Caught In A Riptide

Looks like young Alvy Singer was right.

Three scientists, Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess, won the Nobel Prize in physics for confirming young Alvy's fear: the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate. According to their research, everything that is known will be covered in ice. As Charles Blue of the American Institute of Physics put it, the universe will become "a very, very large, but very cold and lonely place."

I thought that was already the case. The upside is that reruns of The Big Bang Theory will not contaminate alien cultures. Stay positive kids!

If the universe eventually does explode like Monty Python's Mr. Creosote, we should find comfort in the here and now. Well, maybe shelter. Some kind of covering. Ideally with a hard surface. Because those who own this planet are ripe for counterattack.

As increasing numbers of people wake up to and resist political and economic tyranny, our owners will get increasingly antsy. And nervous people with power tend to be very dangerous. They'll try to contain and rollback resistance with minimum force -- for budgetary reasons, mainly. But when they feel their privilege being threatened, watch out. They will not go down without a fight. We have the numbers. They have the weapons.

This is not meant as discouragement. I like the upbeat tone from the growing Occupy movement. It's essential. Just remember that however festive you feel, boots are set to crush your flowers. There will be defeats. Set backs. Elites didn't create militarized police to write tickets. Class war from above is still being waged. Slowing it while exposing it to others is the present task.

Or so says this old man. Movements can have effects. The Central American solidarity movement had many successes, despite the slaughter in that region. It certainly helped prevent a US invasion of Nicaragua. It helped make the Iran/contra scandal happen. Reagan's presidency took a hit, though the state regained its balance. Now we're going after the entire economic system. A much bigger job. But a necessary one.

Like the universe, human energy expands. We know which direction bankers want it to go. Let's keep them from reaching the breaking point.

AND: I'm planning to check out Occupy DC's action this Thursday. More later.