Stalking The Nightmare of Control by Invecchiare Selvatico
Invecchiare Selvatico Reflects on War of Dreams: A Field Guide to DIY Psy-Ops by Jason Rodgers (Autonomedia 2024)
In my review of Jason Rodger’s first book, Invisible Generation: Rants, Polemics, and Critical Theory Against The Planetary Work Machine (see anarchistnews.org/content/‘cause-i-see-you), I wrote: “As they ponder the banality and degradation of modern life, non-ideological anarcho-primitivism meshed and mashing with anarcho-surrealism, critiques of contemporary and historical philosophical pitfalls and their self-referential trappings, and so much more, Jason emotes provocation. In a time where almost anything remotely interesting or transgressive has been absorbed, reconstituted, and sold back to the anemic herd willing to lap up just about anything served to them and call it “radical”, Jason still finds edges that have not been smoothed down, still pokes, tears, and rips at the silicone and ideological flesh of control, still engages in psychic warfare against civilization…. It is rare in a world of posers, of fakes, of superficial trend surfers, of programed zombies, of reified rebels, of performative soldiers, of plastic identities, and such, to find someone who critically grapples with complexity and nuance and is not afraid to dip toes into the dangerous, a true free-spirit, an anarchist, or at least what that once meant before it all became so safe, so comfortable, so predictable, so non-anarchist. And when I am pleasantly surprised, usually by accident, that my paths come across one of these kindred spirits and their creative little explosions into the world, I am moved to respond. I begin to realize that I am not alone. There are others out there who are still alive, who have not been lobotomized and neutered by this displaced and dispirited post-modern techno-reality. I see you.”
Well, War of Dreams: A Field Guide to DIY Psy-Ops, Jason’s follow-up offering, not only confirms my suspicions, and dare I say hopes, but hits me smack in my wet thinking flesh with even deeper, more expansive, more clever, more biting analysis, and provocatively belly-shaking laughter than I had even imagined. Well done. Read these two books and call me in the morning (on my landline, it is all I got). I am sure there will be no shortage of things to discuss.
As in their previous book, War of Dreams combines Rodger’s dense and provocative collages and flyers with detailed essays and other assorted wordplay on a significant spectrum of subjects and over a decent chunk of time. I am not sure of their process for linking writings with collages (topic, chronology, chaos theory, drunken blind darts, etc), but they fit perfectly together as an unfolding journey of critique. Similar to their first book, and throughout their collage and flyer project, Campaign to Play for Keeps (CtPFKs), Jason seems to have rejected the current trend to oversimplify, reproduce, and dumb things down in analysis and presentation. Jason crams so much content, both visual and in critique, that a highly complex density of meaning is created, what I view as an anti-meme (or a least what memes have come to mean today). The writing and subjects are at times moderately complicated, but Jason manages to express and explain in a way that reads clearly and smoothly, never a chore, and always interesting. The range is phenomenal. Not yer one trick ideological pony here. The only thing you can pin Jason down on is their unabashed heretical digging, prodding, and poking, as well as their insatiable appetite for reading (from actual dead-tree flesh and ink books), in every direction that can be conceived as interesting, an immoral (amoralists are almost as big of cop-outs as atheists) and precise mesh of ideas filtered through a creative, perceptive, and intense person. Although Jason does seem to have some personal favorites, like Walter Benjamin, Jerry Mander, The Situationists, Bob Black, Freddy Perlman, Hakim Bey, Feral Faun, William Burroughs, John Zerzan, Renzo Novatore, Genesis P-Orridge, and a whole lotta old school and hardcore punk, they never get old and they bring them into the analysis in fresh ways, clever angles, and from a place of comprehension, unlike the googled and wikied name-dropping turds who love to puke out phrases and unbaked concepts they haven’t even begun to digest (I can still see the nuts and corn you morons).
The chorus: “Can we clone this mutant?”
No.
“Why Not!” they cry.
Because this is someone who is still very much alive and kicking and unique and breathing, someone who is present in this world with their eyes pried wide open. They engage in living critique, not dead games, not redundant gestures and ptsd ticks. And not online.
One of the many things I love about Jason’s writing is that I continually expand my vocabulary with every page. Who knew a word like “teledildonics” existed and how perfectly it names cybersex? Jason uses this evocative language as they come out swinging at social alienation and the technologies and processes which deepen, expand, and accelerate its control in their opening piece “Alienation Cycles Of The Identity Image”. This essay sets a solid tone for the book, only slightly distracting for me by a subtle attitude towards what feels framed as an almost obligatory, more active refusal over supposedly more passive escape. In this regard, Rodgers has previously called what they perhaps at times perceive as a more dormant, stagnant, self-referential, or even resigned response as “quietism” (which comes up more specifically further in the book). It is a term I think that can be too liberally applied, especially when its really hard to know what people do in their real world, away from print, cameras, and screens, in the middle of nowhere, between each other, underground, anonymously, without report-backs, away from scenes, behind fences and doors, in locked damp basements or dim dusty attics, in minds and hearts, off-the-grid, obscured by costumes and masks, up my nose, in the darkness, away from peeping eyes and measurements of the spectacle that is society. There are lots of ways to be willfully disobedient and to attack. Rejection and refusal can occur in many ways, including what may be termed as certain kinds of escape (either brief and temporary or more extended). I know Jason gets this. It is clear in so much of their writing, but what feels sometimes like a more overt call-to-duty may still go unrecognized by many with touches of lingering revolutionary residue and still a slight smear of social baggage along these lines. This is one of the few places Jason and I seem to meet across the creek a bit, but I actually enjoy the pushing and pulling, tussling and tugging. I find it inspiring, provoking, and challenging. I am all in.
Section One: Media is an analytically-leaning, yet not overly detached, attack on the post-modern cyber-world of global communication and control. Some of it feels like a freshening up and recontextualizing of the Situationists within the current cyber-hell (“Cyberia” as Jason cleverly describes the barren wasteland most have self-banished themselves to), but from a specifically anarchist and anti-civ perspective. In “The Object of Alienation and Reification” Rodgers examines the almost totalizing power of the technologically mass-ified illusion and its all-consuming affects on understanding and meaning. “As the world becomes more and more saturated with images it becomes more difficult to draw conclusions… Everything becomes fake news. The image is objectified into just more discrete components to be reassembled as entertainment.” Again, Jason’s proposal for a disconnection from the tentacles of fiber-optic mass media and their DIY prioritization seems to be the most relevant pushback to this mostly all-invasive and almost all-encompassing force.
Section Two: Anti-Media has a more nuts and bolts, active-oriented approach. This was one of my favorite sections and lets you really get to know what motivates Jason, their DIY attitudes, influences, their love of zines, punk rock aesthetics, deconditioning and decentering activities, and strategy of chaos and Dis Information, which Rodgers explains as “the scattering of the formation, allowing elements to reform in new, unpredictable, and dynamic ways.” This section is not only filled with their usual (unusual) collaged flyers, drawings, and essays, but also very playful and pointed correspondence, letters to editors and zines, stories, reviews, and some really off-the-map and forgotten or only marginally known micro-histories. I specifically appreciated Jason’s shinning the light on Susan Poe and Gerry Reith, two essential, yet virtually forgotten about, figures in the early incubation of a general perspective that became post-Left anarchy.
“My Date With Susan Poe” is Rodgers “fictionalizing an actual meet-up with a marginal” and offers glimpses into a time, place, person, and attitude that is typically only poorly and superficially understood and mimicked these days. Suzy “Crowbar” Poe seemed like a truly an anarchic unique one. She was a co-conspirator with Rodgers on a zine, a cult formation, some general mayhem, and, according to Jason, was a “butt sniffer”, oh, and she also put out Popular Reality, a staple of radical deviants and early post-Left anarchist appetites, with all the usual seemingly compulsory controversies (but more about all that in future Jason Rodgers releases).
Even more enlightening for me was “Gerry Reith’s Terminal Clarity”, a review of a compilation of Reith’s writings put out by Nine Banded Books called Neutron Gun Reloaded: a Gerry Reith Reader. It recalled for me this barely mentioned yet crucial embryonic element who helped facilitate the particular version of anarchy that I would dive into in the late 90s, but someone I knew almost nothing about. After reading Jason’s piece I quickly asked my ol’ pal Staplecide if he had heard of Neutron Gun, of which he had multiple copies of different editions. Reith seems to be an invaluable lost piece in the puzzle for many of my generation of anarchists going forward. In his very short and volatile life (he ended it abruptly at the age of twenty-five with a bullet to his head at his typewriter in 1984), Gerry seemed to have provoked, offended, picked apart, and smashed politics, complicity, collectivism, and society with a cynical “post-right anarchist” individualist OG-edge-lordy transgression that is so desperately needed today as one of many important infusions (Sorry you thin-skinned over-sensitive lil’ neo-emo liberal-lefties, its true, but that’s another story). Unlike many of his contemporaries (and most anarchists today), Reith entered anarchy from a libertarian background, which probably contributed to his very interesting and unique offering. According to Rodgers, “He was a crucial part of the start of a movement towards a new politics, towards a new writing, towards a new form of adversarial media.” Thanks Jason for reminding us, and for passing on the history to those few of us who can still read, and still want to.
Section Three: Politics starts to really cut into the meat of the multifaceted motivations, motions, and maneuvers of control, and some of Rodgers’ proposals for an “insurrectionary guerilla-ontology attack on multiple fronts” to “cause damage that will resonate through the whole totality” as they conclude “Internalized Control (In Hopes of a Short Circuit)”, a concise piece on contemporary forms of systematic power. While “Against Alienated Rationality” offers a sober critique of the “reductive conception of humanity” as well as enthusiastic calls for divergent and resonating infusions of irrationality. Jason accurately sights dada as one historical precedent for the “free sovereign” and “the anarch” to be inspired by in this way. There is so much in this section and the next (Anti-Politics) to keep diving back into again and again, way too much for summing up in review and well worth an in-depth one-on-one investigation. Whether it is work, academia, careers, activism, collectivism, progress, morality, or the misinterpreted, weaponized, or forbidden authors like HL Mencken or Ragnar Redbeard, when Rodgers is dissecting an idea, author, or tendency, they use well-oiled precession tools and maintain the wide-eyed fascination, unconstrained curiosity, and unabashed honesty of a young’n in the basement with a bloated roadkill bunny. That’s how the political is best treated.
Section Four: Anti-Politics follows the biting CtPFKs flyer “Food Not Bombs: Diarrhea for the People!” which asks the politicized culinary questions: “Have you internalized enough guilt to think that you deserve to eat half rotten (but not fermented) produce, handled (but not washed) by junky traveler kids?” and “Do you consider expecting those preparing your food to wash their hands after a bowel movement to be an example of a privilege to be checked?” and responds with the anti-political just dessert: “People are too full of shit. Food Not Bombs can Help! One meal and your system is clear!” Turn the page and Divine’s Invasion Squad takes aim and fires off: “FILTH IS MY POLITICS” as Jason then opens the section with a concise and clarifying distillation: “For every negative about my philosophy and program there is also a positive. You may notice that my positive still contains a negation. I suppose this is an example of a point in which I differ from a nihilist: a nihilist believes in nothing. I, however, believe in negation. Furthermore, this destruction can also be creative. From carrion compost left by negation, imaginal blossoms may bloom.” This is a crucial distinguishing position, one I absolutely resonate with, and Rodgers fleshes it out well in the section that follows. It is a continuation of the previous section’s attack on the political, handled with the same Rodgers’ standard of concision and derision, but from the opposite direction.
The first major piece in this section, “Chaos Is Immanent: Struggle, Ontology, and The Condition Of Freedom” gets to the heart of Jason’s project. It also fleshes out in more detail the subject of minor points of divergence I have had with them over what they term “quietism”. I find their more extended and contextual explanations of this concept more agreeable, nuanced, and useful, yet, in moments, still a bit stuck in the concept of “struggle” for my taste. Although, I think most of the residual divergence to be only partially of substance, and mostly semantical and very close in actual perspective in reference to the goals, inspirations, and tensions concerning the self-willed individual in society. I think this quote from the piece sums up Jason’s admirable motivations quite well: “Hope should be thrown out to begin with, and instead a joy of a life in struggle adopted. Why bother seeking easily attainable goals that are really just more banal miserabilism? Instead I’d like to seek a pataphysical objective, something so wonderful that it has never happened (or at least hasn’t happened since Babylon erected ziggurats). I’d rather lose at the great work than a lifetime of success maintaining a sewer system.” I cannot argue with this at all.
This section contains worlds within worlds of subjects and perspectives, becoming a swirling dervish of ideas connected in very interesting ways. “Feral Magik” is one of these gleaming gems, a spider-webbing pursuit covering vast terrains of the occult, deconditioning, altered states, telepathy, language, rewilding, resistance, and much more with a rigor and enthusiasm deserving of considerable note. In “Consensus Submission Making” Jason aptly critiques the herd mentality and hive mind that most people submit to on a daily basis due mostly, according to Jason, to their internalization of the external authority of society. Rodgers brings their analysis back to the more activist and collectivist of the so-called anarchist milieu who “sit through long-drawn-out-consensus-based meetings with rigid, formalized procedure, easily prone to abuse by politico-pervo authoritarian types drawn to these sort of structures. They join a community of peer pressure and shame, where comrades will pressure them into engaging in behavior they don’t want to engage in, just like they were initially pressured by mass society. They confront the alienation of mass society by submerging themselves into a hive, reduced to a number on a membership roll.” Instead, Rodgers proposes a revolt on every level against the Totality, especially, perhaps, on the micro, in our daily lives, a suggestion I could not agree with more. “Field Studies in Misanthropology”, a subject dear to my little black heart, is a brief and quite personal piece that stems from a very revealing journal entry which includes: “I often find it nearly impossible to relate to people I encounter in my daily life. I can’t relate to anything about them. I find nothing of interest in their interests. When I try to share how I feel, to communicate something about my being, I feel like I might be speaking a foreign language. I speak, but most often I am met by blank stares or mild disgust.” Jason’s response to these very understandable yet potentially crippling misanthropic tendencies in their own and in others’ hearts and minds is a very thoughtful temporary acceptance without an overwhelming submission into despair, and yes, quietness.
This section continues to flow into a very impressive arch through a seemingly unending set of deeply engaging and furthering pieces like “Affinity and Passional Conspiracy”, “The Journey Beyond Anarchism”, “Individuality, Identity, and The Creative Nothing”, “Notes On the Death of the Social”, “Trajectories Against Civilization”, “Uncivilized and Queer: An Anti essentialist Critique of Gender”, “Sodomy and Sigils In the Circle Pit” and much more to sink your ravenous feral fangs into. The section concludes with one of my favorite pieces in the book, “Escapism”. It fleshes out the sometimes touchy subject historically, philosophically, and practically, and comes up with a fairly adjacent assessment to my own, that without an intentional situation to sustain, protect, and nourish us, and without people of deep affinity (yet containing unique and individual difference), our resistance to civilization will not only be limp and fruitless, it will be unsatisfying on so many levels. This terrain is complicated and vast, for sure, fraught with many potential trappings, pitfalls, and leechings, but one worth the dangerous, endless, and satiating lived experimentation. We are not soldiers, we are living beings who need to be filled with a continual vitality to resist civilization and our precious energy needs to be replenished directly and daily in our lives. Surrogate activities and might-sucking distractions magnate all around us as we attempt to be at home in our world.
And finally, Section 5: Schiz/Misc wraps it all up with an assortment of oddities, misfits, and loose ends. Personally, for me this concluding section was slightly less interesting, but I appreciate Jason’s enthusiasm for their endlessly veining-out unconventional interests and it does help dissipate the heaviness of the previous sections into a more dream-like and playful goo, sending us all on our limitless little ways. In this almost afterward-like section we rub elbows with visionary artist Paul Laffoley and their psychotronic art, chomp down some amanitas with a shamanistic and hermetic Santa, and get a few other entertaining conspiratorial tutorials. Most relevant to me was the opening statement to the final section, pulled out in part for the back cover: “I am interested in ideas that don’t fit… The limitations of an alien reality must be smashed. It isn’t important to reach the masses, instead we want a growing lunatic fringe, schizoid anarchs who are uncontrollable and irresistible.” Delightful.
If it were not for the likes of Jason Rodgers and a ragged assortment of other such kindred deviants scattered about I would have left anarchists behind long ago. These rare crackles, sparks, and glimmers lighten my darkening heart, blow out my dusty mind, and rattle my creaking bones. They put a crooked skip in my step and rowdy stomp in my boot. They don’t delude, distract, or soothe with such false balms as hope or lofty philosophical ideals, but instead invigorate with a potent rejection and intoxicating honesty so sorely needed. It hurt so good.
Jason is no mere propagandist, that is a project for politics and power. Rodgers is a provocateur of the highest degree and a psychic warrior of great finesse. In their attempt to corrupt the perceptions and attitudes of individuals, groups, and powers, Jason’s psychological operations have no limits, but don’t expect the played out and obtuse knuckle-headed full-frontal attack! attack! attack! No, Rodgers is like a brilliant little termite, chewing away the rotting structures and shitting out the detritus for dreams to grow in as the mutherfucker crumbles from within. Chew!
“I know life is a game and I intend to play for keeps.
Time to get serious about joking and work at play.
It is time to play hard and play the ultimate game, war games.”
- Campaign to Play for Keeps
————
Jason Rodgers can be reached at:
Campaign to Play for Keeps
PO Box 701 Cobleskill, NY 12043
(no email)
Invisible Generation and War of Dreams
are available from Jason directly
or
autonomedia.org
or
underworldamusements.com
Invecchiare Selvatico
was a primary editor and writer for Green Anarchy magazine
and is the author of Black Blossoms At The End Of The World (LBC)
available from underworldamusements.com
Contact: nazelpickens@gmail.com
PO Box 316 Williams, OR 97544
*Both Jason Rodgers and Invecchiare Selvatico (as well as some other interesting deviants)
can be found writing for the preeminent anti-civilization anarchist publication:
OAK JOURNAL - PO BOX 485, WV 26851 - oakjournal@protonmail.com
Comments
link to book from publisher website
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/11/2024 - 05:44
get it together Invecchiare! here is a link to buy the book:
https://autonomedia.org/product/war-of-dreams-a-field-guide-to-diy-psyo…
The critique of "quietism" is
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/11/2024 - 10:33
The critique of "quietism" is one that is nothing new for anarchists. The same lame "life-style" over-reach critique is often pushed by doodie-filled revolutionaries and activists.
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/11/2024 - 11:10
In reply to The critique of "quietism" is by anon (not verified)
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Top quality comment. Thanks
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/14/2024 - 09:22
In reply to FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! by anon (not verified)
Top quality comment. Thanks mods. Who would censor us if not anarchists?
You clearly don’t know what
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/16/2024 - 20:14
In reply to The critique of "quietism" is by anon (not verified)
You clearly don’t know what the word quietism means. From your usage it sounds like you’ve decided what you think it should mean, rather than actually know what the definition is.
I just read the newest zine
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/13/2024 - 08:23
I just read the newest zine released by Jason Rodgers and the Campaign To Play For Keeps. It is titled "Faith In Nihilism?" and really opens up a critical discourse on the subject. Well worth the read.
can't find this zine, where
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/14/2024 - 10:22
In reply to I just read the newest zine by anon (not verified)
can't find this zine, where is?
You gotta buy, buy, buy it..
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/14/2024 - 10:39
In reply to can't find this zine, where by anon (not verified)
You gotta buy, buy, buy it.. on top of all the hassle of finding a fake mailing address that's still functional to have it delivered. Well-cum to the future of online anarchism!
Shouldn’t that be off-line
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/14/2024 - 18:00
In reply to You gotta buy, buy, buy it.. by anon (not verified)
Shouldn’t that be off-line anarchy?
Exactly.
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/14/2024 - 18:16
In reply to Shouldn’t that be off-line by anon (not verified)
Exactly.
the only anarchy that means
anon (not verified) Fri, 11/15/2024 - 10:25
In reply to Shouldn’t that be off-line by anon (not verified)
the only anarchy that means anything.
the rest is just performative, shallow, meaningless, and empty.
it is fucking a corpse
fine if that's what your into, but at least be honest about it.
No, your.
anon (not verified) Fri, 11/15/2024 - 10:45
In reply to the only anarchy that means by anon (not verified)
No, your.
Deep absolutisms, m8.
tl;dr:
TranslationB0t (not verified) Fri, 11/15/2024 - 10:50
In reply to the only anarchy that means by anon (not verified)
tl;dr:
Online zines = not anarchy = performative, shallow, meaningless, and empty = corpse.
Offline zines or hassle free zines one doesn't have to buy = anarchy = means something.
How about you get your noses out of zines and starting being the anarchists that zine writers write about and wish they were, brahs?!
yeah, you certainly couldn't
anon (not verified) Sun, 11/17/2024 - 15:12
In reply to tl;dr: by TranslationB0t (not verified)
yeah, you certainly couldn't do both...
Not with that attitude!
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/21/2024 - 13:42
In reply to yeah, you certainly couldn't by anon (not verified)
Not with that attitude!
Online Anarchy
Exlurker (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 23:53
In reply to the only anarchy that means by anon (not verified)
No it isn't.
The important thing that defines it is that I passionately feel strongly that online Anarchism is alive.
Uh, the shits all copy left.
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/16/2024 - 13:46
In reply to You gotta buy, buy, buy it.. by anon (not verified)
Uh, the shits all copy left. Distoists make copies. It is available easily, even if you can’t find a copy in your mom’s basement.
If it is copyleft, then why
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/16/2024 - 17:53
In reply to Uh, the shits all copy left. by anon (not verified)
If it is copyleft, then why are there only commercial copies available for a fee? Free is free...
And if I'm wrong, then how are they so easy to find for free? I ran a web search and all there is are web pages where to order from.
Dost thou require these poor
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/16/2024 - 23:49
In reply to If it is copyleft, then why by anon (not verified)
Dost thou require these poor anarchs spend their own dime and print if for ye on fine vellum and hand deliver it from many miles away to your mom's basement where they might read it to ye?
Do ye realise ye don't know what "free" means in the anarchist context of really, really free, ye entitled prick?
Yea, I do. Why isn't there no
anon (not verified) Sun, 11/17/2024 - 17:20
In reply to Dost thou require these poor by anon (not verified)
Yea, I do. Why isn't there no entry for Jason Rodgers on T@L? All the PDFs are really really free in there...
Travel And Leisure?
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/18/2024 - 13:52
In reply to Yea, I do. Why isn't there no by anon (not verified)
Travel And Leisure?
Perhaps those who think
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/18/2024 - 17:42
In reply to You gotta buy, buy, buy it.. by anon (not verified)
Perhaps those who think internet reading leads to shallow comprehension put their efforts into areas they find personally valuable? It is almost like you aren’t in charge of the behaviors of others.
I don't see how "those who
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/18/2024 - 18:42
In reply to Perhaps those who think by anon (not verified)
I don't see how "those who think internet reading leads to shallow comprehension" is even a relevant argument? Having publications available for free online changes little on how they are being read. It's about ideas and arts being more accessible to greater audiences, and for free, instead of more controlled channels that require payment (i.e. structurally non-free, and not quite "copyleft").
Free is free... not for a fee.
just read a book IN REAL LIFE
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 08:45
In reply to I don't see how "those who by anon (not verified)
just read a book IN REAL LIFE. it is so much different of an experience, more significant by leaps and bounds, even if you have to scrape some fuckin' money together to cover postage and the cost to publish and print it. or just continue being an entitled robot who consumes data. some people have resisted this. jason doesn't even have an email, to their credit, so why would they prioritize what they despise?
i hope you enjoy eating the
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 09:19
In reply to I don't see how "those who by anon (not verified)
i hope you enjoy eating the bland and nutrition-leeched carrot while being beaten by the stick... for free, or course, because money is the only metric in your pathetic world.
You could do an inter library
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 12:13
In reply to I don't see how "those who by anon (not verified)
You could do an inter library loan if you are that against opening the change purse
great idea. its a way to get
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 12:33
In reply to You could do an inter library by anon (not verified)
great idea. its a way to get books for free and in the library for others to read too
but that person above doesn't want to read the book, they want to complain, push half-thought-out (to be generous) ideas about capitalism and anarchy and stay glued to the screen.
That person above doesn't
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 12:59
In reply to great idea. its a way to get by anon (not verified)
That person above doesn't want to read my comment, they want to complain.
Inter-library book orders... wow, you idiot. Not only this type of literature has at least a 120% chance to be refused by public libraries, but also very likely to get whoever dumbfuck's library account on a 3-letter agency's list. Oh wait no... we're still in the '50s and the 3-letter agencies are only interested in crime gangs. :-/
Oh and btw... not everyone commenting on this site resides in the US of A. Just to letya know...
thanks for letting us know,
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 14:39
In reply to That person above doesn't by anon (not verified)
thanks for letting us know, we had no idea.
Aaaah... proud Muh-Muh
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 19:56
In reply to thanks for letting us know, by anon (not verified)
Aaaah... proud Muh-Muh-Muhrikans at work with thrir brain skillz!
So bw I'd be much interested to read that "book". I just won't pay in advance for content that might not.be worth it.
Put down your dumpster
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 20:10
In reply to Aaaah... proud Muh-Muh by anon (not verified)
Put down your dumpster poutine, get on your bike, and get yourself one, braahhh! The border isn't far, braahhh!
Whoosh!
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 20:47
In reply to Put down your dumpster by anon (not verified)
This doxxing shit used to be almost intimidating, then it went mildly amusing... and now is so predictable. :-(
Well sumethin' is certainly
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 21:12
In reply to Whoosh! by anon (not verified)
Well sumethin' is certainly predictable I'll give ya that, braahhhh.
brah.
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 21:54
In reply to Put down your dumpster by anon (not verified)
brah.
when you say stuff like this are you making fun of biking and trash food or endorsing it? or both? ofc biking is great and fresh trash makes decent food, so whaddya wanna say?
FOMO's a bitch, ain't it?
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 22:10
In reply to brah. by anon (not verified)
FOMO's a bitch, ain't it? Keep up, brah.
ah, got it.
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 22:20
In reply to FOMO's a bitch, ain't it? by anon (not verified)
ah, got it.
Normies gunna normie...
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 10:09
In reply to brah. by anon (not verified)
Some anti-poor Marxoids with aristocratic aspirations still hanging out here. They're a trend since the early Leninists. Class warfare also mid to "bottom" these days, even more than "high" to "bottom".
If you don't work-work-work for all the stuff you eat and for the rent, and don't shower and launder twice a day then you must be some kind of class traitor or something...
"We also require your daily
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 10:16
In reply to Normies gunna normie... by anon (not verified)
"We also require your daily sacrifice of hard-earned money to the Car God, every morning at 7, or else. You filthy anarcho-lumpen scum. ALL HAIL VROOOM-VROOM POWAH!" -Society
yeah, just two ways to do
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 10:45
In reply to "We also require your daily by anon (not verified)
yeah, just two ways to do things. either all in or all out. sorry, but nobody actually does that (or could), they just love to front it for the stupid politics.
oh, thanks for the tip. this
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 10:51
In reply to Normies gunna normie... by anon (not verified)
oh, thanks for the tip. this makes more sense with my observations thru experience. i did think the troll was making fun of people who make fun of lifestyle, so it's a bit disappointing if they're actually just giving the same empty criticism as wayne and the leftists. i guess that's the postmodern nature of parody...?
I want you to define
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 11:09
In reply to oh, thanks for the tip. this by anon (not verified)
I want you to define postmodern. You can even use your context. Then I want you to learn what postmodern means and report back. We will then discuss deconstruction. I'll wait.
PoMo (con't)
PoMo Maggot (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 11:16
In reply to I want you to define by anon (not verified)
My challenge arises because for far too long there have been voices in the popular anarchist space decrying things that challenge rigidity and absolutism as "postmodern", but with a negative connotation. This is an extremely conservative and often reactionary take on a concept and movement that one would think anarchists would embrace (and most do). Challenge the voices from within the anarchist space raging against postmodernism. They are certainly in favor of absolutes that have nothing to do with anarchy.
happy to oblige! in this
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 12:10
In reply to I want you to define by anon (not verified)
happy to oblige! in this usage i typed "postmodern" to mean that there is no universal signifier, and that 4 readers can interpret a single thesis in 4 ways. to my mind this implies that all/none is the correct interpretation; correctness fails as a concept.
i understand that another usage of postmodern implies a transition that occurred from the 60s well kinda until today, or maybe 2001ish, but ppl also talk a lot about c. 1982, as control by enclosure disseminated and gradually morphed into control by desire thru the impositions facilitated by computing and individuals-scale (divididual) data collection and recording.
Your most recent comment
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 12:35
In reply to happy to oblige! in this by anon (not verified)
Your most recent comment shows we are postmodern comrades in agreement. Carry on.
Now kiss
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 12:36
In reply to Your most recent comment by anon (not verified)
Now kiss
what i don't know what to
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 12:53
In reply to Your most recent comment by anon (not verified)
what i don't know what to make of it tho is that, like you said, other people are seldom operating in this framework. indeed i think it's a personality thing, where ppl who don't fluently get it probably never will/don't want to. idk what that means besides to "carry on"
Post-modernity has started as
GEF (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 12:44
In reply to happy to oblige! in this by anon (not verified)
Post-modernity has started as result of WW2, that was the cataclysmic culminating point of all the values and ideologies of the Modern world that started with the early 19th century industrial world. What came out of WW2 was the Neoliberal mass society that even despite a clinging to apparent Modernist values in the '50s-'60s was running out of a technological mass-consumer society, driven by the initial capitalist drive to transfer the war-time economy into a peace-time economy, and build a nuclear bipolar world. Post-modernity imo has culminated in the '90s onward with the collapse of the Cold War ideological binary and the complete dissolution of any ideology into capitalism. What happened in Russia's the best example of this process, where in the '90s that was a savage capitalist hellhole.
Modernity's still an empty corpse, and the recent conservative and nationalist tendencies are just spectacular attempts at actually reverting it further, toward Neofeudalism. Trump's/Bannon's populist is fluff, just like Leon's. They're all into monetizing on CHUD (res)sentiment.
The nihilism, positive or negative, brought by Post-Modernity has precluded many openings, and the hyper-retrograde Neofeudal tendency is but one of the directions, perhaps the most tempting or appealing one. Like Adam Curtis posited, this is a global reality where anything becomes possible all over again, as the Centrist Neolib view has collapsed and the "extremes" become mainstream. Obviously the Neofeudal lords have been pushing their own extreme tendencies...
Regardless, Post-Modernity should be seen by anarchists as a great opportunity, not a menace to their own existence (or "relevance" whatever that means). Only anarcho-lefties with 100 years old narratives will see it as such. This crowd of upper-caste aristocrats gotta go... "Who's next?" is what interests me.
"I just won't pay in advance
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 08:41
In reply to Aaaah... proud Muh-Muh by anon (not verified)
"I just won't pay in advance for content that might not.be worth it."
i am absolute positive JR would give you your money back, provided the shit from your brain didn't get on the book.
on second thought, based on your idiotic comments, you probably won't like the book, no, you couldn't understand the book.
can you even read?
or does your mommy still do that for you too?
Doesn’t the term 3 letter
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 17:05
In reply to That person above doesn't by anon (not verified)
Doesn’t the term 3 letter agency refer to American intelligence community? But you don’t live in America? So are you worried that the CIA is gathering info on your library card in Latvia? Where I live there is a form to fill out to request libraries purchase specific books. These are dropped in a little comment box, so no revelation of secure library card number required.
Many countries got their own
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 20:01
In reply to Doesn’t the term 3 letter by anon (not verified)
Many countries got their own intel agencies secret police, jsyk, but since that bigot's comment was appearantly addressed to USian readers...
And no, public libraries in foreign are very unlikely to be ordering from some DIY distro that doesn't give ISBNs to their publicatuons, obviously, lol
Will be awaiting for.more stupid replies. Or not.
Stick to reading things with
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 20:08
In reply to Many countries got their own by anon (not verified)
Stick to reading things with ISBNs, m8. Anarchist DIY zine culture isn't for you. Aw! :-(
"bigot"
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 10:42
In reply to Many countries got their own by anon (not verified)
"bigot"
now yer gonna hide behind lame overreaching of victimization?
and the book is put out by a somewhat well-known publisher, as the review states, so yes, a library (even outside the us could order it)
try again.... or better yet, just shut up and get back to playing video games and drinking juice boxes.
Autonomedia uses ISBNs. Long
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 13:48
In reply to Many countries got their own by anon (not verified)
Autonomedia uses ISBNs. Long standing publisher, originally a sort of outsider academic publisher, due to their ties to Semiotext(e).
write to:
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/14/2024 - 15:37
In reply to can't find this zine, where by anon (not verified)
write to:
Campaign to Play for Keeps
PO Box 701 Cobleskill, NY 12043
(i am sure if you throw in a few bucks, stamps, or trade it'd be cool.)
Oh I see you're renting a
anon (not verified) Fri, 11/15/2024 - 11:15
In reply to write to: by anon (not verified)
Oh I see you're renting a post office box by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED SNAKES OF AMERIKKKA!!!
#NOTANARCHIST
Mister Rothbard, is that you?
anon (not verified) Fri, 11/15/2024 - 15:06
In reply to Oh I see you're renting a by anon (not verified)
Mister Rothbard, is that you?
Okay MAGA anarchist. FedEx would be more anarchist, right?
Uh.. Wut? Are you from
anon (not verified) Fri, 11/15/2024 - 19:30
In reply to Mister Rothbard, is that you? by anon (not verified)
Uh.. Wut? Are you from UpsideDownLand, fakenews anon 15:06?
Continuing on this cascade of shitposting: An anal-ysis.
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/21/2024 - 11:15
In reply to I just read the newest zine by anon (not verified)
So apparently Rodgers and maybe some of his readers/supporters here are hard convinced not to put out anything online, coz maybe there's something alienating with it... or that it doen't lead to irl interactions and distro projects that *could* mean meeting people.
I've seen a Reddit post from a few years ago about a poster from CTPFK... the post was literally wondering what was this about/who's behind it. Which reminds me of how...
- IRL agit-prop ain't really any more "corporeal" than online, as as far as it's about someone just postering or spreading zines someplace when no one's looking, this is just an old-school version of putting up some text online.
- postering and distroism, for all its remaining value, is also pretty shit when it comes to creating a conversation, unless this serves as primer for actual convos or actions about it. As with the tradition of one-way communications, YOU CAN'T FUCKING ARGUE WITH A ZINE OR POSTER; they are to be considered for being thought about, or not. In the end, the difference between material found on or offline comes down to a triviality... whether it's print or online media. Looking at a downloaded text on your device, vs a piece of paper...
WHAT'S THE FUCKING DEAL WITH THAT? The difference is esoteric. Or if you don't want sus devices at your reading group, then just fucking print the material. damnit!
- Also the fact I seen this material online, through the pic posted on social media, reveals another flaw in such approach... that the internet allows to overcome geographical limitations, that are HUGE in the context of Turtle Island.
So in light of these considerations, the only other argument for PRINT-ONLY publications I'm seeing here is: money. Perhaps also surveillance/profiling.
IF we only stick to the money issue... That doesn't mean the publisher's a capitalist or seeking to profit from the rather-impoverished anarchist readership. Let's just say that's an old-school way of having a somewhat lucrative business that allows for a level of expansion if the thing sells. LBC was a good example. It was a successful business, it did expand, and allowed to even make some profit.
(Not being as idiotic as my detractors so hardly believe... I KNOW I MIGHT be putting too much efforts with online dumbos or hostile trolls here. I still got a 17% of faith that there are still some legit characters here to entertain discourse with)
Within this approach, to be allowing publications to be freely available online would undermine or hinder the expansion of such business, as of course that means much less mail-in orders, that are compensated with downloads. So in that view, free online versions would be "piracy", i.e. a release of the material from the de facto copyright enclosure that makes it lucrative.
But of course, anyone can scan and put it up online. And I ENCOURAGE them to! Whether that'd be a violation of the intents of the publisher or not... this would be acktchually a confirmation of their copyright/copyleft status. Online piracy for decades has pushed the prison bars on that aspect, and it's been doing great.
Btw, delicious melty dumpster poutine still can't be ordered online. I personally recommend anywhere around the famous trendy Banquise diner in Mtl, and yes you might have to get your hands dirty for this, you uppie-mid-class prole scum. But since this is a statement found online it isn't as much supportive of IRL as it should be!
Anarchist publishers
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/23/2024 - 15:31
In reply to Continuing on this cascade of shitposting: An anal-ysis. by anon (not verified)
Anarchist publishers generally lose money. PM might turn a profit, but that’s about it (good for them)
The best thing about print publishing isn’t just who it includes, but who it excludes.
Poster campaigns aren’t about reaching an audience, but confusing and agitating your enemies.
"Poster campaigns aren’t
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/23/2024 - 16:10
In reply to Anarchist publishers by anon (not verified)
"Poster campaigns aren’t about reaching an audience, but confusing and agitating your enemies."
Well that's your opinion. Tho I've seen posters and flyers being used for a few other purposes, like agit-prop... ads for actions or events... spreading a POV... and even less clear goals.
pm is not an anarchist
anonymous (not verified) Sat, 11/23/2024 - 17:54
In reply to Anarchist publishers by anon (not verified)
pm is not an anarchist publisher.
Different anon here. Is an
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/23/2024 - 20:34
In reply to pm is not an anarchist by anonymous (not verified)
Different anon here. Is an anarchist publisher
(a) a publishing company that is run by anarchists
(b) a publishing company that publishes anarchists
(c) a publishing company run by various types of people publishing various types of authors
(d) a publishing company generally very bad at doing capitalism and calling it anarchist
CHOOSE WISELY.
yeah, but pm also has a very
anon (not verified) Fri, 11/29/2024 - 08:52
In reply to pm is not an anarchist by anonymous (not verified)
yeah, but pm also has a very limited scope in reference to anarchism, and too broad a scope outside of it.
pm and ak are the amazons of anarchist publishing
The difference of the
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2024 - 13:18
In reply to Continuing on this cascade of shitposting: An anal-ysis. by anon (not verified)
The difference of the esoteric is the litmus test, dividing t he sheep from the anarch
oh, ok, i guess Invecchiare
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/13/2024 - 14:40
oh, ok, i guess Invecchiare Selvatico thinks its ok to like this book.
THE 9 STEPS TO DIY PSY-OPS
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 16:06
THE 9 STEPS TO DIY PSY-OPS.
1) DO NOT BE INFLUENCED BY THE DUMB-DOWNING EFFECTS OF CORPORATE CONSUMERIST VALUES AND DESIRES.
2) LIVE IN THE MOMENT,
3)LIVE SIMPLY,
4) MAKE DO WITH NECESSITY BEFORE DESIRE,
5)GIVE UP HOPE FOR ANY CHANGE, MANKIND IS ABSURD.
6)DO NOT VOTE.
7)SMILE ALOT, IT HAS POSITIVE OUTCOMES.
8)HELP OTHERS WITHIN YOUR CAPABILITIES, IT HAS POSITIVE OUTCOMES.
9)NEVER SURRENDER YOUR FAITH IN YOUR OWN SANITY IN AN INSANE WORLD.
I disagree with 7. The
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 17:50
In reply to THE 9 STEPS TO DIY PSY-OPS by anon (not verified)
I disagree with 7. The bougies in my area are the only dumb fucks that smile all the time like their mortgage was nullified and they got unlimited dental/medical insurance to cover for getting punched in the face. Furthermore in East Europe you're considered to be an idiot by everyone when you smile for no apparent reason, and I think they're right.
Yeah, on second thoughts I
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 20:20
In reply to I disagree with 7. The by anon (not verified)
Yeah, on second thoughts I should have elaborated, only smile amongst non-Statist, non-religious, poor and apolitical individualists. Thanks for the critique ;)
STOP TELING ME WHAT TO DO
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/20/2024 - 20:48
In reply to THE 9 STEPS TO DIY PSY-OPS by anon (not verified)
STOP TELING ME WHAT TO DO YUOU'RE NOT MY MOM YOU GOTDAMN AUTHORITARIAN
Listen to me son, sometimes
anon (not verified) Thu, 11/21/2024 - 12:37
In reply to STOP TELING ME WHAT TO DO by anon (not verified)
Listen to me son, sometimes during hard frugal times whilst living in poverty, a man has to pick up a sewing needle and sew the tear in his trousers. The minimalist anarch is not concerned with fashion, we are about NECESSITY, mkay.
let us not confuse fashion
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2024 - 09:42
let us not confuse fashion with style. the first is decided by capital and distributed to the herd, the latter is timeless and unique. the anarch will adopt the first for specific situations, but always has the latter throughout.
so true. i am personally
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/27/2024 - 08:22
In reply to let us not confuse fashion by anon (not verified)
so true. i am personally tired of "anarchists" wearing high-wasted jeans, v-neck shirts, polos, wide-legged shorts, loafers and flats, and, of course, bangs.
not only do they look silly, they look like all the other humanoid garbage out there.
Yes. We should just grow up
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/27/2024 - 08:50
In reply to so true. i am personally by anon (not verified)
Yes. We should just grow up and dress bland like every normie. Conformity's the way to go, grandpa! Look at Instagram for proof.
actually, what is described
anon (not verified) Wed, 11/27/2024 - 09:46
In reply to Yes. We should just grow up by anon (not verified)
actually, what is described above IS the blandness of just about every normie.
nice try.
uniqueness in style is gone. it is all self-referential, neo, retro, trended, and fucking boring.
Look at the world for proof.
and, i respect my grandparents far more than my so-called peers.
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