Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Monday, November 08, 2004
Some musings on dissent...
This is great, clear stuff. Thanks.
Posted by harry on from upstate 11/08 at 07:18 AMAwesome, So where do we go from here?
I agree with everything you said. At this point in time I feel the frontline of battle is the public’s worldview. Most people don’t have a proper understanding of where we are let alone how we got here. The hidden history of the United States is a huge subject that most people can’t even begin to contemplate let alone accept and internalize enough to take forceful steps towards federal regime change.. Even among the Liberal Democrats it’s difficult to discuss that the election was stolen and guess what? Even if it wasn’t it wouldn’t of made a damn bit of difference if Kerry had gotten in.
I believe that continually educating yourself to the best of your ability refining your world view everyday, cause you really never will know what’s going on you can only make educated guesses based on “facts” and your feelings about them. It’s only from that place we can have a hope to awaken another person’s heart and mind to the realities of today.
I don’t think a succession from the states would be a good idea. At best your talking Civil War, There’s no way a state could leave the union without blood being spilled and that’s never a solution. I know your not personally advocating this as a plan of action but I thought I would mention my thoughts on it since it’s been bandied about in other comments. Personally I feel our best bet is to fall back on our founding principles of the Constitution to in essence take our entire federal government out of power and start over. This wouldn’t mean a dissolution of the union, It would just mean reelecting everyone from the ground up at a grassroots level. Get rid of these damn E-voting machines, go back to paper ballots and take the time to do it right this time. Or as right as can be done. We have to get big business out of our Federal Government and to do that the people have to take it back and get representatives in office that really represent them.
No matter what happens. Whatever path is chosen by the people to fix this mess it’s going to be a long and difficult path. However our very first step has to be acknowledging and understanding exactly what our government has become.
Posted by Luna_C on from Vancouver via California 11/08 at 01:34 PMI appreciate the “where do we go from here?” question but must remind everyone that the vast majority of Americans have zero famliarity with and/or openness to the “four foundations” I’ve posted. Those of us who have reached this point indeed must create a space for direct action as the next step. As for me (for now at least), I’m working on getting more and more people to the point you’re at.
The only specific “direct action” I’m suggesting involves lifestryle choices and will appear here within a day or two.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/08 at 01:41 PMThere’s alot of nutritional value in your thoughts, MZ. I thank you for your feast of very thought-provoking entrees.
Something that you said touched me in particular, because it reminded me of something else that doesn’t get mentioned much in our fellowships of revolutionary thought. “No social movement can succeed until members of that movement can see the world as it is, not as they’ve been taught it should be.” Exactly so. Seeing the world as it is, not as we have been conditioned to see it.
There is a body of work that seeks to reveal the power that TRANCES have in our lives. And one of its core beliefs is that most of us are operating under a trance of some kind, and not fully awake to the world around us. A good primer to this revealing body of work can be found here: http://www.trance.edu/aprosex.html
If there is any truth to this, revolutionaries need to be mindful that they are also susceptable to succumbing to their own unique set of trances as well.
Again, thanks for your feast of thought-provoking entrees.
Posted by Nader Rider on from 11/09 at 11:07 AMhave you seen the nov/dec issue of mother jones mag? go borrow or steal a copy and check out the ad on the inside front cover. at first i thought it was a joke - you know, adbusters strikes again. but, no—it’s real. this ad, to me, is amerika in a nutshell - left, right, center, radical, conservative, athiest, fundamentalist - you name it—this is amerika.
first, there’s the ad itself—as if.
then, there’s the fact that this particular mag is running this ad. who keeps saying irony is dead? not so—it’s alive and well in the liberal left press.
bottom line, the only revolutionary act in amerika today is buying nothing.
sorry mickey—i think your merchandising effort is an example of using the master’s tools.
here’s a roadsign you won’t see: “Your standard of living demands the exploitation of people and nature”. remember that one? i drug out my beat up copy of night vision and dusted it off last night. i highly recommend re-reading it—esp. chapters 4,5,6. anyone know if there’s an update or sequel to this book?
stacyPosted by stacy on from whidbey island 11/09 at 11:37 AMCan I have some more info re. Night Vision please? You’ve piqued my curiosity enough to want to know more about it. It’s a good thing that I have a very accepting relationship with my own ignorance. Thanks in advance.
Posted by Nader Rider on from 11/09 at 12:04 PMThanks, all. I too am interested in “Night Vision” and yes, I’m 100% behind the “buy nothing” mode. That was part of the next installment on dissent.
As for my merchandise, I truly meant it as a satire. As far as I know, nobody bought any of it anyway.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/09 at 12:11 PMit’s not an easy book to find. when i first bought it back in ‘94 or ‘95 and tried to buy a second copy for a friend, all traces of it had disappeared! this was before google. i ended up xeroxing the whole book.
Night-Vision: Illuminating War & Class on the Neo-Colonial Terrain
Butch Lee and Red Rover
Vagabond Press 1993
496A Hudson St, Suite E14
NY, NY 10014also published by this press:
Bottomfish Blues: The Coming of Black Genocide and Other Essays
Mary Barfoot
Vagabond Press 1993
332 Bleecker St, Stuie E14
NYNY 10014both are somewhat outdated but thought-provoking.
Mickey, Bottomfish Blues is/was “an underground Amazon publication that has appeared anonymously and episodically in NYC since 1986”. ever heard of them? if you find out they’ve moved to the ‘burbs and voted for bush, lie to me.
stacyPosted by stacy on from 11/09 at 04:00 PMThanks for the info, Stacy. Sorry, I’m not familiar with Bottomfish Blues…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/09 at 04:20 PMIs there a way to buy your books without going through Amazon, Mickey? The referrers from this site to theirs is killing your page load time, by the way.
Posted by harry on from upstate 11/10 at 01:06 AMYou can order directly from the pubishers, Harry, and/or try some indie bookstores. Let me know if I can be of any help.
As for the loading time, this is the first I’ve heard of this. Anyone else have this problem? If so, I’ll see what I can do.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 05:38 AMHarry,
I will look into the page load time and the Amazon links.I recommend you could order the books via the used marketplace on Amazon - a great recycling act. Plus, then Mickey gets a tiny commission via Amazon.
Or, have your local bookstore special order a few copies for , but don’t buy them all - that way they are sure to have some in stock for other people to buy!
Posted by Nancy on from Arlington, VA 11/10 at 10:26 AMPage load times are fixed, thanks Nancy and Mickey. There’s an indie book store near me, about 15 miles away, that’s likely to be friendly to the order.
Posted by harry on from 11/10 at 06:19 PMBell Hooks, who I like very much, speaks on the work ‘Night-Vision’ Stacy brought up - Pretty good interview if anyone is intrested.
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/books/reviews/nvrevoti.html
Posted by CK on from 11/10 at 08:13 PMHey CK...good to “see” you here. I like Bell Hooks, too and will check out the link. Thanks.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/10 at 09:28 PMAll of this has an aura of “I be cool and you ain’t”. The tatoos, the piercings, the bandanas seem to me the fluff of people who are just another category of marketing types. I am for any self-expression you want , but it is not going to play in the red states. You need to dress up like a Mormon evangelist and knock on doors and tell them what your mother taught you.
B. RosencrancePosted by Barry Rosencrance on from burke, ny 11/17 at 06:52 AMWhat do you mean by “the tatoos, the piercings, the bandanas”?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/17 at 06:53 AMSo you work “in the system” to change things and you become a targeted group based on how you dress and the “red states “ see piercings and tatooes and the rest and you are a homo commie pig with no morals. Madison Ave. probably has a marketing group for everything so do the politicians. So dress in a grey flannel suit and start a fight in Starbucks.
B RosencrancePosted by Barry Rosencrance on from burke, ny 11/17 at 05:42 PMBut Barry, I do not have a tattoo or a piercing.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/17 at 05:54 PMNeither do I. I am saying that we must find a way to communicate with the brainwashed neocons. That is probably how the consevative represent “liberal” to them. It was that way when there was a alliance of college kids and youth and now they still associate the progressive idea with protest only.
Barry
Who am I talking to?Posted by Barry Rosencrance on from 11/17 at 08:19 PMThis is Mickey Z., your host at this site.
I misunderstood you and thought you were focusing on me personally. i agree with much of your point. We all wear uniforms of one sort or another and like it or not, are judged by these uniforms.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/17 at 08:32 PMI have known and live with those people variously known as “rednecks”. This too is a stereotype and it seems we all communicate this way. One stereotype to another. The corporate media probably caused this. We can’t let them do that to us. “Rednecks” are not stupid people. Their experience is lacking perhaps and they are “lazy” thinkers and so are most people. They have been baited manipulated and trapped by the neocons. Somehow they have to be wised up or this is going to on and on
BarryPosted by Barry Rosencrance on from Burke, NY 11/18 at 04:55 AMAs someone with a thick NYC accent and only a high school diploma, I can certainly relate to being stereotyped.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/18 at 08:42 AMAre you Native American? Is Pemmican Press a Native American press. I used to know it, but now I’ve forgotten.
BarryPosted by Barry Rosencrance on from Burke, NY 11/18 at 09:44 PMI’m a born-and-raised New Yorker with Italian and Irish blood. Pemmican is just a site I write for.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 11/18 at 10:06 PM
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