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Calling the Cops vs. Rewilding
December 11th, 2010 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding - (38 Comments)
A while back an anonymous person mailed me a giant rock with an insulting remark attached to it. I interpreted it as a form of intimidation and I called the police. They sped over to my house, took finger prints off the rock, crime scene photos, interviewed all of my neighbors and roommates, interrogated the Fedex employees, ran the prints through the database, enhanced the security video feed to get a perfect image of the perps face and put an APB out across America. They apprehended the suspect almost instantaneously and imprisoned them for the rest of eternity, justice served.
Poseur Hipster Douchebag or Inner-Dimensional Reptilian Shape-Shifter?
I’ve had a couple people ask me lately if I “believe in aliens”. This subject used to fascinate me as a child. I read all about UFO’s, exhausting the school library and moving onto the public library. I even spotted a few of them hovering above my elementary school. I had a passion for anything paranormal. Later in life that translated more to the spiritual side and towards animism. These days I hardly think about aliens, so when someone asked me if I believed in them I had to think about it for a second.
Gabe, a commenter on my blog, asked me this:
Scout, and others who are identifying “community†as a key missing component in our collective journey toward rewilding, I ask you: how can we (rewild-minded folks) live INSIDE the system now, and in satisfying numbers, and create the community we need to, if not live outside the system for legit fear of getting murdered en masse, offer support to one another on a day-to-day level? I’m talking about intentional community. I’m not talking about a final cultural solution – I’m talking about a solid step in the right direction; toward community.
Anyone? Why are we not living in community now? Are we addicted to isolation?
On Killing Animals, Insects & Plants
July 28th, 2010 | Posted by in Fauna Food | Philosophy of Rewilding - (17 Comments)
In the past couple of weeks I killed my first mammals. One, a rat I trapped without watching die, which felt strange and distant. For a deeper understanding of killing, I killed a rabbit at a rabbit slaughtering and butchering class this last week. I’ve often written about how I don’t see a difference in the killing of plants or animals. That both deserve equal respect. However, killing these mammals both changed and solidified my emotional experience and logical interpretation of killing.
I struggle with alcoholism. I sometimes have the urge to get completely fucked up drunk. At one time in my life I smoked more than half a pack of cigarettes a day. I sometimes binge on television shows and don’t leave the house for days, just watching entire seasons without so much as stepping out of my bedroom to take a piss or even eat a meal. I do this also with video games. I check my facebook way too much, even when I know I probably don’t have any reason to. Okay, so I’ll admit it. I have an addiction to certain aspects of civilization.
Inevitably those-who-rewild will find themselves attacked as hypocrites by those who don’t understand rewilding: “If you hate civilization so much, why don’t you go live in the woods?” “You hate technology, but there you sit waiting for people to comment on your latest facebook status update.” “You want to live like a hunter-gatherer but you buy all your food at the grocery store!” “You talk shit on mainstream media, but you watch television!” And on, and on and on.
Colonization Vs. Rewilding
March 24th, 2010 | Posted by in General Blog | Philosophy of Rewilding - (22 Comments)The mentality of colonization runs deep in our culture, particularly deep in those who benefit the most from the colonization. While I like to think of myself as a non-racist, I still have the mindset of the colonizer that prevents me from seeing my own racism and prejudice. For a while now I’ve grappled with this. I think one of the first steps in de-colonizing my mind involved recognizing that I live on stolen land. This scared the hell out of me.
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I have a lot of friends and family. The great majority of them know nothing about rewilding. Many consider themselves Christians, Mormons, Atheists, Democrats, Republicans, etc. I want to make the point here that I don’t base my relationships on whether or not someone has an interest in rewilding or even understands anything about it. Obviously I lean towards rewilding friends, but I don’t require it. Why do I remain friends with these people? Because I don’t act like an insane fundamentalist asshole.
A few weeks back I went to a anarchist curated fundraiser for an anti-civilization film. In lieu of my recent “fan mail” and the overall attacks I get from green anarchists, I’m very apprehensive about going to these kinds of events, but I wanted to show my support for the film and meet the filmmaker. I didn’t stay long. Why, in a room full of people who generally agree more or less with me about civilization, did I feel like I stood in the lions den? On my drive home I realized that the activist (and particularly anarchist) community that I have known and experienced has felt like a hate culture.
Doom and Gloom Vs. Rewilding
February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding - (27 Comments)Whenever I get to talking about how fucked up this culture is and how much it is fucking up the planet, someone inevitably writes me off as just preaching doom and gloom without “realistic” solutions. Generally what they actually mean is solutions [sic] that will prevent them from having to fundamentally change the way they live their life.
Rewilding: A Term to Throw Away
January 14th, 2010 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding - (25 Comments)For a long time now I’ve used this blog to post up angry rants about random topics, generally relating to rewilding in some way or other. I’ve realized something in the last few days that is blowing my mind: I’m fucking sick of “rewilding.” Yes that’s right folks. I’ve had it up to here with the word rewilding.
A power system sits in place that keeps the rich rich and the poor poor. This power system lies outside of most people’s perception because we grow up in it, never knowing anything different, never seeing it articulated but understanding it down to our bones. It feels as natural to us as drinking a glass of water. This power structure keeps us as slaves, forced to continue building civilization. Without empire civilization could not, would not exist.
Censorship vs. Rewilding
November 9th, 2009 | Posted by in General Blog | Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (16 Comments)
Seriously, topics like this bore the shit out of me and I shouldn’t even have to write about this. But because it happens so frequently, I thought I should. The other day some asshole posted a few comments on my blog calling me a hypocrite (among other things) for watching television. I deleted their comments. A little later they started posting comments about how I had “censored” them.
Permaculture Vs. Rewilding
July 16th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (87 Comments)*this is an out-dated version of this concept. I’ve revised it off the web and will repost it later.*
In the same vain as Primitive Skills Vs. Rewilding, permaculture does not encompass a world view change away from civilization. In fact, I see permaculture more often than not used as an example of how to save civilization from collapse. As much as it may seem like this essay means to attack permaculture, I actually think permaculture works great as a starting point for learning indigenous horticultural practices and preparing yourself for the collapse of civilization by disconnecting yourself from the industrial food economy. I read and practice permacultural principles and base my garden plans from them! I have a copy of Toby Hemenway’s Gaia’s Garden on my shelf. [/disclaimer]
Schooling Vs. Rewilding
June 7th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (20 Comments)
Pacifism Vs. Rewilding
May 28th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (15 Comments)Philosophically I loathe pacifism, because instinctively, I would never even consider it. Yet, reflexively I enact pacifism when attacked, threatened or intimidated. After practicing something long enough, you can re-train your reflexes. I have pacifist values, not because I want to or chose to, but because of my training from early childhood in civilization and specifically, in school. We learn to never fight back or we will receive worse than what we gave. This training needs to stop, now. We need to rewild our relationship to violence.
Pessimism Vs. Rewilding
May 11th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (17 Comments)For the most part, I consider myself an optimist. I find it funny that a lot of people label me as a pessimist because I advocate for the collapse of civilization. When I say “civilization will collapse no matter what we do,” rather than see that as an opportunity for something new, they file it away under “doom and gloom.” I think these people have it all backwards.
Meaninglessness Vs. Rewilding
April 29th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (45 Comments)Depression ain’t just for the economy. It sucks. I haven’t felt this depressed since age 20. At least, I haven’t felt noticeably this depressed since age 20. Age 21-24 I self-medicated using alcohol and cigarettes so I can’t clearly say what I felt during that time. But now, I don’t medicate at all, legal, illegal, prescribed or otherwise. I drink coffee for the occasional boost, like right now, in order to write this.
Irony Vs. Rewilding
April 21st, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (11 Comments)Humans have a long history of teaching social taboos through jokes irony, sarcasm, and mockery showing us what we do not find as acceptable behavior. Such comic geniuses as Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David know this too well, their narcissistic characters always breaking social taboos and looking like assholes. In Farley Mowats “People of the Deer” I recall a moment where he drew a picture of a deer smoking a pipe, to which the intuits laughed hysterically! I think this kind of ridiculousness encapsulates the humor in irony and mockery. It has a kind of innocence to it; it looks silly for a deer to do human things, just as it looks silly for a human to mimic deer things. We laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, whether we see a deer smoking a pipe or Larry David not bringing a gift to Ben Stiller’s birthday party.
The Rewild Frontier: Life in Collapse
April 14th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (6 Comments)No one knows what the future will bring, but this we know: Civilizations destroy the land. Our civilization won’t last much longer. A movement known as rewilding has started against civilization. This movement has a frontier and we live in it.
Religion Vs. Rewilding
April 10th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (11 Comments)
Do hunter-gatherers have religion? That question makes about as much sense as asking if hunter-gatherers had language, science or art. Of course they did. Although their religions looked vastly different than the religions (and science & art) that we see today in civilization.
Cities Vs. Rewilding
March 30th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (3 Comments)I can’t help but feel like many people still have purist values when it comes down to understanding rewilding. I often hear people say “if you want to rewild, shouldn’t you go live out in the wilderness!?” Rewilding means un-doing domestication. Cities mark the most domesticated places in the world. Rewilding in the city has no contradictory values; it just means more work in some ways, less in others.
Guilt Vs. Rewilding
March 14th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding | Rewild or Die - (12 Comments)Guilt refers to the feeling we have when we make decisions that go against personal, cultural and mythological pressures. It feels like not doing what you “should” do. It works as one of the most powerful tools of social and cultural renewal. I do not think of guilt as a “bad” thing. I see it as a tool we need to understand. Rewilding goes against all of our life-long civilized programming. Anything we do to rewild could make us feel guilty. Of course, the culture of rewilding creates a new paradigm in which continuing to live in civilization would make us feel guilty since we know that civilization kills biodiversity. In a sense, rewilding involves crossing a threshold into two worlds. This creates a split cultural psyche, leaving us with weird schizophrenic behaviors; feeling both guilty for leaving civilization and guilty for not having left enough.
Bureaucracy Vs. Rewilding
February 27th, 2008 | Posted by in Philosophy of Rewilding - (17 Comments)“Federal officials have called for killing about 30 sea lions near Bonneville Dam each year to keep them from gobbling a rising share of Northwest salmon that the government spends millions of dollars to protect.”
- The Oregonian Friday, January 18, 2008
Dear salmon. I have a confession to make. When I worked as a production assistant for television commercials, a friend called me for a job… on a political campaign advertisement.
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