User talk:Dean
From WWR
Had an interesting talk with a friend of mine who is a bit on the fringe of life. He said that he has been thinking of the Weinmar Republic of the 1920's and 1930's. He said in short, that if we have an equivalent of the Reichstagg fire in this country it is time to pull up stakes and leave. I hope he is just being a reactionary and not a visionary.
- We had the Twin Towers...and the subsequent imposition of the Patriot Act. It's taken years, not days like in the Weimar Republic...but we are headed the same way. --Bisbonian 17:17, May 13, 2006 (AKDT)
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the non-rationality of running away
The previous post is a good one as a lead into a reply to a post you made to me a few days back (it is now 8/18/07). Because the economic forces driving these socially destructive trends are global in nature, it doesn't feel to me that there is a place to run to. In the post I am referencing, you talked of retiring "back" to a life of small scale farming. I have a homesteading phase in my past--very, very "small scale farming." It turned out to not be an economically viable phase. Did you actually succeed in small scale farming, and hense the term "back" means returning to something you know works, or is it more in an idealized "back to the earth movement sense and "John Henry Bosworth" like in its meaning [1]?
"On a personal level I have felt similar to your friend. My nic here at WWR is the modle of the sailboat I purchased this spring to "run away" on. Even though I know such running is not possible, I still made this purchase. I have worked on fixing and modifying this Spindrift to be a space to weather to storm--so to speak. I know it won't work, but it helps me feel "relaxed" in a non-rational way.
small scale farming viability when the ”sky is red“ and ”the city’s dead“
Dean - Thanks for this response:
"I tried small scale farming years ago. Didnt make much of a living at it, but know what errors I did make. If the economy does really SHIFT, I have multiple ventures ready to go that can run from a small farm."
I hear that you feel you have your bases more or less covered relative to a major shift in the economy--and have some experience to back that up that feeling. Do you know the “John Henry Bosworth“ song I referenced from that time period? It was one that I felt good about in my homesteading effort. How about you?
I ask for I am at a family reunion in Cashiers, NC. Talking with one of my nephews I have learned that, at least in Maine, a ”back to the earth“ vision is again being embraced by the radical fringe of our young adults. I do not know how wide-spread this vision is, but I wonder how much this ”hope“ is a parroting of the ”hope“ their parents held a generation plus earlier but never really stuck with. If it is such--and an example of motivated reasoning [2]--isn’t it a false hope? If so, all of us who feel we can hide away from the global problems we made in the course of our time of participation in the ”space race“ (as you called our participation in the economic system in our chat exchange) seem to be acting non-rationally. Is this a reasonable critique?
I am also challenged to see how small scale farming can have a better chance of working now than it did 30 years ago. Globally, aren’t economic policies and trends driving small scale farms out of existence the world over? How, in your judgment, would a small scale farm located in a rural area of the US, like WV, escape similar pressures and consequences if things continue, more or less, as they are? How will small scale farming have viability when the ”sky is red“ and ”the city’s dead“ if we have not been doing it right along and keeping it viable?
I ask for I want to develop a cultural strategy for addressing global social collapse born of environmental, social and economic injustice rather than hoping there is someplace an individual can hide out from the consequences of what we have facilitated by how we have and are living.
developing tools at WWR for discussing systemic nature of perceptions
”Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.“
I think about injustice in the context of this relationship Martin Luther King framed for love and justice. Do you use this term differently when you say that injustice is ”not so much of an issue“?
Isn’t the psychological condition of fear trumping love what empowers greed? Isn’t greed, as an iteration of fear, a major contributer to what limits love--both personally and societally?
Rephrasing King’s quote to emphasize what I am trying to communicate concerning power, love and justice: Power at its worst is fear limiting love. An iteration of limited love is greed controlling everything that would implement the demands of justice. This phrasing is not quite as concise nor poetic as the original, but I hope it makes sense.
In our culture isn’t ”wealth“ legally acquired in the markets (and through market forces) due to ”just“ regulations that legally exempt the owners of capital from a commensurate and corresponding responsibility for ”how” that ”wealth“ is created? Due to the role greed plays in our social psyche, can the systemic injustices of this ”how“ be redressed . . . even conceived? Isn’t our understanding of love so limited that it no longer is felt to have the power it really has? If so, without a change in our social psyche can we really ”develop community, family, ethics, honesty, and responsibility“ in a social construct that can ”develop within people the ability to know reality, to know truth, to know and accept responsibility for their actions, and to detect lies“?
I ask these questions for I value the quality of the analysis I observe behind your replies in this thread (here and [3]) and the links you’ve made in the chat space of WWR. I do not know how to critique the conclusions you have reached without appearing to be dismissive of your analytical skills. Since my limited interactions with the active WWR registrants in its chat space have identified you as the most likely person with whom to begin to develop a deeper level of conversation at the site, putting you on the defensive is counter-productive. Do you have suggestions as to how best develop a means of talking about the systemic nature of perceptions of reality, truth, responsibility, and lies? It seems to me that developing tools for this purpose are critical for nurturing deeper conversations and growing the efforts you have already instituted to get heavier conversations going on the WWR server.
As an aside, I wonder if Jim’s proclivity to rant--and that being a form of online entertainment many of us consume at WWR--means that deeper conversations are not likely to gain traction on this site (regardless of tools or no tools being available here for doing so). If fear in all its psychological and sociological iterations has limited our thinking such that love no longer has ”real“ power, isn’t ranting--or passively posting links that beg for deeper consideration--all that the resulting ”reality“ allows?
In any event, thanks for continuing the thread and the time your effort represents.
Congratulations to You (Us)
We correctly predicted that 2007 would see gas prices between $3 and $4 a gallon and we are track for 2008 to see $4 and $5. I for one hope it goes to $5 by late summer 2008. The fastest way to get change in the USA is to put a hit on the middle classes wallet!
Hoonah 09:08, January 4, 2008 (AKST)
Cape?
Moving to Florida?
Hope you are celebrating with those you love and that love you, Dean. ReWoven (talk) 16:22, May 7, 2008 (AKDT)
Thanks Dean
Dean,
I've wanted to say for a long time that I've silently appreciated your open attitude, encouragement and support immensely for the last 6+ months. I can imagine that on a personal level, some of the actions I took or encouraged others who you count as personal friends to take didn't feel very good. Thanks for bearing with it ... understanding that as one door closes, another one opens. I keep thinking that perhaps there is something different in the way we who must pioneer are wired --- like designing a ship that never existed before to travel to Mars. Something very intriguing about that. Not trying to get too heady about it though. I just wanted to give you a sincere thanks for sticking it out. Hope you have a fine time at the cabin and peace taps you on the shoulder when you're not looking. Jimbob (talk) 14:02, May 8, 2008 (AKDT)
==
Back from a hiatus, sort of. I have been busy at work, and had a series of computer problems at home. My laptop now has a complete new motherboard, processor, RAM, Hard drive, graphics card, and who knows what else. Sort of a new computer in a old box..
For the next while or so I have a lot to get done in real life so will not be online as much as in the past.
I have been worried about what I precive as inpending problems in life. I have been worried about a lot of stuff I can't do much about except make plans and preps. A economy ready to go into depression, Peak Oil, climate change, sociological unrest, bad gumment, irrational belief triumphing over logic and science, the fact that I need a new barn at the farm, the fact that I find my self at age fifty something sharing a house with old friends (Hippy 2.0 I guess)until . I just can't hardy wait to see what happens next.
Dean (talk/contribs) 11:04, June 22, 2008 (AKDT)Dean
Well a small update is in order, we are all well. Getting a lot done here at chez DrZ. Been doing lots of landscaping, had to take out 5 trees that was dead mostly, and lots of other stuff. Have been tinkering with Z's electric bicycle. Lots of fun. more or less like a electric moped.
