When I was a child this would have resonated with me. But the longer I watch the world and study the threads of the past that weave the fabric of the present, the more I understand why we cannot currently have a truly free society. We ARE all potential criminals. I can hear the sunshine happy time do-good halfwits decrying my cynicism, but small town America doesn’t exist anymore. The more people you have in one place the more anonymity criminals retain. In a tribal village of 25 it’s hard to steal and murder without being caught (tribal warfare excepted), But it’s a lot easier in a city of 12 million. I want to believe in human kinds essential goodness, but the facts don’t support a mindless embrace of that ideal. No one ever expects the quiet guy to go on a rampage, or the priest to molest children, or the government to be trustworthy. No one makes plans to be a piece of shit, sometimes the shit just happens. We need to take precautions to protect ourselves, from those of us who don’t think it all the way through, who get half the information and run off acting like experts. A 21st century human is extremely dangerous, especially when they have access to technology that they don’t know how to make but can damn well use. When you get a shitload of these people together you get government (dem & repub alike). When you have a handful you get Militias, Street Gangs, Liberal Politicians making policies with no regard to reality, and Conservative Politicians making policies with no regard to morality. We ARE ALL potential criminals and must be watched on a basic level, if you think this does not apply to you put yourself in a desperate situation ( i.e. get addicted to crack, or buy a yacht you can barely afford) and see how GOOD you really are. In the end if I have Beer, Hydroponically grown Cannabis buds, Cable television, steady income and kinky sex, and a safe neighbor hood, then you can put the camera in my freakin brain for all I care. BRING ON THE NEW WORLD ORDER!!!( Provisionally of course).

Puulaahi, Better things to do? Like saving the world? Do you embody the change you want to see? Seeing only what you want to see does not make it so ( well sort of, but not like you think).

So I think that I cannot trust you, because I don’t know you personally, and don’t have the time to get to know you. This motivates you to become a criminal how? According to my thinking we all have the POTENTIAL to become or behave criminally (which isn’t what you think I said), a hippo has the potential to fuck you up. Will it? Maybe… if you give it the opportunity. Does this make all hippos mankillers?

No matter how intrusive technology allows our government to become, certain things are gone forever, Slavery, Segregation, Burning at the stake. As a species we have made considerable progress in the last fifty years, but I will not blindly trust in mans’ inherent goodness just because I want to believe in it. Criminals are created by harsh conditions of living combined with a lack of critical thinking(poor crime) or unbalanced societal standards of behavior related to the maintenance of a bourgeois lifestyle, AND a lack of critical thinking (rich crime), NOT BY OTHER PEOPLES OPINIONS.

I’m sorry you won’t or CAN’T debate it with me, because the essential liberties of which you speak would not exist, if it weren’t for open discourse concerning the nature of humanity. I don’t have an agenda, I’m not interested in whether or not I can out think you. I do not crave recognition or respect. I’m on a fantastic journey through space and time, calling it as I see it. You are welcome to do the same, If you can.

@... Puulaahi
Condescending and Judgewhat? As opposed to arrogant and ill informed ( I disgust who?). I learned everything I need to know about you when you failed to tell the difference between my actual statement and what your puny mind was able to distill.

Furthermore you demonstrate an inability to view the world from any perspective but your own. So careful contemplation of what is actually going on from multiple physical and conceptual angles is a waste of your time? I may have my own view that differs from yours, but in case you haven’t figured it out this thing going on around us is not a static phenomena, we are in a constant state of flux, an intelligent and insightful individual that feels differently than me, might just change my mind tomorrow, if they can make their case in a logical fashion.

I don’t recall saying that you were wrong and I am right, because reality doesn’t work that way. Absolutes are the recourse of a weak intellect. I’m no different than you in my responsibilities, yet somehow I DO have the time to think, and speak up when I feel the need, this post is microbial fecal matter on the wall of the internet, it has no weight or meaning but the time I’ve spent considering the implications of my current beliefs has been priceless.

You’ll never get any respect telling people that you can’t stand them for being or thinking different than you. Perhaps you should also think hard about the actual meaning of the words you casually throw around (like Narcissist). Segregation and a Glass ceiling are very different, wage inequities might be bigoted and unfair, but it’s not the same as having a muslim only restroom.

I’m talking about institutionalized inhumanity, not the persistence of old world thinking that we all agree is unacceptable. Admission of progress is not a claim of victory. NOW I’m going to be SUPER condescending, People like you are dangerous. Smart enough to attain a fair amount of knowledge but too arrogant to follow through and gain a true UNDERSTANDING.

I’m not trying to imply that I have a true understanding of ANYTHING, only that I’m open to all possibilities while at the same time maintaining the integrity of my paradigm so far.

Tell me, do Muslim men in Yemen who won’t wait until their child bride has her first period to have sex with them disgust you as well? Or do you respect their religious right to molest children?

At any rate I respect your right to not be rational.
Stay in school…Don’t do drugs.

CrimethInc begins with the brand name, and ends with the relentless merchandizing of “radical” products on their website. In between there is…an individualist, selfish, and inchoate rebel ideology that eschews work, political organizing, and class struggle.

In a world at war and facing terminal crisis, CrimethInc’s transcendental philosophy and ahistorical lightness is a form of intellectual masturbation. Like rootless ex-pats unconnected to the daily life around them, CrimethInc’s lifestylism is a form of self-imposed exile within their own society.
—Ryan, Ramor, “Days of Crime, Nights of Horror”, Perspectives on Anarchist Theory (2004)