A friend who is well acquainted with my complaints about Joe Rogan (and Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson and all the other self-styled Intellectual Dark Web gimme a break) sent me a screenshotted tweet that said, "Joe Rogan is Gwyneth Paltrow for men." It's nice to have friends who know you :)
All of this resonates, hard. The amount of anger I feel regarding people like Galt, Wilks brothers -- all of them who claim "mine" simply by self-entitlement, well, that anger is bottomless. I know they're just champing at the bit to erase those stream access laws, and will never, ever want to face the reality of who actually took what land and when. I keep trying to pick up "Billionaire Wilderness" because I know it's a book relevant to my interests and research, but every time I look at a random page I just ... can't.
I think you've put your finger on something here: "With my close people I expect to have my bullshit called out, and they should expect the same from me. Good relationships require that."
It seems to me that many people don't have those kinds of authentic relationships anymore where our bullshit gets called out. I've put my foot down about some stuff over the past several years (thanks, Trump) that I couldn't put up with anymore, and those relationships in which I did so are no longer. Or are completely surface-level if we even still speak to one another. Now you've got me wondering when and to whom I've done that to in return.
There are obviously many things propping up white supremacy, but the lack of willingness to stay in relationship with people who call you on your shit has to play a role.
Living in Alaska and Oregon, I cannot stand the rhetoric I've witnessed that amounts to the erasure of Indigenous peoples and the history of taking land. Of seeing placenames named after white men who caused genocide and harm to so many. It's the casualness of it that is galling. I love that you are calling this out --the white billionaires crying foul--reminds me of the 'takeover' of Malheur Refuge and claims of it being ranchers' lands....there are not enough swear words to cover how vile such 'claims' are. A couple of weeks ago I listened to Ezra Klein talk with Nick Offerman with worry as they started talking about National Parks--but then Nick Offerman calls out the stolen land that parks represent and I was doing fistbumps in the air on my walk. It's just one small reference by another white guy talking to another white guy on a podcast but....it helps to hear it being called out.
Thanks for the work you do (and the patience you exhibit) in reframing our contemporary reality in spite of the obscuring lens of this continent's distorted history.
I wonder if Bourdain would have been so intellectually lazy had that exact same scenario played out in some other land. My relationship with him remains as it was - entirely parasocial and comprised of his artistic output, and so I have no additional input to provide outside of his written and televised thoughts. Having said that, he seemed to be exceptionally curious in many situations and contained a decent sniffer for bullshit. The fact that he didn't pick that up out in Montana is unfortunate, disappointing, and telling. I don't know...maybe he was just an upwardly mobile bro palling around in Montana with some other rich dude, living in comfort and enjoying a flirtation with colonization.
I do remember viewing the Anthony Bourdain episode that you reference. I will certainly watch it again, prepared with greater understanding and perspective. I must admit that I thought that Mr. Bourdain was a pretty cool dude and that he felt deeply. That he felt the beauty of the world and all of the various cultures, and that he felt the inequities suffered by so many. He communicated to me that we are all valuable. Maybe I am a bit prejudiced. He and I grew up in the same part of New Jersey, Bergen County. Most of my peers were the grandchildren or children of European immigrants who came to this land seeking a better life.
I totally agree with you that history should not be whitewashed and that truth should prevail. Transparency should reign. The stories of all who were here before us should be truthfully told.
Again Chris, thank you for your honesty and for your eloquence and grit.
Ugh. I had only seen the Harrison parts in some episode where they put the best scenes with writers or something. I would remember Rogan... What he's doing with Bourdain I don't know. He's dead now so we'll never know. Same with sticking up to rich fucks. Disappointing, especially when one white guy is whining about water access when he's on stolen land.
On a side note - I played many piano recitals including two solo recitals in Pershing Hall on the MSU Northern campus. I had no idea about General Pershing and Fort Assiniboine (it was an AG station when I lived in Havre) until I grew up and read a lot of books.
A friend who is well acquainted with my complaints about Joe Rogan (and Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson and all the other self-styled Intellectual Dark Web gimme a break) sent me a screenshotted tweet that said, "Joe Rogan is Gwyneth Paltrow for men." It's nice to have friends who know you :)
All of this resonates, hard. The amount of anger I feel regarding people like Galt, Wilks brothers -- all of them who claim "mine" simply by self-entitlement, well, that anger is bottomless. I know they're just champing at the bit to erase those stream access laws, and will never, ever want to face the reality of who actually took what land and when. I keep trying to pick up "Billionaire Wilderness" because I know it's a book relevant to my interests and research, but every time I look at a random page I just ... can't.
I think you've put your finger on something here: "With my close people I expect to have my bullshit called out, and they should expect the same from me. Good relationships require that."
It seems to me that many people don't have those kinds of authentic relationships anymore where our bullshit gets called out. I've put my foot down about some stuff over the past several years (thanks, Trump) that I couldn't put up with anymore, and those relationships in which I did so are no longer. Or are completely surface-level if we even still speak to one another. Now you've got me wondering when and to whom I've done that to in return.
There are obviously many things propping up white supremacy, but the lack of willingness to stay in relationship with people who call you on your shit has to play a role.
Living in Alaska and Oregon, I cannot stand the rhetoric I've witnessed that amounts to the erasure of Indigenous peoples and the history of taking land. Of seeing placenames named after white men who caused genocide and harm to so many. It's the casualness of it that is galling. I love that you are calling this out --the white billionaires crying foul--reminds me of the 'takeover' of Malheur Refuge and claims of it being ranchers' lands....there are not enough swear words to cover how vile such 'claims' are. A couple of weeks ago I listened to Ezra Klein talk with Nick Offerman with worry as they started talking about National Parks--but then Nick Offerman calls out the stolen land that parks represent and I was doing fistbumps in the air on my walk. It's just one small reference by another white guy talking to another white guy on a podcast but....it helps to hear it being called out.
Thanks for the work you do (and the patience you exhibit) in reframing our contemporary reality in spite of the obscuring lens of this continent's distorted history.
I wonder if Bourdain would have been so intellectually lazy had that exact same scenario played out in some other land. My relationship with him remains as it was - entirely parasocial and comprised of his artistic output, and so I have no additional input to provide outside of his written and televised thoughts. Having said that, he seemed to be exceptionally curious in many situations and contained a decent sniffer for bullshit. The fact that he didn't pick that up out in Montana is unfortunate, disappointing, and telling. I don't know...maybe he was just an upwardly mobile bro palling around in Montana with some other rich dude, living in comfort and enjoying a flirtation with colonization.
Thank you for expressing your truth.
I do remember viewing the Anthony Bourdain episode that you reference. I will certainly watch it again, prepared with greater understanding and perspective. I must admit that I thought that Mr. Bourdain was a pretty cool dude and that he felt deeply. That he felt the beauty of the world and all of the various cultures, and that he felt the inequities suffered by so many. He communicated to me that we are all valuable. Maybe I am a bit prejudiced. He and I grew up in the same part of New Jersey, Bergen County. Most of my peers were the grandchildren or children of European immigrants who came to this land seeking a better life.
I totally agree with you that history should not be whitewashed and that truth should prevail. Transparency should reign. The stories of all who were here before us should be truthfully told.
Again Chris, thank you for your honesty and for your eloquence and grit.
Sincerely, Melissa
Ugh. I had only seen the Harrison parts in some episode where they put the best scenes with writers or something. I would remember Rogan... What he's doing with Bourdain I don't know. He's dead now so we'll never know. Same with sticking up to rich fucks. Disappointing, especially when one white guy is whining about water access when he's on stolen land.
Excellent post. Have you heard about the Cascade County realtors getting all worked up over President Biden’s 30x30 proposal? https://www.agweb.com/news/policy/politics/vilsack-bidens-30x30-goal-not-land-grab
On a side note - I played many piano recitals including two solo recitals in Pershing Hall on the MSU Northern campus. I had no idea about General Pershing and Fort Assiniboine (it was an AG station when I lived in Havre) until I grew up and read a lot of books.