[permaculture] on an ethics of Mr Pittman (and the US military)
Cory Brennan
cory8570 at yahoo.com
Thu Aug 12 16:26:28 EDT 2010
Linda,
The situation with psychiatrists/psychologists is quite different than permaculture. Mainstream psychiatrists' main activity is using drugs, electroshock, involuntary commitment and other invasive methods to treat mental symptoms - this is not a sustainable practice nor is it holistic. I am aware of the divisive camps within psychology, where some are more focused on holistic, regenerative approaches and some are just referral services for drug companies via MDs or psychiatrists.
"Journey Into Madness" and other documentation illustrates how psychiatrists were in fact behind the CIA mind control experiments on unsuspecting Canadian and US citizens (MKULTRA), drug and lobotomy experimentation on prisoners and minorities, eugenics policies in the US and Germany, etc. Some of the most respected psychiatrists at Universities were involved in military/intelligence operations that led to use of torture techniques throughout the world in various military organizations (Middle East, El Salvador, etc). Psychiatrists do take the Hippocratic Oath but obviously, there are a number of them that have broken that oath. They were not "co-opted" or corrupted, it was their idea in the first place. They (like Dr Ewen Camaron - "psychic driving") were already doing these experiments on their patients before partnering with the military.
I can't see Scott (who was one of my instructors for my PDC) or any of the rest of us going down any such road. It is not the same thing, at all.
Cory
--- On Thu, 8/12/10, LBUZZELL at aol.com <LBUZZELL at aol.com> wrote:
> From: LBUZZELL at aol.com <LBUZZELL at aol.com>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] on an ethics of Mr Pittman (and the US military)
> To: permaculture at lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010, 1:05 PM
> you might want to ask permaculture
> activist Joshua Fattal who has been
> > arrested by the Iranian government and accused of
> espionage whether it
> > would help him or others like him that "permaculture"
> is now
> > celebrated as a US army reserve "hearts and
> minds"
> > counterinsurgency/sustainment technique
>
> I have to admit that this point is hard to disagree
> with. Permaculture
> was perhaps better off when it was seen as a
> politically neutral Australian
> land and people care system being used in many
> countries with widely
> different governmental systems, from Cuba to the US.
>
> Although I'm very sympathetic to Scott's and others'
> eagerness to spread
> permaculture far and wide, I must conclude that it was a
> mistake for world
> permaculture to get involved with the first-world occupying
> army in a third
> world country, however eager the recruits were to learn
> about permaculture.
>
>
> Corporations have but one motive: profit. Armies likewise
> have but one
> motive: to use force or other more subtle enforcement
> methods to vanquish
> enemies. Their aims and even techniques may appear to
> be beneficient, but we
> must not be naive. And even if we view some military
> as "good guys," how
> does permaculture make the distinction on a global level
> without politicizing
> itself?
>
> Permaculture is an exciting new profession and deserves to
> flourish
> independent of destructive entanglements. I have seen
> similar problems happen in
> my own field of mental health: psychologists who got
> involved with the
> military developed torture techniques for the CIA and
> were, alas, actively
> involved at Abu Ghraib. I realize we haven't done
> anything like this yet --
> but caution is needed. The "psychology in the
> military" issue has split the
> American Psychological Association into warring factions
> for years, some
> supporting those involved with the military and
> others against.
>
> In just this short dialogue I see the beginnings of similar
> problems in
> permaculture unless some clear ethical guidelines are laid
> down to prevent
> permaculture from being used by the military and various
> governments for their
> own purposes. Psychiatrists, by the way, avoided the
> problems faced by the
> psychologists because they take a Hippocratic oath that
> prevents them from
> doing some of the unfortunate things a few
> psychologists have done.
>
> Linda Buzzell-Saltzman
>
>
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