#bemundolack

[dearyallfrommatt]

Anarchists Should Vote and Here's Why

 For the most part, I’m with this argument from Bemundolack of Things Not Art. I used to be a hard ass about voting, thought it was everyone’s civic duty. I have sense mellowed. As far as national elections go, who cares? It’s probably better off. As for local concerns, well... you know, no one really gets into that, do they? I think that sort of misses the whole point.

 That’s one thing that’s always bothered me about debates that tackle voting versus not voting. It’s always the President and, once in a while, Congress critters. Almost never does it consider state and local, and at least for anarchism-friendly types, that seems like it would matter most of all. Maybe it’s because I live in Mississippi, and our bullshit is such that the rest of the country, much less the Federal Government would rather just pretend we don’t exist.

 Willie Nash was just sentenced to 12 years for doing something he wasn’t told not to do nor was he prevented from doing it by jail officials. The people who owned the chicken plants that ICE raided last year won’t even get a slap on the wrist for exploiting undocumented workers, which is supposed to be bad.

 Destroying imperialism and dismantling the State is all fine and good, but at the end of the day the poor people that weren’t as important at the time are still just as screwed. Arguments that voting either doesn’t matter or is equally harmful have yet to swing me and I just think it’d do more good than harm. Convince me otherwise.

 Another thing I have with what I’ve seen of, at least, Social Media Anarchism (for lack of a better phrase) allows for too much for some of the foundation thinkers of the past. Kropotkin maybe, Marx for sure, but that may just be me and my own cynicism. I do think they’re useful up to a point, but past that point the handiness gets increasingly diluted. Sort of like the conflict between Standard Model and quantum physics, and scientists inability, so far, to make the mesh together in a working Theory of Everything. Assuming such a thing exists, and apparently they think so. 

 Again, I could be talking through my hat here, but I feel and logic leads me to believe that we (scientists of the future) will figure out a new paradigm to get the job done. Same thing with the professed end goals of Marxism and Leninist Communism. It’s useful to a point but it might be time to come up with something new that will do what the past can’t do anymore.

 It’s sort of the same way Leftists view Capitalism, really. Maybe it’s my inability to mesh collectivism with my own extreme dislike of company, I could be just that wrong, so grain of salt. Still, the way a lot of Leftists and Anarchists talk of Capitalism, they make it seem like some sort of pernicious, malicious force of intentional evil like it’s some sort of Devil tempting Johnny with a golden fiddle. Maybe it ain’t that deep. Maybe it’s just a structure to view reality and people have always been the wrenched knee in all this. It’s not so much a matter of good or bad as it’s a matter of bread and circuses, especially in the Western world. Sure, there’s a lot of predatory capitalists, but those sharks swim in an ocean of a whole lot of folk that simply don’t give a shit.

 As I’ve said before, I’m sympathetic to Anarchism but I’ve never found one that’s properly grooved me. It’s a deficit that I intend to remedy. I eventually reached a comfortable place in my spiritual and ontological views, I can do this, too. One thing I do like about it, though - and I can’t remember where I got this, maybe Emma Golden - but it’s not so much Smashing The State/Corporation/One And The Same as it is using that edifice to do some good in the world and the 24-hour, rock & roll freedom party that life should be is a long-term result. She uses the Paris Commune as an example, & I think that’s apt.

 So, I said all that to say all this. Vote if you want or don’t if you don’t. Be honest about why, at least to yourself, and maybe think about what can be done about the mess across the street. And don’t worry about the “if you don’t vote, don’t bitch” stroke, as likely as not I won’t pay much attention you one way or another.

 I will say this, though. I cannot buy Donald Trump as a slick, Machiavellian operate, someone who manipulated the public with his clever appeals to racist populism and 11th-dimensional chess moves against the Media and his opponents. He ain’t that bright, y’all, I’ve been paying attention. We’re just that awful and desperate enough to be told it isn’t bad, it’s good in fact. The GOP has been building to the MAGA base for almost 40 years, a populist demagogue was bound to happen. Finally and most unfortunately, far too many of us are so terrified of the Cosmic Spin that our only option is being a sandy butthole. Trump just happened to be the right bastard at the right time and Television if the crystal meth of the masses. We’ve known that, we just want to pretend it wasn’t our fault.

[masaotheheckindog]

Very good video about art, alienation, and material conditions by a comrade of mine. This is in the same vein as the project I’m currently working on, but they have a more developed academic background than me, so I feel like they actually say it quite a bit better. I hope that I have something to offer to this conversation, though <3

[forgottenbones]

Don't join the fucking military.

— winter bemundolack 🌨❄🌒 (@Bemundolack) January 3, 2020

[maybe-this-time]

!!!!!! @bemundolack That would be super cool!

[davekitties]

@bemundolack thank you, I know I do, but I forget that sometimes bc society lmao

[monsterlets]

I have Pokes installed on my xkit and I just tried to "catch" your icon lol

i didn’t know this was a thing i’m getting that extension immediately

[thatu]

bemundolack

 I need help with something but I also gonna put it...

If it is a big deal to you, it’s a big deal. If you’re self-harming and having panic attacks and not being able to function, you’re not lying or making things up. Trust yourself and be honest with yourself and your therapist.

I’m honest but I have this thing where I don’t “emote” properly so when I’m talking about myself I often think it’s dumb and it’s NOT a big deal so I feel like I’m lying. For instance, my self harming is supperficial and not constant so I feel dumb talking about but most of the time I feel like my issues are not REAL and probably happen because I make them happen like “i make myself depressed” or “i’m not that bad” so when I’m talking to him I often feel like I’m lying because I’m lazy and just want the meds to “help me” even though I don’t “need” the help Did I make any sense? It’s a pretty confusing feeling. I feel like I may be reducing what I feel but I also feel like I may be lying to make what I feel sound worse to the doctor and it’s very confusing. 

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

Feminism taught me that I don't have to let men make me feel bad about myself, even if they call it a "joke."

[medievalpoc]

So, follow up on the story about the archive censoring black history: it was more complicated than that. White lady here used to put lots of BH materials on our websites with n-word in them. It made a black lady here uncomfortable. White lady accused black lady of "whitewashing" history and published stuff anyway, got in trouble, and is now spreading rumors about our director. Another black lady that works here wants that stuff published, however. We're working on an amiable solution.

The problem is still white people being shitty about black history, though :/

[Link to original ask]

What a mess. But it goes to show that as online, so goes “real life” a.k.a. human interaction across platforms is pretty much the same. I’m not surprised to hear it was more complicated than that; it often is, because humans are complicated in themselves. Throw in social interaction and then historical context on top of that in an academic/archival workplace environment, and you have a disaster. I speak from experience, sadly.

My policy as a non-Black person of color is to clearly label content like historical documents containing dehumanizing language including anti-Black racial slurs, because I don’t think that wanting to learn about history is the same as willingness to be bombarded with 400 racial slurs. I know that’s not what I want when trying to learn about Native American or Romani history, but that’s still kind of variable, unfortunately.

I think another problem with this whole conversation (online or off), is that it seems like people expect that people who are the same race must agree about everything to do with race, as if there’s some kind of official consensus on every last bit of minutiae. Which is patently ridiculous, but half the asks I get regarding resources for creative projects are like, “What can I do to prevent anyone from criticizing my work re: race, ever” and I’m just....you can’t? Humans are individuals, and experiences, opinions, and responses will vary among them?

Also ubiquitous is the white woman trying to dictate what is and is not racist/objectionable to two Black women she works with, which is racist itself. Like, how entitled must you feel to do that? *rolls eyes* Just the phrase “White lady accused black lady of "whitewashing" history“ speaks volumes, and it comes as no surprise that she just did what she wanted and was surprised she got in trouble.

The thing is, I think that in a lot of ways I should be held accountable for the same thing, considering that this whole project is about “People of Color”, but even that term itself originates from the historical term “Free People of Color”. Despite the fact that MPoC shows images and hosts discussions about all kinds of PoC, the backlash is generally anti-Black in nature.

I do my best to keep Jared Sexton’s “People-of-Color-Blindness” firmly in mind with every post I make here, in hopes of avoiding erasure of specifically anti-Black concepts and issues. The role of the curator in my opinion shouldn’t be some kind of assumed-neutral arbitrator of what should and should not be known, especially on something so important.

But at the same time, I don’t think that keeping this information hidden to molder in obscurity helps anyone at all, either. So a lot of curating information is about putting it in the hands of those who are affected by it, in order to better circumvent gatekeeping and undermine the structures in place currently that divide humanity into those who study/write about others/”The Other”, and those people who are studied/written about. You can’t be neutral on a moving train, and so I am not. Heck, I’ve been flat-out asked “How do I know you’re not biased?” and my response was verbatim: “Of course I’m biased. But so are you, and your professor, and your textbook, and anything else created by humans.”

I think what really should take center here is whether or not the people a narrative is about are the ones controlling that narrative. And if not, what can be done to rectify that injustice? Access to information is in my opinion of the best ways in which this can begin to be addressed; it’s one of the ways a conversation can begin-with adequate information and access to resources. So that’s what I’m trying to do, and I think that information being available is always more desirable than it not being available.

BUT.

The situation you’re describing is one that actively disrespects and disregards the desires and the input/participation of people AFFECTED by that information, and that is an injustice. I do my best to avoid that, and I don’t always succeed. I am capable of doing harm, and it’s very important that I be held accountable for that. However, doing nothing in the face of already-existing injustice wasn’t really an ethical option for me, considering I had access to/know about the information that’s out there, and to leave it where it was, that would also be a choice.

That being said, history isn’t always happy rainbow time. There’s a lot of violence and ugliness to be found there, disenfranchisement as well as empowerment. The problem is when these narratives take over everything in the popular consciousness, and the beauty is erased and replaced with only the negative. See also Chimamanda Adichie’s The Danger of a Single Story.

These things are complex, and they should be. There’s room. Humanity has the capacity to form complex solutions to complex problems, and oversimplification or polarization isn’t always called for, or helpful. The problem here is that people’s power to tell their own stories and describe themselves has been taken away. An “amiable solution” to the problem you describe seems as if it can be reached by keeping that in mind. A white woman deciding to take that power for herself is an act of injustice that directly affected both of her coworkers, and that is wrong.

Too many histories have been stolen, and too many people of color have been disenfranchised by that theft. People need to be able to reconnect with their own histories and be able to tell their own stories. The ease with which information can be accessed shared right now is unprecedented, and I’m trying to do my part to show just how much is out there.

[slimethought]

   Movie good.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/kayandskittles Bemundolack's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bemundolack

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kayandskittles

[hopetomorrow]

when you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy, then send it to the last 10 people you have notes from in your activity!! 💛

1. New episodes of my favorite podcasts (Mysteries Abound, MBMBAM, Sawbones, WTNV, all sorts of Stuff)

2. My dog, Bean. She is better than everything, is pretty much always by my side at home and loves me even when I’m awful.

3. Spending time doing basically anything with my close friends, who are hilarious and fascinating and love me. And I love them.

4. Watching Antiques Roadshow

5. Gardening, especially as my plants get close to done growing their produce. I hope y'all like sugar snap peas because JESUS H CHRIST do I have some sugar snap peas.

I’m tagging rapidbutterfly, bemundolack, emiemipearl, mouse-bites, cizgiselanlati,  toska-heart, oblicious, arostegi, lianabakbakbak and of course patomatic!

[kanayasittinginplaces]

Kanaya sitting on US president George W Bush?

He Isnt Honestly All That Bad Of An Artist

[maybe-this-time]

@bemundolack I don’t have anyone to go with.