h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you'd put this one in the What's Wrong With Americans thread or somesuch where the conscientious meet, you would actually have got some reaction and discussion to this, but here in the AWW? Nobody seems to be reading anything here, 'cept me!

Btw, now I'm supposed to be first world, living on the fashionable side of Europe (almost), but this world of double parked mercs and platinum bleached fake breasts is more alien to me than Mars, the news of which latter i follow with a lot interest, while i really can't be bothered with the former, except as you say they seem to be doing a lot of damage while i'm ignoring them. What's a SUV anyway?

Thanks, Delicia.

Sports Utility Vehicle - a sort of monstrous car with aspirations of being a bus. The ultimate in idiotic overkill, the very essence of expressionist wastefulness, is the Hummer - http://www.hummer.com/

I think people have been avoiding this Entry because they can't decide whether or not I am thus afflicted. In fact, the more I think about it, neither can I.

JTG

Ignore the last paragraph.

My brain stopped working for a moment and I thought we were discussing 'My Sad tale...'.

Better now.

JTG

Never mind. I know what you meant.

Well I'm all for the achievements of science and technology, not usually one to bemoan the ills of civilisation too much. But I have grave doubts about the use of fossile energies, which mount to downright panic when i contemplate the politics this necessitates.
One of your great American Writers, the great great grandson of Mark Twain in spirit, said words to the effect that he advocated nuclear energy if only because that would allow the oil regions to sink back into political insignificance, where they belong.
But if you are entirely humourless you probably don't know P.J. O'Rourke?

No, I'm afraid I don't... perhaps that's further proof.

In general terms, I quite like civilisation, too. I really like DVD's and being able to buy them over the Internet in pajamas. To me, that ought to represent a pinnacle of some sort... laziness, perhaps.

Petro-energy (and petro-politics) are an extravagantly destructive and wasteful way of not looking seriously at some fairly fundamental problems. At least that's the view of things I have from the garden shed. My opinions aren't based on any great depth of understanding, I admit; but it does seem tragically irresponsible not to address the long-term cost to our planet of perpetuating our obsession with fossil fuels. After all, we now have more than a century of experience that ought to have taught us something.

JTG

Firstly, I think the article was aptly titled a 'rant'.

Secondly, I feel its important to recognize that those people you're calling anarchists actually probably call themselves democrats, or republicans, or one of those titles relating to the currently hip forms of government.

Third-and-a-halfly, you're right that most of the crazy skateboarder kids are just using anarchy as a medium for social acceptance, but remember the other golden rule "All mass generalizations are wrong". There are still some of those skaters who actually might have an educated idea of what anarchy is supposed to be.

I don't know too much on the subject, I've only really become interested in the subject in the last few months, but I would recommend looking up information about anarchy during the Spanish Civil war (Although Hemingway portrays anarchists unfavorably in For Whom the Bell Tolls). There was actually a town (Catalona, I think) that lived for some time in an anarchistic(sp?) state. Prices for goods went down drastically, and eventually they started using voucers instead of money.

Sounded pretty cool to me.

Firstly, it is what it is, just a rant, not meant to be taken as anything serious, just a bit of fun.

Secondly, you're right about people usually feeling more comfortable in a label of their own choosing.

Thirdly... I lost count.

Anyway, thanks for your comments. That stuff about the Spanish Civil War is interesting. I didn't know anything about that. I don't think there is a proper entry about Anarchists yet. Why not write one?Wouldn't it be cool if everyone decided to say 'to heck with it' and started bartering and relating to each other in human terms. I think the only thing stopping us is our tendency to believe the people who are currently running things.

Cheers

JTG

In his memoir of his fighting in the Spanish Civil war Homage To Catalonia George Orwell portreys the Anarchist militia and unions favorably.
He fought in the POUM militia, a loosely anarchist militia.
However, the Anarchist communitys set up by the Anarchist unions were more of a decentralized, anti-athouratarian communisim than total lack of government.

Interesting. One of these days I'm going to get around to learning more about the Spanish Civil War, which, I suspect would go a long way to understanding more what transpired afterwards.

Most of the anarchist groups you'll find today support a sort of, as you put it, decentralized communisim, the main difference being that there should theorectically be no difference between the people and the government, such that the word government is more useless than absent.

Apparently, there are actually some anarchist collectives at large, I advise surfing the net. Some good ones are the G7 Welcoming Committee, the AK Press, and the Arbeiter Publishing Ring.

Some anarchist foundations are the Anarchist Black Cross, which provides financial aid to political prsioners (Their site talks about paying for the schooling of one inmates [I think it was a granddaughter, maybe neice]) and Food not Bombs, which provides free meals.

I'll admit, I'm quite enamoured of these groups.

Thanks, I'll look 'em up. The G7 fooled me into thinking it was a link.