i didn't know my insomnia had an account here

So THAT'S where it went...

I know a lot of Marxists love to engage in violent fantasies about what to do about anarchists and ancoms but the end world they both describe is very nebulous. It's not that different, to me.

Having things organized in some way is not against anarchist principles but online Marxists love to talk about purging them and shit idk it's so weird and aggro.

Note that non anarchist philosophies also struggle with the question of "how do we prevent our system from being taken over by the badguys?" Whether it's monarchists saying "this system works great if the monarch is good but the trick is to make sure a doofus doesn't become monarch", or democracies wondering how we can prevent a demagogue from taking power and abolishing the democracy via popular vote. Even communists have the same problem: whatever administration you set up, how do you prevent it from turning itself into something terrible that's bad for people?

So yes, anarchism doesn't solve it but nothing else does either, IMO.

I have not read up a huge amount but I think the standard answer is something along the lines of that anarchism does not mean lack of organising, just lack of hierarchy.

After a revolution there would still be larger structure and organising but would, ideally under an anarchistic viewpoint, be bottom-up, voluntary and truly democratic.

There’s a lot of different types of anarchism and lots of different answers to how this would theoretically work. E.g. anarcho-syndicalism is focused on the idea of anarchist trade unions seizing control of production.

How to prevent people concentrating and amassing power under these sorts of systems is obviously a big problem and I don’t think there’s any good answer other than you need mass class consciousness and people motivated against allowing that.

You should! It’s actually really easy to do. A tip: for the sweetest bread overripe bananas are best but an easy cheat is to mash yellow bananas and then keep them in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Anarchists don't really have the same goal as Marxists, since the "classless, stateless society" the latter wants will still have an "administration of things", which is really just a state in disguise (but Marx doesn't call it as such because he only saw the state merely as a tool for class oppression) as it is a bureaucracy. Just another form of government.

The Raddle wiki has a page that deals with this myth: https://raddle.me/wiki/Marxism_End_Goal

I also really like this PV illustrating well the story being told by this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv201I57xvg

Once I tried to read that "guillotines are bad" essay that they like to disseminate but it was too boring and preachy. That's my only knowledge of anarchist theory

I should try making it sometime

I frequently do! And then I go back to sleep for a few more hours lol

but you're still awake at 4 am

It's more about hierarchical social structures than like... coercing a boss to accept a union. Like you shouldn't have one person in your group who can kick you out or make you do things if you don't want to, or no one should be forced to work a job to make ends meet, through the coercive power of wage labor.

That's not the same as like, you and your co workers getting together and saying if the boss doesn't negotiate we'll go on strike / slash his tires / what have you. That is coercive, in a way, but it's not really the same thing.

Alright full confession on one item - I have adhd and video more than a couple minutes long simply does not work for me, so I saw the vid was 20 minutes and stopped right there.

That said, I’m going to try to address this anyway. In my opinion the best mutual aid networks/opportunities are rarely called “mutual aid,” but that doesn’t mean they aren’t. Any group, formal or informal, working to help each other support themselves (or to help people help each other) should be thought of as a form of mutual aid. Once you accept this it really opens up the possibilities of what you can do.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m all for things like tenant organizing. But since I expect the entire system to collapse in the coming years I don't think that will be enough on its own. That’s where having pre-established networks of people willing to help each other may be life saving - both for you and others.

It’s also true that “handing out groceries” tends to lack the mutual aspect of mutual aid, but it doesn’t have to. And some charities are worth doing even if they are only charity. For example, no matter what else they do, Food Not Bombs feeds hungry people, and that is worth doing. At the same time they offer a chance for meeting people with similar values and philosophies. So even if they are dubious on the “mutual aid” part, they can help lead to genuine mutual aid as well as other organizing opportunities. And even if they don’t do that, they fed hungry people. It’s a win.

install took a little while but was very painless. mint now installed and yeah this little machine can actually cope with web browsing and playing a youtube or iplayer video now which is really all I wanted it to do so thank you!

I shall probably be joining the linux cult at some point because I've had nothing but unpleasant experiences trying to get windows 10 to do what I want it to, and mint's very first thing being a popup saying "hey come and mess about with the settings til you have them how you like them" was sort of the nail in the coffin. I doubt I'll be migrating until I have to but when windows 10 stops working I am sure as heck not going to move to another windows unless microsoft bucks their ideas up bigtime!

god banana bread is so good

Some of these things seem wrong to me, but I don't have the Literature to know otherwise. But this in particular:

Ask yourself if you have two choices, which is the less coercive one to get what your org needs done, and that's probably the way to go

I think I disagree with this? Are there more coercive methods to a better world we're just sitting on?

I mean, I don't think so. But I would love that a lot, even if it means a structure that resembles authoritarianism, or is even just merely closer to authoritarianism than total anarchy.

That said, maybe "coercion" means something different between us. I think disruptive protest is coercive, but also good, for example

That IS good news :D Please feel free to ping us / me here, I love getting people into the Linux Cult

oh good news is that I have had this machine open before and I know exactly where the ribbon cable is - it's the fact it's not properly connecting that makes it broken in the first place, so best case scenario it's already disconnected (and worst case is that I just need to take out the very easily accessible cable!)

thank you once more :)

thank you! you helped me solve a crossword clue: "TV show whose episode titles are formatted like file names"

The idea is kind of two fold I think.

Communists say that After The Revolution™, society eventually becomes a classless, stateless society and everyone just produces for the common good and receives what they need, and there's no need for money to force people to work, nor for guys with sticks to go beat people up.

So even state communists, usually they're saying their authoritarian government is meant as a stepping stone towards that.

Anarchists have the same goal, except they think once you make the state to break up the bourgeoisie, then that state is going to perpetuate itself and you're never going to move beyond it to the better world, so their organizing tends to be based on non hierarchy. Build the world you want to see today, don't build authoritarian structures that are supposed to break down authoritarianism tomorrow.

I don't understand how the monopoly on violence can be abolished, or how it can be prevented from arising again. I don't understand how an anarchist society will have space for the large contingent of people who would want to recreate a hierarchical state with a monopoly on violence.

The idea is, if you had a society where no one had bosses and everyone had their needs already met, and your neighbor Phil showed up and said "we should take over, let's get some guys and make me the king. I'll give you extra food" you wouldn't have any reason to join him because you already have what you need. And of someone started doing that everyone else would just beat him up for trying.

To me, like all utopian ideologies, I see it as more of a north star than a thing you could implement. Ask yourself if you have two choices, which is the less coercive one to get what your org needs done, and that's probably the way to go. It's nebulously defined just as Communism is nebulously defined.

There are good writings on it but I'm not a nerd so I can't think of any off the top of my head sadly.

Looking at those specs, I think I ought to recant my Pop recommendation and look for a more light-weight Linux, specifically the Xfce Linux Mint: https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

As a bonus, Linux Mint XFCE is very "Windows" shaped, still based on Debian, and even more lightweight than Pop! OS.

(I would also recommend using USB and not MicroSD. I don't know why, but I've had problems with using SD cards instead of USB drives on laptops.)

Doing some searching, it seems like people installing Linux on a laptop with a broken screen are usually able to do so by disconnecting the monitor. I can't find the repair manual for this, so this might be difficult... (I would try connecting a monitor at least, to see if you can access BIOS without )

it is a very generic piece of garbage by Thomson which is a company I did not know made computers before I got it, and the model number is UK-NEO10A-2BK32. It has an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 (1.44GHz) and a whopping 2GB of RAM. I can't imagine it has anything but integrated graphics.

Has a micro SD slot if that is in some way more useful than installing via USB.

Thank you much! I shall look at Pop! and any future recommendations and see if they can mount the main hurdle of a busted display.

mmm spearmint

thought this might have been posted in /f/dinner for a sec