August 14, 2008
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Alasakan Issues
In a little less than 2 weeks, we will be having a primary election. I don’t want to address the issue of the “split primary” that forces each of us to choose one of two ballots, either the Republican one, or the other one, that includes Democratic, Libertarian, Green, and Alaskan Independence candidates, as well as everyone else. I don’t want to address it because I think I understand it, and I don’t like what I’m thinking.
I have mentioned how distressing and harmful to health I find politics to be. If anything has changed there, it has only intensified. Below is a scan of a flyer that came in the mail recently.
The wolf hunting issue will always be associated in my mind with Xanga, because the first time I ever really pissed off another Xangan was when I commented on an entry about wolf hunting by presenting the Alaskan bush perspective, that wolves compete with subsistence hunters for moose and caribou, and represent a threat to domestic animals and even to small children. In my comment, I didn’t say I agreed with that view. I only stated that there was another viewpoint than that of the majority of urban nature lovers.
Ballot measure 2 proposes to prohibit same-day fly-and-shoot wolf hunting. That means that hunters can be flown out to the hunting grounds and begin hunting on the ground the following day, but can’t spot wolves from the air and either shoot from planes or land and immediately kill them on the ground. I don’t know anyone who really likes that idea. To the game managers whose job is to kill wolves that threaten the herds of game animals, it makes the job virtually impossible. To villagers and remote dwellers who crave protection from wolves, it gives the wolves an unfair edge. To the urban nature lovers that most Alaskans call “tree huggers,” it isn’t enough, because it doesn’t entirely prohibit the killing of wolves.
Another issue this year is ballot measure 4, which deals with water quality. It proposes to restrict the release and storage of toxic pollutants from mines into the water. Opponents, particularly those intent on developing the proposed Pebble Mine, are trying to make it an economic issue, saying the law would shut down all mining in the state and throw a bazillion Alaskans out of work. The other side points out that more Alaskans work in fishing than in mining, and that the polluters are ruining the fishery. Both sides are exaggerating and slanting their positions, and I’m sick of it all.
Comments (18)
Well people get the politicians they deserve. After all we are the one’s who vote them into office.
@loveandpolitics - …and this has WHAT to do with wolf predation and water pollution?
@SuSu - Well, personally I don’t like how politicians play on our emotions like that. Somebody telling a sad story about losing their dog does not constitute a political argument.
Both sides exaggerating and slanting their positions seems to apply to politics in general, so much so that it’s really hard to see the true facts. And like you, I’m sick of it all.
I agree…what ever happened to common sense…it makes sense that if wolves are eating non prey aniamls….such as other dogs or live stock there are too many wolves and that it makes sense to thin the pack…..pollution…what is the long term effect and is there a better way with less pollution…..yet still allows the mining…people forget the in everything there needs to be balance…politics are not balanced on either side
*listens to Sick Of It All – Pennywise*
Politics is too frustrating, involves a lot of struggle and I’m just not passionate enough to get involved. It’s a war with different groups all vying for their interests to be represented, and people like Sun Tzu knew that the best way to win a war is with deception and propaganda; pseudo-truths and prudence. As you said, “both sides are exaggerating and slanting their positions”. Now that I play my life like a chess game, I take this utilitarian perspective. These days, getting the desired outcome is more important to me than upholding the truth – I underwent a complete reversal, really.
But still, I cbf’d getting involved. I’m more interested in the big picture than the everchanging battles of politics. Mostly, I’ll sit on the sidelines unless the means of participation is relatively easy (filling out surveys, petitions, protest near my house etc.) We share the the same general sentiment about it.
The prohibition of ”same-day fly-and-shoot wolf hunting” sounds ill-thought out. It’s a victory for the tree-huggers - but they’ve won the battle, not the war, and most won’t be satisfied until they win the war. In some ways I like their position because I’ve long felt an affinity with the wolf, and just recently the crow or raven because I keep seeing it – and not just in the flesh - but that’s another story. Reasoning doesn’t come into play here, it’s primarily emotive.
On the other hand, I can recognize the need for some moderation. The wolf population shouldn’t be allowed to get to uncomfortable levrels, if you’re like most people and give humans special privileges over other sentient beings. Is there a limit to how many wolves the game managers are permitted to cull per year?
I don’t know enough about Alaska’s social and economic situation to offer any real suggestions or opinions in relation to the ballot measures.
Hmm… I wonder if killing the alpha male wolf significantly disrupts the social heirarchy of the pack, or if a new leader establishes his position fairly quickly…
@Apocatastasis - Yes, when the alpha pair is lost, it throws the pack into chaotic power struggles, and they’ll often split up into separate ranges. It happened recently to a well-known and much-loved pack in Denali Park and Preserve. It is as if the wolves evaporated.
Ravens are special spirit animals. To the tribes of our Pacific Northwest, they hold the same role as Coyote does to the Desert Southwest: creator and trickster.
These two current local controversies are being pushed by big, high priced ad agencies, paid by mine owners, sport hunting organizations, fishermen and fish processors, national and international environmental groups…. It’s a game of mind control techniques, in which the most creative ad agency wins.
I tend to be a bit of a tree-hugger when it comes to wolves, and I still don’t think that proposal makes much sense.
I also find politics irritating as fuck, and I rarely have the patience to deal with it much, but I’m still young (and foolish?) enough to want to believe that someday something might just come of it. *sigh* So I keep trying to keep up with all of it and pick a candidate, hoping like hell that he or she will prove to be all they said they were… And I’m yet to find one who doesn’t eventually leave me completely disappointed.
I vote and am usually a big loser. I dread election time as the unfocused energy that separates people becomes very strong and uncomfortable for me. I yell at the TV and laugh at Donkeys and Elephants as they try to convince me that they’re king of the farm and jungle. I agree with the wise guy that said ”you can’t legistrate the stupid out of people.” I’m going to stick with wishing others “Good luck” and bid you goodnight as well.
Fascinating – and I mean that as a response to your reply on both wolves and ravens. It was totally unexpected at first, but I keep seeing a raven or crow during my few experiments with a variant of journeying, and it shows me places. It could be what those shamans call a “power animal”, wonder if its possible to have a human, inanimate object, mythical creature or a god-like being such as quetzalcotl instead?
creativity is more important in winning support than the hard facts, that’s why good advertising is so important. If you’ve won their hearts with something emotive and.. to loosely borrow a term from metaethical theory, “noncognitivist”, that will also appeal to the vast majority of people, you’ve won their minds – realism can go die in a fire when it comes to victory of this sort. “The Art of War” was appropriately titled; things can get very creative. the term ‘mind control’ evokes all sorts of mental images so i try and steer clear of it.
I wonder if man and beast will ever live in harmony OH wait how about adapting and realizing Nature needs respect too? My ancestors did it.
People are getting sick with cancer from the toxic waste but noting is ever linked in anyones minds. DE has one of the the highest rates of cancer in the country.
Sad Wolves have to die becasue People want domesticared aimals to run free? OOPS I just stepped on dog loves toes. Hey they are not in dangered of becoming instinct! In fact we have too many in this country I am told. Why I am told I have to fix my dog. So why is the wolf a problem? humans are more of the problem situation here. sorry if I offend anyone but I see the destruction and it sickens me.
I live where you can’t even eat the fish out of the lake. And the pollution is so bad but they keep cutting forest for urban sprawl.
Thank you for thinking outside the BOX!
Thanks for letting me sand on a soap box here
@Jaynebug - Your “big loser” comment is the reason I don’t give a lot of credence to the idea that we get the government we deserve. I seldom get what I vote for, and back a few decades it was hard to find anyone who would admit to having voted for Ronald Reagan.
@Apocatastasis - After Greyfox had been journeying with Fox for a while, Raven showed up, wearing a professorial robe and mortarboard, and started teaching him some unexpected but much needed lessons. Later on, after having journeyed for some time with Fox and Raven, on one journey, Fox led him into a cave where a huge central quartz crystal became his next Power “Animal”. Quetzalcoatl would be magnificent as a spirit guide. Terence McKenna worked extensively with a talking mushroom.
Sun Tzu is one of my heroes. When my son was small, he got into the Art of War, too. I know the book is not quite obscure, but I don’t think it is taught widely enough in schools.
@Ikwa - Thank you for saying that. I agree about the dogs versus wolves issue. My dog goes from the door to his chain or out on a leash. If he escaped and encountered a wolf or bear he would bear as much of the responsiblity for escaping as I would for not being more careful with him, but we wouldn’t blame the wolf or bear.
It really scares me to think that the slick advertising might convince enough voters that their incomes are threatened by the clean water proposition so that they defeat the measure and allow the Pebble Mine to destroy a big chunk of Alaska and kill off more of the salmon who are already threatened. I cry for the Earth.
@Ikwa - I almost forgot something I was going to say. About our ancestors who lived in harmony with nature. They came to that the hard way, after their ancestors had hunted the big animals like the mammoths to extinction. When will we ever learn?
@SuSu - Yes. And maybe we will kill ourselves off with all the poison we give the earth? She can only give so much.
@SuSu - Ronny boy. He lost me when he made the comment: “Seen one tree, you’ve seen them all” or some such BS. May he be tumbling back as a ranger in a national park his next incarnation. Who gets the government they deserve? All the good guys are gone because they can’t afford the game to get there. Who ever said that reads and forgets to think. Spongebrainatude is contagious I hear. ha ha . Have an excellent weekend.
@SuSu - hahahaha a talking mushroom
terrance mckenna.. the name sounds vaguely familiar…
i don’t see the primary purpose of our education system as being education, at least not in the conventional sense. my views on this are similar to john taylor gatto’s (google), albiet much less alarmist. our education system is based largely on the old prussian model, a repugnant little thing. it has purposes beyond just education; and it was (and still is) a good backbone for a post-industrial revolution society
agreed with you about sun tzu, i wish i had a chance to read the art of war in school (you know by now i dont often read, so i havent actually read the thing either way).
funny you should mention heroes – i picked up a new one the other day, Albert ellis. it seems i was beaten to the punch with my whole ‘choose your own emotional reaction, you can learn to create your own reality’ thing… of course, by thousands of years. epictitus echoed some of my views to a ‘T’.
“what harms mens minds is not events, but their judgement on events” i wrote a piece based on that to an older man who feared death
@Apocatastasis - Terence McKenna, super shaman (my favorite link to him).
I really don’t want to start in on our “educational” system. Maybe someday, but for now, I’ll just say it sucks.
@SuSu - Well, the keyboard is fixed, but I don’t want to either. Yep, sucks.