Lance Michael Foster said...
John Michael, I very much enjoy your blog, "The Archdruid Report." The post on the negation
of history, that every civilization has a lifespan, including ours, was right on. The part that
really made me rethink some things, was the absence of evidence of great catastrophes in
the disappearance of civilizations...that really, civilizations die slowly, inch by inch, with a
whimper. And yet, that does not mean they are not worth creating and celebrating, like life. I look forward to seeing the ideas you bring forth on change at the small scales we need to be prepared for.
One area I hope you might explore in the future is that of the idea of the patenting of life,
bioprospecting, and GMOs (genetically-modified organisms). The near-disaster of Kinsiella
for example. What would Druidry say about such things as owning and copyrighting life, and
creating not just hybrids as part man-part fish, but part man part fig?
Lance
6/29/06, 9:20 PM
John Michael Greer said...
Thank you, but I don't intend to post about that, and there's a specific
reason why. Nearly everyone who's talking about the crisis of our
civilization wants to talk about what "they" are doing. The "they" in
question can be just about anyone, but the focus is always on somebody
else doing something awful. I'm no fan of genetic engineering and won't
buy GMO-based products, but the shift in awareness we need to get us
through the rising spiral of crises that beset industrial civilization
just now won't come from protesting what Monsanto or whoever is doing in
their labs. It has to come from our confrontation with our own lives,
our own participation in the system we'd like to blame.
The hybrids I think we need to talk about, in other words, aren't part
man part fig, but part human being part consumer...
6/29/06, 11:43 PM
Rich said...
John,
I found your blog a few weeks ago, and so far, I am greatly impressed with all your writing. The depth and breadth of perspective you bring to the subjects you write about is unique, in my experience.
As such, I am now gradually reading my way through your entire blog history. I suppose I will occasionally post comments on years-old articles as I read them. I am also actively directing others to your blog, and I will likely be picking up a copy of your book in the near future.
So, in general, thanks.
Regarding this post in particular, I can't help but notice that the Sandburg poem you based the article on, is exactly the modern equivalent of Shelley's Ozymandias. Of course, it hits closer to home when the wreckage alluded to is of our own civilization.
--rainbird
4/16/09, 11:41 AM
Ken D. Berry said...
In slower days the Devil might have been in the details. These days, the Devil is hiding in a slow, boring, glacial decline that is invisible to our current 1/2 hour sit-com paradigm...
3/28/11, 4:11 AM
