from a friend:

[elleng]

I spent nearly a year in Nigeria back in the mid-seventies (during a coup, no less), and I had an epiphany that changed the way I look at the world. At the time, the WHO had finally, after years of experimentation, developed a strain of corn that would produce double the yield. The (western) thinking was that it could help end the prolonged famines that came with every drought -- farmers would be able to harvest twice as much corn in the same amount of land. (And of course, the companies that developed the corn would get obscene amounts of money for the patents.)

Unfortunately (at least for Monsanto, who of course was behind the study), the non-western thinking was totally opposite. Farmers saw half the crop go to waste, since at that time, no one in the vast countryside of Nigeria even had electricity, much less refrigeration. Not only that, but the thinking was that enough is good; more is not necessarily better.
So, the next year (the year I was there), the farmers planted half as much. For them, it was perfect. The yield provided for the people in the area, and almost nothing was wasted. (Waste becomes a very different animal in countries that experience famines.) It was perfectly logical from a non-western perspective.

Not everyone thinks the way we do. Cultural imperialism will be our downfall (and destruction) if we continue to believe that we can reason with religious fanatics who want to see us wiped off the face of the earth. We see this over and over and over again. It's time to realize that our survival will depend on a completely different mindset than the one we've been using for the last forty-plus years. Logic has nothing to do with it.

[LiberalEsto]

1. Just forwarded this to my older daughter

who strongly believes that consuming less, particularly in the so-called First World, is essential.
Thanks, elleng!


I'm in Pittsburgh again, helping out with the new granddaughter

[peacebird]

2. Very interesting, thank you for posting this!

[bemildred]

3. We need to think long term, and in terms of entire, evolving systems.

Not just some fancy new trick we learned lately. Every thing you do has consequences.

[PatrickforO]

4. This is a really good post.

Many peoples have a perspective focused on the good of the group not the enrichment of the individual.

It is, I think, 'free market' capitalism that is the culprit here. Unlimited growth is a better philosophy for a cancer cell than for people.

And, you're right. We are going to have to change our mindset. Policies that uphold the good of the people and the earth will in the long run end the fanaticism. In the meantime though, as opposed to a giant ground war against...what? we need to find and kill the specific assholes that did this while at the same time putting policies in place that support social and economic justice.

Oh oh. Even though it is in the best interests of all people everywhere to have social and economic justice with everyone having enough, it is NOT in the best interest of Wall Street bankers, the MIC or companies like Monsanto...

That's why the world is a shithole - because we allow these jokers to call too many shots.