Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 07:05:47 -0500
From: dan combs <dcombs-AT-bloomington.in.us>
Subject: Re: primitivism and anarchism


At 10:41 PM 1/15/2004, Ali Kazmi wrote:


>The only primitivist I will listen to is one who has
>lived in primitive areas, not people who think
>bicycling to work is being primitive. I have seen some
>of the most primitive areas in Afghanistan, Pakistan
>and India, interior villages of Somalia. I have seen
>the hardship and suffering of their daily life. You
>have not. Think about who the fantasist is.

Hi, Ali.  I get a big kick out of the "back to nature" crowd but I don't 
believe "primitivists" or basic lifestylists really want this.  Moreso I 
see them as scavengers on the body of capitalism.   While I think all of us 
profess a bit of wistful Luddism the "lifestylists" and  company seem more 
interested in their own selves than any big social order changes.  After 
all, if one can live out of a dumpster one does not have to go to a 
regularly scheduled job.  This is a bit of social altruism that seems 
contorted to justify one's own reluctance to contribute in any meaningful 
way to social solutions.

zerzan is a goofball Luddite whose ideas just don't seem possible without a 
huge die-off of the humyn secies.   The only reason 6.3 billion people are 
alive today is technology.  We condemn things like industrial farming but 
these are the things that allow us to all be relatively fat and happy while 
those you speak of suffer through an existence not much removed from 
Medieval Times.

I drove through Eugene, Oregon last summer and took a couple of minutes to 
talk to a couple of street-zerzanist.    Maybe I got the worng people but I 
thought they were just like crusties everywhere except dressed in black 
which gave them an affected militarist look.

Give me the western baubles any time.  I've never starved but I have wirked 
(WIRK?) manual labor.

A pox on sweat.


carp








>Yes, cities are overcrowded. Industry is exploitative.
>Capitalism has created a plethora of professions we
>could do without. Overpopulation is a problem.
>
>The way we live needs to be restructured, Industry
>needs to be reorganized. Capitalism abolished. These
>are ANARCHIST ideas.
>
>The destruction of industry and 90% of the population,
>and return to primitive way of life are primitivist
>ideas. If we go cherry picking through primitivist
>ideology for the best ideas. Voila, we will end up
>with anarchist ideas. So why the garbage?
>
>Cheers.
>
>Ali.
>
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