Saturday 29 November 2008

Crushed By Ingsoc- The Start of the New Dawn



Today is the start of a new day for this blog.
It has to be.

Today has to be the day that this blog says goodbye to its year long adolescence, a painful adolescence perhaps, but still part of the journey any blog must make.

Adolescence is a funny time of life. When we are children we dream of growing up. During adolescence, we try avoid doing that. Adulthood is when we realise that, like it or not, we now ARE where we wanted to be as children, and IS as hard as we realised it would be in adolescence.
Adulthood is where we merge the playful dreams of childhood with the angsts of adolescence, to create a composite of both, a fully rounded adult.

I think, over the timeframe this blog has existed, it has become possible for people to form a good idea as to the overall scheme of ideas put forward by this blog. It should also be possible for people to form an idea of the political creed I put forward. But for those who haven't been following this blog, for long, I've drawn up a list of the posts of relevance and put them at the end.

This should give you an idea of the philosophy and purpose of this blog.

By having listed these posts, I'm hoping it thus becomes easy to follow my overall thought processes.

I also think over the time this blog has existed, you have had opportunity in my writings to gauge what sort of person I am. I'm not sure it's ultimately constructive for me to write too much more on that front. I rather feel that topic has kind of been done to death. Pretty much anything in my life that was worth writing about, anything you really need to know about me, is there. So in terms of my life history, facts you may want to judge me on, it's all in the archives.
Of course, there are other versions available online, should you choose to read them. And I suppose it's only right and just you should evaluate those too, and see if you think they paint a more accurate picture than my own archives.

For the record, the archives will have been cleaned by the time most of you read this post. Why? Because they belong to the adolescence of this blog. It's hardly like this blog has a shortage of posts in it's archives. Posts that belonged to the adolescance of this blog, just like ones that belonged to its childhood, are going.

A lot of things belong to the adolescence of this blog.

When this blog was in its childhood, I vowed to keep my own persona out of it. To keep Crushed and me separate. I guess my post on seeking Cyberlife the other night was perhaps a final burst of blog adolescent angst at the seeming muddying of that idea. But of course, the principle still exists.

I also had several principles on comment deletion, moderation, etc. As in, don't. Unfortunately, these things cannot always last. But still, I don't want to be deleting comments unless I absolutely have to.
So all I'm asking is for people to please- nicely- keep to my comments policy. I won't delete comments unless they're aimed at me the person, as opposed to me the blogger. That, essentially, is comments policy. It's that simple. And it goes for friends as well as foes. Though foes, foes is a concept we need to be moving away from.

Blogwars. That was the big promise I made to myself. DON'T TAKE SIDES IN THEM. Because my view was, it doesn't matter who is right, there is no point in them.
And there isn't, really there isn't.

I said to someone once 'I doesn't matter who started it, it doesn't matter who's right. What matters is both sides are ALWAYS responsible for continuing it.'

Because that's true. You yourself are always responsible for fighting back.

I actually read an e-mail I sent last year where I said pretty much those exact words. What happened since?
Christ.

For me to run posts acknowledging the existence of blogwars, is a misuse of this blog. For me to run posts which even acknowledge there are other bloggers out there writing posts about me the individual, which I happen to dispute the factual content of, is a misuse of this blog. And I admit to having done it. I admit to forgetting that when I write this blog- and post to it- I can't just treat it in that way. If Crashie got into a blogwar, as a co-author of this blog, she'd have my full support, and this blog would support her, but it wouldn't itself become part of the battleground.
And I have to adopt the same approach myself. People will have noticed that the blog is Crushed by Ingsoc, but I myself have now become 'Crushed'. This is deliberate. I hold sole admin powers on this blog, but the whole point is, there is now a distinction between me and the blog. In practice I can do what I like with it, and I still intend to do so- more so in fact, now.

But I cannot allow the blog itself to be dragged into 'blogwars'. Or attempts by others to drag the blog into blogwars. To do that, is for me to go against my own rules and fail to maintain a distinction between me and the blog.

I'm going to take the view now that personal issues of this sort really are no concern of this blog. This isn't a tabloid blog. That is not what I have in mind for it.
By the same token, don't assume that this blog and every link I provide here will be suitable reading or viewing if you're easily offended. Part of this blog moving into adulthood is, if I choose to link it, I'll link it. With appropriate readership warning.

Part Two means that I believe this blog has earned its right to be judged on the merits of what is written. If you really give a damn about the life history, the character and the personal habits of it's primary author, they're in the archives. If you think such things are relevant, feel free to browse. Such things may possibly be of some use to you, but myself, I don't see that they matter.

Yes, I guess some of what I write I am only able to do BECAUSE of the person I am and the life I've had.



But this blog isn't- or shouldn't be- about me. Not me the person anyway. That's not how these things should work.
When you read an article in a paper, do you really care about the author's life history and private life?
No, and nor should you with this blog either.

The time has come to move away from matters involving personalities. I don't see Peter Riddell writing his column in the Times going on about how he heard that Polly Toynbee was in a threesome the other night, and I don't see Polly Toynbee responding by quoting mails to prove that actually, Peter Riddell was one of the other parties involved.

I suppose the Policy of this blog HAS to be, HAS to be, it doesn't matter if X blogger is falsely accusing ME of buggering goats and I actually have photographs of HIM buggering goats, the fact is, if you are writing blogposts about other bloggers buggering goats, you've lost touch with what this is all about.

I've come to realise- and I thank all those people who've made me see it- is that accusing other bloggers of buggering goats, whether it be true or false, doesn't reflect badly on the alleged goat buggerer.

So.
No stories of goat buggering likely to appear on this blog.
Unless startling new evidence comes out that Napoleon was a secret goat buggerer and invaded Russia solely because he'd heard the goats near Moscow were extra soft.

I guess part of this blog growing up is actually about standing back and looking at what's been achieved.
And not just sitting navel gazing. As bloggers are prone to do. And this is the danger the blogosphere is facing. We move in such narrow circles and we actually find ourselves trapped in the mindset that our blogroll is our readership.

No, your blogroll is the blogs you advertise, some of whom comment at your blog. It accounts for ten percent, approximately, of your readership. The ones who also read blogs. The ones who tell you what they think. It's NOT your readership.
Is it the most important bit?

Well, in some ways yes. But I've come to realise, never forget the other ninety percent. Because the ten percent whose opinions you get in the comments sections, they aren't the full picture.

Of my five most googled posts, one of them only received two comments. One of the worst posts EVER in comment terms. And at the time I was a bit upset, because I thought it one of the best I'd ever written.
And it is. Time is proving that.

My two posts on Core Theory got a few polite comments, but no one really got my points and I actually came across a blog where the posts were obliquely derided. Shall I tell you something? I almost left a comment saying 'Yes, but they still got quoted in the Financial Times.'
Yes, it's true. And thanks to the commentor who reminded me of that.

It was a while back- letters of August 15th.

And I came across a forum the other day, where the post put up for discussion was my post of last year 'Did a Russian Spy Get The Top Job?'
And then I smile.
Because THAT's why I run this blog.
Because people really are coming across my posts through Google, my posts ARE living longer than the time they stay on the front page. People out there, people who don't give a rat's arse about all the crap us navel gazing bloggers have seemingly got distracted by, are reading and discussing my posts.

And it occurs to me- finally- that I've got this business the wrong way round.
Who cares what other people are writing about me on their blogs?
It doesn't matter.
Because the bulk of READERS don't read their blogs. More readers reach this blog by googling 'Crushed by Ingsoc' than come to it through a link.
In other words, they read this blog because they FOUND it. They come because they want to read the serious posts. They might read a few random blogs here and there, ones they came across at random through googling something else.

They come because when I'm writing the posts I SHOULD be writing and not giving a flying fuck what other bloggers are saying, this blog really is a blog worth reading.

And they're ACTUALLY the ones I really want. Because they're the ones who really do just come to read. Blogging isn't a hobby to them. They haven't come to be sociable. They've come to read.

They're the ones, in truth, that I write for.

So from now on, this blog is going to be targeted at them.
For those of you who visit and comment, it's written for you as well, of course. It's just that I'm now going to keep in my head at all times, that primarily the purpose of this blog is to get ideas out there and it's not primarily meant to be a social activity. That's just a pleasant by product.

So I hope you'll all still come by and comment, nothing is going to change in the way I interact with those of you who comment, nothing is going to change in my visiting habits, I'll visit and comment as much as usual- in fact, I'm hoping to do more. Content isn't going to change. I'm not going to try make this blog more 'respectable'. It will remain a Libertarian/Anarchist blog. If anything, you can probably expect me to up the ante in terms of relaxing self-censorship. Again, that's part of this blog growing up.
What IS going to happen, is I'm going to target every post at the wider audience. Posts which are written SOLELY for bloggers, are wasted posts. They are written for a minority of the readership. And I can't help feeling that readers who aren't bloggers, simply have contempt for us with these internecine feuds.

Frankly, I think they're more likely to think higher of a blog which says 'fuck' every so often and doesn't mind linking to porn, than one which does neither, but simply bangs on about other bloggers.

What's going to happen is that whilst the subject of posts will be the same as ever, the way the blog is MANAGED and the way it RELATES, will now simply operate on pure professional marketing ethics. I'm going to run this blog the same way I'd run a business. It's here to deliberately and consciously put across my ideas, and that's what it's going to do.

Essentially, I'm going to take the view that the relations of this blog with other blogs are essentially the same as WORK relationships. Decisions on the value or otherwise of something or someone to this blog, will not be affected in any way by personal considerations. Don't think that means I'm not going to continue treating you all the same as I already do. It's merely that I categorically rule out anything which would be a 'bad business decision', in my book. Marketing is everything, and I'll freely admit that.



A blog growing up is the day it realises;

You're not writing to the blogosphere.
You're writing to the internet.

You're not writing for today.
You're writing for all time.

You're not writing to make friends.
You're writing to make a difference.

And now;
The following posts are the ones which outline to anyone who wants to see, just exactly what the philosophy of this blog is.

Theoretical Posts: Altruism- The Ultimate Self Interest, Primary Reality- How Universes Work, Quantum Theology, or How I Think the Universe Works, Human Dynamics- Where we are Evolving to, Power, the Strange Engine of the Species, The Origin of Duality- The Plant and the Parasite, Core Theory Part One, Core Theory Part Two- How it works, Evolution- Where are We Going?,

Historical Posts: They're Everywhere..They Control Everything, Did a Russian Spy Get the Tob Job?, The Legacy of Empire, When Monarchy Served a Purpose, Jesus- What Kind of Man Was he?, The First Systems- Why Man Invented Tyranny, Hellenes, Helots and Horses- A Knowledge Based System, The First Ideologies, Why the West Seized the World and How, A New Type of Empire, Man Comes of Age- The Thought Revolution, The First Battle for World Domination, The Rise of the INGSOC systems, Feeding Tezcatlipoca, The Belief System of the Conspiracy Theorist, The Romans of Tiberius

Political Posts: What do You Want? Political Parties or Democracy? , The Forbidden Taboo of the Middle East, The Apartheid We Ignore, Wage Slavery, Where I stand, Liberty but Not for the Few, Why it Just isn't Working Any More, Interest- The Demon That Drives, The Cracks are Widening, A Hope for a New World Order, Jumping Off This Rock, The Revolution- What it Should Bring, Celebrating Life- a Basic Human Right, Wake up-They Got You Fooled, Prohibitions, Censorship, Forbidden Knowledge, The Ultimate Choice of the Free Market, Basic Lies at the Heart of the System- We're Not Governed by Our Consent, Basic Lies at the Heart of the System- The story of Your Enslavement, Do You Believe Islam is the Problem?,

Religious/Philosophical Posts: Why I am a Nietzcheist, Finding a Way Forward, The Totalitarian Impluse, The Most Intolerant of Creeds, War is Peace- How the Terror Threat Works, Evolving Towards Perfection, Hedonism and Ethics, Power- The Greatest Urge of All, Pleasure Distribution- How the System Works, Bliss is Ignorance, Heaven is Not Enough, Evolution- The Only Way is Up, Good and Evil- They are LOGICAL concepts, Marx The Misrepresented Prophet, Why Love Never Loses, Good and Evil as Real Concepts, Religion and Society, The REAL choice between Good and Evil, What Kind of God do You Believe in?, Towards a New Philosophy of Life, The Theology of Free Love, World Exclusive- An Interview with Jesus Christ, Beyond Heaven and Hell, My Catholicism- Liberation Theology, God and Moral Relativism- Hope in Hell,


Sex- In Defence of Sexual Freedom, Free Love- When Sex is no Longer Dirty, Free Love- Why it is a Higher Ideal,Love, Sex, Anarchy- The extremity of my Fantasies, Monogamy and Male Pride, Pornography- Does it Corrupt or Free us?, Eroticism and Love Making, Psychenotity- The Most Perfect Human Experience, Fuck Racism- A Campaign For All to enjoy, Make Love to Her, Sexual Morality After the Revolution



Inner Monkey
Inner Reptile

Other Key Posts- Proclamation of the United Peoples of Earth, The Grand Vision- The Utopia I Dream of, Passive Revolution- How we Can Overthrow the System

So. For anyone really wanting to understand this blog, the posts listed above should be seen as the 'Bread and Butter posts' produced to date. They are the posts this blog is really about.

They are the posts which set the case (or cases) this blog is ultimately here to make.

And now onwards to the future of this blog, goodbye to the past.

There is work to do.

And I leave you with what I have now come to see as this blog's official anthem.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's easy to get sidetracked on a blog, esp if it happens gradually. You have always had a vision of what you have wanted this blog to be Crushed, and it good to see you realise it's time to get back on track. Stay the course and write on! ;)

Anonymous said...

I think 'growing up' and coming out of adolescence is a great thing.

I especially like your reptile and monkey posts! Oh, as well as your historical sessions, they are great reading.

I love cleaning up my blog too..something very refreshing about getting rid of some over-personal ramblings. :)

Anonymous said...

don't suppose you can make the post's on this new blog a bit shorter so I have the patience to read them :-)

Anonymous said...

Personally, I think both you and your blog would benefit a fresh deal if you did more navel gazing. It takes a lot for someone to take a fearless personal inventory and make appropriate character changes, thereby making the world a better place. Can't save the world if you can't save yourself.

But - hey - what do I know? I'm just another drunk with no world domination aspirations. I'm just a simple gal and I'm happy this way.

Anonymous said...

I don't really agree with your vision of the future. To be honest, it sounds a bit cultish to me. I mean, to change society on that scale would require power to be centralized to some degree. Who do you propose does this? All this talk of marketing and promotion is very strange. This is not the utopian wonderland that I would dream of.

It is difficult for me to understand how you can separate the person from the position. In the analysis of any theory, it involves an examination of the person who has put it forward. It would be irresponsible to separate the two.

Anyway, you seem like a bright person. But, you have a massively overblown ego, and I wonder why. I hope that you achieve some personal happiness - try not to do it at the expense of others.

I read back on one or two of those posts of yours and came across the statement "Women won't ever be truly free until there is free love". How are you qualified to make such a comment? It seems that the grand vision of the world would just see you fuck women that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to.

Best of luck.

Anonymous said...

Fusion- It is, I'm afraid, yes.

Yes, it did happen gradually. It happened so that to be honest, I myself lost the wood for the trees. I didn't realise till it happened that I had got totally enmeshed.

My response from August 2007 should have been 'This is not a blogging issue and I decline to comment' and taken appropriate action.

On the whole, my principles were always correct, but they got perverted by others who think this is one big chatroom.

Fine. Then things will stay as they are, the blogosphere will die, and we'll be told what to think by the MSM.
But if we want to take that on ourselves, then we actually have to make a decision; blogging is more important than personal relationships. A work ethos.

Kate- I think we grow up in different ways.
Ever read CS Lewis' Perelandra?

An important bit in that is the Queen, whose name I forget, keeps saying 'I am older now', meaning she has learned something. for her, getting older has nothing to do with the passage of time. And I think that's right.

I actually want to explore the Inner Monkey and Inner Reptile concepts a lot more. Because I think we need to understand how our emotions and drives evolved and why.and what they'll evolve towards. Because our emotions have evolved, and will evolve. And I think the point about Inner Monkey, is that the emotions we feel were many of them evolved in the evolution of the Monkey.

History is a way more important topic than people realise. It's just we haven't yet put it on a scientific footing.

I have removed much of the crap- I'm pondering about some of the personal stuff- mainly because I'm starting to worry a bit that some people figure who a certain person is...

Sally- Some are short, some are long, it kind of depends who they're written for.
Not ALL my posts are written for blogs.

Some really are just written to throw at the net.
Long term, it's a better way to get the ideas across than try find a publisher.

VR- I think I've done enough of that :)
I don't know if you can change your character, I am what I am.
It's about being responsible for that character and doing what you can with it.

And part of that is actually about realising that some of the things your heart tells you you want, you must deny yourself.
Because it isn't for the greater good.

You see, you could wake up one day and realise that saving yourself might cause more pain and misery, than you giving up hope for yourself, in sacrifice for the hope of others.

Femme- Well, I do ultimately believe in world government of some kind.

Ah, but we're fighting a heavily supported network of propaganda.
The Capitalist system, Money, Family values.

Well marketed. Yes, this is a true battle of ideas.

I guess so. It depends on how close you think I've come to objective thought. I like to think I've gone a good way in shedding subjective thought and learning how to suppress personal emotion.

Personal happiness.
Interesting one.

I think it has to be true that when you are able to distinguish between being happy because you can logically see the value of your actions, as opposed to being happy just because your emotions tell you that you FEEL happy, then you've kind of got somewhere.

Actually, the ultimate happiness is totally negation of self, in some ways. I think happiness is only possible when you value your principles more than your life.

Because while they judge themselves by what men think they should be, they're not free.
Until women say no to men's wishes that they keep themselves 'pure', they're not free.

Well, the idea is that everybody fucks a lot of people they don't fuck as things stand.
That's the point. That we no longer treat sex as sacred. That we overthrow that taboo. If two people meet eachother and the chemistry is right, they don't bother with the rituals like they do now, they just do it. And there is no barrier to it, because chastity is dead.

Anonymous said...

You didn't answer the questions I put to you. But you really needn't bother because this whole thing is just crazy.

I would suggest that you are rather more careful with what you write here. Admitting that your life dream is of dying a martyr on the front lines of trying throw over the government is going to get you arrested or committed.

Quite frankly such statements must be unbelievably offensive to all the people of the world that have lost loved ones to extremism. Because that is exactly what this is: extremism. Extremism for lazy people.

In case you haven't noticed, there are revolutions going on all over the world. So maybe the dream you are aiming for has already started. Better get your armor out, book your holidays, and let your local pub know you won't be around for a while.

Anonymous said...

I thought I did...

The idea is, that yes, after a global revolution, a United Nations composed of Continent sized member states co-ordinates a plan of creating an efficient global infrastructure and rolling out democratic collectivisation.

So it would be a massive popular effort, ultimately presided over by a United Nations Council elected directly by the global population.

As for the other question you ask, well, it's a simple observation.

None of us are free whilst our bodies are governed by taboos and either sex feels that it has to limit its sexual activity or the amount of sexual partners it has for fear of negative judgement being passed.

And no one is free whilst another person believes they own sole rights to enjoy bodily pleasure with that person.

As for my dream of dieing a martyr, I never said overthrowing the government.
I talk of PASSIVE revolution, remember.

A simple global strike.

But yes, I think that will get nasty. And people will die resisting.

I'm not sure why it would be offensive- but then I come from a background which revers martyrs. When my Dad was a lad, talk of 'dieing for Ireland' was something most older people inrained in the young. A lot of the cultural consciousness in Irish culture is a curious linking of Catholic martyrs of early times with the Martyrs for Ireland in modern times.

And I do it myself. At Easter, I go to Mass and celebrate Chtist the Martyr. I also light seven candles in front of Mary for the seven signatrories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic- Because Easter is the anniversary of that declaration- those men were Martyrs to Ireland and in a sense, I revere them too, as modern examples of the struggle for freedom.

I don't think there is anything wrong in viewing martyrdom as the highest achievement a human being can attain. I really don't think I'll achieve it, but to do so, to rank alongside people I have revered since a child, Saints, Freedom fighters, people like that, isn't unusual.

The statement wasn't made in the sense I INTEND to do it.
Merely that- and it really is true- the dreams I've had of dieing (that way) are the best I've ever had.

Not the revolution we need.
This needs to be different.

A passive revolution, where we just say 'No'. Enough is enough. we're not playing ball. You can do what you want to us.

We're refusing to obey, that's all. So you'll have to force us, kill us if necessary.

That's the sort of revolution I mean.

Anonymous said...

What a lot of rot. You backtrack and change your position to suit your mood it seems.

This is absolute garbage. It is extremely evident that you have never been outside the EURO zone, and before you harp on about me referring to Africa, I'm not. Countries that have been colonized with indigenous populations are faced with extremely complex governance issues. A global government would not adequately represent the cultural and societal structures of minorities or those who have organised themselves in such a way to not be in accord with a centralized structure.

Your comments are naive, ignorant and probably downright dangerous if they preached to the wrong person.

I can assure you, that I for one, love my body. I also love sex. And I am more than happy to dedicate myself to one person of my choosing.

Anonymous said...

La Femme- Hardly :)

'A global government would not adequately represent the cultural and societal structures of minorities or those who have organised themselves in such a way to not be in accord with a centralized structure.'

You need to read closely. Communes of 500, or so, responsible for their own internal domsetic government.
They would be under an obligation to provide a fixed contribution, in return for being served by the global infrastructure. So in that sense, yes, they'd have to adapt to a certain pattern. Everyone would.

The option of 'not being organised to suit a centralised structure' wouldn't be there.

I often think this is a flaw in our current thinking, I remember thinking it after the Rsunami, seeing supplies being given to the Andaman Islanders.
I thought 'How incredibly cruel that we condemn the CHILDREN of these islanders to be brought up to live that life, for fear of interfering in their way of life'. Because it is, it's tantamount to preserving their culture like we preserve endangered species. Except they're people.

Their children have the right to be brought up in the most advanced way of living on offer, just as all humanity does.

Yes, ultimately, I do want to see one world, with one global culture, one where the voices of the past do not count and only the voices of the living are heard.

And I guess everyone would always be free to make that choice. I syspect a minority would continue to do so. But I do believe if the cultural conditioning in favour of it were removed, a lot less people would feel the need to.

Anonymous said...

I've read more closely, as suggested.

Conclusion: You are mad.

Anonymous said...

I always find it interesting how pure our intentions are when we begin blogging. We don't predict the effects the personal interactions will have on thus, the discussions, the debates. I suppose it is always worthwhile to re-evaluate.
You make me want to re-list myself on Google, I must admit. Maybe I need to get over these anonymity fears once and for all.