Conjured Congeries: Waste
CONTEXT: We are tiny part of a 1) miraculous, 2) finite, 3) isolated planet in a 4) ***gigantic*** void of the universe.
Today, it has been reported that North Korea is sending trash (via 700-1000 balloons) to South Korea.
cultural revenge? or gift?
Apparently this is a material tit (2024, as reported here)
“North Korea has said its balloons were in retaliation for a propaganda campaign by North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea, who regularly send inflatables containing anti-Pyongyang leaflets, food, medicine, money and USB sticks loaded with K-pop music videos and dramas across the border.
The North Korean balloons carrying garbage such as cigarette butts, cloth, paper waste and plastic were found across the capital Seoul from 8 p.m. on Saturday to 1 p.m. on Sunday (1100 GMT on Saturday to 0400 GMT on Sunday), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
for propaganda tat (initiated in 2013 or 2016, unclear).
This slinging of this particular mud is still part of our 1) miraculous, 2) finite and 3) isolated planet.
POV1: Homo sapiens sapiens (N. Korean geographic subculture) is shipping its perceived waste with the intention of materially polluting Homo sapiens sapiens (S. Korean geographic subculture) for its cultural colonization efforts! Acculturation by cross-cultural contamination in 2 modalities!
POV2: Given the void of the universe: North Korea is gifting South Korea natural resources! Reciprocally sharing materials in exchange for cultural offerings!
This novel waste-management-as-cultural-colonization-insult is like a Far Side cartoon - always about a point of view (POV).
This image was lifted from the internet. It is made by Gary Larsen. I have no idea about copyright. Thank you Gary.
While a similar 2016 campaign was deemed shipping of “hazardous biochemical substance”, I wish for South Korea (and all of us) to begin to understand this as a GIFT.
Most of the universe is EMPTY! Our earth —a magical pile of matter— is really miraculous. None of it is waste, really.
This Mineral Education Coalition fact sheets produced by SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration) indicates that each US citizen requires >40,000 pounds of new minerals every year!
Over our lifetime, that adds up!
And given the Product Lifetime reductions from organized Planned Obsolescence (1930s innovation by a New York Real Estate broker, Bernard London “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence” to stimulate the economy through human-induced notions of 'obsolescence’ - creative waste), what we mine that we don’t keep in our homes, we landfill. All this ‘waste’ is just a tiny bit of very rare matter in the great big void! Let’s try to celebrate trash, re-animate it, re-use it, rather than be insulted by it.
I abject!
DEFINITION: ABJECT
“In critical theory, abjection is the state of being cast off and separated from norms and rules, especially on the scale of society and morality. The term has been explored in post-structuralism as that which inherently disturbs conventional identity and cultural concepts.” Wikipedia.
DEFINITION: CONJURE
“to make something appear by magic, or as if by magic”
DEFINITION: CONGERIE
"a collection into one mass or aggregate," 1610s, from Latin congeries "heap, pile, collected mass"
Planet Earth is a magical heap - no abjection!
