One of my little joys in life is to tend to my little garden. It is more of a cage, and I have seen dogs in bigger pens, but for now it will do. It is strangely satisfying to yank weeds, or see something you planted grow and perhaps even bear fruits, but there are other aspects to gardening that deserve mention. For anyone who has ever gotten his hands dirty, none of this will be revelatory, but those are powerful experiences nonetheless, and if you lack them, you may very well form utterly bizarre conceptions about reality.

The people in charge of society seem to hold the belief that you can shape everybody into an obedient Democrat voter. All they need to do is cross the borders to the United States, and all their third-world backwardness (and low IQ) will dissipate right away. Yet, you cannot really change people, just as you cannot change plants. Some weeks ago, I noticed a little plant sprout up with many narrow leaves. I was curious about what it would develop into. Well, it turned into a thorny shrub. Before I knew it, it was about a foot tall and drastic measures had to be taken as this little shit was getting bigger and bigger, starting to crowd out other plants. Thus, I tried pulling it out of the ground but, to my big surprise, I could not do it. I get the trowel and dig about five inches into the ground, and discover that this little fucker had grown roots that were thicker than the stem above ground. I pulled on the root and there was still not a lot of movement. Then I dug up two or three more inches of dirt, but this root just went on and on. At this point, though, I could grab it and pull it out. I ended up with a root in my hands that was about 1.5 feet long, and this was not even all of it as it was torn off at the end, so this plant may sprout again next year. There is probably also a comparison to society and ill-fitting elements hidden somewhere in this story but it unfortunately completely escapes me. I recall reading about “invasive plant species” that are total pests and almost impossible to get out, but I assume that keeping them out would not only be a violation of the universal rights of weeds but also prevent plants from converging to some kind of of obedient light-brown uni-plant that is easier to control and harvest, so we simply have to learn to live with it.

Gardening also changed my view on ivy. I used to think that it looked quite lovely on old buildings, and even on newer ones. However, seeing ivy invade your garden, coming in from your neighbor, changed that. Ivy on the ground easily suffocates other plants, and it can also damage your fence or walls. Amusingly, there are heated debates online where people on one side say that ivy is a pest due to the damage it causes while there are others who, with a straight face, tell you that ivy is harmless and may even be beneficial, and those damages to the facade of your building are either not real or not a big deal, or perhaps even give it character. It’s a bit like putting some illiterate children from highly-gifted third-world rocket scientists into out public school and pretending that their presence “enriches” our culture. It could well be that this is another example of idealists versus realists, i.e. people who have had to deal with ivy in their garden and those who only ever looked at it from afar.

Our rulers also have the tendency to just let things fall apart, apparently believing that the utopia they are working towards will just magically manifest itself. If you have ever had a tree in your garden, or shrubs, you would have been taught a powerful lesson that this is not at all the case. If you do not prune your shrubs or trees, they not only look worse, it may also harm the plants, for instance if you do not cut off unhealthy branches. Just this week, for instance, I pruned some shrubs, which looked pretty unsightly. After cutting a few branches, it now looks nice and proper, and I am perfectly happy with it. This reminds me of our judicial system, which its multi-caste system in which some groups do not experience any punishment at all. Just this week I read of a case in Germany were some vibrant enricher raped two teenage girls, and groped a few more, but got off completely scot-free. The judge even told this guy that he was “well-integrated into society”. We used to punish criminals, and there are even scientific arguments according to which the existence of the death penalty in Europe led to people becoming more and more productive and inventive. Society simply pruned all the criminals and parasites, which surprisingly led to people getting a lot more done. I know, I know, it is an utterly crazy idea.

As you can see, a bit of gardening can lead to some amusing parallels to society. It almost makes me wonder if a bit of forced labor for every government bureaucrat would be a good idea. The Soviets and National Socialists, and the Ancient Greeks, were probably onto something when they stressed the importance of physical activity and connecting with nature. If you have ever dug out a foot-long root of a thorny shrub, for instance, you might be a bit less inclined to think that culture is just some kind of superficial phenomenon, for instance, or that societal change of any kind is an utterly trivial process. Then again, if I look at today’s administrators I am not sure if their powers or perception are particularly developed, and with a smarter bunch of people, no such crutches would be necessary anyway. Still, a bit of mandatory physical labor for everybody would probably provide a good inculcation against the kind of bizarre ideas our elites promote in order to harm you.