Manifest Destiny
384 Views“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, solve equations, analyze a problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” — Robert A. Heinlein
The emasculation of America is almost complete. To be fair, Heinlein’s quote is for “human beings“, both male and female. Most of America has inherited the mindset of imperialism. We consider this our “Manifest Destiny”, a term that has been used for well over a 100 years now.
The belief in constant expansion is being seriously challenged now, as global land and resources are being used up. What remains are wilderness areas, none really “untouched”, but hungrily viewed as potential sources for more raw materials.
These lands have been set aside, “preserved” for future generations. When we think of them, we think of them as lands with no people in them, but this is a modern invention, not one held by ancient peoples or indigenous groups.
All the land belonged to the people, private ownership was something Western Civilization brought along with the sword, smallpox and tuberculosis.
Life springs forth from the land itself. If there is an ill among mankind, it is the ill-treatment of the land and how we utilize it. Our manifest destiny can no longer be in controlling every square inch on Earth. The recent news articles on the battle for the Arctic and it’s promises of untapped riches represents this fact. Ravenous wolves circling in for the pristine kill are still ravenous wolves.
Is it fair to take one of the last remaining wilderness regions and turn it into private profits? Perpetuating the cycle of expansion even unto the ends of the Earth can do no good at all, not for us and not for future generations. This has clearly been proven to be dangerous, unwise and ill-advised with long term ramifications and consequences.
Right now, the Arctic ice has already reached the 2050 projections, 40 years ahead of schedule. This has created a new “land rush” from prominent nations around the globe. Everyone from the U.S. Coast Guard to Denmark is disputing their “rightful claim to ownership” of the promised treasure. The U.S. is predictably calling it “economic security” in it’s usual short-sighted way.
How about we just leave the Arctic alone where it has been just fine for millions of years? Refusing to solve the energy crisis with renewable resources is just plain stupid. This practice of short time solutions for long term problems can never fix our energy problems. All we’ll manage to do is fuck up yet another piece of pristine real estate while continuing our expansionist plans all over the globe.
I know these words will continue to fall on deaf ears, at least the ears that matter. Nobody’s voice or shout is loud enough anymore to garner more then 15 seconds of fame anyway. We’re too damned big to even care anymore, let alone listen. If our destiny is to completely fuck up the planet, overpopulate every square inch of it’s surface and ensure that we generate billions of mindless robots who will all die of disease, toxic chemicals, starvation, war or violence, then we’ve “achieved” a near 100% success rate.
Good grief - is this really the best we can do? We need an “opt-out” switch stenciled into our foreheads. Upon pressing the switch, this matrix of death and destruction dissolves and all ties and connection to the global plantation system vanishes. However, we would quickly starve to death. Isn’t it sad that they made sure of this too? Heinlein’s quote makes more sense every day.
It has always been my hope and desire that a pathway to sustainable living and a return to common sense would be found. Perhaps not prevail, but an optional “exit strategy” from this insane paradigm we call modern living. Admittedly, I’ve lost focus on this quest because of the impending collapse and it’s necessity.
To me, humankind jumped the tracks somewhere way back, long before I was born. And the only hope and opportunity we now have is to stop this train is to quite literally have a train wreck. We really are too damned big for our own good. We’re way too big to stop doing what we’re doing in fact, which easily explains why we can’t. If we stop - we die, so we keep right on going, fulfilling our destiny.
Yet the train wreck looms closer each day. I just read where foreclosure are up 93% over last year. 93%!! That can’t continue much longer. 90% of these foreclosures are going back to the banks, people are not buying these properties up, they probably can’t. Surrounding properties to these foreclosed homes are falling up to 50% in value.
Jim Baugh, the City Manager of Desoto is optimistic that this mix up will in the long run greatly benefit development. It is the time for investments to reap rich harvests later on. But foreclosures means lower tax revenues as house equity falls. Ultimately the government will be the loser. As yet the total grim picture has not yet sifted through. An Eerie Trail of Foreclosures
(somebody needs to slap that guy upside the head - Admin)
Something like this is exactly one of the trigger events that can cause a long domino effect and probably will. Arctic ice or foreclosures, contraction and disappearance is taking place, triggered by unsound human practices and policies, and there is nothing anybody can do about it.
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:51 am
You know, John, you are getting to be a hell of a good writer. You are making me jealous.
So you don’t get a big head, I must tell you that your English usage, only a couple of months ago, was occasionally jarring to this old English teacher. I guess practice makes perfect. Which shows how being a good writer is like being a good musician.
What’s more important, you are a good thinker. In literate societies, thinking comes to flower in writing. In non-literate societies, it comes to flower in the songs and stories of oral tradition, in ceremony and dance.
Flowerings of this kind produce seeds.
Heinlein was at the height of his popularity when I was in high school. I devoured his books back then. He would probably seem a bit “dated” to modern readers.
Quite a few popular writers of the 50s and 60s now seem odd. I think this is partly because people’s attitudes towards sexuality and sexual roles were in turmoil, and no one could strike a note on these subjects that wasn’t discordant.
I think this is where Heinlein lost me. It seemed like every single writer, back then, failed to address the simple issue of personal freedom in relation to sexuality, and floundered in personal psychological fears and desires about changing sex roles–which boiled down to: “Will I still have a mommy? Will I still have a daddy?”
As it shakes out, these days, the answer to both questions appears to be “no”. Had thinkers confronted the personal freedom issue at that time, the answer might have been “yes”.
Wish you would read Albert Jay Nock, if you want a historical outline of the derailment that led to the present trainwreck.
H.G. Wells in his short story, “In the Days of the Comet” (you would love this apocalyptic tale), addresses the issues you’ve mentioned here and elsewhere about land tenure and class. Perhaps most tellingly, the story even addresses sexual and family relations. Unlike Heinlein, Wells was never confused, even in the 1800s.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 am
Sharon,
I have a degree in English though it does not amount to much because my education was spotty. My real value in the corporate prison system is my experience in proposal development in the USA and internationally. I turned that into a work-from-home business and have never looked back. I would also share that once you start to expand your horizons for seeking work to other parts of the globe, you’ll stumble upon your own ideas.
As an olde-tyme English teacher, and even if you are retired, you may want to consider looking into “Americanizing” documentation generated by foreign workers. For example, a technical company in India creates a manual or other document for use in the USA. The document needs to be reworked for the American user. I work with a company in India as a technical proposal writer and frequently need to rework their material. In addition, the Indian employee churn rate (turnover) is very high, so some companies are looking to create additional stability using American workers. If you are interested, start by looking for transnational companies on the Web and/or international freelance/contract Web sites.
If you prefer to work stateside only, consider incorporating as an S corporation/woman-owned business. US companies struggle to find competent women and minority-owned (a 51% stake is required to qualify) companies to fulfill federal and state set-aside requirements. You can market yourself to them and register in the SBA database so they can find you.
If you are not already incorporated, and are interested in doing so, don’t use a legal firm. It’s much less expensive to use a firm that specializes in preparing/maintaining corporate records instead.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Albert J. Nock has also written some excellent essays about the remnant concept (”Isaiah’s Job” comes to mind).
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Thanks so much for the info, pamala. I will look into some of these possibilities.
I’m delighted to find someone else who has read Nock. I don’t know where to get the essays (even his books are getting hard to come by), but I’ve read “Our Enemy, the State,” “Memoirs of a Superfluous Man,” and “Mr. Jefferson.” You don’t see prose like this any more.
You sound like an organizational genius and a demon of a worker. I’m a bit lazy. (Always have been.)
“Americanizing” documentation generated by foreign works sound like it would be right up my alley–and I have done similar work. I’ve done copy editing, proofreading, typesetting (using the old-time photo-typesetting machinery), and paste-up (using the old-time light table and hot wax methods). Am I getting old, or what? I even remember the days of “hot type”, when typesetters were big lumberjack-type guys–because the type cases were so heavy.
By the way, I absolutely despise all of the above types of work. You talk about a pain in the cuchifrito (lonely, boring, tedious)!
Or maybe I just hate work.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:56 am
Here’s an intereting link:
http://cryptogon.com/?p=1194
It appears that Well Fargo Bank went offline for several days. The story was apparently carried by CNN and Computer World–but I haven’t seen any reporting on it elsewhere.
This is some scary stuff in that, as one of the comments points out, Wells Fargo was deeply into the subprime mortgage market.
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:52 am
Thanks sharon.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:57 am
A dry run for large scale bank run/economic collapse being tested out, mayhaps….