December 20, 2005

I researched the history of hemp (having been long since acquainted with its fun loving cousin) and discovered the absurd, corporate-driven fight to kill it to be the perfect parable in the vein of David and Goliath. It sums up the fight of the factory worker, the small farmer, the teacher, the field worker and the sharecroppers of the world still fighting against slavery.

The importance of the fight to make hemp legal cannot be over emphasized. Hemp is synonymous with sustainability and the fight for freedom.

15 comments:

BigDog said...

I agree that hemp should be legal. I think the stumbling block is is resemblance to marijuanna which make it more difficult to enforce drug laws.

I also think pot should be legalized, but that is another issue.

The notion that "corporations" are in some sort of evil conspiracy to protect their profits from the beneficial use of help is absurd. If there were money in growing hemp, people (who are the actual ones who make decisions - not 'corporations') would be happy to grow it and make money. Clearly there is not enough serious money in hemp to make non-pot smoking people to seriously agitate for repeal of hemp laws.

DAVE BONES said...

So you are telling me that because of market forces rational intelligent human beings should carry on with the polution of pulp instead of switching to something better and I should accept that and not hope for something better or someone a bit more logical to gain control somehow?

DAVE BONES said...

I rack my brains to understand you capitalist fans but the notion of libertatianism...

I can't put it in words yet.

Theres some sort of link with the aspect of freedom.

BigDog said...

I repeat that I think hemp should be legal.

Given pieces of land have differing growing conditions: Length of season, rainfall, type of soil etc etc. Hemp might be more useful on one type of land over another crop.

Hemp should be a crop, like any other, subject to the individual farmers decision as to its worth for planting and harvesting. If hemp were legal, then people (and corporations) would grow it to make money if they thought they could profit from it. That is my point.

I am dubious that hemp is a "miracle crop" that can simply replace other types of fiber production. But then, I am not a farmer, so I don't know the details.

Freedom is an intrinsic good. :)

The Scrutinator said...

Your taste in lefties leaves much to be desired. Woody Harrelson and Michael Moore? Can't you find any more intelligent then them? Yawn.

BigDog said...

Scrutinator:

Is your dog a border collie mix?

DAVE BONES said...

Woof!

Whats wrong with actors?

DAVE BONES said...

Sorry I am a crap lefty if intellectual debate is your thing. Jeff has been trying to educate me by introducing me to Camille Paglia. Is she left?

DAVE BONES said...

If i started posting about "Poststructuralist doubletalk" you'd all tell me to put down the hash pipe again no?

DAVE BONES said...

How about Hunter S Thompson? Thats about as close to the left as I get- and actually read.

BigDog said...

Some actors are admirable people. Some actors trade on their fame to make ideological or political statements, not necessarily wrong with that as long as professional fame is not confused with political acumen.

Camile Paglia is a "liberal" in the American sense. Basically left of center. Paglia is intellectually rigorous and self-critical. She is also quite willing to talk to people who disagree with her and listen to their opinion.

She talks very fast and she has a lot of interesting things to say. My brain kicks into overdrive to keep up and I become physically tired just listening. Part of that is that she comes from a different scholarly background and I have to think fast to comprehend.

Hunter Thomas is.... interesting. I love one of Thomas' buddies. I recommend P J O'Roarke and his book Eat the Rich. Funny and irreverant.

I.:.S.:. said...

Hunter and P J O'Rourke - two of my favourite writers. Americans, like most of my favourite writers. So where they fall on your left-to-right spectrum? Where do I fall? Sometimes it seems much too simplistic a way to describe people's politics.

I.:.S.:. said...

And it does seem to me that if market forces had their free, unimpeded way, hemp would be far more widely cultivated (it is an incredibly versatile fibre - for paper, textiles and much more, including types of plastic-substitute fibres), and pot would be sold in packets of 20 joints by Philip Morris and British American Tobacco.

DAVE BONES said...

You know whar I mean like?

the sooner we puke out all this left-right capilalism-communism 20th century stuff and start living like 21st century beings the better.If there is anything I am experimenting with in blogland its that concept.

Its not Socialism or Capitalism. Its humanity being the best it can for itself and its own communal survival.

I'm not against enterprise, its the goal of the enterprise. I think the spell of competition will be broken one day.

I think the spell of Politics will become outmoded.

BigDog said...

lazy: Yeah. I agree that the left/right paradigm in poitics leaves a lot to be desired. For example, Communism is considered Left and Nazism is considered Right. But both comminists and nazies are very similar ideologically and in practice.

Consider: Both ideologies believe in:
1) the perfectability of humankind.
2) centralization of power
3) glorification of labor
4) one party state
5) historic inevitability
6) subordination of individuals to the state
7) religious-like belief systems promising heaven on earth in return for faith.
The Gestapo was modeled on the Soviet NKVD, for which the Soviets were inordinately proud. Both the USSR used mass extermination, forced labor, and concentration camps - the Germans gassed and burned their victims, the Soviets just starved them to death and let them rot. Not to mention that both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had a fetish for really bad art and architecture on a "heroic" scale.

I could go on an on about the similarities, but my point is that supposedly these ideologies are on the opposite side of the politcal spectrum. Doesn't make much sense, when in essence, Nazis and Commies are tyrannical slave states.