“Nearly all pre-state peoples do not refer to themselves by the names we give them. Rather they call themselves “We” or “The People” or “Human Beings.” They refer to themselves with pride rather than disdain. They savagely proclaim—and fight with tooth and knuckle—for their right to say Yes, and No, and the freedom to maintain these primal and unalienable rights given us by Nature in her wisdom. In the end, both the earth and the enemy want them dead. It is by virtue of this test, this grind, this endless pressure to fight and rage for their freedom and thus earn their right to live on this earth, that they love both the earth and their people.”
Not bad for a “knuckle dragger”! I always chuckle when you use that term, Sam. Kind of like the archetype of the Fool/Jester who acts ridiculous and can thereby get close enough to the king and speak truths that would get another person killed. Your secret identity is safe with us!
Haha that is a brilliant and perhaps perceptive analogy. But I believe—I’ll always have my knuckles dragging in the mud behind me, and quite happily so. Thanks, Baird.
A question I pose (as an academic, lol) is ... What will we create to organize our lives when states have run their course? I am no anarchist but states are very recent to human existence and probably not the last way we will exist. The pre-state peoples have a lot to offer and built on 200,000 years of living. Small communities, reciprocity, collective struggle, ritual everything, meaning... Fewer rules and less grievance identity perhaps. Fewer charlatans exploiting the clan maybe? I don't know. More freedoms in my way of thinking. Have you come across the book Cynical Theories? It helped me understand to ideological turn in academia that at first stranded me, and then frustrated me until I could see its falsehoods for what they are. Then...I felt free. But--not all humans crave that freedom. Some are enamored of their shackles, including consumerism and ease and navel gazing, and focus blame outward. Ideology in education attempts to coerce thinking in the very place where freedom of thought and exploration should be the norm. I'd enjoy speaking more about this with you.
This is excellent. First, I should have been more clear that not all academics are this way, I hope it came across I was focused on one sect. I checked out Cynical Theories—it looks fascinating. I almost cannot imagine a time when states will not govern our lives, short of an apocalyptic event or the chance to build new worlds off planet Earth.
I am definitely down to talk about this, I'm curious of your thoughts, especially from your perspective on the inside so to speak.
I'm highly critical of my own profession and the institutional greed and self absorption of academia. Not that other professions are spotless. No offense taken therefore 😂. We will have that conversation. Perhaps this summer
Those that cannot “control” the environment and the people around them tend to want to destroy that which they cannot control. They have no clue about the feeling you had when you leapt into the wild blue yonder at night with your body laden down with 90 plus pounds of gear, a weapon or two plus the life saving main and reserve parachute which was meant to ultimately plunk you down semi gently to earth…succumbing to earth’s gravity. (they hate gravity too) no doubt you had that moment of I sure hope this rig works..but perhaps euphoria at doing what you were doing, that very very few get to do, get to experince. When these unhappy souls speak of stewardship they really mean you can’t touch nature, you can’t be part of the world, as the world should be preserved, not used and enjoyed. Sure it should, we should leave the planet as is where is and let nature take its course. Except nature already takes its course and when it roughs us up, the academics have no answer except that it is our fault….somehow, someway..on a broader scale “we like” sovereign nations as long as we can control their sovereignty. Last week as I was launching my single rowing shell from the dock on our tidal estuary, two young bald eagles were hunting as a pair…it was awesome and they were less than 50 meters away at certain points. Gobsmacked I just watched. They ultimately got a small fish maybe a small stripper, but how can anyone want to control that effort? The pushy academics may want to try but they won’t get far.
Anyway that Crow warrior needed a lot of arrows to kill the other warrior, makes one realize the repeating rifle had it’s advantages!
Charles, this is simply epic: “they hate gravity too”. Indeed they do. It is strange these are often the same people who claim to love humanity, but if you ask them, actually hate just about every individual human they have ever met. It is a head scratcher and extremely stimulating to think about because it affects all of us. A midnight raid or jumping out of a plane or watching eagles on the hunt, to your point, would do a world of good.
Indeed it’s a head scratcher! Living is convincing your company commander to do a company sized night attack against the 101st Air Cav, out at Fort Campbell, and doing all the planning as a rookie 2nd Lt., and rehershing and getting the whole mess organized and then have battalion recon trip the line of departure with some sort of flare that someone somehow had placed in the wrong place. Then it pours rain and it’s like well let’s go get on line and forward!! Charge! If it had been the real deal things would not have gone well! But just the exhilarating experince of living and working so closely with people makes you appreciate being alive! It never gets old does it!!??
WOW Sam as always, you write brilliantly, and I love your articles. I look forward to them. Keep it up brother. Send me an address and phone number and I will send you some of my books for a gift, at vandergriffdonald@usa.net
When I read essays like this, Sam, I wonder where the education system failed me and/or how I fail/failed myself. After reading, I took the doggos for a long walk, which required a drive to get to the walk - the entire time thinking of this essay. In fact, so conflicted, I missed much of the quiet and "nature" but more the freedom to think fleeting thoughts I sought with the walk. Then I read again, with a dictionary and all but pulled a piece of paper with pen to draw lines and scribbles.
I appreciate your words of the heady shit, even if it impacts my sleep, with my much more simplified takeaway being: the point of excess. Being so enamored with a single want that it is to the detriment of the idea and as such lumps together the strands until each becomes unrecognizable thereby plundering what might have been of benefit. I might ought to read your essay again, to glean more insight but I need to finish writing a living will for the Comfort Maple in Ontario.
Stacy, I am stoked this resonated so deeply, and I find your takeaway fascinating. It is one of many angle that can be seen in this something this complex and it leaves me with something to chew on as well. Thank you.
I need a bigger brain to process (what for me) is a complexity of what, as a human population, we have come to accept as truth or possible and the relationships we choose to be a part of.
This arrow hits close to home, touches on my own personal journey and disenchantment with the current state of academia.
Two thoughts that come from this essay that I’ve noticed from first-hand experience:
(1) It’s easy for a person to convince themselves they are a genius if they never leave their own head.
(2) Wrong assumptions are the killer: eg, assuming the world is flat it’s only a short dig to China. Quality people doing quality work have a tight ooda loop with assumptions.
(3) the evil arguments are the ones that try to dismiss the value of doing or experiencing. This is related to #1
That was three but hey in physics research getting to the order of magnitude right is plenty good.
This is brilliant. Concrete contact with reality is fundamentally human. It is not always perfect, but at the least damage done is immediately seen and comprehended. It is the abstract that is dangerous precisely because it cannot be immediately seen. There are those who still think Marx was on to something.
There is so much self-loathing in academia. Key to this point, is when you break the language of could/should/ought into the language of is, they lose their minds. It's kind of the Animal and the Angel of Earnest Becker they live in the world of the angelic (in their minds) and detest the raw animal that we are in our core. I think it's wiser to embrace the animal and understand it and from there look up to what could be. Otherwise we'll constantly fail.
Hi Sam, this is some subversive stuff (and I love it)!
I agree that humans are under the boot right now - probably more so than at any time since the Dark Ages.
Perhaps I’m just splitting hairs, but I blame the corporations and their weapons like political lobbyists, social media and AI. I believe we have moved beyond the Anthropocene and into the “corpora-cene”.
The only way to fight it is with free thinking, Stoic discipline, a close family, and a strong community. Keep it coming!
Rock on, John. I agree, and I don't think we can blame any one segment—each has their own contribution to the many problems at present. We can even add government here, since the elected officials accept the lobbying by corporations, which is arguably even worse than the company pushing the lobbying. They are all too often at fault, too often short term thinking, and to your point, too often missing the entire point of life: family and community.
“Nearly all pre-state peoples do not refer to themselves by the names we give them. Rather they call themselves “We” or “The People” or “Human Beings.” They refer to themselves with pride rather than disdain. They savagely proclaim—and fight with tooth and knuckle—for their right to say Yes, and No, and the freedom to maintain these primal and unalienable rights given us by Nature in her wisdom. In the end, both the earth and the enemy want them dead. It is by virtue of this test, this grind, this endless pressure to fight and rage for their freedom and thus earn their right to live on this earth, that they love both the earth and their people.”
Not bad for a “knuckle dragger”! I always chuckle when you use that term, Sam. Kind of like the archetype of the Fool/Jester who acts ridiculous and can thereby get close enough to the king and speak truths that would get another person killed. Your secret identity is safe with us!
Haha that is a brilliant and perhaps perceptive analogy. But I believe—I’ll always have my knuckles dragging in the mud behind me, and quite happily so. Thanks, Baird.
Feet on the ground. Reach for the stars!
A question I pose (as an academic, lol) is ... What will we create to organize our lives when states have run their course? I am no anarchist but states are very recent to human existence and probably not the last way we will exist. The pre-state peoples have a lot to offer and built on 200,000 years of living. Small communities, reciprocity, collective struggle, ritual everything, meaning... Fewer rules and less grievance identity perhaps. Fewer charlatans exploiting the clan maybe? I don't know. More freedoms in my way of thinking. Have you come across the book Cynical Theories? It helped me understand to ideological turn in academia that at first stranded me, and then frustrated me until I could see its falsehoods for what they are. Then...I felt free. But--not all humans crave that freedom. Some are enamored of their shackles, including consumerism and ease and navel gazing, and focus blame outward. Ideology in education attempts to coerce thinking in the very place where freedom of thought and exploration should be the norm. I'd enjoy speaking more about this with you.
This is excellent. First, I should have been more clear that not all academics are this way, I hope it came across I was focused on one sect. I checked out Cynical Theories—it looks fascinating. I almost cannot imagine a time when states will not govern our lives, short of an apocalyptic event or the chance to build new worlds off planet Earth.
I am definitely down to talk about this, I'm curious of your thoughts, especially from your perspective on the inside so to speak.
I'm highly critical of my own profession and the institutional greed and self absorption of academia. Not that other professions are spotless. No offense taken therefore 😂. We will have that conversation. Perhaps this summer
Ok, let’s do it. Looking forward to it.
Those that cannot “control” the environment and the people around them tend to want to destroy that which they cannot control. They have no clue about the feeling you had when you leapt into the wild blue yonder at night with your body laden down with 90 plus pounds of gear, a weapon or two plus the life saving main and reserve parachute which was meant to ultimately plunk you down semi gently to earth…succumbing to earth’s gravity. (they hate gravity too) no doubt you had that moment of I sure hope this rig works..but perhaps euphoria at doing what you were doing, that very very few get to do, get to experince. When these unhappy souls speak of stewardship they really mean you can’t touch nature, you can’t be part of the world, as the world should be preserved, not used and enjoyed. Sure it should, we should leave the planet as is where is and let nature take its course. Except nature already takes its course and when it roughs us up, the academics have no answer except that it is our fault….somehow, someway..on a broader scale “we like” sovereign nations as long as we can control their sovereignty. Last week as I was launching my single rowing shell from the dock on our tidal estuary, two young bald eagles were hunting as a pair…it was awesome and they were less than 50 meters away at certain points. Gobsmacked I just watched. They ultimately got a small fish maybe a small stripper, but how can anyone want to control that effort? The pushy academics may want to try but they won’t get far.
Anyway that Crow warrior needed a lot of arrows to kill the other warrior, makes one realize the repeating rifle had it’s advantages!
Great post Sam…my head is abuzz…
Charles, this is simply epic: “they hate gravity too”. Indeed they do. It is strange these are often the same people who claim to love humanity, but if you ask them, actually hate just about every individual human they have ever met. It is a head scratcher and extremely stimulating to think about because it affects all of us. A midnight raid or jumping out of a plane or watching eagles on the hunt, to your point, would do a world of good.
Indeed it’s a head scratcher! Living is convincing your company commander to do a company sized night attack against the 101st Air Cav, out at Fort Campbell, and doing all the planning as a rookie 2nd Lt., and rehershing and getting the whole mess organized and then have battalion recon trip the line of departure with some sort of flare that someone somehow had placed in the wrong place. Then it pours rain and it’s like well let’s go get on line and forward!! Charge! If it had been the real deal things would not have gone well! But just the exhilarating experince of living and working so closely with people makes you appreciate being alive! It never gets old does it!!??
WOW Sam as always, you write brilliantly, and I love your articles. I look forward to them. Keep it up brother. Send me an address and phone number and I will send you some of my books for a gift, at vandergriffdonald@usa.net
Let’s go, Don. Thank you! Email coming your way.
When I read essays like this, Sam, I wonder where the education system failed me and/or how I fail/failed myself. After reading, I took the doggos for a long walk, which required a drive to get to the walk - the entire time thinking of this essay. In fact, so conflicted, I missed much of the quiet and "nature" but more the freedom to think fleeting thoughts I sought with the walk. Then I read again, with a dictionary and all but pulled a piece of paper with pen to draw lines and scribbles.
I appreciate your words of the heady shit, even if it impacts my sleep, with my much more simplified takeaway being: the point of excess. Being so enamored with a single want that it is to the detriment of the idea and as such lumps together the strands until each becomes unrecognizable thereby plundering what might have been of benefit. I might ought to read your essay again, to glean more insight but I need to finish writing a living will for the Comfort Maple in Ontario.
Stacy, I am stoked this resonated so deeply, and I find your takeaway fascinating. It is one of many angle that can be seen in this something this complex and it leaves me with something to chew on as well. Thank you.
I need a bigger brain to process (what for me) is a complexity of what, as a human population, we have come to accept as truth or possible and the relationships we choose to be a part of.
This arrow hits close to home, touches on my own personal journey and disenchantment with the current state of academia.
Two thoughts that come from this essay that I’ve noticed from first-hand experience:
(1) It’s easy for a person to convince themselves they are a genius if they never leave their own head.
(2) Wrong assumptions are the killer: eg, assuming the world is flat it’s only a short dig to China. Quality people doing quality work have a tight ooda loop with assumptions.
(3) the evil arguments are the ones that try to dismiss the value of doing or experiencing. This is related to #1
That was three but hey in physics research getting to the order of magnitude right is plenty good.
This is brilliant. Concrete contact with reality is fundamentally human. It is not always perfect, but at the least damage done is immediately seen and comprehended. It is the abstract that is dangerous precisely because it cannot be immediately seen. There are those who still think Marx was on to something.
There is so much self-loathing in academia. Key to this point, is when you break the language of could/should/ought into the language of is, they lose their minds. It's kind of the Animal and the Angel of Earnest Becker they live in the world of the angelic (in their minds) and detest the raw animal that we are in our core. I think it's wiser to embrace the animal and understand it and from there look up to what could be. Otherwise we'll constantly fail.
Outstanding.. Finished feeling led to water.
Thank you brother.
Hi Sam, this is some subversive stuff (and I love it)!
I agree that humans are under the boot right now - probably more so than at any time since the Dark Ages.
Perhaps I’m just splitting hairs, but I blame the corporations and their weapons like political lobbyists, social media and AI. I believe we have moved beyond the Anthropocene and into the “corpora-cene”.
The only way to fight it is with free thinking, Stoic discipline, a close family, and a strong community. Keep it coming!
Rock on, John. I agree, and I don't think we can blame any one segment—each has their own contribution to the many problems at present. We can even add government here, since the elected officials accept the lobbying by corporations, which is arguably even worse than the company pushing the lobbying. They are all too often at fault, too often short term thinking, and to your point, too often missing the entire point of life: family and community.