OCR Text |
Show An Interview with Edward Abbey (continued) troubles are and what causes them and what can be done knowledge and the goodwill is here, present in most about them. I think the people. Our problem is how to and decide state policy by public referendum, I would love to see that. I think the majority of the people in this state and in this country are almost always far ahead of those who call themselves the authorities, or presume to be our leaders. They’re not leaders. What was the last leader we had in this country? Thomas Jefferson perhaps. Anyway, my role is just to write books. I’m not really trying to do anything more than that. Write some good books, if possible, and enjoy my life...the lives of my family and friends, and my enemies. I enjoy their problems too. , I see myself as an entertainer...make people laugh. make them cry. translate that knowledge and goodwill and technique into the creation of a true civilization, which I do not think we have. provoke them. make them angry. make them think if possible. To get a reaction. To give pleasure. Kurt Vonnegut says we're still living in the dark ages, I agree with that. But we're still ‘struggling to get out of the dark ages into some kind of enlightenment, I think that’s possible. Still might happen before disaster solves all our problems. If we don’t solve our troubles by reason and goodwill and generosity and mutual aid and sharing, then I think our troubles, national and international, will be solved in the usual way. By catastrophe. By war, famine, plague...what was the fourth horseman? Death. And anyway, even if the human race wipes itself off the face of the earth as Jonathan Schell thinks it might in his book, I still think that life will survive, even if only in the most rudimentary form. I’m in favor of all kinds of life, even bacteria, germs, bugs, insects, scorpions. I don’t think that anything humanity can do will destroy all life on earth. And as long as there’s life in any shape, why there's still hope of some kind. In fact life is good in itself. If we humans are stupid enough to destroy our own lives, that doesn’t necessarily take all of the goodness out of the lives of other creatures that ET) What does the future hold for you, what are your plans? : EA) Oh, write a few more good books and die. I’ve done almost everything I’ve ever wanted to do. Traveled over half the world, enjoyed the love of some good women, and the friendship of some good men. Had some adventures. Wrote a few books that I’m still pleased with. Had a pretty soft easy life. Most of my life I’ve been able to do exactly what I wanted to do. I haven’t had to turn my hand at honest labor for about ten years. And I never did believe in working for more than six months our the the year at any job I didn’t like. So I'll write a few more books, explore a few more places. I'd like to go to Australia again. I’d like to see something of Africa. I’ve got a teenaged daughter, got to get her through the agonies of adolescence before I can shunt her off to college. I'd like to grow wise and venerable, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. might, and I hope will, survive us. I think earth would still be a decent place if there were no humans on it at all. I don’t know exactly what kind of consciousness a dog has, or the wildlife or the birds we see out here, but my impression is on the whole they seem to enjoy their existence and I think it’s worthwhile for its own sake. They’re not dreaming of heaven or some technological utopia. They just find the ordinary daily business of life, Eric Temple interviewed Ed Abbey on several occasions. His documentary, Edward Abbey:A Voice in the Wilderness is available on video at Back of Beyond Books in Moab. breeding, nest building, and finding food a good in itself, and I agree with that. I think the hawks are right and the rattlesnakes. Keep going...continuity. I don’t have any hope of personal immortality, but I am glad I’ve had children. And that therefore I have a stake in the continuity of human life. I think it’s well worthwhile just keeping the game going, whether it leads to any greater end or not. Well, enough of mesophysics. Do you have any simple, easy questions? ET) Yeah, I’ve got one more. What do you see your role as, social commentator, author? EA) My role...I see myself as an entertainer. I’m trying to write good books, make people laugh, make them cry, provoke them, make them angry, make them think if possible. To get a reaction, give pleasure. I do not see myself as a social commentator because I don’t look at any of these things we've been talking about hard enough, I’m not really skilled at it. “Our mission was to kill every last Grizzly bear and wolf in the state, and we did it.” — Curt Mullis, New Mexico's former ADC Director, Santa Fe New Mexican, 7-1-91 For almost five years, Wildlife Damage Review has studied the Animal Damage Control (ADC) program intensively. And while, in the beginning, But I like to write. I like to throw words around. And if I can give pleasure in that form I feel I’m earning my pay. I have no desire to be a leader of any kind, I dislike being called a guru. I think every man should be his own guru, and every woman her own gurette...we should all be leaders. I’m an anarchist. My father was a Wobblie. I.W.W. We should all take charge. We should all be leaders, neither followers nor rulers, make our own decisions. I’m really a democrat, small "d", I really believe in democracy. Direct democracy. I think every issue of any importance should be decided by popular referendum. It’s we believed in the viability of reform, it is now our opinion that ADC is biologically unacceptable, inhumane, wasteful, and verging on criminal. Our mission is to preserve native wildlife and protect healthy native ecosystems by dismantling the Animal Damage Control program and placing management of wildlife into the hands of those whose vested interest is protection of biodiversity. Call or write for more information! nice to see these petitions get on the ballot. The process should be made much easier. If Wildlife Damage Review POB 85218 Tucson AZ 85754 520-884-0883 we could do away with those bunch of morons and moral dwarfs up in the state legislature JAILHOUSE 101 CAMPING OUT??? You say you punched a hole in your therma-rest pad witha beer bottle? MAIN STREET We are Moab's Breakfast Place, we serve only breakfast and we're very good at it. 7 am to 12 noon Weekdays You left your pack on the roof of your SUV and drove off? Your cooler is sitting on the kitchen floor in Salt Lake City? NORTH Saturday & Sunday, until 1 “good enough for a last meal" WE CAN HELP. |