Posts Tagged by Civilization
The Occupy Movement as Cultural Resistance
| January 6, 2012 | Posted by Issa under Mother Culture |
John Duffy has written a post at Nature Bats Last called Occupy: Embrace what you are! I found the whole post interesting, as well as some of the comments. He starts out talking about how both the expected opponents and the presumed supporters have taken every cheap opportunity to criticize the Occupy Movement, citing their directionlessness, joblessness, and soaplessness, whether or not these things are true or even make any sense. The critics and even some people within… Keep Reading
Occupy
| November 3, 2011 | Posted by Issa under Mother Culture |
The revolution has begun, but I’m only watching from afar. I first heard about Occupy Wall Street (OWS) while I was at Alchemy, and I was immediately riveted. It is exactly what I want out of the beginnings of reform – messy, earnest, consensus-driven, wildly optimistic, and, of course, hitting many of my political buttons. I’m wary, though. Our culture is so forcefully stacked against any kind of meaningful change that I wonder if it’s really possible… Keep Reading
Book Review of The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler
| August 5, 2010 | Posted by Issa under Mother Culture |
While at the library, I happened upon the book The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler. It’s subtitle is, “Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century”. It seemed like an important book to dive into and a great random library find, so I snatched it up. I didn’t recognize Kunstler’s name at first, but now that I’ve noticed it on this book, I’ve see that his name pops up now and then in other writings I encounter, so appreciate having this book under my belt to fill out the other things that I read. Keep Reading
More Endgame
| July 1, 2010 | Posted by Issa under Mother Culture |
Prior to picking up either of these books, I was already convinced. Jensen says “Civilization is not and can never be sustainable…” and “Our way of living is based on and requires…persistent and widespread violence,” and “Civilization is not redeemable. This culture will not undergo any sort of voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of living…” and I already agree. He makes bold claims such as “The only sustainable level of technology is the stone age,” and I don’t immediately jump to argue. Keep Reading
Endgame Vol 1: The Problem of Civilization
| June 24, 2010 | Posted by Issa under Mother Culture |
The sermon begins with the idea that civilization is not and never will be sustainable. By definition, it is unsustainable, exploitative, and destructive. It is killing the planet, and us, and making things extremely difficult for anything that comes after us. No one who understands this believes that our culture will, as Jensen puts it “undergo any sort of voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of living.” Keep Reading
Mother Culture
| June 7, 2010 | Posted by Issa under Mother Culture |
Mother Culture whispers to us from the day we are born. She speaks to us through the voices of our parents and other caretakers and from the picture books and nursery rhymes. And it grows from there. Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, internet pages. School teachers and school books, the word problems in the math sections, the chapters in the history book, the charts in economics class. From billboards and graffiti, sermons, jokes, and casual chitchat with neighbors. We hear a same story, and we share it with others. Over and over again. Keep Reading
Step One: Notice
| May 17, 2010 | Posted by Issa under Mother Culture |
Have you seen the 1988 John Carpenter movie They Live? The most memorable bit to me is when Roddy Piper’s character puts on a pair of found sunglasses and instantly begins seeing subliminal messages in the things around him. I find it useful to do the job of those sunglasses for myself sometimes, especially with advertising. Ads are trying to convince me to buy their product, but they are often trying to convince me of something pretty silly in an effort to do so. When I’m watching a car ad and I say out loud to myself, “Oh, apparently, if I buy this brand of car, chicks will dig me,” I hope that it makes my mind less fertile ground for that message. Keep Reading
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