The Mysteries of History (June 19 Edition)
Juneteenth; Seed Vault Construction Begins
1865/1866/2021 — Juneteenth Is A Fake Holiday
image by PeziBear from Pixabay
Juneteenth is a fake holiday. It celebrates the end of slavery, but there was then and there is not now any true freedom from slavery. The Reconstruction period following the Civil War quickly fizzled out and turned into Jim Crow. Racial and gender prejudice still abound. In fact, there is more slavery now than at any point in human history.
Since slavery has not been abolished, and is instead thriving, how can its end be celebrated? People are still looked down on and taken advantage of based on how they look, where they live, what they believe and, perhaps especially in modern times (as Yoko and John Lennon so insightfully pointed out), when they are female.
Rather than claim slavery has been eradicated, it should be acknowledged that the existing system (its manner of doing business and way of conceptualizing the world and its citizens) has utterly and pathetically failed, its priorities are not just fatally flawed but also viciously perverted, and that man’s narcissistic and megalomaniacal attitudes regarding the rights of others are atrociously awful and even execrably evil.
Slavery lives; in fact, it thrives.
And, sadly, for some Stockholm Syndrome is real.
Questions: Do you think there will ever be an end to prejudice and slavery? Can humans bring it about? If so, why haven’t they been able to? Is it a problem of will or skill (do they not really want to or are they unable to)?
2006 — Seed Vault Construction Begins
public domain image
On this date in 2006, the Scandinavian heads of State (the Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) met on the remote island of Spitsbergen (between Norway and the North Pole) to ceremonially and jointly begin the construction of the Seed Vault.
The purpose of the Seed Vault is to proactively prepare for and defend against a loss of crop diversity and to promote the alleviation of global hunger. By storing seeds in this giant warehouse, any types of crops lost could be replenished by those collected and stored within, re-supplying the world with seed specimens as needed.
The Vault was put into service in 2008. It can hold over two billion seeds.
Questions: Had you heard of the Seed Vault before? How about Spitsbergen? Why was Spitsbergen chosen as the location for the Seed Vault? Do you think the earth will ever be in dire need of its seeds? Has it already been needed for crop calamities? Whose idea was it? What were the motives for creating it? Who paid for it, and continues to? Who benefits from its existence, even when its deposits are not being drawn from to re-introduce crop types? Who pays for them when “withdrawals” need to be made, and who is paid (which governments and/or corporations benefit)?
