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Ennui wrote

Ich lerne Deutsche im Uni. Wie ghet's? Did you know that German quotation marks work like „this?" I think that's fucking raaaaaaad.

I haven't been out in the garden for two weeks now. I'm etching the tally of days since I've done yardwork directly into my computer screen. Get it? Because online school is my prison. Perhaps I would enjoy meine Studien more if my survival didn't depend on getting perfect grades.

I am a philosopher and a fraud. I am the epitome des Privileg—the least anarchistic anarchist I know (and the only one). One of the concepts in anarchism that resonates with me is that even those on a high rung of the social hierarchy have reasons to oppose racism, class, dogmatic genderism, and their own position of privilege. Well I can fucking feel that! I am so brutally disconnected from my nature!

Poesie: My Reflection | Nature

I miss my reflection,

In the wooded branches

And warring ponds;

/

The lilies, dragons, and

Fields of golden whistles,

Are my companions.

\

Where did they go?

Or is it I who has lost

My Nature?

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catachresis wrote

so brutally disconnected from my nature!

I started reading The Society of the Spectacle by Gabord ( I’ve been finding a hard time communicating about it as it’s the first philosophy I’ve read in at least a year). One of the ideas he talks about is through capitalism’s quest to sell more commodities we become more disconnected from ourselves because we are not commodities even though capitalism shows us we are how we appear with our commodities.

It’s been fascinating to read so far.

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Ennui wrote

More than that, it commoditizes us directly. I can't reflect on my being without taking into account how I sell myself to survive, and so much of my social life is little more than a conveyer belt where I am molded into the optimum tool for a capitalist, or into a capitalist myself. We develop authenticity by engaging with the world around us—in a sense, the world forms us—but by making the world fake and constructed, society removes the paths to authenticity. And, thus, I am a fraud.

The Society of the Spectacle is one of those books that I think I read, but I can never quite recall. Love me some Gebord.

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catachresis wrote

Definitely. It’s through that disconnection that we become commoditized. Personally I’ve been reflecting on what that means to me and how I can disconnect from commodities. I feel similarly as the least anarchist anarchist I know (I know a good amount of them) but I also know that isn’t true. There is no wrong way to be an anarchist. I’ll read more about epitome des Privileg but I think the commodification of anarchism through media creates ideas about what an anarchist should be. The spectacle also touches everything we do in our leisure and the ways we choose commodities to spend that leisure further alienates from ourselves. Any comparison creates hierarchy. Can I ask why getting good grades is so important to you?

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Ennui wrote

I am likewise cynical about anarchist media spaces, many of which are the bare minimum to be considered anarchist.

I am in university on a scholarship, and I use that money to pay rent as well. The scholarship requires a high GPA. If my grades drop to, say, a B average, then I lose $25,000 and have to pay back potentially thousands in school costs. It’d be nothing compared to a student loan, but then most people taking out loans at least plan to make money in the future. I’m not.

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catachresis wrote

There’s something to be said about anarchist spaces but I’m not quite sure what it is. Any group is going to inevitably fall to some sort of hierarchy but if justified hierarchy exists (is this just a Chomsky thing?) that’s probably fine if things are getting done. Idk. I also notice grasps at social capital as well but I know that isn’t universal, at all.

That’s a great scholarship. Makes sense to need good grades.

most people taking out loans at least plan to make money in the future

I dropped out of college with 10k in student loans. IMO needing to study to maintain a scholarship is better than receiving a large sum of money that is impossible to grasp as an 18yo while being told your entire life going to college is the smartest choice (and that I would do well there).

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Ennui wrote

Ngl, it’s definitely better that most things. Makes me feel uncomfortable to even mention it’s downsides.

My SO just barely escaped the trap you got stuck in. Parents thought college meant a future, when it would have meant debt.

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_caspar_ wrote (edited )

Society of the Spectacle was in certain ways helpful for me years ago, although I also cant recall too much of it in detail. even more important was the SI project as a whole, their writings (many can be found here) and experiments. I tried Revolution of Everyday Life by Vaneigem awhile back, but maybe because Im burnt out on the language or flavor of the writing, I had to put it aside. Id recommend it though if you like SOTS.

also important is the critique of SOTS from a situationist outlier Voyer: There Is No Society of the Spectacle.

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catachresis wrote

I’m familiar with the situationists but this is the first time I’ve read their work. So far I like it, but the language can be a lot. Thank you for the recommendations! :)

What experiments did they run?

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_caspar_ wrote

their experiments were creating situations.

"Situationist theory sees the situation as a tool for the liberation of everyday life, a method of negating the pervasive alienation that accompanied the spectacle."

since they were mostly city-dwellers, the bulk of the situations centered around what they called unitary urbanism: how to move through built environments in new ways by reimagining the function of urban architecture. the more interesting one to me is the dérive. the détournement methods have since been recuperated, and seem to be not very effective these days. Banksy is a good example of this.

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catachresis wrote

I’ll definitely be reading more about it.

Dérive sounds kind of like why I think cities have charm. I don’t know if that’s compatible though?

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_caspar_ wrote (edited )

that's interesting. I can see that in the way dérivers (ha, not sure what the french term would be) repurpose the city in spite of its design, but not because of it. cities, like schools and any other constructed spaces are designed to control how people live, act, and move through them. so I can't see them as charming in-and-of-themselves, but in the way some people creatively go against the design.

but I admit, older cities around the world have a certain charm for how idiosyncratic they can be.

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86944 wrote

Aldis is carrying tofu regularly now! I hated having to visit a second store just for tofu.

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NoPotatoes wrote

When I smoke I always need water. But I don't smoke anymore and I still need water. Water is life. I really hope Elon Musk does not ship all of Earth's freshwater to Mars.

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catachresis wrote

I really hope Elon Musk does not ship all of Earth's freshwater to Mars.

Oh shit he really would do that though.

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existential1 wrote

My first batch of tempeh finished today. Ye ye

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mofongo OP wrote

what's tempeh?

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existential1 wrote

Its a type of mycelial food product, typically made with soybeans or other beans/grains. It is often used as a vegan "meat". It comes from Indonesia and is a major cultural food there.

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catachresis wrote

What’s the process for making tempeh? I know tofu is intensive but tempeh uses the whole bean so I would imagine it could be easier?

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existential1 wrote

That's a negative. Tofu is easier. Tempeh requires a soak, infusion with the mycelium, then 24-48 hour fermentation period.

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Basil wrote

I started school this week and it's a really mixed bag this year. I love some of my classes, but my new Spanish teacher doesn't seem to be great at teaching. He's a native speaker, and while that's great, I think that cause he grew up with the language he doesn't really know how to explain it to other people. Also he thinks we know a lot more Spanish than we do, and that's kinda frustrating too. I like my other classes though, with the possible exception of stats.

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mofongo OP wrote

Oh, that sucks. Have you talk to your teacher about this?

Also, there are several spanish speakers here. If you don't understand something, you can always make a thread. It has been done before and it works.

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Basil wrote

Not yet. I'll actually get to see him in person next week, instead of just online so I'll see if that's any better and if it isn't then I'll talk to him.

Really? Yeah I'll definitely do that if i need help with something. Thanks!

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