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Derrick Jensen

Derrick Jensen Quotes

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Famous Derrick Jensen Quotes

“I thought that, given the system of rewards central to our economic system, in which profit maximization is valued above all else and specifically above life, it is probably just as irresistible to the owners of capital (human or otherwise) to exploit workers (and the land): "Nothing personal," they say as they load their property onto the ship bound for the Middle Passage, "but a man's gotta turn a dime."”

MenHumansTurnsGivenEconomicLandMiddlePropertyRewardsWorkersBoundsProfitShipsOwnersPassagesLoadExploitsIrresistibleDimesEconomic SystemsMiddle PassageProfit Maximization
Book:The Culture of Make Believe
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“To be clear, civilization is not the same as society. Civilization is a specific, hierarchical organization based on 'power over.' Dismantling civilization, taking down that power structure, does not mean the end of all social order. It should ultimately mean more justice, more local control, more democracy, and more human rights, not less.”

ShouldHumansMeanDoeEndsOrderSocialJusticeDemocracyClearRightsCivilizationOrganizationStructureHuman RightsLocalsSocial Order
Author:Derrick Jensen
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“The pretense that humans are superior to nonhumans is entirely unsupportable. I have seen no compelling evidence that humans are particularly more "intelligent" than any other creature. I have had long and fruitful relationshis with many nonhuman animals, both domesticated and wild, and have reveled in the bouquet of radically different intelligences - different forms, not different "quantities" that they have introduced to me, each in his or her own time, in his or her own way.”

WayHumansLongDifferentFormAnimalCreaturesEvidenceIntelligentSuperiorsArroganceQuantityCompellingPretenseBouquets
Book:Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos
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“The process of schooling does not give birth to human beings - as education should but never will so long as it springs from the collective consciousness of our culture - but instead it teaches us to value abstract rewards at the expense of our autonomy, curiosity, interior lives, and time.”

GivingShouldHumansLongDoeValuesCultureProcessHuman BeingsConsciousnessTeachBirthSpringRewardsCuriosityAbstractCollectivesExpensesInteriorsAutonomySchoolingLife And TimeCollective Consciousness
Book:A Language Older Than Words
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“Question four: What book would you give to every child? Answer: I wouldn't give them a book. Books are part of the problem: this strange belief that a tree has nothing to say until it is murdered, its flesh pulped, and then (human) people stain this flesh with words. I would take children outside and put them face to face with chipmunks, dragonflies, tadpoles, hummingbirds, stones, rivers, trees, crawdads. That said, if you're going to force me to give them a book, it would be The Wind In The Willows, which I hope would remind them to go outside.”

PeopleIfsGivingHumansChildrenSaidBookProblemWould BeFacesBeliefForceAnswersFourTreeStrangeWindBirdRiversStonesFleshFace To FaceStainsHummingbirdsDragonfliesWind In The WillowsTadpolesChipmunks
Author:Derrick Jensen
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