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Post by punkbreeder on Apr 14, 2004 2:26:51 GMT -5
hi im punkbreeder im a single punk mommy who's in nursing school so i guess there is an element of science there just wanted to introduce myself nice to see intelligent punks out there
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Jeff
New Member
Posts: 31
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Post by Jeff on Apr 14, 2004 15:38:30 GMT -5
Hi Punkbreeder!!
Punk parents absolutely rule.
: )
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Post by fruitbat on Apr 22, 2004 19:36:23 GMT -5
howdy! finally gettin' on the boards. i'm erik, a ph.d. candidate in the physics dept. at columbia u., and another denizen of that fine borough of new york, greenpoint. i come to PIS by way of friendship with jeff (not to mention growing up in the same town, sleepy little corvallis, oregon) and being generally anti-authority myself. i was goth in high school with all the hair and the makeup and the dancing like seaweed, if that matters. but i'm better now.
so quickly, i like physics and strong coffee, new york in spring (at last!) and oregon when it's drizzling, older women and baby kitties, and i homebrew beer and practice aikido when i don't have any broken limbs (like now, unfortunately).
and i'm scared silly by bush & co., but only reluctantly accept the democrat alternative in kind of the way that one accepts a suppository when too sick to swallow pills.
see y'all around!....
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Post by andrew nevins on May 2, 2004 13:23:28 GMT -5
I AM ANDREW NEVINS SO WHO R U?
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ghost
New Member
Posts: 44
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Post by ghost on May 6, 2004 3:59:52 GMT -5
U R asking dangerous questions, Andrew Nevins, dangerous, yes. R U sure U R ready for some answers? I am the chilly draft that plays with creaky doors at night. U have met me in your worst nightmares - I came to say hi and shake hands with your mind. When did we see last time? Oh ... What R U doing at 2 a.m. this Sunday? Ahsatan
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Post by syngirl on May 12, 2004 9:57:00 GMT -5
Hey All, I'm a linguist too... and a punkish sort. I'm in Montreal, doing my PhD, and being a mom too (Hi punkbreeder!). Looking forward to chatting with you all. -Syngirl(the syn is for syntax) - aka Heather
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Post by Andrew Nevins on May 12, 2004 23:38:03 GMT -5
Heather, I am a punk rock phonologist going to Montreal in 10 days for a conference. Can you recommend a place to stay/crash ?
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Post by Andrew Nevins on May 12, 2004 23:39:46 GMT -5
natasha: it is a free school in st petersburg, because FREE education is the way to go. you can email me for details: anevins@mit.edu peace
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ghost
New Member
Posts: 44
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Post by ghost on May 24, 2004 3:55:30 GMT -5
Hi, everyone! Would be great to get together some day and have a beer at some crazy bar. Well, actually, I wanted to ask all of you who describe yourselves as anarchists (I hesitate saying I am an anarchist because, despite of supporting the ideas, I do not have enough faith in people, it seems) a question. Do you think anarchism can really work in the world we are living in, beyond relatively small groups united by having something strong in common? I know this is not a new question, but it would be great to know what you think. Natasha.
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D.P. Rubino
New Member
More a question than a curse, How can hell be any worse?
Posts: 20
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Post by D.P. Rubino on May 25, 2004 18:21:00 GMT -5
Oh no! The dreaded "yeah, but can it work?" question? ;D
Simply put, in my humble opinion, and this may seem offensive:
I don't know, don't care.
Yeah, it seems harsh but here's my reasoning: We simply don't know what are the limits to human freedom, that is how much can a society get away with as far as the absence of instutional authority. Clearly if you took the U.S. model back to the 1300's they would not belive it for a second (280 million people? democracy...kinda?). But here we are.
I don't think and many will not admit, that we are at the end of history, so to speak: "this is it, this is as free as we're gonna get!"
I think we can do a lot better and I assume most would agree.
The rest of the world? Hmmm...don't think Saudia Arabia or Sri Lanka are headed towards anarchism (no pun intended) any time soon. So there comes a question, much like Marx faced, as to where do you see anarchist tendencies first? I'd go with the most free and advanced societies because, hey we can afford to play around. Then again...Spain 1936, primarily an agrarian society.
But I don't think this question can be answered in a "theoretical" sense, nor in an appeal to "Human Nature". So that leaves emprirical--lets just see what we can do without and go from there.
For me it's not about eliminating EVERY authoritarian structure; hell, just getting rid of some helps. Same diff.
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Post by fruitbat on May 28, 2004 12:00:53 GMT -5
the anarchism question: (and i'm expecting jeff to weigh in here shortly!)
can it work? like rubino's saying, i suspect not for a nation the size of the u.s. but that's not really the point, since it's entirely impractical to consider wholly reworking our nation to anarchism anyway. instead i'd say it's more of a guiding principle: to modify existing power structures along more open and democratic lines (ha! if possible), and as an individual to act toward others personally and within existing institutions in ways that are non-authoritarian and non-hierarchical.
doo dee doo.
nice rainy morning, eh? (new yorkers)
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Post by taschenrechner on Jun 3, 2004 7:57:35 GMT -5
Hi all, I'm taschenrechner. I'm from America, but I live and work in China. I've got a B.A. in Linguistics and am hoping to eventually get out of here and back into university someplace.
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ghost
New Member
Posts: 44
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Post by ghost on Jun 7, 2004 4:05:23 GMT -5
HI, Taschenrechner! What are you doing in China?
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ghost
New Member
Posts: 44
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Post by ghost on Jun 7, 2004 4:13:16 GMT -5
Back to anarchism - sorry if it's getting on sb's nerves, but I never met real anarchists before, so I'm naturally curious. So how much continuity do you guys feel with the 'classical' anarchists and what makes you feel more sceptical about , eh, the ability of people to spontaneously organize better than governments and corporations organize them? I am skeptical myself because of my own personal experience of living in a multi-storyed co-operative apartment complex (the 140 apartments cannot organize to clean the yard and the staircases, to say nothing of anything more), and because of the observation that it is not the best people who generally get to be in power, and capitalism and government were not imposed on us from outer space - we evolved them, the bureaucrats and businessmen are people like us. So it does not seem right to be sure what we have now is as unnatural as Kropotkin said (my favourite historical figure at the moment, who also happens to be a 'classical' anarchist).
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D.P. Rubino
New Member
More a question than a curse, How can hell be any worse?
Posts: 20
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Post by D.P. Rubino on Jun 8, 2004 3:53:39 GMT -5
Meh..can't sleep. Well, they are fun to read that's for sure...and to be honest, I haven't read the classic guys now for a couple of years, so my arguments will be naturally vague.... But, they are important historically. However, one cannot ignore one crucial difference in our time: the economy. The classical writers approached the problem from a agrarian or industrial perspective (e.g. anarcho-syndicalism)--but today in the U.S. we seem to be post-industrial and this has lead to a very different work force with very different problems from the early 20th century. We are more and more dealing with information as the product with workers being more isolated (in the office setting) as opposed to working on "the shop floor". How anarchism can be adapted to this situation is the tricky question, but following Rocker's observation that "anarchism has a broadback" I have no doubt that it can adjust. I happen to enjoy the anarcho-syndicalist perspective the best as I see it as a bridge between democratic mechanisms, work, and society as a whole. as far as the , I think this can be true but people need to know their options in life and actually have time to do so. I do think it is kinda silly to ask the mother or father, presumably working 40+ hours a week, taking care of the kids, etc. to "spontaneously organize" into some kind of revolutionary force. Sure, it can happen, but I'm not sure the impetus is quite there. It is has been observed by many that in the U.S., we are working harder and longer than ever...to get involved in politcal organizing is a luxury of having time to do so, something many of us do not have. Also, the way governments and/or corporations organize us is quite different: they rely on force (government), incarceration (gov't) or being poor/starving to death (work/corporations). I'm not sure "we" evolved capitalism--it was clearly imposed on the workforce--those who own the capital kept it and if you were lucky, you were priveleged to work on it. Many people had no choice in the matter...but this gets into the historical development of the system, which is a very broad topic. Same with gov't--it was an extension of the feudal system: same game, different name. We should probably start another thread on this topic as it is quite immense and I feel no matter how much I type it, it will not be suffcient...so if anyone wants to take the lead...
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