Hi Pam & All,
I agree that there seems to be a consistent pathology here, whether it's
the Hammonds poaching and setting fires, the Bundys violating grazing
rules and threatening federal officers, the Redds pilfering Anasazi
burial sites, or Finicum participating in an armed occupation:
These people repeatedly break the law, ignore repeated warnings, then
they (or their survivors) paint themselves as victims of a Gestapo state
when they're finally called to account.
Like Craig Miller commented, people who've reached this level are
probably unredeemable.
Well, I always hold out hope for everyone, and I know a few "rednecks"
who made transitions late in life. For example one tough old ex-Army
Ranger Vietnam/Cambodia vet logging-truck driver who I lived alongside
of in a decidedly low-life trailer community up by Mt. Rainier in 1987,
who decided that gay people weren't so bad after his sister came out to
him with the news that she was a lesbian.
But that same guy was smart enough to read the tea leaves about the
impending decline in the logging industry, even before the Spotted Owl
issue really began to make a difference. He could see that the big
companies were moving their milling operations to Chile, and that the
high rate of clear-cutting in the late Reagan years wasn't going to hold
up for much longer. So he was a thoughtful guy, maybe not fully
representative of what we're up against now.
The big difference between 1987 and 2016 is that now there's this "huge
right-wing echo chamber" (I think Hillary Clinton gets credit for that
quote) that can take a crazy idea and repeat it across the landscape.
Especially when you get out into sagebrush country, people are getting
this stuff drilled into them night and day. What radio stations can you
listen to if, say, you're driving north out of Plush on Hogback Road?
Nothing but Rush Limbaugh and his ilk.
So I'm wondering how we can start to reach out to the people who live in
Oregon's Outback -- at least the ones who are still willing to listen --
and maybe at least start to connect with them on a human level, the same
way that I managed to talk to my neighbors in that trailer court. Sure
they thought I was kind of weird but I was their neighbor, so they
couldn't act like I was a complete alien. And when they had embarrassing
medical emergencies (that's a whole 'nuther story), guess whose trailer
door they banged on first.
I'm starting to wonder if more of us just need to take the plunge and
move out into some of these communities, and start talking to people as
fellow human beings instead of as seasonal visitors. And I'm not talking
about federal employees who are already under siege, but the rest of us.
Another way to look at it is that the northern Great Basin --and some of
Oregon's other rural areas -- are just too wonderful to leave to people
who don't fully appreciate it.
Joel
On Thu, 2016-03-17 at 19:05 -0700, Pam & Mark Keller wrote:
I didn't read the articles, but looking at Joel's discussion below I
was struck by the parallel to the Hammonds. They were/are habitual
offenders, but the propaganda portrayed them as victims of government
gestapo. At least Cliven's long history of infractions is being
reported a bit more.
On a different, but related topic. I forced myself to listen to
Walden's interview on OPB this afternoon. He is so proud of himself
for standing up for the poor ranchers and loggers against the wicked
government. He again ranted about how Burns BLM didn't do what he
wanted and now they're gonna pay. I know the back story on that if
anyone is interested. Suffice it to say Walden's tantrum makes me
sick. And he ranted on and on about how FBI lying to investigators
was the worst crime of all and heads would roll. He said it was an
example of what the occupiers were saying about FBI. He went on to
say that agencies like FS, BLM and FWS should not have their own law
enforcement. So, no federal law enforcement at all? And then we have
Sheriff Palmer deputizing his own personal posse, answerable only to
him.
Pam Keller
On Thu, Mar 17, 2016 at 12:23 PM, Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Thanks, Paulette, for the follow-up posting.
It's enlightening to see how this narrative is playing in
southern
Utah:
http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2016/03/09/stewart-joins-chaffetz-call-disarm-federal-agencies/81561532/
In particular, it's interesting how -- when trying to give an
example of
BLM "terrorism," the first thing that comes to mind for these
people is
the outcome of a "sting" operation aimed at people who were
basically
looting Native burial sites to gather artifacts, either for
their own
personal collections or for sale.
If you follow the link to the L.A. Times article that's cited:
http://graphics.latimes.com/utah-sting/
it gives a very sympathetic treatment of the looters,
suggesting that
the entire case hinged on one little shell pendant that wasn't
all that
"valuable," in terms of the antiquities market.
But if you peel away the reporter's gauzy descriptions --
including a
suggestion that these collectors/looters do it because they
feel a
personal "mystical" connection with the ancient people who
lived there)
it's clear that the woman at the center of this case was a
habitual
offender.
She and her husband had previously been cautioned by an
archaeologist
friend, and once even escaped prosecution for digging on a
state-owned
site where human bones were found, and would even go as far as
looting
an infant burial site:
“Oh, I found that in Cottonwood Canyon at the baby
cave … Baby
Mummy Cave is what they call it,” she said, referring
to a cave
on federal land south of town. “Five babies were
buried there,”
she continued, as agents listened from a truck nearby.
“That's
where the pipe came from, and the basket.” / “There
still
mummies in there?” Gardiner asked. / “There are still,
a few....
There was a skull in there the other day.”
The L.A. Times reporter does his best to portray this sting
operation as
a case of entrapment by a dissolute informant, and suggest
that this
woman wasn't in it for the money, and didn't even want to sell
anything.
But when she did make the sale that led directly to her
prosecution, she
haggled to get an extra $100 on the deal! Looks to me like a
classic
case of, "oh no, that's not really for sale ..." as a tactic
to get a
higher sale price.
But because her arrest and prosecution following the sting
(along with
her husband as an accomplice on one count) seems to have
triggered her
husband's suicide, she becomes the "victim" and the BLM
becomes the
Gestapo.
I can see how this narrative of "human lives destroyed by
bureaucrats"
can be a powerful one, at least for people who have no sense
of respect
for the people from the older culture of that region. It also
works for
people who have no respect for the natural environment.
How do we go about building that respect?
Joel
> Wed, 16 Mar 2016 17:55:21 -0700
> Subject: [boo] Oops- here's the new link
> From: Paulette Filz <paulettefilz@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Didn't mean to double post. But here is a new link about
how
> far legislators in Utah have gone to dismantle the BLM. P.
>
http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2016/03/09/stewart-joins-chaffetz-call-disarm-federal-agencies/81561532/
>
>
>
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