2 February
2014
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land as commodity. land as home.
Dear Reader, I wish you only knew how hard I try to be positive. It is not in my nature to be negative, though some of you might think so from my writing. In person, I like to think I am upbeat and happy. Maybe ask Mary. But this particular entry is on the dark side, for sure. I’m not sure how far I’ll get, but best just to get started…
The modern world is full of illusion. People talk about freedom, but they haven’t got the slightest idea of what freedom is; they view freedom as something you receive passively rather than a responsibility. People cling to false loyalties like country or sports team, wilfully ignoring the bad parts of the tribe. It’s not that I begrudge people their entertainment. I love to watch curling as you all know. But loyalty is a tricky thing, right? It is easy to cross a line where one’s loyalty to a brand blinds them to things that need fixing. One prevailing fear of mine is that our community sense of values is not an illusion; that people fully realize how messed up things are, but prefer to pretend otherwise. "Maybe," they think, "I'll sleep better if I don't ask too many questions."
In Canada, in Alberta, one of mankind’s greatest endeavours in ecocide is underway. Oil companies are stripping the biosphere off enormous tracts of pristine boreal forest, using fossil fuels shipped from somewhere else to melt the bitumen out of the mined oilsands, and shipping that fuel to distant refineries. No one – not even the most rabid capitalist – no one can see pictures of the tar sands operations and not be alarmed at the scale and totality of destruction. The oil companies say they will put the biosphere back. They say they can safely dispose of the toxic by-products and safely ship the volatile product by land and sea. They say there is no choice, that our society is addicted to cheap energy, and they say the development of the resource is inevitable.
They may well be right on the last point if "inevitability" is defined by human nature. But if there is hope that this disaster is not inevitable, then all the hope lies with the First Nations of BC and Alberta. It’s actually about First Nations that I want to talk about.
Many Americans erroneously think that the slave trade was the nadir of American history. It is true that the founding fathers were slave traders, some of them like Jefferson were additionally very cruel slave owners. It is true that Americans in the north and south enabled the abomination of the slave trade to continue well after Europeans had acknowledged and rejected the repugnant depravity. And it is true that America’s bloodiest war was fought over
Dear Reader, I wish you only knew how hard I try to be positive. It is not in my nature to be negative, though some of you might think so from my writing. In person, I like to think I am upbeat and happy. Maybe ask Mary. But this particular entry is on the dark side, for sure. I’m not sure how far I’ll get, but best just to get started…
The modern world is full of illusion. People talk about freedom, but they haven’t got the slightest idea of what freedom is; they view freedom as something you receive passively rather than a responsibility. People cling to false loyalties like country or sports team, wilfully ignoring the bad parts of the tribe. It’s not that I begrudge people their entertainment. I love to watch curling as you all know. But loyalty is a tricky thing, right? It is easy to cross a line where one’s loyalty to a brand blinds them to things that need fixing. One prevailing fear of mine is that our community sense of values is not an illusion; that people fully realize how messed up things are, but prefer to pretend otherwise. "Maybe," they think, "I'll sleep better if I don't ask too many questions."
In Canada, in Alberta, one of mankind’s greatest endeavours in ecocide is underway. Oil companies are stripping the biosphere off enormous tracts of pristine boreal forest, using fossil fuels shipped from somewhere else to melt the bitumen out of the mined oilsands, and shipping that fuel to distant refineries. No one – not even the most rabid capitalist – no one can see pictures of the tar sands operations and not be alarmed at the scale and totality of destruction. The oil companies say they will put the biosphere back. They say they can safely dispose of the toxic by-products and safely ship the volatile product by land and sea. They say there is no choice, that our society is addicted to cheap energy, and they say the development of the resource is inevitable.
They may well be right on the last point if "inevitability" is defined by human nature. But if there is hope that this disaster is not inevitable, then all the hope lies with the First Nations of BC and Alberta. It’s actually about First Nations that I want to talk about.
Many Americans erroneously think that the slave trade was the nadir of American history. It is true that the founding fathers were slave traders, some of them like Jefferson were additionally very cruel slave owners. It is true that Americans in the north and south enabled the abomination of the slave trade to continue well after Europeans had acknowledged and rejected the repugnant depravity. And it is true that America’s bloodiest war was fought over
slavery. And all of this for what? The murderous capture, transport and sale of Africans and the murder of white brothers and the destruction of cities – what was it for? Money.
Americans needed slavery to maximize the profits from the agricultural land they had just stolen from indigenous people. The North was freed from the need for slaves by the industrial revolution. Factories had been mechanized whereas agriculture had not – thus, the North came somewhat earlier into “enlightenment” about the ethics of the slave trade. But you cannot “descend” from the kind of stock that practiced such sadism and not have incurred a few bad memes.
I digress somewhat, but you will see that the slavery story is central to what I am going to call the evolution of the North American soul. You see, modern neuroscience has done at least one 180 degree turn. In the early days of evolutionary psychology, we made the assumption that our behaviours were largely the result of those hundreds of thousands of years of evolution as hunter gatherers. We now know differently, that evolution is much more rapid than we thought, and that the neural aspects of Homo sapiens are especially sensitive to environmental influence. “Who we are” – our “human nature” is not just the product of cavemen looking for food and sex. Our behaviour is inherited, yes, like that of all animals, but that behaviour is as much the product of recent history as of prehistory. Now you can start to see why I’m so worried.
The slave trade was not the nadir of North American history. Far from it.
It is not my intention in a brief blog like this to rehearse the wrongs visited on the indigenous people of North America. Part of me would like to. I’m sure that most Americans and Canadians have no idea of the true history of our two countries. Again, I’m not sure if we truly live under the illusion of a just society, or if, rather, we simply realize that looking under this particular rock would not be very pleasant. I certainly know that growing up in Colorado, you would never have learned about the horrific treatment of natives from schools, journalists, TV or movies. Actually, we learned the opposite of the truth.
And even amongst people who have read about the subject, there is a certain nihilism about ever setting things right. But before leaving this hugely ignored and important topic, the one thing I would like to point out is that the swindling of indigenous peoples is not ancient history. We might like to think of things like the Louisiana Purchase or the even larger real estate deal, Rupert’s Land,
Americans needed slavery to maximize the profits from the agricultural land they had just stolen from indigenous people. The North was freed from the need for slaves by the industrial revolution. Factories had been mechanized whereas agriculture had not – thus, the North came somewhat earlier into “enlightenment” about the ethics of the slave trade. But you cannot “descend” from the kind of stock that practiced such sadism and not have incurred a few bad memes.
I digress somewhat, but you will see that the slavery story is central to what I am going to call the evolution of the North American soul. You see, modern neuroscience has done at least one 180 degree turn. In the early days of evolutionary psychology, we made the assumption that our behaviours were largely the result of those hundreds of thousands of years of evolution as hunter gatherers. We now know differently, that evolution is much more rapid than we thought, and that the neural aspects of Homo sapiens are especially sensitive to environmental influence. “Who we are” – our “human nature” is not just the product of cavemen looking for food and sex. Our behaviour is inherited, yes, like that of all animals, but that behaviour is as much the product of recent history as of prehistory. Now you can start to see why I’m so worried.
The slave trade was not the nadir of North American history. Far from it.
It is not my intention in a brief blog like this to rehearse the wrongs visited on the indigenous people of North America. Part of me would like to. I’m sure that most Americans and Canadians have no idea of the true history of our two countries. Again, I’m not sure if we truly live under the illusion of a just society, or if, rather, we simply realize that looking under this particular rock would not be very pleasant. I certainly know that growing up in Colorado, you would never have learned about the horrific treatment of natives from schools, journalists, TV or movies. Actually, we learned the opposite of the truth.
And even amongst people who have read about the subject, there is a certain nihilism about ever setting things right. But before leaving this hugely ignored and important topic, the one thing I would like to point out is that the swindling of indigenous peoples is not ancient history. We might like to think of things like the Louisiana Purchase or the even larger real estate deal, Rupert’s Land,
as horrible events from the past, but water under the bridge.
No, Dear Reader, the cultural destruction, racism, murder, theft, treaty violations, residential schools, government indifference and incompetence did not end in the 19th century. Indeed, they did not end in the 20th century (except for the residential schools which finally ended in 1996 because they were financial failures).
Which brings us back to the oilsands. Will we do it again (betray the legal commitments made to the First Nations)?
Now I don’t believe in absolutes. I harbour no illusions that all First Nations people are “in touch” with the land. In fact, there are many examples of First Nations mismanaging the land and mismanaging their own affairs.
(Mind you, none of that could ever come close to the gross incompetence and mismanagement that Europeans have demonstrated over and over. Of course, Europeans brag about their management of the land, but I suppose that’s back to the subject of illusion. But there can’t be too much true illusion because both the Canadian and American governments have apologized for the hundreds of years of illegal seizure of native lands. As Thomas King says, “given the good opinion that Canada and the United States have of themselves and their reputation in the world, these apologies must have been difficult.” Indeed, the apologies were not easy to achieve politically, even though they carried absolutely no responsibility for action.)
No, there are no good guys and bad guys (cowboys and Indians), but my point is that the indigenous people of North America do have a different recent evolution. We euros used to be hunter gatherers ourselves and live off the land, just like the Cherokee, and not all that long ago! But now we mostly live in glass boxes in big cities. It would be impossible, given our new neural constitution, for us to ever get exercised about some mining operation 'way off somewhere else.' Heck, even if you’re a euro living in Fort Mac, the natural world wouldn’t register as a concern, first of all because you're from 'somewhere else.' But more importantly, this is simply what we do, this is how we manage our affairs. It is our nature and it is inevitable.
If, hypothetically, the First Nations of Alberta and BC managed to slow down the environmental destruction of their land, it would be the first time that had happened since 1492. I’m cheering for them, obviously, but I’m pretty sure the financiers of Wall Street and Calgary won’t be betting on their success.
No, Dear Reader, the cultural destruction, racism, murder, theft, treaty violations, residential schools, government indifference and incompetence did not end in the 19th century. Indeed, they did not end in the 20th century (except for the residential schools which finally ended in 1996 because they were financial failures).
Which brings us back to the oilsands. Will we do it again (betray the legal commitments made to the First Nations)?
Now I don’t believe in absolutes. I harbour no illusions that all First Nations people are “in touch” with the land. In fact, there are many examples of First Nations mismanaging the land and mismanaging their own affairs.
(Mind you, none of that could ever come close to the gross incompetence and mismanagement that Europeans have demonstrated over and over. Of course, Europeans brag about their management of the land, but I suppose that’s back to the subject of illusion. But there can’t be too much true illusion because both the Canadian and American governments have apologized for the hundreds of years of illegal seizure of native lands. As Thomas King says, “given the good opinion that Canada and the United States have of themselves and their reputation in the world, these apologies must have been difficult.” Indeed, the apologies were not easy to achieve politically, even though they carried absolutely no responsibility for action.)
No, there are no good guys and bad guys (cowboys and Indians), but my point is that the indigenous people of North America do have a different recent evolution. We euros used to be hunter gatherers ourselves and live off the land, just like the Cherokee, and not all that long ago! But now we mostly live in glass boxes in big cities. It would be impossible, given our new neural constitution, for us to ever get exercised about some mining operation 'way off somewhere else.' Heck, even if you’re a euro living in Fort Mac, the natural world wouldn’t register as a concern, first of all because you're from 'somewhere else.' But more importantly, this is simply what we do, this is how we manage our affairs. It is our nature and it is inevitable.
If, hypothetically, the First Nations of Alberta and BC managed to slow down the environmental destruction of their land, it would be the first time that had happened since 1492. I’m cheering for them, obviously, but I’m pretty sure the financiers of Wall Street and Calgary won’t be betting on their success.