This camel has no name

“If you ask a camel driver in India what the name of their camel is they will tell you it is Charlie or Rocket, but in fact the camel has no name, the Indians dont name their pets.  But because the westerns can’t understand this, rather than tell them the truth, they make up something that they think we wish to hear.”  It is because they are not pets, Premin explained to me.  Premin’s camel is named Tiger.

I am reading this book (i know i dont read books much anymore, but there are exceptions) called “The Gamecaller” about the charismatic leader of the Finders community.  He fought against having a name for his community, because once there was a name, other things would fall into place and specifically he would get labeled as the leader of the named group.  I think we collectively underestimate the power of names.

Naming animals reduces the chances you will eat them.  Naming machines increases the chances you with anthropomorphize them.  Naming groups or communities increases the chances you will other them.

On the other hand, clever choosing of names can be extremely powerful  Calling the European Youth Summer ecological festival “Ecotopia” was a stroke of genius.  It lead to discussions of the “Ecotopia spirit”, enthusiastic participants would call themselves Ecotopians.