Comments on: Ran Prieur Interview

By: Pop Occulture » Best Supernatural TV Shows?

Pop Occulture » Best Supernatural TV Shows? — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 04:36:14 +0000

[...] es it’s a totally welcome change of pace. Anyway, Ran’s comments at the end of my recent interview with him got me thinking this would be a good topic of con [...]

By: JK

JK — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 07:24:41 +0000

Jeeze you Americans are instense. Alsatair who said anything about terrorists?

. . .

Turn off the TV man.

Alistair is a Canadian I do believe. But yes. Both Canadians and Americans should turn off their TVs. So should everybody else.

By: bill m.

bill m. — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 00:47:56 +0000

i suppose we are the death star to osama and al queda etc.
i always thought ‘clerks’ had a hilarious take on that…
course, even in ’star wars’ the rebellion was led by a royal family. it was more of a fight between the elite than a populist uprising or ‘dropping out’.
i prefer the jungian view of things, that 9-11 was a manifestation of truths about ourselves that we had denied.
and the taoist view that everything is constantly turning into its opposite.
i think its interesting that Ran wants to lead his own tribe. in a benign way, of course.
is the essence of his argument that we as a nation are too ambitious? it seems to be an icarus flying to close to the sun thing. too much ambition is always dangerous.
to me its more that an old way of life is growing old; calcifying, becoming more trouble than its worth.. ie, oil based energy, etc. somehow i managed to get rid of my car just in time for gas prices to start going crazy. i too have spent a fair amount of time couch surfing. but its a fair trade i think for my more responsible friends– i think i am actually decompressing their life to some degree just by being there, being more ‘outside’.
the irony of using the internet is the key to this puzzle. the fact is is that by using the internet to publish, to make music, etc, is MORE productive from even a traditional economic standpoint. so from that point of view, it is Ran who is more ‘responsible’: ie more economically productive, a better cost /benefit ratio. He is just manifesting a pattern based on a new economic and energy zeitgeist– computers, decentralized, dispersing and trading information between small groups or ‘tribes’ of servers, allowing each individual human to be productive at a levell that used to require at least many people. as a musician, i do projects that used to require a dozen people to complete, plus factories and trucks to and store owners to distribute it. We humans always organize around our method of survival. Ran and some of us are just doing it now instead of later. (Tim too it would seem..)

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 23:41:25 +0000

Corporations can’t exist without governments.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:37:20 +0000

Jeeze you Americans are instense. Alsatair who said anything about terrorists?
And who said anything about Democrats. I was talking about people who were living with NO government - sounds like something you should consider. You don’t need some authority/organisation to help you run your life or provide some stability - they’re only there to provide stability for themselves which is why, as you opint out, they always end up corrupt even if they start off with good intentions. Turn off the TV man.

By: Jeffrey of Troy

Jeffrey of Troy — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:33:49 +0000

There must be a government, and it must have real power. The alternative is Rule by Corporations; this is not a theory or a prediction, it is what is already happening.

See The Corporation by Joel Bakan (both book and DVD); and We The People by Thom Hartmann.

By: mantis

mantis — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 18:36:02 +0000

possible pieces comparing 9/11 to movies like Star Wars.
see also http://www.atlantismantis.com/deathstar.html

By: Ran

Ran — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 18:15:31 +0000

Thanks everyone!

Aaron: That account by the two paramedics is no longer on my site but it’s all over the internet and not hard to find.

hebrides: Yes, I’m in general agreement with John Zerzan, but all I’ve read by him are a few interviews.

Janice: Yeah, it would be a lot easier if we could just sign up!

By: Janice

Janice — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 17:28:55 +0000

Great interview! I attended “Solfest” in Hopland CA a couple of weeks ago http://www.solarliving.org, where I heard Derrick Jensen speak. I also learned about sustainable living, GMOs, and how to support yourself growing lavender. Sign me up Ran, I’d love to get off the grid.

By: hebrides

hebrides — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 15:54:44 +0000

Loved the interview. Gotta say I haven’t checked out Ran’s site, but am very interested. When Katrina happened, I had all sort of thoughts about the pointlessness of what I do, my cog-job to pay the rent, so that stuff resonates. Great stuff.

Are you familiar with John Zerzan, Ran? I feel similar sympathies in the interview.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:48:44 +0000

Opps… btw, I’m a different Aaron than the one above

PS: Thanks for the interview Ran and Tim.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:44:29 +0000

Speaking of consumer reflex –

The supermarkets in Austin TX are bedlam right now. People are buying water like the stuff about to pour from the sky isn’t drinkable.

There seems to be genuine fear that if (when) the power goes out, you won’t be able to flush your toilet anymore… and then what?

The possibility seems fun to me.

By: adam

adam — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 12:15:36 +0000

One of the things I think that New Orleans proved above anything was how lacking we are in basic survival skills and how a reliant most have become on social amenities and the system. It seemed to me a lot of the trouble came from firstly people’s inability to look after themselves and secondly from an ingrained consumer reflex, instead of trying to organise their survival peoples first instinct was to get there hands on as much free stuff as possible.

I mean if you compare New Orleans to say Indonesia after the Tusmai the difference in the reaction of the people is quite stark.

Nice interview Tim, it’s interesting I wrote an article on Key23 a few months ago that covered similar ground, however I personally couldn’t advocate dropping out completely, but Ran’s comments have made me think about my own arguments in a new light.

By: alistair

alistair — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 10:48:44 +0000

i listened to an interview with a guy who went to new orleans to save animals left by the storm.it was heartening to hear that someone would such a thing.he was met by people with tents set up and a makeshift pound to coral stray dogs. but don`t think for a moment it was some democrat led utopia.the simple fact is that people will revert to thier basic survivalist strategies in times of crisis. if the situation calls for co-opration, people will co-operate but on the other hand, don`t be stealing shit that`s not yours.
political or social polarisation is an artifical structure designed to support the political industry more than it`s intellectual sufiism. to put yourself in the shoes of the terrorists polarises you just as squarely as to want to learn to walk like george bush. either side of the coin is still dealing in the same currency.
look at what any “successful” terrorist organisation does. they become the enemy. the p.l.o., sinn fean, etc. they all want to eventually grasp the brass ring.
i like ran`s ideas about fighting from the inside. sleeping on the couches of the wage slaves is good basic survivalist strategy. i identify with his weariness with consumerism and the utter pointlessness of our existance from an intellectual viewpoint. but. as was once said about capitalism and democracy. it is the worst form of government, except all the other ones.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 10:38:55 +0000

Sorry, my grammar bad is

By: Lazlo Hollyfield

Lazlo Hollyfield — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 08:06:50 +0000

My Sentiments exactly Dan.. Great Interview!!! Thanks Tim and thank you Ran for providing such a radical outlook and much food for thought.. Get your essays and Book on Lulu.com and I’ll gladly buy multiple copies and give them to friends and family.. Your spirit and desire to set the earth in balance and relinquish the mad vampiric control mechanism that has chimerically attached itself to every facet of ‘alive’, needs to spread and create meme-plexes of group-minds replete with new energy.. It’s 1:11 am back to the basement..

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 07:51:36 +0000

Alastair - go to Ran’s website and read his comments about New Orleans and then also follow a link that is there to an article by two Paramedics who with a bunch of people formed a temporary community within New Orleans that looked out for each other. Not only did they give help to each other and to strangers but they had no hassles from anyone but the authorities. The only guns pointed at them were by the police - who also that kept trying to make them disperse and destroyed their shelters and took their food and water.

It was TV that made you think that things turn to chaos when the system falls apart but they didn’t show you anything about the people who offered mutual support - they didn’t show you that the first thing that happens when the system fails is that people start helping eah other out again.

By: James Russell

James Russell — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 05:20:02 +0000

Tim asked Ran, regarding the comparison between Star Wars and September 11:

Why do you think so few people pick up on what seems like such an obvious cultural parallel?

In this case I presume people haven’t latched onto it because it would require them to see themselves from the perspective of the other team, and consequently to entertain the notion that other people might see them as evil. That’s an intellectual leap I dare say most people aren’t willing to make (indeed, I suspect most people are so entrenched in whatever thought system they participate in that it’s already enough of an intellectual leap for them to have to consider that other people might even have other perspectives, let alone that those other perspectives may have some validity or even be superior to their own). It’s much easier to simply say “us good, towelheads bad” and to then label anyone who disagrees as a terrorist sympathiser or something along those lines, and to stop thinking about it. Thinking only gets in the way.

By: alistair

alistair — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 02:51:28 +0000

the problem with the end of the world scenario/fantasy is that you are likely to die horridly. look at new orleans as an example of a total breakdown with looting/finding going on and people arming themselves. and that`s a temporary, local disaster with eventual help. if the whole country/continent is knocked sideways or an epidemic takes out 90% of the population there would be no time for adventures. it would be guns, food , shelter and more guns. and learning to shot people on sight.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 00:22:27 +0000

Great interview! I for one would by a book of Ran’s stuff…hell, I’d buy them for all of my friends, to be honest.

By: Ran

Ran — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 23:53:58 +0000

Thanks Tim! As for TV, I’ve seen every episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer through the sixth season, many of them twice, and I also love Firefly. I’ve watched a lot of X-Files and South Park, and of course there’s the first season of Twin Peaks. Also my favorite PC games are Lords of the Realm II, Heroes of Might and Magic II, and Ascendancy, all from the golden age in the mid-90’s. And Zelda Ocarina of Time is the best!