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Paradise Lost - The Tyranny of Conformity Revisited

© Carol Wallace

Note: In November of 1997 I wrote The Tyranny of Conformity about the penalties and persecution endured by those who wish to use their private yards to grow native plants rather than a traditional lawn and border. Today's article hits closer to home. This time the person being penalized is our own Natural Health editor, Traute Klein. Her story is horrifying to me, as I'm sure it will be to you.

Under Nazi rule people were penalized for failing to conform to an established norm. It didn't really matter whether being blond and Aryan was better than any other alternative. There was, and still is no proof that being blond makes for better citizenship, or a better world. It was simply the standard that Hitler set, and convinced his followers was a good standard. Those who didn't meet that standard paid dearly.

Under the rules in Winnipeg, Manitoba, penalties are also applied to those who fail to conform. Not because of their looks or their religion, but because their yards fail to conform to some vague standards set by the city planning department. It doesn't really matter that a carefully tended plot of native plants creates a better ecological balance in nature. And, unlike the Nazi's arbitrary and specious ideological standards, there is definite proof that this type of garden makes for a better world and a healthier environment. But the building inspectors - not even trained gardeners with an appreciation for Mother Nature's finer points - have developed some arbitrary rules that only they can interpret, and convinced themselves, at least, that they are good ones.

Traute Klein's garden did not meet some vague and incomprehensible standard that a politically ambitious planning inspector decided to set - and she is paying dearly.

Granted the penalty is much less drastic than those imposed by the Nazis. It is far better to be made to pay for nonconformity with one's garden than with one's life. But the tactics the city employed are sadly reminiscent of those used early in Hitler's regime.

Traute's garden was a miniature paradise, a haven of native plants where birds and animals gathered and lived in harmony. It was planned carefully, with scrupulous attention to planting the plants most suited to her environment.

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