Who we are up against

[Steve Kinney]

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On 12/14/2015 12:26 AM, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> On 12/13/15, Steve Kinney <admin at pilobilus.net> wrote:
>> On 12/13/2015 11:01 AM, Georgi Guninski wrote:
>>> On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 03:20:15PM +0000, Zenaan Harkness 
>>> wrote:
>>>> For those who have not yet read of this, it's a must to 
>>>> comprehend. Lest ye doubt humans are rightly labelled 
>>>> 'sheep'.
>>> 
>>> Call me a crank, but I am against the sheeple.
>>> 
>>> Sheeple are major cause of trouble, electing current so
>>> called "establishment".
>>> 
>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
>> 
>> When I see or hear the word 'sheeple' I think about how
>> successful our adversaries have been in dividing the people
>> they prey on into mutually hostile factions, each of which
>> blames the actions of their common enemy on the others.
> 
> I agree that the wording I chose for the subject could be seen
> as divisive, yet is confronting since it suggests a specific
> target, which target turns out to be "most people/sheeple".
> 
> The divisive part is not good, but also not intended.
> 
> The "we need to be alert to reality - this is big/bad" is
> intended and I think is essential to assessing anything sane. I
> recall reading that Wikipedia article a few years ago, yet it
> had no less impact upon me, on my second reading.

Give people roles to play in an inherently violent system, and
whoever those people are, they will begin to do violence.  That's
a general case that scales all the way up to what happens when
"honest" politicians are given a representational democracy to run.

The best part about the Milgram experiments was that a significant
number of volunteers dropped out early.  Pity it's a bit late to
send them anarchist literature and encourage them to turn out for
public events.  :D

>> Populist and reformist politics ends and mindless compliance
>> begins when people decide that they are categorically
>> superior to those who don't happen to belong to their own
>> gang, and start speaking and acting on that basis.
> 
> No, not the compliance bit at least. Just because I speak
> arrogantly, refused to wear a school uniform for -years- in a
> row and use vehemence and confronting language when I
> communicate, does NOT mean I am the cause of those "sheeple"
> who be compliance with mindless authority!
> 
> You can't be seriously suggesting as much, surely.

I was thinking more along the lines of "rebel as you are told,"
the oldest scam in the book.  As a general case, the most
productive way for a well entrenched ruling class to attack people
who dislike authority figures is to provide them with models of
rebellion that do not work:  Mass market propaganda to the rescue.

> In fact "sheep" is about as apt as it gets when describing
> compliant (to arbitrary authority) people. And the Migram
> experiments show that humans by an overwhelming majority, are
> in fact sheep, even in the face of their own stress, their own
> tears, inner conflict, emotional pain - they -still- fucking
> comply with arbitrary (worse, despotic!!) authority!
> 
> "We humans" are so woefully inadequate to the task of complying
> with our own conscience or inner sense of right and wrong, and
> so woefully tied to compliance with external authority, it is
> shocking, embarrassing, upsetting and yes, confronting.
> 
> But fuck, don't shoot the messenger!

That was never my intention.  I just have a strong aversion to the
'sheeple' paradigm, which I do consider a core component of "rebel
as you are told" propaganda.

> Put your confronting reaction to something constructive - try
> to figure out how to simply and expediently educate those you
> come across to counter this problem - if you have actual
> successes, please share those, as that may go some significant
> way to enlightening us all on how to handle this very
> confronting problem.

I have had occasional success.  The key concept is to avoid trying
to move people all the way from their current position to the one
you would prefer them to have at one go.  Tailor the message to
the audience and try to move them ONE step in the direction you
want to see them move.  Of course, don't neglect to preach to the
choir:  How else will they be able to get on the same page and put
on a decent show?

I have been pushing this packet of books for around a year now,
and from time to time it seems to have been well received:  It's a
course in remedial politics, intended to fill basic gaps in
people's information about how populist a.k.a. anarchist politics
actually works:

http://pilobilus.net/strategic_conflict_docs_intro.html

> Another shot to prod you along a bit further:
> 
> Those who are compliant with despotic external authority in the
> face of their own inner conscience of right and wrong, ought be
> regarded as other/ outer/ "them", and treated with extreme
> caution!
> 
> "Those" sheep happens to be about 60% to 90% of everyone! You
> wanna sweep -that- under the carpet of your politically correct
> boat?

The presumption that people who are notably compliant with
illegitimate  authority have a "conscience" and fixed notions of
right and wrong is questionable.  Those who comply most eagerly
include sociopathic personalities and people who are all to easily
led due to other disorders.

The "60% to 90%" cover a spectrum from grudging, minimal
compliance to elaborate and even competitive compliance, typically
related to the degree that their individual income and social
status benefit from a show of compliance.  But as the gap between
rewards promised and rewards delivered continues to widen, and the
violent excesses of our rulers become more and more obvious,
compliance will continue to decline.  This creates a growth market
for populist political agitators - a market that opponents and
supporters of authoritarian rule are already competing to capture.

Politics is about power:  Who has it, who doesn't, and how these
groups interact.  The object of political activity is to obtain
and exercise power, toward whatever ends one chooses.  Political
models and strategies that actually work in this context are
"correct" while those that do not work are "incorrect."  There is
a time and place for everything, but rarely a time when elitism,
or driving wedges between groups who have political enemies in
common with oneself, is "correct" in a functional sense.

:o)



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