Episode 51 – Dr. Bones

Why no questions on the whole “wolfi must have no morals” witch hunt?

I enjoyed this interview a lot. Definitely one of my favorites so far, outside of the Cronin interviews which are seriously so important in terms of chronicling this period of political history through the eyes of an ‘American Situationist’. Some of the issues raised in this talk were very interesting ones, such as appropriation. I’ve been out of the loop for several months and came upon the whole ITS controversy aftermath, only to find out they’ve murdered random people only to brag about it. Sorry, I can’t get behind that. Like Dr. Bones, I’m from the South too, but I’ve lived in Canada and the northeastern U.S. since 2000, give or take a stint in NC. I personally love hearing a southern anarchist rant and rave against armchair liberals from the north imposing their sterile, compartmentalized P.C. strictures cultures foreign to their own. Nonetheless, I am not hook line and sinker on the hoodoo thing, in fact I know very little about it, but I enjoyed hearing someone speak so passionately about something that s/he could barely enunciate it at all at first, but ultimately did so very clearly in the end. And trying to call him out on his pronunciations is ridiculous precisely because that’s what he was railing against anyway, a foreign imposed way of expressing and relating. Not to mention the fact that language has always been an amorphous, constantly changing vernacular expression. The internet may contribute to the universalization, ossification and reification of language (ok, i’m getting nerdy), but it also contributes to that change too. I appreciate the way Aragorn gave Dr. Bones the benefit of the doubt, and allowed him to express his view, while at the same time carefully calling him to task on the issue of white privilege and appropriation. I have been part of different gatherings based on political action or social experimentation where Native (First Nations) peoples are vocally acknowledged as the rightful original inhabitants of the land we sit upon. At least, voice is given to the colonial predicament we are in, (or at best an attempt to honour our predecessors, the people who walked this land far longer than any recent immigrant). I don’t know if this is nearly enough, but you don’t hear that at the beginning of NY Yankees game or before the Super Bowl, etc.

You can tell I’m from the South because we ramble on like no one’s business…

I am very intrigued by this idea of a relationship between the occult and politics, and also political magic in general, though my insight is limited. I read a book not too long ago by Gary Lachman, former bassist of 1970s band Blondie, Secret Teachers of the Western World.
Lachman built the premise of the book on this idea that modern Europe essentially succumbed to the dominance of one half of ‘the brain’ by the other, the left brain (analytical, segregating) dominating the right (unifying, integrating), and at the same time suppressing, or enslaving even, the creative, integrative tendencies within humanity (vis a vis global colonial domination) His example was the evolution of a specific type of science based on Aristotle to the detriment of Platonic philosophy… ok, ok, I know anarchists hate overarching narratives (me too sumtymz). I understand that. But where and when are we safe to express ourselves without being torn apart? What is our responsibility, really, to one another? We come full circle. Hybridization–Is this something to resist and disparage for purity? Of course, no one will say that (on this comment thread at least), but under what circumstances exactly do we mix and commingle?

As I said, I lived in Canada for a hot minute, and there too there is the (liberal?) idea of cultural and ethnic diversity. However, in the United States, the idea of the ‘melting pot’ is constantly trotted out as a failed project or an ideal to strive for.

My question is this: Yes, we’re a melting pot, but who has their hand on the handle, and who’s turning up the heat?