resistance = futility

[4911]

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.hermetic.com/bey/conspire.html">www.hermetic.com/bey/conspire.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br>Everything is true.<br>Nothing is true. <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

I don't see how the "resistance = futility" relates to what Bey is saying. Care to elaborate a bit? <p></p><i></i>

[4911]

He dazzles the reader with the sense that awareness is conspiracy, and that history is a chaotic, paradoxical illusion nobody can ever grasp,(suggesting that nothing matters - a deep, paradoxical thing) but lets fight something - anything, based on the delusions we all mistake as ideologies - since none of us are able to grasp the full extent of reality, we should simply fight blindly...it goes downhill from there, for me.)<br><br>I see him take the position: Since all perception is incomplete, any cause is an illusion. <br><br>Hence: Resistance is futility. <br><br>Perhaps some of my pre-paradigmic blindzones are shielding me from a deeper truth here that i refuse to let myself understand, I wont rule it out. Seems like a hella nihilistic and pointless thing to bet your life on though, to me.<br><br>But i also think that the whole line of thinking is just a paradox that is inescapable, without the proper equipment, at least. Its like the secret chapter printed bewteen the fnords in Hofstädter's Gödel, Escher and Bach.<br><br>Please enlighten me, i may just a have read it wrong.<br><br>I think its logically sound, deep and true, yet impractical. There are more practical truths to more positive places. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=4911>4911</A> at: 4/14/06 12:37 pm<br></i>

[professorpan]

The final two paragraphs are a call-to-arms, in fact:<br><br><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><br><br>Conspiracies of "power" make use of sheer disinformation; the least we can do in retaliation is to trace it to its source. Indeed we should avoid the mystique of conspiracy theory, the fantasy that conspiracy is all-powerful. Conspiracies can be blown. They can even be defeated. But I fear they cannot simply be ignored. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The refusal to admit any validity to conspiracy theory is itself a form of spectacular delusion-blind belief in the liberal, rational, daylight world in which we all have "rights", in which "the system works", in which "democratic values will prevail in the long run" because Nature has so decreed it.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>History is a big mess. Maybe conspiracies don't work. But we have to act as if they do work. In fact the non-authoritarian movement not only needs its own conspiracy theory, it needs its own conspiracies. Whether they "work" or not. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Either we all breath together or we each suffocate on our own. "They " are conspiring, never doubt it, those sinister clowns. Not only should we arm ourselves with conspiracy theory, we should have our own conspiracies-our TAZ's-our ontological guerilla commando hit-squads-our Poetic Terrorists- our chaos cabals-our secret societies.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Proudhor said so. Bakunin said so. Malatesta said so. It's anarchist tradition.<!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><br><br>Bey is an anarchist philosopher and poet. He's not an activist in the traditional sense of the word, so he's not going to call for street rallies or letter writing campaigns. But he is challenging us to see the value of connecting the dots, and of forming our own "chaos cabals" in opposition to the ruling cabals. I think that's good advice. <p></p><i></i>

[4911]

oh hey yeah - dont get me wrong. Its a play on truth as well. As in "All pieces of information are equally worthless. The connections between them make importance."<br>Isnt that some golden rule of intelligence gathering? <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=4911>4911</A> at: 4/14/06 12:35 pm<br></i>

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

Starroute wrote something cogent in comment to Jeff's front page article about 'conspiraculture':<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Conspiracy theory is not a flavor of the month. It's a deadly serious matter of discerning truth from lies and purging the falsehoods from our collective system.<br><br>How real do you dare to get?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Personally, I have no patience with 'how can you really know anything' word games.<br><br>People are being killed, tortured, poisoned, starved, robbed, terrorized, etc.<br><br>That is real and addressing these crimes is a MORAL imperative that supercedes playing with your brain or anyother body part. <p></p><i></i>

[Corvidaerex]

The "TAZ" is Bey's form of resistance, and it's pretty awesome.<br><br>It means "Temporary Autonomous Zone." They can happen anywhere, and they need none of the structure and rules that make "utopias" such failed (or even deadly) experiments.<br><br>The first season of "Deadwood" is a TAZ. All is permitted. A music festival can be a TAZ -- and depending on the people, it can be like the first Woodstock or the arson-rape-and-racism frenzy of the disastrous last Woodstock event. Early UK punk was a fantastic TAZ, multi-racial, creative, curious, totally independent of The Man ... and of course a few years later it was a sleazy business and most of the creative people were zombie junkies.<br><br>The "wild east" cities of Prague, Budapest and Moscow were TAZ for a while. The old police state crumbled and there was no immediate replacement from another state or corporate cabal. And people looking for a TAZ could *smell* it in the air, and suddenly there were thousands of them from all over the world.<br><br>Not everyone chasing a TAZ is particularly moral, however. That's why almost every TAZ eventually breaks down to a crime operation -- drugs and sex slaves and black-market everything. Manson was the final result of the Haight-Asbury TAZ. Russian & Czech girls sold into brothel slavery in New York or London, that was the final outcome of the "wild east" zones.<br><br>That's why the "temporary" part is so crucial to Bey's philosophy. It is liberating to just shed stuff that has obviously gone sour or been infiltrated, whether you're talking about an online forum like DU or RI or the "rave scene" or airline travel. There's always another option, and you are usually quicker than They are – especially if you're only looking for the *temporary* zone. They are always looking for a hundred-year stand.<br> <p></p><i></i>

[stickdog99]

TAZmania works for me. <p></p><i></i>

[StarmanSkye]

Corvidaerex:<br><br>Fantastic explanation of a TAZ --<br>Thanks!<br><br>"It is liberating to just shed stuff that has obviously gone sour or been infiltrated, whether you're talking about an online forum like DU or RI or the "rave scene" or airline travel. There's always another option, and you are usually quicker than They are – especially if you're only looking for the *temporary* zone. They are always looking for a hundred-year stand."<br><br>-- HATz off.<br>A way to keep it 'new' and fresh and vital and life-affirming -- House-cleaning the mind, etc.<br>Yup.<br>Starman<br> <p></p><i></i>

[Rigorous Intuition]

I think this is a large part of what was lost in the adaptation of Moore's anarchistic V for Vendetta. V creates the conditions for a "land of do as you please," but it's morally ambiguious, and not sustainable indefinitely with everyone on their best behaviour. <p></p><i></i>

[Lizzy Dearborn]

maybe a bit off topic -<br><br>But I watched Charlie Sheen on Jimmy Kimmel Live and after reading about some of the doubts raised about his motive i.e. he works for a huge media conglomerate, I'd have to say that he seemed truly uncomfortable (yet he explained it great) talking about "the big brew-haha". <br><br>He is not one of our great actors btw...he's good and he can do comedy. (That show Two and A Half Men is surprisingly good. I watched it for the first time just to see why it's one of the highest rated shows on right now. The zingers are funny.) He seemed the real deal.<br><br>It was freaky seeing 'it' talked about openly in that setting...like how it feels to bring it up while at work or at Denny's eating lunch. <br><br>So I have to give it to him. He said as a citizen he has the right to ask questions...the MORAL obligation to do so.<br><br>Consiracy is REAL...So we can DO SOMETHING about it. <p></p><i></i>