permaculture

[Bob Waldrop <bob@bobwaldrop.net>]

Oh wow, this is exactly the kind of "horizontal hostility" (a/k/a the 
"circular firing squad") that they condemn in their book.  Ideology can 
be a fine thing and can have some uses, especially in organizing 
political resistence, but all ideologies are human constructs so however 
perfect their creators believe they are, they will always fall short as 
a full description of reality.  Just as the map is not the territory, an 
ideology is not a description of reality.  It might be considered an 
attempt at a description, but the risk is that an ideology will take on 
a life of its own.  Instead of facilitating  a wholistic/whole systems 
approach, it may degenerate into one or more religious or political 
sects firing "more pure than thou" missiles at others, while reserving 
special venom -- horizontal hostility! --  for any and all heretics.

I think one reason the permaculture movement has escaped this fate is 
that thus far, we have resisted the urge to recognize a permaculture 
"pope" and set up centralized systems of control and authority over our 
activities.  Yeah, lots of people criticize us for this, but when I look 
at the fate of other movements, I remain grateful for our rhizome and 
stolon approach.

Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City
http://www.ipermie.net -- How to permaculture your urban lifestyle

On 7/4/2013 3:31 PM, Chris Jackson wrote:
> I read the book a couple of years ago.  I liked much of what it had to say,
> but the organization itself has become problematic.  Aric McBay has left
> the group: http://www.aricmcbay.org/2013/05/14/dgr-and-transphobia/, and
> there have been many critiques about their structure and "cult of
> personality" that you can find on the web.
> Chris
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 11:14 AM, Bob Waldrop <bob@bobwaldrop.net> wrote: