Diminishing Dog Days

I can’t get on board with the idea of ancestral lands ¹An idea often promoted as a sort of reparations for native peoples and other groups that have been subject to genocide under colonialism. I do think we should make reparations, including land. I think that will take a very long time, and that we should make accommodations until those reparations are complete. But I don’t think ancestry is a just … Continue reading. I can agree that it’s better than colonialism, but it just nomiates the patriarchy (or whatever defines “ancestry” in a given culture) as a replacement for captialism, at least in terms of land usage. It still just picks some point in the past, declares then-current claims to be the only valid ones, and leaves everyone not empowered at that moment to the mercy of those who were.

This is perhaps more obvious to me as an orphan who, even by the standards of White culture, didn’t get much ancestry. I couldn’t provide any fact about my progenitors or their history from before 1945 – honestly not much after that either – and certainly not a place of origin further away than Minnesota. So there’s no land for me to go back to, even if there was a way for me to make a life there. There’s no way for me to find the physical place where I belong except by deciding that I am currently in it.

I’m not suggesting we should keep going with colonialism. We should definitely stop right now and even once we do it will take generations of real work to offset the damage. But I think we can do better than declaring that status quo at some fixed point in the past determines how all future people can live. I think we could have a system that makes everyone entitled to the land they need for individual survival regardless of the circumstances and choices of their progenitors.

As has been the case throughout history there will be conflicts and we will need systems to resolve them. At present we use political power followed by money followed by (usually state) violence to settle land conflicts, but there are other options.

We could greatly reduce the opportunity for conflicts if people were only entitled to the the land they currently occupy and constructively manage as part of their survival. We don’t have to tolerate for-profit exchanges about land, for example, and therefore don’t need to tolerate landlords and their abuses. We could ensure that people not interested in managing land directly are entitled to use of collectively managed land. We could make young people are entitled to their own land instead of attaching it to old people.

Corporations and other non-people do not struggle with survival and therefore wouldn’t be entitled to any land at all. Members of a labor force would be entitled to land, and could grant a portion of their land to an organization, but the organization itself would be subject to the whims of its members. In fact the grant itself could be subject collective review of the organization’s contributions to the survival of its land-granting members.

I don’t intend to lay out a manifesto here. I don’t have a complete plan for post-colonial global and local land usage negotiations. But I think we can do better than merely reinstating pre-colonial systems.

It’s been a week since I wrote but it doesn’t feel that long. I did a ton of day job early last week and spent the second half dealing with a twitchy Shanda and a sick Dog and my own burnout. And I’ve never been good at writing on weekends, even under ideal circumstances.

Did another D&D game this weekend and actually got to using my fancy powers. Made a series of unsuccessful Empathy attacks but eventually Manifestationed a Faraday cage to disable an electrical monster. And then left it there to suffer, caged, undying and immobilized forever. This game has resulted in a lot of capturing things that we eventually just kill anyway. My character is not impressed with this plan – it seems like a slow way to kill things. But it will be cool when we get a pet Mind Flayer or somesuch.

Watched Cloud Atlas (2012) at guest request last Friday. I’ve seen it before but it didn’t stick closely with me. Watching it again I see why. It’s 3 hours long and while it contains many pretty things a lot of it is just the island village that Tom Hanks and Wilson built after he delivered that last FedEx box. I guess the point is that revolution is possible if you’re willing to kill everyone. Or maybe that humans shouldn’t build a society bigger than a campfire. Or maybe that we should spend more time murdering rich people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad movie. It’s very pretty and full of decent actors yelling at each other. But you have to appreciate it for the themes because the plot is slow, self-referential nothing.

I’m taking Dog on his last trip this weekend. We’re headed out someplace where he can play in the water. He had a tough week after chemo this time. He didn’t eat at all one day which means he couldn’t take his pills which means he was feeling more ill and more in pain. It makes him want to sit very close and still which is nice in its own way but also means he feels terrible ²This is easy for me to slot into my belief that people only like me when things are bad. There are lots of examples in my life of people who want to be close to me when they feel bad, but who don’t want my attention when they feel better. I am glad people think I can help in tough situations but I would like the build a life where I can believe … Continue reading. The next day I got him to at least take pills, and he’s been getting slightly better day by day since them. Today he was up for a little bit of play but still not eating. I think he’ll be in decent shape for the trip though.

What media should I take on this trip? There will be regular fun and relax time, but it’s also a time to think about letting go of Dog. So far we’ve considered the series Rasing Hope and Farscape, which would give us an earnest comedy about my trashy, weirdo brethren and one of the better pieces of SciFi in my collection. But I’d take other suggestions, and in particular suggestions for a movie or two about dog feels.

It’s still been a while since I’ve talked broadly to M, but I got a peak last week, which was uneoxcted and which I always appreciate. It makes me feel important, and can help stave off the feeling that makes my brain decide I would be better liked from further away. You had a harder time late in the week and maybe didn’t need my help, but I’m glad you clued me in about what was happening. And I’m proud of you for handling all the things the had to deal with last week. I proud of you even when you don’t have hard things to deal with, but you did a particularly good job last week.

I have exciting hair colors but you’ll have to wait another day for me to get pictures ready. Shanda did my hair during HA4H time, where I watched @BPS try to feel motivated on another Pandemic Paper and heard about their new installation of Prosthetic Memeory at in a museum in Germany. They are simultaneously excited by the offer and terrified that it means endless work trying to keep work in museums. I think it’s a full success though, and they want it for a year, so it feels like there’s time to work out the next one.

ZiB

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Sent from a phone.

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