I’m looking for some educational content too.
And as native culture is increasingly re-embraced, how fast do you think indigenous knowledge will spread about natural medicinal remedies from native plants? And further knowledge on what’s best to plant for local wildlife?
Because fascism always fails, I know these things will happen, but I have zero understanding of the framework for how it will.
I think it will happen unevenly. Starting with whoever has enough weapons and favourable territorial conditions. A bit of sparkle. But in resistance there will always be the mormons of utah and their kind.
Can you give an example or 2 of what you are thinking of?
What do you think is the relationship between indigenous people and unnatural remedies?
For the sake of OPSEC I’m not going to say what plants in my state I’ve been looking at. But here’s some examples from a general list.
I think we all benefit from a mix of both, natural and unnatural remedies.
Thanks. I have one primary question regarding the link you shared: Would or do you rely on “yew berries as a form of contraception”?
Your questions seems to imply “natural medicinal remedies from native plants” is a hope you have. Assuming that any of the suggested treatments are valid, why do you think it is better for a a populace the size of the united states to suddenly all be in search of such plants, some of which exist in tiny numbers and close to extinction, instead of synthesized medications which are wide used, understood and available?
Why do you think indigenous people stand against modern medicine?
No i dont use them. This is a new rabbithole I went down. I certainly hope when theyre most needed, none would be harvested to extinction… if people more people start specializing in herbal remedies, that’s a sad risk.
Not instead. When synthesized meds are gatekept from us more and more we would have to find something. It occurs to me that natural remedies would be an important stand-in for where standardized medicine is gatekept due to no health insurance or med/treatment prices.
I don’t think that.
Sorry I was excessively harsh. I went down this path already so its hypocritical of me.
“natural medicine” can seem like a cute an whimsical idea but unfortunately, basically 0% of these preparations are better than what you can get today. Optimistically, say 10% of them are of any use what so ever.
I am not aware of a big problem of gatekept dewormer or cough medicine. For the most part, expensive medications have nothing even claiming to be a freely available alternative. There is no plant form of tenofivir or long acting insulin or inhalers or anti psychotics. There is always a cost associated with anything, just because something is a plant that does not go away, especially if it something that is required regularly for long-term use, or incidentally but needs to be reliably available. if any plant is chemically active (which is really way over stated much of the time, most of these are just vegetables at best) then you still need an expert to guide and manage use of it. And those people need to get paid like anyone else. Just because something is “natural” doesn’t make it more safe. The only way things are safe is by not doing anything. You can drink nettle decoction all day every day, it’s delicious. But it won’t cure anything. And its only free as long as most people think nettle is a weed.
People have real health problems. I think these things should be taken seriously and not just flippantly tossed around because you have jumped on a new trend. Real deal life & death. plants are almost never the answer. And that is not because some mystical ancient knowledge has been genocided away, it’s because plants just aren’t that good at being medicine. No plants, anywhere in the world. Prior to the existence of modern chemistry, it was all we had. But truly, pharmaceuticals are a progress of humanity. I’ll give you an example: Aspirin is derived from willow bark, you can make an analgesic preparation from willow if you want, try it next time you have a headache. A tea, tincture, chew or other ways. This is fairly well circulated information, yet virtually nobody does it. I’ve never done it. And even Aspirin as a pharmaceutical is much less popular than synthetics ibuprofen and acetaminophen/paracetamol, all 3 of which are available over the counter in the US. The other 2 are better for many situations. if you didn’t have any of those available, but you have a willow tree and the wherewithal to process it, it’s better than nothing. But the tree is unpredictable, higher rate of bad effects and a pain in the ass to prepare. And if a lot of people are going after it, there won’t be enough willow trees to go around. There is zero benefit to going for the willow bark other than a sort of aesthetic feeling of superiority. it does not scale at all. Willows are one of the best case scenarios; better than 99% of anything you will read about. Bulk of it is total trash.
The diagnostic process of modern medicine is almost completely reliant on technologies which have been developed in the past 50-200 years. Not because modern doctors are lazy, but because those technologies are immensely superior to any manual evaluations. No older medicine system is compatible with it diagnostically, to say nothing of treatments, including the ancestors of that system itself. Even if 100 years ago another system was on par with contemporary western medicine, if it hasn’t grown in step, any future benefits would not be a matter of “rediscovery” of some ancient lost wisdom, but of new knowledge creation with the shackles of racism and colonialism thrown off. So I think there is more to be learned, in the future, not the past. That’s how we get cooking with gas.
As you asked for suggestions of readings, a classic regarding this would be Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi). It is on the issue of science more than medicine. Don’t dismiss it just because I am annoying you, this author is writing on a different focus and will be more constructive towards your goals.
This is one of the only kinds of scenarios I’d risk ingestion of herbal remedies. What I was looking at was a poultice that helps shallow cuts and scrapes heal faster, and the antidepressant properties of the mimosa tree(invasive to the US) when someone’s feeling heavy enough levels of grief. The poultice for something small but could spin out to being life ending for an individual when it could be avoided with just a tidbit of help. The mimosa tree for someone going through what could stop them functioning during a crisis where they must momentarily relax, think clearer, and/or keep moving.
Yeah I could guess that modern medicine is usually what’s best.
It’s okay, I understand you assuming it could be pure whimsy since plants are neat. Going through such rabbitholes reveals delightful facts about them. This rabbithole is full of nice vibes. I guess I already understood all the things you mentioned(minus the herbalist needing to be paid too, I forgot about that) but it’s nice to have you summarize that all in text.
Really I don’t think anything is good to put on cuts. Its such a natural instinct to want to do it but the best thing is to keep it loosely covered but not in a damp way, clean with water and soap if needed. Poultices are unused in most any modern context because they are just a bunch of dirty crap. If there way any value, it would have been known and exploited. There is no conspiracy against poultices. They are easily comodifiable if any utility. Surface wounds are one of the most well understood of ailments because of their prevalence in military settings. Lit er al ly everything plausible has been tried, tested, studied.
Tincture of time is the cure to many problems. All medicinal traditions (including western) include things which practitioners understand as pointless but which give the suffering patient (or their family) something to do to keep their mind off things, to allow the body to heal itself. An elaborate prescription sometimes amounts to “go away for now and come back later”. And this is the best possible thing that can be said for “plant medicines” most of the time.
I just don’t think this concept one way or the other is relevant to your main question, which was a good and legitimate one, that ought to have ongoing discussions of many posts building on each other.
eta
IDK about mimosa, I looked on my fav website wikipedia:
and it is crediting Chinese medicine for the effect you describe. So I am having a hard time understanding that in context here. It seems that per your own description, this is an invasive plant, not the “native” which is idolized. We must think that any serious indigenous medicinal system, including plant-based, would likely be forward looking and looking around at the current realistic situation so that isn’t a total block. Also all people can learn from one another. The plant medicine that I have learned about are flexible in their communities of life. But can’t just be thinking spooky non white people are all kinda the same! that is very un good.
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fair enough to delete all that but I hope you saved it for yourself, was a good comment.