From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon May 06 2002 - 11:49:43 MDT
> (Amara Graps <amara@amara.com>):
> Mike Linksvayer:
> >You bet. Very unfortunate organization name, I don't want the word
> >"transhuman" associated with the above sentiment.
> >
> > Anti-Luddite Front
> > Enemies of Ludd
> > Technology First! <-----
>
>
> I like the latter one best, because it's more positive. (although
> is it a good idea to have 'technology first' associated with actions
> that will be perceived as eco-terrorism?)
>
> The people that Mike is targeting are a group of people who are
> interested in putting good nutrition in their bodies. Those are
> the people that we _want_ on our sides. That they might be misinformed
> about 'organic', 'biologic', 'okologic', etc. can be handled more sensibly.
> Approaches like what he proposes will make enemies. No one will
> see it as a way to educate about the content of foods.
If you're not making enemies, you aren't accomplishing anything.
What I see as the purpose of a more "radical" group here is not
mayhem, but more like directly confrontational rhetoric and ridicule
of the enemy. I'm thinking of things like PETA's deliberately
provocative campaigns against popular ads--their "Got Beer?" parody
and their complaints about the California Cows ads. Or "truth", with
those hideous (but memorable) anti-tobacco ads. They take on corporate
culture icons headfirst, with no apologies, and they get noticed.
Yes, people think of them as kooks, but by any rational measure they
are fabulously successful kooks, and they get people to think about
animal rights issues and tobacco.
People need to be slapped out of their complacency and blind
acceptance of the status quo. If we upset them in the process,
that can be a good thing. As long as they know we exist, and that
we're not going away, and that we won't take their bullshit lying
down. Yes, there need to be organizations like ExI and WTO that
have nice polite editorials and carefully-reasoned rebuttals of
the luddites. But there also needs to be someone showing pictures
of the luddites with blood on their hands, to let people know
what the stakes really are. Those who are anti-technology are
pro-death, and we need to say that clearly, loudly, and in ways
the public can remember.
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