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  • From: Marimike6@cs.com
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Fwd: [permaculture] RE: Major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
  • Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 09:01:37 EST

First let me mention that it was I and not Eugene F Monaco who wrote that the white man was a good example of a hardy weed. I may have caused some sensitivities to bristle here by my unthinking usage of the term. I did not mean to imply that there was something in our pigmentation that controlled whether or not we adapted readily to other environments and tended to displace other races due to their differing pigmentation.

I intended to focus on the qualities that create a weed-- that is, a species that thrives in disturbed ground and that tends to outcompete native species when introduced into a new area. A more accurate definition would be "Western man", who by his aggressive and acquisitive spirit, as well as by his advanced technology, tended to exploit niches not exploited before he got there, and to prevail economically over local populations unable to compete with him. In this he is very like the common purple loosestrife.

The Chinese in the Pacific Rim and Latin America, the Indians in East Africa and the Greeks and Syrian-Lebanese all over the world are other examples of weeds that readily transplant and thrive. This is due to their cultural, not gross racial, characteristics. They tend to dominate economically.

Likewise, my use of the words "man" and "he", above, should not connote sexism  In common usage I believe such words as "mankind" are still preferred over "peoplekind". I mean no disrespect toward women. My intent was simply to shed some light on MHC, and by extension on all genetic, cultural and behavioral pathways that confer superior adaptibility to environmental competition and limits to growth.

In that light I would offer measles, or influenza, as good examples of weeds. Having existed worldwide for a long period of history, they have co-adapted with mankind and are impressive public health foes, difficult to dislodge, impossible to eradicate. By contrast hemorrhagic fevers, such as Lassa or Marburg, are rare exotics, that tend to die out quickly and reoccur in sporadic outbursts. They have not adapted to coexistence with the rest of the biologic web, in the world at large, but for the most part remain confined to small areas of the African tropical forest.

In my area the most successful invasive is kudzu. Its adaptations include growing from a broken piece of rhizome, in the way violets do, and sending rootstocks deep underground so that no matter how deep you dig, you've left a little piece behind. It grows a foot a day, and can smother century-old trees in a decade, so that entire forests have been swallowed up. It is virtually impervious to herbicides, and thrives on such poisonous crap as RoundUp and Black Leaf. In fact, after a temporary setback it seems invigorated by them. It is truly a noble adversary

Mike Elvin
Fuquay-Varina, NC

--- Begin Message ---
  • From: Russ Grayson <pacedge@magna.com.au>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] RE: Major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
  • Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 11:14:23 +1100

On Friday, March 14, 2003, at 04:57 PM, Bob Howard wrote:

"Eugene F. Monaco" wrote:

>The white man is a good example of such a hardy weed…<

Well, the same could be said for any people that has moved into and settled a region. Putting this in racial terms is a bit misleading. The Chinese, for example, have dome particularly well colonising and inhabiting areas outside their centre of diversity.

If what the writer says about white people being a 'hardy weed', then this has been to the people's advantage in setting up home in diverse climates and regions and, from their point of view, is a highly valuable characteristic as it encompasses biological adaptability, a key characteristic for the survival of any life form.

Let's steer away from racial interpretations of things.

...Russ Grayson
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