Notices by NeonSnake (neonsnake@kolektiva.social), page 3

@Psybernetic @AlexanderKingsbury @HeavenlyPossum @gerrymcgovern @RD4Anarchy @gnutelephony @whatzaname

Yeah, it's one of those things where we're so conditioned by the current order, that when we hear "competition", we immediately think of it as a zero-sum game with winners and losers, rather than something that can lead to beneficial outcomes for all.

Like, as long as it's framed correctly, the "loser" as such learns just as much as the "winner", and the time/energy/resources spent on the "losing" (or, to be more accurate, "less successful experiment) effort was worth spending.

@Psybernetic @AlexanderKingsbury @HeavenlyPossum @gerrymcgovern @RD4Anarchy @gnutelephony @whatzaname So, competition destroyed a potential monopoly, you say?

@Psybernetic @AlexanderKingsbury @HeavenlyPossum @gerrymcgovern @RD4Anarchy @gnutelephony @whatzaname

Then it was a business that didn't deserve to exist, and was operating on the assumption that no-one would ever compete against - internally or externally.

There's plenty of examples of both, which generates *actual* innovation, rather than protectionism against genuine competition.

@HeavenlyPossum @whatzaname @Radical_EgoCom @AlexanderKingsbury @RD4Anarchy @ciggysmokebringer @gerrymcgovern @gnutelephony

"capitalism tolerates some limited and deeply constrained economic exchange as long as it does not threaten the privilege and power of private property owners"

The casinos of Las Vegas wouldn't survive either if some people weren't allowed to win.

The possibility *has* to exist, otherwise we'd revolt immediately.

But it *cannot* exist for everyone - the scales must be tipped in favour of the people who own the casino.

@AlexanderKingsbury @RD4Anarchy @Radical_EgoCom @ciggysmokebringer @HeavenlyPossum @gerrymcgovern @gnutelephony @whatzaname

No, you're confusing "free markets" with "capitalism", and then deciding that all of the aspects of "capitalism" that you don't like (ie. the ones enforced by the state that tilt scales in favour of capitalists) are "cronyism".

It's easily done and extremely understandable - we've all been taught that "capitalism is nothing more than free markets" by our school systems, thought-tanks and media, but it simply isn't true.

I've nothing (and I 100% mean this) against people who believe this when they haven't been made aware of how governments tilt the scales; but once you've had it explained to you, it becomes a little more problematic to believe that "capitalism=free markets" is a belief held in good faith.

Instead, it begins to look like "I'm not in favour of government interference that doesn't benefit the capitalist - like minimum wage laws - but I'm favour of government interference that *does* benefit the capitalist - like Enclosures"

Which one are you? A genuine free-marketeer? Or someone who is in favour of government interference in free-markets when it suits you?

@AlexanderKingsbury @whatzaname @RD4Anarchy @gerrymcgovern so, not quite.

Capitalism is an economic system which is based on the right to own property that you don't occupy or use yourself, and then exclude others from using it, unless they work for you.

Shit, my little thread on why people should be more sympathetic towards "vulnerable people not wanting Threads federation" just got tagged into a couple of people with 60K followers between them lol.

I've an idea I'm about to get dogpiled lmao

Oh, goody, the cis white people are doing the "well, if you see something from Threads that you don't like, or that offends you, you can just block that person and/or Threads yourself, after you've seen it!"

A lot of my followers are people who have followed me because of a number of Long Covid posts that I've done over the months, so maybe this will cut through here:

Imagine a post minimising Covid comes across my timeline, or one that says that people with LC are weak, or lazy or something (I've seen all these). It's all in their head. They should man up. And so on.

Imagine how this might upset me, right?

So, I block/unfollow, whatever. Problem solved, right?

No. Because it plays on my mind. It's too late, I've already seen it.

I've been told that I'm somehow "lesser" than others, and that affects me for a long time - a few hours, maybe a few days, making it more difficult for me to go about my life.

You understand that, of course you do, and are sympathetic to this. I shouldn't have had to see it in the first place, obviously.

I'm not weak because I wanted not to see it, in the first place, no-one would say that.

So, we have Threads, well-known for lack of moderation for open transphobia, sexism, homophobia, racism and other bigotries that people would *much rather not have boosted into their timeline and by the time they've blocked, they've already seen it and it's too late*.

THIS is why Threads is being pre-emptively blocked, and not because it's a "Satanic Panic" or "leftist moral panic", as I've seen it termed in one thread.

It's self-care and self-protection.

So, uh, I did the Thing and read the Techno-Optimist Manifesto.

It's awful, which should go without saying.

But it does serve a purpose for more specifically, which is to remind me just how *close* some of the anarchist ideals skirt towards that kind of thing. In particular, in this context, solarpunk, cypherpunk, decentralisation, Hayekian Knowledge Problem, and others (not an exhaustive list).

Now, I don't know of the bloke who wrote it. Never heard of him before. But let's be charitable and assume that it's written in good faith and with full belief in what he says.

It's pretty compelling, actually.

Don't fuck about, it is.

If you were 15, or 18, or something, wouldn't you be convinced, or at least open to it?

He uses technology in the same way as, say, Kropotkin does - as a force multiplier, as a net benefit to society, and is *very clear* that the goal is to benefit *all* of society. I'm not gonna fisk the whole thing, but:

"We believe that if we make both intelligence and energy “too cheap to meter”, the ultimate result will be that all physical goods become as cheap as pencils."

As a cherry-picked example, who could argue with that? No-one worth their anarchist salt.

The whole thing is full of examples like that.

Now. Hold up. Hold those horses.

There's lots of other dog-whistles in there (eg):

"Victim mentality is a curse in every domain of life, including in our relationship with technology"

In *amongst* all of the libertarian-anarchist stuff that would get us all nodding along, are the dog-whistles.

In amongst all of it, is the standard right-lib fallacy: today's economy is a result of natural forces that just happen to favour capitalism, and any and all interventions in favour of "victims" are state-overreach that could be otherwise resolved by the state just...not doing them! Because we're all rational humans blah blah blah.

We're trained, or educated, as such, to recognise those dog-whistles.

But not everyone is. And it's an object lesson in how *persuasive* right-lib wankery can be.

And something we need to be prepped to fight back against.

Imagine being an anarchist and *not* embracing a very "legitimate" reason to be constantly covering your face in public.

Couldn't be me.

Found a quasi-outside place to sit and read for a bit

Really excited with this book - an abridged version of Kropotkin's Fields, Factories and Workshops, with commentary by Colin Ward, collected with Bookchin's Towards a Liberatory Technology, with essays and fore-word by Kevin Carson, plus what appears to be the majority of the text of The Homebrew Industrial Revolution (!) thrown in for good measure, all packeged together by C4SS in a beautiful cover by N.O. Bonzo!

@KevinCarson1
@nobonzo

@KevinCarson1

I followed the link out of a "surely not" sense of curiousity.

Nope.

@anarchopunk_girl I've very little experience with it, so for me it's just like "oh, ok, that bloke has an axe instead of a hand and some kind of branded jaw-protection thing? And then, she's using a snail as a bluetooth headset? This going to get explained? No? Cool, cool. Ok. Just go with it."

Me: "oh, ok, this One Piece thing is meant to be good. Pirates, you say? Sign me up lol they've autocorrected 'sketchy pirate' to 'stretchy pirate' lmao idiots"

Me, some time later: "oh. I see."

Wassat? Russell Brand is a rapey twat?

Shocked, I tell you. Who'd have thunk it?

@goatsarah @rachel_norfolk

I think that is what the kids call "receipts"

Dog-whistle alert: use of word "identity" in the 2nd screenshot.

FWIW - thank you @goatsarah for finding and posting.

@anarchopunk_girl

Supported.

@anarchopunk_girl

The only animals that I *know of* that can definitely parse sentences properly are certain types of birds (it's to do with their songs, apparently they understand word order).

That said, I wouldn't be at all surprised if some dogs/cats/rabbits can do, whilst others can.