Northern hemisphere → no southern sky constellations myths
The constellation lore of Western cultures owes its origin and richness to centuries of Babylonian, Chaldean, Greek, and Roman imaginations. Remember, these are the same imaginations that gave rise to the endless dysfunctional social lives of the gods and goddesses. Of course, these were all Northern Hemisphere civilizations, which means the constellations of the southern sky (many of which were named only within the last 250 years) are mythologically impoverished.
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Iceland fragile env → conservative
Icelanders became conditioned by their long history of experience to conclude that, whatever change they tried to make, it was much more likely to make things worse than better.
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Australian values & overexploitation
Land overcapitalization resulting from British cultural values (monetary values and belief systems) has been a major contributor to the Australian practice of overstocking, which has led to overgrazing, soil erosion, and farmer bankruptcies and abandonments. More generally, high valuation on land has translated into Australians’ embracing rural agricultural values justified by their British background but not justified by Australia’s low agricultural productivity.
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Rwanda mass killings
- Hutu vs Tutsi?
- Blurry distinction
- Intermarried, switched ethnic identity
- Mass killing of Hutu by other Hutu (northern Rwanda)
- Survival crisis
- Overpopulation
- All lands occupied, larger households, increasing pressure
- Inequality ↑ (off-farm income goes more to larger farms, buying more land from smaller ones)
- Political (proximate) + people carried out thoroughly (ultimate)
As Gérard Prunier, a French scholar of East Africa, puts it, “The decision to kill was of course made by politicians, for political reasons. But at least part of the reason why it was carried out so thoroughly by the ordinary rank-and-file peasants in their ingo [= family compound] was feeling that there were too many people on too little land, and that with a reduction in their numbers, there would be more for the survivors.”
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