Show notes
Greetings To The Living. Thank you for tuning in to the Up Is Down podcast and double-plus-good thanks to all who support this work. Read ahead for news about supporting this work...
This go round I attempt to bring attention to the often misused term, "homesteading".
If you are building a life of self sufficiency and autonomy through community and self reliance, the hard and sweaty work of agriculture and animal husbandry, trading goods, services and value with other like-minded people and using only cash in your community for mutual aims and benefits, building barns, sheds, coops and gardens by yourself or with others then you, my friend, are not "homesteading".
You are decentralizing, plain and simple. There's no other way to say it. I'm sorry.
There is no more Homesteading. There is only Decentralizing. At least in the United States.
The irony is that all of the things the OG homesteaders did was by necessity for life not a lifestyle choice, which is what makes up the "neo homesteading movement" that we see today; the luxury of choosing a lifestyle and a nostalgia for the past with romance of a fantasy.
The starved, bleeding and puss-filled plight of the mid 19th century homesteader was necessary in order to arrive at the place we are nowadays, which ironically or not, is a place many of us are trying to leave. Another inversion.
It is a disservice, in my opinion, to name that effort "homesteading" when in reality it is an effort at decentralizing, for there is nothing comparable taking place by youtubers, podcasters, and content creators regarding so-called homesteading to the OG pioneering homesteaders of the mid 19th century. Those people tried and died at the urging and incentive of the federal government, a government whose aim was always to form a centralized cohesive class system even if it had to mask that objective in "life, liberty and the pursuit of property".
What we desire is departure from that empirical machine of grinding authority and centralization of power. We desire decentralization. The closest thing we can relate that desire to is a romanticized and programmed notion of the past as way to create a future. But the days of wide open spaces and being left alone are gone and gone for good. And they ain't never comin' back. They will never ever leave you alone.
The truth is that the government first homesteaded the nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by ruthless murder and genocide, then subleased parcels of that property to a handful of poor people while allowing corporate giants of industry to suck up the remaining 80% of those millions of acres of "free land".
We would be wise, conscious and courteous not to compare the luxury of choice we have today with the suffrage of those crafty, tirelessly inventive, sick and starving people 150 years ago. It was a different time. And we ought to use a different word.
***AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM UP IS DOWN***
BETWEEN RECORDING AND PUBLISHING THIS EPISODE PAYPAL HAS RESTORED MY ACCOUNT TO FULL FUNCTIONALITY. FOR NOW ANYWAY. THAT SAID, THE SUREST WAY TO SUPPORT THE SHOW AND THE WORK WE DO HERE IS TO USE THE P.O. BOX ADDRESS FOR DECENTRALIZED SUPPORT ACTIONS LIKE CASH OR CHECKS. THE SECOND BEST WAY TO SUPPORT THE SHOW AND THE WORK IS TO AUTHORIZE YOUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION TO ISSUE A CHECK DIRECTLY FROM YOUR ACCOUNT JUST LIKE ANY OTHER AUTOMATIC PAYMENT FOR ANY OTHER BILLS. YOU CAN USE THE SAME P.O. BOX ADDRESS FOR THE DESTINATION.
***Executive Producers of Ep 127***
William Carter
Dianna Robison
Seth Klann
***Associate Exec. Producers Ep 127***
Chris Jerome
Chris Tropp
Bryan Chapple
Jordan Dyer
+++T H A N K Y O U A L L V E R Y V E R Y M U C H+++
((((S U P P O R T THE S H O W))))
PayPal Support Link:
This go round I attempt to bring attention to the often misused term, "homesteading".
If you are building a life of self sufficiency and autonomy through community and self reliance, the hard and sweaty work of agriculture and animal husbandry, trading goods, services and value with other like-minded people and using only cash in your community for mutual aims and benefits, building barns, sheds, coops and gardens by yourself or with others then you, my friend, are not "homesteading".
You are decentralizing, plain and simple. There's no other way to say it. I'm sorry.
There is no more Homesteading. There is only Decentralizing. At least in the United States.
The irony is that all of the things the OG homesteaders did was by necessity for life not a lifestyle choice, which is what makes up the "neo homesteading movement" that we see today; the luxury of choosing a lifestyle and a nostalgia for the past with romance of a fantasy.
The starved, bleeding and puss-filled plight of the mid 19th century homesteader was necessary in order to arrive at the place we are nowadays, which ironically or not, is a place many of us are trying to leave. Another inversion.
It is a disservice, in my opinion, to name that effort "homesteading" when in reality it is an effort at decentralizing, for there is nothing comparable taking place by youtubers, podcasters, and content creators regarding so-called homesteading to the OG pioneering homesteaders of the mid 19th century. Those people tried and died at the urging and incentive of the federal government, a government whose aim was always to form a centralized cohesive class system even if it had to mask that objective in "life, liberty and the pursuit of property".
What we desire is departure from that empirical machine of grinding authority and centralization of power. We desire decentralization. The closest thing we can relate that desire to is a romanticized and programmed notion of the past as way to create a future. But the days of wide open spaces and being left alone are gone and gone for good. And they ain't never comin' back. They will never ever leave you alone.
The truth is that the government first homesteaded the nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by ruthless murder and genocide, then subleased parcels of that property to a handful of poor people while allowing corporate giants of industry to suck up the remaining 80% of those millions of acres of "free land".
We would be wise, conscious and courteous not to compare the luxury of choice we have today with the suffrage of those crafty, tirelessly inventive, sick and starving people 150 years ago. It was a different time. And we ought to use a different word.
***AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM UP IS DOWN***
BETWEEN RECORDING AND PUBLISHING THIS EPISODE PAYPAL HAS RESTORED MY ACCOUNT TO FULL FUNCTIONALITY. FOR NOW ANYWAY. THAT SAID, THE SUREST WAY TO SUPPORT THE SHOW AND THE WORK WE DO HERE IS TO USE THE P.O. BOX ADDRESS FOR DECENTRALIZED SUPPORT ACTIONS LIKE CASH OR CHECKS. THE SECOND BEST WAY TO SUPPORT THE SHOW AND THE WORK IS TO AUTHORIZE YOUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION TO ISSUE A CHECK DIRECTLY FROM YOUR ACCOUNT JUST LIKE ANY OTHER AUTOMATIC PAYMENT FOR ANY OTHER BILLS. YOU CAN USE THE SAME P.O. BOX ADDRESS FOR THE DESTINATION.
***Executive Producers of Ep 127***
William Carter
Dianna Robison
Seth Klann
***Associate Exec. Producers Ep 127***
Chris Jerome
Chris Tropp
Bryan Chapple
Jordan Dyer
+++T H A N K Y O U A L L V E R Y V E R Y M U C H+++
((((S U P P O R T THE S H O W))))
PayPal Support Link: