Wednesday, 31 December 2008
ignostisism
questions about the existance of deities are meaningless, because we don't have a true definition of what a god is.
There is no clear way to tell whether there is a god or not. we'll find out when we die anyway. if there is/are god/s, then they/he/she/it can't care much about us because he/she/it/they ignores us anyway.
That's not to say there isn't some kind of afterlife. I've had paranormal experiences in my time, but that does not mean there is a god, and quite frankly I don't care. Why should I? If there is a god, then he/she/it will not punish me for simply using my free will (which was theoretically given by the supposed creator/s in the first place), and if there is no supreme deity then I won't be effected in any way,shape or form. It's a win-win.
That doesn't mean I will bow down and worship the god/goddess/gods if they do exist. I'm an Anarchist. I'm against there being authorities and hierarchies in the first place .
If I had a son I wouldn't want him to worship me, even though I would have helped create him. Same concept. Creating the universe entitles a bit of respect, but that's the difference between illegitimate authority and legitimate authority. Someone who is a legitimate authority is someone who is an expert in something and you can go to them for advice, but they have no right to force you to do want they think is right. an illegitimate authority is someone who forces you,through coercion(which is immoral), to do what they say. This is part of the argument against government.
Government is like a big playground bully, but with worse consequences. The worst a bully can do is rough one or two people up and and steal their break time snack. A government has armies, steals money off you (through tax,because tax is theft) and if you refuse, it can either put you in gaol (which is immoral in itself) or steal more money from you in the form of fines.
Governments kill you through wars and are bad news all round. does all this make god a legitimate authority? he/she/it/they don't force you to do stuff you don't want you to, but god doesn't give you advise if you ask either. people who pray are (as far as I can tell) talking to themselves.
Even then though, there is no way to tell whether the prayer has been answered because even if things go the way the person wanted that could just be good luck. there is no real way to know if god exists and there is no fixed way to define what a god IS. different forms of theism have different definitions. Most people use the definition of the monotheistic religions , but what about those people who aren't monotheistic? there are so many different alternatives.
why do atheists attack theists? if someone wants to believe in something, go ahead-knock yourself out. As long as you don't force your beliefs on other people and you don't use it as an excuse to hurt people. this is why I'm against people like Richard Dawkins. He is just as bad as the religious nut-jobs (preachers and door knockers). believe or disbelieve in god, just don't force it on me or anyone else.
If it's good for you, then great- just don't bother me with it. I believe in freedom and liberty.
I will not rule and I will not be ruled over,to paraphrase Tucker.
I am a ignostic, I am a mutualist and I am an anarchist. Freedom to all.
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Monday, 29 December 2008
Things/people I can do without. (I'm amazed the list is this big. makes me look misanthropic)
1. Red-tape
2. Sticklers
3. Narrow-minded people
4. People who look at things and say “that’s not art” or “that’s not poetry”, without actually giving a reasonable explanation, as though that is a reason in itself.
5. People who seem to take a dislike or want to have nothing to do with me without actually giving me a chance.
6. People who completely shut their mind to any theory or fact that doesn’t fit into their world view. They usually label these things “conspiracy theories”.
7. Politicians.
8. Governments and authority in general.
9. People who seem to think representational democracy is the only way to go and won’t listen to any alternatives.
10. People who insist on having their own definition of something and go into a discussion as though it’s the same as everyone else’s and when people say something they disagree with they quibble about the definition instead of actually coming up with a valid criticism.
11. People who claim to believe in free speech, and yet obviously don’t.
12. Charles Saatchi and the domination of contemporary art by the whims of capitalist philistines.
13. This notion that art is somehow a commodity and that we should somehow judge artists and art on how much pieces go for, rather than any aesthetic or intellectual value.
14. Populist greeting card poetry. By this I mean the trivial, pedestrian, rhyming-on-every-line-because-you-have-to type of poetry. If it were a colour it would be beige. I’m sure there are fellow poets who will know what I’m on about.
15. People who hate or love a band solely on whether they are “mainstream” or not. These people are generally not happy with a band unless it’s just one man and his dog living in a cave miles from anywhere who likes them. It’s elitist and petty. Like the band because they’re actually GOOD (to you at least).
16. Celebrity- there was a time when people were famous for actually doing something of value in some way.
17. Any programme with celebrity or star in the title.
18. Bible-bashers, especially when they knock on my door. Go.away.now. Not spiritual people, just people who preach at people.
19. People who assume because you like a certain thing, such as particular type of music, this somehow defines who you are.
20. Elitism.
21. Political correctness and any attempt to control what people think and say beyond slander, and even that could be sorted out within a community without a higher power being involved.
22. People who can’t tell the difference between an argument and a discussion.
23. Muzac
24. When news reporters on television or the radio speak for the rest of us and somehow assume they know what everyone thinks or believes.
25. The assertion that if you dislike or criticise the Israeli government you are somehow anti-Semitic.
26. The way celebrities exploit problems such as third-world starvation to look good and to assuage their guilt.
27. Live aid, world aid and all the rest. If they truly worked at it or cared about the problem would be solved by now, surely. Where’s that money going?
28. Capitalists and big business people who give to charity, as if this makes them better people and it somehow excuse them for the horrible things they do.
29. People who try to be so right on and trendy left just because they want to look good, and not because they actual have convictions. Having values and standards is important ,people.
30. People who blindly follow and believe in a leader, like they are actually going to change anything in a positive way. Leaders never look care about the people. it's all about the elites and special interests. we can do without them.
31. Hard to find rooms in universities.
32. People who assume I know who is in the charts or who a particular celebrity is.
33. The global warming myth. We have to look after the environment, yes, but this current
C02 thing is a con. It’s just there to get a global carbon tax and to get humans to be self loathing.
34. Censorship
35. Surveillance
36. Press hysteria.
37. The mainstream media.
38. Obsession with trivialities
39. People who write lists.
40. False flag terrorism and the use of terrible events and situations by politicians in order to pass restrictive laws.
41. People who are against or for something because it’s the social norm and not because that’s what they genuinely believe.
42. Ayn Rand and objectivism in general.
43. War.
44. Avoidable hypocrisy
45. The notion that you can only have fun by being completely off your face on some intoxicant or other, and that people actually want to listen to you boasting about how smashed you got. They don't. Shut. up.
46. Opinion polls
47. Reported figures
48. Breast implants.
49. Donald Rumsfeld. Politicians in general are scum, but this guy is involved in a lot of bad things. He is the spawn of Satan. Not that I’m biased, mind you.
50. Chavs (Americans will have to look this one up).
51. Imperialism.
52. DNA databases.
53. Internet trolls.
54. Cats.
55. School uniforms.
56. The commercialisation of rebellion.
57. Religious intolerance.
58. Pedants.
59. Religions that react violently to being attacked.
60. Ben Elton.
61. So-called state-socialists and anarchists who use class to discriminate against people. If you truly want a classless society stop banging on about how you hate middle class people and actual unite and contribute to the cause in a non-violent way.
62. The royal family and aristocrats in general.
63. Marxism.
64. Control freaks.
65. The European Union.
66. People who put comments on YouTube, but don’t actually post videos themselves.
67. The military. Not the actual soldiers themselves but the concept and system itself.
68. Unfairness.
69. Flip-flops.
70. Bigotry.
71. Nuclear weapons.
72. Brown bread.
73. People who assume that because you come from somewhere you’ll speak the dialect.
74. Simon cowell and everything he represents.
75. Ignorance.
76. Winter.
77. Mainstream radio.
78. Spies
79. People having a go at ginger people. Leave them alone.
80. The general ambiance of hospitals.
81. Chat shows.
82. Capitalism.
83. Smug people in general.
84. Snobbishness.
85. Prohibition of any kind.
86. People who are offended by swearwords themselves rather than how they are used.
87. School sports.
88. Exams.
89. “Positive” discrimination.
90. Dentists.
91. David blaine
92. Whiny people who only complain for the sake of it.
93. Self-important people.
94. Dyslexia.
95. Dyscalculia.
96. Aspergers
97. Bipolar disorder.
98. Sectarianism.
99. People who blame music and computer games for society’s problems instead of actually looking at the causes and finding solutions.
100. Spam.
101. Reality television. It’s an oxymoron. TV is never real. Someone is always pointing a camera; someone is always editing the film. There is always an agenda.
Sunday, 28 December 2008
anarcho-capitalism is an oxymoron
Capitalism is exploitative and hierarchical by it's nature.
It exploits others, involves private ownership of the means of production, necessitating bosses and it creates monopolies . Anarchism is against all forms of hierarchy,exploitation and coercion. one of the main principles of capitalism is the making of profits above all else. it is greedy and manipulative and cannot exist without a state. It requires private property (which is theft), subsidies and protection by the state and therefore goes against anarchism. Anarchism is not just about abolishing the state. Abolishing the government is a very very important feature to Anarchism, but it's not the be-all-and -end-all of everything.
I can't stand how they (and some other people) assume that if you are a market anarchist, you are somehow automaticaly a capitalist. horsefeathers. it is perfectly possible to be pro-market but anti-capitalism. mutualism is a good example of how this could be done. it is my contention that so called "anarcho"-capitalists are esentially small-state libertarians (minarchists) who are in denial.
Inspired by George Carlin, I'm going to make a list of people or ideas I could do without. this will take me a while so I don't know when it will appear. I will not order it in any particular way just randomly. I may do another along opposite (ie positive) lines. whatch this space.
Saturday, 27 December 2008
class
Anarchist involvment in Greece
Friday, 26 December 2008
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
το φως της ελευθερίας!
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Friday, 19 December 2008
solidarity with the workers and students
here is a rather good article on the situation.
good to see the people rising up against the state and the capitalists.
I doubt this is going to bring about anarchy in Greece ( and I mean anarchy in the correct sense i.e: freedom and liberty, which can only be attained through the removal of the state and capitalism and the replacement of it with a non-hierarchical decentralised society run by the people and based on voluntary cooperation, mutual aid and worker's self ownership.), but at least people are actually taking direct action against opression.
I would also like to express my deepest condolences to the family of Alexandros Grigoropoulos. may he rest in peace.