Sunday, November 24, 2024
Why steal public land? We are a chosen people!
Evolution-induced subjective belief is at it again! Here is a summary of recent events:
Recently (1990–2015), a group of cattle ranchers in Nevada and now Oregon have been using public land (wilderness that is being protected by the Bureau of Land Management) for their personal profit and lifestyle.
These ranchers prefer to exploit the natural resources of public land rather than private land because they don’t have to pay property taxes. Nevada and Oregon, unlike the central plains of North America, did not evolve to support the grazing of huge numbers of large hoofed animals like cattle. Damage or destruction of habitat will be paid for by the public. The habitat includes: valleys, meadows, canyons, a sea of sagebrush, native flowers and bunch grasses, elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, the endangered desert tortoise, and the list continues.
The ranchers justification is their belief in the strict interpretation of the constitution (a document many of them perceive to be as divinely inspired as the Book of Mormon or the Bible) that the public lands in all states that have been set aside by the federal government over the last 150 years for reasons such as protecting native habitats actually belong to each individual state and should be under local control.
One problem with this strict interpretation is that the constitution was written before the authors knew much of anything about the territory that made up the western United States. In fact, they were not even official states back then—the territory was just being explored. In addition, the authors could not have foreseen how the United States was going to change over the next two centuries. For example, the industrial revolution, overpopulation, and climate change now mean we have to manage all the states natural resources more carefully.
The ranchers referred to as the Bundy clan have for over 20 years repeatedly refused to pay grazing fees (which are, comparatively speaking, insanely low—only $1.35 per cow per month) and, when told to do so, have refused to remove their cattle from public land. This has repeatedly been taking place in Nevada since the early 1990's, and now the Bundy clan has taken control of a wildlife refuge in Oregon.
The Bureau of Land Management issued limitations on the number of cattle in particular areas so as to protect the native species. Purely as an act of defiant's, Cliven Bundy led 10 times as many cattle as the maximum allowed to stomp on these sensitive areas.
The Bundy clan is a Christian fundamentalist group called Mormons, or Jesus of Later Day Saints (LDS), headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. I worked with about 30 Mormons over the course of 15 years in California. I got to know some of them. All Mormons are not the same, but all Mormons are directed to believe myths. Here are a few:
Evolution created religion to cope with scarcity. If there were no scarcity (the under-fulfillment of the Basic Instincts: Status, Mating, and Territory), there would be no religion, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
The EGO within us all
The root cause of this mess is evolution. Evolution has evolved our brains to be self-centered (ego-driven). This gives individuals and groups a competitive advantage. An ego is an inflated sense of self-importance that comes in different sizes. Cliven Bundy has a large one. An ego and self-deception are the same thing. An ego helps an individual believe he or she is more important and capable than others. People or groups with large egos tend to dominate others.
An example from Wikipedia:
On April 12, 2014, Bundy "ordered" Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie to confront the federal agents, disarm them, and deliver their arms to Bundy within an hour of his demand, and later expressed disappointment that Gillespie did not comply.
Large egos are mostly caused by weak self-control. Self-control is determined by the strength of the front part of the brain, called the frontal lobes, as well as the layer of gray matter surrounding the outer surface of the brain. It is the one trait that differentiates humans from other animals.
Whereas an ego leads to power and conquest, the lack of an ego (brought on by strong self-control) leads to greater awareness and wisdom. Without wisdom, the evils of the world (greed, scarcity, inequality, oppression, slavery, war, etc.) proliferate.
Think of it like a record player. The needle that rides in the grooves of the record represents self-control. The spinning record represents our animal instincts (status, mating, and territory). See: Basic Instincts. It requires around-the-clock strength to hold that needle up off the record; that’s the job of our frontal lobes and gray matter.
In social environments like those that exist in modern times, intense competition among strangers and little trust in your neighbor have become the norm. In today’s United States, with its capitalism, open borders, multi-ethnic, multi-culture, multi-religion, and multi-language population, evolution favors weaker self-control.
Remember "Little House on the Prairie"? Before modern times (hundreds of years ago), people grew up and spent much of their lives in a village, knowing the same people all their lives. In this environment, reputation matters. So back then, resisting temptation (strong self-control) mattered more than it does today. Back then, if you wronged someone, the people in your small world would likely find out about it, and that could have social ramifications for you for the rest of your life.
Today, however, we are constantly moving around and meeting new people—people who don't know our past behavior (making it easier to be less than honest). In this kind of environment, evolution favors weaker self-control because people with weaker self-control now have the strategic advantage to be greedy and get away with it.
Note: There’s more to the evolution story, but I don’t intend to write a book.
In other words, evolution has always proliferated the genes of the more subjective people more than the genes of the more objective people. See: Objective and Subjective. But subjectivity is becoming increasingly prevalent in modern times.
[New State], unlike organized religion, is an organization that will be objectively based. [New State] was inspired in part by the social networking system of the Mormon religion. You see, when I worked with my Mormon coworkers throughout those 15 years, I found myself at a disadvantage in protecting myself from the politics of being an employee because I was an independent individual. In other words, I’ve always been alone (but not lonely) to fend for myself in an unfair society. The Mormons, however, have political power and social networking resources both inside and outside the specific place of employment. When one Mormon quits, another Mormon takes his place. They’re like a half-good mafia.
END
Recently (1990–2015), a group of cattle ranchers in Nevada and now Oregon have been using public land (wilderness that is being protected by the Bureau of Land Management) for their personal profit and lifestyle.
These ranchers prefer to exploit the natural resources of public land rather than private land because they don’t have to pay property taxes. Nevada and Oregon, unlike the central plains of North America, did not evolve to support the grazing of huge numbers of large hoofed animals like cattle. Damage or destruction of habitat will be paid for by the public. The habitat includes: valleys, meadows, canyons, a sea of sagebrush, native flowers and bunch grasses, elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, the endangered desert tortoise, and the list continues.
The ranchers justification is their belief in the strict interpretation of the constitution (a document many of them perceive to be as divinely inspired as the Book of Mormon or the Bible) that the public lands in all states that have been set aside by the federal government over the last 150 years for reasons such as protecting native habitats actually belong to each individual state and should be under local control.
One problem with this strict interpretation is that the constitution was written before the authors knew much of anything about the territory that made up the western United States. In fact, they were not even official states back then—the territory was just being explored. In addition, the authors could not have foreseen how the United States was going to change over the next two centuries. For example, the industrial revolution, overpopulation, and climate change now mean we have to manage all the states natural resources more carefully.
The ranchers referred to as the Bundy clan have for over 20 years repeatedly refused to pay grazing fees (which are, comparatively speaking, insanely low—only $1.35 per cow per month) and, when told to do so, have refused to remove their cattle from public land. This has repeatedly been taking place in Nevada since the early 1990's, and now the Bundy clan has taken control of a wildlife refuge in Oregon.
The leader of the group, Cliven Bundy, is the father. He has 14 kids, including two of his sons pictured above. There are unconfirmed reports that he is a millionaire.
The Bureau of Land Management issued limitations on the number of cattle in particular areas so as to protect the native species. Purely as an act of defiant's, Cliven Bundy led 10 times as many cattle as the maximum allowed to stomp on these sensitive areas.
The Bundy clan is a Christian fundamentalist group called Mormons, or Jesus of Later Day Saints (LDS), headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. I worked with about 30 Mormons over the course of 15 years in California. I got to know some of them. All Mormons are not the same, but all Mormons are directed to believe myths. Here are a few:
- The Mormons believe native Americans were not the first people to discover and live in North America, but rather the Mormons came here first—thousands of years ago.
- The Mormons believe the US. government in Washington, DC, will be replaced and run by Mormons. [There is a rumor that the fifth floor of the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City is occupied by a full-scale replica of the Oval Office in the White House, complete with powerful communications equipment.]
- The Mormons and other Christian fundamentalists believe that God provided natural resources like wilderness and animals for their consumption and exploitation.
- The Mormons and other Christian fundamentalists believe we are in "End Times.” Meaning: The earth is coming to an end in our lifetime, and the Christians will be rescued by God and elevated to a superior existence [status], while simultaneously the rest of us will descend to hell or to a lower existence where we will be watched over by the morally superior Christians. With this in mind, it makes no sense to protect and conserve the beautiful wilderness of the world or America's natural resources.
- Scarcity is an allusion. The universe is overflowing with abundance.
Evolution created religion to cope with scarcity. If there were no scarcity (the under-fulfillment of the Basic Instincts: Status, Mating, and Territory), there would be no religion, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
The EGO within us all
The root cause of this mess is evolution. Evolution has evolved our brains to be self-centered (ego-driven). This gives individuals and groups a competitive advantage. An ego is an inflated sense of self-importance that comes in different sizes. Cliven Bundy has a large one. An ego and self-deception are the same thing. An ego helps an individual believe he or she is more important and capable than others. People or groups with large egos tend to dominate others.
An example from Wikipedia:
On April 12, 2014, Bundy "ordered" Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie to confront the federal agents, disarm them, and deliver their arms to Bundy within an hour of his demand, and later expressed disappointment that Gillespie did not comply.
Large egos are mostly caused by weak self-control. Self-control is determined by the strength of the front part of the brain, called the frontal lobes, as well as the layer of gray matter surrounding the outer surface of the brain. It is the one trait that differentiates humans from other animals.
Whereas an ego leads to power and conquest, the lack of an ego (brought on by strong self-control) leads to greater awareness and wisdom. Without wisdom, the evils of the world (greed, scarcity, inequality, oppression, slavery, war, etc.) proliferate.
Think of it like a record player. The needle that rides in the grooves of the record represents self-control. The spinning record represents our animal instincts (status, mating, and territory). See: Basic Instincts. It requires around-the-clock strength to hold that needle up off the record; that’s the job of our frontal lobes and gray matter.
In social environments like those that exist in modern times, intense competition among strangers and little trust in your neighbor have become the norm. In today’s United States, with its capitalism, open borders, multi-ethnic, multi-culture, multi-religion, and multi-language population, evolution favors weaker self-control.
Remember "Little House on the Prairie"? Before modern times (hundreds of years ago), people grew up and spent much of their lives in a village, knowing the same people all their lives. In this environment, reputation matters. So back then, resisting temptation (strong self-control) mattered more than it does today. Back then, if you wronged someone, the people in your small world would likely find out about it, and that could have social ramifications for you for the rest of your life.
Today, however, we are constantly moving around and meeting new people—people who don't know our past behavior (making it easier to be less than honest). In this kind of environment, evolution favors weaker self-control because people with weaker self-control now have the strategic advantage to be greedy and get away with it.
Note: There’s more to the evolution story, but I don’t intend to write a book.
In other words, evolution has always proliferated the genes of the more subjective people more than the genes of the more objective people. See: Objective and Subjective. But subjectivity is becoming increasingly prevalent in modern times.
[New State], unlike organized religion, is an organization that will be objectively based. [New State] was inspired in part by the social networking system of the Mormon religion. You see, when I worked with my Mormon coworkers throughout those 15 years, I found myself at a disadvantage in protecting myself from the politics of being an employee because I was an independent individual. In other words, I’ve always been alone (but not lonely) to fend for myself in an unfair society. The Mormons, however, have political power and social networking resources both inside and outside the specific place of employment. When one Mormon quits, another Mormon takes his place. They’re like a half-good mafia.
END