By Ugo Bardi: The Three Phases of the Reaction to Existential Threats: Action, Deception, and Desperation

Denial is so ubiquitous in our society that we are like fish that cannot see water.

Here we have an excellent essay on inherited denial of reality, without the author being aware of the main topic.

http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.ca/2017/07/the-three-phases-of-reaction-to.html

I have been always fascinated by how people’s consciousness of collective threats blurs and disappears as the threat gets closer. Look, here, at the concept of “peak oil” as it appears on “Google Trends.” You see how it dwindled to almost zero interest after having been popular at the beginning of the 21st century.

There are many more examples, a classic one is how the 1972 study “The Limits to Growth” was forgotten as the threat it described became closer in time. So, if you think about this, it is maddening: the earth is becoming more warm and people worry less about that?  The same about oil; the more we use, the less there is; how come that people worry less and less about the problem? Maddening, indeed.