Exiting Anarchist Politics

Comments

Alex R. Knight III's picture

This is an excellent one.  Very nicely done and well worth sharing.

Samarami's picture

This is a good read, Alex. I tend to take issue with the term "movement" as it applies to the libertarian/anarchist "rising", but I suppose that's because I see it as unlike any other "movement" that we're all exposed to.

    "...Many Anarchists scorn Statists that distract themselves arguing over politics, presidents, parties, etc. Yet, likely out of unconscious habit, follow in their footsteps in that they argue over what I want to call anarchist politics. And I don’t mean friendly arguments that seek new conclusions. I’m talking the strangely aggressive “Oh you don’t agree with me, you’re not a real anarchist” arguments; the infighting that does plague this movement and represents people living out their own suppressed memories with authority and not actually trying to work towards solutions..."

You and I have been exposed to what I think of as the only anarchist group in town. And we've experienced prodigious squabbling and bickering over gnits and gnats that crop up there: One member, sober for a hundred years (or less!), seems to feel that since s/he's been around for ages and spoken at AA conventions, etc etc., (chief potentate) -- only s/he has the answers to "true sobriety". So we have an advantage most posting here may not have.

It's for that reason I've refrained from "speaking" at AA "speaker meetings" (not that you should so refrain); and also have abstained from the temptation to post multiple essays and lessons outlining "...true freedom and liberty..." (I hope you don't stop because of what I've said). My major task is in keeping my ego and my vanity at bay to avoid thinking of myself as having all the answers to liberty.

I truly miss the the days of tzo and the many others who may have departed STR due to "anarchist politics". Sam

Serenity's picture

Samarami and Alex. i agree with both your comments completely. however, Sam. on not wanting to write articles i feel there are lots just like you, and, me. countless others. not wanting to write or speak out because of the in fighting and endless attacks from those who claim to want to advance the ''cause'' of anarchy. Only one size fits all or should as some believe. That being said. i find as an editor it is becoming extremely difficult to find ''root striker'' articles that fit the bill so to speak. So Few are hacking at the roots these days. The few that are, don't stay long. Or give up due to being bloodied and beat about the head and ears. As Anarchists they give up the idea of education. or writing their opinions. Having no home or few places left to post their ''beliefs''. The original writings. passionately done are hard to find. a dying breed that soon will cease to exist in the era of digital darkness where censorship is cheered instead of denounced.  The interent of things, the fake news from those who originated that concept now being the excuse needed to institute an OFF BUTTON for anything outside the ''official'' parrots who call themselves reporters. Articles are being erased almost as fast as they are posted. What to do?  that is the million dollar question isn't it? The love of liberty and desire for it is quickly being extinquished. But then again. I doubt anyone alive today has ever experienced true liberty. For all the flag waving and cheerfully proclamations for freedom form the people's of the country and other countries that think they have it. Point of fact is. they have never had it. never known it. and likely never will. not even at the beginning after the revolution. the people swapped one tyrant for another. no liberty was gained. a slight of hand as to who holds the leash and wields the whip. 

there..that is my two cents for what it is worth. let the whipping begin!! ha! 

Jim Davies's picture

Serenity (what a nice pseudonym!), what you wrote provokes a deal of thought. You're sad to find few solid root-striking articles these days, and suggest it may be that authors of such are tired of being "bloodied and beat about the head and ears" when they do. You have a point.
 
It happens that I've written more STRticles than any other author (243, of which none appeared in the last three years) so I can relate to that. Some of them are better than others (so, some are worse) but they are all there, in the archive - and I've indexed them and others by subject, here. Some bear re-reading.
 
You mention being an "editor" so you'll know well that if an essay strikes at prejudices widely held, it's likely to provoke hostility. Some measure of that is to be expected.  I did get tired, though, of being viciously attacked by other STR authors very much on an ad-hominem basis; not so much disputing points my pieces had raised, as directly savaging my integrity. That sort of thing may be expected from statists, but should (IMO) have been stopped cold by STR's Editor. It wasn't, so I stopped writing here. I'll not waste my time casting pearls before swine. Some of the story can be read in and beneath my final contribution, Liberty, Rooted in Rights.
 
Where else can one find good material these days? - like you, I've not encountered a site that's consistently anarchist (aside from my own Zero Government Blogs, of which there are now several hundred) but some excellent ones can be found on Lew Rockwell, mises.org, FEE, the Molinari Institute and elsewhere. Discrimination is needed, of course.

Serenity's picture

Hi Jim;
  I am grateful for your kind words and input. The name i picked came from the movie of the same name. 

I also thank you for your many years of battling for the minds and hearts of people. I always say, nothing will change until the mind does. the thoughts. the perceptions. the beliefs. the very heart of mankind. Sadly, It seems that the essence hasn't changed a bit. it has gotten darker and darker and darker. sinking deeper and deeper into bondage.

People's bodys are enslaved for fact but they had to voluntarily give their master their minds and hearts as well. They handed off their spirit. their soul if you will for a few alms. bits of wood pulp and the latest walmart widget. I have a picture of Black Friday and the sea of faces in anger, hate and despair. that is what we battle. and it is a what has been lost.  You can't make people think. you can only guide them to their own knowledge. you can't educate a single person. they must do it themselves and be willing to. In a world of slaves that refuse to be free all you can do is free yourself and hopefully live by example. Free the mind and nothing the rulers do to the body matters though it would be better to be free completely. if you still refuse to hand off your mind and your thoughts to those who wield the whip your spirit will remain free and you can shout in a loud voice ''NO! '' i will not comply! it is a willingness to not beg for freedom that will be the biggest way to regain it. no matter the consequences.

It saddens me that so many spend all their energy and efforts to attack what they do not agree with. That is an attempt to shame and silence. Strip a person of the very essence of what they claim to believe in. Freedom of speech. Freedom of thought. Yet when disagreements arise people will attack. As you have been. As many other writers have been. Silenced. How much energy was put into the attack that could have been put into their own writing. it is amazing how much effort is put into destroying and so little put into creation of thoughts and ideas. 

As a temporary guest editor i thank you for all you have written. All you have attempted to do Jim. I learned a great deal from your early writings. Those of yours and many others. Point of fact, that is where i got my own start. Ayn Rand, Larken Rose, Jim Davies and countless others who used to write and who are now silent. I learned and taught myself from their belief. i took what i wanted. what worked for me. and left the rest behind. I pieced together my own knowledge from countless others and formed my own life and what i value from those very writings.

Instead of attacking another persons views or articles. It is a wonder people can't just accept what they agree with and leave the rest alone. That is one way people are still free. free to not read something. turn the page so to speak. I truly do not understand the need to be ''right''. the need to destroy or discredit. the need to pick things apart like vultures picking apart a bone. I do see that happening. Here and many other places. It isn't all ''trolls''. it is people who who profess to believe as we do that do the most damage to each other. Instead of lifting each other up we tear each other down. 

If an article strikes a cord the first thing one does is try to tear apart the author and style of writing. Ignore the message being stated. wether or not it is good or bad. so much energy and effort spent to discredit instead of dispute. how would it be if they took what they liked and left the rest. expanded on it and someone else expanded on that again. and again. leaving the ego and emotion out of it as much as possible. take what works and leave the rest. no need to cannabalize the author by putting him/her in a pot of boiling water for the great crime of sharing their thoughts with others. yet that boiling pot is why the battle is lost. The people fighting that battle were burned at the stake so to speak. now one looks around and finds no one is left to fight for the minds and hearts. liberty becomes a myth. a thing one tells ones children to frighten them. (in the homes of those who worship the state it is fearful to be free and not taken care of) 

there is my rant...as i said. let the whippings begin. have at it. 

Samarami's picture

Serenity, I truly appreciate your willingness to "open up" regarding this topic. It's a sad deal that any of us need to find reason to become "antagonists" on such a great discussion forum as STR. I do wonder what has happened to the other "heavy hitters" (many of whom do not always agree with me or each other on the "fine print" of anarchy). Like you, I'veheld Jim up as rather of an Icon for a number of years, and keep and quote from many of his articles tucked away in my archives (now numbering into the thousands of various and sundry articles, mostly pro-libertarian, but some "on-the-other-side-of-the-isle" -- to quote a rather hateful slogan used by those aggrandizing politics and statism).

Jim and I (along with many other contributors, many of whom appear to have left STR forever) have experienced a few disagreements on nits -- things that don't amount to a hill of beans. "Rights", my tongue-in-cheek "sovereign state" declaration, my insistence that I can be free -- here, now, where I'm "at" -- come to mind. There should never be a reason, however, for anybody truly seeking freedom and liberty and sovereignty to pick up his or her bat & ball and leave the playing field over nits. The stakes are just too high.

My comment having to do with the submitting of essays and speeches have to do with my egregious ego and vanity. That's a part of my now 35 year "recovery" from addiction. But where would I be if Jim and all the others suddenly ceased submitting essays??? Because the libertarian concept has definitely been a part of my recovery.

Gotta quit before the library closes. Sam