Posts Tagged by Daniel Quinn

More Endgame

July 1, 2010 Posted by Issa under Mother Culture
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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
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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
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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
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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