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Off-the-grid episode - lack of diversity at the Dancing Rabbits commune

posted 15 years ago by MisterKinish
9 replies | jump to latest

One thing I noticed about the Dancing Rabbits eco-village was that all its members were White. I wanted to start this thread to discuss possible reasons for why this is. I know part of it is the demographic for the Missouri area. But I also wondered if maybe either consciously or subconsciously they aren't comfortable living among people of different ethnic backgrounds, and so without meaning to, don't make them feel as welcome in the community. I'm not suggesting anyone there is racist. I just think sometimes people have a "stick to your own kind" mentality without even realizing it. What do you guys think?

Looking at this photo of their current residents, I don't see a minority among them. They're all White:
http://www.dancingrabbit.org/img/group_2008.jpg

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] jau-zeng 15 years ago

i don't think they consciously chose to have only whites in their commune. I think it just happened that way. They didn't respond negatively to the female african american 'outsider', the only way they negatively responded to her is when she didn't follow their rules about not using chemical products on her body.

It would be a little daunting for a minority in there though. That said, I wouldn't mind going there to live for a month out of every year! I think it'd be a big break from this modern world. We don't have anything like that in Malaysia!

[–] sonic_lahedgehog 15 years ago

If they did that episode here where I live it'd probably be all white people too. Cuz there are mostly all white people where I live.

It is a little weird for me because I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood. Now I'm surrounded by all these white ass crackah honkeys

and I'm white btw

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] amunetpallaton 14 years ago

It was probably all white, b/c well, let's get real, it's usually white people who go for lifestyles like that.

Only thing I had a problem with was the vegan part. If they don't want to eat meat, that's totally fine of course, but don't try to make an excuse that it's too hard on the earth or whatever they were trying to say.
Not saying they should go out and buy some cows or whatever.
Chickens are EXTREMELY easy to take care of AND hens often lay unfertilized eggs that could be eaten (without any guilt that you're killing something).

It was an interesting episode though.

[–] spamthis-10 14 years ago

I don't think one chicken or one cow is hard on the Earth but mass consumption of meat is generally not good for the environment as it requires a lot of resources, causes pollution, contamination, sickness and generally leads to a lot of animal mistreatment and abuse. Watch Food Inc if you don't know what I mean.

I do eat meat by the way but in moderation.

[–] jtyroler 13 years ago

There was that little segment about how 1 guy was raising cattle that didn't do much damage to earth. However, if you live anywhere near a factory farm - the amount of manure does a lot of damage to the area. The episode did show some of the costs of raising meat in mass quantities - and part of that is because of factory farming. The cattle that were shown in that segment weren't grazing on grasses.

[–] southardemily 12 years ago

Another thing most people don't realize is that eating animals means that you're also consuming the food THEY ate, which is why it is harder on the environment.

A HUGE amount of crops are produced exclusively for animal feed, and the higher you eat on the food chain, the more resources are used, in order to feed that animal you are eating.

If you have a herbivorous diet, you are eating from the bottom of the food chain, therefore, you are using the least resources possible to provide the calories you need.

[–] randir14-1 11 years ago

The Dancing Rabbit website says 30 people live there but many didn't want to be filmed. Maybe some of them are non-white. You can read more here:
http://www.dancingrabbit.org/about-dancing-rabbit-ecovillage/press/med ia-coverage/30-days-5/30-days-important-info-3/