Let’s focus on the big picture

Steven Welzer
Jan 25, 2023

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Many of us were very impacted by the worldview presented in the book Ishmael and then further explicated in the appendix (called “The Public Teachings”) of Daniel Quinn’s follow-on novel, The Story of B.

Some anthropologists have complained that some of the theorizing associated with that worldview does not correspond to the most likely dynamics of the transition process from aboriginal to civilized societies.

I think it doesn’t matter. The worldview gives a sense of the key insight: There have been two distinctive human lifeways. One was sustainable and sane. The other is unsustainable, socially/ecologically irresponsible, toxic, enervating, and rather antithetic to sanity.

Let’s not get lost in the details.

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Steven Welzer
Steven Welzer

Written by Steven Welzer

A Green Party activist, Steve was an original co-editor of DSA’s “Ecosocialist Review.” He now serves on the Editorial Board of the New Green Horizons webzine.

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