I just finished reading Ted Kaczinski’s collected writings. Some pretty powerful stuff. I think his critique of modern technology is spot on. I found particular resonance with his “fist” metaphor. As anti-civ warriors, we need to be clear about what our true target is. We should avoid aiming for the fist and find ways to get to the vulnerable organs behind the fist.
He also offers a pretty scathing critique of anarcho-primitivism. However, the anarcho-primitivism he attacks is a version that I don’t quite recognize. He says the problem with anarcho-primitivists is that they idealize the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, falsely believing that hunter-gatherers engage in little violence, or that that they have little in the way of gender inequality, etc. There may be a few soft-headed eco-radicals out there who think that when we abandon civilization and re-adopt a primitive lifestyle, we will be stepping back into the biblical Garden of Eden, but OldDog is neither soft-headed nor operating under any delusions regarding the idyllic nature of hunter-gatherer societies.
To me, the essence of anarcho-primitivism is the call to return to modes of living that are more consistent with our evolved predispositions. Right now there is a dramatic mismatch between the ways people are being forced to live in our global consumer society and the lifestyles our DNA has prepared us to expect, both physically and psychologically. Anarcho-primitivism is about removing the mismatch. It is about re-collecting human dignity. It’s about reclaiming an ancient and more meaningful definition of human freedom.
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