Free Greenland
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Back in 2001 I traveled in Asia for a year. You learn fast that when people in the service industry ask you where you are from it has everything to do with sizing you up to see how much to charge you and nothing to do with curiosity of where you are from. So, my wife and I decided we would start telling people we were from Greenland just to keep them off balance. I realized that we needed a little bit of a back story to keep the ruse going so I did some research and that is when I found out the Greenland is a territory of Denmark much like Puerto Rico and Guam are territories of the US.
We developed a pretty good story about how we ran a snowmobile repair business, and it was our first time out of the country. This was all very helpful with Tuk Tuk drivers in India who had a habit of not taking you to your destination and instead taking you to their cousin’s antique store just to browse. The Greenland story kept them off balance. Although one time we did get a ride up to the winter palace in Udaipur and we told the driver where were from and he was very quiet for the ride. When we got up the hill he turned around and was thrilled to tell us we were his first customers from Greenland. We did feel a little bad after that encounter, but he is probably telling all his friends today about his customers from Greenland now that it is in the news.
We found ourselves with a month to kill in Katmandu Nepal after my wife got a hairline fracture of her foot while on a rafting trip. Katmandu has a thriving embroidery business where they will pretty much embroider anything on t-shirts for you. Greenland has a cool flag of the low in the horizon sun setting or rising on the water/ice and since it was a colony of Denmark, I decided it needed freeing. I can’t remember how I got a picture of the flag to the embroidery shop, but I asked for the flag, and it should say Free Greenland. The guy was very hesitant because he had made thousands of Free Tibet shirts, but no one had asked to Free Greenland before. I still have the shirt along with a bunch of other ones that don’t fit anymore that at some point I will have framed.
So I guess I’m ahead of my time but if I wore it now people would probably think I’m MAGA. This fucking timeline.
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Sun so hot, clouds so low
Great story. I can relate.
Great story. I can relate. My wife and I often did not like telling people we were from the USA when we traveled in the Middle East. Sometimes we invented a country.
I bet if you put that shirt on eBay , you could get enough money to go to see Dead and Co.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: El Nino
From TPM
From TPM
Greenland Discourse is Starting to Have that Pre-Iraq War Vibe
...What got me thinking about this was a Politico Nightly newsletter that arrived in my inbox yesterday with the title: The spiritual case for Greenland. Yes, the “spiritual” case for how a deeply inhospitable though massive chunk of land which has had humans living on it off and on for well over a thousand years and still only has a population of about 50,000 people is the key to a cultural and manly rebirth for America....
...You can read the piece yourself but it’s basically a mix of two ideas. First, conquering/buying Greenland will create a new American frontier (sort of an inverse neo-Turnerianism) which will spur a national regeneration of 19th century pioneering values... ...But that’s these guys’ concept. Greenland will become a new American frontier which will spur a rebirth of the masculine, questing values that America lost during what they view as America’s long decline during the 20th century....
....The second version of the “spiritual” argument is that expanding America will provide a kind of testing ground for tech bro/transhumanist experimentation somewhat along the lines of what I described last week with the idea of a “network state,” a tech bro state based on crypto, libertarian values, voting by equity stake and gene-editing. Notably, the folks behind this version of the ‘spiritual’ argument appear to see it is a setting for dry-runs for Elon Musk’s plans to colonize Mars....
....This is all a long way of saying that these Greenland ideas are solutions in search of a problem. But you can see how Trump’s obsession is creating that same gravitational pull, creating a hot house climate where upstart national revivalists are coming up with new reasons to conquer or buy Greenland, explaining the mix of economic, strategic or spiritual awesomeness doing so would bring in its wake.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/greenland-discourse-is-starting-to-...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
Great story, El Nino.
Great story, El Nino. Funny to hear how you adapted to conditions.
I have a new shirt story. Was in a brew pub on Thursday and a guy came up and wanted to buy my "Lock Him Up" shirt right off my back.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Dr. Benway
i know the whole buying
i know the whole buying greenland thing is just a bunch of hot air, but it frustrates me that virtually nowhere in the discussions around trump "buying" some other country is what the people who live in those areas actually want. if you took a vote and the "join america" proposition wins, great! trump can buy greenland if thats what he wants. or if the "join america" proposition loses, its off the table entirely.
instead it just seems like the american media and political establishment talks about these places like they are some kind of political token who just exist to satisfy the whims of america. why it would be bad for us to do or good for us to do - and not a peep spoken about what people who live in those areas actually think or might actually want.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Joe Buck is Back
Elon needs a bigger launch
Elon needs a bigger launch pad and Trump needs some place cool to mine his Trumpcoin.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
Fun story El Nino. Nepal is
Fun story El Nino. Nepal is on my bucket list, but I hear its not quite the same these days. Speaking of Greenland, my parents had a bunch of bumper stickers printed up that say:
"Support Global Warming. Longer Summers, Shorter Winters - Coalition for a Greener Greenland"