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Black Elk Speaks. I Don't Think Indians Are a Passe Subject at All

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Black Elk Speaks. I Don't Think Indians Are a Passe Subject at All IN THE ABSENCE 0 F THE SACRED IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SACRED THE FAILURE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE IN DIAN NATIONS JERRY MANDER Sierra C:lub Hooks •!• San Francisco Tlw S1n1.1 l 'l11h, l1111111kd 111 1H1p hy lol111 M1111, h.i- drv111rd llsrll 10 d1r s111dy a11d p11•I<'< 11011 ol 1hr r.111h\ "r1111 .11111 <'< ologu al 1no1111 n 111011111a111s, wrda11d~, woodl.111.I,, wild 'ho1n .1111l 11\·1·1,, dnrll' .111.I pla111s. Thr p11hhsh1111: pro1-:ra111 of d1r S11·11.1l'l11h11tl1·1' hook' lo lhr p11hl1< ·"a 11011p1ol11 rd111 a111111al srrv11r 111 d1r hopr 1ha1 th<'\' 111.1v <'lll.1rg1· tlw p11hh1's 1111drrs1a111h11g ol lh<' ( :luh\ haSI< 10111rrm. Thr poi111 of \'IC'\\' n:pr<'ssrd 111 rarh hook, howrvrr, dors 1101 nnrssarily rrprrsr111 1ha1of1hr ( :luh. Thr Sirna l ~l11h has so111r six1y 1hap1ns 1oas1 10 1oas1, i11 ( :;111ada, I lawaii, a11d Alaska. For 111for111a11011 ahoul how you may par1i1ipa1r 111 i1s pro1-:rams lo pri-srrvr wildrrnl"ss a11d 1hi- quality oflilC-, plrasr addrrss i11q11irirs IO Sirrra Cl11h, 7ill Polk S1rrrt, Sau Francisco, C:A 94109. Copyright© 1991 by }rrry Mandl"r Sierra Cluh Books papl"rhack l"dition: 1992 All rights rl"Sl"rV!"d under International and Pan-American Copyright Convl"ntions. No part of this hook may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or ml"chanical means, including information storagl" and rl"tril"val systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. The author gratl"fully acknowledges permission to reprint portions of the following copyrighted materials: From A Basic Call to Consciousness: The Hau De No Sau Address lo the Western World, published by Akwesasne Notes, reprinted by permission of Akwesasne Notes; from Now That the Buffalo's Gone by Alvin Josephy, Jr., copyright© 1982 by Alvin Josephy, Jr., reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; from William N. Fenton, ed., Parker on the Iroquois (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1984), excerpts from pp. 12, 32, 38, 39, 41, 55. By permission of the publisher; from Stone Age Economics by Marshall Sahl ins, published by Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago. Reprinted by permission of Marshall Sahlins; excerpts from Village Journey by Thomas R. Berger. Copyright© 1985 by Inuit Circumpolar Conference. Reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc.; from Mind Children by Hans Moravec. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, copyright© 1988 by Hans Moravec. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mander, Jerry. In the absence of the sacred : the failure of technology and the survival of the Indian Nations I by Jerry Mander. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87156-509-9 1. Indians-Social conditions. 2. Indians-Land tenure. 3. Indians-Civil rights. 4. Technology-Social aspects. 5. Technology-Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title. E98.S67M36 1991 970.004 I 97-dC20 Jacket design by Paul Bacon Book design by Seventeenth Street Studios Composition by Wilsted & Taylor Production by Amy Evans Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper containing a minimum of 50% recovered waste paper, of which at least 10% is post-consumer waste. 10 9 8 7 To the memory of Dan Bomberry CONTENTS INTRODUCTION "INDIANS SHMINDIANS," i PART ONE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD HAVE ASKED ABOUT TECHNOLOGY, 9 CHAPTER ONE GROWING UP WITH TECHNOLOGY, 11 City, Woods, Suburbs + Shopping + Family Doctor + Milton Berle + Family Buick + Florida + Summer Camp + Democracity + The American Dream CHAPTER TWO FANTASY AND REALITY, 25 Ingredients of the Pro-Technology Paradigm CHAPTER THREE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NEGATIVE VIEW, 37 "Holistic" Criticism + Guilty Until Proven Innocent + Retrospective Technology Assessment: Cars and Telephones + Victims of Technology + Ten Recommended Attitudes About Technology PART TWO THE INEVITABLE DIRECTION OF MEGATECHNOLOGY, 51 CIIAl'TER F<>UR SEVEN NEGATIVE POINTS AH<>UT C<>MPUTERS. ')~ 1. Pollution and Health 2. Employment ~·Quantification and ( '.onrq1tual Change 4. Surveillance c;. The Rate ol' Accdc.'ration (1. Ct'ntralization -;. \V111sl <'.asr Sn·nario: :\1110111a111 ( :0111p11ln Warlarr + (:an Wr Blarnr ( :0111p111ns ~ < 'l IAl'Tl-.ll l'l\'I·. TFLF\'ISl<>N (1): AUl>l<>VISUAL TRAININ<; F<>R TH F M<>I>ERN W<>RLI>, 7c; Li,·ini.: Inside Media + Freedom of Speech for the Wealthy + The 'ICchnology of Passivity + :\ccderation of the Nervous System + Perceptual Speedup and Confusion + The Politics of Confused Reality • The lelevision President + Late News: Video War CHAPTER SIX TELEVISION (2): SATELLITES AND THE CLONING OF CULTURES The Case ofthe Dene Indians, 97 "Unpopulated Icy Wasteland" + Invasion from Outer Space + Testimonies + Effects on Storytelling + Visit to School + The Ravens CHAPTER SEVEN CORPORATIONS AS MACHINES, 120 Corporate Shame + Corporate Schizophrenia + The Corporate/Human Dilemma: Three Cases + Eleven Inherent Rules of Corporate Behavior + Form Is Content CHAPTER EIGHT LEAVING THE EARTH: SPACE COLONIES, DISNEY, AND EPCOT, 138 Business Opportunities in Space + Futurists Love Space Travel + Star Seeding: Sending the "Best Humans" to Space + Banishment from Eden + The West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada + EPCOT Center, Orlando, Florida + San Francisco, the Theme Park + Antidote: Reinhabitation of the Earth CHAPTER NINE DEVELOPING THE GENETIC WILDERNESS, 161 Scientist as Businessman + Best-Case Scenarios + Six Negative Points About Genetics + Guilty Until Proven Innocent CHAPTER TEN IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SACRED, 178 Molecular Engineering + The Postbiological Age + The Madness of the Astronaut + Megatechnology + Statement to the Modern World PART THREE SUPPRESSION OF THE NATIVE ALTERNATIVE, 195 CHAPTER ELEVEN WHAT AMERICANS DON'T KNOW ABOUT INDIANS, 197 The Media: Indians Are Non-News + Prevalent Stereotypes and Formulas + Indians and the New Age + Cultural Darwinism CHAPTER TWELVE INDIANS ARE DIFFERENT FROM AMERICANS, 211 "Mother Earth" + Table of Inherent Differences + "We Are Helping You" CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE GIFT OF DEMOCRACY, 225 Rule Without Coercion + Our Founding Fathers, the Iroquois + The Great Binding Law of the Iroquois Confederacy + Iroquois Nation, 1991 CHAPTER FOURTEEN LESSONS IN STONE-AGE ECONOMICS, 246 Pre-Technological Leisure + Banker's Hours + Dietary Intake + Deliberate Underproduction + The Choice of Subsistence + The Creation of "Poverty" + Fast Forward: Leisure in Technotopia + The Alleged Superiority of Modern Resource Management PART FOUR WORLD WAR AGAINST THE INDIANS, 263 CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE IMPERATIVE TO DESTRC)Y TRADITIONAL INDIAN GOVERNMENTS The Case of the Hopi and Navajo, 265 Declaration of Independence + First Came the Hopi + Arrival of the Navajo + Hopi-Navajo Symbiosis + The Americanization of Indian (;overnrnents + Current Events CllAl'TER SIXTEEN THE IMMINENT THEFT OF ALASKA, 287 From Communal to Corporate + The Requirements of Corporatl' Protit + "Social Engineering" + ANCSA's Ellect on the Yupik Eski111os + Rt·sisLllKt' to Cash Economy + Reinstate1nent of Native ( ;ovt·rmnt·nts 1 'I IAl'TI· II Sl·.\'I· NTI· l·.N TllF Tl IFFT <>F NFVAl>A Thr <.'11.•r o( thr U'r.rtrrn Shmhm1r.1, {O { l..1nd or l\lont'y~ • Indian Claims Commission: Plot A).:ainsl till· Indians • "Wt' Should I lavt' LislC"nC"d 10 ( >ur (>Id PC"opk" • The" I )ann SislC"rs' ( :asc: • !\IX l\lissik + Visits with the c;ovcrnmcnt • Currc:nl Evc:nts CHAPTER El<;t ITEEN DESECRATION OF SACRED LANDS The Case of the Native Hawaiians, 319 The Fourth of July, 1980 • The Great Mahele • The Invasion of Kahoolawe • The Desecration of Pele • Current Events CHAPTER NINETEEN WORLD NEWS BRIEFS (1): THE PACIFIC BASIN AND ASIA, 341 "Fourth World" Wars • The Pacific Basin + Asia CHAPTER TWENTY WORLD NEWS BRIEFS (2): CANADA, EUROPE, AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA, 361 Canada + Europe + Africa + Latin America EPILOGUE THE NEW ORDER AND THE NEW RESISTANCE, 377 1. Market Economy 2. "We Can't Go Back" 3. Signs of Life 4. Against Pessimism Appendix, 397 Acknowledgments, 407 Bibliography, 411 Index, 427 IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SACRED • INTRODUCTION ' ' INDIANS SHMINDIANS ' ' ELEPHONE CALL FROM a New York editor: Mander, you've got two Tbooks out there now; they're both selling. Are you working on any­ thing new? Mander: Yes. Editor: What's the subject? Mander: Indians. Editor: Indians? Oh God, not Indians. Nobody wants a book about In­ dians. Indians have been done in New York; they're finished. Indians shmindians. Mander: That's the point. The Indian problem is not over. In some parts of the world it's worse than it was here. Editor: Indians! Mander, you're some kind of goddamn romantic. Like Brando or somebody. Mander: Don't worry, I'll deal with that "romantic" thing in the book. Editor: How's your agent going to sell it? Indian books don't sell. Mander: They said that about TV books. Anyway, Indian books do sell. Look at Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and look at Castaneda and Peter Matthiessen's books. Look at Black Elk Speaks. I don't think Indians are a passe subject at all. People do want to know about Indians. The trouble is that people are told mainly about dead Indians. They don't get to hear about what's going on now, or why. Editor: What's the title? Mander: Maybe I'll use your title. Editor: What title is that? Mander: Indians Shmindians. It's got a catchy paradoxical ring to it. It's 2 IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SACRED memorable, it's sensational, and it does seem to summarize our cultural attitude. • • • Originally I planned to write two books. The first was to be a critique of technological society as we know it in the United States, a kind of sequel to Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. Instead of concentrat­ ing on TV, though, it would have focused on the new technological age: "the information society," computerization, robotization, space travel, artificial intelligence, genetics, satellite communications. This seemed timely, since these technologies are changing our world at an astoundingly accelerating rate.
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