Tag: ideas

A Brief Musing and Pathetically Informal Manifesto on Humanitism

by Nate Perkins This is the internet’s greatest success: It is a private club that welcomes everyone and discriminates only against those who break the social contract that has arisen organically as a reflection of humanity. – a meshnet illuminatus by the name of DngrZnExpwyClosed The humanist focuses on the human as the cardinal, atomic…

Why Non-Conformity is a Good Thing

by Lana Buchanan This quote attributed by Robert Green Ingersoll to Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) is a great example of non-conformity: “The Church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the Church.” Imagine if he had not had…

The Occupy Virus

by Chiara T. Ricciardone The Occupy movement is a virus. That is obvious. But the metaphor veers disturbingly into the real—exhibiting the virus’ trademark capacity for metalepsis and contagion—when we think of the lurid stories that broke out in November: “Zucotti lung” at OWS, the deadly canine parvovirus over the bridge at OccupySF. The evictions…

Quit Drinking, Found a Revolution

by: Angela Horton What happens when you play by the rules, but still can’t get ahead? Confronting this problem in my own life lead me to an internal revolution. I went to college when I graduated from high school. By the time I was twenty-one, I had an associates degree and $20,000 of debt. Unable…

Will Occupy Spring Forward Or Melt Down?

By Shamus Cooke A healthy debate has finally gripped the Occupy Movement: there is now a discussion over strategy. Most Occupiers have learned that raw enthusiasm alone cannot bring victory to a social movement; ideas matter too. Action divorced from strategy equals wasted energy, divisiveness, diversions and unnecessary mistakes. Not all tactics push the movement…

Black Bloc: Interview with Chris Hedges

Had enough of discussions about Black Bloc? No? Good! Because we’re running a three-day series on Black Bloc tactics. Click the Black Bloc Series tag to read the other articles, delving into the controversy currently sparking throughout the Occupy movement and beyond. This article was originally published in Truthout. by J.A. Myerson Chris Hedges’ syndicated…

Black Bloc: A Brief History

Had enough of discussions about Black Bloc? No? Good! Because we’re running a three-day series on Black Bloc tactics. Click the Black Bloc Series tag to read the other articles, delving into the controversy currently sparking throughout the Occupy movement and beyond. by Adam Rothstein Slowly but surely, the message is getting out that Black…

Lessons Learned from Occupy Oakland: Tactical Response to “Kettling”

This website does not advocate or suggest any specific act. This essay was crafted and published as solely a piece of rhetoric, and it ought to be interpreted as nothing else. by Lester Macgurdy Kettling is the law enforcement tactic of herding protesters into a confined area so that the protesters cannot avoid arrest. This…

Occupocrisy

by Tracy Mattner Often, the primary criticism leveled towards any dissenting party is that it presents no coherent alternative to the paradigm which it resists. Indeed, the Occupy movement has, since its inception, struggled to face down this jeering challenge. Although many individuals within the Occupy movement have expressed the sentiment that conditions in the…