Freakwitch giggery, and pagan activism
Well, we had fun playing the gig last night. It was a small crowd, but most of the people were into it and dancing around. I thought we played pretty well. I've been experimenting more with playing without a pick, slapping the strings with the fingernails on my right hand, not unlike how a funk bassist plays. But last night, I suppose I hit the strings a bit too vigorously as it ripped off the top layer of skin on 2 fingers. Nietzsche once said about writing "I love most what was written in blood." I wonder if he'd like the music I played last night....I've also been rethinking the notion of paganism, magic, and activism. More specifically, a companion of mine has started blogging, and she was writing implicitly about this subject, and I left a comment. (As an aside, Starcat is a fabulous writer, and I'm thrilled to see her in the blogosphere. I look forward to reading more of her thoughts as time goes on).
I've always been drawn toward political theory and activism, and as such I have been known to rant, mostly in this very space. But there is also an argument that such activity only breeds depression, frustration, anger, and feeds right in to what the Powers That Be want, ie, a divided and fractured multitude. It tends to breed paranoia, which is unacceptable for one who appreciates pronoia.
I think both sides of this argument have merit. But in the end, balance is the best way; in order to craft reality, one needs to know where one is, and be clear about alternatives so that one can choose among them intelligently.
I think a longer paper on this very topic is due. I haven't written a longer piece in a while, and this is the first time I've been inspired to write in a couple of years, pretty much since my virtual enclosures piece. But then, I've been reading political theory more actively lately, and for me reading and writing have always gone hand-in-hand.
posted by JWL at
2:57 PM |
2 comment(s):
You know, I still go back to my original comment: it all comes down to what you do with it. Ranting gets a bad rap as just "spouting off" - but ranting has its place. Hopefully, ranting will wake people up. If the audience listens and begins to consider, then the ranter has engaged. But it doesn't stop there - for the ranter or the audience. And I think this is what you were saying; there has to be a next step.
By
Anonymous, at
January 23, 2006 6:08 AM
JWL: Cool that we both agree that there has to be balance. All things in moderation! :)
Responding to Lisa Marie: I agree, there does need to be a next step. And in terms of using it to wake people up, I think I get most frustrated with ranting when it is just "preaching to the choir," people ranting amongst a group who already understands the situation in question. That's when it becomes depressing, as instead of focusing on solutions (what is that group of people *doing* about it? and how can they support each other's work?) it adds to paranoia and the perception of lack of power.
Starcat
By
Nikki Starcat Shields, at
January 23, 2006 11:12 AM
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