Permaculture, Goofballs or Gurus?

As knowledge regarding Permaculture design systems encroaches ever further into the minds of the mainstream, perhaps now would be a good time for us all to take a step back and consider, how we as Permaculturalists are percieved in the eyes of the public.

Since its inception, some might attest that Permaculture has always suffered by being oftentimes labeled as some kind of weird hippy cult, the purveyors being kooky goofballs, the socks in sandals brigade with odd mullet hair-dos, that last string of villus still hanging on from the sixties.

Now I’m not suggesting for a moment that we all have a whip around and send David Holmgren off for a quick make over with Saatchi & Saatchi, but what I am suggesting is that in todays image obsessed world, it may be pertinent to contemplate such matters, if we have any hope of being taken seriously at all.

So does it really matter anyway? Surely what’s important is the “good work” being done down on the ground? Afterall, is it not our ego-driven, consumer obsessed culture with its eye forever on the superfluous and the transient, that is actually the source of so many of the worlds woes?

Obviously food in the garden is what really counts, but if we are to have a chance of persuading the fickle masses to take our initiatives toward food security in earnest, perhaps we need to drop the goofball image and smarten up our act.

You are right the image of permaculture is not sometimes good many people msut think it is strange idea

I think growing the food is for sure the most important part but hey, I think you're right, if we sell ourselves as goofballs who's going to take us seriously? :blink:

Goofball isn't really a word we use in the UK, I thought I had a fairly good idea of what it meant but looked it up anyway.

From the urban dictionary;
Someone who looks stupid while doing something
or
anyone who is looking for trouble. People that usually roam the street at night waiting to pick a fight usually with other goof balls that share a common goal.
or
one who makes goofy jokes and tends to say omg to goofy things
or
A total idiot, someone who lacks any intelligence at all.

Merriam-Webster had this to say;
1: slang : a barbiturate sleeping pill
2: a goofy person

Hmmm, it's certainly not a word I would choose to describe a practitioner of interdisciplinary earth science.

What y'all over there in England call goofballs? :blink:

The English are known for their bad language, so perhaps it's not a word for repeating here. ;)

Heres some more from the urban dictionary on goofy

An adjective for those odd, opinionated, and inevitably, yet tolerably, awkward members of social circles that straddle the line between love and hate more than about any other stereotype. Usually caught up in some form of bizarre fashion motif, be it contrasting, bright colors or some retro gig and always outspoken on everything from their latest underground music that no one else is privy to or how some radical politician is doing, these eccentric types are usually very well endowed in intellectual type intelligence, but completely lacking in common sense.
That goofy hippie libertarian is still going off about how he couldn't understand why all the hippies at the Phish show were pissed he was raving about a republican candidate

People in the US love to curse too, I always thought goofy was a kinda cute word, the urban dictionary changed my view on that. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the definitions Parvati, very enlightening!