ISHMAEL, by Daniel Quinn

Ishmael

(1) "Once you learn to discern the voice of Mother Culture humming in the background, telling her story over and over again to the people of your culture, you'll never stop being conscious of it. Wherever you go for the rest of your life, you'll be tempted to say to the people around you, 'How can you listen to this stuff and not recognize it for what it is?" (page 37)

(2) "You know how to split atoms, how to send explorers to the moon, how to splice genes, but you don't know how people ought to live." (page 87)

(3) "I have amazing news for you. Man is not alone on this planet. He is part of a community, upon which he depends absolutely." (page 101)

(A,B,C,D)

Biologically speaking, Ishmael opened my eyes in more realistic ways that humans must obey the same laws as the rest of the biological community here on earth. Just because we have the opportunity to master and alter our environment does not necessarily give us the privaledge of taking advantage of it, therefore misusing it. I was astounded and had "an epiphany," in a way, when Quinn simplified and pulled the curtains away from the fact that humans are raised and "brainwashed" subliminally to believe that they are supposed to "maintain control" over the world, and all of its' beings. Using terms like "Mother Nature", and "our country," the media are constantly reminding us that the world is ours. Even when things aren't so "peachy"...they tell us that "our reserves are running low" and "our ecosystem is being comprimised."
"There's nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will act as the lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now." It is this philosophy that made me learn something about myself. I always felt that it was human resposibility for all the animals on earth. However, all we were intented to do was live at peace with the rest of the species on earth. It is now, our responsibility to return the world back to a state of peace and tranquility. I feel like this is quite relevant to the short animated film that we watched in discussion about a single man responsible for the life of 10,000 oak trees, which in turn lead to a new and beautiful ecosystem, where the land was previously desolate and barren.
"Human populations clearly are not limited to consuming the
products of local photosynthesis. Regional and global trade transports
these products widely, such that the environmental impacts of
human consumption are partly realized far from where products are
actually consumed." Consuming is what human's do best nowadays and places like Walmart, as we discussed, only attribute to our need to rely on local goods more.
Quinn truly brings human hypocrisy and ignorance to the table in an unorthodox way of thinking which I believe would stimulate any human being to reconsider the basics that they were taught growing up as a child. Ishmael is very relevant to our class because Quinn is harping on the same major points that we have been discussion and elaborating upon all semester. We spoke about local farming, energy consumption, environmental degradation, and many other factors that humans play a negative and poisitive roles in on this planet. It all boils down to one simple fact...that humans believe that they are the superior species on this planet, and everything was put here for us to reep benefits from. IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE THE EARTH WAS FLAT!