City is Undone (Part II)

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"One of the peculiarities of the white race's presence in America is how little intention has been applied to it. As a people, wherever we have been, we have never really intended to be. The continent is said to have been discovered by an Italian who was on his way to India. The earliest explorers were looking for gold, which was, after an early streak of luck in Mexico, always somewhat farther on. Conquests and foundings were incidental to this search - which did not, and could not, end until the continent was finally laid open in an orgy of goldseeking in the middle of last [19th] century. Once the unknown of geography was mapped, the industrial marketplace became the new frontier, and we continued, with largely the same motives and with increasing haste and anxiety, to displace ourselves - no longer with unity of direction, like a migrant flock, but like refugees from a broken anthill. In our own time we have invaded foreign lands and the moon with the high-toned patriotism of the conquistadors, and with the same mixture of fantasy and avarice." -Wendell Berry "The Unsettling of America"

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In more of a mood for processing small portions throughout this process - hoping to be a more mindful consumer of heavy information. For example, "fantasy and avarice"? Dictionary please! Avarice - "excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain." Good to know.

Berry immediately confesses that the above statement is too simple - and we will elaborate on the grey zone in several future posts - but for now, we must try sit with a few images (ie "laid open in an orgy of goldseeking") - breathe them in - contemplate them - and put yourself in those images.


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Watch Money, Power and Wall Street on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

"The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it." - Gordon Gekko 1987

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