On August 25th 1916 Woodrow Wilson signed in the National Park Service Organic Act creating the National Park Service and continuing the United State's efforts in preservation and environmentalism

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨fellow_human@lemmy.zip⁩ to ⁨historymemes@piefed.social⁩

https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/55eb0ad8-a7c8-43fb-bb15-63ca98d0398d.avif

Context: While Europe was busy tearing itself apart in the trenches of WWI, the US was busy being gorgeous. On August 25, 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act, creating the NPS. So while the soldiers in France were saying “I hate everything about this,” Wilson was out here with a peace sign headband saying “I love everything about this.” The meme is just pointing out that 1916 was a very different year depending on which side of the Atlantic you were on.

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ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
And then the DOGE boys tried their best to completely undo it, because an artificial superintelligence can simulate it in the future.

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Leviathan@fedinsfw.app ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It used to be policy to never get involved in foreign wars. It took a staggering amount of propaganda to turn the American people who still haven’t recovered, culturally.

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zout@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Except for my ancestors; the Netherlands was able to maintain neutrality through the war.

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sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
https://time.com/5562258/indigenous-environmental-justice/

Spence points out that the first so-called wilderness areas that had been deemed in need of preserving were not only and in actuality Indigenous-occupied landscapes when the first national parks were established, but also that an uninhabited wilderness had to first be created. He examines the creation of Yellowstone, Glacier and Yosemite National Parks in particular to illustrate the way the myth of uninhabited virgin wilderness has for more than a century obscured a history of Native land dispossession in the name of preservation and conservation and serves as the foundation of the environmental movement.

https://aicago.org/indigenous-stewardship-and-the-legacy-of-national-parks-on-tribal-lands/

The establishment of national parks often came at a significant cost to Indigenous communities. Parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon were created through the forced removal of Native peoples who had lived there for millennia. Treaties were ignored, sacred sites were taken, and traditional practices such as hunting, fishing, and ceremonies were outlawed. This exclusion set the stage for a century-long struggle for recognition and rights.

I hate being that guy who rains on every parade but I have VERY complicated feelings about the national parks

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systemglitch@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Now you degenerats elect pedos.

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AviAdi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Woodrow was a damn racist and enemy of the working class

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- harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Don’t forget jailing reporters who wrote articles criticizing his policies.
  
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- jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Once in a while, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.
  
  The National Park Service just happens to be Woodrow Wilson’s acorn.
  
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  - ToastedRavioli@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    The NPS isnt exactly some perfect entity either. Its improved over time, but fundamentally started as a national propaganda machine and has throughout its history federalized spaces in ways that upended local usage and stewardship (sometimes for good and sometimes for bad). The propaganda aspect isnt even implied either, it literally was a stated goal at the time and throughout its history. The NPS was created to preserve exceptional American landscapes and historical sites with the express intent of those spaces being vehicles for promoting the idea of American exceptionalism and national superiority among the population.
    
    Trump’s administration has been trying to get it back to its propagandist roots especially, for example attempts to undo all the progress that has been made in providing quality educational opportunities at NPS spaces (teaching inclusive versions of history rather than skimping on details that make the US look bad) under the guise of “eliminating DEI”. They want to send it back to the time where Americans visited NPS sites in order to get a whitewashed feel-good version of historical events and beat off to the imagination of being idolized pioneers or pilgrims.
    
    The federalization of space is more complicated, as sometimes local areas used now-federal controlled space in ways that were destructive to the environment that was sought to be protected. But it also is not always a good thing concretely. Just look at how it has given Trump’s administration the opportunity to sell off protected space to the highest bidders for oil & gas, logging, etc. It’s a problem with NFS lands too especially, but Bears Ears National Monument is a foremost example and that is NPS space. Historically you can see a lot of problems with federalization in something more like the Gateway Arch / Jefferson monument. Not only a gigantic piece of propaganda in and of itself, but the space for the park also effectively eliminated the entire riverfront of the city of St. Louis. Like 30 square blocks just seized by the government and torn down, which then became a literal giant parking lot for several decades before they ever bothered to build the thing that they seized it for. The whole thing was basically just government propaganda meets real estate developer interests, because destroying all that property made other property around the city far more valuable. To this day the city is still fairly fucked up due to its most historically valuable area being federalized and destroyed just for the sake of building a giant pioneer-glazing croquet wicket and the worlds most boring park grounds
    
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