For those of you who've never heard of Scott Crow many anarcho-hipsters would consider you I'll informed. I'd consider you fortunate. He gave a rather poor lecture on anarchism (he prefers the distinction 'anarchy.' The only distinction I could detect was that the 'A' exceeds the circle). His talk consisted of serious historic distortions, a very vague concept of anarchism (evidently one without any road maps nor goals) and a strong anti-capitalist conviction without a single mention of class (literally an hour and 30 min of lecturing and the word class was never spoken). Also he referenced anarchy the way a cp member might have referenced Stalin, i.e., a total disregard for the ideas and principles while only being interested in making a fashion statement. But with all that said my main objection was a moral one. He talked about taking up arms in a very romantic and delusional way. I was very propagandistic without any trace of reality. He said you will most likely end up dead or in jail but that's ok because this thing was bigger than all of us. This was met with vigorous head nodding. This was really similar to Taliban style recruiting. Telling young folks that they could become martyrs for the cause. It seemed really fucked, especially considering the talk was in Cleveland, where 5 impressionable dudes are locked up now because they tried to blow up a bridge (stupid I know). Let me also say I am coming from an anarchist, anti-cap perspective (also I'm not a committed pacifist). Any thoughts? Is this sort of thing morally objectionable or am I just being sanctimonious?



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He sounds like a seriously confused, vanguardist douchebag. Even if he is leading the charge towards jail or death (which I highly doubt), he's at best promoting an image of anarchists as immature losers, jerking off to dreams of battlefield heroics. At worst, he's going to get people killed pointlessly. So yeah, I think your moral critique holds water.
If he's speaking in your area, maybe you could pass out the "You can't blow up a social relationship - the anarchist case against terrorism" pamphlet outside the venue?