the dynamics of crisis.
First there is a rush to the extremes, conspiracy theories and astrology make a comeback. All of the sudden people are conjuring up all sorts of doomsday scenarios. Historic timelines get longer with comparisons going back 100-200 years. A british journalist talks about world wars and reminds us that the last credit crunch gave us nazi germany. The crazy talk is off the charts.
Then the finger pointing is thick, kind of disgusting and in my opinion somewhat arbitrary. We need scapegoats. It all smells of panic and reminds me of "when you don't know what to do, blame someone".
On the positive side, I believe this crisis to be different than every other by the presence of the internet. The speed and the amount of information is a new variable, does it accelerate the timeline of the crisis? Does it make us stronger by allowing us to figure out what is going in a Open Source fashion with wide information sharing (given enough eyes all bugs are shallow)? Does it make us weaker by propagating mass hysteria? I don't know, but one thing seems clear to me, the speed of information can and does have a dramatic impact on the dynamics of crisis.
Comments
I want to believe.
This financial crisis will pass...there will be a lot of pain, and real estate will be amazingly cheap in many areas relative to 2005 prices...but...it will pass and we'll adjust to real estate being more of a consumable vs an investment.
It's the return of the energy crisis that has me worried.