Nature will prevail

    Isn't it amazing how nature can carve mountains and move boulders like this. This is the rock which we use to make monuments to ourselves.  No artisan is capable of creating any statue or building or painting that can compare to the wonders of nature.  Yet we appear daily to do our best to replace the magnificent natural world with our fragile monuments and scrape the earth to make way for our infestation.  Even though nature is the sole source of all that gives us life and sustains that life, we purposely pollute and destroy nature. Isn't that tantamount to omnicide?  My only hope lies in my firm belief that nature will prevail.  

     This really isn't anything new.  I would venture to offer a theory of how this all came about. 

     I have written several essays about social systems (i) concluding that they are not the friend of the homo sapiens. Quite the contrary. My theory in this case goes back to the days when social systems were just developing.  I can't put a date on it, but suffice it to say that homo sapiens prospered for ninety-percent of our time on earth without social systems.  Social system began to develop with the concepts of private land, ownership, government and organized religion. Because of their superior recording systems we are most aware of this in ancient Egypt and China.  

     Since any expertise I might be able to claim as an historian or student of human development is going to relate to Europe, including the Mediterranean countries, and North America.  I can claim a strong understanding, verging on an expertise, of the Abrahamic religions. (ii)  Judaism, the parent religion of the three Abrahamic religions, appears to be the original antagonist. Even though other religions were beginning to become organized and socialized over a larger area, they still held nature in a central role.  

     Judaism was the most obvious to start placing people above nature and treating nature as something apart and humans as not being a part of nature.  Now, I'm sure that there can be arguments made against other religions, but these other religions did not spawn the religion that would dominate Europe by the time Europeans began to colonize the world.  Judaism's attitude toward nature is established in the first chapter of their Torah "fill the earth and subdue it." (iii)  This is a part of what Christians call the Old Testament, and so Christianity, the first child of Judaism, took this 'other-than-nature' attitude with them on their colonial conquests.  

     This concept may have been present in other cultures by the time that white Europeans began to colonize the world, but a major part of that colonization was to impose their belief systems on those whom they conquered.  The colonization of North America is vile litany of white Europeans destroying the culture, religion, language and history of the indigenous people.  The indigenous peoples of North America felt very much a part of nature. (iv)

     Enter capitalism.  Actually capitalism goes back to England and the Netherlands of the 17th century.  Many people believe that  capitalism is an "American" idea. Sorry to break the news. (v)  It was beneficial to capitalism to court government and religion.  Capitalism added the concept that nature is a resource (vi) only valued for the wealth it could bring.  If land could not be used to further one's wealth it was considered useless even though it might be an immensely important part of an ecosystem.  A good example is how humans will drain "useless" swamp land to build or farm when in reality the swamp is critically important to all life - including human - as a source of clean water, air and food.  However, to the capitalist it isn't worth anything unless it makes them money.  As a result we see places like the large area along the Grand Canyon that cannot be hiked because of the old uranium mines that have ruined the land and made it dangerous to all animals, including humans. (vii)  

     This theory then brings the three social systems; religion, government and capitalism; together as the perpetrators of the three most egregious falsehoods that (a) humans are superior to nature, (b) that human over-population, mega-farming, lumbering and industrialization do not hurt nature and therefore all living creatures, and (c) that nature is nothing more than a resource. 

     Today we see that there is little regard for nature unless it is providing profits or the raw materials to make a product to make a profit. Religion, which can be argued to be the first to disregard nature, relied for a long time on good relationships with the reigning government. We have seen that, since Citizens United v Federal Election Commission (viii), government has become dependent upon the wealthy capitalist for their continued power. This, then, ties religion, government and capitalism together.  Three great social systems run by an elite few for the benefit of an elite few. 

     Make no mistake.  We are not above nature.  Human history is filled with examples of nature, in little more than a blink of an eye, laying waste to humans' sad monuments to their own glory,     taking back what human have endeavored to destroy or control.  One of my favorite examples is how humans thought that they had taken control of the Mississippi River for the purpose of commerce on the river and farming in the low wetlands stolen from the river by a series of levees, the first being built in 1717 to create New Orleans.  The first time the levees  were taken out by nature was 1844 in the Great Flood.  In 2005 over fifty levees failed. (ix)  I happen to drive across one of the few roads and bridges that were high enough to go from the east to west side of the river.  I drove for almost twenty miles with the Mississippi on both sides of me.  Nature had prevailed, and nature will continue to prevail. 

     In her June 1st, 2020 New York Times article, Rachel Neuwer (x) reports that experts give us 10-15 years before we reach the critical point of no return. After that we will rapidly progress  toward the point where the earth is uninhabitable to animals such as homo sapiens. The down side is that we homo sapiens must bear the greatest guilt in hastening this mass extinction and are killing ourselves by making no effort to change our ways. The up-side is that nature will prevail. As long as the building blocks for life still remain, nature will clean the water, soil and air that we have fouled, create new life forms, and start anew. Nature will prevail, but human will probably not be a part of it. 

       

FOOTNOTES: 

(i)  See my essay on "What constitutes a social system?"        https://oldconservationist.blogspot.com/2020/03/what-constitutes-social-system.html

(ii)  First as a history major as an undergraduate, followed by three years of graduate school where I carefully studied the Abrahamic religions and read two of their three holy books in the original language. 

(iii)  Genesis 1:28 

(iv)  Hudson, Charles. (1976).  The Southeastern Indians.  Knoxville, TN.  University of Tennessee Press. 

(v)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_capitalism 

(vi)  resources =df  a stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively. Similar: assets, funds, wealth, money, riches, capital. 

(vii)  https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/grand-canyon-uranium

(viii)  A copy of the actual Supreme Court opinion.   http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation/cu_sc08_opinion.pdf.

(ix)  https://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Portals/52/docs/MRC/MRT_Levees.pdf?ver=2017-07-27-141912-910    -and-  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_levee_failures_in_Greater_New_Orleans#:~:text=On%20August%2029%2C%202005%2C%20there,Katrina%20and%20landfall%20in%20Mississippi.

(x)  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/science/mass-extinctions-are-accelerating-scientists-report.html?fbclid=IwAR1yr9C3VW5JCmR6dd56Zbsu2USMGCVePY_vZLR6DKhq2moyN7uwYWwmixU

Destroyers of Inner Peace

Photo credits: NPR

     As I have been contemplating and writing essays about peace, I came to the disturbing realization that our social systems are actually destroyers of inner peace.  In fact, I would have to call them the antithesis of inner peace.   While our natural world is our source of peace,  social systems attempt to indoctrinate us with the belief that peace comes from participating in their high stress systems which keep us worried about tomorrow and focused on often unattainable goals.  Some of these systems, religion being the principal offender, would have us believe that nature, the source of true peace, is an enemy to be overcome.  

     This is especially true of the Abrahamic religions in what is called 'the western world'. Even though they constantly fight among themselves telling their followers that the others are evil, they are related. Both Christianity and Islam grew out of Judaism. I confine my remarks to these religions because they are the ones with which I am quite familiar.  

     It doesn't take long to realize that none of the three religions creates or even supports inner peace. Oh, they all talk about it, and their greetings and liturgies are full of the supplication for peace, but there is really no support or encouragement. Their concept of peace seems more closely aligned with "social peace" which is the lack of public conflict and violence but has nothing to do with individual needs and generally achieved by doing what you're told and not rocking the proverbial boat. Peace is always something 'out there' which is only available to the faithful follower who gives up independent thought and does what their religious leaders tell them, even if it is evil and goes against what their holy books say.  Once you have fulfilled all of the expectation then you might experience peace.  Usually you don't and are told that that is because you didn't believe strongly enough or pray hard enough. I don't know where this peace is supposed to originate since these religions never have you focused on the present. You are always worried about the future. Everything you do is focused on obtaining a future prize.  Since we have clearly observed that peace is a part of our nature and experienced only in the present, because the past is gone and the future does not exist, we must be extremely skeptical of a religion that tells its followers not to worry because there will be peace in their future if they do as they are told.

Only 1.8% of the population voted for George Washington

     Governments are the second social system that destroys inner peace. Government could care less if we have inner peace. That just isn't what governments do. I can't help but think of the exchange in the 1992 movie "Sneakers" between Whistler (David Stdrathairn) and government boss, Abbott (James Earl Jones). Whistler said "I want peace on earth goodwill toward men", to which Abbott replied, "We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing." (i) Governments want social peace in the form of no one complaining, no one noticing their faults and behaviors, and no one rocking their boat. Be quiet, do your job and pay your taxes. Government creates tremendous stress by its very existence. I have always called it a necessary evil.  I believe that one cannot find a government at any point in history that was/is not run by an elite group.  It is, at best, the Animal Farm (ii) scenario; all animals are equal but pigs are more equal.  The French Revolution was meant to create a republic of the people, but those common people; "citizens", as the French revolutionaries called them; who led the revolt soon became the new elite and corruption followed. Government creates stress because we witness how often power corrupts. My father, a professor of history who specialized in US Constitution, had the saying "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  More and more politicians are demonstrating their belief that they are above the law of the land.  The GOP has made it clear that government of, by and for the people is gone. Now we work for big corporations and the wealthiest 1% thanks to Citizens United. (iii) This really isn't anything new.  If you carefully study the development of the United States Constitution, you will soon realize that it was never intended to be governed by 'common people'.  The founding fathers set up the US government to be run by men with land and wealth. Only 1.8% of the US population actually got to vote for George Washington. (iv) That really isn't Lincoln's idea of government of, for and by the people. Government is antithetical to inner peace.    

     Capitalism is in bed with the politicians and religion. (v) This is nothing new and has been extremely common in western world history. It is a matter of control. Capitalism purposely creates dissatisfaction. If you are happy with your car,  refrigerator,  TV or computer then you won't buy a new one. Capitalism is an unstable, unsustainable system that depends upon constant mass consumption. They don't want you happy. Can an unhappy, dissatisfied person know peace? Capitalism wants you to believe that constant and excessive consumption makes you happy. Peace doesn't even enter the equation. 

    I don't have any theory on where it began, but humans in much of the world feel the need for revenge and someone to hate. Social systems make use of this and even promote it. Look at how Donald Trump and his GOP play the rednecks of this country "like a cheap fiddle." He encourages anger, hatred, violence, and revenge, and then sets up target groups - immigrants, liberals, native Americans and anyone who disagrees with him. You cannot hate and seethe with anger and know peace. Think of how often you have had a conflict or even simple disagreement with someone and hours, days, months or even years later you are still  a no-win game of "if I had only said." You are living in the past. Peace is not past. Peace is now.  However, social systems such as religion, government and capitalism blatantly keep people angry or upset about the past and fearful or stressed about the future, never giving one a chance to experience peace. 

     Inner peace is arguably the most sought after human experience.  I have never heard, nor would I ever expect to hear, anyone say that they did not desire inner peace. Could you, dear reader, look me in the eye and say that you don't care about experiencing inner peace - being at peace with and within yourself? I believe that it is very clear, very obvious, that our social systems, always run by an elite few,  don't really want us experiencing and enjoying inner peace.  If we did, we might find that we don't need them and they would lose control. 

“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” —Dalai Lama

FOOTNOTES. 

(i)   From the 1992 movie "Sneakers"  https://www.moviequotes.com/s-movie/sneakers/
(ii)  Orwell, George. (1945). Animal Farm. London. Secker and Warburg.
(iii)  Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission, 2010, a 5-4 Supreme Court decision that allows corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on an election.  https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained
(iv)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections
(v)  Most people actually agree that government; currently the Republican Party; and large corporations have combined forces to control, manage and run our country,  I wonder how many people realize that the merger of corporate and government power is the actual definition of fascism given by the Father of Fascism, Benito Mussolini. Actually Mussolini wanted to call fascism "corporatism".  By the strictest definition, we currently have a fascist government.

Racial Capitalism in the United States

     Racial Capitalism is alive and thriving in the United States, as well as almost everywhere in the world.  Tracing its roots back to the so-called voyages of discovery; i.e. Europeans "discovering", conquering and enslaving non-white people around the world;  racial capitalism turns humans, most notably non-white humans, into chattel.  

     Capitalism actually does this to all humans which is evidenced by the fact that corporations see humans as "resources". I don't want this fact to redirect our focus from the desperate need to address racial capitalism which has always plagued the US, but I believe that by looking at how capitalism works in a broader generalized population we  can better understand its place in racial capitalism. 

     The definition of resource is "a stock or supply of money, materials, staff and other assets . . . ."  Right in this definition, which is an internet definition but no different than any you are going to find anywhere, you see people listed as "assets".  If you look up asset you will find that asset might mean being of value, as in "she is an asset to the team."  You also find that it means "property owned by a person or company, regarded as having value and available to meet debts, commitents or legacies."  Oh, my!!  If a resource is an asset and an asset is property it follows that a resource is property and therefore you and I are all property of our employer and/or government.  Does that make you feel good?

     Now let's apply this to Racial Capitalism. For the white population our only awareness of being a resource is that we're getting poorer while the capitalist is getting richer. It is impossible for a white person to fathom how this plays out for non-white citizens, but consider this scenario: you're driving through a wealthy neighborhood and see a black man mowing the grass. How many people are going to assume that he's the gardener or an employee?  Be honest. Even if you don't think of yourself as a racist, how many of you would make the same assumption. Are you surprised to find that it is his home?  

     In an Antipode Foundation video, which can be found on YouTube and is well worth watching (i),  entitled Geographies of Racial Capitalism, Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore points out that racism, slavery and capitalism go hand in hand.  Our beloved capitalism developed and survives  by the exploitation of people, especially non-white people. 

     If that isn't bad enough, according to the founder of Fascism, Benito Mussolini, when you combine capitalism and government you get Fascism. (ii)  What was the result of Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission? (iii) Ah, that's right. It permits wealthy capitalists and their corporations to put as much money into a political campaign as they wish.  Now we have our politicians legally crawling into bed with the capitalists. Oh, my!  What did Mussolini say?  Fascism is the merger of capitalism and government. That means we have . . . dare I say it? . . . fascism right here in the USA.    

     Oh, but there's more.  While racial capitalism exploits non-white citizens, our government - most specifically the president - has continually made the hatred and mistreatment of non-white citizens a matter of patriotism.  Is it no wonder that a non-white journalist was arrested in Minneapolis while his white colleague was not. 

     Nancy Leong, in her 2013 article on Racial Capitalism in the Harvard Law Review, concluded  "One colleague  with  whom  I discussed this project observed that being a person of color within  an institution means that  “you’re going to get used,” and that the best  and only response is to  make sure you get as much as possible in return.  But my own view  is that racial capitalism is not inevitable.  Ending racial capitalism  may take a great  deal of effort across generations, but in the end  I think it can happen."  (v)  I wish that I could be as optimistic, but we must put every effort into making it happen starting with holding our government accountable and ending fascism (government + capitalism). 

FOOT NOTES: 

(i)   https://antipodeonline.org/geographies-of-racial-capitalism/

(ii)  Mussolini, Benito and Giovanni Gentile. (1932). La dottrina del fascismo [the doctrine of fascism]. Enciclopedia Italiana. 

(iii)  https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/citizens-united-explained

(iv)  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee/2020/05/29/was-a-cnn-reporter-arrested-by-minnesota-patrol-for-working-while-black/amp/

(v)  Loeng, Nancy. Racial capitalism. Harvard Law Review. Vol 126 Issue 8. June 2013. p. 2226.