onoira [they/them]

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  • 18 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: January 14th, 2024

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  • Does it follow that I reject all authority? Far from me such a thought. In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker; concerning houses, canals, or railroads, I consult that of the architect or engineer. For such or such special knowledge I apply to such or such a savant. But I allow neither the bootmaker nor the architect nor the savant to impose his authority upon me. I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism censure. I do not content myself with consulting authority in any special branch; I consult several; I compare their opinions, and choose that which seems to me the soundest. But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity of such or such an individual, I have no absolute faith in any person. Such a faith would be fatal to my reason, to my liberty, and even to the success of my undertakings; it would immediately transform me into a stupid slave, an instrument of the will and interests of others.

    — Mikhail Bakunin, God and the state, Chapter 2


    Expertise merely refers to one’s knowledge or skill in a particular field, but my understanding of CPR or ability to bake shortbread cookies does not make me an authority over you. Other than the conflation of force and authority, this is one of the most common confusions people have about anarchism, made worse by the fact that there are some anarchists who still use authority to refer to both command and expertise just because Bakunin did. Personally, I find that creates needless confusion. If you’re using the word authority to describe everything from slavery to knowing how to build a bridge, then why use the word at all? Just use the word expertise when you’re talking about expertise. Listening to medical advice isn’t a hierarchy. Having expertise doesn’t give me the right to command you unless I hold a position in a hierarchical power structure that grants me that authority. As Bakunin himself said:

    …we ask nothing better than to see men endowed with great knowledge, great experience, great minds, and, above all, great hearts, exert over us a natural and legitimate influence, freely accepted and never imposed in the name of any official authority whatsoever, celestial or terrestrial.

    — Andrewism, How Anarchy Works » Dissecting Authority (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrTzjaXskUU)

    I highly recommend reading in full that section from Andrewism. It’s no more than 5 minutes to read.







  • my guess is it was trying to get you to help one of its friends or something.

    that was my first guess, but it didn’t seem like it was leading me anywhere.

    i’m a little worried now.

    I’d have had a good search around the area befriending crows can actually bring you some benifit like shiny gifts

    when i was homeless, i shared my food with a crow. i got them to bring me coins by feeding them double portions when they brought monies.

    or in some cases crow bodyguards as they actually recognise individuals as friends etc.

    that’s my current relationship to the corvids in town. a long time ago i rescued a magpie from two seagulls, and since then all the corvids no longer fly away when i come near them. the magpies even defended me from a seagull one day!

    but they otherwise don’t approach me, and we don’t ‘communicate’.


  • that was my first guess, but after i tried getting back on the path they only kept putting grass on my feet. i tried holding still, backing away, moving toward them, moving back into the grass, making noises, and checked in the bush — it just kept putting grass on me. i didn’t immediately see anything. i was afraid of scaring or upsetting them, so i left.

    someone else suggested they’re a juvenile that doesn’t know how to feed themself.









  • syndicalism is a tendency of libertarian socialism. it was anarchists engaging in — typically violent — direct action that bred the popular labour movement, women’s suffrage, the abolition of racial segregation, and others.

    How did a philosophy of minimized government involvement contribute to the regulations and enforcement mechanisms around our labor laws?

    … because we live in a society? the State needs labour, but if all the labourers refuse to sell themselves until labour-buyers stop X, then the State may decide very graciously to abolish the practise of X. so the theory of syndicalism goes: rinse and repeat till you have eroded all the power of labour-buyers, and you can seize the workplace and cut out the State.



  • Per the March All Hands discussion […]

    i guess from experience that this was neither ‘all hands’ nor a ‘dicussion’. it was 'whoever[‘s logged in before office hours| doesn’t want to enjoy their lunch] gets to look at boomer memes and dull graphs for 2 hours while listening to the latest round of edicts graciously handed down by the Board.’

    if you missed it, and you’re lucky, they recorded it. if you’re very lucky: you get an email with the slide deck and talking points for what could’ve just been an email to begin with.