tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post5835634732970558182..comments2023-12-23T19:04:18.739-05:00Comments on The Crow's Eye: Dear ProgressivesJack Crowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-17854307438552000972011-07-24T11:19:37.995-04:002011-07-24T11:19:37.995-04:00Coldtype, glad the description is inapplicable. W...Coldtype, glad the description is inapplicable. Wasn't meant as personally accusatory; was just babbling about where your comment took my mind on the subject.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-35052568608308900612011-07-24T01:28:45.045-04:002011-07-24T01:28:45.045-04:00My bad, Jack. "You're dumb" is such ...My bad, Jack. "You're dumb" is such a commonly used attack even in this part of the internet that I assumed you meant it in both senses, even though you clarified it. Lazy reading and my misdirection of annoyance that's meant for IOZ and some others.Devin Lendanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-61443931459125825242011-07-23T23:04:27.969-04:002011-07-23T23:04:27.969-04:00Now worries Karl, I don't see how your views c...Now worries Karl, I don't see how your views could threaten me. You answered honestly and in good faith. <br /><br />I recognize the type of parent you describe and they are indeed legion but it doesn't apply here. I was 33 and my wife 39 at the birth of our firstborn and we were ready. While I have to acknowledge the current trajectory of our death star of a nation that's still a long way off from being at peace with it given my responsibilities. Your life choices have given you the luxury of a dispassion on this matter that I cannot share from where I stand.Coldtypehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09509152474515164151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-28658926192196542292011-07-23T14:47:41.771-04:002011-07-23T14:47:41.771-04:00Likewise, Karl. I'll try to behave myself.
A...Likewise, Karl. I'll try to behave myself.<br /><br />As far as Afghanistan, I don't know if how sparsely it's populated or how representative it is of global fertility, blah blah blah. It does, with minimal industry, do well, all in all. Freedom there is not a matter of industrial or agricultural modes, whatever the Western dominators seem to believe.<br /><br />But I don't know how well pre-industrial modes of consumption work. Maybe I could do some fucking math and figure out what kind of bean we'd need to cultivate to feed us. There is definitely a lot of fat to trim, and the vast majority of industrial ag is to fatten people and fatten wallets. But could we cut it all down and support 6.7 billion? I believe we have too many people, but I can't shrug and leave it at that. That's my weakness, perhaps, but in my theory, I'm not willing to go where my personal fantasy certainly sits, which is anarcho-primitivism.<br /><br />But as I said, I don't know. I just suspect that some big bit of the so-called Green Revolution depends on industrial production of chemicals, genetic engineering, and so on... I don't mean to justify Monsanto and the behemoth, but it's of great importance to me that we find a way to devolve power <i>and</i> allow the people who live right now to escape famine. You are right to be skeptical of the assumption that industry is needed, and if it can be cut without sacrificing either result, I'll go for it. That's my issue, though: I can't support an outcome that results in the death of billions.<br /><br />In fact, that's one of the reasons I'm opposed to industrial capitalism in the first place.<br /><br />And you're also right to question our excessive fear of pain, but I wonder where we draw the line. I like glass grinding so my nearsighted ass can see. I might be happy to live without new glasses if I could have clean air and water and spend most of my time with friends and telling stories around a hut, but I also know that people with other conditions have, well, other conditions... It's a question I haven't answered yet, but I can't say that your answer is wrong, even if I don't think it works for me.<br /><br />ergo:<br />It may not be necessary for the process of demolishing power, but to keep it that way for any length of time, you'd better have some idea. That may not be anarchism, but it has to be some kind of companion piece, because maintenance of power devolution is not going to be as simple as saying "don't do this, don't do that." Natural law is opportunism, and when power-over is present even in the womb, I say that maybe it is something essential and which can be avoided only with discipline and positive philosophy.Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-15650711625703460992011-07-23T11:45:35.779-04:002011-07-23T11:45:35.779-04:00Cuneyt:
Anarchism is not just an absence of some ...Cuneyt:<br /><br /><i>Anarchism is not just an absence of some things; it must also be something positive. I don't just want to talk about absence of tyranny. I want to talk about freedom.</i><br /><br />I don't disagree really, but, as with op's "treading water" post at SMBIVA, I wonder if that is necessary. Do we need anything other really than to "say" no to imperialism, warmongering, plutocracy, etc.? In other words, does anarchism need to be anything other than the restriction of authority and power to nothing?<br /><br />But yeah I agree with the rest of what you said.ergonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-56664511539445207132011-07-23T11:39:39.832-04:002011-07-23T11:39:39.832-04:00Thanks, Cuneyt. Nice to have bridged the prior an...Thanks, Cuneyt. Nice to have bridged the prior antagonism!<br /><br />Thought: the extent to which people see industrialization as needed depends largely on the extent to which they grew up on industrialization.<br /><br />Why have numerous "superpowers" been unable to conquer Afghanistan, a non-industrial country and people? <br /><br />Do Afghanis hate their fellow human more than Americans do, simply because of living in a non-industrial setting?<br /><br />I think there are some loaded and perhaps flawed assumptions in the conclusion that industrialization is needed to "feed everyone."<br /><br />I also think that not every human born deserves to live to old age in luxury and comfort. Humans are not different from dogs or wolves in this sense: the weak die before adulthood or old age. That's just how it is. Human empathies try hard to conquer that sad fact, to obliterate it. Our whole industrialized "medical" system is built around the fear of mortality and the desire to overcome biology. <br /><br />Hubris, baby! Hubris!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-20887879068373681872011-07-23T11:30:19.509-04:002011-07-23T11:30:19.509-04:00ergo:
"Maybe that isn't latent anarchist ...ergo:<br />"Maybe that isn't latent anarchist sentiment, but what do you call it?"<br /><br />A good start. Potential, maybe?<br /><br />I don't believe that dissatisfaction or skepticism alone represents anarchist thought. Anarchism is not just an absence of some things; it must also be something positive. I don't just want to talk about absence of tyranny. I want to talk about freedom. (This isn't a response to you, really. Just another declaration.)<br /><br />This is going to sound snobbish, and I hope I can say this without sounding like I believe theory conquers all. There is a lot that theory cannot do. It cannot be a substitute for action, or for experience, but I do believe that principles matter. Disciplined thought matters. Right now people are profoundly depoliticized. They don't just reject the political show; they reject the political altogether, and a big part of that is, as you say, the acceptance of official marketing.<br /><br />I don't blame anybody for the way they organize their thoughts and life, however. I want to be clear about that. Plenty of people organize their thoughts and do NOTHING. And plenty of people are indeed working very hard, perhaps too hard to think about power seriously. But there are many as well who claim they have too little time and work too hard to give such matters any thought, but a more honest answer is that they're not interested in it as much as they are in certain pastimes. Of course, that difference in priority is their right, but I wish people didn't claim weakness as much. The people I've met who earnestly lack power are usually much more courageous in advancing themselves than those I meet who are comfortable and uninspired.<br /><br />Okay. I'm taking a fucking break; I tire of reading my own words here and need to get back to other writing.Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-62537655109180084412011-07-23T11:21:37.257-04:002011-07-23T11:21:37.257-04:00Abonilox:
States are serial entities, most times. ...Abonilox:<br />States are serial entities, most times. We can't say that it is inevitable that "the state" will die. Sure, <i>this</i> or <i>that</i> state will die--they all do. But as you say, the question is what happens to us; as I've heard in many discussions about Israel/Palestine, <i>states</i> do not have rights to exist, but people do, and that's where I concern myself. But goodness; "it's rotting." What you see as rot, I see as state function. The machine's not broken. The media, the military, the government, the economy--they're not broken. They are working <i>as designed.</i> So let's not wait for history to do our work for us.<br /><br />Coldtype:<br />The easy answer would be to say that the state harms a great many young ones. And it is true, but I think your concern deserves more thought. And to tell you the truth, it's a concern I have, too. I've got a couple children of my own (and I agree with Mr. Crow's hatred of the possessive there).<br /><br />I know that the limits of my imagination are not the limits of the possible, but as I see it, I cannot imagine the great numbers of people who currently exist can survive without some elements of industrial production. I can imagine a lot of industry's problems stripped from it. Consumerism, glut of disposable products, advertising... It is hard to imagine, but I don't think any of these are essential. Great numbers of people can survive without them.<br /><br />But they need food. And currently, industrial agriculture appears the only way that billions of people can exist. Much can be achieved through better distribution, of course, and industrial agriculture still fails millions of people at the bottom.<br /><br />So can there be an industrial anarchy? Can we devolve power in the factories and the workplaces and not threaten your and my children? Perhaps the war would still threaten them--war always hits the weak hardest. But I also think about what comes after. And that's why I'm sympathetic to anarcho-primitivism, but it's not my main plank. I believe that Karl and others should be able to live off the land and support themselves, but I don't believe that billions can live in that way. Hunting and gathering will not work for billions, and it is not their fault to have been brought into this tyrannical nursery.<br /><br />BUT--I believe that taking to the wilds should be permitted, and that's why I am still concerned about any attempt to wed anarchy and industry. Even if it is possible, then we have one of my favorite statements of Nietzsche with which to contend. I'll paraphrase, because I can't be bothered to look it up exactly.<br /><br />In short, what is suppressed within a group is externalized. If a group is made up of equals, it will still project its power outside. An ostensibly anarchist society may run the risk of dominating others, and that is why I fear for the men and women of the woods and wilds. Even if we liberate the factories from within, how do we prevent the numerous from swamping the few? Anyway, I'm spinning in circles. Pardon my thoughts.Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-22407246101987614342011-07-23T11:19:39.214-04:002011-07-23T11:19:39.214-04:00Cuneyt:
I don't see anarchist sentiment
Obvi...Cuneyt:<br /><br /><i>I don't see anarchist sentiment</i><br /><br />Obviously there is little to none in those invested in partisan politics of the duopoly. Among the rest of the population, the 40-50-60-70?% of the population that does not and will not vote because they know it is pointless, there is a lot, if we define anarchism as radical skepticism to authority, the state, power systems, control. Like I said, it's not articulated that way, and people have a lot of unquestioned authoritarian conceptions as a result of ignorance and years of indoctrination. But the extraordinarily low approval ratings of congress, political parties, institutions, etc., popular opposition to military interventions, bailouts, Big Business, the TSA, etc. Maybe that isn't latent anarchist sentiment, but what do you call it?ergonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-75476141003018164322011-07-23T11:00:34.019-04:002011-07-23T11:00:34.019-04:00Thanks for the explanation, Karl; I wish you luck....Thanks for the explanation, Karl; I wish you luck.<br /><br />Ergo:<br />I don't see anarchist sentiment, unless you consider it egoist anarchy to tout self-reliance as a virtue. As Karl puts it, self-reliance can be anarchistic, but most people mean it as a propertied security maintained by the society they claim not to need, but merely dominate.<br /><br />Karl, again:<br />Its "boo" moments and supernatural atmosphere creeped me out, but I'm not scared of the woods. I like humanity, for all its flaws--that's why I want to work in and on it--but I don't have the fear you talk about which has probably been part of American culture since 1606. The Christian impulse taught that the wilds were dangerous, too. The Europeans had of course destroyed their forests and had forgotten how much the wilds had helped the Germans escape Roman domination. More on civ's relationship with wilds in a bit.<br /><br />Jack:<br />I don't know if that's rhetorical, but my answer is this: Makhno would be rejected by most bourgeois anarchists, and egoists, and anarcho-capitalists and so on. He would be not be termed as a "true anarchist" by them because he was a collectivist.<br /><br />I feel Makhnovism was a success because it was one more chance to experiment with devolution. If we reject the allegations that he was himself a despot, he seems to have tried to wield power in a war zone without forming the rigid hierarchies and dictatorship that followed.<br /><br />As a symbol, it was a failure and a success; it, along with the Paris Commune before and the Spanish Civil War after it, can be taken as Lenin and Mao and Castro would have it, as proof that authoritarianism is necessary to wage a successful revolution. But I would say that the true interpretation of the symbol is to be wary of liberals and authoritarian leftists. Makhno was betrayed, just like Barcelona was betrayed. Where to go from there, I don't know.<br /><br />I need to read more about Makhno; I'd always assumed he died with his stateless region, but I see that he survived and wrote more about his experiment. Perhaps that is also a success; when people get out and say "this is what is possible," be they Makhno or Blair/Orwell, it can broaden the mind. I know that when I first read <i>Homage to Catalonia</i>, I was shocked that I hadn't read it earlier. My mind opened quite a bit, and I felt embarrassed at how cynical I had been, how convinced I was of what was and was not possible.<br /><br />To be continued.Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-4435338308215220802011-07-23T10:58:17.014-04:002011-07-23T10:58:17.014-04:00Can't really blame John Brown for that.
I don...<i>Can't really blame John Brown for that.</i><br /><br />I don't. I'm mainly asking what has been accomplished through the use of violence. I'm not really asking that rhetorically either. I am open to historical examples.ergonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-34867038809085493512011-07-23T10:38:25.050-04:002011-07-23T10:38:25.050-04:00What effect did John Brown have on escalating tens...<i>What effect did John Brown have on escalating tensions between the North and South?</i><br /><br />One man can't really cause that much havoc. It takes a whole lot of people working together to cause that much havoc -- except in rare cases like one man with his finger on the button of a nuke-packed missile, for example. But merely by working for emancipation, John Brown was not the sole motor of the Civil War. That's just what we're taught in school, to teach obeisance and subordination to bigger authority.<br /><br />John Brown at Harper's Ferry is probably the most salient lesson taught to discourage anarchist sentiment. Especially when one considers how it's taught in most schools: as a sad idealism, or as the fulcrum for the start of the Civil War.<br /><br />If you ask me: the Civil War was made inevitable by slavery and industrialization... the indicia and emblems of individual selfishness being primary, and community interest being "naive" (or whatever people of America's first century called it). The South wronged humanity with slavery; the North with industrialization... both rooted in selfish greed, arrogance, and a will to impose an individual desire upon an entire nation.<br /><br />Can't really blame John Brown for that.<br /><br />It would be like trying to blame John Hinckley for Reagan's in-office Alzheimer's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-74966301717619982542011-07-23T10:07:08.856-04:002011-07-23T10:07:08.856-04:00Coldtype,
I don't get that drive, honestly. ...Coldtype,<br /><br />I don't get that drive, honestly. If things are collapsing, they are collapsing whether you are a parent or not. Whether you'd like them to be collapsing, or not.<br /><br />It's just what's going on. To use that modern cliche that I really hate,<br /><br />it is what it is.<br /><br />Whether you want things to not collapse, or prefer more order in the collapse -- well, tough toenails! That's not how life works.<br /><br />Parents who raise their kids today to think we have the Land O'Plenty Forever... wow. I can't begin to describe the poor judgment of such parents. <br /><br />Well, actually I <i><b>can</b></i> begin to describe it, but I won't insult them by doing so. I'll only observe that most parents are shitty at being parents because they have kids way before they should, because of horniness + poor planning, or eagerness to fit in with the American cultural model. You know the model: finish college (or HS if lower class), get married, have kids, enslave yourself to a boss while raising kids you barely see and tell yourself your workaholism is "for the kids, to give them a better life." ETC ETC.<br /><br />Not an accusation there. Just an observation, watching as my friends have kids they never see and watching them try to make up for it with expensive vacations, expensive toys, expensive schools... status symbols, not nurturing.<br /><br />As I said: America is a randy teen, as a culture.<br /><br />********<br /><br />I made my choice long ago to not be a parent, largely because I recognized Malthusian carrying capacity issues and wanted no part of that game, and because I knew I wouldn't be ready to raise a child until... well until right about now, at age 50. <br /><br />I'm not patting myself on the back here. I'm simply explaining my view. And I realize it's not exactly friendly or familiar, this view of mine. Ahhh well. We can't all fit into or follow the same pattern, can we?<br /><br />Just don't act like SOME parents and feel the urge to destroy me because my view threatens you somehow... please.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-62198353280590113032011-07-23T09:57:37.345-04:002011-07-23T09:57:37.345-04:00Was John Brown wrong, or just too early/late?
As ...<i>Was John Brown wrong, or just too early/late?</i><br /><br />As the second clause suggests: it was his timing, or his choice to remain an American, that was wrong. His impulse, the motive to seek equality for those who were being enslaved, oppressed, maltreated... definitely not wrong!<br /><br />Assuming America in its societal pre-adolescence would be less selfish, that's what (in hindsight, at my present waypoint in time) was wrong. <br /><br />As a culture, America is like a 16-year-old boy with a new driver's license and a very fast, powerful car. Prone to destruction and damage because of poor judgment, lack of experience, and way too much self-interest combined with a new flush of hormonal energy and drive.<br /><br />That's America, right now.<br /><br />Can America make it to adulthood, or will it die in a reckless crash caused by seeking too much of everything way too soon/fast?<br /><br />I think we see what's happening. The car is going about 90 mph, straight for a hefty concrete bridge abutment. And the driver, he's drunk off his ass and getting a blowjob from an equally stupid and hormonally charged other human. (The other human can be a boy if you're gay, or a girl if you're hetero.) <br /><br />The blow-job-giver would be our culture, what surrounds us, and what most of us Americans allow to define us despite our conscience saying otherwise when in private self-counsel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-91975408162621762052011-07-23T08:17:03.191-04:002011-07-23T08:17:03.191-04:00Or to put it more briefly: Was John Brown wrong, o...<i>Or to put it more briefly: Was John Brown wrong, or just too early/late?</i><br /><br />As I would say before, resistance to oppression is "justified". However, let's look at the cost of violence and ask some questions if we want to evaluate this.<br /><br />What effect did John Brown have on escalating tensions between the North and South? Did this have any effect in precipitating the civil war? Were the 600,000 killed worth the change in designation for imported Africans from slave to freeman? Was the degradation of Jim Crow superior to the degradation of slavery following the collapse of the unsustainable occupation of the South? Was the centralization of the federal government in the hands of banks and later robber barons as a result of the war that led to the corporatization of America worth it? Has the association of secession with slavery deprived decentralists of their most valuable tool in the eyes of the masses?<br /><br />If it sounds like I have an easy answer to those questions, I can assure you I don't.ergonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-8607404283270358262011-07-23T05:33:09.452-04:002011-07-23T05:33:09.452-04:00I would prefer to see the full collapse of America...<i>I would prefer to see the full collapse of America happen right now. I welcome it, honestly.<br /><br />I realize that's opposite how most feel.</i>-KFO<br /><br />Particularly those of us with young ones to raise. A disorderly collapse sounds like a mighty river of blood to me...Coldtypehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09509152474515164151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-76601604493738911402011-07-23T01:16:59.319-04:002011-07-23T01:16:59.319-04:00OK. I just haven't had time to read this whole...OK. I just haven't had time to read this whole thread, but I can't pass this by and not say, yes yes yes. So what to do, what to do, what to do...<br /><br />It's rotting already. We don't have to kill it. It will die one way or another. Question is, will it take us all with it?<br /><br />It's the culture, Jack, right? That's where the poison is, isn't it? We have self induced brain damage. Compromise is <i>what we do</i>. Just to get through the day in a thousand different ways. And if it's the human race we care about, then bugging out ain't gonna make any difference.Aboniloxhttp://abonilox.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-55099367334590665652011-07-22T22:32:47.504-04:002011-07-22T22:32:47.504-04:00Or to put it more briefly: Was John Brown wrong, o...Or to put it more briefly: Was John Brown wrong, or just too early/late?Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-10959252023793701862011-07-22T22:20:43.011-04:002011-07-22T22:20:43.011-04:00Since this conversation has moved far abreast of m...Since this conversation has moved far abreast of my last batch of replies, a question from history:<br /><br />To what extent was the "Makhnovist" experiment a success?<br /><br />And if it wasn't, why not?<br /><br />Also, can there be a conception of anarchist/anti-authoritarian resistance that preserves its own biases without also betraying them?<br /><br />I think the communist critique - going back to Marx, and continuing through to Senex, is valid to some extent or another, depending on time and place.<br /><br />But, where the communists fail, I think, is in their rather blind faith in future devolution.<br /><br />I prefer them to the progressives who are now only the nominal topic of this discussion, but I fear they would gladly settle accounts after any lasting success.<br /><br />So, echoing Lenin, what is to be done?<br /><br />Our friends over SMBIVA way have, in their own rights, grasped the futility of active resistance, which explains the preference for contrarianism and economism.<br /><br />And Monsieur IOZ retreated to a delightful nihilism.<br /><br />Are these the alternatives?<br /><br />Or should all our effort be directed towards the tools-to-build-the-tools stage?<br /><br />Will that buy us (assuming we are even a cohesive lot) enough time to withstand the criminalization which is coming, alongside the fall out from austerity?<br /><br />Or will it prove a terribly stupid gamble to abide too long and then feel the bite of history as from an asp or traitorous lover?Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-90206113638945200922011-07-22T22:04:51.807-04:002011-07-22T22:04:51.807-04:00But I still think people don't talk openly abo...<i>But I still think people don't talk openly about it because there's some bizarre drive to use the Chris Hedges definition of anarchism</i><br /><br />I think that's mostly a function of ignorance and years of indoctrination about "leaders", "leadership", etc. I can say from personal experience I was almost completely ignorant about anarchism until the past three years or so, and I'm not the only one. I'm kind of surprised how sympathetic people are to it when I talk about it with them for more than a couple seconds. Most people just haven't ever heard the word discussed in any context except maybe dismissed with the usual claptrap equating it with chaos or molotov-cocktail-throwing youth in black masks. I think to the extent that people expose themselves to it (which will be known immediately through data-mining technology), there will be a greater public campaign to demonize it. But it's difficult to put anti-authoritarian leanings back in the box after they have been released. Especially if (I would argue, without any real evidence) those leanings were latent since birth.ergonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-3054547105823939052011-07-22T20:53:20.077-04:002011-07-22T20:53:20.077-04:00Also, cuneyt:
Remember the Blair Witch Project mo...Also, cuneyt:<br /><br />Remember the Blair Witch Project movie?<br /><br />Did you watch that?<br /><br />Did it scare you?<br /><br />I submit the whole premise of that movie's "horror" or "scariness" is the average American's total fear of being in the woods for 3 days. If you know the areas around Seneca Creek in northern Montgomery County, you know: there is NOTHING threatening or dangerous around there, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get lost: walk to the stream and head in either direction for a mile or so and you'll find "civilization." So what's scary about that setting and story? Nothing.<br /><br />Yet it was successful as a "horror."<br /><br />*****************<br /><br />ergo,<br /><br />Totally agree with that 8:46pm post, especially the "Incidentally" part. Especially that. I think the corruption of the State is being highlighted terrifically now. <br /><br />But I still think people don't talk openly about it because there's some bizarre drive to use the Chris Hedges definition of anarchism, rather than the literal and fleshed-out one. In other words, I think people tend to automatically see McCarthy's The Road as a certainty if we don't have a State to protect us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-71800853975490531772011-07-22T20:46:04.438-04:002011-07-22T20:46:04.438-04:00Again: what is the fear or problem or discomfort a...<i>Again: what is the fear or problem or discomfort arising from considering an anarchist system?</i><br /><br />None. My fear is reconstituting the imperial death state via coercive military structures that result from violent resistance in the absence of widespread anarchist practice. Also the rivers of blood that would result. Is there a historical basis to doubt that this would occur? Though I agree it would be more moral for us to kill ourselves than kill others.<br /><br />Incidentally, I think anarchist sentiment is fairly broad among the population, even if it's not often articulated in those terms.ergonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-85641284407312299812011-07-22T20:37:16.258-04:002011-07-22T20:37:16.258-04:00I know people just like what you're talking ab...<i> I know people just like what you're talking about.</i><br /><br />Most of the humans I've met in my 50 years would piss or shit themselves if they had to spend a week in the woods.<br /><br />After that week, if they survived, they'd be less inclined to soil their pants, sure. But most are terrified by the prospect of detachment from industrial society for that long.<br /><br />They like their White Man's Fires, the great majority of humans I've known.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-6208481364154898262011-07-22T20:34:30.562-04:002011-07-22T20:34:30.562-04:00You asked how I "broke free" enough to b...You asked how I "broke free" enough to be self-sustaining... I guess the answer is, I wasn't really all that trapped or enslaved before.<br /><br />Throughout my post-collegiate life, I have lived more simply and anti-consumer than any of my friends, acquaintances, or family members. It has shocked my family how I live. It has driven girlfriends away, cut relationships dead. So it's not for everyone -- definitely not for someone who is highly extraverted or deeply interdependent.<br /><br />I don't know why I'd need a weapon on a backpacking trip. For what? The bugi-man? I know how to avoid and/or co-exist with the animals that most urbanites fear. I admire and love animals more than I like humans, to be honest. I'd rather be among them, than among humans.<br /><br />Which probably makes me "odd" or the like, at the very least, in most peoples' eyes. It does in my family's eyes, for sure.<br /><br />Am I completely off the grid right now? No. But working toward it. I'm about to cash out the end of my savings from being a lawyer in favor of preparing for total self-dependence... not too unlike what Justin is doing.<br /><br />So I'm further down the road to self-sufficiency, but not totally there yet. In any case, I'm far more excited by the transition's prospects than I am concerned about them.<br /><br />Which causes even more concern among friends and family.<br /><br />I suspect it's because many people define themselves externally and find my attitudes threatening... maybe that's wrong... maybe it's just my fantasies talking.<br /><br />I would prefer to see the full collapse of America happen right now. I welcome it, honestly.<br /><br />I realize that's opposite how most feel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-83651082782074911352011-07-22T20:19:49.525-04:002011-07-22T20:19:49.525-04:00I don't mean to project, but I infer when I re...I don't mean to project, but I infer when I read someone talking about people not being able to do what he does without pissing and shitting themselves. Not that I disagree with the characterization. I know people just like what you're talking about.<br /><br />As far as the fear or discomfort arising from considering anarchism, I can't tell you. I don't feel either.Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.com