Hey there everyone. It's your favorite ranting demagogue of revolution and chaos here. Yes, I know that Street Clan 1.5 is WAAAAAY behind. I apologize full heartedly for that, because honestly I've had writer's block. I know how to break through writer's block. No problem there. Just sit down and fucking do it. Easy peasy. No time wasted. Grit your teeth and put your back into it and get the job done. That's my nice working class ethic there.
Normally, I can do that without any issue. But right now, I and others at Reaver had bigger fish to fry. Mostly getting Anti-E as active as possible. We're currently mobilizing for a new Project that is something I can assure all of you will NOT be a viral campaign. It will be a full political action, merging our aspects of net activism and street activism, and will be our most ambitious action to date.
You may be asking yourself why there has been such a shift lately. Sure, a lot of us have been more focused on Occupying and related works over the past few weeks and months. It's in line with a lot of our ethical ideologies on (at the very least, if not more) a base level. But as we've proven in the past, we keep our eyes on everything. We've followed up threats to personal freedoms and true democracies from WikiLeaks, to the Net-Kill Switch, to the Indefinite Detention (or "Prolonged" Detention Bill as they're calling it now, but more on that later). We've followed up and supported Anonymous, the Arab Spring, the Cyber War, and Occupy in whatever way we could. Through everything from raising awareness through blogs, to tweeting with Arab Spring revolutionaries, to talking, spreading support, and sharing WikiLeaks documents with Anonymous and marching and Occupying, we have been in the trenches of this Global Revolution from the very start and we have been proud to have played the role, no matter how small or large, in this historical occasion.
We pledge continued solidarity with the Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring Revolutionaries, and the Indignados of Europe.
With that in mind, I must speak to all of you on a personal level. Not as Sean the Anti-E. Not as Sean the Occupier. Not as Sean the revolutionary.
When I finished the zero draft of "Burning the Roads", when the Shades of Grey universe was first formulated, and the players set, it was late 2008. I had done it mostly to vent a lot of frustration I had at how I saw things had been going in the United States. It was something to do other than play video games, surf the web, or to be perfectly honest, do chores, when I came home from digging ditches for who would become my father-in-law.
My (now soon to be) ex-wife had taken a read of the manuscript and said "You should think about publishing it" to which I replied, "I've given it some thought. There's a lot of stuff in there the world needs to hear, but I don't think I have enough time." She said, "Well if nothing else, you can at least have the manuscript." To me, that wasn't enough. I truly believed, and still do believe, that Shades of Grey is a universe (at least at the level we at Reaver have been privileged enough to show to the world) that must be taken into serious consideration of the parallels of our world.
I, and most of us who founded Reaver, felt that we had that capacity. We held onto Anti-E as an insurance policy with which we could show the world that we put our money were our mouths are, very literally. We'd work on two fronts. Publish stories that had the potential to open people's minds and at the same time, entertain with some nice explosions and gunfights and drama. Organize and support those whose minds are opened and work to "fight the dystopia" (a cyberpunk rallying cry from CCCF). Two fronts. One mission.
Fight, and in the end, prevent, the dystopia.
I stated before that I had a feeling that my writing may come to the world too little and too late.
I have studied a LOT of different conspiracy theories and theorists, along with the world history of revolutionary movements, and so on. I do not consider myself a conspiracy theorist because I personally have a hard time buying a large amount of the "science" that goes into some of them, and the high reliance on assumption and what has been termed by some as "modern esoteric-ism". Some have their merits, but those merits seem to be largely hidden under piles of paranoid ramblings. I know I've written my fair share of what comes off to many as paranoid ramblings. Most ramblings were made during the viral campaign which didn't state the line between actual issues and immersive marketing tactics.
But then I saw this article (after having read the bill myself, it's a pretty good summary of it, and a pretty good explanation of how far this bill is going) and saw this video which I shall leave here:
Normally, I can do that without any issue. But right now, I and others at Reaver had bigger fish to fry. Mostly getting Anti-E as active as possible. We're currently mobilizing for a new Project that is something I can assure all of you will NOT be a viral campaign. It will be a full political action, merging our aspects of net activism and street activism, and will be our most ambitious action to date.
You may be asking yourself why there has been such a shift lately. Sure, a lot of us have been more focused on Occupying and related works over the past few weeks and months. It's in line with a lot of our ethical ideologies on (at the very least, if not more) a base level. But as we've proven in the past, we keep our eyes on everything. We've followed up threats to personal freedoms and true democracies from WikiLeaks, to the Net-Kill Switch, to the Indefinite Detention (or "Prolonged" Detention Bill as they're calling it now, but more on that later). We've followed up and supported Anonymous, the Arab Spring, the Cyber War, and Occupy in whatever way we could. Through everything from raising awareness through blogs, to tweeting with Arab Spring revolutionaries, to talking, spreading support, and sharing WikiLeaks documents with Anonymous and marching and Occupying, we have been in the trenches of this Global Revolution from the very start and we have been proud to have played the role, no matter how small or large, in this historical occasion.
We pledge continued solidarity with the Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring Revolutionaries, and the Indignados of Europe.
With that in mind, I must speak to all of you on a personal level. Not as Sean the Anti-E. Not as Sean the Occupier. Not as Sean the revolutionary.
When I finished the zero draft of "Burning the Roads", when the Shades of Grey universe was first formulated, and the players set, it was late 2008. I had done it mostly to vent a lot of frustration I had at how I saw things had been going in the United States. It was something to do other than play video games, surf the web, or to be perfectly honest, do chores, when I came home from digging ditches for who would become my father-in-law.
My (now soon to be) ex-wife had taken a read of the manuscript and said "You should think about publishing it" to which I replied, "I've given it some thought. There's a lot of stuff in there the world needs to hear, but I don't think I have enough time." She said, "Well if nothing else, you can at least have the manuscript." To me, that wasn't enough. I truly believed, and still do believe, that Shades of Grey is a universe (at least at the level we at Reaver have been privileged enough to show to the world) that must be taken into serious consideration of the parallels of our world.
I, and most of us who founded Reaver, felt that we had that capacity. We held onto Anti-E as an insurance policy with which we could show the world that we put our money were our mouths are, very literally. We'd work on two fronts. Publish stories that had the potential to open people's minds and at the same time, entertain with some nice explosions and gunfights and drama. Organize and support those whose minds are opened and work to "fight the dystopia" (a cyberpunk rallying cry from CCCF). Two fronts. One mission.
Fight, and in the end, prevent, the dystopia.
I stated before that I had a feeling that my writing may come to the world too little and too late.
I have studied a LOT of different conspiracy theories and theorists, along with the world history of revolutionary movements, and so on. I do not consider myself a conspiracy theorist because I personally have a hard time buying a large amount of the "science" that goes into some of them, and the high reliance on assumption and what has been termed by some as "modern esoteric-ism". Some have their merits, but those merits seem to be largely hidden under piles of paranoid ramblings. I know I've written my fair share of what comes off to many as paranoid ramblings. Most ramblings were made during the viral campaign which didn't state the line between actual issues and immersive marketing tactics.
But then I saw this article (after having read the bill myself, it's a pretty good summary of it, and a pretty good explanation of how far this bill is going) and saw this video which I shall leave here:
Obama said he would veto the bill initially. Now he's come out saying that he won't [link]. After seeing a post via Occupy the Media from Reddit which mentioned the bill going this far, I was lead to the Wikipedia page for the bill in question [link].
Now I'll quote from that and break it down:
Now I'll quote from that and break it down:
"Though the White House[3] and Senate sponsors[4] maintain that that the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF) already grants presidential authority for indefinite detention, the Act legislatively codifies[5] the President's authority to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects without trial as defined in Title X, Subtitle D, SEC 1021(a-e) of the bill.[6] Because under some versions of the bill those who may be held indefinitely include U.S. citizens arrested on American soil, the Act has received critical attention by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and media sources.[7][8][9][10][11]But the final version of the bill drafted by the Senate-House conference committee exempted U.S. citizens from the requirement for terror suspects to be held in military custody and included language stating that the bill did not extend new authority to detain U.S. citizens. [12]"
To break it down, the bill does not extend any NEW authority to detain U.S. Citizens, and that U.S. Citizens are exempt from the REQUIREMENT for U.S. Citizens to be held in military custody. That does not mean that they will not be held. It's really a matter of who gets the "suspected terrorist" first. The Military, or the FBI. The bill, as I have read it, and links are available for the bill via that link, states at one point that U.S. Citizens are exempt from being captured and detained indefinitely by the U.S. Military, yet several points later, says exactly the opposite.
There's a lot of doublespeak going on here. I get worried when I see that, and I see that this bill was pushed through the Senate on Thanksgiving night (who watches CSPAN on Thanksgiving?) and that little more than two weeks later, it's sitting on the desk of a President who, and I quote from the Wiki article, "issued a statement saying that it would not veto the bill[14] " because "the authorities codified in this section already exist, the Administration does not believe codification is necessary". So even the President was worried about the possible repercussions of the wording of this bill. Occupy is still around, and I can say from my involvement, it's not going away and there's a plan to come back even stronger in the spring. To me, this looks like Obama not wanting to tip his cards.
The majority of the bill is actually in regards to being prepped for World War 3 essentially (which is scary in it's own right considering the saber rattling with Iran). However, a bill including this wording at this time says something about the mindset of the people in charge up in Washington and how Wall Street's more than likely breathing down their necks through the revolving door between the public and private sectors. The swift change after worrying that the wording "poses some risk", says something larger.
I tried to put as much thought into this as possible, but I truly do believe that the Obama Administration and the Wall Street fat cats are scared, and when they're scared, they're trying to be cautious. The "risk" of that wording could very well be that people just may overreact in what is already an "extreme reality". Or it could be that they're planning on making the DHS co-ordinated crackdowns on Occupy look like a cake walk. What I see is that there is escalation on both sides of this coin.
But as a cyberpunk in lifestyle, as a cyberpunk writer, and as someone who has knowledge that Phillip K. Dick is the author most considered to be the god-father of cyberpunk (or proto-cyberpunk as it's called), it scares the ever living shit out of me when I see the mainstream media referencing his works in regards to current events.
Why? Because I always shouted the cry of "Prevent the dystopia!". It was my reason for writing the way I do. But now? Jesus Halliburton Christ... The dystopia seems to have arrived and I'm not sure what else to do other than to keep pushing forward with Anti-E and Reaver and hope for the best.
Because even with all this crazy stuff flying around, at the end of the day, hope for the best is what keeps me, and many of us in Anti-E and Occupy going. Hope fueled by a belief that we are in the right and that things can and will get better.
We have not seen the beginning. We have seen the beginning of the beginning. We are seeing 2011 coming to a close, marked as a year of Global Revolution by such staples as Time Magazine. The Revolution will continue, and it may even become very ugly, uglier than police who's salaries are being undercut by Wall Street deals, bashing the men, women, children and elderly who are in all reality fighting for those police (they're the 99% too). The Revolution will continue, and because I have tried in the past to prevent things from getting worse, I will now commit myself to making sure that they become better.
Till whatever end may come, Reaver will continue to open people to action and Anti-E will continue to organize them to stand in solidarity and support with Occupy, Anonymous, and the Arab Spring Revolutionaries.
Welcome to the future.
There's a lot of doublespeak going on here. I get worried when I see that, and I see that this bill was pushed through the Senate on Thanksgiving night (who watches CSPAN on Thanksgiving?) and that little more than two weeks later, it's sitting on the desk of a President who, and I quote from the Wiki article, "issued a statement saying that it would not veto the bill[14] " because "the authorities codified in this section already exist, the Administration does not believe codification is necessary". So even the President was worried about the possible repercussions of the wording of this bill. Occupy is still around, and I can say from my involvement, it's not going away and there's a plan to come back even stronger in the spring. To me, this looks like Obama not wanting to tip his cards.
The majority of the bill is actually in regards to being prepped for World War 3 essentially (which is scary in it's own right considering the saber rattling with Iran). However, a bill including this wording at this time says something about the mindset of the people in charge up in Washington and how Wall Street's more than likely breathing down their necks through the revolving door between the public and private sectors. The swift change after worrying that the wording "poses some risk", says something larger.
I tried to put as much thought into this as possible, but I truly do believe that the Obama Administration and the Wall Street fat cats are scared, and when they're scared, they're trying to be cautious. The "risk" of that wording could very well be that people just may overreact in what is already an "extreme reality". Or it could be that they're planning on making the DHS co-ordinated crackdowns on Occupy look like a cake walk. What I see is that there is escalation on both sides of this coin.
But as a cyberpunk in lifestyle, as a cyberpunk writer, and as someone who has knowledge that Phillip K. Dick is the author most considered to be the god-father of cyberpunk (or proto-cyberpunk as it's called), it scares the ever living shit out of me when I see the mainstream media referencing his works in regards to current events.
Why? Because I always shouted the cry of "Prevent the dystopia!". It was my reason for writing the way I do. But now? Jesus Halliburton Christ... The dystopia seems to have arrived and I'm not sure what else to do other than to keep pushing forward with Anti-E and Reaver and hope for the best.
Because even with all this crazy stuff flying around, at the end of the day, hope for the best is what keeps me, and many of us in Anti-E and Occupy going. Hope fueled by a belief that we are in the right and that things can and will get better.
We have not seen the beginning. We have seen the beginning of the beginning. We are seeing 2011 coming to a close, marked as a year of Global Revolution by such staples as Time Magazine. The Revolution will continue, and it may even become very ugly, uglier than police who's salaries are being undercut by Wall Street deals, bashing the men, women, children and elderly who are in all reality fighting for those police (they're the 99% too). The Revolution will continue, and because I have tried in the past to prevent things from getting worse, I will now commit myself to making sure that they become better.
Till whatever end may come, Reaver will continue to open people to action and Anti-E will continue to organize them to stand in solidarity and support with Occupy, Anonymous, and the Arab Spring Revolutionaries.
Welcome to the future.
