"We have done this because we love liberty and hate authority." – Voltairine de Cleyre
Archive for November, 2010
The Center Needs Your Help!
Nov 30th
Dear Fans of the Center (Centerians?),
So this is how the story goes, retold for the recently Centered: C4SS asks the internet for donations and support. Out of the gate, there is a sudden influx of funds followed by a long period of nothing. This is when the writers and volunteers begin to bite their nails. But fear not! In the end, the fans come through, we thank you for all for your support and the Center knuckles back down to dissolving the state. Rinse/Repeat.
We are currently in the “long period of nothing.”
Instead of begging, I would like to take a moment to describe a mini-miracle. In my home state of Oklahoma, the majority thought it necessary to outlaw Sharia Law. There is zero political opposition in Oklahoma, only some Libertarian Party Members struggling for ballot access and some Democrats that can’t even field a candidate. Oklahoma is prime minority opposition territory, and this minority has reached out to C4SS. That’s right; anarchist commentary from the Center was published in the Urban Tulsa. Emma Goldman was quoted in the Urban Tulsa! This is why the Center is important. This why we need your support; the more blue or red the state the more desperate the population needs alternatives.
The Center has a pretty steep price tag this time, for sure, but let’s take a quick look at what projects we offer: Blackvanguard.net, Groundbreaking Case Studies, Stateless University, a Nuanced Political Orientation Quiz, Op-ed Boot Camp, and biting News analysis and Commentary. All in one location with an easy four character address. C4SS!
Donate a little or a lot. Whatever you saved from participating in No Shave November, a Thanksgiving Potluck or Black Friday’s crazy discount deals, the Center will use it to continue the fight against the continued encroachment of State madness.
Thank you and happy holidays.
The Rally to Elevate Tone of Voice Over Substance
Nov 6th
So Jon Stewart had his rally the other day. From what I can tell, it was a great promotional event for his TV show and a great party for a lot of college-educated people. Don’t get me wrong; I love Jon Stewart, love the Daily Show, and I love the fact that people who are not bat-shit crazy were willing to turn out for a quasi-political event (even if ironically). I don’t have any problem with a comedy show holding a rally, no problem with lampooning the 9/12ers, and no problem with centrist liberals holding field day on the D.C. mall.
But something about it irks me. Perhaps it’s the inauthenticity of Stewart pretending he’s just a really topical comedian while hawking a crypto-politics somewhere between a librarian’s shushing and a classic elitist “let the serious people talk now” attitude. Yes, we’ve all seen him rip Tucker Carlson a new one by pointing out that he’s just a comedian and you can’t pin him down on political opinions because, after all, you’re just going nuts over a joke you don’t get while shirking responsibility for your role in the political discourse that’s destroying this country. And of course it’s absurd that people prefer getting their daily news from a thirty minute sketch show rather than from a show run by credentialed journalists. And of course that should be embarrassing to credentialed journalists everywhere.
But I’ll tell you what’s really absurd and embarrassing: critiquing our political culture because, in the midst of all the death, destruction, and suffering it’s causing around the world and at home, the big problem is that the rhetoric is too uncouth. The rhetoric! My poor, virgin ears! As if that’s the major problem with politics right now. Not innocent men, women, and children dying every day because of drone attacks by this supposedly calm and concerned President. Not peaceful people being jailed everyday for political crimes connected to what they choose to do with their body. Not the economic crimes committed by the corporate-government cabal destroying any wealth and future security. No, it’s the tone of national discourse we should really be concerned about.
Opportunities & Announcements…
Nov 2nd
Dear Friends, ALLies and Fellow Workers,
Enrollment for C4SSdotorg’s Stateless University is open until November 8th. I will be the ombudsman for Introduction to Anarchism, Bravo Section. Check it out!
If you are a member of Students for Liberty, then you have the opportunity to earn a Stateless U. scholarship. Just write an op-ed for C4SS, to get your Anarchy on.
Charles “RadGeek” Johnson is requesting our support. He needs to raise around $600 to represent the Molinari Institute, Market Anarchism, Left-Libertarians and defend his paper Women and the Invisible Fist: How Violence Against Women Enforces the Unwritten Law of Patriarchy at the Ninth Biennial Radical Philosophy Association Conference.
Wobfest is the weekend of November 12th thru the 14th, Chicago, Illinois. Chris Lempa and I will be making the trip north to represent ALLiance. Hope to see you all there, if you can make it.
ALL the best,
–James
