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Welcome to the ANews podcast. This podcast covers anarchist activity, ideas, and conversations from the previous week.
What’s New This Week
written by chisel and read by chisel and gummy
Topic of the Week Conversation: Conservatism in Disguise
with Vic and Echo
Sound editing by rocinante
music samples:
ANews intro
El Matò a un Policìa Motorizado – Profeta de Fuego
Ases Falsos – Así es Como Termina
Comments
i dunno but it seems like…
anon (not verified) Mon, 02/17/2025 - 15:32
i dunno but it seems like fafo is like when your culture is super into burning things like coal and oil and paving all the land so that vehicles can more easily move about and then whoopsie polar ice is melting and forests are on fire etc etc,,, and maybe some laws are worth following like don't shit in the drinking water,,, but i guess it's only about authoritarianism, oh dang.
appreciated the effort to…
alex (not verified) Mon, 02/17/2025 - 15:37
appreciated the effort to define "conservatism" beyond the kind of kneejerk say-nothing account, but i don't think either vic or echo made it to the point of speaking to the question of why would anyone reach for these kinds of slogans, traditions, heuristics, whatever. tradition, and "creating traditions," is presented as an aspect of group creation and maintenance and vic at least encourages this because--why? more groups is better?
for me, traditions when they are useful generally refer to multigenerational strategies for dealing with imperfect information regarding immediate needs and prerogatives; this could mean anything from childbirth to gangsterism. "liberalism" in this context means the ideal of a rational school or practice that supercedes these arbitrary limits to what a given person can know about their own life, which turns into a belief in science as the final arbitrator of (the current) rationalism, and so on. maybe im an idealist but i think that anarchists could be distinguishing themselves in this moment from both the popular right and left by taking it upon themselves to know and understand why a particular tradition might have some standing or some interest to anyone who appeals to it, not because they belong to some transhistorical identity but because it is useful, right now, against the alternatives
thanks for the feedback and…
vic (not verified) Mon, 02/17/2025 - 21:54
In reply to appreciated the effort to… by alex (not verified)
thanks for the feedback and questions alex! i think people reach for slogans because they are a gesture at some sort of unity. so like in the case of fuck around and find out, people can unite around being tough on transgression from their value system. i think often a slogan is something like a rallying cry for people. which isnt to say that im necessarily against something like that, i just think that its too often the end of the conversation. which i ive seen lead to a lot of confusion and surface level understanding. i especially don't like that people on the internet often just argue by saying slogans back and forth at one another.
i encourage group creation and maintenance because i want to feel connected to the living beings around me. i believe that in the context of civilization and capitalism this task takes a lifetime of intention and effort. i want to participate in the culture i am a part of. for me that is a small, localized anarchist culture and relationships with the beings i choose to see and interact with on a regular basis. and yes i think if the options are mass society vs a huge number of small groups that create their own cultures/groups/traditions through face to face interaction and practice, i think more groups is better. mass society is an absolute trap and i dont see it being able to continue without generalized alienation at every level, and perpetual destruction of life. im not hearing you argue for mass society, just am seizing the opportunity to say the thing. its what your question made me think of.
i mostly agree with your point about understanding why some traditions stick around and attract people. i think thats usually preferable to being reactive. and politics is mostly just a system of reactions, for both the right and left. i hope to live a kind of anarchy that doesnt function by that sort of mechanism. hopefully no mechanism at all.
im probably not likely to respond to comments after this cause i dont like to communicate in this way but i really liked your feedback and wanted to respond. just. this. one. time.
thanks again for engaging with the conversation!
thanks for the response. i…
alex (not verified) Tue, 02/18/2025 - 09:30
In reply to thanks for the feedback and… by vic (not verified)
thanks for the response. i think we probably agree on most of the fundamentals here. for me what's important is understanding the difference, as far as traditions go, between the aspects of particular ones that are arbitrary and the aspects that are grounded in some kind of real historical practice. so as far as "creating traditions" goes, perhaps that is useful for a particular group to engage in as the more or less arbitrary set of practices for that group to use as a reference or meeting point or whatever, but it is also exactly where reactionary bullshit and cultishness might present itself immediately, and as i believe echo observed in the podcast, where a certain kind of conservatism can set in over time that is more concerned with keeping the group alive as a group than what it is doing now and so on. i think for me what it boils down to is focusing on whether we (in the sense of whoever finds this useful, not a specific or universal we) are able to give an account to each other about what we are doing; are we clear about it, do we understand it, is [this set of practices] oriented around addressing real problems that exist for us, or it intended to address us as problems, to solve or cure our "condition" and make a new kind of human being? if the former, i'm interested, if the latter, i'm not.
Congratulations ;)
anon (not verified) Thu, 02/20/2025 - 16:34
The whole anarchist cause forgets one most crucial aspect about human nature i.e. That people don't just instantly invert or radically change their values and lifestyle, either because survival doesn't allow for this convenience, or because of habit and loyalty to a cultural dynamic. Only gradual enlightenment and conviction to a certain ethical imperitive can induce this change.
For rapid change, hypnosis, electric shock-therapy, or lobotomy are the tried and tested authoritarian methods.
So it looks like gradual communication like this podcast is the answer, congratulations for advancing the probability for anarch epiphanies ;)
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