dont fall for anti-theory rethoric

[u/zymsnipe]

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[u/allthenamesaretaken4]

Fucking reading? I just want to scratch the anarchy symbol into my mercury sable while listening to blink 182. /s (but this was me 20 years ago)

[u/CHOLO_ORACLE]

I’ve always been skeptical of anti theory rhetoric. Action for actions sake and the dismissal of intellectualism is fascist coded

[u/weirdo_nb → u/CHOLO_ORACLE]

Yeah, being anti-theory is actively stupid, like, you can reject certain things within it, but an awareness should be present

[u/theCaitiff → u/weirdo_nb]

If you're happy living in a fascist state, you don't need to know anything. You do as you're told, that's all the thinking you need to do.

But it's real hard to build a society without hierarchies if you don't know how things work. If you're going to take responsibility for your own life and work, you have to know how to think. You can disagree with Bakunin, Kropotkin, Bookchin, or Ocalan, that's fine. You can't disagree with something if you don't even know what it is though. You don't need ALL the theory, but you need to have some of it, you need enough to know what anarchism means to you and what you are trying to build.

[u/jonawesome]

I'm very pro theory but please do not accuse random comrades of being feds because they haven't read enough books

[u/StanIsHorizontal → u/jonawesome]

Well not because they haven’t read enough books, but if they are actively discouraging others from reading theory then maybe fair game

[u/InevitableStuff7572 → u/jonawesome]

That’s obviously not what they said. The problem is when a leftist dissuades others from reading theory, not just themselves having read none.

[u/Legitimate_Bet_7786 → u/jonawesome]

Yeah, badjacketing is a far bigger problem than what people expect it to be

[u/SaltyNorth8062 → u/jonawesome]

This. And especially if they are barred from access to "higher education" due to their class. Just because a leftist didn't go to college doesn't mean they are unable to sympathize with the proletariat.

[u/comradejiang → u/SaltyNorth8062]

basically every anarchist text is free online, you don’t have to go to school to learn

[u/jonawesome → u/comradejiang]

Teachers are helpful, especially with high level complex theory.

[u/Fing20 → u/jonawesome]

I don't think most students have a relationship with their prof where they discuss Political theory and Anarchism in particular.

Having someone more educated on a matter that you can talk to is always beneficial though ofc

[u/SaltyNorth8062 → u/comradejiang]

I'm aware, which is my point

[u/squazify]

I mean it can be useful but also I really fucking struggle with people where you can tell the only way they've ever engaged with anarchy is by reading theory and arguing online. I'll take someone who hasn't read a book but participates in mutual aid and listens and learns from those around them every time over a jackass who can cite theory perfectly but hasn't ever bothered to do any community work. While less prevalent in the anarchists I've known over communists, there is an amount of book worship that leans on dogmatism that happens with certain theory nerds.

[u/Eloquent_Redneck]

Its always been a thing, people wanting to co-opt a certain subculture or adopt an aesthetic or persona without actually doing the intellectual legwork of actually learning the history and context behind it will always be a thing

[u/palladiumpaladin → u/Eloquent_Redneck]

Exactly. There have been people wanting to be anarchists because “fuck the authority,” “the name sounds cool,” and little to nothing else since at least the 90s, if not earlier.

[u/SilverNEOTheYouTuber]

Anti-Theory Anarchism? Hell no, I fucking LOVE Theory.

[u/mhuzzell]

I mean... yes, but let's remember that the now-exposed spy cops who infiltrated the predominantly anarchist environmentalist groups in the '00s UK didn't do it by being too cool for reading. They did it by strategically offering resources to enable actions, like vans and money.

[u/HippyHappy4334]

Concern trolls are a thousand times more likely to be a fed than the crust punks. Crazy take born from being too online.

[u/KlausInTheHaus]

If I were to meet someone (ew) who couldn't quote from memory the entire collected works of Proudhon, I'd immediately assume they're a fed tbh

[u/Lexicalyolk → u/KlausInTheHaus]

hello klaus, nice to meet you (ew)

[u/wan2phok]

This is some gate keepy bullshit. I specifically do not read theory. I can list on one hand the theory I've red, and they were all for the homies audio zine distro. I've been in groups that insisted on having reading groups and shit, but they couldnt tell you the first thing about shit a tally happening in the city around us. I dont need to read what someone else has seen if I've spent my life seeing how shitty the world is and learning what's causing it. I habe friends who read theory, and I learn by talking to them whenever there's something relevant to the conversation. But I swear to fucking God, people that do nothing but spout of bakunin or bookchin or striker or whoever the fuck can lick my enby nuts

[u/zymsnipe → u/wan2phok]

okay fed "anarcho nihilist" lmao

[u/ratat0skr_420 → u/zymsnipe]

Fr lol. The whole "lick my enby nuts" bit is pretty telling. This is either a glowie who has no clue how queer ppl actually talk irl, or some terminally online hatched egg who still hasn't broken out of their reactionary mindset