taking joy in resisting for the sake of resisting even when the situation is hopeless, and going down fighting.
I'm familiar with the idea, but I came to it from old warrior philosophy. One of the key themes in the Prose Edda is that Ragnarok will happen, but that the gods strive against it none the less. Odin pursues every option and submits to deeply, personally shameful social transgressions in his quest to postpone the inevitable for just one more day. Even in the face of certain defeat they continue to fight stalwartly, not out of hope of victory, but because their cause is just. People often forget that Valhalla is not a paradise; It's a training ground. The Einherjar are gathered in anticipation of a final battle with the fire giants at Ragnarok.
Another favorite of mine is the Book of Five Rings, especially Musashi's line "Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." Accepting that things can go wrong, that you don't really have much control of the situation, that you may die or be injured or maimed, or that you may have to take action that will result in your injury, capture, or death for the good of others, prepares you to act immediately and without hesitation when necessary.
If you can come to terms with those things you're ready to "live as though you are already free".
the growing trend among real-world anarchism these days is a return to more organisational forms of anarcho-communism
That's good to hear. I think Anarchism is a very powerful theory that has some strategic advantages when compared to Communism, but it's very reliant on being community and close coordination. It's good to know that there are people working in that direction. A small group of well drilled, coordinated people can cause an enormous ruckus and run circles around much larger disorganized groups. : )
I mostly use the medicine question as a gotcha for people who seem like they're interested with action as an end to itself, or people like anprims and others who are interested in very individualistic or destructive tendencies. I like it as a gotcha because it highlights a blind spot in some peoples thinking where they're more concerned with action than what's good for their comrades and community. It's not so much specifically asking them "Give me a detailed plan about how to produce aspirin" as it is a general challenge against overly individualistic thinking.
I do think considering macro problems can help at a micro level in some cases. Doing "war games" or thought experiments can lead to new ideas, highlight blind spots, or just provoke interesting discussions about theory and praxis.
its remarkable how well it all works
That's really good to hear! I think an issue a lot of people have with buying in to revolutionary leftist tendencies is they've never encountered examples of how society might work when these ideas are applied, or in the case of 20th century socialist states they have wildly distorted ideas about how things worked. Being able to provide concrete examples of large scale, complex operations can be really helpful in convincing people to take the next step and start reading theory or attending meetings. : )
I'm familiar with the idea, but I came to it from old warrior philosophy. One of the key themes in the Prose Edda is that Ragnarok will happen, but that the gods strive against it none the less. Odin pursues every option and submits to deeply, personally shameful social transgressions in his quest to postpone the inevitable for just one more day. Even in the face of certain defeat they continue to fight stalwartly, not out of hope of victory, but because their cause is just. People often forget that Valhalla is not a paradise; It's a training ground. The Einherjar are gathered in anticipation of a final battle with the fire giants at Ragnarok.
Another favorite of mine is the Book of Five Rings, especially Musashi's line "Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." Accepting that things can go wrong, that you don't really have much control of the situation, that you may die or be injured or maimed, or that you may have to take action that will result in your injury, capture, or death for the good of others, prepares you to act immediately and without hesitation when necessary.
If you can come to terms with those things you're ready to "live as though you are already free".
That's good to hear. I think Anarchism is a very powerful theory that has some strategic advantages when compared to Communism, but it's very reliant on being community and close coordination. It's good to know that there are people working in that direction. A small group of well drilled, coordinated people can cause an enormous ruckus and run circles around much larger disorganized groups. : )
I mostly use the medicine question as a gotcha for people who seem like they're interested with action as an end to itself, or people like anprims and others who are interested in very individualistic or destructive tendencies. I like it as a gotcha because it highlights a blind spot in some peoples thinking where they're more concerned with action than what's good for their comrades and community. It's not so much specifically asking them "Give me a detailed plan about how to produce aspirin" as it is a general challenge against overly individualistic thinking.
I do think considering macro problems can help at a micro level in some cases. Doing "war games" or thought experiments can lead to new ideas, highlight blind spots, or just provoke interesting discussions about theory and praxis.
That's really good to hear! I think an issue a lot of people have with buying in to revolutionary leftist tendencies is they've never encountered examples of how society might work when these ideas are applied, or in the case of 20th century socialist states they have wildly distorted ideas about how things worked. Being able to provide concrete examples of large scale, complex operations can be really helpful in convincing people to take the next step and start reading theory or attending meetings. : )