Message-ID: <19960930143254359.AAA78@smtp.persocom.com.br> Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 14:32:55 +0000 From: Joaquim Moura <mailto:joaquim.moura@PERSOCOM.COM.BR> Subject: Re: Food, culture and development To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Dear Friends, an active member of this list (he prefers to stay anonimous) has sent this message to me, asking that I send it to the list. The text is a little controversial , but he thinks it is relevant to the issue of sugar, alcohol, drugs, culture and development... Thanks, Jo. ______________________________________________________________________One major issue to be aware of for developing rapport with diverse groups is the "world view" a group has of its world. Our view of the world is highly ethnocentric. We may think it the only view, but it isn't. Non-white males, for example, talk about what it's like to survive in a white male culture; white males react in shock, because this information is invisible.
Conspiracy theories are always fascinating, because they tend to be tautologies; new evidence can always be fit in. Then, again, perhaps they really are true.....
I heard a Rastafarian who'd spent time with Black Muslims speak on the inner city world view in his part of South Central Los Angeles. I found it fascinating. Note I'm not saying it's true, only that it's fascinating. I quote his ideas w/o censoring.
Moses was familiar w/Egyptian hieroglyphics. A Snake, in that language, referred to an identifiable people - the Scythians. Herodotus wrote on them, and later descriptions of the Mongols match what they were [vicious; cannibals, sometimes serving up a favorite concubine for dinner, &c.] Animal herders, they were essentially bandits. There was an Eden. Genesis 1:29 tells why: it was a vegetarian, really a Vegan Eden. Native American style agriculture, essentially perceived as healthy wilderness, could be used with Biodynamic Agriculture to recreate the Earth as Eden.
Deserts, and ghettoes like our inner cities, are caused by human intervention, and it is possible to heal them. It won't happen- the world's governments are controlled by "Snake People". The major characteristic of Snake People is a diet very heavy in meat, or exclusively meat. The Mongol word for vegetable is the same as their word for grass. The speaker went on to say something about broccoli, and those who refuse it and vegetables. He said that Snake People really enjoyed seeing others suffer, and paid for the research that developed AIDS with genetic engineering, and then had a program to inject it into gay men as an experimental hepatitis vaccine. They spread it to Haiti, as part of, well, paid activity, and then put it in vaccines in Africa. They are behind the heavy duty availability and use of alcohol in the inner cities, and the drug trade.
He then asked who was tearing up the rain forests- people who cared nothing about destruction-animal herders- by extension, Snake People. He asked about the protein conversion of cattle- under 20%, i.e. it takes 5 times the plant protein to make cattle protein, not to mention incredible amounts of water, in arid areas.
For someone in an inner city environment, this could be a very convincing mythology. I share it because we so often assume that other people think like we do, and really they don't necessarily. This kind of belief system can't be dealt with directly, it has to be addressed indirectly. And it does have to be addressed, because it is becoming more and more a part of the mythology of the populations we deal with. Notice that black newspapers are widely reporting that the CIA started the "crack" cocaine epidemic, as well. It is not that relevant whether they did or not; the important point is that the assertion is accepted without question. People perceived as "demons" from the central government have some work to do on rapport before they try to share ideas.
Daniel Quinn's book "Ishmael" reportedly goes into this some, too.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Joaquim Moura - Partners of the Americas Youth and Citizenship Development Commission SHCGN 713 - Bloco I - apt. 202 - Brasilia DF - 70760-739 - Brasil
visit our site and meet us, our efforts and results: http://webwrite.com/partners.bsb-dc Environmental Education + Health + Culture + Income Generation +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Joaquim Moura - Partners of the Americas Youth and Citizenship Development Commission SHCGN 713 - Bloco I - apt. 202 - Brasilia DF - 70760-739 - Brasil
visit our site and meet us, our efforts and results: http://webwrite.com/partners.bsb-dc Environmental Education + Health + Culture + Income Generation +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++