Thoughts on the Mount Ogden Community Plan Process
By: Choose the Right
Over the past several months, I’ve been perplexed as to why people keep coming up to me to thank me for my efforts with regard to the Mt. Ogden Community Plan. One fella even dropped me off a loaf of bread. “Gee,” they say, “We just want to thank you for all you’ve done.” These people, it has seemed to me, have done far, far more than me, and I have assumed they are simply very thankful people. Indeed, I feel that I have done very little.
But I think I’ve started to realize what is going on, and while it may seem paradoxical to say it, I think it all boils down to the fact that in a sense, the Holocaust was at least partly the Jews’ own fault. As these humble, decent, hardworking, loyal, harmless people were being rounded up, dispossessed and being sent to the ghettos, then to the camps, and then the ovens, when you get right down to it, it was at least partly their own fault. Of course, a theory this unconventional requires an explanation.
We’ve all seen the pictures: Boxcars being loaded with thousands of people, with Nazi soldiers toting rifles standing by. But have you ever noticed how many soldiers there usually are? Have you ever thought about the logistics of keeping millions of people bottled up in ghettos?
Think about this: Have you seen the photos when the UAW goes on strike – men and women walking the pickets? Now imagine trying to round up a few million of those people, taking away their homes and sending them to ghettos or loading them into boxcars. Or just imagine trying to do that with any six million Irish Americans. See the point?
You can say, well, the Nazis had guns. But it seems to me the Jews had six million pairs of feet, hands, shoes, and as many rocks and long, hard objects as that many hands could carry. Sure, bullets are cheap. But can you imagine trying to control that many people who were willing to do whatever was necessary to have their liberty, including fight to the death, and even being proud to fight to the death for their freedom?
Some wonder why the Apaches in Arizona and the Seminoles in Florida have such wonderful reservation land to live on, when most other tribes have to live in wastelands. It’s because neither of those tribes surrendered. They were never conquered. They were given the good land because that’s the only way the US Government could deal with them. They were willing to die to the last man and woman. More importantly, they were willing to fight to the last man or woman. And those men and women were probably all better people than I am. Believe it or not, it’s almost impossible to conquer people like that.
So here in Ogden, we had, or still have depending on who you talk to, a situation where some guy decided he’d like to stuff his pockets with some of that good, good stuff. All he needed was the deed to some prime public property on the East Bench. So he lined up some local “leaders”, and started the process of beguiling the public.
But some folks stood up and said, “Well, I don’t really agree with that.” They were called all kinds of names, but they stood firm. This is where they lived, after all. It is their home. They were all “little people”, but as of this writing, it seems things are starting to go their way. It’s been gratifying to see what can happen when a few people simply say they have a different point of view about things and are willing to say so and not shut up.
I go to church at about 3210 Polk Ave. It’s a nice, tall, brick building. It was designed locally and built by members, fifty years ago. Nowadays, the church central office has a cookie cutter design that they use everywhere when they put up a church. They’re cheaper and quicker to build, uniform, standardized, and while nice looking, they are entirely repetitive and some would say, dull. Going to church in one, you wonder whether the Lord’s kingdom is looking less like an individual process and more like an assembly line, boiled down to only the essentials required by modern corporate efficiency.
Well wouldn’t you know it? Our old brick church house, after fifty years of standing there without so much as a crack in a single one of her bricks, well somebody’s decided that she may be “sinking” and it may be time for the wrecking ball. It’s no great surprise that this has come up – one can never predict the bureaucratic mind, but here’s the amazing part. To my knowledge not a single person – other than myself – has expressed dismay, much less disagreement, with the whole idea of tearing her down. We just had a party to celebrate her fiftieth birthday. And yet, these same revelers, after the celebration, would tear the old girl down by hand, brick by brick, if asked to. But not one of them will question the reason, much less disagree. You see, to a man and woman, the feeling is that it’s for other people to decide, and then, if they choose to do so, they can inform us of their decision, and then tell us all where to shuffle off to. It’s not our place even to ASK.
And of course, it’s not the place for six million Jews to ask where the boxcars are headed either, is it? The “powers that be,” will decide. We will go, and follow, for that is what good people do. We will not question. We do not want to place ourselves in any kind of jeopardy, so we will do as we are told. Indeed, there are those who will question my loyalty to the church, if not to the Lord himself, even for my having written these few, mild words, just as some will question my affection for Ogden, when I ask about the city debt, or about bulldozing our crown jewels into stucco McMansions – never minding the fact that under our Constitution, the “powers that be” are supposed to be us, and asking, and expressing, are just exactly what we are supposed to do.
Perhaps there is a use in the world for people like me, for some of my neighbors, and for this online forum, after all. In fact, perhaps such as these are even precious. It’s nice to feel that at last, I may be good for something. But now let me be the one to say thank you, to all the people in the Mount Ogden Community (and the rest of the city) who have asked questions and have expressed their view, and who I entreat to continue to do so.
I remember one city council meeting where a humble, quiet, respectful man stood up and said, firmly,
“Stop this. This is enough. Enough is enough.”
I know this man. I couldn’t believe he’d do that.
But it seems we are destined to live always in a world where there will be other people who want to take our land, our homes, our precious things, our bodies, our money, our minds, and even, if they could, our souls, and use them for their own purposes. Therefore, there must also be people like us, to say, “Enough”, and to say, “No.”
12 comments:
"Some wonder why the Apaches in Arizona and the Seminoles in Florida have such wonderful reservation land to live on, when most other tribes have to live in wastelands."
Are you serious, CTR? It's RESERVATION land, regardless. Do you even know what that means?
"It’s because neither of those tribes surrendered. They were never conquered."
If they were never conquered, why are they living on a RESERVATION, under the control of the U.S. federal government?
Hey WTF, just chalk that up to our country's unwillingness to teach the truths about our history, fact is, not much of what we were learned about history in school is accurate, especially where indigenous peoples are concerned. Remember Utah history in school?
CTR
A thoughtful guy like you deserves a nice loaf of bread.
Yes, we all must speak up and defend our liberties...our city...and take it back from a despot.
Was Mussolini a small man too?
Is this a trait of small men...to be fear mongers, greedy, disengenuous, sneaky, revengeful and dishonest?
Godfrey has instilled fear into City Employees. If they came out as one voice, throwing those figurative rocks and sticks, would Godfrey fire them? I don't think so.
Thank goodness, many people in Ogden have stood together to preserve and protect our park, trails, etc. We still can't believe the little liar when he SAYS he's keeping his hands off, because what has he ever said that we can believe?
But, we mustn't be lazy. We must remain vigilant.
We need to work hard in the reamining days for VanHooser, and the 3 women Council Candidates.
Oh, to have sanity, decency, and level headedness in our city gov't again.
Too many pro-Godfrey letters have the same theme. That Susan will impede progress! Nonsene! No proof of that.
These letter writers may be spending Family Home Evening composing their rah rah letters. They have a sameness of tone and content.
Prisby's is sophomoric. Filiaga's was apparently written by someone who can construct a sentence or two. That ain't Filiaga!
So, we need to write also...see that the signs go up for the women!
Our voices are powerful too. Let's use them.
Very good and thought provoking piece CTR, thanks. I think I will rummage around in my junk drawer, find my old CTR ring and start wearing it again!
I'm afraid that the biggest problem facing Utah these days is our modern day fellow dominant religious members who have become the modern day Jews when it comes to sheep like qualities. How else could one explain the Utah Legislature?
Ozboy,
It is the right wing legislature.
To the first poster:
If you feel inclined to denigrate the Apache land because it is a reservation, note that the land is deeded to them, and the lowliest acre of it is better than anything you will ever own.
And if you had read history rather than simply claiming to, you would know that the essence of the article is indeed correct relating to those two tribes.
They are also most certainly not under the control of the US government, at least no more so than you or I.
When you see something new, try to learn something new, rather than simply hurling out your misconceptions.
Indian Reservations are theoretically independent nations. They have "treaties" with the US Government. That of course doesn't stop the US from screwing over them anytime some politician with juice feels like it. Case in point is the Goshute tribe and their ten year attempt to use their "sovereign" status and contract with the US nuclear industry to store spent nuclear fuel on their reservation. The Feds and Utah state government eventually shut them down!
Danny, here is some history for you. In 1831, the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Marshall declared Indian tribes to be "domestic, dependent nations." That means they exist inside the U.S. government, and they are dependent on the U.S. government. That ruling still stands today. More history, the late 19th century major crimes act, where Congress ordered that if certain crimes (like murder) are committed on reservations they must be tried in U.S. federal courts, not in tribal courts. Even though the treaties with many tribes said the opposite. But Congress said you make treaties with independent foreign nations, not domestic dependent nations. So the treaties shouldn't hold. I could go on and on. And lastly, next time you are on the Apache or Seminole reservation, try telling them that the land they live on is better than anything you could ever own. Both the Apaches and the Seminoles were defeated and forced onto reservation lands. Just read their own tribal websites.
The Indian's biggest historical problem was their horrid immigration policies. Perhaps the same thing that will eventually bring down the US as it now is compromised.
Sorry to break to you, "Indian Historian", but American "Apaches" generally love their native homeland. No it's not Palm Springs, but as my 100% Apache mother in law says, "it's our sacred homeland."
get real
Not only is it their home land sacred, but it is extremely profitable with their ski resort and other businesses. But then I think we are only talking about the one band of Apaches here. I think there are other groups that are not near as fortunate with the quality of their reservations.
Melvin
Have to take exception with you on who the good and bad guys were in the Goshute affair.
Seems to me like the deal was: A 140 member strong branch of the Goshute Nation living in relative poverty out in the Skull Valley wanted to set up and store lots of very nasty nuclear stuff, with a half life of 40 generations, for 40 years 40 miles downwind from Salt Lake City. They had the force of the US Nuclear generating industry behind them, they appeared to have the power of the US government behind them, at least according to the laws of the land as written.
This bold notion got a whole lot of folks in Utah mighty nervous. Given the tragic "downwinder" deal that was so devastating to so many people in Utah, lots of folks got pretty freaked out about the idea.
The Goshute's plan also offered plenty of soap box opportunities, especially in the NeoCon circles of the State Legislature. The primary rabble rouser for the widespread near hysteria was our dear boy governor Mike Leavitt who created the slogan for hand wringing citizens when he uttered the now famous words "They will store nuclear fuel in Utah over my dead body". That was at the beginning of the whole long ten year affair.
Any way, in this instance the NeoCon power structure in Utah government were indeed standing up and laying it on the line on behalf of the 2 million citizens of the neighboring nation of Zion many of whom had the whips and jangles over a zillion pounds of highly potent nuclear waste sittin forty miles away in the hands of a bunch of poor injuns.
An interesting and vital side light of the whole sorry affair was that scientifically there is no basis for the fear mongering that went on. The form the waste is in, and the well proven technology that they use to handle it, renders it a lot safer than most of the other very nasty stuff that the US and Utah State Governments have done, and allowed private corporations to do, on and around the Reservation. Any one remember the huge sheep kill off of several decades ago on the reservation?
Dugway Proving Grounds, next to the Goshute Reservation, has for 60 or so years made, stored and experimented with the very most toxic stuff known to man. Nasties every bit as dangerous to the citizens of the Wasatch Front as what the Goshutes were trying to do. In addition it was stuff that traditionally hasn't been handled with the same level of safety as the nuclear nasties. A bit of a double standard perhaps?
The project could have pumped many hundreds of millions of dollars into Utah's economy each year had it happened, and it would have been totally controlled by the big guys in the nuclear power world - not the Goshutes.
As usual, the poor Indians were simply being exploited and in this case would have ended up being a hundred and fifty wealthy indians living in the worst hell hole in northern Utah instead of possibly the most poor people in the State boundaries living in the same hell hole.
I suppose who is the good guy and who is the bad guy depends on your POV. To a hundred and fifty Goshutes, some nuclear billionaires and an assorted group of malcontents the Utah politicos were the bad guys. To a significant percentage of the 2 million citizens of the Wasatch Front they were the good guys.
The moral of the story? Maybe its - "just cause its written in the law books don't make it so",
or
"2 million white MoMo's will kick the ass of a hundred and fifty indians every time",
or
?????
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