Civilization is Bad For You and Your Children

We just watched the movie Dances With Wolves. That came out the first year I was in college (1990). I think I even saw it, maybe even in a theater, but it didn't make much of an impression because I barely remembered anything about it. It's not a great movie, and it's pretty hackneyed in some ways, and novel in others.

The movie, for example, portrays the civil war in the United States as a sort of spiritual ruination of the country, which is a novel take to me anyway. Costner's character (I'll just call him Costner) emerges from that destruction and goes to the frontier, really to escape the United States and civilization. (back then you really could do it... today you can in Alaska, maybe.) He's not really conscious of what he's doing though. He continues to play the role of soldier even though the Union Army forgets he exists. He gradually integrates into the Sioux tribe via a series of "accidents" and slightly supernatural interventions (e.g. the wolf who won't leave him alone).

The movie really shows the concept of "Grow the Man/Shrink the Beast" very well. Costner gradually turns into a more complete human by shedding his systemic roles, including his name and becomes Dances With Wolves. It also portrays the demonic nature of the system, but in a fairly hamfisted way.

When my ancestors encountered Rome around the time of the psychopath Julius Caesar--why is July still named for that asshole--they reportedly were living the same pastoral lifestyle as the indian tribes of today. Europe was graudally 'borged into a new version of the Classical World's butt fucking/slavery/usury model. My ancestors went from chasing deer to chasing gold and silver too.

It's quite possibly, and maybe even likely that the civilization beast is lurking everywhere in the world. The portrayal of the frontier in the US as pure deletes the role of human choice in maintaining that world.

The Americas had big Empires, evil priest freakshows, and the whole rest of it. The idealization of the Sioux deprives them of the notion that the consciously chose to live the way they did for generations maybe like the Amish make conscious decisions to live the way they do today.

Civilization has its good points, but in many ways it's pretty evil and destructive not only of the natural world, but of humans. It makes people dumber and dumber and smaller and smaller. I wouldn't be surprised, for example, if Atlantis didn't really disappear, but the people turned into literal Pygmies with low IQs tens of thousands of years ago.