On Activism, by the Boomtime Cabal (printer friendly version)

8/10/2019 On Activism, by the Boomtime Cabal (printer friendly version)

1/12

O N A CTIVISM

A Boomtime Cabal Product

On Power- CramulusForget Activism- Johnny Brainwash

I Tink We Can Help - david

owards a Discopolitik - Niccolo Te Whooly FooledOn Immune Systems - Cramulus

On Online Activism- Simon Pook For Te Cause. You Dumbass.- Te Good Reverend Roger

Whos At Te Protest AndHow Does It Win?- Pope Olboyoats Systems Vs Te System- Placid Dingo

wo-Handed Activism- Plastik and Discordian


2/12

ON POWERby Cramulus

Politics is about power. Power is not itsel evil, it is a tool used to accomplish a goal. When a marginalized group seeks to correct societal injustice, what they are really tryingto do is re-balance power so it will be in their avor. Justice is the cover story. Its a socialconstruct used in service o a political end.

Justice and morality are cousins, but they live independently. What is good is not always just, and what is just is not always good.

Te organs o public discipline (discipline here meaning obedience) have changed greatly in the last ew centuries. We used to throw people in dungeons, now they go to prisons We used to torture people to death in public, now we do it in private. What changed? Its not that we became more moral. Its that those old systems (thedungeon, torture chamber, auto-da- e) were ineffective. Tey were ineffective becausethey churned up resistance. People rebelled against justice systems which seemed arbitrarand out o control. Te judge and jury and public trial was invented so that the victims othese systems would be con used about who to lynch. [1]

oday we are still con used. Most o our discussions about justice and politics are aimedat dead ends because we do not have a coherent theory o activism. It is very hard to see where to throw your weight so that it will actually move something in the way youd like.Every system that can change the world or the better is continually mis- ramed or co-opted. Tis can lead to a cynical headspace where it seems like getting involved with anything is a waste o time. Tis complacency serves those who benet rom the current power balanc

We are overwhelmed by competing ideas o how to help this ucked up world get betterShould I write a letter to a politician? Attend a protest? Leave a nasty Youtube comment?Donate money to something? How do you compare the values o these things?

We are like consumers standing in a supermarket aisle, overwhelmed and paralyzed by 23different kinds o sauce. When theres too much in ormation to process, the decision cri-teria gets narrowed down to the price and the label design. Te people who set the priceand design the label have the real power here. Recognizing this power makes you a bitless vulnerable to it, but only i you resist your initial gut impulse and make an in ormeddecision instead.

[1] Foucault, Discipline & Punish


3/12

FORGET ACTIVISM by Johnny Brainwash

Forget activism. Activism is or the ego. Organizing is or making change.

All your li e, politics has been presented to you as a clash o ideas. Dont be ooled. Potics is about power.

Worry less about theory and more about practice. Study less philosophy and more historyGiven a choice between studying and doing, do.

Learn the difference between goals and objectives, and between strategy and tactics.

When you join a group that claims to have no leaders, pay close attention. Youll nd out who the leaders are.

Pay attention to how your group reproduces the social structures it claims to oppose. Italmost certainly does. You can change some o these, but dont expect to undo centuries(or millennia) o culture overnight.

Remember that weve all got a piece o the truth. Another group that disagrees with youon strategy may still be doing their part. Or maybe not- just because they have a piece othe truth doesnt mean they know what to do with it. Remember that last sentence couldalso apply to you.

Never trust someone whos got all the answers, especially i its yoursel .

Never trust someone who rejects short-term change because it doesnt look like theirrevolution. Waiting or the revolution is like waiting or the messiah- youll eat pie in thesky when you die (thats a lie).

Cultivate humility.


4/12

I THINK WE CAN HELP rom david

I think that politics and culture are ucked up and I think that we can help. I think that

actvisim is help ul but activism is work and work is usually boring.I you dont want to do activist work because its boring, thats totally OK and I get thatits mostly boring.

I you say that you dont want to do activist work because its not effective or you dontknow where to start/what to do, or you have constructed a really solid arguments, thenI think youre a liar. I mean, you might not even know that youre lying; you may believe well your own BS - but those reasons are stories that you tell yoursel to excuse your laziness.

I you do want to do work, gure out what you want to work on.

It is possible to get sucked into the trap o being a rue Believer (and you might end upaccidentally working against your stated aims). Part o doing work is messing up andlearning to work better!

o get started doing work: Figure out who is doing the work that you believe in, show up where that work is happening, offer to help.

Its usually really help ul to make snacks, take some notes, and take out the trash.Giving money to people and work that you believe in is help ul. Te jerks are ridiculously well unded. I you cant nd any work that you admire, look harder and try to be less o a hater. Tere

is so much good and use ul and exciting work that is happening RIGH NOW and itneeds your help.

Remember that youll be wrong sometimes and when youre wrong its important to knowhow to say youre sorry ( or real) and do better (because thats important).

Listen more. Listen better. Do more. Do better.

Find people you trust and do something with them.But i everyone looks like you, the problem is with the way your group works (not withthe people who dont look like you and who arent showing up).

Build coalitions; i the coalition eels com ortable, it probably isnt big enough.But thats just to start! Tere are so many olks doing so much great work!

Go help them, they need you!


5/12

TOWARDS A DISCOPOLITIK By Niccolo Te Wholly Fooled

Discordianism is pretty unique in that while it, like the rest o the counterculture, grew

out o a reaction to the empty promises o one-size-ts-all white-picket- ence modern liing, it has a built-in immunity to the various traps that counterculture ell into.

Discordianism isnt something that you can stick on a lunchbox and sell as Rebellion M.You certainly can try, but unlike the hippies and the punks, Discordianism tends toattract people o many different walks o li e, and as such theres 01,001 versions oDiscordia. For every Discordian, there is a version o Discordianism. My Discordia is noYOUR Discordia, but they can in orm each other. Te act that weve got a whole eco-system o ideas to work with is our greatest de ense against being turned into yet anothe prepackaged li estyle- or-sale.

Tere ore, Id argue that a Discopolitik could be a use ul tool or breaking down the bar-riers between ideologies and between subcultures. I might surmise that Eris has taken ona new role as Goddess o In ormation Overload. Not as nauseating insanity, but as a deepknowing that lets us mash-up and remix our ideas o what society should (or could) looklike.

Tis In ormation Overload has taught us, by way o letting us peek into the lives othousands o Average Joes across the globe, that most o us just want to get those things we need to get by, have some companions, and basically have a good time. Once you striaway the particulars o our worldviews, were all just trying to gure out Whats GoingOn and enjoy our lives.

Te real downsides to IO are the overwhelming sense that everything is terribly uncer-tain, and the pro essional in o-engineers taking advantage o all the noise, to get you to

buy shiny things. Tis is the nuclear arms race o in ormation. I those o us who want tokeep the Eristic vibes a-owin can take the tools that the engineers have built, turn themtowards liberation and calm in the ace o Con usion, well really be getting somewhere

TOWARDS A DISCOPOLITIK By Niccolo Te Wholly Fooled

Discordianism is pretty unique in that while it, like the rest o the counterculture, grew

out o a reaction to the empty promises o one-size-ts-all white-picket- ence modern liing, it has a built-in immunity to the various traps that counterculture ell into.

Discordianism isnt something that you can stick on a lunchbox and sell as Rebellion M.You certainly can try, but unlike the hippies and the punks, Discordianism tends toattract people o many different walks o li e, and as such theres 01,001 versions oDiscordia. For every Discordian, there is a version o Discordianism. My Discordia is noYOUR Discordia, but they can in orm each other. Te act that weve got a whole eco-system o ideas to work with is our greatest de ense against being turned into yet anothe prepackaged li estyle- or-sale.

Tere ore, Id argue that a Discopolitik could be a use ul tool or breaking down the bar-riers between ideologies and between subcultures. I might surmise that Eris has taken ona new role as Goddess o In ormation Overload. Not as nauseating insanity, but as a deepknowing that lets us mash-up and remix our ideas o what society should (or could) looklike.

Tis In ormation Overload has taught us, by way o letting us peek into the lives othousands o Average Joes across the globe, that most o us just want to get those things we need to get by, have some companions, and basically have a good time. Once you striaway the particulars o our worldviews, were all just trying to gure out Whats GoingOn and enjoy our lives.

Te real downsides to IO are the overwhelming sense that everything is terribly uncer-tain, and the pro essional in o-engineers taking advantage o all the noise, to get you to

buy shiny things. Tis is the nuclear arms race o in ormation. I those o us who want tokeep the Eristic vibes a-owin can take the tools that the engineers have built, turn themtowards liberation and calm in the ace o Con usion, well really be getting somewhere


6/12

ON IMMUNE SYSTEMS by Cramulus

It is disgusting to have to spend ones li e jetting dirt in the ace o the British public in the hope that in washing it they may wash off the acrid grease o theircommercialism, the saline streaks o their hypocritical tears, the putrid perspira-tion o their morality, the dribbling slobber o their sentimentality and theirreligion. And they dont wash it! ...

--Aleister Crowley, Te Soldier and the Hunchback

One o the things which disen ranchises people rom just causes is that they ofen come with a lot o baggage. People will dismiss your point because some o its de enders arecrazy. Some o the people who agree with you on a macro level also believe totally uckup things on a micro level. When you support reedomo speech, you are also de ending the reedom o racists and ascists. Some o the peo protesting government corruption also believe the the moon landing was a hoax. PE A wants to stop animal abuse, and also to end o the lives o all domestic animals. Someactual racists and sexists disguise their points behind a bid or equality.

In Zenarchy, Kerry Tornley (aka Lord Omar) wrote about the spiritual awakening o the1960s as it owered in San Francisco -- so many people were gathering in public parks toresist the dominant religious paradigm, and explore where spirituality could take them.But the movement also included a lot o crackpots, such as multiple people who thoughtthey were the reincarnation o Cleopatra. Tese peoples ideas werent challenged orrened, they were embraced alongside everything else.Discordianism was in some ways intended as a sort o vaccine. Te early Discordiansthought that i they presented a religion which was clearly too absurd and shoddily con-

structed to be a real religion, then the neo-pagan movement would have to reject them- and in doing so, would have developed an immune system against patent bullshit and bestronger or it. In essence, Discordianisms challenge to neo-paganism was merely to holdup a mirror.

Sometimes a cause really needs an immune system, a orce within it that lters out the baideas, dead ends, and rough edges that keep people away rom it. But also, you cant gettoo hung up on that, or all you will end up doing is alienating people who agree with you.Discordianism ipped off the neo-pagan movement, but the overall point was to help xit. It was a middle nger o love.Advocates o any cause need to develop an immune system: collective sel -criticism. Buknow that this will never be complete. oo much ideological purity will kill momentumtoo, as cleaning house can become a major distraction. Any good idea comes bundled with bad ideas, so you cant let yoursel get turned off to a whole movement by the actioo a ew morons or shills.


7/12

ON ONLINE ACTIVISM by Simon Pook

Online activism is everywhere. We live in the golden age o crowdsourced politics. From

change.org petitions to umblr tag communities - the Internet is antastic or activism.And this is awesome, right? We live in an age abundant with in ormation and peoplecreating and sharing it.

But heres the thing about online activism; its really easy. You just have to type commentsinto whatever internet box is in ront o your ace. Tis super low effort barrier is great

or inclusion - so many more people have plat orms to say things and do things than evebe ore, and thats super cool - but it means that theres probably a whole load more peopl

saying things that you dont agree with than ever be ore, too. And its really tempting justto write all this negative stuff off as only existing in cyberspace, to say that it doesnt realmatter.

But I think thats a trap. In 2015 the distinction between cyberspace and meatspacedoesnt really hold up anymore. Te networks that we use to talk and make decisions, tochange the world, to love and make love, are as real as the physical space around us an we cant just say that things dont matter because theyre on the Internet.

I we just ignore things we dont like online, it lets politicians write- off online views and petitions too. Online activism is as real as RL activism.

So what does this mean? For me, anyway, it means not just burying my head in the digitasand when I see something I dont agree with. ry and remember that theres (usually) areal person typing those words. You dont have to engage in a huge argument with someasshat, but remember that you cultivate your network. Te world is existing more andmore on the Internet, which means you have more power to change it!


8/12

FOR THE CAUSE. YOU DUMBASS.by the Good Reverend Roger

I am constantly told that as a DiscordianM, I am required to support disorder over order,or some Cause or another. Well, let me tell you something about Causes.Every Cause is a system o some kind, and to support that system you are required to notquestion that system... And the moment you cant question ANY system, then the worldhas jammed a steering wheel up your arse, and its gonna drive you around the block or a while.

Example: Social Justice Warriors, umblr style, o any avor.Lets say youre out to crush thin privilege. You are not permitted to allow or commonsense. You are not permitted to display intelligence. You are in act required to insist thatthere are no health issues related to being morbidly obese. Reality cannot be acknowl-edged, or the other members o the Cause will turn on you like a pack o rabid shrews.

Another example: ea Party Members.o gain any traction in the Cause, you have to repeat incredibly stupid things, despite

these things having been proven alse any number o times (Obamas birth certicate,Benghazi as a sole result o Obamas actions, the notion that all your riends arent actuaracist, etc). I you voice any doubt at all, then you are a lthy communist liberal atheisthippie, and they throw you out o the American Legion.

In short, joining a Cause means no longer thinking or yoursel .

Even the Discordian Cause, i youre oolish enough to view Discordianism that way. Noinstead you have become a quadruped, and your job is to carry the Cause on your back,like Juan Valdez was your boss.

Tis is not to say that there isnt strength in numbers, or that you shouldnt organize todemand redress or just to kick a mother ucker in the nads... But the moment you startthinking o your activity as a Cause, then any potential good you may have accomplishedis outweighed by the moral blind spot that you have just created.

Also, you dont get invited to parties anymore, because Causes are boring to people whohavent crawled under the same art blanket as yoursel .

Conspiracy theorists think people avoid them because people are a raid o Te ruth, buttheyre wrong. People avoid conspiracy theorists because they cant talk about anythingelse and its boring as hell.

So the moment you join a Cause, you have become that which you despise most: ADUMBASS.

Well done.


9/12

WHOS AT THE PROTEST AND HOW

DOES IT WIN? by Pope Olboyoats

Ive worked as a labor organizer and a political organizer. I you dont know what that jobentails, allow me to explain. Basically, I was one o the people coordinating astro-tur protests. Instead o explaining the boring aspects o my job, that mainly consisted opaperless paperwork, Id like to paint a picture o what actually makes up your average protest.

At every protest where you will nd two groups on either side o a polarizing issue you will nd this breakdown:One o the biggest portion o the attendees areorganizers. Tese are paid employees oneither sides (yes, both sides do this) whose job is to ll seats, and coach the preselected press spokespeople. Tis can be political, labor, or community organizers. Tey all basi-cally do the same job. Working the healthcare debate I would requently see all three typeo organizers at the same events.Te next biggest portion o the attendees are people with some relationship to an orga-nizer. Tese people usually dont even care about the issue, but care about the organizer.Tis can be anything ranging rom riends, acquaintances, lovers, and literally homeless

people the organizer paid to show up. Tis group usually includes the press spokespeoplebecause they are most likely to stay on talking points and are less energetic than the truebelievers.A slightly smaller portion o the attendees aretrue believers. Tese are the people theorganizers have made contact with either through canvassing, phone-banking, or holdingopen events. Tey are easy to spot and are the best volunteers, yet are usually passionate toa ault and will cause trouble i the organizers dont keep them on a short leash. Any gooorganizer whos been at the job or a while has a small Rolodex o many true believers

about many different issues. I knew climate believers, heathcare believers, anti-war believers, anarchists, etc, and I kept notes on all o them. A big part o my job was to pamperthese people and make them eel special enough that theyd be willing to do any task Iassigned them without compensation.An even smaller portion o the attendees are what we callhit men. Tese are usuallyex-military operatives who decided to take on a sa er, more lucrative job. Tese peopledo opposition research, and usually have at least one or two moles on the oppositionside digging up dirt or them. Teir job at the protest is usually to either cause or containtrouble, and sometimes both i you can believe that.Finally, the smallest portion o attendees are thetrolls and onlookers. Tese people haveno interest in the issue, have no connection to organizers, and are either there to just watch or cause trouble. All novice organizers waste lots o time trying to activate thisgroup into the true believer group, while veteran organizers simply herd their crowd away

rom them.


10/12

Now that you know what makes up a protest, allow me to illustrate what is considered avictory protest. Tere are three key things that all organizers want to happen at a protest.Tese are:1- Positive, prime time press coverage that ocuses on prepared talking points. Tis is amessaging win.

2- Positive eelings o true believers. Making the true believers eel they accomplishedsomething is the best way to activate them into doing more ree work or you.3- Opposition shame. I the opposition is made to look bad in literally ANY way, itsconsidered a win.

Good organizers can get all 3 victory conditions in most protests. Notice that makingactual change is not a victory condition.

SYSTEMS VS THE SYSTEM By Placid Dingo

One o the most common expressions o rustration against the general trend o extremhorrible people doing extremely horrible things and making extremely large amounts omoney as a result, is to rail against the system, ofen with phrases such as the system iscorrupt, crush the system, - the system and so on. I have a eeling that this language,and the thought that accompanies it is tragically misguided, and Im going to try toexplain why here.

A good metaphor evokes images that help to make it easy to understand a concept. Onemetaphor used in the Discordian work Black Iron Prison makes liberal use o the metaphor the machine. In this metaphor we are all part o the machine; one cannot ght thmachine because we are the very cogs and gears that make it. Any attempt at change an-tagonistic to the machine will either be eliminated, subverted or accommodated cleanly.For some reason, the metaphor o the system doesnt hold the same nuance. We talk othe system almost as though it were on one side o the world and we were on the other, when o course, that is not true. Political hegemony is upheld by people WE vote or. TeBP disaster saw the spill o oil WE needed or our cars, and globalization is ueled by o participation in the global economy; at any level.

Lets stretch the system metaphor. Te system is a name given to a collection (occultistsmight say an EGREGORE) o smaller systems that link up together. Tese systems are inconstant ux. We are a component o the system, and the system is a part o us (we bothinuence and are inuenced by Microsystems that make up Te System). Were not really going to deal with Te System any more. Were going to talk aboutsystems in general.


11/12

I personally have grown to dislike the idea o Random acts o kindness. Why?Because the things that are making the world worse, generally, are not random, but sys-tematic. Exploitation o the worlds poor is possible BECAUSE its done in the same wayday afer day. Successes that cannot be made systematic are not meaning ul.

What Im suggesting is a way o thinking o systems as the tools or change, rather thaghting Te System as a method o change.

What sort o systems can or have produced change? Vegetarianism or Veganism presentone example. World Heritage, Environmental Regulations, Animal Wel are and changesin marriage law are good examples or the same reason above; they are systematic changthey have had an effect yesterday, are effective today, and will meet with success tomorroCompare this to any o the attempts by Adbusters to subvert or destroy Capitalism. Amighty struggle may be an exciting narrative, but it is not generally likely to get results.

Again, i metaphors can shape the thinking behind our action, maybe we need to lose theidea o ghting a battle and expand on the concept o building a village.Counter-culture belongs to the rst category, the battle allegory. It is parasitic, a reactionagainst the mainstream. Instead o a ocus on counterculture we should ocus on cultubuilding alternatives instead o struggling against the existing culture or system.

I you just skimmed it, heres the main idea;Te System is actually a collection o interrelated competing systems. I we want tocause change we should ocus on supporting or building systems that can thrive withinTe System, thereby causing positive change.


12/12

TWO-HANDED ACTIVISM by Plastik and Discordian

Te right hand path is a hard ormwo sides shouting: her her her; der der der

Conict!Opposition!Proposed solution: Organize! (implied hierarchy)Leaders to lead and volunteers to volunteer.Noble and grandiose, it aims or the Big Change

Te lef hand path is a sof ormwo people sitting, talking and listening

As the words ow reely and are receivedwo people become one Discourse.

Nothing really changesExcept a sofening o edges:Gentle observation and a wider perspective

Te right hand path may lead to war.

Te lef hand path may result in sex.

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On Activism, by the Boomtime Cabal (printer friendly version)