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Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

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Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#101

Post by jacquesm »

threemux wrote: post #91
Hzwtdqwz1 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Danish intelligence services should apply this model to Hawaii and Guam. It would make a lot of sense. Hawaii and Guam could get better health care on average while being semi independent. The EU could protect both with nuclear weapons. Native Hawaiians would escape the continued mistreatment: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/hawaii-no... I think Radio Free Denmark should launch a soft p…

Lol I realize this is tongue in cheek but Denmark has no ability to administer or protect anything that far away. Nor are those places seeking independence. But hey, maybe I'm wrong and the Danes will successfully integrate a large group of people that don't share their values. They've already done that, right?

> I realize this is tongue in cheek

That's your mistake.

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#102

Post by epolanski »

danielscrubs wrote: post #18
ck2 wrote: post #3

fun-fact: CIA is currently mucking around in Greenland trying to get rid of people against annexation this is not going to end well https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j9l08902eo https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...

Exactly my thoughts. I think US ownership (not necessarily of land) is inevitable, but it is going to take a couple of decades of these kind of polarising pieces.

What do you mean inevitable? The people there want nothing to do being somebody's colony.

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#103

Post by dgfitz »

AaronAPU wrote: post #80
losvedir wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh, as someone who lives there (Northwest Indiana) that was a rough read. Then again, our state motto did used to be "Crossroads of America", so I guess that's kind of fair. These days it's the more aspirational "More to Discover".

I live somewhere that you’ll find almost nothing but insults about online. Meanwhile it remains a great place to live because those people don’t come here. Consider it a blessing.

Cleveland?

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#104

Post by epolanski »

threemux wrote: post #47
danielscrubs wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly my thoughts. I think US ownership (not necessarily of land) is inevitable, but it is going to take a couple of decades of these kind of polarising pieces.

I think it even makes sense if it were pursued in a different way. Greenland is looking for full independence but can't really hack it financially without aid. I think the COFA (Compact of Free Association) model that we have with Palau and Marshall Islands would work well. We get expanded military rights and potentially some mineral/drilling rights, while Greenland gets protection, lots of money, access to USPS dome…

> Their citizens could also live and work in the US indefinitely.

Not sure why Greenlanders would care at all.

They can already do the same in Denmark, which is a country with far better standards of living.

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#105

Post by kyledrake »

Arainach wrote: post #26
tptacek wrote: post #5

It's funny to me that in portraying Indiana as a "blank state" he's highlighting one of the most beautiful parts of the state (the route through the Dunes along the Michigan lakefront; if you've seen "Road To Perdition", you know what that area looks like). It's not important to the article, a complete tangent, but I can't not call that out.

Then again, that stretch also has Gary. Having grown up in that area of the Midwest, I largely agree with the author's categorization, except that "people on their way to somewhere better who got tired and decided this was good enough" describes a LOT of the midwest, not just Indiana. Significant chunks of Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri, most of Iowa/Kansas/Nebraska, etc. If you read the history of westward expansion,…

It's really easy to write off a giant part of the country that millions of people live in as tired (and the implication underneath is usually "backward"), it's also dehumanizing them and makes assumptions about their quality of life when it might actually be a lot better than the people making these assumptions.

Spend some time not just driving through them, and one may be surprised to find plenty of diverse and interesting people that live full lives with rich family and social bonds, reasonably priced housing, ample winter outdoor activities (a lot of people actually want snow because it's beautiful and you can do fun things with it) and plenty of nearby nature and recreation opportunities, which I would contrast less unfavorably than the zeitgeist against the crowded, expensive vagrant culture that tends to dominate the more popular places on earth.

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#106

Post by JohnLocke4 »

I happen to be one of the Danes who partially grew up in Greenland that he talks about in the article. I even recognize the places from the article.

Some of my cordial childhood memories are from there and it is a place I will forever love. One of the most visceral memories I have is looking across the ice fjord listening to the thunderous breaking of the ice bergs - you can hear the sounds on videos, but combined with the enormity of what is in front of you and actually being able to feel the sound in your body it can only be experienced by being there.

I can see that the author was initially worried that Greenland would be devoid of anything to do, which is of course not true, as is written in the article. Especially the people are one of a kind in what I can only describe as directness or pragmatism.

One time a local from the place I lived was driving his car as it broke down and - rather than having it regularly towed to the mechanic - actually decided to tow it with a group of sled dogs. We just watched him sticking his head out the window shouting commands to the dogs while driving by. The dogs there can distinguish left and right, so it was surprisingly trivial to get the car to the mechanic. The Greenlanders see nothing extraordinary about this.

In other words, it is really valuable to have local connections if you want a great vacation in Greenland. I can also recommend the small, mini village settlements that are spread across the coast of the grand county. Some of them have hotels also.

I became nostalgic so I wrote a little blog post with some pictures for you people: https://lucasblog.dk/post/Greenland

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#107

Post by jb1991 »

tptacek wrote: post #5

It's funny to me that in portraying Indiana as a "blank state" he's highlighting one of the most beautiful parts of the state (the route through the Dunes along the Michigan lakefront; if you've seen "Road To Perdition", you know what that area looks like). It's not important to the article, a complete tangent, but I can't not call that out.

And the southern part of the state is actually one of the most famous places in the United States for painters to retreat in the autumn as there are no trees as beautiful as you will find there.

Calling some states good states and others not is just a silly thing to do anyway.

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#108

Post by jb1991 »

kyledrake wrote: post #105
Arainach wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then again, that stretch also has Gary. Having grown up in that area of the Midwest, I largely agree with the author's categorization, except that "people on their way to somewhere better who got tired and decided this was good enough" describes a LOT of the midwest, not just Indiana. Significant chunks of Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri, most of Iowa/Kansas/Nebraska, etc. If you read the history of westward expansion,…

It's really easy to write off a giant part of the country that millions of people live in as tired (and the implication underneath is usually "backward"), it's also dehumanizing them and makes assumptions about their quality of life when it might actually be a lot better than the people making these assumptions. Spend some time not just driving through them, and one may be surprised to find plenty of diverse and inte…

The phrase “got tired “is not referring to the modern populations but rather the people who founded those original settlements in those states centuries ago.

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#109

Post by pcrh »

danielscrubs wrote: post #18
ck2 wrote: post #3

fun-fact: CIA is currently mucking around in Greenland trying to get rid of people against annexation this is not going to end well https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j9l08902eo https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...

Exactly my thoughts. I think US ownership (not necessarily of land) is inevitable, but it is going to take a couple of decades of these kind of polarising pieces.

US ownership would be pointless. The US already has relatively free access to its ally Greenland for military purposes. See for example the US base in Pituffik (formerly Thule). Proposing to annex your allies is a bit rude, to say the least...

If a country other than Denmark was to claim Greenland, either Iceland or Canada would make more sense.

Re: Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

#110

Post by kens »

Waterluvian wrote: post #48
Arainach wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then again, that stretch also has Gary. Having grown up in that area of the Midwest, I largely agree with the author's categorization, except that "people on their way to somewhere better who got tired and decided this was good enough" describes a LOT of the midwest, not just Indiana. Significant chunks of Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri, most of Iowa/Kansas/Nebraska, etc. If you read the history of westward expansion,…

I took a moment to realize there’s a place called Gary, Indiana. And that there isn’t just some guy who is so infamous that he’s just known as Gary.

Gary, Indiana is still memorable to me 50 years later from when we'd drive through it, handkerchiefs pressed to our faces to block out the terrible smell from some sort of toxic industry. Is Gary still like that or has it been cleaned up?
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