Open Thread – Quote of the Week
12 07 2009In keeping with the mood of last week, I thought I’d share a quote that really made me think of … someone.
It’s from Harry Frankfurt, a philosopher who wrote an essay entitled “On Bullshit.”
(I slide my reading spectacles down on my nose and read to you.)
“While the liar deliberately makes false claims, the bullshitter is simply uninterested in the truth. Bullshitters aim primarily to impress and persuade their audiences. While liars need to know the truth, the better to conceal it, the bullshitter, interested solely in advancing his own agenda, has no use for the truth. Bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
Discuss.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:47 PM
PepperzMom (GA)
One of our Arizona state legs made the news last week for speaking up in favor of opening up Uranium mining – and because she wasn’t concerned about the environmental aspects because the earth has been here for 6,000 years without environmental regs and it seems to be doing just fine.
I liked these wingnuts a lot more when they were content to amuse us with their obsessive compulsion to play rock LPs backwards at half speed and shriek about the satanic messages.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:50 PM
CG -
Now thats some funny s^*t !! Well we know which blog sarah follows…………..
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha !!!!!!!
July 12th, 2009 at 4:51 PM
Funny she mentions that CG, she wasn’t wearing a PFD in some of those gratuitious PR Bristol Bay clips with all those prime MSM networks.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:57 PM
I saw a photo of the Whack Job recently and she had a bottle of Smart Water in the photo with her. LOL. I wish I could remember where I saw that photo. It was in one of the links I got in one of the threads here. Anyone remember seeing it?
July 12th, 2009 at 4:57 PM
After Reagan left the presidency, his supporters bought him a house.
There was one little problem, though. The house number was 666. They had it changed. So Sarah should be in her own element there giving her speech.
Reagan was the first Chance, the Gardiner – Chauncey Gardner, American politician. W, the second, and Sarah Palin, the third, and hopefully, the last.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:04 PM
Lori, califpat and peggno
During Shannyn’s show, senator W…..sky (sorry about the spelling, or lack of) mentioned that $arah may be requested to stay on for two or more weeks in order for the legs to confirm the Lt Gov. Those nasty legs are already hampering her golden future.
Republican Women Federated of Simi Valley announced Palin was scheduled to speak to the group’s private gala on Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The event _ reporters will not be allowed to attend _ will take place in an airplane hangar that houses a retired presidential aircraft Air Force One and will stir more questions about he curious resignation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/12/palin-will-campaign-for-d_n_230226.htm
What ever happened to her mantra « Walk the and talk the » bs. I bet she didn’t dare go that place in her recent interviews.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:09 PM
In my life i have been blessed to know some of the FINEST bs-ers ever. Now i have learned that a good bs-er needs a truelly honest person to bs to. Otherwise it just aint workin.
A good bser knows you cannot fact check in the instant. being polite one assumes that all is what they say it is. That is the grounding of an honest person. A bs-er will know this instinctively and thrive on it. That is what bs thrives on… Honesty… If you find yourself doubting what has been said. You can feel good knowing that you are but an honest person.
A really good bs-er will stop short of revealing the bs.
A bad bs-er will not stop and reveal their bs. Does this sound like something we see???
July 12th, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Tamara: If Buttercups is forved to stay in Alaska against her will, I say Yay!! But if she slithers to Simi Valley, California I will be a foot soldier lurking and flashing my camera in full force to observe. Yeppers!!
July 12th, 2009 at 5:17 PM
@califpat, and others, I have spoken to JHop by e-mail. Feel free to PM her with your e-mail address to talk.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:24 PM
womanwithsardinecan
about that flooding… I’d say yes and no. There was some snark in various papers around town, but mostly, people seemed to understand “a 500 yr flood, whaddya gonna do?”
After a month or so, more people were fussing about the looks of the “tent cities” around town, as if there were any choice about it.
Later, there was a huge amount of commercial building going on smack in the middle of what had been farmland that had been 6 feet underwater for five months. Still doesn’t make sense.
Mostly, you’re right. Even with
July 12th, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Califpat
Will be looking forward to seing some photos of snarky signs held by determined CA mudpups.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:26 PM
oops. Bad proofreading. end with “you’re right.”
July 12th, 2009 at 5:29 PM
@tamara: Most definitely!!
July 12th, 2009 at 5:33 PM
@problem child: I have not done a PM in a while and have forgotten how to. Can someone enlighten this PM challenged Pup as to how to Pm someone.
And thanks problem child for informing me that JHop is doing fine. That’s a relief/
July 12th, 2009 at 5:48 PM
womanwithsardinecan, I appreciate your attempts, but I almost can’t talk about it anymore.
First of all – there was no real plan on anyone’s part to come up with long-term solutions in the first place.
This issue in not new! It’s been part of the reality of bush Alaska for decades, going back to the boarding school days. And then Molly Hootch.
Second – I’ve been politely reminding people in real life, on internet blogs like this one, that this is not a Native problem, it’s a bush Alaska problem, a problem of rural geographically-isolated communities. So on Shannyn Moore’s most recent radio show, there they go again-the “Native village” problem…
Why do I object to that? Bush Alaska is not exclusively “Native”. There are people who live in villages; this is a community problem and shouldn’t be defined by ethnicity. It’s insulting and ignorant. These are villages with municipal governments under state covenant; anyone can move there, and if they do, they’ll face the same logistical and economic challenges of life as anyone else. It’s got nothing to do with being Native.
As evidenced in interviews of non-Native bush residents this winter, the airtaxi station manager, the Christian school teacher, etc. I asked a question that went unanswered – are the NON-NATIVE village residents having economic difficulty? Are they paying the same prices for heating fuel, gasoline, goods? How are school teachers getting fuel when there are shortages?
No answer. Well, I can guess. Anyone who is not a traditional indigenous resident is subsidized by someone to be there! So someone is planning for and underwriting the subsistence logistics and expense for teachers, construction crews, station managers, pilots, etc. Providing the fuel for their tanks, and seeing to their needs from the outside, whether it’s cost-effective or not!
As long as we participate in the language that makes it a Native problem, then it will BE a Native problem. Saying Native villages minimizes the issue.
As long as it’s a Native issue, then Natives should take responsibility and grassroots themselves out of it. The end. Nothing more to talk about. And both sides can throw around the term ’sovereignty’, both sides can wax rhetorical about how the ANCSA corps should/should not be responsible and the reasons why/why not.
And no, our corporation bigshots will not be taking responsibility. It’s not their job. Like all for-profit corporations, their job is to see to the bottom line of the corporation.
We’ll send cookies and hire a Native-looking guy to be the government advisor, so that those Natives will feel more comfortable.
Ironically, the only reason this got any attention at all is because Non-Natives that live in rural Alaska villages brought it to the attention of the outside world. Nobody cared what Nick Tucker said, before that.
North Pacific Management Council has been talking about responding to the bycatch crisis for decades. Good Lord! Do a google search, read the stuff going back to Murkowski’s administration.
But really, what is the answer?
Self-determination IS happening; some villages are installing wind projects and Ted Stevens enthusiastically supported those projects. With cash. And training. The Denali Commission is doing its absolute best to follow through.
But the talking heads have already decided that unconventional alternatives are not cost-effective, too Star Warsy, too unconventional, won’t work, can’t be maintained, yadda yadda yadda. Nope-can’t do geothermic, nope-can’t do wind, nope-can’t maintain infrastructure.
Our very American, very white public officials cannot see other options, like looking at European and Canadian models of infrastructure in arctic communities – construction methods, asphalt, energy, recycling, water and sewer treatment. You know, Alaska is not the only cold-weather environment in the world. We could look to the rest of the world, you know? We need to be done with methods, models and “expertise” from Oklahoma and California.
Phew. I’m done.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Bravo CG!
July 12th, 2009 at 6:03 PM
I’m sure the answers are on here somewhere, but I’ll still ask…when palin steps down (off), won’t her investigations continue? jail time in her future? return lawsuits from those she is now slandering? And when she spews and incites hatred across the country on her “any party” tour, should we be afraid? it doesn’t take much to crazy up her crowd and for her to fuel violence. (gulp) You see what she did with the restraints of a government office…what will she do when she is on the loose? :O
July 12th, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Yes, Bravo, CG!
Lainey – I dunno…if her appearances incite hatred and result in a crime, I hope there is a federal authority that would address it as a hate crime and cite the Whack Job as a causal factor. How that would work, I have no idea.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:38 PM
CG; read Harper’s article, from #97; after having known many christians, they don’t fit into that category; the ones I know are good, give the shirt off their back, law-abiding people, with daily struggles, and no time or energy for the kind of behavior in that article. It does sound concerning though. I think the reason so many young people today are looking to this “fringe” in christianity is that it creates an appeal for an exciting adventurous “high-calling” life, which is can be deceptive. They totally ignore the “fruit of the Spirit” – love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, as evidenced in that game video.
Am not trying to preach christianity here. But, will just share this, from my experience. There seems to be an element like these in the article that have left their “first love”, and are in love with power, self-aggrandisement, all the opposites of the fruit of the spirit that I mentioned above. They want the “gifts of the spirit” without the fruit.
The gifts of the spirit are wisdom, knowledge, working of miracles, faith, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, and the interpretation of tongues , likethe stuff you may have seen in the Murthee video. When men put their personal unbiblical slant on it, they dishonour it’s purpose. It has never been commanded to use the gifts of the spirit for selfish motives, only for personal aid, and always used with the fruit. Maybe that is why so many christians today are leaving these institutionalized churches. A study found millions have left in the last few years. The wolves in sheep’s clothing are coming home to roost.
Am hoping more and more people are wise enough to see through them.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Harry Frankfurt’s seminal, if not excretory, work, “On Bullshit,” was preceded by Fritz Perls, who classified most conversation/exchange of pleasantries and ideas into three categories:
Chickenshit: small talk, exchange of clichés.
Bullshit: rationalization, explanatoriness, talk for talk’s sake.
Elephantshit: high level discussion on religion, Gestalt therapy, existential philosophy, etc.
Googling these terms to verify that Perls was indeed the author, i saw some interesting attributions in other languages, which chose to keep these important terms not translated into their own languages, to preserve their integrity.
–mudred
Where eschatology meets scatology
July 12th, 2009 at 7:12 PM
Certainly there are non-Native people in the Bush. I’ve known some of them. And I’m part Native. However, part of the reason some of the issues don’t get addressed is due to the Native aspect. It is certainly good that you educate people that it is not just a Native problem, but you can’t just ignore the elephant in the room.
A simple analogy: When I lived in a remote canyon in Arizona, we had a 100 year flood that took out the power, the phones, and the roads. There were only 5 people living in the remote canyon, including us. The nice phone co-op got our phones back in record time, in less than a week. Part of the road got fixed to 4WD level in a week or so. But we were off the power grid for 3 months. Not because it couldn’t be fixed, but because of political issues. I’m not going to go into the details. My point is that we finally said to the power co-op that if the head of the local Mormon church lived in the canyon, it would have taken two weeks to get the power up and running. But because we weren’t the correct demographic, we got blown off.
July 12th, 2009 at 7:16 PM
lovemydogs Says:
July 12th, 2009 at 1:20 PM
I understand what you are all saying about “the roach”. And I appreciate and hear what you have to say about it. I have no intention of ignoring the damage that she can still do (in fact still is doing).
I need to make her insignificant for a little while in my own mind and follow the path of PO. I just need to put my energy towards what I can do right now for other people in my state who need my attention more.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Lovemydogs, I completely understand where you and others are coming from. What I think is that some of us are focused on the forest, while others are focused on the trees. It takes us all to solve the problem, and this is not just an AK issue. SP has shown by her lack of empathy and help towards AK native peoples, as well as other areas hard hit (Eagle), that she thinks the people have to help themselves without Gov. aid. She told the AK villages in the west that they needed to get new elders to guide them (WTF!)…the implication of her words is that the ones who are already guiding the villages need to get with the program – her program. The religious fanatics she aligns herself with want to get ALL of the aid for helping out disaster victims into private hands, and this is a world-wide phenomenon. If we cannot get this political agenda stopped, it doesn’t matter what we do in the short term to help; people will be facing the same issues again and again and again.
That being said, I am not implying that your efforts to help out in the immediate crisis are for naught; like I said to begin with, we are all important in the process. Like you, we all have to pick and choose our battles according to our own internal compasses. Don’t give up; I am not. I really value what you and others are doing.
July 12th, 2009 at 7:28 PM
68 peggno in socal Says:
July 12th, 2009 at 2:53 PM
Thanks Nan.
AKGrrl – I’ll let you know what happens when she speaks here Aug. 8.
Benlomond2: I’d send her up to you, but I love Ben Lomond too
much. It’s so peaceful and beautiful there
———
YUP !! A bit warm today..wish they’d let us up put the dam back in !
Methinks Gino is gonna start her own political party, with the right wing supporters as her base…. after seeing the names for the book, maybe suggestions for her party name would be fun to submit ????
July 12th, 2009 at 7:48 PM
womanwithsardinecan said: “People in the rest of the country do not constantly bring up the question of why people live along rivers that flood regularly, yet those same people were the ones to harp on the idea that the Natives should just MOVE. As a retired geologist, I take exception to that blind spot.”
I respectfully beg to differ. Remember what people said after Katrina? Folks said people in New Orleans should move, why should we spend money rebuilding levies, whyshould people get to rebuild on the MS gulf coast. After massive floods in the ’90s along the entire Mississippi River, people asked why people should be helped to stay. It happens everywhere; doesn’t make it right, though.
July 12th, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Obviously this thread wasn’t fun anymore, but I’m going to keep on going…
A deconstruction of Sarah’s recent tweets about stimulus money~
Caution w/new “short-term 1-time only” Stimulus Pkg programs:”The nearest thing to eternal life we’ll see on earth is a govt program”-Reagan
8:01 AM Jul 11th from TwitterBerry
More talk of #2 “Stimulus” Pkg? Please no- for so many reasons- incl the 1st one hasn’t done what’s promised, & debt forced on AKn kids is..
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry
selfish & immoral bc it robs their future opportunities!”If there is trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace”Thomas Paine
about 20 hours ago from TwitterBerry
The Denali Commission NEEDS that energy stimulus funding!!
NOW!! Not next year. That would put Alaska a huge step forward in intelligent solutions.
Construction and barge season is almost over. Hot weather and not enough rain means rivers are too shallow for the fall barge runs.
NAHSDA, HIP, etc. provide weatherization funds, fuel and electric vouchers, home improvement grants, modifications for disabilities and improvements to sub-standard housing. Right now there is a waiting list for those services with ’shovel-ready’ projects in bush Alaska.
Not only are these programs going to help families meet their needs economically this winter, but there are also a significant number of people in care in Anchorage (amputees, parapalegics, elders and children with medical needs) at enormous expense to Medicaid/Medicare (thousands per day), who could be in their own homes in villages, who cannot GET home, because they can’t physically manage without modifications. They qualify for disability services, but can’t have it because it’s dependent on that energy stimulus resource.
The benefits to communities are multi-dimensional and trickle down. Home modifications put villagers to work on construction projects and deliver paychecks. People coming home to live creates jobs and expands existing labor pools, as well as creating opportunity for skill development and training-administration, personal care attendants-and creates room for developing other service-delivery business that doesn’t exist right now.
Our elected public representatives said yes, we should do that. But based on her self-righteous personal philosophies and ignorant mantra about “growing governent”, Sarah said NO. For all of us.
Her lack of business acumen shows. She doesn’t know or care that smart and successful business owners routinely get capital investment loans to ‘grow’ their businesses and expect a return on the risk. She must not understand that Todd’s fishing operation requires pre-season investment, either out of pocket or P.A.F. (Pay After Fishing).
Hellloo? That’s what “Economic Stimulus” is trying to get at!
I don’t know who her advisors are (and I think that should be made public), but I think we’re all aware by now that decisions affecting a collective of 600,000 Alaska citizens are being driven by a small circle of financially-secure Christian elitists from Wasilla and Anchorage.
She is “selfish & immoral” in that she refuses to acknowledge that there is already a legacy of wont and debt “forced on AKn kids” in rural Alaska, the villages, in Anchorage, in Kenai, yes, even Wasilla.
Her administration “robs their future opportunities” by selfishly refusing to participate in federal solutions offered to state governments in a national economic crisis and recession.
This generation is dealing with the issues, NOW. She’s going to help bankrupt what few businesses there are in bush Alaska. What happens when fishing is poor, prices are low, you can’t buy groceries and pay bills? You stop buying goods from the local stores! Ya stop makin’ the payments on the snowmachine, 4-wheeler, skiff and outboard motor you got on credit from Todd’s mother. You don’t buy that over-priced couch and refrigerator from Sarah’s mother-in-law.
We can do nothing about any of this as long as she’s the governor. We cannot effect positive change while she stands in the way, in a critical decision-making position.
Sarah. Shut. Up.
Clear out your desk and go. I don’t care what you do, what happens next for you. I don’t care how you spin straw into gold for you and your kids. Good on ya, more power to you. Not my problem, nor my interest. I wish you every success. In somebody else’s world. In California or Texas. Great, go.
We’re gonna need an expensive special session? I think Sarah’s travel expenses, per diem, and salary for the last month should just about cover it.
Giddyup~
July 12th, 2009 at 8:02 PM
115
CG Says:
July 12th, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Wow. Just wow.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:02 PM
Thank you very much! I can not put into words the difference between Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:11 PM
CG, we don’t want her in California!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 12th, 2009 at 8:52 PM
@Lainey: Too late! Rumor is, Buttercup will be here in California, Aug 8, in Simi Valley. At least it is just for one day and she is all yours Alaska. My condolences.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:58 PM
CG – your passion is contagious. Keep speaking out!
July 12th, 2009 at 9:06 PM
Let me guess.
The Quitbull’s speech at the Reagan Library is by invitation only and there is a price involved along the lines of those “plate dinners”. It’s going to be out of the price range of the average American’s descretionary income and certainly for any blogger/spy eyes and ears type.
We’ll probably never know what’s said. And we probably don’t want to know.
I’m sure this is a first in a series of “Palin Pocket Lining” speaking engagements.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:03 AM
womanwithsardinecan, which elephant in the room? It might not be the same one.
I think we share the same opinion, but different line of thinking, maybe? Or maybe we express it differently? We both know what a disenfranchised population is and what racial disparity is.
I won’t say whether I’m indigenous, because I insist that it isn’t relevant to the issue. Identifying the problem, quantity and quality, doesn’t depend on identifying race and ethnic background. And I firmly believe that to do so, is a disservice. Identifying solutions isn’t dependent on race, either.
And I firmly believe that identifying the issue and its possible solutions that way, perpetuates the disenfranchisement of the human beings that live on Alaska’s Bering Sea coast, and sets up barriers to solutions.
We have a habit of identifying ethnicity and gender in our ordinary speech, in our writings, in our everyday lives, anecdotaly. As if it somehow provides illustration and better communication of the subject:
“There was this black guy checking in at the airport. Someone choked on a piece of candy and he started CPR, saving the kid’s life.”
“I just came back from town and stopped to pull a Chinese couple in a rental car out of the ditch. Really nice people.”
“There’s a Native woman down the road that ran out of gas.”
We need to stop doing that. It’s meaningless and lends no clarity to the story.
Is the fact that there are communities in Western Alaska facing economic crisis due to a national recession and geographic isolation with very little infrastructure, a Native issue? No. Villages are not reservations.
Okay, having said that, are there elements of this problem that are “Native” in nature? Most decidedly. The Bering Sea coast is the indigenous Eskimo homeland, after all, and the Western Alaska community demographic averages at least 75% Native, even the hub towns Dillingham, Bethel, Kotzebue and Nome. Of course they’re Native.
Here’s another average demographic set:
School teachers – White
Business owners – White
Air taxi operators (and pilots) – White
Medical services – White
Legal system staff (and private attorneys) – White
Police forces – White
Executive administrative positions – White
Seafood processor ownership – White
Social Services (Public Assistance, Child Protective Services, Domestic Violence shelter, etc) – White
State employees (as above and DNR, Fish & Game, Wildlife, Rangers) – White
Are there any of the above that are Native employees and owners? Sure. Not many and mostly in low-level support positions.
What there is that is Native, is the tribal operations. And even they have executive levels filled by non-Natives.
The village clinics are staffed by almost exclusively Native Health Aides.
Village Public Safety is staffed by almost exclusively Native VPSOs (Village Public Safety Officers).
A story about elephants -
Once upon a time, one of the regional large employers in Western Alaska typically provided moving costs to its incoming new employees to offset a pretty stiff financial drain in getting one’s family, furniture and vehicle to the job. Also part of the typical compensation package, a financial differential as part of salary for employees living off the hospital compound and in community housing. Like the military does. Because of the high cost of living.
So one day, one of the Native employees who had moved specifically to work there, followed up because she hadn’t received her moving expenses and wasn’t getting the differential in her paycheck. The response: she didn’t qualify for the additional compensation, because she was “local”. She explained that indeed, she was not local, had accepted a position and then moved there to report for duty, she understood that she would be reimbursed standard moving expenses and that she was struggling to find affordable off-compound housing.
The head of personnel insisted that she was considered local because she was Native, it had been reviewed and there should be no further discussion. So she filed a grievance that this was unfair. The result-they caved but asked her to not discuss it with other “local” employees, because no other “locals” were getting it. And offered her compound housing.
They did an internal review and discovered that they had a sizable discrimination problem on their hands. The ACLU would’ve drooled over it. They were paying the differential to tenured employees-all White-simply because they had arrived as new hires at some time, even though they had long since become permanent residents and homeowners. They had never paid moving expenses or a differential to a Native employee, regardless of where they came from when they were hired. And they hadn’t offered on-compound housing, either.
Did they immediately make changes and provide equal compensation? No. Too complicated and White employees would complain if they stopped getting the bonus. They asked employees not to discuss it, while they worked on a plan to address it and phase it out. They stopped paying moving expenses except as negotiated contracts.
Is that the elephant?
A private employer with a small staff offered employer-paid health insurance. With a need to reduce overhead and good intentions, employees ‘opted out’ of an insurance plan if they were Indian Health Service beneficiaries and able to obtain medical care without the insurance.
The executive director, a fair and honorable person, realized that this constituted a disparity in compensation between Native and non-Native employees. It was changed immediately.
Not only that, IHS beneficiaries do not receive “free” medical care. Tribal operations bill insurance, Veterans’ Benefits, Medicaid/Medicare, the same as any provider. Those without insurance have services paid for out of a different source of money, similar to any charity hospital. The tribally-operated hospitals and clinics need payment for services in order to stay in business. Somebody pays for it. Unless we’re going to have Universal Coverage, Native employees need to have health insurance the same as any employee of any ethnicity.
Is this a Native problem? Is being Native core to the issue? No. It’s an economic issue. Villages happen to have Natives in them, a lot of Natives, so Natives are experiencing this particular economic emergency.
Are there ethnic sidebars to this issue? Yes. Parallel, but not the same thread. Sovereignty, ANCSA, subsistence rights, tribal response and resources – all Native issues, no question about it.
Thank you for your feedback. It’s good meaningful dialogue and these conversations need to happen.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:15 AM
My point with the “don’t constantly tell people to move” in relation to floods was that it is not the first, foremost, and most constant refrain. Yes, during the really big floods, it comes up, but fades rather quickly and isn’t a broad sentiment (I didn’t hear a peep about it during the floods this winter, though the locals may have heard the refrain).
With the Bush issue, it is the first thing that out-of-staters and urban dwellers bring up, and they bring it up forcefully and disrespectfully (that’s another difference. The people who say that about floods don’t tend to go on and on in a disrespectful manner). That’s just my opinion from having watched other floods around the country from afar over the years and having watched and listened to the debate this winter on the food and fuel crisis in rural Alaska.
CG, I’m not disagreeing with you. Your point is well taken and completely valid. I’m certainly guilty of framing the issues in Native terms. My tendency to use the term Native comes from the fact that my grammy was full blooded Aleut and was discriminated against by Colonists. So I’m very sensitive about the Native aspect and that’s the thing I see most in the rural Alaska issues from my perspective. She didn’t live in the Bush (adopted, assimilated from her home on Afognak and ended up raising kids on a homestead in Palmer) so I was never exposed to that set of issues. My point was simply from the demographic point of view, as my analogy explained. It is a human trait to categorize. And people who run government, or have other forms of power, tend to think in terms of demographics. You have a long slog ahead of you to get the controlling powers to switch from the “those damn Natives” perspective to the “remote community issues” perspective. I will do my best to reframe my own language to help.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:25 AM
I should add that the tendency to categorize and think in demographics is strongly influenced by ingrained prejudice, whether against Natives, gays, women, blacks,other religious groups, or whatever group the person in power feels superior to. In my flood story, the Mormons were the superior group in power, the rural non-Mormon ranchers and other non-Mormons were the lessers, and those of us who worked for the Nature Conservancy were the lepers. That demographic influenced all of the politics in the area, and still does.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:53 AM
I was married to a bullshitter for years. This description is perfect.
The one benefit of that relationship is that now I can spot a bullshitter in a moment. That being said, Palin is a bullshitter. Period.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:02 AM
I will also add, concerning flood responses, that the standard response to flooding is to demand more flood control dams. That is finally changing, now that we have seen the long term impact of dams, but in the past, moving wasn’t considered, just build more dams.
The thing that the two issues have in common is a long long precedent for an established lifestyle. Concerning rivers, people have been living along rivers since the dawn of civilization. We use them for water and transport. It only mad sense to be close to them. We can’t simply pack up all the cities along rivers and move them. But we can make changes. We can make sure flood insurance doesn’t ENCOURAGE building in flood zones. We can try to use open floodplain land for its very best use, agriculture (rich soil), while building our homes on higher land farther back (like yukonbushgrandma is doing now).
And as for rural Alaska, I saw so many good ideas for change during the discussion this winter. How to make villages self sufficient without destroying their way of life. How to improve the dialogue between urban and rural. Solid, workable ideas. And CG’s plea for reframing the language is a big part of that, because we humans are funny that way. Changing how we speak and how we think tend move in tandem, with one or the other taking turns being in the lead.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:02 AM
“made” sense.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:04 AM
And yes, I remember now that somebody didn’t like the term lifestyle, but I couldn’t think of another word at the moment so sorry about that. Got up too early and haven’t had enough coffee.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:10 AM
I think Sarah’s latest statement—that she is willing to campaign for Dems and Republican’s has a two-fold message.
1. She is trying to expand her base by trying to appear bipartisan. She knows she can’t win by her right-wing base alone.
2. She is an equal opportunity money grabber. Does anyone think she will be doing these speaking engagements out of the goodness of her heart? In other words, she is saying, I’ll suppport ya’ for cash.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:16 AM
I was married to a bullshitter for many years. The one really good thing that came out of that relationship is that I can now identify one within a few minutes after they open their mouth.
Yes, Palin is a bullshitter.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:11 AM
I think anyone who has two brain cells to rub together see her for who she is. I think most people who are not already underwhelmed by her are starting to take a deeper look at how she operates. She may pick up a few more disaffected worshippers, but not enough to make a huge difference.
I said on another thread that I don’t see Republicans falling over themselves in a mad frenzy to have her represent them and the reaching out to Democrats is not bi-partisan but a desperate move designed to pick up a few more sycophants to her “cause” – whatever that is.
I read yesterday that she speaks in slogans, not ideas.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:03 AM
We’re on the same page, womanwithsardinecan.
It’s a human trait to put distance between you and the other guy. To create superiority, in big ways and small. That distance is racism and gender bias. “We’re not them.”
I dunno why, we must be hard-wired that way. A primal evolutionary trait? Survival of the fittest? Kill or be killed? In Australia, a thousand-mile fence to literally keep the separation.
Hurricane Katrina was a black issue; domestic violence and sexual assault are womens’ issue; inner-city ghettos are black and Puerto Rican issues; gang violence is a Latino issue (in Alaska, a Pacific Islander issue). In Australia it’s the abo problem; in New Zealand, it’s a Maori problem. In Alaska, the villages are a native problem.
“If those people would just…”
Ironically, some of the most invested and financially motivated to not only be there, but keep villages thriving, are non-Native. Because they have businesses, capital investment, little or no competition in a captive marketplace, highly profitable in good times.
So let’s spin a different perspective just for fun. Humor me:
If those air taxi services would just move to Anchorage.
If those building supply outfits and contractors would just move to Wasilla.
If those school teachers would just move to Seattle.
If those lighterage services would just move to Kodiak.
If those snowmachine and boat dealers would just move to Fairbanks.
If those doctors, nurses, lawyers would just move…
They can if they want to, ya know. They choose to be there. They have options. They can move their businesses. There are resources and programs to help them start over somewhere else. They could if they wanted to.
Sure, it might be tough, but that’s what I would do. If I were ‘them’. ‘We’ don’t owe ‘them’ a living.
One more point about that “Native village” issue -
For decades there have been many many urban-based people who make their living and support their families as the remote-site labor pool. They fly in, work on-shift, send wages home to Anchorage and Wasilla, and fly out when the project’s done. Every successful construction company in this state and the Pacific Northwest has bid on a job in Bush Alaska.
There are permanent contracts in place right now for fly-in employees and services. It’s the ongoing Alaska “gold rush”.
Paving and roofing companies employ young men buying homes in Wasilla and Anchorage. Red Dog Mine employs heavy equipment operators and electricians from urban Alaska. A mid-level management nurse in Western Alaska “commuted” from the east coast. The comptroller is a telecommuter who lives in Mexico and flies into bush Alaska once a month. I think they’ve since retired to the Mexican villa paid for by the job in the village.
A school principal owns a ranch in Wisconsin and goes “home” as often as possible.
Two weeks ago, I met an Irishman who is living in the car that he drove up the Alcan from Chicago, studying for the Alaska electrician’s exam that he was taking at the end of the week. He’s been guaranteed work, but he’s gotta pass that exam. He’s a single parent of 5, but will not be moving them here. If he passes the exam, he’ll work in the bush and fly back and forth. Oh surprise.
Decades of biologists, geologists, surveyors, forestry people have earned their families’ living from services to villages. Everybody you meet in Anchorage has a family member who makes a living from providing services to the villages. Test it for yourself.
It’s not a Native issue. It’s a big huge geographical problem that impacts a bunch of urban people, too.
So, why not invest in bush Alaska? Seems to me to be a good investment in keeping other state residents employed as well, and not a few Lower 48 families in their jobs.
This is not meant to be a scolding or a lecture. A simple illumination of scope.