Much of the time honoured

Much of the time honoured and historical self destruction of people and societies, engaged in harmful activities, is caused by the subconscious at work.

The conscious half of their brains can be persuaded to do anything, even engage in criminal activities, but the subconscious half nags them and forces them to block out their consciences with "faith", or by artificial methods, like booze and drugs. .

Ed Deak.

The "Big Bucks"... Extracts a price.

Actually, a very insightful observation Ed.

The system, when it has to pay "relatively" big money to workers, in my experience, first, always extracts a price for it, big-time. And especially in these kinds of "relatively" isolated work situations, a big part of that price is the isolation and the work and living conditions monotony itself, away from home and family, and the loneliness, which few ever admit to, that accompanies that. Which is often resolved in the case of males, with resort to mind altering substances and the other self-destructive behaviours that go with that.

And let's face it, some women too no doubt, but especially (family) males are still under tremendous pressure to bring big bucks to the table. And even for single males, it improves your chances for access to "desirable women" and "breeding" success, and the self-prestige that goes with that.

The capitalists pay a paper price, but workers pay other steep kinds of prices as well for the "relatively" big cash, compared to other workers. (The capitalist doesn't pay that kind of cash, you know damned well, unless there is still way more in it for him/her)

Big money is nice. It's a helluva, even schizophrenic way to live this though. The space-hole it creates has to get filled with lots of "stuff" to make up for it.

reality check!

Reality is that people flock to those jobs, because it beats being a greeter at Wallmart or flipping burgers.
This is not a new problem, BC has had its lumbercamps and construction camps all along, and the male workers have always sought relief at gambling or booze.
That conditions are lousy is not news either, it happens because there is little choice, work here or suck shit in the city looking for any menial job.

Oil Rush

It was like this in the 70's when I worked in the oil patch. Think of the 'Klondike' and you'll know what the dynamic is.

Alive is right.....

and this is not a new phenomena by any means. I spent a couple of years in a camp in northern BC and it was just the same. People from all over the country and the world for that matter. Most coped but some never could.

Cry me a river, boo hoo!

Perhaps being homeless and dumpster diving would be less stressful?

Its all about jobs and revenue (see Premier Ed Stelmach) and tough s__t about anything else!

Re:reality check

Alive is correct, where is an uneducated man suppose to find a good paying job? Most people I met up there where there to save up enough money to buy the house, the car that they couldn't even dream of back home. I got a job that paid 90'000 a year, I literally saw the company's office walked in off the street and within 5 mins my yearly income had rose by about 75,000 thousand, where else in Canada can an uneducated young man do this?

The simple fact is drug abuse and alcoholism runs rampant through most of society from grocery store clerks to lawyers to carpenters our society alienates, we're cogs in the machine called consumerism, everyone is isolated and unhappy, I know, I work at a liquor store it's just as bad here as it is up north.

It's called capitalism...

" it happens because there is little choice, work here or suck shit in the city looking for any menial job." alive.

It is called the "caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea" syndrome, which net is cast and catches everyone from the dumpster diver to these relatively "big money workers". It has ever been thus for working class folks from the time of the Land Enclosure Acts which drove the peasantry from the land and into the cities and the workplaces of the Industrial Revolution of capitalism. "The System" has as well ever since sought, created and exploited these Devil and deep blue sea traps into which to herd the working class, and play them off against each other.

Sockeye nails it just about as well with his observation, "...our society alienates, we're cogs in the machine called consumerism, everyone is isolated and unhappy, I know, I work at a liquor store it's just as bad here as it is up north."

Though actually, "consumerism" is just the manifestation of the real underlying driver. It's called capitalism.

Been there, done that, paid the price.

I worked in seismic and forestry camps in BC and the effects can be pretty similar. I worked 89 days in a row once, got out of camp with a wad of cash and a severe case of social/cultural shock and went nuts for about 6 weeks. Totally out of control. I vowed never to do that again and never have.

The shattered souls that come from this environment are pretty easy to spot if you have spent any time there yourself. We all pay the price for this sort of mentality and environment, through our families, social supports and the legal system, to mane but three.

Beyond giving us Dutch Disease as a nation, the tar sands have screwed up a lot of individuals.

Keep these great articles coming.

That is how I was trained to "work".

You gotta love the warnings on some chemical containers:
"Throw away applicator!"
The image of an "applicator" head down in a garbage container with gum boots frozen in the air above comes from an art show in Zimbabwe just before T.I.M. started to behave like a western Monarch (1997).
Buddies of mine work in those camps - most of them are survivors but my ex brother in law (one year younger than I) just failed last fall - stroke likely induced by lung cancer. He drove the bus to and from the "Fort". R.I.P. Steven and the rest should thank something that Steve was careful enough to have his stroke on an airplane with someone else doing the driving

My Daughter-in-law

works at one of the walk-in agencies that helps with the guys after they are out-of-work or "between jobs" at Fort Mac. Most of the ones she sees are in desperate circumstances. It's not an easy life on either side of the money pit.

RE:It's called capitalism...

The Machine called Capitalism I stand corrected. But it's our culture that marries the idea of success, happiness and fulfillment with the ideology on consumerism and material gain. Why do people go to the tar sands? For Jobs that pay well, Why would they want that? because they desire a certain lifestyle, the blue print life that has been beamed into their conscious and sub conscious mind since childhood. Consumption is an act, there is morality guiding it so when people base their existence on a nihilistic activity it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to understand were substance abuse comes from, they are simply masking the unhappiness and lack of meaning.

I just also want to comment on "rural masculinity" since I've experienced it first hand and the pressures it places upon men to act within a certain herd mentality. The thing is I think introspection is what lead me out of that lifestyle and I think the reason why so many men don't come to their senses about what they are doing to their bodies and the earth is simply that if your in touch with yourself or your feelings your dubbed a pussy that somehow your not a "real man" within the rural masculine framework of the oil patch. Therefore a lot of suppression of conscious comes from fear of being ostracized or disappointment in the eyes of your peers.

I hope

I hope there was a big audience for HBO Canada's showing of GASLAND this evening; anyone who's prepared to give the TAR SANDS and their exploiters the benefit of the doubt on ANYTHING should make certain to find a way to see it...because the same things are happening now in Canada and in British Columbia.

Sockeye

It was said of Hitler that he realised he needed lots of young bodies for his dream of world domination. Not much difference here. The TAR SANDS neeeds "lots of young bodies" - and by deliberately over the years (but much more noticable of late) witholding funding and infrastructure from education, the powers that be have ensured a plethora of "young bodies".

This is not "capitalism" at work. This is straight out of 1984.

Effect on relationships

I'm interested on whether Angela Angell included in her research the effects on personal relationships for workers in such camp situations. Not only would distance have a negative impact on the stability of a family but the psychological impact of stressful employment and peer pressure could greatly increase the strength of spousal relationships