I was pleased and a little surprised to get feedback in
grex 'party' about a long-winded post I made recently, and
I'm was pleased to read kvothe's comments on it today as
well[1].

At the risk of presenting myself as nitpicky, I do want to
mention in response to kvothe's post that I believe
gentrification is generally thought of as an effect that is
caused by the actions of the "gentry"- in our case, the
middle or upper-middle class; whereas, the effect that I
was discusing wasn't caused by the rich vineyard owners
per se, but rather engineered at the government level
specitically to encourage something like the "rural
gentrification" that kvothe mentioned. Sadly, I'm sure that
the political leadership in that part of Oregon would be
quite against gentrification as a rule, in direct
opposition to their actions. Like kvothe said, it's "quite
frankly terrifying."

Having said that, I don't read in there that kvothe was
claiming anything in particular as to who is at fault for
the gentrification, nor do I claim to have any expertise
at all on the matter. I just like blaming politicians, and
am especially disgruntled toward the ones up where my mom
lives, so I want to make sure they take the full blame,
rather than sharing it at all with the rich vineyard
folks. Though, I suppose the rich vineyard folks could
be more cognizant of the ethical footprint of their
housing decisions[2] :)

(sidenote: don't read link [2] as it kind of makes me look
like a jerk, and somewhat bitter. I may be both, but I do
try not to be.)

I'd love also to talk about kvothe's comments about the
issues in politics, the "stuff that goes on behind the
scenes and under the radar of public discourse." To me,
that is the fascinating part of politics. You have the
whiz-bang, high-profile stuff that you read about on all
the major news/propaganda outlets, and then you have the
real stories. You have the fist-ringing, chest-thumping,
my-side/my-team stuff, then you have reality. That would
be intersting to attempt to discuss, perhaps another day
or in another post.

Since I've responded to parts of kvothe's post, I may as
well respond to more, as it was very interesting to read
and covered a lot of ground in a succinct manner (something
I'm not good without a great deal of effort.)

Kvothe talked about eschewing consumption, a topic that
gopherspace has touched on in various ways. I've got the
gopherpedia link up right now for the "hedonic treadmill,"
that kvothe provided, which is fascinating. There is a
mention in there of "abundance denial" as well, which
sounds like it would be interesting to read more about.

I admit that being a consumer bothers me. I want to be a
producer, for various reasons. But I should also note that
I feel it would be near impossible, and maybe even
improper, for me to distance myself from society and its
functioning, including consumerism. Mostly, I want to
dabble in the idea of disconnecting and producing, and
I want to be prepared for a potential eventuality of
being forced to become a producer. I don't want to be
caught unawares, and I don't want to miss out on the
opportunity to delve into a part of myself that I can't
deny.

Lastly, on kvothe's statement in link [1] about shared
resources, such as libraries. Kvothe posted previously
about libraries[3] and I never did write about it, though
I thought about it quite a bit. I love the idea of the
library. I grew up going there for all of my research and
many of my reading needs. I first used unix on a library
terminal. I first downloaded and installed linux from
floppies in a library. As a kid, they were amazing places.

I grew up in Oregon, and I recall when the internet hit
the libraries. People were absolutely convinced that the
books were all going to be trashed, and we'd be left with
a giant room of glowing CRTs and hypnotized children.
There would be no more need for dead-tree materials, if
everything could be had on a screen. I remember the debates
about filtering content, predators, et al. The library
world seemed to be headed toward an inglorious apocaplytic
ending.

Of course, all of the fuss just slowly went away. I love
going to my local library now, primarily for their dead-
tree resources, but also for their free DVDs, and to use
their quiet desk space. They have computers, but they have
by no means taken over; primarily they seem to be used by
people who can't afford internet or a computer of their
own, and that is magnificent. I doubt they're filtered, but
I haven't checked. The place doesn't seem to be the haunt
of the indecent or predatory. On the contrary, the library
where I live is clean, safe, comfortable, and highly
condusive to either work or study. The whole family loves
it.

I haven't really thought of using the library as a way to
reduce my own needs or foodprint in the economy as kvothe
mentioned, but that seems like a worthy effort. I think
that when I think of living a more self-sufficient life, I
could probably make more effort to determine how that fits
in with the lives around me, and the shared resources that
are being maintained.

[1] gopher://sdf.org:70/0/users/kvothe/phlog/2018/03/02-friday
[2] gopher://grex.org:70/0/~tfurrows/thoughts/jargon/gentrification.txt
[3] gopher://sdf.org:70/0/users/kvothe/phlog/2018/02/13-libraries

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