Isolation

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anon (not verified)
Isolation

The internet is a fairly effective tool for fucking with our own perceptions. Having logged on to any number of "radical" sites, one might get the impression of a vibrant and rich anti-authoritarian tendency among people these days. We log off and find deserts, not the fun kind. For those outside of major cities, "our" "people" can seem non-existent. We know this too well to be tactic employed by the state to crush instances of actual human feeling, but discuss little on circumventing this isolation. My questions for you animals is this: What do you do to find your people? What do you do when they're nowhere to be found? Do you plan on moving to where shit is happening or toiling alone?

anon (not verified)
I should do more to meet

I should do more to meet people, to go out and be proactive.
What I would do is go to places where I suspect I would meet the people I'd like to meet.
Places can be scouted using social media, or on the ground info
(lol, not word of mouth, I don't know anyone in those circles, if there's any).
I'd probably have to go a few times before getting to talk to someone or deciding that's not a good place to keep trying.
People that like to be more of an open book may display their affinities with a tshirt lol, but most of the time the signs that may indicate affinity will be more subtle I guess. If nothing preliminary can give pointers, then it will all come down to conversation.
This is simple enough.

In practice, it's difficult because isolation as a habit becomes ingrained.
I've become avoidant, which is the opposite reaching out, or approaching others, getting exposure.
I feel as if ashamed in general, and kind of fearing that it would show.
I fear they might tell I'm a little out of touch. It feels too bare.
Coming out of nowhere without a backstory, no clear goals or trajectory.
No stories to tell. Just feelings and opinions.
Not going out is also the stingy solution (excuse) for when you're broke.

When there's none of "your people" around, your people is whoever is there, whenever they're available.
You make do with that, and whoever you can chat to online.

I don't have plans of any sort.
It would require a big push or pull to overcome the inertia and relative comfort of staying, and compel me to move.
I like the people and the place where I'm at as a background, and I guess I'm part of the background too. Not engaging much.
It definitely has its pros and cons on paper. Definitely more people I could meet in a big city, but it's also costlier and you know pollution and noise and crowded.

anon (not verified)
Weird how in job it’s like

Weird how in job it’s like “go meet these people here at this place you’ve never been to before, make many phone calls” and i’m like “sure thing”, but the I have to do the same thing to get a social life and it’s like bloops, nothing. Authority is a hell of a drug.

Le Way
If you spent the wages you

If you spent the wages you make in a job on your social life, you'll get something, or a disease trying. Or else meditate at €#&¿ and detach yourself from the loop.

squibs (not verified)
agents

hey maybe if we get our act together you could be an agent for an anarchist cell or somthing and be operating some intresting narative all boring pollitical stuff tho im sure ofc

anon (not verified)
this is a pretty good question

it's been sitting on my mind recently, i've been thinking about moving, then i realize that thinking about moving made me less happy in some regards.

"What do you do to find your people? What do you do when they're nowhere to be found? Do you plan on moving to where shit is happening or toiling alone?"

I intend to dwell in the middle ground and just make plans for interesting excursions and trips. As in, staying in one place and moving at the same time.

D (not verified)
i'm a passive anarchist, and

i'm a passive anarchist, and i need the motivation from others to take meaningful action. the problem is that i live in a part of the midwest where there aren't any anarchists, as far as i know. so if i want to actually start supporting the cause and fucking the government over, I need to consider moving, but i don't know where. i was thinking California because there's a sizeable punk scene over there, all of them being anarchists. what do u guys think?

anon (not verified)
Jump in the deep end, do the

Jump in the deep end, do the hobo thing and active autonomy, jump a train, go to Cal, and maybe you'll just keep on going.......

squibs (not verified)
it seams as if this is the

it seams as if this is the only option im thinking of having to squat myself to get to the city and in many ways its the right thing to do but its not necserly easy and seams to be getting more strenuous and the uncertainty shouldn't be pushed onto anyone to live like that

anon (not verified)
I think that

everybody needs motivation from others to a certain extent, one inevitable part of being a human is that we've always relied on a good degree of cooperation, even if you are learning and doing stuff by yourself, you're still going to be using internet and books which are all human products.

Hmmm, i wish you luck in fucking over the government, that is a big project, lots of people are personally invested in protecting it. I don't think the punk scene in california has made much meaningful progress in attacking the state, but it is a great place to go if you want to start collaborating with and sharing living spaces with anarchists. I live on the east coast and there's practically no anarchist projects going on over here, in D.C. there's this very id-pol leftists anarchists scene that's very cringey. I mean, they've had some kinda neat riot and black bloc stuff over the years but they really suck as people. The anarchist scene over here also produces some very low-grade writing, they're pretty fixated on white supremacists and trump.

anon (not verified)
i’m in your same situation,

i’m in your same situation, different geographical location.

but i’m hesitant that herding together in cities is the answer. if all 10 anarchists that exist are in the same social circle and in the same block, or worse same squat, cracking down on them all at once is possible.

if spread all around and no direct contact...it’s sad, lonely, not effective, communications are mediated, might be intercepted. each isolated has no support no backup, no encouragements nor incentives to persist and endure. but rural, if remote and spread around it’s harder to patrol, but every isolated person sticks out more on the grid (comms, heat, power, water). going to each of them might be trickier, crackdown on one serve as warning for the rest. in city a person can blend in a crowd, but more surveillance.

but what scenario are we considering? it depends on what we can each manage to do make a living.
ideally we’d stop working (full stop) for “the man”.
i don’t imagine ever achieving living in clandestinity.
actually, i can’t imagine another life at all. i don’t think i’d fit in with punks, or yuppies, or hippies. i don’t need to fit in, but what’s my alibi for going there? i think i’m seeing it the wrong way.

i need to change, but how, and to what?

i question too much any change of pace and never veer from the default normie life choices presented to me.

please mind you, i’m not begging or whining for answers, i’m just voicing something i think is far more common than what’s discussed.

my urgency is not to make an effect so we can live ATR in my lifetime or some bullshit. i just want to fucking avoid my life story to be the same as any lifer who “does not know any better”. like what difference does it make being against it on opinion alone?

anon (not verified)
Now according to some

Now according to some anarchos from the scene, you are an idiot for being on your own... In 2019. After all these books and experiences, that's the best they can come up with. Obviously since you're asking questions must be because you didn't get it by now, duh!

Sheepish morons, all over the place... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A2MT3rnxBY

anon (not verified)
david lynch is...of diverse

david lynch is...of diverse functionality...moron is ableist term...plus lynch is fash sympathizer...https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=up6zyI-cV5k

anon (not verified)
moron ableist, but...

"idiot" is not?

No self-bias at all!

anon (not verified)
But while I dig that OMG

But while I dig that OMG moment video, there's no case for Lynch being "fascist supporter. He's only been in this New Age bougie subculture, which has been riddled with charlatans since the beginning, including charlatans with terrible, absurd politics.

anon (not verified)
I certainly don’t get a lot

I certainly don’t get a lot of things. Hoping feedback might help, but not counting on it. I wouldn’t mind being “on my own” (with regards to other anarchos, as long i had some company and friends) if I was self-driven and proactive. Yes, I am fucking sheepish, like a lot of people, and that’s not accidental, it’s part of the bigger picture.

anon (not verified)
i have found that the only realistic option i have

currently is to be better improve being alone, because that in the end will also make your relationships with other people better. There's really not much going for the grand anarchist projects of smashing the state and destroying industry, if exarchia maintained their anarchy all these years and the state is fucking with them still then that's a bad sign for all the rest of us who don't have any communal momentum whatsoever.

It's an Americanism to say "just enjoy your life before you die", but it's unfortunately true. There don't seem to be any other options for us isolated lonely people than creating our own meaning and exploring ourselves.

anon (not verified)
Move to the shit. I live in

Move to the shit. I live in the bay area and hope to move to the shit eventually. Theres a shell of an info shop, anarcho-dsa left unity types and tech bros eveywhere.

anon (not verified)
If you're isolated, I

If you're isolated, I recommend trying to connect with physical anarchist projects, even at a distance. The internet is a poor substitute for singular, human connection, and anarchist "social" engagement on it is impoverished so much so as to be essentially worthless.

Do you have a particular project, publisher, writer, whatever that inspires you? Try to get in touch with them. There are a number of anarchist projects which prioritize these types of non-digital connections. They're usually "off the grid" so to speak, but look into things that interest you and write a letter. Start your own individual project and connect with others doing similar things elsewhere; people are usually more interested in engaging with others who have their own activities, experiences, creations to share. Travel if you can. These slow, non-spectacular ways of reaching out are anathema to this world of instant gratification, but they're much more rewarding.

Don't let the image of revolt that so many curate online fool you into thinking what you do in your daily life - even alone - is less important. It might look like all of the protests and events and conversations happening in the cities are vital and alive (and sometimes they are), but the projected image of this online usually glosses over the idiocy, moralism, trashing, and toxicity present. And, well, most of these spectacular images of people "in the streets" are exaggerated by people looking to puff their chests up about how Revolutionary & Important their political racket is. Don't believe the hype.

I find that those who came to anarchy in isolation and pursued their projects with determination and without the social backpatting of a scene are often the ones most able to see through the bullshit once they do meet other anarchists. And it's important to remember that you live anarchy because it makes sense to you, because it is how you want to be in the world, and therefore you can pursue that whatever your circumstances.

anon (not verified)
Beautiful kind words, thank

Beautiful kind words, thank you very much!
I’ll take this to heart.

anon (not verified)
I'd tell you to keep a safe

I'd tell you to keep a safe distance from those officially anarchist projects, and put more into under-the-rug anarchistic projects. Openly political spaces/projects have a handicap at the onset, which may easily become a factor of paranoia, stress, moralism, caused both by external and internal political dynamics. @ signs are not needed. Dodge the (obviously) political and you get the best of both worlds!

anon (not verified)
A good grain of salt to take

A good grain of salt to take with the other advice above.

Certainly I could start under the rug by myself. Finding other people under the rug seems harder, and staying under the rug also seems like it could possibly have an element of paranoia, but such is life.

anon (not verified)
I already live in a pretty

I already live in a pretty big city already and I'm still isolated. All the visible anarchism is cringey idpol ancomm, workerfetish syndicalism, and a whole lot of anarcho-liberal NGO activism. I don't know if there's any post-left people in my country. It'd probably be better to just get involved in some way, try to eventually find people I have affinity with, but when I think about doing it I realise that nobody with decent anti-politics would want to be around me. Too damaged. Meanwhile I'll keep myself holed up lying on my floor mattress reading baedan and black seed and feeling superior

anon (not verified)
are you serious or parodying

are you serious or parodying the other comments or both?
i think it’s a mistake to try to find “post-left” as a starting common ground to find affinity with people. i think activity (not activism) centered, something specific and doable and enjoyable. find someone who’s already doing something and join them, or start doing something and invite people

you can also get involved in all the stuff you mentioned and still feel superior/be too damaged/read stuff in mattress afterwards

anon (not verified)
yeah it's a serious parody

yeah it's a serious parody
so you think i should evangelise normies in a beginners pottery class? start an anticiv reading group at my local library?

anon (not verified)
fuck evangelising, that’s not

fuck evangelising, that’s not what i was suggesting.

rather, using your examples: do pottery for pottery’s sake (no politics) or anticiv reading for anticiv reading’s sake, either find people already doing whatever it is you’d like to do or start doing it by yourself and try to get people to join if that’s something that you want or that applies.

once things get done (like planting trees, or bowling, or kite flying, or pee pee sniping idk) it doesn’t matter if the person you did it with can write an essay in your style or whatever

or it does! you choose what matters! or maybe not!
you do what you will but you cant will what you will?
maybe you can!

anon (not verified)
yeah it'd be nice if i could

yeah it'd be nice if i could will my will into willing being a friendly docile kite-flying meat and three veg npc lemming, but i hath eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. thanks anyway dad

anon (not verified)
hmm, if one eats from that

hmm, if one eats from that fruit, what kind of shit comes out after you digest it? what happens if you use that shit as manure? or if you throw it at people? or if you smear the walls with it?
so much shit to explore...

anon (not verified)
You don't know what real

You don't know what real oppression is until the bedbugs begin biting!

anon (not verified)
so...

so...

you've got a mattress...

there's other things we could do besides reading...

; )

like making contraptions out of the springs, and barricades out of the frame

or stashing things inside it or drop bowling balls on it like on the commercials

i bet there's ever more stuff besides that

not much more though

anon (not verified)
yeah i could look at it that

yeah i could look at it that way if i was a cuck optimist. ive decided to start practicing zen buddhism instead

anon (not verified)
the only important part of

the only important part of that comment was the innuendo.

i mean, if you read that in ur mattress u a cutie ; )

anon (not verified)
i've already had sex with

i've already had sex with over 700 people already and i'm still isolated. it's all been impersonal anonymous sex-club hookups, meth fuelled multi-day BDSM sessions and a whole lot of furtive under-stall public toilet blowjobs. i don't know if i can have an emotional connection with anyone. hocquenghem said it:

As long as we are not burned at the stake or locked up in asylums, we continue to flounder in the ghettoes of nightclubs, public restrooms and sidelong glances, as if that misery had become the habit of our happiness. And so, with the help of the state, do we build our own prisons.

and yes im still lying on my mattress
namaste ; )

anon (not verified)
well i have done the opposite

well i have done the opposite, i’ve had emotional personal connections with various people across the years as friends, friendships lasting years, but am currently “friendless”. past friends are not enemies (maybe 1 frienemy), nor disappeared, just far away, unavailable, and/or uninterested. we’ve changed, moved, and grown (up) and apart.

also sometime one can have furtive emotional connections with people online through ongoing chats or correspondence.

i know i can connect. just a matter of going out and doing it, making connections i mean.

in your case you have no problem with going out and doing it. i don’t know how or if we can help each other.
but like, do you wanna discuss anything you’ve read in particular or any ideas? maybe we could chat to kill boredom sometime. in the irc on sundays maybe? i know nothing replaces the real deal.

anon (not verified)
*sighs* call me when there's hetero sex in de-gendered toilets

If you can get your way into days-long BDSM sessions seems like you're too socially-privileged to be going anywhere close to the stake or asylums? Like, HELLO, welcome to your neoliberal city that's been already gay- friendly for decades, where hipster artists throw wild parties in their expensive lofts along with corrupt judges from a distant US city dancing naked in front of everyone, or whatev. Coz I know BDSM's a niche for liberal bougies nowadays. This ain't SF in the '50s.

And also let's not talk about how you've been benefiting from gender separation in toilets so you can have you homo sex. Not related to socially-generated privilege! Let's not forget that as a member of LGTBQ commie-nity, you're "oppressed" by the forces of heteronormativity, DUH!

tl:dr... you'll now isolation when your only resort in your town is to live isolated, because you aren't allowed to live with others. Privileged. Fuck.

anon (not verified)
Its not "zen buddhism" its

Its not "zen buddhism" its just zen on its own, or it couĺd be nez, or enz, or zne or %#¥€, IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER, ITS NOTHING IN THE END!!

anon (not verified)
talk to me about something

talk to me about something else

anon (not verified)
No YOU respect golden silence

No YOU respect golden silence, listen to YOUR OWN internal talk! What is it telling you? Are you owned by someone/something else?

anon (not verified)
weekend vibes who up?

weekend vibes
who up?

Manuel Venator (not verified)
this is like the fermi

this is like the fermi paradox. the anarchist fermi paradox

anon (not verified)
Wow!

Wow!

Good one!!!

It certainly feels like that. XD

Manuel Venator (not verified)
I purpose we come up with an

I purpose we come up with an equation to estimate the odds of finding anarchists in any given city. :P

DoubleLife (not verified)
might as well just apply

that to anywhere, the number is low regardless :-p, this is one of the few places on the planet where anarchists congragate lol

anon (not verified)
nice try, FBI ; )

nice try, FBI ; )

squibs (not verified)
anarchist infrastructure

over the years being surprised with what was at my limited disposal regarding "oor people i came to terms with the idea that being as odd as we can be few and far between and under the normal pressures most people were either in some crooks of our reality or posted up somewhere in some un established space or like wise the reassesses of the corners of there own minds existing with "cleaned up or washed up acts. and all the people i did know who were into conventinal black flag miscreants it all seamed just old hat and common place or saturated even and with the idea that it pottentaily existed well enuf underground. I mean sure i can see why youd want to oppperate in this manner but i feel it breeds a much ness of secret eliet and dosnt solve the real issues your just bides some time and after all like the ramones said i want the air waves. what id like to see is like some anarchist directory or realyl like an art school or something id like to produce somthing mysef that will attract a collective but working better with people its a bit like bill and ted or some chicken and egg dealy pritty much what brings me here the internet is relivitvly free realestate and tho its sort of been a bit of a double edged sword on moddern efortts we as anarchists real do need to get more off a handle on it since it seams to mainly be corporations and racisits so if you want to get at me you can reach me on st.squibs@gmail.com and we can knock about some ideas and maybe we can all bandy about like some comglomarate gobbalin up the strayward black sheeps

anon (not verified)
I desperately need an

I desperately need an Anarchist Guide to Getting Laid... the 3rd Revised Edition that excludes flirting with lefties, normies, or using Facebook to that end.

senileoldtroll (not verified)
Chapter 1, page 1

Chapter 1, page 1

"Do you find yourself musing publicly about how you desperately need to get laid? Yeah, stop doing that."

anon (not verified)
I know you're a troll and not

I know you're a troll and not being serious, but i'll use this as an excuse to link this because it's relevant:

Anarcho Agony Aunts
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKq20e5nPDEok0loksTqEyQ

The thing is not for me, but I see how someone like the person you're parodying might find it marginally useful.

senileoldtroll (not verified)
Good series! I liked their

Good series! I liked their stuff too

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