Let's see how misrepresentative this article is. Before I even read the article, let me note that anti-civ anarchists predominantly do not follow Ted Kaczynski because he: 1) devowed anarchism 2)...
Let's see how misrepresentative this article is.
Before I even read the article, let me note that anti-civ anarchists predominantly do not follow Ted Kaczynski because he: 1) devowed anarchism 2) was a bigot in various ways.
Talking about revolution was the anarchist version of praising the baby Jesus, invoked so frequently it faded into background noise.
Associating the Unabomber with anarchism has been a common media narrative to further marginalize anti-authoritarian critiques of society.
Books and webzines with names like Against Civilization, FeralCulture, Unsettling America, and the Ludd-Kaczynski Institute of Technology have been spreading versions of his message across social-media forums from Reddit to Facebook for at least a decade, some attracting more than 100,000 followers
Unsettling America is an anti-colonialism blog that wants to decolonize (i.e. unsettle) America. It has little to do with anti-civ politics and next to nothing to do with the Unabomber.
The entire article seems to amalgamate and associate vastly different groups of environmental activists, critics of civilization and radicals with each other despite their avowed condemnation of each other (i.e. anarchists / environmental activists of ITS, ITS of everyone, post-civilization anarchists of primitivists, anti-civilization anarchists of primitivists, primitvists of anarchists, etc). Disingenuous at best.
I have my own critiques of primitivism (I think Wolfi Landstreicher's critique is on point as well), but this article does a horrible job of articulating the nuances of 'rewilding', decivilization, and other radical environmental politics.
This is a great read (still working my way through it). I wonder what they'd think of the transhumanist movement? It's almost the polar opposite in it's embrace of technology.
This is a great read (still working my way through it).
They cluster around a youthful nickname, “anti-civ,” some drawing their ideas directly from Kaczynski, others from movements like deep ecology, anarchy, primitivism, and nihilism, mixing them into new strains. Although they all believe industrial civilization is in a death spiral, most aren’t trying to hurry it along.
I wonder what they'd think of the transhumanist movement? It's almost the polar opposite in it's embrace of technology.
It's amazing what beliefs people can come to cling to when they have been thoroughly marginalized, fallen through the cracks of modern society and lost all hope in the future (like Mr. Jacobi...
They all fascinate me in that it seems impossible for me to understand how they can believe what they do.
It's amazing what beliefs people can come to cling to when they have been thoroughly marginalized, fallen through the cracks of modern society and lost all hope in the future (like Mr. Jacobi clearly has). In the case of these anti-civs, that belief is in an insanely romanticized version of the distant past where small tribal communities lived and worked together to survive, in complete harmony with nature, and all the "modern" problems like depression, anxiety, existential crises and social isolation didn't exist. Is it really any wonder they want to "return" us to such a "wonderful" state of being?
Of course the problem with that belief is that it's all total bullshit and based entirely on fiction. The modern world has its problems for sure, major ones, but similar (and often much, much worse) problems existed before modern civilization came to be. The world was an ugly, cruel, dangerous and often incredibly deadly place before modern societies and technology (medicine in particular), much more so than it is now... and is definitely something I would not personally ever want to return to.
It's the same driving undercurrent of Fight Club - your skills (or more accurately lack-there-of) are not beneficial to society and so you lack status thus let's destroy society so that those...
It's the same driving undercurrent of Fight Club - your skills (or more accurately lack-there-of) are not beneficial to society and so you lack status thus let's destroy society so that those (perceived) skills you do have are back in demand and more likely to grant you status.
EDIT: This is obviously a broad generalization. My understanding is that Kaczynski was quite capable and doesn't fit that mold, but I think many that obsess about "end times" absolutely fit that mold.
Oh I like this phrasing. I've heard similar before but this is well put.
your skills (or more accurately lack-there-of) are not beneficial to society and so you lack status thus let's destroy society so that those (perceived) skills you do have are back in demand and more likely to grant you status.
Oh I like this phrasing. I've heard similar before but this is well put.
Let's see how misrepresentative this article is.
Before I even read the article, let me note that anti-civ anarchists predominantly do not follow Ted Kaczynski because he: 1) devowed anarchism 2) was a bigot in various ways.
Associating the Unabomber with anarchism has been a common media narrative to further marginalize anti-authoritarian critiques of society.
Unsettling America is an anti-colonialism blog that wants to decolonize (i.e. unsettle) America. It has little to do with anti-civ politics and next to nothing to do with the Unabomber.
The entire article seems to amalgamate and associate vastly different groups of environmental activists, critics of civilization and radicals with each other despite their avowed condemnation of each other (i.e. anarchists / environmental activists of ITS, ITS of everyone, post-civilization anarchists of primitivists, anti-civilization anarchists of primitivists, primitvists of anarchists, etc). Disingenuous at best.
I have my own critiques of primitivism (I think Wolfi Landstreicher's critique is on point as well), but this article does a horrible job of articulating the nuances of 'rewilding', decivilization, and other radical environmental politics.
Here is an essay I posted a while ago talking about primitivism, specifically a neomarxist argument against it.
This is a great read (still working my way through it).
I wonder what they'd think of the transhumanist movement? It's almost the polar opposite in it's embrace of technology.
It's amazing what beliefs people can come to cling to when they have been thoroughly marginalized, fallen through the cracks of modern society and lost all hope in the future (like Mr. Jacobi clearly has). In the case of these anti-civs, that belief is in an insanely romanticized version of the distant past where small tribal communities lived and worked together to survive, in complete harmony with nature, and all the "modern" problems like depression, anxiety, existential crises and social isolation didn't exist. Is it really any wonder they want to "return" us to such a "wonderful" state of being?
Of course the problem with that belief is that it's all total bullshit and based entirely on fiction. The modern world has its problems for sure, major ones, but similar (and often much, much worse) problems existed before modern civilization came to be. The world was an ugly, cruel, dangerous and often incredibly deadly place before modern societies and technology (medicine in particular), much more so than it is now... and is definitely something I would not personally ever want to return to.
It's the same driving undercurrent of Fight Club - your skills (or more accurately lack-there-of) are not beneficial to society and so you lack status thus let's destroy society so that those (perceived) skills you do have are back in demand and more likely to grant you status.
EDIT: This is obviously a broad generalization. My understanding is that Kaczynski was quite capable and doesn't fit that mold, but I think many that obsess about "end times" absolutely fit that mold.
Oh I like this phrasing. I've heard similar before but this is well put.
Thank you for the compliment. My writing skills are quite rusty as I'm often reminded when reading the very talented contributors on Tildes.