
The Forest for the Trees - maxblackwood
https://blog.patternsinthevoid.net/the-forest-for-the-trees.html
======
navait
I don't know if I agree with the transformative justice ideas of the article,
but it is a delight to read an excellent post by someone with very different
values from my own. The article reveals the thought process, and why they
believe in their system without exaggeration or polemics.

Most anarchist/socialist writings that get passed to me are bogged down in
vocabulary specific to them, or have hidden assumptions that don't make sense
to me, and difficult to understand. This piece was extraordinarily clear, and
shows the advantages and disadvantages of their system. It certainly made me
re-think my concept of justice. I would like to think mainstream society could
learn a lot from the author.

~~~
erikpukinskis
I know you intended this as a compliment, but it reads to me as a backhanded
insult to every other anarchist writer.

What you are saying comes across to me like: "It is a delight to read an
excellent post by someone from the Muslim world. Most Muslim writings that get
passed to me are bogged down in Arabic vocabulary, or have hidden assumptions
that don't make sense to me. This piece was written in English, and shows the
advantages and disadvantages of Muslim philosophy."

I don't mean to jump down your throat, but I just find it really frustrating
how many pro-capitalist demand that every idea be translated into _their_
metaphors and _their_ models and _their_ experiences while putting no stock
whatsoever in the fact that entire societies function perfectly well under
different value systems. The "you're wrong until you can prove it to me"
attitude really bugs me because I think we could advance society so much
faster if we worked collaboratively to discover the truth.

I get the sense that you do truly appreciate this essay, but you'd never do
the work to try to reach across in the opposite direction. That works fine for
you because your ideology is the dominant one, but I think it is an abuse of
power.

~~~
navait
You're absolutely right, I won't work to understand you. Sorry. I don't have
infinite time in my life, and obscure political ideologies require too much of
an investment for me to benefit from it. I don't have time in my life to learn
arabic, socialist-speak and anarchist-speak, and even if I did, who would I
talk to about it? I don't know anyone who thinks like that. It's bad enough
being the only technology person I know in the real world. I started learning
french because I was around enough speakers to extract value from it.

You're going to have to do the work for me if you want to win, because you
already speak the language. But hey, if you don't want me, that's ok, I'm
pretty happy serving the neoliberal economic beast.

------
exolymph
Related discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11910543](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11910543)

