Social media algorithms serve us up with what we like to see because the more we scroll, the more data they can harvest, and selling that data is their business model. Lately, it’s been popular to refer to the increasingly narrow worldview that we receive this way as an “echo chamber.” Commentators have been warning that both ignorance and polarization are the result, and that we need to take deliberate steps to avoid being boxed in and judgmental. Agreed.

One suggested remedy I saw recently is to keep people with “completely opposite political views” on your newsfeed, in part because this will remind you that people who believe those things are human too. That’s fine as far it goes, but let’s go further. I propose that the key word is not “opposite” but “outside.”

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If we follow trends set by the George Floyd protests, eventually we will end up focusing primarily on the environment.

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It’s time to normalize the word, “collapse,” to describe the ongoing conditions in the US.

Some would counter it’s well past time—and I won’t argue with that—but I’d say we can no longer credibly claim that it’s too early to make this call.

“Decline” has been happening for decades at this point, as manifested in trends such as increasing class inequality, decreasing wages (as relative to inflation), higher infant mortality, lower life expectancy, a disintegrating social safety net, explosive growth of the prison-industrial complex, deteriorating educational system, etc. More and more people have been feeling the squeeze in their efforts to get by, even if establishment voices make claims to the contrary about “recovery.”

But “collapse” is more than “decline.” It’s when the system has lost enough integrity that it’s gone beyond the point of no return. With the multiple levels of disruption that have accompanied the COVID pandemic, we have passed that point.

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One from the vaults: January 2018

I am White person born and residing in the USA. These words are addressed to other White people here. If I focus particularly on liberals, that’s because much of my adult life was spent in the Democratic bastions of Minneapolis, Boston, and Portland (Oregon).

One thing that People of Color have been telling us for years is that White Supremacy is something we Whites need to deal with. There is work to do on ourselves that only we can do. They’re right. It is in this spirit that I am speaking today, “between us.”

First of all, we can neither deny the existence of White Supremacy nor avoid its consequences.

The US as a nation has been a project of White Supremacy from its very inception. The idea that Whites are superior to everyone else has been a constant. You’ve got to believe you’re superior to justify slaughtering the original non-white inhabitants of this continent to steal their land. You’ve got to believe you’re superior to justify capturing non-white people from still another continent and enslaving them here to make yourself rich. You’ve got to believe you’re superior to justify incinerating two cities full of non-white people with nuclear bombs to assert your global dominance. Last but not least, you’ve got to believe you’re superior to insist all this is in the past and doesn’t matter now.

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What’s happening at all the George Floyd protests around the country? How many people are showing up? What are the demographics? How many cops are there? Which community organizations are involved? Are local elected officials helping or hurting? Who really broke that window or set that fire? What about these reports of incitement by white supremacists?

Mainstream media doesn’t answer all these questions. They frame everything so narrowly, with an inevitable pro-establishment bias, even when their own reporters are mistreated. Trying to sift out the facts from the spin is a challenge, especially if the media you’re reading is local to someplace you’ve never been. You never know what they’re leaving out.

But what about social media? People are posting all sorts of pictures and videos and rants! Yes, they are. However, wading through all of the posts, status updates and tweets trying to find the Who, What, When, Where and Why is not only time-consuming and frustrating but rarely effective for assembling a picture that’s anything like complete.

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Beyond Valorizing & Villainizing

The term “native plant” has become a common one, and many people probably assume that the definition is clear cut. However, like many other seemingly simple designations, that’s not the case.

Whether a given plant is considered “native” where it is found growing is dependent on the interpretation of the interrelation of three factors: time, place and human involvement.

So, in the United States, a plant is generally considered native only if it grew here before European colonization. On the East Coast, that’s the 1500s and in California, that’s 1769. Plants introduced since then, whether deliberately or by accident, are labeled “non-native,” “introduced,” “exotic,” or in some cases, “invasive.”

Historically, plant ranges have always been in flux, often in response to climatic shifts. Fossils and phylogenetics are two things that can show us where plants used to live and where they came from. Such information, though, raises questions even as it illuminates.

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We’re all familiar with what a “conspiracy theory” is: a narrative of social control in which shadowy groups are secretly rigging events to increase their own power and profit. An apt personification is “the man behind the curtain” in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Of course, there actually are groups attempting to rig events to their own enrichment, such as criminal rackets, political parties and corporations, but conspiracy theories go beyond this simple reality of economics and politics; the actors they describe are virtually god-like in their omniscience and omnipotence: to wit, any and every happenstance is interpreted not only in terms of how it benefits these actors, but—here’s the kicker—how that benefit proves that these forces planned and executed the events in question. At this point, the tales becomes tall indeed, and all logic goes out the window.

“Cui bono?“—a Latin phrase usually translated as “Who benefits?”—is the bread-and-butter of conspiracy theorizing. And as a starting point for understanding motivations and relationships in a profit-driven society, it’s certainly useful, but it only takes you so far.

I would draw the distinction between “opportunism” and “orchestration.”

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Agriculture was at the heart of the settler colonialism: The land was seized for farming and the people were kidnapped to work the fields. From brutal beginnings, the situation has only worsened, especially in the last few decades. Small-scale, family-farming à la Old MacDonald is the stuff of myth at this point, with precious few exceptions. Pesticide use is up, ground-water levels are down, top soil is blowing away, wildlife biodiversity is shrinking, and human workers are abused.

This cruelty and waste has been “normal” up until now. But it just got worse with the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest heinous act has been the “depopulating” of farm animals, a rather colorless euphemism for killing them and disposing of the bodies without processing them for food.

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What if every social media post about “Russia!” had instead focused on climate change? Or the opening of public lands to resource extraction? Or the gutting of the National Environmental Policy Act? Most people probably don’t even know what that last one is, which is sad. These are issues of immense importance, but they’ve gotten totally short shrift.

And this is where it’s not just about the DNC and their corporate media stooges: it’s about all the people who fell for it and helped spread it around; the people who were not merely gullible, but who were eager to lap up whatever they were served and spit it out again on command; the people for whom “America” was already “great” and who were shocked by Trump’s popularity.

I wasn’t shocked. I’m from Nebraska, and though I was as surprised as anyone that Trump squeaked through on election night, I was not mystified about his appeal. I didn’t need a fairy tale to explain his following. Watching him give his victory speech, I was like, “Yep, I know that guy, and I know the people who like him, and I see why they do.” (I got out of Nebraska as soon as I could!)

But liberal urbanites don’t get that, and they needed an explanation of how His Deplorableness could possibly have won. Hence the psychological attractiveness of the Russiagate narrative: it claimed that the force that propelled him to victory was not “American”; it came from outside. The nation’s deeply ingrained, widespread racism and patriarchy—of which Trump was merely an expression—could be papered over. “We’re better than this,” people could reassure themselves. Yeah, you wish.

A teachable moment came and went. An opportunity for self-examination was passed over. A mirror was held up, but the gaze was quickly averted.

That Trump is as “American” as apple pie was too much to consider.

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The current custom is that any tree can be cut down for any reason, with exceptions made to save particular ones, here and there, every once in a while. This should be reversed. Instead, it must be forbidden to cut down any tree at all, ever, with exceptions made only for clearly demonstrated need. Need shall be defined most narrowly, not as it currently is, comprised mostly of luxuries.

The following would no longer be considered legitimate reasons to cut trees: agriculture, ranching, furniture, paper, toilet paper, housing and fuel. Agriculture takes up a far, far bigger footprint than it needs to. We have empty buildings and lots of old chairs and tables. Paper can be made from hemp and toilet paper can be made from bamboo, or replaced with cloth, or we do as is done in India. Those who need fire to cook and keep warm would have to be provided for in some other way, as a social subsidy.

Of course all of this is in the context of dramatically rejiggering our society so we are using much much much less of everything, not just wood, but I’ll try to stay on subject.

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