TOTW: abstractions and embodiment

to the degree that people can be emotionally distant or unavailable while being physically present or maintaining an online presence, and to the degree that “performing” emotional labor, empathy, and care is a thing, a physical or online presence does not equal relating in a meaningful way. embodiment does not equal fulfillment or self-actualization. abstract ideas distract and mediate social relationships in a way that perpetuates forms of separation. the lonely crowd at a concert, a movie theater, a bookfair, or a conference rubs shoulders but avoid relating directly to each other as such for the most part. before computer culture, and the internet, spectacular forms of separation had already been perfected in mass consumer culture.

it worries me how many people under 25 are still wearing masks all the time, like I wonder if the generation that was a certain age during covid is just going to be emotionally stunted by whatever cultural "trauma" happened during the pandemic. i'm sure this is rage-bait for someone but I do see a correlation between politically correct or "radically correct" politics worn by people of a certain age and their seeming lack of touching grass, being used to things like eye contact and talking to strangers, etc.

...all of which is to say, the State and the capitalists win: cuz performing radicalism and wokeness is easier than persuading (or politically attracting) a person in physical space, but people will settle for the former to get those sweet online dopamine hits.

I, for one, am disgusted by the choice to use Da Vinci's V-Man instead of a headless acephale with a machete in one hand and a girl dick in the other.

"To the extent that bodies are chaotic, how does ..."

What is this false premise doing on my beloved anews? PLEASE learn how to write logically.

"Topic of the Week - This won't be fully fleshed out (ha, did you see what i did there?)"

No? Nobody sees what you did there because you didn't do anything there.. Are you okay?

Anarchists are no more nor less prone to "dis-embodiment" than any other humans.

It all depends. Some anarchists, especially illegalists and primitivists, don't even use the Internet. So it's not all anarchists.

Yes, we're all agender here on the Internet in a way since it's all just a bunch of text on the screen. People here share their interests freely without shame, thus destroying distinctions between masculine and feminine interests. Which is beautiful, the Internet would suck (more) otherwise. But politics and philosophy shouldn't be seperated from our everyday life imho, otherwise you'll fall back into idealism, oversimplification and essentialism. In fact, everyday life should be prioritized, I keep seeing people arguing over dogmatism vs revisionism when it's a false dichotomy really, just form your own opinion based on your lived experience. Touching grass is important.

it is amusing how some anarchists latch onto certain words and use them all the time. like the word chaos. chaos is only ever "good" to these anarchists. not that it is bad, (it is neither), chaos and order are not diametrically opposed though.

and i would say mind and body are not diametrically opposed either. nor are they separate. if there are disembodied anarchists in your area that means they are no longer alive, be wary.

as an anarchist (I'm making an assumption) why does it matter to you at all what anyone else does with their own body?

i agree with knar that "disembodied" doesnt mean much to the living and i certainly dont see how it bears any relationship to abstraction as such. i think the kind of engagement with online material the prompt is gesturing towards is more like "out of body experience" which is to say the dream-like kind, the aspect of thinking which is specifically embodied in that it comes from us and is expressed through our experience without any discrete or easily communicable point of reference, and the ways we find to play with that. online spaces are good at facilitating that to the extent that, unlike a single-author text or, to a much lesser but still real extent a film, they dont need to approximate or simulate a multiplicity or multitude of perspectives; "bits" or not all the little writings and schizoposts are not characters derived from any discrete source but individual people doing that, for whatever reason. mileage will vary and all the critiques of the various powers and techs used to corral this are to be granted, but it's still the case i think that there is a vast degree of possibility continually being expressed and revealed in these supposedly intrinsically alienated terrains.

but i think all of that is another example of the ways that (some) people find strategic uses for enemy infrastructure, a process that is just as understandable as it is a losing proposition in the long run. my general sense of it is: get from it what you can, which means listen to whats going on, look for something you can work with, dont just run away at the first sign that maybe you arent welcome here; but dont count on it, and dont think that it isnt killing you, or eager to

love it when trolls get push back and all they can say for themselves is "I'm just joking" or "it isn't that deep" or they respond to something that was never said. (don't actually love it).

I enjoy living in my physical body & keeping my mind in the present. I spend much of my time interacting with other beings on a physical level. I smell the ivy, blackberries, holly and morning glory I remove from trails (which is not my job, but do anyway) & feel the sweat that that exertion caused me when the wind picks up. I get cut up by those same holly and blackberries & the sting of pain brings me back to the present moment. My hands, right now, are still stinging from the nettles I brushed against earlier today while picking cyans & coccora. The odd maneuvering & puzzle solving I have to make around salmonberry & low growing vine maples, or through devils club, leaves its' mark in my musculature & holes in my clothes. The sounds of birdsong I hear when the animals realize I'm not really a danger or intruder they need to hide from relaxes me. When I get home & make dinner the taste of the coccora mushroom snaps me back to the present. I love the senses that the human animal has & dread the times in my life when I am forced to exist solely cerebrally. The pain, obstacles, noises, smells, tastes, temperature, morphologies & weather is, to me, the beautiful.

I can’t recommend Merleau-Ponty enough. Phenomenology of Perception especially. Yes he’s a mid century Frenchie but his shit actually makes sense, I found his work a lot more rewarding than most of the similar authors I tried to get into. his approach is pretty original but opens on the universal.