I seriously need to catch up on my open tabs and saved news articles. That’s what this GI:GO will be dedicated to…

Anarchy Alive / Uri Gordon talks with Tasos Sagris

https://voidnetwork.gr/2023/06/09/anarchy-alive-uri-gordon-talks-with-tasos-sagris/

A short but sweet interview between two anarchists of my epoch.

Mitchell Cowen Verter – The Anarchism of the Other Person

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-the-anarchism-of-the-other-person

I really want to work with Mitchell Verter extensively regarding philosophical anarchism. I define the fundamental value of anarchist ethics as “freedom of the Other,” but I have never read Levinas and came to that conclusion through the study of existentialism. Responding to this text, it seems like the ontological anarchy that I concentrate on is a personal, existential anarchy. It is anarchy as a description of the for-itself’s upsurge of consciousness. What Levinas – interpreted by Verter – seems to be concentrating on is an anarchy of the world, an anarchy that describes the world as without an archē. What I want to work on with Verter is the bringing together of these two concentrations.

This whole thing about Carl Schmidt’s politics as based on the friend-enemy dichotomy reminds me of this piece that I wrote: https://cyberdandy.org/featured/todays-circular-logic-of-anarchism-in-practice/

I deeply didn’t understand what was being said in the What is Property? section.

In the Autarchy or Anarchy section, Verter quotes Levinas saying “Such is the definition of [ontological] freedom: to maintain oneself against the other, despite every relation with the other and to ensure the autarchy of an I.” This is something that I completely disagree with. From my understanding, the definition of ontological freedom can be this but is more importantly understood as the freedom with which consciousness “intends” its object(s). The idea is that for consciousness to be able to do what it does, it must be free to choose what it focuses on. For Sartre, this freedom indicates that consciousness is not a thing, especially a thing in-itself, since a thing in-itself does not relate internally to other things (or subjects)… it ontologically can’t since as a thing in-itself, it is identical with itself and is without an internal dimension. By comparison, the for-itself is not identical with itself. It does relate with others internally. In is this that makes the for-itself a nothing. And it is this nothingness that consciousness uses for imaginary objects, including the projection of its own existence into the future.

Furthermore, there is no self or I according to this ontology. For Sartre, the self is just another object that consciousness intends, albeit an object with a more intimate status. What is especially important about this – especially for this contemplation here – is that the self is an object that is constructed interpersonally, beginning with the Look of the Other. There is no self for Sartre without the Other and such a situation for self-development results in the possibility for us to mistake the self for what we are: bad faith.

 “[It] is the very egoism of the ego that posits itself as its own origin, as uncreated, sovereign principle, a prince.” – This is a nice Levinas quote. It reminds me of a critique of Max Stirner that was written by Ludwig Binswanger, one of existential psychoanalysis’ founders.

I really think that an anarchist lens should be used to read Levinas, Buber, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Binswanger, and maybe Merleau-Ponty together…

Julian Langer – A Pathless Journey

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/a-pathless-journey

“This is not intended as a guide for anyone else, or a work on what I perceive as truth. I would like this to be received as a work of autobiographical and expressive writing. This is my attempt to communicate what I have done and what I am doing.”

At Daggers Drawn … – New publications at rupture distro

https://anarchistnews.org/content/daggers-drawn-new-publications-rupture-distro

It’s good to see that the classics of insurrectionary anarchism are getting new print!

What an Actual Therapist Thinks of Jonah Hill’s ‘Boundaries’ Texts

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3m3py/what-an-actual-therapist-thinks-of-jonah-hills-boundaries-texts

It doesn’t seem like this relationship had much of a chance…

Japan Passes Law to ‘Promote Understanding’ of LGBT People

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/12/japan-passes-law-promote-understanding-lgbt-people

It’s interesting how the activist groups used a strategy of engaging the G7 on this.

Anti-Zionist CUNY student groups target scholars like me

https://forward.com/opinion/letters/553858/anti-zionist-cuny-antisemitism-graduation-speech-controversy-israel-zionism/

Student groups suck. I’m biased because I have never been, nor have I ever wanted to be, part of a student group. I don’t like it when campus activism is reported on by off-campus sources. It’s low-hanging fruit. It feels like an excuse for boomers with an axe to grind to complain about their pet peeves.

Belief in conspiracy theories is a top predictor of antisemitism, research finds

https://forward.com/fast-forward/554112/conspiracist-beliefs-antisemitism/

“New research has found that political ideology isn’t a primary factor in determining whether someone might harbor antisemitic beliefs. In a recent study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, a research team found that antisemitic attitudes are most strongly associated with a “conspiracist view of the world, a desire to overturn the social order, and a preference for authoritarian forms of government.””

Linux could be 3% of global desktops. What happened to Windows?

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953373

I’m a little surprised considering Bash on Windows – something that broke on my gaming rig – has been available for a while now. I used to be a full-time Linux user. I’m not anymore because I was pushed into the Mac ecosystem through my work. Ecosystem is only one of the latest challenges for Linux as a popular operating system.

You’re Not Imagining It: The Ocean Has Changed Color Over 20 Years, Study Determines

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3aka3b/youre-not-imagining-it-the-ocean-has-changed-color-over-20-years-study-determines

Climate change is altering the color of the oceans, making them greener over time, according to a new study that analyzed 20 years of specialized satellite observations.

Smotrich wants one million West Bank settlers. That’s not so far-fetched

https://www.972mag.com/settlements-roads-infrastructure-smotrich/

End of GI:GO entry

Annnnd… I am out of steam. It’s crazy how many articles I save every day and how few of them I can actually get through.