This is both a question and a comment. On your website I see people constantly asking you what should we do? I myself wondered this after reading Ishmael. But I have now, after some reflection, realized that this is in many ways a Taker mindset. Am I wrong to think that we can do enough just by becoming Leavers ourselves? I guess what I am trying to say is that, can't we, just by adopting the lifestyle of a Leaver, change all we need to? Is our culture not like a prison, in that if one person were to stroll out, the other prisoners would follow suit? I am having trouble explaining my thoughts exactly, so I will just ask you, do we really need to do anything more than leave the Taker prison? • Ishmael.org, the work & philosophy of Daniel Quinn

This is both a question and a comment. On your website I see people constantly asking you what should we do?

I myself wondered this after reading Ishmael. But I have now, after some reflection, realized that this is in many ways a Taker mindset. Am I wrong to think that we can do enough just by becoming Leavers ourselves?

I guess what I am trying to say is that, can’t we, just by adopting the lifestyle of a Leaver, change all we need to? Is our culture not like a prison, in that if one person were to stroll out, the other prisoners would follow suit?

I am having trouble explaining my thoughts exactly, so I will just ask you, do we really need to do anything more than leave the Taker prison?

“Leaving the Taker prison” is not as easy as you seem to think. What keeps us inside is the need to make a living, and how is a living to be made outside of the Taker producer-consumer economy? This problem (and its solution) is explored in Beyond Civilization.

ID: 701
posted:
updated: 27 Aug 2004

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