Derrick Jensen: Civilization and Enlightenment

http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com presents another clip as part of the "Why Are Things Falling Apart?" series. In this clip, Derrick Jensen defines civilization and argues how, despite cultural and social advantages, cities are functionally unsustainable.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Derrick Jensen
• civilization
• sustainability
• violence inherent in the system
• transformation
• path to enlightenment
• definition of civilization

[MrIsaiah722]

Oh God, what a breath of fresh air this is amid a toxic wasteland of brainless zombies.

[technologic21]

Detroit is the resounding example of how a city dies. I think Jensen's ideas are spot-on, these large upscale communities are unsustainable.

[pretzelzetzel]

jensen's father beat him and his siblings and his mother. as an adult, civilization and "nature" have taken on the dual roles of father and mother in his mind. he's highly intelligent, and his intelligent mind has followed that association unceasingly. i think that's what leads him to seriously ridiculous conclusions, like the epilogue of 'culture of make-believe' in which he describes native americans as having been, essentially, hippie communists instead of violent and superstitious.

[linghun]

@SecularAnimist Excellent remarks. Jensen's "thoughts" may impress ignorant and infantile people but ultimately don't make any sense. It's flabbergasting how so many people can be so alienated as to fall for that junk. Just add "primitivism" and "deep green" to the diseases of civilization.

[pretzelzetzel]

@linghun that doesn't make any sense. how would he get his message out?

[linghun]

Its very easy to bash civilization on youtube, selling books online, learning from the internet and books - Jensen is just a hypocrite. Go bash civilization using smoke signs in the middle of the jungle.

[GTWHITEFEVER]

Hes talking bollocks ... we use LESS land mass to produce more and more food these days ...its called progress folks ...

[SecularAnimist]

This is not a good definition. It's way too subjective. When does a population center become large? And what is the distance that constitutes "importation". And again, one could consider earth one land base, in which, nothing is being imported to.

[RyanTh3Lion]

@ODvids and also I highly doubt, even if it was possible for solar energy, that it wouldn't be charged and stolen and fought over just like our water is today from corporations that need it to import massive amounts of food to to our cities.

[RyanTh3Lion]

@ODvids As long as there is the requirement for the importation of food there is no possible way that a civilization can be sustained. And don't sit there and tell me America built its civilization to protect the native inhabitance of North America. Also as far as your social network what happens when you don't pay rent? A man with a gun comes and tells you to live on the street. Some social network a social network based on violence. cont.