Meatspace,

[petro]

>Nonsense, that's not what I said at all. I raised some serious issues--and
>all ad-hominem attacks aside, here are a few more for anyone who feels up
>for it:
>
>Can you see a fundamental difference between activism/protest/resistance
>that makes a difference and "illegal operations on the street in an
>environment full of police"?

	I can, that's why I don't do that stuff any more. (Not that I 
ever did it much).

>What's the point of putting yourself into a situation where you have no
>chance of accomplishing anything besides getting arrested(or killed)and
>making some sort of symbolic statement--that doesn't fundamentally affect a
>single soul beyond whoever gets their property damaged?

	We live in the Post Modern world where making a symbolic 
statement is equivalent to actually doing something about the problem.

>Do you really think being an idealist should preclude you from reasoning
>like a realist?

	By definition.

>Who's more likely to make a difference at the WTO: a) someone outside,
>throwing golf balls at the building b) someone inside, presenting
>compelling arguments to the assembly and individual delegates

	(a). Because by the time the delegates meet, it's too late.

>Can't you think of a better way to use your skills and talents
>than "fucking shit up" and getting arrested? Can't you even think of a
>better way to get across your message? I can, lots of people here can.

	I can think of a better way of using my talents, but then 
that's why I don't do that shit (Well, that and the fact that while I 
disagree with what the WTO is doing, I disagree for completely 
different and incompatible reasons than the "blank bloc").

>If you're not one, it's better than even money that you didn't know that
>the idea of the agent provocateur was invented by Czarist Russia over 100
>years ago to stir the Serbs in the Balkans to a rebellion against the

	I doubt it was invented that recently.

>Think about it. Given that, if you can't even keep a cool head posting to a
>message board, then you really ARE doomed.

	Nonsense. There is virtually no risk (especially to someone 
behind a nym) in reacting hotheadedly on a mailing list (THIS IS NOT 
A MESSAGE BOARD). There are significant risks in doing it in real 
life.
-- 
http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp7761121.html
It is one of the essential features of such incompetence that the person so
afflicted is incapable of knowing that he is incompetent. To have such
knowledge would already be to remedy a good portion of the offense.