All governments lie: the decline of people and place

Coined by independent journalist I. F. Stone (1907–89), a pioneer of investigative journalism, the notion that “all governments lie” hits centre target when we consider the potential transformation of Coffs Harbour into a glorified round-about for a Gold Coast-like Jetty Foreshore.

“All governments lie” ergo politicians. The basis of community control is found in the language, or more specifically in our loss of language. We have seen how repeated ‘hate speak’ germinates violence, how simplifying the language allows easy familiarisation, a mantra, how some may become en-chanted by the songs of misrepresentation.

If language has the capacity to “powerfully construct the human relation to place” it is also a compelling force in how we connect with people. The ‘authoritative’ simplification of language and hate messaging is an influential force in today’s society.

It has the reach to fragment communities, reduce resistance to government regulation and ultimately wrest authority over communities out of local hands. In short we become subservient to rule and restriction. The community becomes ‘dumbed-down’ and freedom and creativity withers. Without these two essential social forces we are de-volving. The new trend towards the implementation of ‘facial recognition’ by government agencies is another ‘control by stealth’ operation.

The importance of place was recognised by Robert Macfarlane when he stated that “everything that happens must happen somewhere.”  He understood the fundamental importance of the human experience as being inexorably linked to a connection with place.

He forcefully reminds us that “without a name made in our mouths, an animal or a place struggles to find purchase in our minds or our hearts…(and) that once a landscape goes undescribed and therefore unregarded, it becomes more vulnerable to unwise use or improper action.”

So when self absorbed politicians and avaricious businessmen state that the Jetty Foreshore is “a waste of space” or a “wasteland” we are in danger of allowing ourselves to disregard and invite improper action.

Our words no longer represent the colours and contours of the landscape. A ‘hill’, ‘valley’, ‘tree’ or ‘stream’ are meagre descriptors of place and yet we increasingly tend towards those simple terms.

“We live in a world where the outdoor and the natural has been displaced by the indoor and the virtual.”

Oliver Rackham describes the four ways in which “landscape is lost: through the loss of beauty; the loss of freedom; the loss of wildlife and vegetation; and, the loss of meaning.” History of the Countryside (1986)

We no longer possess a rich vocabulary for features of place. Places are losing their meaning and our landscape is being systematically lost to successive governments and their corporate masters.

I urge that we speak about place, how it customises our sentience and that through language we may encourage allegiance, intimacy and love for places in the landscape. Even an ‘unloved’ foreshore might be regarded as ‘valuable’ for reasons other than development.

“People exploit what they have merely concluded to be of value, but they defend what they love and to defend what we love we need a particularising language, for we love what we particularly know.” Wendell Berry

Nan Shepherd points out in The Living Mountain, that there is a connection between…”the outer landscapes of the world and the inner landscapes of the spirit.” John Muir put it that “going out… was really going in.”

When nature no longer talks to us, is no longer a source of wonder and awe, we run the risk of becoming preoccupied “with pointing and naming with the intent of citing and owning.” We run the risk of losing our connection with place and ultimately with ourselves.

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