- Do you care more for your household than your town, more for your town than your county (etc.), but not more for your country than for the world? How do you balance "doorstep and planet"? 296-7
- What forms of civil disobedience do you support, or would you engage in? 298
- Was Don Pratt a noble exemplar of virtuous protest? 300
- Do too many activists expend themselves in the service of abstractions, and sacrifice themselves to politics? 302
- Is the "American disease" uniquely American? 304
- Is it obligatory for those who reject the violence (etc.) of our society to "take up some permanent dwelling place"... ? 306
- Do you "experience hours when [you are] deeply happy and content"? 309 When, where, why, how...?
- Do you agree that environmental destruction is not inevitable, except by "our submissiveness"? 311
- Have you also noticed that the centers of large older towns are aesthetically superior to their "corporate outskirts"? 313 Do you agree with WB's analysis of why that is?
- Can all of us "regardless of party... rise above the greed and contempt of our land's exploiters"? 316
- Is Richard Dawkins superstitious about brains and the future" 318
- After reducing minds to just two in the essay Two Minds, WB expands the kinds of knowledge in The Way of Ignorance to include many more. Do you agree? Is he being consistent?
- Can we afford not to "work or think on a heroic scale" when confronting climate change etc.? 334
- Is it fundamental to living well and loving life that we occasionally get "utterly outside the lives we live as usual"? 347
- Post your concluding comments on WB, we'll begin Paul Hawken's Regeneration Thursday
Friday, September 16, 2022
Questions Sep 20
WB -347 (Citizenship and Conscience… The Rise); Assign midterm report presentation topics (indicate your topic & date preference in comments under Midterm Report Presentations).
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Do you "experience hours when [you are] deeply happy and content"? 309 When, where, why, how...?
ReplyDeleteThe saying "time flies when you're having fun" is still applicable to me today. Often, when time passes faster than I think it should, I am with friends whether it be out at dinner or at home playing card games or giant Jenga. I think as I get older, the hours spent deeply happy and content are often with loved ones. Oddly enough, time also gets away from me when I do creative activities such as painting, tie-dyeing clothes, or making blankets. I feel like when we are proper humans, visiting with each other or developing new habits/skills, even just spending truly meaningful time with ourselves and nature (versus doom-scrolling on social media), and our time is genuinely being well spent, that is when we are deeply happy and content. Perspective is also a key player in this. Berry exemplifies this in how romantically he speaks about his farm. He is in a mindset of respect, admiration, and reception of all things beautiful. Doubtlessly, this allows him to spend hours in deep contentment because he allows himself to.
I really resonate a lot with your comment. I think the quote by Andy in the office is very applicable, "I wish we knew were in the good ole times before we left them". I find myself, especially after reading wendell, trying to enjoy the good times of life and make sure im aware of when I am happy, and really appreciating the work I put in to be happy. I think good times and bad times come in waves, and our job is to weather the bad and appreciate the good, and I think Wendell exemplifies this a lot.
Delete1. Do you care more for your household than your town, more for your town than your county (etc.), but not more for your country than for the world? How do you balance "doorstep and planet"? 296-7
ReplyDeleteBut it begins at home. Its meanings come clearest, it is felt most intensely in one’s own house. The health, coherence, and meaning-fulness of one’s own household are the measure of the success of the government, and not the other way around. My devotion thins as it widens. I care more for my household than for the town of Port Royal, more for the town of Port Royal than for the County of Henry, more for the County of Henry than for the State of Kentucky, more for the State of Kentucky than for the United States of America. But I do not care more for the United States of America than for the world. I must attempt to care as much for the world as for my household. Those are the poles between which a competent morality would balance and mediate: the doorstep and the planet. The most meaningful dependence of my house is not on the U.S. government, but on the world, the earth. No matter how sophisticated and complex and powerful our institutions, we are still exactly as dependent on the earth as the earthworms.
Berry, Wendell. The World-Ending Fire (pp. 296-297). Catapult. Kindle Edition.
It is a fairly recent phenomenon for people to have a concept of caring for the whole planet and not just their nation or “doorstep”. Pictures of the earth from space taken during the first trips to the moon seem to have changed the perspective of most people. Still, many people are myopic and only care about what is most immediately in front of them or what is in their self-interest to care about: “bread and butter issues” or nationalistic movements.
14. Is it fundamental to living well and loving life that we occasionally get "utterly outside the lives we live as usual"? 347
ReplyDeleteWith the uproar of the water still in our ears, we had as we entered the house the sense of having been utterly outside the lives we live as usual.
Berry, Wendell. The World-Ending Fire (p. 347). Catapult. Kindle Edition.
WB’s account of his canoe trip on the Kentucky river was deeply moving for me. I spent many years exploring the Buffalo river in my Grumman canoe. At one point a retired school principle and myself made it our goal to canoe the Buffalo River from its headwaters near the Natchez Trace all the way to Perry county. We did achieve this goal. Along the way, we had one wild ride on the headwaters during flood stage in the spring where people sitting on the bank of the river just shook their heads as we went by…
Do you care more for your household than your town, more for your town than your county (etc.), but not more for your country than for the world? How do you balance "doorstep and planet"? 296-7
ReplyDeleteI do believe that I care more for my house than town, town than county, etc. etc. I think that is a natural response for most people, as you need to be aware of what is most impactful in your life. People are going to be most receptive to their environments in their life that most directly impact their life. However, the discrepancy for caring of the world more than the United states makes sense, in the sense that we are on one world. The world is equally dying for everyone and getting equally harmed by climate change. Some places obviously suffer worse consequences from this, which is even more a reason to care more for the world than the United States.
I think to balance "doorstep and planet" you need to first take care of your doorstep. As Wendell has spoke about many times, you need to plant your flag and work from there. So, I believe once a person has established their doorstep and began to improve that, they can begin to improve the world.
What forms of civil disobedience do you support, or would you engage in? 298
ReplyDeleteI agree very much with Wendell along the lines of civil disobedience. I believe civil disobedience is necessary in our society. There is too much prejudice, oppression, and unjust matters that need to be checked and protested. However, i do not believe doing so in a violent manner is correct. Once someone turns to violence I believe it becomes more of a revolt or revolution, which I very much believe also have their place, any American I feel cannot really deny that. Some injustices, like tyranny and dictatorship, do deserve to be revolted against and violence is probably necessary. There is a stark difference in that and civil disobedience in my own opinion. CD is defying wrongs in an imperfect system or institution, and to turn to violence could have the opposite effect of countermobilizing groups. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in nonviolent civil disobedience, and he fostered and created such amazing and necessary change for our country. His legacy and the legacy of CD still carry on today.