@ombres there are so many people who want the anarchist look, but functionally only as wallpaper for their new reform party. There was definitely a historical trend pre-internet towards anarchists being under-identified, or too humble to identify as anarchists (Ursula Le Guin mentions this, and anarchist anthropoligists have described many historically analagous lifeways). But it feels like nowadays that has been complely reversed. Far more people are willing to identify as anarchists than there are actually anarchists who engage in anarchist praxis now. And if I'm gonna be honest whenever crimethinc-haters come up that's where my mind goes. Because this is the fucking basics, the editorial flair may not be everyone's taste, but what's in the text is just the basics of anarchism. People who take serious issue with it are basically self-described anarchists who get upset when they find out what established anarchist thought, and its practitioners have to say about anything.
@ombres ah. I guess I'll amend what I said before just a bit since I forgot about some parts of Crimethinc. I think my perception of Crimethinc is influenced by not taking the blog kind of content as serious as the reporting. I have complicated thoughts on martyrdom, I think it might actually have a place in the world, if that's how close friends/family of the dead knew they'd wish to be remembered. I'm more uncomfortable with the idea of strangers being made into martyrs, possibly against their wishes, with no way of checking that.
@thufie not sure I fully agree, or maybe, I just have had different experiences! I know a lot of folks who are, I think, definitely anarchists doing anarchist things, at least sometimes when they can, and they take issue with CrimethInc. publishing something that is clearly appelist or kinda giving a vaguely leftist, would-vote-for-a-DSA-candiate vibe. I actually think those criticisms are usually spot on, but I just think that CrimethInc. clearly publishes... a lot of stuff, lol. some of it is gonna be a little weak, right?
on the internet, I have recently seen a lot of criticisms of things they published re: what I will call revolutionary suicide, e.g. saying "we get where this guy was coming from, we respect aspects of it, at the same time we think it'd be better if dude has stayed alive and contributed to the struggle that way". big topic but I kinda sorta agree with that take, and I am wide-eyed skeptical 👀of a recent tendency towards the cult of martyrdom that some people out there are into
and then there's bottom of the barrel stuff: people talking about the deodorant article or Evasion, more than 20 years old at this point. or the CrimethInc. convergence from 2009 in Pittsburgh. awful takes served ice cold, lol