For ya libertarian-anarchic types. by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

For ya libertarian-anarchic types.

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Thursday, June 28, 2007 09:06
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VIEWED: 741
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007 6:22 AM

Been lookin into some related literature and stumbled across some stuff by L Neal Smith.

Fascinatin stuff.
Best of show however, is The Probability Broach, which mister smith has kindly placed online in the graphic novel format for free.
http://www.bigheadpress.com/tpbtgn?page=0

Figured y'all might like this, especially Sarge and SixString - just click on the center to move to next page.

Hell, for that matter PN might get a kick out of it too, but I can hear our Federalist apologists cussing and spitting already, and that's music to my ears, really.

Might try to pick up the paperback if I can even find a copy.

Enjoy, folks.

-Frem
It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007 1:53 PM

SERGEANTX

Thanks Frem,

I've heard many good things about N. Smith. I think I'll finally take the time and check him out.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007 2:43 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I started reading it and got stuck.

---------------------------------
Always look upstream.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:46 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Ya, the page coding ain't all that hot, but what the hey, it's free - try a different browser if page reload don't work.

Is it bad that this thing left me in gigglefits?

Lucy rocks the house.

-F

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007 12:58 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oops I didn't mean stuck, I meant glued. As in, I couldn't stop turning the pages.

---------------------------------
Always look upstream.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007 5:18 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Oh, yah, that happened to me, too.

Even if it is meant to push an agenda (one i fully agree with, mind you), the man knows how to tell a story, that's for sure.

Although i would dispute Heinlen being on 'our' side, since he's somewhat of a pro-fascist.

-F

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Thursday, June 28, 2007 6:29 AM

HKCAVALIER

Interesting graphic novel--I particularly found all the gunplay kind of hilarious, like some alt-universe spin-off, Star Trek: Gun Slingers.

Frem, I'm dying to know what you thought of Le Guin's The Dispossessed! (You, of all people, must have read it--you must, MUST!) It deals with so much of what this graphic novel deals with, but with a vastly more profound interest in human psychology and, I think, a much greater insight into the nature of culture and politics.

In The Probability Broach, the discontents in the confederacy that are either laughed off or shouted down (I'm thinking of Clarissa's rant about how healthy it is to carry guns), deserve some real attention. Le Guin's novel seems to suggest that there is an individualist drive and a collectivist drive in humans that are constantly at odds within cultures and within individuals. In politics, one polarity is always trying to destroy or discredit the other. In the individual, such conflict is clearly neurotic.

A big problem with anarchism as I see it, is that it seems to appeal to a very specific segment of society--the most individualistic/exceptional people. Collectivism appeals to the mediocre, people intimidated by the overtly individualistic and exceptional. There are an awful lot of people out there who are not exceptional and know it and don't like the exceptional people. This seems to be a constant in all--ALL--social animals. And within individuals, the drive to "fit in" and "be liked" can override pretty much any other drive you can name (even self-preservation can be trumped by these needs, e.g.: suicide bombers); people routinely suppress their own individuality and exceptional impulses, not because there's an Orwellian State forcing them to, but because they have an internalized demogogue calling the shots.

You and I would prolly agree that this "inner-dictator" is a legacy of the violent and fear-based child rearing practices of most every culture that has blossomed on this Earth. Until a majority of inidivuals can grow beyond punishment/reward, victimization/blame--the fundamental psychic infrastructure of totalitarianisms individual and cultural--the race is pretty much up shit creek, right?

My answer is healing, education and art. Our culture, in spite of itself, is becoming more and more aware of a thing called "healing" and more and more aware that such a process is possible for anyone. More information is available to more people today than at any time in human history. And art, well that's my personal answer to this problem--I will create art with the specific purpose of giving people hope and comfort in the face of our world's desperate situation.

Anyway, how 'bout that Ursula Le Guin?

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:58 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
You and I would prolly agree that this "inner-dictator" is a legacy of the violent and fear-based child rearing practices of most every culture that has blossomed on this Earth. Until a majority of inidivuals can grow beyond punishment/reward, victimization/blame--the fundamental psychic infrastructure of totalitarianisms individual and cultural--the race is pretty much up shit creek, right?

Ayep, that's about it - one reason why I work so strongly and actively on that front.

As for wanting to fit in and/or be liked, you gotta remember, whatever it is that makes people like other people, NEED other people, and their approval, ain't no way for me to understand it on a gut level cause one way or another, I was born without it.

Of all people, you'd understand that, I forget the exact topic and thread, but you once almost brought tears to me by saying that many individuals aren't born bad, just varying degrees of... broken - that about sums it up for me, and we're I to have taken a different path in life, I might have wound up something horrible.

Anyhows, the root of it is the devastating damage we do to our youth in the name of raising them, probably the root of most of our social and generational horrors right there.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

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Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:02 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

I just have time for a short post - LeGuinn - one of my favorite authors. I think the posit of that story was that if there is no power structure then people with an impulse to dominate don't have the tools to do it.

***************************************************************
"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."

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Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:03 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Oh yeah, re: Guin - it's been a long time, and although I liked it, I read A.E. Van Vogts The weapon shops of Isher at about the same time and it had more of an effect on me, since I learned a two strong lessons, one being that being armed in and of itself can prevent oppression and tyranny, and moreso, that you simply cannot force a change of government onto apathetic folks unwilling to change it themselves.. which is why I work at the roots, cause it's the only way TO change it.

-F

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Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:06 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

"The weapon shops of Isher" Also read that but aside from the vividness of the descriptions (which I still remember with awe to this day - how'd it get written in in just 2 - 3- sentences ?) it didn't have that much effect on me.

***************************************************************
"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."

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