Man's Real Natural State (Mindfood)
Sunday, October 9, 2005 23:37
Via Anthropik... The Martian Anthropologist uses historical evidence to refute the myth we've all been fed that without the "advance" of civilization, humans would be living desperate and pathetic lives. The truth is quite the contrary.
In 1767 the English navigator Wallis discovered the island of Tahiti. His visit was rapidly followed by those of the French explorer de Bougainville, and Captain James Cook. Between them these men opened up the Pacific. All three captains were overwhelmed by their reception at the hands of the people of Tahiti, and by the gifts showered upon them...
Of course, not being civilized, the islanders did not have a "work week." When they got hungry, they simply walked over to a breadfruit tree, and ate.
Those lazy heathens.
The islanders existed in a state of happiness that humans on Earth dream of. But the Christian Missionaries found this to be evil, of course. They eventually threatened all of them into conversion.
Horrible enough, but more to the point: They could not understand why the Tahitians were so "lazy." Why shouldn't they be, of course? They had everything they needed without a "job". Finally, the "civilized" man found a solution:
Mr. Gyles, a missionary who had formerly been a slave overseer in Jamaica, was brought over, along with the necessary mill to set the industry up. "Witnessing the cheapness of labour by means of the negroes he thought the natives of these islands might be induced to labour in the same way."
He was mistaken. The enterprise failed, and Mr Orsmond, believing that "a too bountiful nature on Moorea diminishes men's natural desire to work", ordered all breadfruit trees to be cut down.
This is the true nature of the beast within which we reside. It will cut off our resources, and then tell us that it's "natural" for people to be slaves and serve it in order to survive. A lot like the way Microsoft has been trying to extinguish free software on the basis that it's "UnAmerican", to use the language of Bill Gates.
The only difference in the physical meatspace world is that here, the same thing happened so long ago, none of us have been alive long enough to remember. The propaganda of corporations and governments tells us that thanks to them, we're better off now than ever before.
By this time the population of Tahiti had been reduced by syphilis, tuberculosis, smallpox and influenza from the 200,000 estimated by Cook to 18,000. After thirty years of missionary rule, only 6,000 remained. Otto Von Kotzebue, leader of a Russian expedition into the Pacific in 1823, long before the decline had reached its terminal phase, wrote: "A religion like this which forbids every innocent pleasure and cramps or annihilates every mental power is a libel on the divine founder of Christianity."
I also like the Martian's conclusion...
Do I propose that humans go back?
No, you can't. It's too late. But you can go forward.
Quit buying into the lie that you have to have a job. As Daniel Quinn says, "Tired of dragging stones up the pyramid? WALK AWAY."
Thank you. The future does not have to be the dystopian nightmare (sometimes disguised as a "bright future" in certain forms of scifi) in which every inch of the earth is covered in pavement, and humans proceed to fuck up outer space in the same manner, once this planet has been made totally uninhabitable.
Just walk away from it. What a beautiful motivational message. (The How then shall we live? part is a bit trickier in practice, but that's what we're here to figure out, isn't it?)
by bouncing (2005-10-10 11:02)
There's a fairly detailed account of other similar events in Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States".
Kind of makes you think the good guys lost a long time ago.