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In this episode, Dani talks about convenience, both in modern US society and within Communities.
For recommendations and links, view full episode notes.
Dani is honest and refreshing in her takes on the world and society. Listen as she explains how she’s come to understand the world through kindness, both towards ourselves and everything else.
[0:00] Hello friends! Welcome to Understanding Kindness, a podcast hosted by me, Dani! I’m someone who approaches life by learning from everyone around me, and I’ve decided to write it all down and talk about it here with you. I’ve learned that in order to create change in this world, we need to understand ourselves and the world around us, all while infusing kindness into everything we do. If I can do it, you can do it, and we can do it together. Welcome to Understanding Kindness.
[0:30] Hey there! Today I’m going to be introducing a topic I mentioned briefly last episode that I think definitely needs some more explanation and discussion. I’ll begin with this episode on convenience. We’ll talk about conveniences in modern “US” society and how they impact our daily lives. We’ll also discuss how we can find convenience in Community. There are many nuisances at play here and this intro doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Hopefully it got you interested though! Shall we jump in?
[1:02] Today we’re gonna talk about man camps for our Native segment. I briefly mentioned man camps in the last episode when talking about the TransMountain oil pipeline and its Secwepemc resistance. Man camps aren’t unique to this specific pipeline or territory though. According to secwepemculecw.org, “Man camps are temporary housing facilities constructed for predominantly male workers on resource development projects in the oil, pipeline, mining, hydroelectric, and forestry industries.” They are often constructed on or near the Indigenous territories they are “developing” on and they are the main contributor to MMIWG2ST, or Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, 2 Spirit, and Trans folx. Being on Indigenous territories, man camps are constructed away from cities, and include mostly non-Native cis-gendered male workers from all over the country and even outside of the country. Typically, a man camp houses 1-2,000 workers, sometimes doubling the local population. These man camp “Communities” house Men in temporary housing or “barracks-style portables”. With so many Men in close proximity, and while being outsiders in the specific territory, a “camp culture” results. For these workers, “camp culture” has been known to heighten isolation, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, misogyny, and racism. These Men are away from their Families for extended periods of time, face long working hours, and 2-week in, 2-week out working schedules. A combination of a new heightened, disposable income and a culture of “hyper-masculinity, sexism, and apathy towards self-care” lead to increased substance abuse and the shifting of these impacts, directly and indirectly, onto Women, Children, and 2-Spirit Individuals. The direct impacts on these groups were stated perfectly on the secwepemcul’ecw website, and include “higher levels of sexual assault and harassment, and family and domestic violence”. The website also summarizes the indirect impacts as well, “Increased gender inequality as a result of higher wages for resource sector workers that drive up food and housing prices, while straining community services put women and 2 spirit people into even more economically precarious situations where they are increasingly dependent on male partners and family members”. The environmental impacts on Indigenous People have also failed to be considered and addressed by governments. It’s quite clear that the impacts on and rights of Indigenous Peoples, specifically Indigenous Women, Children, and 2 Spirit Individuals, are not even considered when discussion of “development” and resource extraction through their territories takes place during government proceedings. This blatant disregard for the health and lives of not only Indigenous Peoples, but all Peoples, points to the continued genocide of entire nations and our entire species. Man camps are a strategic move by governments to continue this legacy. To learn up more on man camps, the harm they cause, and Indigenous-led resistance to the resource extraction projects that support and supply these man camps, visit secwepemculecw.org. That’s s-e-c-w-e-p-e-m-c-u-l-e-c-w .org. There’ll be a link in the episode notes.
[4:37] A little interruption before we really get into today’s episode: I want to announce that all transcripts for all episodes are now available on UnderstandingKindness.com! I recently finished transcribing all of the episodes and put them up on the website. If you’d like to read along with the episodes or are hard of hearing, all transcripts are now available for you at UnderstandingKindness.com.
I also want to acknowledge that this episode is coming out exactly one year after the first episode. A whole year of Understanding Kindness. I’m overjoyed and humbled that I’ve continued this for a whole year and that People like you are actually listening! Thank you for your support. Here’s to many more!
[5:21] {Singing} *Shooouuuuut-Ooooouuuutttttsssssss*
Hello there, my beautiful Patrons! Thank you very much, once again. If you’d like to become a member of the patreon family, visit patreon.com/understandingkindnesspodcast. We’d love to have ya!
[5:42] Alrighty, onto the main topic. There’s a lot to unpack today, so let’s just begin. Convenience. What is it? Why do we love it? Do we need it? Convenience, according to Merriam-Webster, is “something (such as an appliance, device, or service) conducive to comfort or ease”; also, “freedom from discomfort”. We’ll use both of these definitions while thinking about convenience today. Let me pull out two words used in these definitions: comfort and discomfort. According to both of these definitions, convenience is a way to make something that is uncomfortable comfortable. I’m sure you know how I feel about comfort and being uncomfortable by now, but I’ll review for those newbies here. Simply, uncomfortability is where we grow. Our lives are surrounded by convenience and things that strive to make us feel comfortable. In a society where we aren’t forced to be uncomfortable by our living situations, we are perpetually coaxed into the lifestyle of convenience, where life will be “easy”. Don’t want to spend your time cutting up some Garlic? Here’s a handy little machine for just that purpose- and it does it in seconds! All that time spent cutting Garlic in the past can now be used for other things- like work! Don’t have time, or just don’t want to do your laundry? Never fear- there’s a service just for that! And you can spend that time “saved” on some more work! What about raising those pesky kids? How time-consuming! Why not just drop them off at daycare so you can spend your time at work!
[7:19] Before I get too far into the episode, I want to state that I am by no means whatsoever blaming any Individual for the ways that they try to make their lives convenient and free up some time, even if it is for work. These issues go way, way deeper than the Individual. Today’s episode is discussing systems and tactics used to create this specific capitalistic society we live in, and even more specifically in the so-called United States because that’s where I’ve grown up and lived my entire life. I am merely being blatant here to shed light on the ridiculous realities that this society and culture are based on. As always, this show is questioning things and attempting to understand them at a deep level so we can be active participants who choose our ways of life, rather than just going with the flow.
[8:09] You may have guessed where I’m going from my descriptions of those convenient time-“saving” gizmos and services: we tend to spend that “extra” time on work. Of course, none of that time is actually “extra”. We all have limited time here, there is no “extra” of it. So what does the term “extra” mean when talking about time? You may have also guessed this one too. Having “extra” time means having time to do things outside of work, or dedicating time that would have been used on things outside of work, like child-rearing, to actually working. But why must our “extra” time be spent on work? Obviously we need to work to earn money to live. It’s quite funny how that is a concept that is just accepted without any further thought. Well, of course you have to earn money to live! How else are you going to afford rent or a mortgage, or food, or clothes? We’ve got to work to earn money so we can stay alive. But think about that for a moment. First of all, do you know any other way to live? Have you ever been taught another way of life? Are you positive there’s no other way to live life? Can you be sure that what you’ve been taught about other ways of life aren’t lies told to you by the current system under which you live?
[9:30] Convenience is something that is sold to us. Those seconds “saved” on cutting Garlic cost approximately $18. That laundry service about $10 per load. And daycare? Gosh, that one could run you up $10,000 a year! And what are we really trading this time “saved” for? In the cost of cutting Garlic, we’re probably likely trading some relaxation time. If I just spent 8 hours of my life today on working for someone else to get paid only a fraction of what I’ve helped earn, I’d trade just about anything to get some time to myself! The same can be said for a laundry service. If I’d given 40 hours of my life every week to someone else for some money to live, I wouldn’t want to spend the only 72 waking hours I have to myself in a week on chores! And that’s if I actually have those 72 hours to myself. Those with kids know that almost none of those hours are your own. No wonder we have daycares to substitute us raising our kids ourselves! I’m exhausted just thinking about how much time and attention having children demands on their parents. Now throw in there a 40+ hour work week? It’s no wonder we look for convenience in every aspect of our lives.
[10:47] What if we lived in a society where child-rearing was held to a higher level of importance? Molding and shaping the minds of our young, by those who care about them most. What if our society placed value on spending our time with our Children, showing them how to cook, how to take care of themselves, how to interact with others and the world around them? That takes a lot of time and effort, and honestly there’s nothing convenient about it. But what if, in this society, we placed value on Community and Community support? So even when you did need a rest from cooking, or chores, or raising the Children, there’s always someone there who can pick up some slack so you could get some rest. Because we understand that everyone needs a break, needs to rest. In a society like that, there could be Community work to grow a Garden to provide food for everyone, and everyone has a hand in helping with the Garden as it’s a source of life for everyone. And everyone has a hand in raising the Children as they’re a source of continuing our species and cultures. And everyone has a hand in the daily chores as they affect everyone. Now there is some type of convenience in this type of society.
[12:00] To me, the type of convenience involved in a society like this one is very different from the type of convenience we’re all used to in today’s “US” society. The convenience involved in Community is the Community itself. All of the responsibilities don’t just fall onto the parents or owners of the property. In this type of society, convenience can’t be sold as a commodity. It’s something provided for the Community, by the Community. It’s self-sufficient, and no one needs to sell it to us. We give it to each other. And when it is trying to be sold to us, we can ask why. If we can provide for ourselves, why must we be sold things? In fact, not just why, but how. How has it been sold to us almost our entire lives if we’re able to provide it within Communities? Let’s take a look at it like this:
[12:58] We live in a society where we’ve put value on an arbitrary piece of paper that we call money and in a system where the more money you have the higher your chances of living are. So, obviously we all need to earn some money to live. Within this society in the so-called US at this current point, we’ve deemed that the average workweek is 40 hours. So, every single week, we expect that Individuals give 40 hours of their lives to live within this society. Now when you consider that the total amount of hours in a week is 168, and you take off 8 hours on average a day for sleep you’re at 112 waking hours per week. That’s only 16 hours a day! Now take out those 40 hours you’re spending working, just working, not counting commute time, you’re at 72 hours, or just over 10 hours a day on average. Let’s say someone works 40+ hours a week for 40 years of their life. They’ve given at least 82,300 of their total 116,480 waking hours over the past 40 years to someone else. That’s more than two-thirds of their lives during that time! That time could’ve been spent with their Children, with their Families, with their Communities, with the People they love.
[14:20] If I was giving more than two-thirds of my life to someone else for money to live an independent, shiny, cool life I’d want to find any way to try to get more time for myself. I’d spend a lot of that money on finding things that will make my life more convenient so I could feel like I have more time just to myself. But it’s just that, it’s a feeling really. Yeah, it may feel like I’m really getting to relax when I’m able to veg out on the couch after a long 8-hour day doing something I don’t really care about, but I know I’ll feel like shit tomorrow from lying down all day and eating snacks. But I also know that I was just too exhausted from that 40-hour workweek to have gone on that bike ride or walk in the park instead. I just spent the whole week either giving someone else my time or dreading the fact that I have to give someone else my time. I’ve got to find convenient solutions to my daily life chores. I’m just tired! And to think, I even could’ve been spending that time with the People I love.
[15:23] Imagine if we were able to spend more time with the People we love because we didn’t have to give at least 40 hours of our lives a week to someone else to live. It seems like we’d be a lot happier. But, then again, we’d still have to do all those chores and we can’t provide everything for ourselves. Luckily, when we’re with People we love, generally we all take care of each other…like a Community. So, if one of us isn’t very skilled in growing food, there may be someone else in our Community who is a skilled gardener. Or perhaps there’s someone who loves doing laundry. There may be People who love Children and would love to take on the childcare responsibilities. But perhaps there isn’t someone within our small Community who knows how to make clothes. How would we get around that without finding a convenient solution like a clothing store? Communities do not have to be completely independent of each other. Trading is a wonderful tool to use because not everyone is skilled at all things and not every Community has all the skills. We can communicate across Communities and help each other out when in need.
[16:33] In societies like these, those within the society help provide for everyone else in the society, and societies work together to ensure everyone is taken care of. Our current world is organized similarly to this, however on a much larger scale and many, many things are outsourced to faceless societies around the world. This model though, is based off of ancient societies and ways of life. It’s quite helpful to not have to reinvent the wheel.
[17:03] Now, one more thing that I want to mention on convenience before wrapping up here. The type of convenience we experience in “US” society does nothing for our creativity. As I’ve mentioned before, our creativity is stunted by things being convenient. Why look for a creative solution to a problem when there’s a specific convenient thing to solve it? Nowadays we have convenient solutions for almost every problem in our current world. Someone somewhere has thought of a convenient way to solve a minute problem, and they’ve sold it to us. Much of that precious money that we’ve spent our abilities and finite amount of time here to acquire is spent on those gizmos and services that will make our lives that much easier because, again, we’re forced to give so much of our precious time to someone else in order to survive in this society. And those who are selling those convenient products are only trying to survive here as well. We all need to find ways to make that money somehow. Again, though, what if convenience was shifted from gizmos and services to Communities helping and providing for one another?
[18:11] Convenience is easy to sell because we’re all on the lookout for it. We’re selling our lives and abilities to others for a fraction of what we procure in exchange for pieces of paper that the- that determine if we’ll be able to survive another day in this society. Of course we’re looking for ways to make our little bit of free time easier and actually our time! If we take our minds out of that daily “grind” and look to those around us, those we love, those who we’re sacrificing spending time with to earn money for that independent, shiny lifestyle, we can see that they are sources of Life and Relationship and Community. We cannot do everything on our own. We need each other, and funnily enough, things work out swimmingly when we’re all working towards the same goals and are helping each other out along the way. In fact, our minds are much more at peace when we are connected to our resources and sources of life. Much more at peace than when we purchase something on the World Wide Web or from a grocery store from some faceless, nameless someone somewhere in the world.
[19:17] {Singing} *Recommendaaaationsssss*
Today, our recommendation is again secwepemculecw.org for more info on man camps and Indigenous-led resistance to resource extraction. Visit secwepemculecw.org to learn more. That’s s-e-c-w-e-p-e-m-c-u-l-e-c-w .org.
I want to recommend “1984” by George Orwell here. This book opened my eyes to how our current “US” society is run and operates. I find similarities all the time between the society portrayed in this book and the society I live in. Highly recommend for a deeper dive.
Lastly, for some background info for the next episode, check out Annie Leonard’s “The Story of Stuff: The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-And How We Can Make it Better“.
[20:15] If you enjoyed this episode, help support the podcast! All this content is free and I’d love to make it my job one day, so if you’re financially able join our patreon or send a one-time or recurring donation through paypal! You can also share an episode with family or friends, and give UK a kind rating and review!
Check out UnderstandingKindness.com for all episodes, transcripts, and blog posts. And why not take a listen to my other podcast, Better When Awkward, co-hosted by my childhood best friend Jasmine!
Get in touch with me by emailing UnderstandingKindness@protonmail.com, or through social media. You can find all links in the episode notes.
For now, be kind, be compassionate, be understanding, and question everything. I’ll be here. Thank you for listening to this episode of Understanding Kindness. [End transcript]