Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 22:52:51 -0700
From: Dave Hayman <dhayman-AT-igc.org>
Subject: Re: The next best thing...


If it's been useful, I guess you have reason to keep using it. But, are
you sure that power is always negative? When people resist domination,
aren't they using power positively?

BTW, I've long been fascinated by WSBurroughs' idea that language is a
virus...

Sandi & Scott Spaeth wrote:
>  
> Agreed about potential, but by describing power as a virus, I put it into a
> frame of reference where it's clearly a negative, a sickness, rather than
> something to be handled.  Also, it allows the concept to apply not just to
> individuals, but to collective organizations.  Think about a bureaucracy that
> has a good deal of power, and yet the individuals within it can feel relatively
> powerless.  Individually, most members may feel that they are honest, moral,
> and good, but the organization can still do a great deal of evil.
> 
> maybe my model of power seems less than useful to you, but I've found it to be
> handy in explaining to non-anarchists my way of thinking, and I realize that it
> is only a model, not reality itself.
>