The NonProphet Podcast

The NonProphet Podcast


# 108 — Pandemic with Chief Seattle

April 10, 2020

Nic Lazz joins us for another look at the current situation and how we are addressing it personally, locally. We begin with some apologies and clarification regarding episode 107, move on to the cocktail for this episode — a variant of the Black Manhattan — and then get into all things Corona, wealth redistribution, population control, and a few rabbit holes. We end the episode with Michael reciting a speech (or letter) attributed to Chief Seattle as quoted in Buckminster Fuller's book titled "Critical Path". As powerful and moving as these words are, they are fictional, embellishing Seattle's original words for effect as part of a movie script written in 1971 by Ted Perry. Many have quoted these words, including Al Gore, in his book, "Earth in the Balance" (1992).

This actually compels a future discussion about words, how we use them, how we are moved by them, and whether the real source matters as long as we recognize and acknowledge it. If a call to action is based on misattributed words and the outcome is positive for our species and our environment — the planet — where's the wrong?

To quote Barbara Mikkelson, "... the Chief Seattle Speech has something to teach us all: So if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. We may be brothers after all."

That Perry's eloquent speech turned Chief Seattle into a manufactured prophet matters little to us because, after all, we are NonProphet.