Who are you, anyhow?
My name is William G. Gillis. I am a native of Portland, Oregon and just graduated with a Bachelors in Physics from Macalester College. I write prolifically, although not always for this blog.
I've spent most of my life jumping between different facets of anarchist theory. After all this I’ve reached some radical conclusions that I now passionately expound on, taking such controversial stances as poverty is unfair, veganism sucks and girls are pretty.
...Yeah, okay. That’s nice. I heard the word “Anarchism”.
You did.
I’ve got your number. You’re really one of those crazy protester 'black bloc' punks!
Must be. I fought in the streets of Seattle in 1999, at the birth of the globalization movement. I was heavily involved in organizing Portland’s mass student protests in 2003. I worked with organizers and speakers in Portland’s various 15,000-40,000-person demonstrations against the invasion of Iraq. And I was involved in the shift of tactics immediately following the invasion that climaxed with the forcible occupation of the Burnside Bridge and shutting down of Portland. Suffice to say I’ve been involved in a number of other actions, battles, elections, campaigns, groups, and projects. Many more since the start of this blog. So, yeah, I can be one of those scary kids with the bandannas.
The full affect Seattle had on me is hard to convey. From a mostly passive philosophical understanding and agreement with anarchism it kicked me into passionate action. I will bear my young memories of police violence till the grave. That’s not to say that I will ever cease speaking out against abusive rhetoric and tactics within the movement. I'm too much of a contrarian to ever be satisfied with anything smacking of a comfortable social identity. And heresy is just so delicious.
One of my most trusted friends is idealistically working his way up the Portland Police Force. We’ve yet to meet across protest lines but the deal is we’ll buy each other drinks.
I don’t get such and such post, are you trying to be smart?
Probably. I, on average, invent a new form of sentence structure once a month. This has an awful tendency to confuse readers new to a concept. I’m sorry. If the post’s short, it’s more likely that I was just being an ass or making snarky in-jokes. They might have some relevance to the link?
Man, I thought you were cool, an' then you went all racist and dissed Affirmative Action.
Of all my breaks with dogma I get the most shit from this one.
Racism is an evil because to be racist is to be stupid. To judge an individual along lines that have nothing to do with the individual, and everything to do with blind factionalism. What’s wrong with racism is the division, not the inequality. Inequality is a symptom caused by division. You cannot target a perceived inequality between races because the races do not exist. Target the psychosis instead of the effects. Any action or institution that gives credit to the concept of race can only deepen the stupidity. Come on folks. You can't fight power with power. The solution to psychosis is not more psychosis.
Racism is something that must be fixed socially. Getting the social authority of the state more twisted up in it is not a solution. Like ageism, sexism, heteronormality/homonormality and all the associated movements that exploit dominant power structures to seek diffuse channels of counter-power, it's just institutionalizing the social psychoses that already exist. (It's a version of the postmodern fallacy wherein value placed in structural context leads to more structural context until there is nothing but text.)
Fuck "Power to the People." Power is a psychosis. Liberty aint about equalizing power and giving everyone 5.3 milliHitlers of oppression each. It's about actually fucking abolishing power.
A Russian Prince and a Aborigine woman stated it best:
Ageism? Okay, let's get back to sanity here.
Radicalism means unabashedly grabbing for the roots [radis].
The core mechanism by which our social systems perpetuate the 'legitimacy' of inequality, oppression, and restrictive identity is the concept of justified authority over youth. By imposing a degree of person-hood upon others we instill hierarchy, hateful competition and social itemization.
In turning our frail perceptions of differently aggregated knowledge and experience into a moral imperative to rule or dismiss, we perpetuate and renew the social insanity that's plagued us since the pyramids. People who are treated as though they have no free will, will never see reason to embrace it. And instead seek cold hard mental death in whatever venue their culture presents.
But Capitalism is Imperialism!
Bah! Freedom of association between individuals is the essence of freedom, not the forced absence of it. We can fight over the definition of 'property' or the fine line between dynamic free-market economics and 'kapitalist accumulation' but it's ultimately boring and useless. And stubbornly refusing to deal with anyone who doesn't define "Capitalism" as exploitation is just blind factionalism.
To be for Free Markets you must be for Corporations!
No.
Corporatism is the antithesis of a Freed Market. Freed Markets stem from the free association of individuals. Corporations are hierarchical, seek power and apply statist force to destroy small competition. That’s what they’re built to do.
Why do you Liberals hate America?
Call me that to my face.
Why are you an apologist for imperialist greed?
I will kick your ass.
[Anarchist Stuff]
I always have time for anything involving Anarchism. Obscure theoretical issues or nitty-gritty tactics. Always.
So. Obviously. You must be [for/against] this [country/coalition].
I admit I have an aesthetic a soft spot for frontier mixing-pot revolutionary empires like the United States, Russia and Brazil. And something about Ireland calls to me in my bones. Otherwise
Fuck Nationalism.
I’m an American. We’re better than that.
My name is William G. Gillis. I am a native of Portland, Oregon and just graduated with a Bachelors in Physics from Macalester College. I write prolifically, although not always for this blog.
I've spent most of my life jumping between different facets of anarchist theory. After all this I’ve reached some radical conclusions that I now passionately expound on, taking such controversial stances as poverty is unfair, veganism sucks and girls are pretty.
...Yeah, okay. That’s nice. I heard the word “Anarchism”.
You did.
I’ve got your number. You’re really one of those crazy protester 'black bloc' punks!
Must be. I fought in the streets of Seattle in 1999, at the birth of the globalization movement. I was heavily involved in organizing Portland’s mass student protests in 2003. I worked with organizers and speakers in Portland’s various 15,000-40,000-person demonstrations against the invasion of Iraq. And I was involved in the shift of tactics immediately following the invasion that climaxed with the forcible occupation of the Burnside Bridge and shutting down of Portland. Suffice to say I’ve been involved in a number of other actions, battles, elections, campaigns, groups, and projects. Many more since the start of this blog. So, yeah, I can be one of those scary kids with the bandannas.
The full affect Seattle had on me is hard to convey. From a mostly passive philosophical understanding and agreement with anarchism it kicked me into passionate action. I will bear my young memories of police violence till the grave. That’s not to say that I will ever cease speaking out against abusive rhetoric and tactics within the movement. I'm too much of a contrarian to ever be satisfied with anything smacking of a comfortable social identity. And heresy is just so delicious.
One of my most trusted friends is idealistically working his way up the Portland Police Force. We’ve yet to meet across protest lines but the deal is we’ll buy each other drinks.
I don’t get such and such post, are you trying to be smart?
Probably. I, on average, invent a new form of sentence structure once a month. This has an awful tendency to confuse readers new to a concept. I’m sorry. If the post’s short, it’s more likely that I was just being an ass or making snarky in-jokes. They might have some relevance to the link?
Man, I thought you were cool, an' then you went all racist and dissed Affirmative Action.
Of all my breaks with dogma I get the most shit from this one.
Racism is an evil because to be racist is to be stupid. To judge an individual along lines that have nothing to do with the individual, and everything to do with blind factionalism. What’s wrong with racism is the division, not the inequality. Inequality is a symptom caused by division. You cannot target a perceived inequality between races because the races do not exist. Target the psychosis instead of the effects. Any action or institution that gives credit to the concept of race can only deepen the stupidity. Come on folks. You can't fight power with power. The solution to psychosis is not more psychosis.
Racism is something that must be fixed socially. Getting the social authority of the state more twisted up in it is not a solution. Like ageism, sexism, heteronormality/homonormality and all the associated movements that exploit dominant power structures to seek diffuse channels of counter-power, it's just institutionalizing the social psychoses that already exist. (It's a version of the postmodern fallacy wherein value placed in structural context leads to more structural context until there is nothing but text.)
Fuck "Power to the People." Power is a psychosis. Liberty aint about equalizing power and giving everyone 5.3 milliHitlers of oppression each. It's about actually fucking abolishing power.
A Russian Prince and a Aborigine woman stated it best:
"I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation."
"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let us work together."
Ageism? Okay, let's get back to sanity here.
Radicalism means unabashedly grabbing for the roots [radis].
The core mechanism by which our social systems perpetuate the 'legitimacy' of inequality, oppression, and restrictive identity is the concept of justified authority over youth. By imposing a degree of person-hood upon others we instill hierarchy, hateful competition and social itemization.
In turning our frail perceptions of differently aggregated knowledge and experience into a moral imperative to rule or dismiss, we perpetuate and renew the social insanity that's plagued us since the pyramids. People who are treated as though they have no free will, will never see reason to embrace it. And instead seek cold hard mental death in whatever venue their culture presents.
But Capitalism is Imperialism!
Bah! Freedom of association between individuals is the essence of freedom, not the forced absence of it. We can fight over the definition of 'property' or the fine line between dynamic free-market economics and 'kapitalist accumulation' but it's ultimately boring and useless. And stubbornly refusing to deal with anyone who doesn't define "Capitalism" as exploitation is just blind factionalism.
To be for Free Markets you must be for Corporations!
No.
Corporatism is the antithesis of a Freed Market. Freed Markets stem from the free association of individuals. Corporations are hierarchical, seek power and apply statist force to destroy small competition. That’s what they’re built to do.
Why do you Liberals hate America?
Call me that to my face.
Why are you an apologist for imperialist greed?
I will kick your ass.
[Anarchist Stuff]
I always have time for anything involving Anarchism. Obscure theoretical issues or nitty-gritty tactics. Always.
So. Obviously. You must be [for/against] this [country/coalition].
I admit I have an aesthetic a soft spot for frontier mixing-pot revolutionary empires like the United States, Russia and Brazil. And something about Ireland calls to me in my bones. Otherwise
Fuck Nationalism.
I’m an American. We’re better than that.
