Avatar Blues? (No pun intended...apparently)Follow

It sounds to me more like depression over what could have been. Our culture has taken the route of dominating and devouring nature, while the culture depicted in Avatar is one of working alongside nature. People are getting depressed by believing that, if we were only more eco-friendly, we could be all happy like the Na'vi.

They forget that living without modern technology, depending on your wits to survive, well, sucks. You never know where your next meal could come from. You never know if you will make it to sunrise when you go to sleep. You might get eaten by something bigger and meaner than you. Injuries we consider insignificant, like a simple broken arm, might kill you.

I read a book recently, Dies The Fire, by S.M. Stirling, in which something happens that suddenly destroys all technology. Electricity doesn't work anymore, and neither does anything that could explode. No guns, no cars, no telephones, no computers... the world is plunged into chaos and disorder. The book follows two groups of people, one who become farmers and the other who are nomadic hunter-gatherers/mercenaries. The depictions of how difficult life can be without things we take for granted, like potable water and basic sanitation and health-care, is kind of eye-opening.

So, yeah, while I can sympathize with wishing for "simpler" ways of life, I also am way too much of a urbanite to really want to live in the trees and hunt for my food...

GD Communist made equipment!

This, all of it, I agree.