A State of Emergency

zebra.jpg
~

Hannah Gadsby, an Australian comedian, once commented that we tend to focus on the differences between men and women much more than the similarities. Fact is, she said, the similarities far outweigh the differences. For one, we are both the same species. So, if we wanted to talk about differences in stark terms, comparing men and women to zebras would yield far greater discrepancies.

Yesterday evening I ran into a neighbor of mine who was handing out flyers for our annual block party at the end of this month. She does graphic animation for a living, so when I first moved in she gave me a schematic of our block with everyone's names (including their pets) along with emergency contact numbers. For the sake of this story, I will call her Mary. Mary is the sort of neighbor who is very involved. She organizes safety training orientations for the neighborhood. She runs a blog about the community we live in with features that include bartering (are you looking for a used food processors, or lawn mower? Have anything to trade? Come on by and exchange!). She looks in on the elderly neighbors with homemade bread and conversation. She even saved her neighbor's life once by performing CPR until the paramedics arrived. But at our last block party, I also heard Mary comment that we should "arm" the neighborhood in case of a State of Emergency where marauding inner city youths would pillage our neighborhood in the event of a catastrophic disaster.

Yes, the ever looming State of Emergency in all it's colorful forms.

It seems we've had a similar conversation around here about the likelihood of a different kind of State of Emergency where boundaries need to be protected from people who are not "us". I can't say if that deep seated belief is motivated by fear, or by ignorance, but I know in my heart that if we continue stoking the fires of our fears and differences and focus only on the boundaries, we will negate a natural ally during what could be an actual State of Emergency.

Hecate illustrated that sentiment better than anyone I know could, so for those of you who missed his comment, let me re-post it here:

I live in a town that burned down. I remember you yesterday saying that borders and boundaries and such are part of “nature,” and that to disregard borders and boundaries is to “negate,” to “change,” nature. Apparently the fire—and though fire, in my understanding, is generally regarded as a natural phenomenon, part of nature—it was unaware of this wisdom, because it started in the forest, and then it rudely raced over the town borders and boundaries, and burned all the town. It then continued to wantonly burn through various other towns, without regard for boundaries and borders, though it is true that some of the towns were unincorporated, and so didn’t actually have any defined borders and boundaries, and so, probably, at least pursuant to the theories of you, these places deserved to burn, as, in their borderlessness and boundarylessness, they were negating nature.

I remember when I was standing there in the fire and there was no more water and unless somebody showed up with some there was going to be a hecate fry, and then these guys drove up in some fire engines from a place called Granite Bay—which I had never heard of, Granite Bay is not here, so why had they come here, in the middle of the fire, they were negating nature, they should have remained naturally bordered and boundaryed in their place of origin, and if only I had then been introduced to your border wisdom, I would have told them to leave, they had no business here, fighting any fire. But no. This outrageous border-violating negation of nature continued all through the day, and all of the night, as people from a dozen or so other places of origin arrived to around me fight the fire. And in the succeeding weeks the town was overwhelmed by thousands of men and women, outrageously negating nature, by coming here from all over the country, to fight the fire, and begin rebuilding the infrastructure. Some even got in planes in Hawaii and flew across the ocean and landed with nothing, and then rented vehicles and equipment to come up here, to risk their lives in a place they’d never known. They were all negating nature, and should have returned to their place of origin, and at once! What’s maybe worse, is that here they met people who had previously flown from this town to Hawaii, to there provide the same service. So this sort of thing has been going on a long time! Why? Why can’t people stay in their own good holes? Tucked away behind their borders and boundaries? As nature intends?

The negation of nature here continued ceaseless. For six weeks while I was up here with the town closed—that the town was closed, presumably you would have liked that, as that’s kind of bordery—workers who had changed nature by crossing multiple borders to come here to fight the fire and rebuild the town provided me with food and water, though many times I never knew their names, or they mine, and also, now that I think of it, some of the times these workers had pronounced melanin content, and so what I should have done, pursuant to the teachings of your shitlord, is told them to return to their countries of origin, because why were they here in the US, despoiling the whiteness? Though, and let me tell you, sometimes these people were here looking for bodies, or, more precisely, cremated remains, or, more precisely, fucking ashes, and when you burn in a fire, you burn till you’re fucking dead crisp black/grey, I don’t care how white you were when you started, whiteness means nothing, when you burn in a fire. And also, this was complete communism, another violation of the precepts of your shitlord, because no money changed hands, I saw no money the entire time I was up here, they just gave me the food and the water, and I was a communist too, and in addition practicing medicine, and sometimes hospice care, without a license, when I was running the deer infirmary, those first weeks, for the deer who arrived here, though they had no business being here, this was not where they were from, they should have gone back to their place of origin, but here they were, exhausted, burned, injured, and so some of the communist food and water the communist workers gave to me I communist gave to the nature-negating deer. And then all these other communists started coming up here, negating nature, by crossing borders into places not of their origin, for they had never been here, but they came up here, all day, every day, and all of the night, to try to save, rescue, the animals that were here, and burned, and left behind, and why did they do that, that negated nature.

Some 50,000 people were burned out of here, and also out of those towns that were not towns because they outrageously did not have borders map52_n.jpgand boundaries, and now most of those people have negated nature by moving to other places, wantonly crossing borders— borders as if they are open!—you can see them on that map there, and they should have stayed here, they should not have been open-borders people; that their town burned down, that’s just tough shit, they should stay where they belong, even though there’s nothing there for them, and they would die in the streets, but that’s the way it should be, that’s just nature’s way; just like the people in, say, Guatemala, or Somalia, it’s just tough shit, that their lives there are on fire, they have no business coming to the US, negating nature, to there despoil the whiteness, they should stay in their nations of origin, and there die in the streets, as nature intends.

The borderlessness and nature-negation here continues to this day. The other day at the bus stop I met this man from Minneapolis who has come up here to live in his friend’s trailer as the friend prepares to rebuild. The friend is disabled, and cannot do it alone, and so this Minneapolis man, though he had never been here, has come to help. Though he is a US citizen, this man, his people originally came to the US from Somalia, and so, consistent with the teachings of your shitlord, he needs to get back there; as, in the world according to your shitlord, no one of melanin will ever truly be a part of this country, only in whiteness uber alles, may one truly be an American, and so this man, and everyone else such as he, need to get their melanin asses back to wherever from once they came.

There have been many people in this house, since the fire. This little two-block by two-block island in the fire-stream didn’t much burn, and so there are far more people living here now, than before the fire. Pretty much everybody with a surviving structure has one or more trailers or RVs now also on the property. Because nothing’s been rebuilt yet. And people need a place to be. Unless you want them to die on the streets. As nature intends. I can glance over to the right and out the window there and see the trailer that is on this property, as I type. And I have a bed, and/or a couch, always, for anyone who burned, and/or for anyone helping to rebuild, in the burn. I don’t think you’re that sort of person, though. I think you just want to come here to be a shitlord. But if, with your shitlordding talents, you’re willing to pitch in on the town’s nascent sewer system, maybe we can work something out. Though you’ll need to check yourself. Because I believe you said you live in Colorado. And so, to get here, you’re going to need to cross some borders. And that negates nature.

I would like to say that I do agree with one observation from the essay in question: I do believe we are in a State of Emergency, but not from borders and South American citizens. The State of Emergency I am talking about is the one where the power elite infect our minds into believing some of us are zebras, when in fact, we are all human beings.

~


A State of Grace

...out of the mouths of babes
~
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And by God it works, especially here in dumbed down Murca but in reality I know we aren't alone there. And the dumber this country gets, just how truly low can we go, it will only get worse in the greatest country in the world. USA USA USA!!!

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Anja Geitz's picture

@lizzyh7

the paranoia stoked by politics plays out in a panoply of psycho-social behavior. The danger is, until we find a way to diffuse it, we have to live among those afflicted by it.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

janis b's picture

and for including hecate's noble comment. To your and hecate's sentiments I would like to add a child's beautiful Muslim call to prayer at the end of Aspie's recent post, highlighting an excellent podcast from an Eye's Left podcast. The child's call starts at minute 43:50.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@janis b

Thank you for that. As I was listening to this child's voice calling out for pray and inner reflection, I was struck by the thought that the lens through which we see the world around us creates a revealing picture of our souls, doesn't it?

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

janis b's picture

@Anja Geitz

Just two minutes ago I picked up my camera for the first time in a while to photograph the almost full moon rising at my mom's. As it continues to rise I will watch it, and will send you a glimpse into our souls ; ).

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janis b's picture

@janis b

with the folded umbrella and palms ...

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Anja Geitz's picture

@janis b

Gorgeous. You've captured the light in this exquisitely. Well done Janis!

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

janis b's picture

@Anja Geitz

Peace be with you, and all others.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@janis b

To see your soul, I already had the good fortune to see for myself long ago.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

janis b's picture

@Anja Geitz

for the soul food, especially at this time.

[video:https://youtu.be/okFznac7Lts]

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@janis b

Just two minutes ago I picked up my camera for the first time in a while to photograph the almost full moon rising at my mom's. As it continues to rise I will watch it, and will send you a glimpse into our souls ; ).


.
hope for a generation
just beyond my reach, not beyond my sight

-- Fat Freddy's Drop

Give rose

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

janis b's picture

@thanatokephaloides @thanatokephaloides

Just the right line from just the right group.

For anyone who doesn't know Fat Freddy's Drop, have a listen ...

[video:https://youtu.be/0TYnoYl1JfY]

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@janis b

You’re a sweetheart, Than

Just the right line from just the right group.

Thank you! I do try when I can!

The title cut on that album, "Hope for a Generation", is a major contributor to my remaining semi-sane despite being bedbound. It's the tune I quoted, as you know very well.

(For those who want to jump straight to that cut, it's 10:23 into the album. But that would cheat you of ten minutes and twenty-three seconds of some really fine blues!)

love you, janis b!

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Hawkfish's picture

I just spent some time in Europe because some academic conferences I was attending were conveniently back to back. Once I got there, there were no real borders. There were places where the dominant language changed, but everyone spoke more than one so it wasn’t a big deal.

One of the conferences was in the Netherlands and the other was in Germany, but the only sign of this was a comment by the train conductor (in multiple languages) and my grasping cellular provider sending me an upsell text every time I crossed a border to another national network. There was no sign that within my (still living) mother’s lifetime one of these two countries had invaded the other and brutalised part of its population and effectively enslaved the rest.

So I agree with Hecate - these boundaries are in our own minds. They are made of fear, and we can break them down with compassion and generosity. And in time, they will be only a bad dream.

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Anja Geitz's picture

@Hawkfish

along with moats and alligators was the brainchild of those with land, money, and power, who decided to carve it up, allocate and exchange the wealth among themselves, and keep the peasantry out. Now the concept serves as a club where the peasantry beat one another to death with (both literally and metaphorically), while those with land, money, and power are still allocating and exchanging their wealth among themselves.

The only difference today is that it's done on a global scale.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Anja Geitz

The concept of boundaries and borders along with moats and alligators was the brainchild of those with land, money, and power, who decided to carve it up, allocate and exchange the wealth among themselves, and keep the peasantry out.

Crocodiles, dear Anja. Crocodiles.

Alligators are New World critters. And they're not real good at staying in moats (or anyplace else nakedapes want them to be). The only reason the alligator ranch at Hooper, Colorado gets away with keeping them is that their alligators are biodependent on the hot spring waters there.

Biggrin

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Anja Geitz's picture

@thanatokephaloides

Not much a moat expert, I confess...

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Anja Geitz

I have some little expertise on castles due to my being a SCAdian and a history buff.

The days of which you spoke were real, but they were well prior to 1492. Moats and castellations were obsoleted when the cannons of Urban the Hungarian reduced the encastellated walls of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 for the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, ending the last vestige of the Roman Empire (unless you count Tsarism in RUSSIARUSSIARUSSIA!).

Now I must correct myself. The genus Alligator does have one Old World member species, Alligator sinensis, which lives in China. But it has been seriously endangered as long as it has been known to exist, much like the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia).

The real problem with staffing moats with alligators rather than crocodiles is, per Wikipedia:

Alligators, unlike the large crocodiles, do not immediately regard a human upon encounter as prey, but may still attack in self-defense if provoked.

For terroristic moats, the crocodile is by far the better choice! Better still is another New World species, the caribe piranha (Pygocentrus spp.).

Smile

Do please remain aware of my affection and esteem for you! Give rose

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Anja Geitz's picture

@thanatokephaloides

And no need to worry. I like learning new things!

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Hawkfish

So I agree with Hecate - these boundaries are in our own minds. They are made of fear, and we can break them down with compassion and generosity. And in time, they will be only a bad dream.

And then, the bad dream for a certain few humans will begin -- and never end. And for these, it will never end..... until they release themselves by embracing the compassion and generosity which had already liberated the rest of us. They hold the keys to their own black iron prisons.

I want the number of those to be as small as possible. Ideally, zero. That's why I challenge those who hecate challenged so very well.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides