With the growing number of new age and pagan religions popping up over the West coast. There is unseen danger to the indigenous people of California to up all the way to West coast up through Oregon and Canada. Do to uneducated members of the ongoing revival of goddess worship. Which has a direct correspondent to the environment. Which is the over harvest of wild white sage. And although the dangers of overharvesting especially of a wild indigenous plant is clear to the native people of that area. The overharvest station has brought up the miseducation problem with in today's society when it comes to misappropriation of racist terms. I'm referring to the practice known as smudging. In ancient society there was no such thing although later on colonists in America used it as a way to degrade indigenous people to the Americans (North and South) as a way to describe their body paint made from ashes of animal products. They described it as a primal way to deter predators from their hunting. In reality Ash and other leftover materials from burned animal products were used as makeup. As well as smashing of berries and other plants that were mixed into the formula.
Surprisingly this is a now term for burning white sage it attempts you clear the negative energy from one's home. Used as a misinformed practice to remove negative parasites and psychic negative energy. So how did this practice come to be from the racist term to a new age practice.
In fact it was just a misunderstanding of science used by the indigenous people. White sage has a low form of toxins that humans are unaffected by at least by ingesting it. That was used in boiling water to be cleared by parasites that would harm their intestines and kill them later on. The practice was known as purifying the water and the food by cooking it with in the liquid on the fire.
Later on unfortunately due to miscommunication in the new age society the two current terms were combined and the practice was formed. it was also caught on due to the toxins being released in the air causing a high feeling. In which people are discovering now has an addicting effect. It can be known as a fuzzy or tingling feeling within the skin as well as a light headed reaction within the body causing a slight high. With this addicting effect upon the new age society white sage bundles dried to be burned flourished to every corner of the new age market. Addicting effects are so great that overharvesting and close to Extinction has
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I am a white woman so obviously I don't really have a foot to stand on in this argument, but I always found it pretty gross to see white liberal people bringing this up in discussions about veganism. I would imagine that it must be pretty hurtful for indigenous vegans to see white people weaponizing their heritage to justify violence against animals. Or even for non-vegan indigenous people, to see white people using their culture to serve their own personal interests.
And it is really frustrating to me when people attack veganism for being "racist", because it doesn't even justify white people not being vegan. It feels to me like a misdirection so they don't actually have to think about the morality of their diet... Like using indigenous people as a shield to avoid having to try to justify their choice to harm animals.
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this?
As I said, it starts off ok, if not pretty simple. Essentially "youtube debate culture doesn't advance knowledge", which, save for the fact that he probably didn't need 40 minutes and several small skits to say that (and he sort of equates standpoint theory with relativism and rejecting objectivity, which prompts angry Sandra Harding noises from me), is overall fine.
Then he gets to the end and tries to give an abstract concept of debate and why this abstract concept is inherently bad. This gets weird when he tries to claim that Descartes was justifying debate with mind/body dualism and that this is the origin of objectivity... and that the cogito was Descartes way of determining who was really human... and that believing in debate means you reject indigenous knowledge production and are ok with colonialism. It's weird because up until now, he's kept from making things too abstract and stuck with political, economic, and technological factors.
It's shockingly incoherent for how short it is and he seems to base everything on the couple of philosophy courses he had in undergrad that he didn't like.
TL;DR: An abstract, ideal concept of "debate" was created by Descarte to make colonialism, and this is why we have twitch streamers.
The small earthquake near Los Angeles today has me wondering about the impact earthquakes had on Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples in California. How prevalent were they in day-to-day thinking and popular culture? Were there spirits associated with earthquakes, or were they seen as a consequence of some sort? And how destructive would they have been (i.e. would a 6.9 be as devastating as the 1989 Loma Prieta quake?)
I realize that "indigenous peoples of California" includes a staggering amount of variance between cultures, but I didn't want to too-narrowly focus my question. I understand that any replies will have to be limited to specific groups and regions and I'm not expecting a single comprehensive answer.
