When I first read Daniel Quinn's Ishmael trilogy (Ishmael, The Story of B, and My Ishmael), I was struck by an urgent desire to do something helpful for humanity, to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. In short, I had an earnest desire ...
by Giulianna Maria Lamanna
When I first read Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael trilogy (Ishmael, The Story of B, and My Ishmael), I was struck by an urgent desire to do something helpful for humanity, to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. In short, I had an earnest desire to save the world. And [...]
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I’m glad you’re starting this blog. One of the things that always gave me pause about rewilding is that I like clean-cut, clean-shaven guys who smell nice (or at the very least who don’t smell bad). The hippy-dippy type of survivalist kind of turns me off. (Bathing unnatural??? Not if you want to have sex with me, buddy-boy!)
Comment by venuspluto67 — 2 September 2007 @ 9:35 PM
Everybody stinks but Jesus!
Comment by Jashee Denford — 2 September 2007 @ 9:39 PM
You and me both, vp67. To be perfectly honest, I do like a little stubble. But just a little; if it grows full-on into a beard, that just makes the guy look old.
Comment by Giulianna Lamanna — 2 September 2007 @ 10:48 PM
Oh, and Jashee? Man, it’s like you’re not even trying anymore.
Comment by Giulianna Lamanna — 2 September 2007 @ 10:51 PM
Trust an American to turn a gatherer-hunter lifestyle into being all about wearing fabulous fur coats and doing each other’s hair all day, not to mention the “makeup, soap, hair gel, perfume, and pretty dresses”.
And I thought you guys were only interested in making twenty sided dice from elk antler….
Comment by Void_genesis — 3 September 2007 @ 2:56 AM
Trust somebody who begins a sentence with “Trust an American to…” or refers to “gatherer-hunter” to miss the point that completely. Did she say “all”? No, no, I don’t believe she did. Rather, she pointed out that the emphasis placed by the primitive skills schools/websites/books/teachers out there now is not the same emphasis placed by actual primitive societies. They talk about primitive skills in a sense of hard-bitten survivalism. You constantly hear people talking about “survival.” Well, guess what? Primitive peoples are no more interested in “survival” than our own general population. They take basic survival for granted.
I’ve noticed that a lot of people are very angry that we don’t go over the exact same material that’s been done hundreds, if not thousands, of times over, elsewhere, by others, as if another resource on basic primitive skills would somehow be useful. I’m sorry, but we’re just not that interested in doing something one more time when it’s already been done over and over and over again. We’re more interested in doing something new, something that hasn’t been done before. Which is what got people like you so upset about the Fifth World, too. “What the hell? That’s not the same thing that’s been done over and over again! That’s something new and useful that addresses an as-yet unfulfilled need! How dare they!!” I can’t say I really understand that kind of anger, but it’s also not enough to overcome the overwhelming boredom I’d feel trying to write yet another field guide, to duplicate the hundreds already available, so I guess we’ll just have to stick with finding new things that haven’t been done before. Sorry. For your own blood pressure’s sake, might I advise you just stick to the Peterson Field Guide section of your local bookstore? There, you should be reasonably insulated from any kind of new ideas or innovation.
Comment by Jason Godesky — 3 September 2007 @ 9:40 AM
How dare you start a blog about personal hygiene, you total poser. Personal hygiene is the enemy of cool righteous rad primitivism! I do just fine without any such thing. The reason all those people run away from me is I’m just too cool for them!
Comment by Dr, Tiresome — 3 September 2007 @ 12:03 PM