[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by molson

I was keeping an eye on some of the Facebook and twitter accounts of some of the nice hotels in Kabul. Just to try to get a glimpse of what life is like, how it changes when something like this happens. Do you still get up and go to work, do you stay home for a few days to see what happens, do you make a mad dash to the airport and climb on a plane as it's taking off? If you work in a government agency, do you show up for work and hope there's some kind of transition? Do you go to your office and wait, or do you try to make contact with the Taliban? (I had similar thoughts when I wondered what would have happened if the capital mob killed Pence and the Dems in Congress - kind of petty but real-life things - would my federal cases I work on still be on the same briefing schedules or is everything suspended indefinitely, would there a period of more direct federal control over states, or would the default be state independence and direct party control over everything?)

One of the hotels had a social media post yesterday about some of the dinner specials it had, and said something like, "in the end, isn't good food the thing that keeps us going"? (or something like that). All those social media accounts are down today, though the hotel websites are still up. I wonder if everyone just made a run for it, if or there was an easy switch for the regime to flip to shut off internet access. The good hotels were good because they had security - do those forces stand down, report to duty with the Taliban, stay in place until someone tells them otherwise, etc.? And how long could you hold out in one of the rooms, with maybe access to a restaurant that may or may not be informally serving food?

I mentioned above about people traveling to these kinds of places - I have read some books about that from the perspective of the well-trained and experienced-type travelers who are do this all the time and are there for private security assignments, journalism, or just the thrill. It always strikes me how relatively normal things can stay, at least in part. Like in a complete war zone you're still going to have pockets of normalcy - shopping, coffee shops, whatever. It takes a lot for people to just abandon the mundane and routine and the simple commerce, and there is just so many more people participating in society than military or government personnel trying to change it immediately.

I read this last year and it stuck with me - collapse isn't some thing that happens all at once to everyone, it's gradual and happens on a large scale
https://gen.medium.com/i-lived-throu...e-ba1e4b54c5fc

As someone who’s already experienced societal breakdown, here’s the truth: America has already collapsed. What you’re feeling is exactly how it feels. It’s Saturday and you’re thinking about food while the world is on fire. This is normal. This is life during collapse...

If you’re waiting for a moment where you’re like “this is it,” I’m telling you, it never comes. Nobody comes on TV and says “things are officially bad.” There’s no launch party for decay. It’s just a pileup of outrages and atrocities in between friendships and weddings and perhaps an unusual amount of alcohol.

Perhaps you’re waiting for some moment when the adrenaline kicks in and you’re fighting the virus or fascism all the time, but it’s not like that. Life is not a movie, and if it were, you’re certainly not the star. You’re just an extra. If something good or bad happens to you it’ll be random and no one will care. If you’re unlucky you’re a statistic. If you’re lucky, no one notices you at all. Collapse is just a series of ordinary days in between extraordinary bullshit, most of it happening to someone else. That’s all it is.

I don't know if he's right, but I can't deny his experience. I don't know if the roads end in similar places or just echo. But it sounds familiar, especially to the last year and a half.

SI