We were abducted long ago, Our souls held for ransom, Captured and enslaved by the dreams of men Spooked and scared by phantoms, “Give it back, give it back!”, But the alien fiend won’t grant us such, And they blame the homie down below, What was done was warranted, I know that much…
It only takes a few minutes for an idol to burn, Funny how some shit made out of a bunch Of fragile wood can come crumbling down And be reduced to ashes for an urn, Now sit back, Watch and learn, They say I’ll be damned if I do this But that’s a fact I’ve already discerned, My soul was put up for sale long ago, In my veins, the litanies shall always flow, Get yourself some gasoline And watch the flames grow, Nothing bad ever came from a DIY inferno; crackling sounds are So pleasing to my ears, it Might as well be an orchestral concerto!
Don’t paint me as a victim of possession, “This thing told them to do it!”, I fuck with that crazy son of a bitch But following orders is plain stupid, Not beholden to someone else’s whims, Living in someone else’s shadow seems Real dark and grim, Enough reason to tear myself apart at the seams…
Even non-believers will say that it’s a tragedy, Condemn and crucify, say that it was bad of me, Shedding tears and offering comfort for some Wood that turned all chewed up and raggedy, I guess the fear still resides deep within, Pious to the core, still scared to sin, Good graces these schmucks Are still trying to win, Fuck it, why am I listening To the people I’m otherwise dissing, Wondering why the hell it’s the bigger Point that they’re missing, Staying condemned from birth, Not even trying to break free, Dulling that most youthful urge, Grumbling angrily as they see it Alive and well in me!
While I’m a bottom, most likely, I’m not keen on trying to submit, Rather piss in the main stream Than swim in that sea of shit, Our places of worship Have always been a bunch of jails, I’m starting to think that Heaven Might actually be Hell, They say I’ll grow out of it, Childish fantasies these are, But I’m getting older and I want nothing More than to be out of this, Guess I’ll just never have to grow up, Watch ‘em get royally pissed Drunk on whatever the hell’s Being fed to ‘em nowadays, I stopped paying attention long ago, Assuming I ever was; can’t keep up with the newest phase, Furrowed eyebrows of confusion as someone Brings to attention the newest craze, People read my messages, Tell me that I’m devilish, Well, I am an accuser, an adversary, Determined to flood the collective unconscious So you fuckers remember this, “Are they wicked and malevolent? Broken, misguided, in need of treatment or dismemberment? Vile, evil, maniacal terrorist?” Fuck off, I’m not answering any questions…
I’m up to no good, Pulled up my black hood On, out to cause havoc, Serving up some panic, This lack of sleep driving me A bit manic, My urge to do evil Is real frantic, Not a hippie, Just a slippie, Sliding through the cracks, Fuck all these regular ass people, Go behind all their backs, Ready to snitch at a moment’s notice, Words on their lips; ready to attack, Mind your goddamn business and just turn the other cheek, You won’t get a reward from your “heroes” Aside from getting your ass beat, Excuse me, I’ve got work to do, Dish out damage that’s been long overdue…
Keep away from substances, Need no indulgences, I’ve only got one shot at this, Granted no respawns or mulligans, Blind me not to the things that cause me misery, Nurture all that anger and rage so I can strike so bitterly…
Don’t need no blood on my plate, Only the freshest you’ve got, I don’t like eating something That’s been butchered and shot, Many others do and I don’t see why All these so-called “free-thinkers” run on things that scream and cry…
I’m not here to be a savior Or tone down my behavior, As far as I’m concerned I’m not Going hard enough, “Think about the little guy!”, Bitch, on the bottom I’ve always lied And I’m here to tell you I don’t give a fuck, I do this for me and me alone, Making sure my intentions are always unknown Except to those who understand, Few and far between, fellow enemies of the order of man, You say that I’m a bastard, that I’m a monster, For this wretched prison you would Make yourself a crucified martyr, So tell me who’s really the cretin, Long lists of people slobbering on The knob of this thing stomping on their spines, Man, that shit’s depressing, Got my knife at the ready, Can’t keep my paranoia steady, Even family members Might be potential enemies, I’ll say an arsonist’s prayer if you’ll let me, Gotta keep myself warm because this cold and soulless Existence will be the end of me, The dead flesh are walking, Zombies breathing and talking, I’m an alien amongst these others, A foreign creature gazing and stalking, Yet I’m told these are my so-called “sisters and brothers”, My existence is criminal; fuck a subliminal, I’ll tell you how it is, and we are at the exact opposite of the pinnacle, Human evolution is damnation, not a miracle…
Not a hero, not a villain, Beyond good and bad; far beyond your understanding, Eldritch like Lovecraft, while you kill each other Over things you’ve got in common, I’ll be straight up chilling, Trying to control and change each other like play dough, What a crying shame; I’ll be ok though…
So much disgust at this concrete jungle, Yeah, I guess I’m a hater, Gay as all fuck, But my edge will always be straighter, Call me Karl Buechner because our earth is in crisis, The precious forests are marked with dollar signs and prices…
First off, I would like to say that have no problem with Julian Langer. I think Langer’s quite great, a friendly sort of person with an outlook on matters that I think is lucid, well-thought out, and quite refreshing. Not to mention, rather bold (after all, Langer’s one of the few, aside from FB, and myself, who has the guts to say that “ecofascism” is effectively not real, a big lie manufactured by the communists to paint all radically dissident greens as Nazis and fascists, because let’s face it, folks like us are a threat to the socialists, and when it comes time, I’m sure I’ll be cracking their skulls with my big ol’ boots, right beside all the fascists and white power shitheels. And they write in a manner that’s very whimsical, poetic, full of ornate and engaging language, something that is often lacking in anarchist theory. Usually theory and philosophical ponderings in our milieu are dry, dull, and can be a real slog (sorry to any who my be offended by this notion, and don’t think I’m placing myself above the rest).
However, what I am here for, what this essay of mine shall be about, is that I think Langer’s got veganism (or, at least, how folks like me and FB and Ria would approach veganism) all wrong, and why I think his understanding of veganism, in relation to things like anarchy and individualism, is shallow. Let’s get into why I believe this to be the case, shall we?
While I can’t speak for many vegans (and many vegans, indeed, get on my fucking nerves for a whole host of reasons, from their support for socialism/communism (or the opposite, being conservative goons or sometimes even full-blown scumbag fascists), to championing veganism as “civilized”, to trying to de-radicalize veganism so it can be “acceptable” and brought into the fold…to the point where I wonder how “vegan” these jackasses really are…), I, myself, see the exploitation of fauna and air, water, soil, etc., as horrific beyond belief, and my idea of veganism means fighting on behalf of the ground I walk upon, the air I breathe, the trees I gaze upon in the woods, and the water that makes up the river I live near. Indeed, a good many vegans probably are just concerned with animals, and animals alone (and even then, only reformist methods that eschew “violent, terroristic extremism” in favor of reformist, populist, legalist idiocy, proving they care not at all), I, and I’m very much convinced Flower Bomb and Ria Del Montana, and a great deal of anti-civilization vegans out there, do not exclude the flora, as well as the minerals, waters, and the very gas we consume to survive. I imagine the metaphysical side of this viewpoint is neglected, but I don’t think it would be inaccurate for me, and others like FB and Ria, to view the Earth as an entire living being. Much issue would be taken, I can infer, with the liberal, Enlightenment-borne idea that Nature is just some cold, lifeless machine that keeps chugging on, here to serve us by essentially being little else but a machine composed of various components and parts that can be isolated and sectioned off for whatever short-sighted purpose we have, because that’s a mindset perpetrated by leftists, rightists, economists, techno-fetishists, etc. Of which I, FB, and Ria are most certainly not. We are of the opinion that the Earth is very much alive, and is being killed by the life-denying philosophies civilization perpetuates wholesale. Obviously, we have to eat something, don’t we? But I’ve tried to do my best (which, I’ll admit, isn’t always (or even, at times, isn’t frequently) my best) to eat more fruit (which isn’t the plant itself, per se), and obviously a good deal of the veggies I eat are moreso byproducts of the plant, rather than being the plant itself. As well as steering clear of substitutes, which I tend to think are not great anyway. It’s not the best rationalization, yeah, but any sort of harm reduction, I think, is worth it. Point being, the delusions of grandeur humanity has instilled into itself do wage war against the water, which is harmed by being filled with toxic bullshit, the minerals and dirt and sand and rocks, gouged out by digging machines, greedy hands, probing eyes, and an assortment of structures planted firmly into the ground (the Freudian in me wants to equivocate this forceful insertion of hard monuments to death with rape and sexual violation), and we turn the air into a mode of strangulation, rather than a source of life. None of this, I support in any capacity. And the meat/dairy industries are fucking guilty. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I am no egalitarian. That I find the idea of “equality” to be based in little else but utopian pipe dreams and a poor understanding of existence, and Nature. If things were all equal, all the same, in whatever arbitrary manner we use to define “equality” (because equality is always very open to interpretation), then things would have no individuality. Thus, they would not be free, for their egos, their unique selves, would be leveled flat. And if they were to ignore, to resist, this leveling, they would have to make themselves…unequal, I guess would be the right term. Different. Separate from the herd, from the crowd, from the many. Not to mention, egalitarianism requires enforcement to be achieved. Proudhon wasn’t right on very much (Stirner was very good at picking apart the old man’s horse shit, even if we ALL owe something to that same old man, even I do), but he was right in that any equality-obsessed society, is a society predicated upon and obsessed with surveillance. It is a fantasy, a phantom. It doesn’t exist. Ill-defined, as well, as previously said. When all is left to be as it will, organically and without interference, without disturbance, sameness shall not occur. Uniformity, rigidity, a dull, stale sort of crystallization of existence that resembles more an assembly line than life, shall not happen. Only when an outside presence comes into play, shall egalitarianism come to fruition.
This disbelief in egalitarianism, however, has nothing to do with ideas of “supremacy”. Supremacy relies on objective value judgments such as “better” or “worse”, both of which are entirely relative and have no basis in reality beyond the inane thoughts of individuals who might be so inclined to believe in idiotic ideas like “better” or “less” than. Supremacy is also usually used to justify all kinds of actions that I have nothing but contempt for, such as imperialism, ethnic cleansing, economic exploitation (and economics in general, especially the class/caste system), slavery, ecocide, rape/misogyny, gay bashing, and a whole host of other deplorable practices. To me, there is simply difference. And difference should be allowed to thrive and exist. Without difference, there is no freedom. A friend of mine, who is also a staunch vegan, told me that Nature eludes the idea of symmetry, of sameness. To be asymmetrical, is to be in line with Nature. Doctrines of leveling conformity are completely against Nature.
As for Flower Bomb believing vegans to be some sort of “step up” from the non-vegans, as an “evolution”, as Langer seems to characterize it, from the ones who aren’t vegan and thus are “lumped in with the rest”, I’ve never really found that to be the case with anything they’ve ever said. If anything, FB’s always been critical of elitist tendencies and forcing vegan edge on people. Rightly so. We’re not hardliners (although I must profess that I like some hardline bands). Our words shouldn’t sound like Walter Bond and Sean Muttaqi. On the flipside, just because someone is passionate about veganism, doesn’t make them an “elitist” or what have you. Humanism and the Darwinian notion that Homo Sapiens is the hot shit that deserves to be king of everything that exists because of some half-baked theories built upon progress and a Christian-like end goal to history…is, if anything, the real elitism. Not to mention, if one looks at all of the ecocide the meat/dairy industries cause, and how seriously destructive and torturous they are, then I’d say being vegan is the way to go if one is, in fact, anti authoritarian and anti exploitation. Contrary to what Langer may be thinking, me, FB, and Ria are not vegan FSU here to beat up all the meat eaters (although I have zero problem hunt sab or meat sab of any kind, and if you’re a butcher or hunter, you deserve a good ass kicking, because let’s face it…they aren’t doing that out of need; I can almost guarantee it, since most hunting these days is trophy hunting done purely for money and bravado). Though I’m going to be frank…they do get on my last damn nerve. I should know; I live amongst them, and have to deal with them day-in, and day-out. We aren’t vegan Slapshot, ready to go up to random grocery shoppers and slap steaks outta their hands…not yet, anyway. I definitely wouldn’t mind spoiling the carcasses they’re going to munch on later, just so they couldn’t have ‘em on their plates. Carnists are usually macho dicks overtaken by the need to prove how tough and “manly” are, I’m sure even Langer would agree, and they need to be called on their bullshit. They need to be reminded of all the consequences of their lifestyle choices, even the ones they hadn’t considered, and be shown how truly deep meat-eating goes. What they support has a whole slew of reasons to condemn it in the strongest terms. Hunters and butchers and cow-milkers and animal breeders and all those other fucking people? As far as I’m concerned, they can go die. What they do on a daily basis is inexcusable, and if they did what they do to animals, to people? There’d be uproar on a massive scale. But because animals are the victims, we’re told to not give a damn. And yet, we vegan individualists are the supposed “elitists”. Gimme a fuckin’ break…
Let me be the first to say: I am an individualist. A passionate, deeply individualistic sort of person, alright? Collectivism? Fuck all of that. Damn all manner of collectivism that seeks to make individuals ignore their own true will…and that likely condemns most forms of collectivism, doesn’t it? If not all of them outright. Hell, sometimes I am so passionately individualist and anti-collectivist, it causes friction. Usually between me and the reds, and those sympathetic to the reds. To the point where quite a few of them likely want to challenge me to fisticuffs over it. I know one in California damn sure does. Many will rant and rave about how individualism is pure selfishness. Maybe, maybe not. It can be, no doubt. However, one could easily make the case that collectivism is wholly selfish, rabid in its hatred for any and all heterogeneity, determined to crush whatever does not conform, and absorb it instead, molding it exactly however the collectivism that is taking place demands it manifest its existence.
Being an individualist, however, doesn’t mean that I have to agree with someone’s thoughts on a matter. In fact, I may very well have an intense dislike of their opinions regarding a certain subject. I’d say that’s the hallmark of being an individualist. When two unique beings come into contact who feel one way or another about this or that, there is bound to be conflict. There is bound to be “friction”. Yet, the uniques go their own way, do they not? Be it on amicable or amorous terms, they will continue to travel down whatever path it is they have chosen. Hardly anyone is being “condemned” here, I don’t think. Seems more like a disagreement of opinion. And if the disagreement turns a little squirrelly, well, hey, we’re all passionate, hard-headed people. It doesn’t mean we can’t “live and let live”, despite difference of opinion. Maybe the difference of opinion causes a permanent rift. So what? That’s “policing” or “condemnation”? If you want to live how you wish, be my guest.
On the other hand…if you’re going to talk about being against speciesism, and against the engine of civilization that wages an all out war on life as we know it, yet knowingly participate in something that tramples on all other species with sadistic glee and malicious intent, then I’m sorry, but you’re going to sound like a jackass in my eyes. It’d be one thing if you’re not all aware of how deep the rabbit hole goes, and you’re just chowing down on meat because that is all you know, or were at least vegetarian, or, hell, you were of the mindset of “well, I’m getting there, but it hasn’t happened yet”, being at least sympathetic and open to veganism, then hey, I could live with that. Because at least you’re trying, and at least you recognize there is an issue to be addressed. However, to be so hostile towards veganism, and the idea of being vegan? As a self-proclaimed “anti-speciest”? That makes zero sense in my eyes at all. Meat and dairy are genocidal apparatuses of civilization, and anyone who thinks they deserve to still be standing in any capacity, supports civilization to at least some degree.
Now, I’m under no illusion that all unique individuals are worthy of care, which is a stance Langer takes (note that I do not include Langer in this category; merely making a point). I’d argue the opposite, actually. There are many, many, many individuals I think we could do without. Nazis, rapist, pedophiles, wifebeaters, fagbashers, child abusers, cops, politicians, animal abusers, hunters, butchers, rich folks, a whole cavalcade of deplorable types who I would not be sad to see go whatsoever. Do I condemn them, and what they are? Sure, I’d say I do. Perhaps my aggression towards them might be argued to be a kind of “repression”. But I see it as self-defense. The kinds of human waste I just named are likely to be against the individual (human and non-human alike) being allowed to go their own way, to live how they wish, and instead be subject to another’s will. Another’s thoughts, desires, etc. From my perspective, all of these people are authoritarians. Fascists, even. Wholly deserving of such a heavy insult. Do they deserve care? Absolutely not. Not to me, anyway. All they’d do is impede my freedom, my liberation, my desires for what I think anarchy and total unrestriction are. I understand wanting to extend that care as much as possible, however…let’s be realistic at the same time. This system, this Leviathan, is violent against us. Always has been, always will be.
From what I have gathered, many anarchists have a limited view of what individualism is. Many individualists of an anarchist variety only see humans as being capable of living as unique beings. And their concept of “living as unique beings” can often come down to a depressingly shallow economic question: how free, in (insert economic ideology here), are they able to act? It’s entirely humanistic. Based on the Cartesian-esque principals that only humans are rational agents, and all else are mere soulless automatons. Put here on Earth for our use, our pleasure, our needs and wants. Standing-reserve, auxiliary resources to be gobbled up later by the hand of “technique” and repurposed into something else. I say boulderdash to all of this. Everything that is alive, from blades of grass to giant trees, from honeybees to great whales, has a will. A will that manifests uniquely. What Crowley called a “true will”. Being is experienced in a myriad of manners by all that contains the chaotic, rambunctious, hectic, incomprehensible ways of the ol’ cosmic pulse. To deny this to other lifeforms, is to be thoroughly anti-individualist. It just so happens that things like animal agriculture and the meat industry are denying the individuality of flora, and especially fauna. Meat/dairy consumption as it is perpetrated in our society, as it is propped up and upheld and pushed and ruthlessly employed, is totalitarian in every aspect. An engine of domination, of total control and authority. How can one claim to be anti-capitalist and anti-slavery, yet say nothing or do nothing against the meat/dairy industry? How can one claim to be anti-fascist, when the slaughterhouses and the farms and the slash-and-burn teams are still at large? Contrary to what Mr. Gelderloos says, that hack, veganism, for me, isn’t just some trendy consumerist venture for me to do after seeing some liberal friends of mine partake in it. It’s born out of the same mentality I employ in regards to not having a car, not buying a bunch of useless shit, not always paying for what I obtain from stores, hanging out in Nature as much as possible, not owning pets, not paying for movies, not getting intoxicated, etc., etc.
Again, I reiterate this: I do not have a problem with Langer. Never have. And I respect quite a bit of what he’s written. I don’t mean to condemn, I just think Langer’s got, to put it vulgarly, some shit mixed up. Got the wrong idea, if you will.
It’s something you’ll never get But it’s what I’ve come to expect, Locked inside of a limited lair Of tangled bullshit and mangled truths, Unable to comprehend what’s outside, Yet I doubt you’d even care, Lecturing me on what “real love” is While I doubt you’ve ever felt it, Eager to tell me why how I perceive my own self Is wrong and wicked As you lock your entire being in a cage, Condemned to be boxed in, another Groveling slave; fueled by bigotry you can’t Even explain, and a falsified rage, Now ask in your empty head, For your sake as well as mine, Are we really the ones to blame?
You say that the rambunctiousness And discord is little else but Pure, jumbled mania, carnage Without rhyme nor reason, thus Violent; these are all true, yet it Is the meaning of freedom, of being Unchained, living like wolves Rather than automatons…
Declare, you do, that the opposite, That foul imposition of control, Of symmetry, understandability, Congruency, sensibility, is the Real way of things, but outside of the False constructs, I find this idea to Be sorely lacking in any Validity at all…
Pipedreams are required to even gain a Mere sliver of a chance of fulfilling the End goal of this inane desire, this utopian Need for stability, boring and dull stagnation…
Outside of the idiocy of charlatans and frauds, An individual can gaze all around and find Zero trace of its alleged existence, for outsiders Balk at the idea of being steamrolled over for convenience…
Now I ain’t gonna bullshit you And tell you shit ain’t bad!
That a better tomorrow’s right up ahead, So don’t be so down and sad!
Look outside, look all around, Gaze upon this sorry state of affairs, Can you look me in the eye without a hint of deceit and Honestly tell me you aren’t scared?
Hope! O’ how I wish I could, But I’d have better luck at the end of a rope! Woe! Does hope, even the smallest chance, do me good As the suffocating reality starts to constrict and choke?
Death is always grinning Just around the corner, Perhaps as a friend or a foe…
Cheerfully waving from its position, That old and frightful, mysterious, Enigmatic bringer of both chaos and order, Idly standing by, head tilted to the side, Waiting for our only chance to be forever blown…
Point is, things are looking rough, So hard to try and remain tough, You’d rather give up and die!
Don’t let em win, No matter how hard they Wear you thin, I’d say it’s still worth a try!
Any act of rebellion, no matter How grandiose or how small, Will serve to make you that much More free from the chains that Bind you and me, so do yourself, not I or anyone else a favor; heed that urging call To use your fists, and in any way you can, Cause the system to become beaten and battered…
Push back, whether it be Internally, via the spirit, Or outside, with words and fists, As you’re set into overdrive, Due for a meltdown, reaching a limit, Let ‘em know how much you’re fucking pissed…
Forget hope, forget any kind of future Promised by crimson swindlers and Apathetic, unimaginative losers!
Do what thou wilt, seize the smallest chance!
Devils we are, devils we’ll always be, so let’s do a devilish dance!
Curiously, there are those who seem to believe that the totalitarian doctrine of capitalism is even remotely compatible with the ways of anarchy and individualism. Who foolishly seem to think that capitalism is a path to freedom, rather than a grave hindrance, a monumental obstacle, a roadblock that stands in the way of liberation. Nothing, nothing at all, could be any further from the truth. Capitalism seeks to crush both the tenets of anarchy, and individualism. Whoever deems it to be a friend of either, is wrong, and idiotic. Allow me to explain.
You see, capitalism’s so-called “individualism” is decidedly non-existent. It’s actually quite collectivistic. For starters, the economic model of capitalism, being a many-tendriled menace, requires as many participants, actors, if you will, in its grandiose stage play, demanding that all be subsumed into its gullet as possible, so as to allow for maximum growth and efficiency. The more participants, the more opportunities to bolster, profit, produce, consume, etc. Its entire goal is to level flat everything, steamrolling it all until there is only robotic machines making and taking, and nothing else. No cultures, no art, no thought or belief, no fun, no joy, no love, no passion, no ways of life that are different from each other, no myths or tales or stories. Only the endless, computational repetition of number-crunching and calculation. This can clearly be seen by the fact that capitalism, throughout its existence, has been recklessly and miserably imperialistic, expansionistic, wanting to stamp its footprint into every location on Earth. Once it achieved this, it could lasso every throat into being dragged inches and inches closer to its blades, to chop their heads off. Like cattle being led into a slaughterhouse. You have no choice but to allow capitalism into your life, into your world, because if you don’t, then capitalism will kill everything you care about outright, rather than slowly, through the insidious façade of “enrichment” and “prosperity”. The mechanism cannot allow for you to be free of it, and it never will. Opt out? There is no opting out. You’re in it, and the only way out is a mass grave.
Not to mention, concepts central to capitalism, such as businesses, “private property”, etc., all require large, concentrated masses to uphold, either through swindling, intimidation, or indoctrination. To collectively believe in them, and hold them to be true, as well as support these mammoth constructs. And, because capitalism treats these geists as absolutely real and unquestionable, you are required, out of a sense of duty, to your boss and fellow man, to adhere to them, to capitalism’s “law and order”. Many libertarians claim to be against the scourge of democracy, but it seems to me, rather, that free marketeerism, with its reliance on collectives and collectivism, the submission of the individual to the wants and whims of the many-too-many (after all, the populace that comprises the free market shall decide everything, and you, the individual, get no sort of say in your fate), its spiritual egalitarianism (everyone is equally a producer/consumer, capable of working and buying, and the only difference is someone’s bank account balance), and its populist message, signify that it is, in fact, the perfection of democracy. Besides, no “free market” is ever really free…
To piggy back off of all this, capitalism favors regimentation, rigidity, uniformity, conformity, homogeneity. It is often said capitalism leads to variety and difference; nothing could be further from the truth. Capitalism’s much akin to a black hole. Everything gets sucked into it, mashed together until it’s a hodge-podge of grey, undifferentiated material to be used later, and then shat out as a line of identically made products ready to be thrown away by beings who could not possibly afford them or find much use in them (outside of coercion and conditioning).
Which brings me to a second point: capitalism discourages any sort of “independence”, any sort of “self-reliance”. You might think to yourself, “well, capitalism encourages all of this atomism and disintegration”, and yes, capitalism, because of its uncanny ability to stretch itself thinner and thinner until it eventually starts to fall apart and tear at the seams, going berserk as it desperately tries to recuperate, clinging to dear life, does indeed lead to disintegration and alienation. How could it not? Out of a desire for a war of all against all, it simply manufactures one. Out of a desire for might to be right, it makes it so. Out of a desire of contracts, it turns everything into a binding document, from your first breath, to your last, pained heave. However…because of it forcibly welding so many things together in order to sculpt its vision of a grand, economic, materialistic Leviathan, the supposed “self reliance” capitalism offers is quite nonexistent. Like previously mentioned, capitalism discourages the “dropping out” mentality, of simply saying “no thanks”. Why? Because it needs you. It needs your time, your body, your mind, your soul, your heart, it needs it all. Denying it this starves the beast, causing it to throw a tantrum, like a petulant infant. First it will tempt you with promises of luxury, power, and comfort, saying that, “oh, well, you must rely on this, and everything born from it, and everything bound to it”. Then it shall mock, ridicule, deride, denigrate. Finally, there shall be scorn, hate, violence, a war to be waged, and much tyrannizing practiced. Eating you alive in the process. All because it thirsts for profit, for green, for cash.
Consent, it should be clear, is no part of capitalism. Quite hilarious, since libertarianism (allegedly) places so much emphasis on consent, although when it comes down to it, libertarianism will throw consent out of the window for its own ridiculous ends. No, capitalism does not give a shit about consent. It doesn’t ask, and it damn sure doesn’t take no for an answer. Either it gets what it wants, or, if one denies it, then one’s throat is slit. Capitalism, at heart, is the ideology of rape. And even many libertarians eventually realize that capitalism requires force, that it requires a sort of…how shall we say…predatory, jackbooted implementation. From Hoppe’s desire to create a yellow and black, national socialist coalition, to Rothbard’s notorious love affair with cops and wanting to exterminate the homeless, we know where libertarianism truly leads. And it is not towards anarchy…
Now for the connections between capitalism, centralization, and statism. All of the aforementioned characteristics lead out should make one realize that capitalism doesn’t lead to decentralization, to smallness, but rather bigness, and a concentration in one particular area. It’s much akin to Perlman’s conception of the Leviathan that takes the form of an octopus. Many arms will have a stranglehold in many areas, but they all lead back to the same source, the same body, and feed the same mouth. Quite like how a railroad network extends in all directions, but they all congregate, eventually, into one spot. All roads, in capitalism, thanks to its need for accumulation, for hoarding, for an incessant hunger that manifests in a never-ending quest for acquisition, lead back to an ugly head, and a cold, coal-like heart, with a mouth that spews toxic waste all over the land, unleashing noxious breath that only serves to increase the growing number of dead left in its wake.
As you can see, this all leads to a state. To enforce capitalism’s rules and regulations (because it will foster many, even “anarchist” capitalists, these idiotic libertarians, have so many stipulations attached), police forces, laws, courts, judges and juries and executioners, prisons, will have to be constructed and mandated. And because of capitalism’s rapacious appetite, it will need to tax, to rob and commit theft from whoever’s caught between its teeth, stuck in the gaping maw, about to be forever swallowed into its gullet. Who shall do all of this? Rulers, of course. States. Monolithic entities that eventually become the sole carriers of the sword, the ones with the monopoly on violence, and says to all, “obey or die”. Like all states, it will grow to enormous proportions. Even libertarians will find themselves having to concede this point, assuming their logic is taken to the conclusion. You see it in David Friedman, Lew Rockwell, and perhaps even further than either combined, Insula Qui.
In conclusion, libertarianism, “anarchist capitalism”, is an oxymoron. A phantom, a fraud, a severe case of dupery and con artistry. Anarchy and capitalism, they cannot coexist. This has been proven time and time again, both by history, and the proponents of both (as well as by the jackasses who try to create a synthesis between the two).
It would appear that the devil keeps the company of those we least expect, often times those we most revere/adore, and we should be grateful for that. How sad would it be if all of the greatest heroes were children of God. In fact, I’d wager half, nay, even most, were not. For how could one be considered a hero, and live by the code of the Nazarene? I repeat, I think it is something to be celebrated, not downtrodden and depressed by, that the greats were not, in fact, the disciples of Christ, but rather…the disciples of Satan itself. For Hell contains all of the most interesting and vibrant characters. Heaven contains mere studious dullards and cowardly wimps; the types who did nothing, said nothing, and were nothing. Hell is home to those who separated themselves from the masses, the breathing graveyard that is “the people”. Possessed by a Luciferian impulse, even if they proclaimed otherwise. Eternal rebels, never content to follow along with the whims of the sleepwalkers, the dullards, the idiots and jackasses who didn’t dream (and probably were incapable of such a thing in the first place). Naturally, they were doomed, on this Earth, to be reviled. Becoming the hated of the world. After all, history’s heroes were no doubt deemed heretics, receiving death threats, scowls, and scornful words, oftentimes condemned to The Pit by the all-too-human who groveled at the feet of a meek sand-walker.
But there are two in particular, whom I hold in very high regard, that, while coming from the colorful and confusing world of American Protestantism, and claiming to be admirers of Christ, even Jehovah; who, by their own admission, owe much of their thought to the words spewed out from the pages of that wretched Holy Book, I would argue, owe their thought process to something entirely different.
I am, of course, speaking of two literary giants, both of them forever seared into the written canon of the United States, worthy members of the few from this despicable country I consider worth admiring in a large, overflowing capacity…or in any capacity, for that matter. These two men are none other than Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. A pair as quintessentially “American” as baseball, capitalism, the hot dog, and crowded centers of urban filth and decay.
Yes, one may raise an eyebrow at the idea that the great Thoreau and the mighty Emerson being…well, not men of God. Whilst certainly not being drab and dull Puritans/Calvinists who thought life was only work, suffering, toil, and merely waiting around to die, sharing not the absurd policeman mentalities of America’s founding theology, not at all, both professed a love for their idea of “God” and Christ, counting them as inspirations for their outlooks. Perhaps both would even balk at my conclusions. These men, men of the devil. I know, it sounds absurd. As absurd as saying that animals should be fear alongside humans. But dear reader, allow me to explain.
See, Thoreau and Emerson, for one thing, were staunch individualists. Divorced from the herd-mentality of Abrahamic religion, its populism and love of democracy, its statism and grotesque love of all things authoritarian, levelling, flattening, and crushing. They extolled self-reliance, independence, the lone outlaw against the idiotic and boorish crowd. Especially Thoreau, for he lived it, whilst Emerson laid the groundwork, so that Thoreau could put it into practice, and expand it even further. No trace of love for the mindless sleepwalkers exists within either’s words, their works. At best, they look upon them with pity, with a certain level of disappointment. Why can the rest not cast aside the shackles of society and state? They aren’t ready. Perhaps they never will be. Both admit this, though not so explicitly and bluntly. Duty? Ha, what an absurd notion to this pair. Obligation? To hell with it. Thoreau and Emerson were baffled by such notions. Such values the Abrahamic trio applaud and praise, demanding that one surrender themselves to the mob, and be one with it, never to leave it, sacrificing yourself for it. It’s the ultimate measure of your worth. Egoists, Emerson and Thoreau were. Ego death, the three-headed hydra of Yahweh wishes for. Kill your Self, they demand.
Another aspect of both of these great men that puts them squarely on the left hand path is their love and adoration for Nature. If one knows their theology, they know that Yahweh/Allah has a disdain for the material world. Calling it corrupt and impure, a fowl mockery of existence, and says only his kingdom is the way. Going so far as to entrust it to the most destructive and habitually suicidal species, merely because they resemble him (and we do…but this is not a laudable sort of thing). He has no care at all for Nature, for our Mother Gaia. Thoreau and Emerson, however…they see the beauty, the wonder, in Gaia. Rightly, they realized our Earth was sacred, worthy of being protected and cherished. An assault on Gaia was an assault on the divine, an assault on the wondrousness of existence, on liberty itself. Gaia was to be worshipped, not devastated and destroyed, not made into a mere tool of man’s wretched needs and wants. The two also recognized that within the embrace of Nature, true freedom was found. It is the only anarchy, the only way into the throes of liberation. It cannot be found in civilization, in society, in the confines of the suffocating environment known as “Leviathan”. Emerson and Thoreau were no humanists, and that puts them squarely at odds with the Abrahamic tradition.
Of course, we cannot also sweep aside the nihilism that lurks in the hearts of Emerson and Thoreau. Good, bad, truth, lies, of what use were they to this dynamic duo? Nay, they were hardly real to this pair. Both were heretics, immoralists, by that time’s standards, and even by today’s. Both resisted much, believing little, to quote Whitman. The maxim, “all things are nothing to me!”, from their German counterpart, who may’ve never heard either of these fellows’ names, but nonetheless shared much with them, rings true in the words they wrote. But this was no Schopenhauerian nihilism, which is defeatist and shrinks away from life. No, no, Emerson and Thoreau sought to embrace the storm of life, the chaos, as cheerful and idealistic pessimists, a truly active nihilism. Finding freedom in this lack of inherent meaning. Abrahamic religion is life denying, saying a resounding “No!” to everything, whilst Thoreau and Emerson shout a clear “Yes!”. Abrahamic religion seeks to strangle life, make it vile and ugly, since it only sees it aa vile and ugly. The world, under the gaze of Yahweh/Allah, becomes monstrous, as he wishes for it to be monstrous.
Let us also not forget the anarchistic character Thoreau and Emerson possessed. Whilst Emerson was not quite fully against the state, he found government to be a tyranny, and society to be an oppressor, both in conspiracy to crush the rebel, the free thinker, with its laws, police, economies, politics, etc. No government was satisfactory in Emerson’s eyes. All of them were corrupt, and the truly admirable always bucked against the system. All of the government’s apparatuses were little else than bulldozers seeking to crush dissidents with their power-tripping ways. Same with Thoreau. Whilst Thoreau professed to not be one of the “no-government-men”, he was hardly a fan of the state. An authoritarian, Thoreau hardly was. The state, in Thoreau’s eyes, needed to be done away with, to be tossed into the wastebasket of history with plenty of other failed ideas. He considered it an out of control abomination that wanted to put a chokehold on the natural state of life, which was anarchy, and potentially snuff it out for good. There was no path to liberty within the walls of Leviathan’s stinking guts, and so Thoreau tried to escape the morbid stench, striving to leave it as far behind as possible. And can one blame him? Thoreau was an anarchist in all but name. And not one of those idiotic libertarians, nor an “anarcho-communist”. But one who despised civilization, who saw to the root of the problem, the core of the dilemma that plagued our existence for millennia, and recognized that nothing worth keeping was found in its grinding bowels. Especially since Thoreau was a passionate lover of Nature. Abrahamic religion, however, is hardly anarchist. Monarchs aplenty in that tradition, with examples of men in the Bible ordained by God to rule with an iron fist. Passages saying that submission to disgusting Rome was encouraged. Quotations encouraging the subjugation of women and other races, ideas which Thoreau and Emerson, staunch abolitionists and admirers of women, found horrid. Yahweh is a totalitarian who watches your every move. If you disobey, to the fiery depths you go. But what would be so bad about that? After all, Satan is far more interesting and worthy of consideration.
So you see, Emerson and Thoreau are not men of God, not at all. Maybe they knew this, but, being in the conformist shitheap that is the US, had to carefully cloak their language in something more acceptable (and naturally, were still, and are still, persecuted for it). To be different in America, is to be indecent. And America hates anyone who doesn’t stoop to its mobocracy. Least of all, the one with a cross stamped into it. To call them members of the right hand path, would be a sorry mistake. It is evident that they were anything but.
Sought after by so many, Highly regarded by damn near all, For the beauty it possesses, Individuals reach out and fall.
Danger comes to those Who wish to touch and grasp, And for their daring wants and needs, They shall face Nature’s wrath.
It shall be untouched, It shall not be disturbed, It shall never fall into their hands, It shall never be torn out and plucked, Forever its pursuers are perturbed, Always out of reach to the legions we call man.
Hell is where it dwells, Or least that’s what they, In their many quips and tales, Prattle on about and say.
We want what we can’t get, The dashing of hopes and dreams, O’, they shall not let, The mangling of something beautiful, They are dead set.
It shall never be felt, It shall never be theirs, It shall never be destroyed, It shall not capitulate and wilt, A victim, never, of their worries and cares, By their concerns, it is forever annoyed.
Leviathan cannot stand what Refuses to be absorbed into it, So it lashes out in fury and anger, Determined more than ever To lay waste to that which resists…
No conception of beauty, does the Lumbering beast have; never has it, Or will it, and forever does it hate, Scorn, this unique thing, that Bravely, triumphantly, says “no, I shalt not become one in your ranks”.
Oh, how I envy you, bourgeois man. Mass-man. Mr. Satisfied.
Yes, it is true. I feel a pang of jealousy when I see you. I’m sure such a remark would just send that infinite self-assuredness soaring into great depths, wouldn’t it? Fill your wretched face with the most smug of grins, wouldn’t it?
But it is all for the reasons you would not consider.
You are not troubled by…anything. Because you do not think. A philistine, you are. I would contend you are incapable. And because of this, you are not disturbed by anything. You live in an idyllic bubble, pretending as if the world starts and ends with your little, perfectly manicured front lawn, surrounded by a white picket fence. As a result, you go about your day merrily, thoroughly unaware of the horror lurking beyond your gated communities.
Of course, whenever something shatters that stifling dogma of yours, breaches the containment of your perfect world, with its perfect system of bile-producing nausea, sends it crashing into oblivion, then the madness sets in. And you retreat even harder back into that shell, don’t you? Otherwise, the psychosis would set in. You would go mad from the revelation.
And since you do not think, you therefore, do not feel. You may play at emotion, yes. Imitate it, wear some sort of mask that resembles the words we’ve prescribed to various feelings. But I don’t think you really…experience true joy, or sadness, or fear, or love. It may either be beyond your capabilities, or it is something you won’t allow for yourself. Either way, you don’t really feel.
Since you are not prone to either thinking or feeling, you are able to blend in. Be perceived as what the mobocracy calls…normal. Perfectly indistinguishable from the assembly line of persons that the death machine that is our current mode of existence manufactures day in and day out. The matrix is something you’re perfectly content to live within. You never unplugged from it, so you never know the utter wrongness of it. Nay, you don’t even come close to the edges of it, you vulgar beast.
Everything which you champion is a thorough rejection of the real.
Due to your love of mobocracy, your propagation of it, you have a want, nay, a need, to strangle the life of a heretic, an individual, a blasphemer. You, you assailing robots, reprogrammable and able to be switched out, one for the other, want to reduce everything to your level. Drag everything down into that swirling vortex where all light goes dark, and all becomes one with the crushing weight of a thousand suns, burning out whatever life came into contact with your world.
Therefore, the individual is rendered null and void. A stifling conformity is put in place, where anything different, anything that doesn’t fit into the narrow doctrine, is destroyed, snuffed out. Heretical, it is deemed, and heresy, it is treated as. Blasphemy of the highest, most absolute variety. Either extinguish your Self totally and definitively, or simply…face death.
Of course, since there are no individuals, all are one. Not composed of the same essence, flowing from the same wellspring. No, no, that is not what you mean. You mean, in the most literal sense, a degrading sort of sameness. Exactly alike, in all respects. Maybe, perhaps, superficially different. But, at the core, carbon copies of each other. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so sickened, so thoroughly, by variety. It wouldn’t cause bile to rise in your throat.
Epitomize modernity, you do. With its wretched equality, its boorish plutocracy, its meandering dullness, its absolute negativity and contempt, unable to put forth positive values, only blindly negate, saying no to any and all things. You claim to loathe postmodernism, but you embody it to a frightening degree. Naturally, since creations always rebel against their creators. It is only the way of things.
Individuality, because it was negated, mysticism, spirituality, that most individual of things, is burned away, consumed in flames, and therefore, despite your pompous posturing about your nauseous traditions, you are soulless heathens, atheists of a fervent variety.
Because you do not think, or feel…you are not.
Protest it all you may like, you are not real. You are…a fake.
As a result, I envy you. To a staggering degree. A part of me wishes I could be a bourgeois beast like you. Another face in the crowd, who engages in the same mundane thoughts, actions, feelings, worries, likes and dislikes, as you. Sadly, I cannot. I simply cannot. I can’t compel myself to become one with your life, your weltanschauung. And thus, a certain poisonous jealousy sometimes arises within my heart, possessed by a silly want to be like you.
It would surely be very convenient, wouldn’t it? To float through life, as a mass-man. Never rise above the multitude. How easy and carefree it would all be.
Then again…who says I want an easy life? Who says I want a carefree one?
Once more, I am reminded of why I make no effort to join your ranks. I exist among you, but I do not mingle, unless it be necessary for me to do so. I try not to let your vicious taint ruin my soul. I cannot afford to be consumed and eaten away at by your hateful corruption.
I observe, and I interact, but I do not feel for you, or your world. Not genuinely. I wear a mask. Put on a coat and a hat to endure the bitter coldness that surrounds me when I step foot into your domain. Like a chameleon, I blend in when I must. But it is not infinite. I cannot do it indefinitely. After all, I need to breathe. You, who were born without lungs, wouldn’t know of that, would you?
While I may envy you, I also loathe you, and my loathing tempers my envy. Sure, I wish I could simply sink into your venomous waters, swept away by the currents and bashed against the rocks and riverbed, so that I may finally become normal and “sane”. But I am constantly shown the horrific banality and dreadfulness of that existence. How it would be the equivalent of descending into the dark, damp doldrums, and that, while I may have thrived in it, had I remained plugged in, so to speak, once unplugged, to go back in would be the equivalent of murderous torture. I’d be screaming in agony, desperately craving release from the nightmare. My soul would maim itself, and everything else, to crawl out of the malevolent prison it would find itself in.
Do not mistake my envy for a form of respect or admiration. I thoroughly hate you. Despise you. Never, ever, shall I bow to your altar. The lowest form of life is to be found in you, if you could even call yourself…life, at all.
Thanks to my hate, neither of us shall have to endure each other’s company.
A World In Flames 