Prepare for a lump of scattered thoughts and emotionally charged ranting. Because what am I without that? Since this is my second ever post, I wanna put a full disclosure that this will not be the nature of every post. Most will be shorter, or more cutesy, or more personal, or more artistic, blah blah blah. There is no theme.
So, let’s get into what’s been plaguing me lately.
My boss and I were recently ranting about AI and how it uses precious water only to take the soul out of everything. He’s the owner of a little music school/shop and I run the daily operations for him. Every year when we transition into the summer semester, we have to send out a memo to all the students, hopefully incentivizing them to stay through summer. In more words, our policies and scheduling practices change drastically from the rest of the school year, and we send this memo out to explain how summer works for our clients before they blindly withdraw for the summer and we all lose our livelihoods (lol but really).
So this memo we send out can get a little wordy, but it’s all necessary info. It’s only one page, though you may or may not be surprised to know how many people don’t read carefully, they just skim. That’s part of why the masses are loving AI, right? It can think for you! So with that in mind, someone suggested to my boss that he feed the wordy memo to ChatGPT and simplify it so it’s straightforward and easier for clients to read. So he did. And he hated it! And I hated it! It was soulless. And ya know what? Neither of us wants to contribute to society needing things dumbed down for them because there are “too many words to read”.
Back to hating on Kevin O’Leary though.
I love the ghibli movie Princess Mononoke for a few reasons, one of them being a line that says “See with eyes unclouded by hate.” I love that sentiment, I really do. When we view with eyes unclouded, it hopefully becomes easier to find a coexistence that might not be exactly what we want, or entirely perfect, but hopefully peaceful and civil. Because being a hater often depletes your own energy reserves more than it does for the hated.
That piece of shit Kevin O’Leary, who I hate, doesn’t even know I exist, nor does he care about how his greedy AI data center affects our precious lake and the people of Utah.
“See with eyes unclouded by hate.” Yes, beautiful, I love it. But I’ve gotta say, I just can’t find it in me to not hate men like Kevin O’Leary, Donald Trump, Governor Spencer Cox, and all the other greedy politicians/TV personalities who let us down. How do I not hate the oligarchs that continue to benefit from the strife of American citizens? Who continue to manipulate masses of people into believing leftist ideologies and immigrants alone are the ones bringing this country to ruin?
The collapse of late stage capitalism, folks. Oligarchs who line the pockets of elected politicans are part of what’s bringing this country down, in my humble opinion. The American Dream that was fed to us all? That regardless of backgrounds and circumstances, we all have the equal opportunity to be prosperous and surpass our parents success if we just continue to grind hard? That we can all be home owners with cute shutters and white picket fences and a perfectly manicured lawn? That if we just keep grinding away for most of our lives, we later retire, travel far and wide at our leisure and Live the Good Life?
Bullshit. Total. Bullshit. ALL of us have that opportunity? Is it really that simple? No, of course not. Where’s the nuance in that?
So really, about Kevin O’Leary. Have you heard of the 40,000 acre AI data center that the Box Elder County commissioners approved for him to build last week? An AI data center being built under the guise of “national security”? Let’s put a ballroom next to the lake while we’re at it 😉 Think about it…an AI data center nearly 3x the size of Manhattan that operates on a proposed “closed loop water system”, placed eerily close to the receding shorelines of the Great Salt Lake.
For years, Antelope Island has been one of my favorite places to visit. A hot, dry, beautiful island surrounded by a salty lake that only brine shrimp can live in. Not only is the Great Salt Lake an incredibly important hub for migratory birds, but it’s also a beloved part of Utah to visit for beautiful scenery, buffalo watching, peace of mind, soft orange sunsets, stinky smells, a car covered in bugs, and of course, the annual Spiderfest!
Here’s a blurb from TheGreatSaltLakeWaterKeeper.org to give you an idea of how important our lake is:
“Every year, 12 million migratory birds from 338 species use the Great Salt Lake as a critical stopover and breeding ground on two different flyways connecting North and South America. Comprising 1,700 square miles of remote islands and shoreline wetlands, the Great Salt Lake’s unique ecosystem provides irreplaceable habitats for plants, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, brine shrimp, and migratory birds. The crisis at the Great Salt Lake is an existential crisis for many of these bird species.”
Maybe not everyone cares about the birds and the ecosystem, though. But what if I told you that our lake bed is full of toxic, harmful metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury…just to name a few. All it would take is some wind gusts on the playa to spread these toxic chemicals to residents along the Wasatch Front. And as someone who has visited Antelope Island regularly throughout her life, I can confidently speak to the power of wind gusts.
So if you don’t care about the lake being around for the birds, but you love Utah and plan to live here forever, then you should hopefully at least care about the lake being saved for the sake of the air you breathe. Because I tell yew hwat!! Canadian millionare Kevin won’t be the one living here, breathing the air.
Do you get why I hate Kevin O’Leary?
Yes, you do? Cool, I send you a virtual high five and a ripe strawberry to put in your pocket (or a giant, wet smooch if you’re Brayden)
No, you don’t? I implore you to google “Utah data center” and “Great Salt Lake crisis” and hopefully, if you’re a good noodle, you’ll do some independent research see why this has sparked so much outcry from Utahns. I won’t do the dirty work for you.
And even if you don’t live in Utah, something like this affects all of us in the long run. It’s not just Utah dealing with something like this. Even Maine, the state I plan to run away to someday (ideally in my mid to late 30’s), is dealing with AI data center bullshit. Ugh.
When googling “Utah data center” I find many articles covering the public outcry of my fellow Utahns, the way the peoples voices were ignored. I find articles reporting our justified outrage and heartbreak over the fast tracked and sneaky approval this AI data center project received.
That’s why comments from Kevin O’Leary about “protestors being paid actors and were bussed in” and “Chinese Communist cells are the ones protesting this data center, not actual Utahns” are so. Fucking. Enraging. He’s out to push a narrative that we don’t care about our lake, and that the Chinese Communist Party is behind the outrage.
Kevin O’Leary, investors, and seemingly Governor Spencer Cox are the ones who will heavily benefit from this AI data center, so of course they’ll do what they can to satiate their greed. Who cares about the people or the birds or the long term impact this has on us, right? Anything for more net worth. Bastards.
In addition to Kevin’s offensive and false comments, something about Utah voices being steamrolled at a local level stings a little extra. How is it that the vote of three old white men on the Box Elder County commsioner board and the backing of Governor Spencer Cox are currently determing the future ecosystem, health and air quality of our state??
“BuT iT’s a CloSEd LoOp SySteM!!!” “ThEy sAy tHe WaTer Is bEInG ReDirEcTED fRom ThE AlFalfA FaRmErS!!!””
OKAY AND??? Why are we planting alfalfa in a fucking desert in the first place?!! Nothing about the closed loop system or water being redirected from alfalfa farmers for the sake of AI is going to save the fuckin lake!
“But AI iS tHe FuTuRE!!” Go read a famous Ray Bradbury book, come back, and tell me if you think giving in to AI takeover is still a good idea. “AI is the future” but it doesn’t have to be and it shouldn’t be.
I really hope those commissioners realize how badly they have betrayed their people. I hope it keeps them up at night. I hope their rooms are always too warm to fall asleep in, their sheets scratchy, their pillows flat and lumpy, their conscience screaming at them, their ears ringing with the voices of Utahns they let down. I hope they are haunted by their vote and how it will affect their grandchildren and generations to come. I hope their legacy is one that is marred and will not be widely remembered with love and grace at all.
Most of all though, I hope Utahs continue to file their protests when possible. I hope we can still put a stop to this before it’s too late. I hope the people who are processing these protests (and were just as blindsided as the rest of us) are able to find some respite soon.
I worked for the Park City Municipal Corporation local government and I’ve attended a few Salt Lake County Council meetings in the last few months. Both of these experiences have opened my eyes to how incredibly important local government is, especially when we take the downward sprial of national politics into account.
Local government is important. Local elected officials are the closest to the people they’re representing. It’s at the local level where citizens are more likely to feel like they have SOME control, that their voices CAN make a difference within their community. Public comment is a powerful tool that we have.
As a lifelong Utahn, I am not only deeply enraged by this data center, but also incredibly heartbroken. The Great Salt Lake is already facing collapse. Utah is a drought state, if you haven’t heard. Are you a skier or snowboarder? Did you come to Park City this winter? Were you concerned to see how dry it was? Were you heartbroken you couldn’t shred some fresh pow?
Aye yi yi. That’s all for now, I guess. This was a post full of hate and not enough love for my Great Salt Lake…but then again, the hate is born from a deep love for the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island. I am terrified of losing something sacred, and therefore I am angry. I hate Kevin O’Leary. I hate oligarchs. The American Dream is a scam.
But then again, I guess the American Dream can be whatever one wants it to be. So if that is the case, my American Dream is to always live life alongside the people who matter the most to me, to adventure as much as my wallet will allow, to have enough money to cover my needs with a little leftover for fun, and to do what I can to protect my neighbors, even if that’s just showing up to a city council meeting to give a public comment.
“See with eyes unclouded by hate” yeah alright, I’ll be working on that. ugh. Fine.
So long, goodluck, goodbye! Until next time… 🙂
A Lump of Kate 
Do you have a musing to share?