Hyborian Bridge 196

Planetary, Island Zero (prev)

She had seen it many times in her mind's eye as she saw it now from the high hill in the yellow light of sunset that turned every pool of the marshes to shining glass. The long causeway to the castle stretched out narrowly between swamps and reeds up to the gate of that grim and eery fortress set alone among the quicksands. This same castle in the marshes, seen at evening from the high hilltop, had haunted her dreams for many nights now. (Jirel of Joiry, Hellsgarde, CL Moore.)

The dreamland of fertile areas is as ancient as human psyche, which stretches back to the dawn of time ('We are five-billion year old carbon', Woodstock.) Psychic rebellion can only occur in tactile situations of ancient lineage - and these are the ones most at threat from an electric-green future.

In the countryside at large, tactile areas are needed for activity - that is, for animals - low-living and furtive. Man manages the territory and - as cricketer turned countryman Ian Botham has said before,

Nature does best when it is managed by pragmatists who live in the countryside. Every farmer and gamekeeper knows that it is full of unavoidable choices. We either have fewer foxes or fewer curlews. Fewer crows or fewer songbirds. (DT)

Those who abhor hunting also discount the predator-prey relationship which has to balance (the greatest game of all would be a T-Rex, a typical staple of adventure/sci-fi/pulp.)

The feuding of creatures is held in balance within a tangled-up-in-green environment of continual regeneration and decay. This is seen most clearly in peat moor; partially decayed plant matter held in water-logged soil.

Peat retains water, and the sphagnum moss terrain contains centuries-old nutrients. Typical moors will have not just grouse for hunting but sheep for grazing and possibly deer.

The diversity of balanced landscapes is echoed by the traditional mixed farm of livestock - which fertilizes the ground with manure - crops and fallow fields.

Like peat, manure in soil is humus, or rotted organic matter that holds rain and nutrients. This archaic cycle of decay and regeneration is under increasing threat from a political-green agenda that seems to involve planting trees, growing crops hydroponically and feeding cows seaweed (in sterile sheds, natch.)

As I tend to say, this is a monocultural future. Tactile situations of ancient fertile lineage imply feuding because the balance of predator-prey must be maintained. Again, as Botham says,

The press release (of lobbyists) says that driven grouse-shooting should be replaced by 'simulsted shooting' which would be a 'viable' alternative for the rural economy. But why should people travel for hours to the remote uplands to shoot clay pigeons when they could do that on the outskirts of any big city? Why would owners spend millions on he upkeep of our heather-clad hills? 

Hunting is active adventure, and adventure takes place in tactile situations of ancient areas - jungle, swamp, moors.

Nature is engaged in ongoing feuding, and this is what moderns of the likes of Chris Packham (prev) cannot abide. These types are busy creating/sponsoring 'smart-infrastructure' where no one need be different, all eat seaweed-fed Macburgers and drive plug-in autos.

Unfortunately, that future is not green, it's sterile. It would be an adventure-free world in that all adventure - from Enid Blyton up - relies on wilderness areas of ancient and cyclical fertility.

What I really mean to imply is that romance is highly related to decadence in the form of dark alleyways bordering grimy docks with the hint of sleaze.

Decadent areas are highly related to the irregular linework of the fertile and the decaying. It's the rich tapestry of the majority of pulps from the 30s on, obviously including Howard's Hyboria.

This was brought home to me by reading Milton Caniff's Terry's and the Pirates. Set in colonial British China, the main theatres of action are the free-trade ports such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and all places in-between.

British law should not be confused with government as these places were relatively self-governing. Caniff was interested in pirates of all descriptions, from submerged European scallywags to glamorous femme fatales and the notorious Dragon Lady.

The decadent ramshackle of his settings is caught in the irregular and shadowy linework of wood beams and uneven surfaces.

Being blunt, 'infrastructure' is a recent invention in that the Romano-British infrastructure of empire mainly consisted of roads and the odd watchtower! What 'they' mean is something that is run by the head as opposed to the active body.

It's worth investigating this more closely, since without the domination of the head the settings are not arranged so much by thought as by happenstance. This is typically seen in traditional Chinese hutongs and the general higgledy-piggledy appearance.

That state of affairs is economically inefficient but ecologically efficient in that the state of untidiness and general mess is healthy and cyclical. Whereas moderns are told to be sterile, the presence of germs is strengthening.

In other words, the traditional environment is green whereas the 'smart-infrastructure'is merely sterile. This isn't the only difference, since a ramshackle, fairly filthy environment carries not just odors but a psychic sense of calm (similar to the way one goes for a walk in the woods.)

An environment that is the creation not of conscious thought but of active needs is tactile and stimulating to the mind. In a word, the active environment is also home to the adventurer.

Because there is much less order in the sense of government, the interactions between people tend to be much more feudal. The illustration above shows Connie's first meeting with Big Stoop, where a couple of European scallywags are pelting him with stones. Connie quickly puts a stop to this and sends them packing.

The casual nature of 'law and order' is carried throughout the strip and is typical of 30s pulps. The individual has much more power to effect change without any interference from 'above', be they Chinese as with Connie, or European adventurers.

In other words, the psyche is much more independent and free-thinking in a state of decadent ramshackle. That state is more ecological than it is merely economic.

What we face in the modern order is the exact opposite of that; what we are told is green is simply increased efficiency via smart-infrastructure (of the economy.) There is nothing ramshackle or leftover.

The effect on the psyche is inhibiting; one cannot argue with 'them' since the constant repetition of the words 'smart-infrastructure'is like a mantra for the nouveau-green agenda.

Of course, the agenda is purely electrical, since that's what a smart-infrastructure is. This in turn means it becomes numerical via algorithms. The plot is to say that algorithms are bound to promote greenness (since they're smart) when in fact they merely promote sterility.