Oberon Obsidian

Herbalist, alchemist, adventurer, and wanderer, individualist anarchist, futurist, and lover of dark music and aesthetics.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@hispanicnomad They probalby accessed you email or something accessible without fingerprint/face ID and used that to gain control of accounts (unless there is some new, undocumented Apple exploit).

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@hispanicnomad I'm trying to do it in Brazil right now.... Obscure processes. Tons of bureaucracy. Multiple "manual overrides" because everything is built for residents. I think I finally am at the last steps - and I've had a CPF for over a year. I just wanted to use Pix.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@hispanicnomad I spent a whole winter in Santiago, and it's not that bad.... I lived in Denver though. It probably is the coldest major city in Latin America im the winter (colder than Buenos Aires). I had to wear my wool coat daily.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@hispanicnomad I have too many ties to the US to renounce my citizenship (and need some other good citizenship first)... This is the only way to get rid of that obligation.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@hispanicnomad Yes, and in a country like Paraguay that doesn't tax foreign income, you can effectively pay zero tax up to $130K USD - but only on freelance income earned via work done abroad. Once you have capital gains or business profits, they are taxed normally.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@hispanicnomad My wife is a Filipino citizen by birth, but I'm currently in Paraguay.... Any advantages to the Philippines or reasons we might want to consider it?

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@raven_brah So he would say, "Have you considered taking a second job?" But what if you are already working as much as you can? Many full-time jobs have contractual clauses prohibiting side work - you could be sued for fraud - and already require more than 40 hours/week

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@4nt1p4tt3rn You can save $200 this month, but that doesn't help when the price of groceries, energy, and medical care rise next month, and your wages don't, and then you get laid off, due to AI and have to spend down your savings just to survive.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

@4nt1p4tt3rn The original post is completely tone deaf to these current economic realities. It doesn't matter how much you cut from your budget, if stable work is work is impossible to find and prices are rising faster than wages.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

I really wish there were a version of the other group, Goths Against Fascism without the baggage, one that didn't believe in cancel culture or deplatforming people.... Althought if I were to create one myself, I would probably call it something like "Goths Against Authoritarianism, Cancel Culture, and Censorship" - as I think *all* forms of authoritarianism, left, right, and otherwise are equally as oppressive, and all these things have their negative affects - but if I had to chose, I would probably create this on X, rather than Facebook, and a group in Spanish (or maybe Portuguese), rather than English would be more relevant to my current geographic focus.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

So I barely pay attention to US goth scene drama as my focus is now on Latin America (South America specifically), but I would like to respond to the whole Dark Force Fest fiasco.... I am not sure I am going to be able to get to this in time, while it is still relevant, as I have lots of preparations to make for onward travel to Paraguay, but I have a unique nuanced perspective. I will not be joining the group "Goths Against Cancel Culture" as it is problematic for reasons other people are not focused on - I have learned it engaged in hypocritical censorship of opposing views. However, I do not think the way Dark Force Fest handled things was ideal either. My unique take comes from my time living in São Paulo, Brazil, which showed me there is a different (and in my view better) way, one that works. São Paulo is a huge and ideologically divided city (largest in the Western hemisphere), almost evenly split between liberals, conservatives, and centrists, and anti-trans violence is on the rise there (and there is racism in Brazil as well, though they have their own unique coception of "race" quite different from the US and own set of challenges), so they need a way to address these issue and create a safe space where everyone can get along, but they chose a different path: Madame Club, founded in 1983 is the oldest goth club in the Americas, and it is very pro-LGBT.... It is named after Madame Satã, a 1950s Brazilian drag performer. However, all ideologies are explicitly allowed, and there have been freaks and outcasts of all stripes there since the 1980s, including people with diverse views. The way this works is a strictly anti-political stance, in line with the original orientation of the goth scene, as it diverged from the more political punk and post-punk and became more of a personal/artistic expression, and the club was sort of a sactuary from the conflicts of the outside world (a sort of embodiment of Carl Jung's ideas of how all politics are corrosive to the human spirit and harmful to the development of the individual). As far as I know, these rules have been in place since the 80s, when the club first opened, as I have talked to people who were there (though I could have misunderstood something in Portuguese).

In line with this stance, ALL political symbols, regardless of party and ideology are banned. This goes well beyond other tolerant spaces I know of like The Castle in Tampa, which only ban symbols of hate. At Madame Club, the hammer and sickle is equally as off limits as the swastika, and I cannot even wear my anarchy pin (it is never cold enough for the coat I have that on anyway though). If you are going to do this kind of, this blanket ban is in my opinion better and more fair, because even the hammer and sickle can have quite negative connotations for some people (e.g. those who lived in the Soviet Union). There is also a hard line against any form of harassment, especially based on who someone is and their immutable characteristics. This is a simplification, as the divisions in São Paulo go way beyond left and right. There are also large numbers of both Jewish and Palestinian immigrants, and as far as I know there are no issues between them there either. It is the most diverse and tolerant place I have ever been - with people of all races (African, European, Asian, and Indigenous), all lifestyles, orientations, and identities, and even all religious and political views. I have had some of my most interesting and civil political discussions there (with those open to privately talk about the topic), though I often had major disagreements, but there was no animosity. This is in my view much better than the model of "tolerance" in the US, where the culture of discourse is increasingly toxic (with hate on both sides of the spectrum). I am well aware Brazil has some issues with official censorship, driven by the government itself (as opposed to "cancel culture") and rule of law, so all is not perfect there, but on a cultural level and the way they respond to divisions, things seem to be better there..... I look at these ideological wars as sort an outsider, as an individualist anarchist slightly left of center (due to the Georgist and mutualist influence on my economic views), but overall outside of the typical spectrum of left and right.

I could say more and would write a more complete response, but I am still formulating my own thoughts and considering some opposing arguments, and I have to figure out how to present things, so that it will not offend *someone*, so I am not sure I will get to this. But all I can say is people would be well served to look outside of the way just North America and Europe respond to the issue of intolerant views in a scene that prides itself in nonconformity. Brazil offers a different model that does not emulate the conformity of the outside society that would like to exclude freaks who do not fit in, one based on a strong positive message of tolerance, rather than excluding people, and it seems to work. People talk about the Paradox of Tolerance and say if you let these people into the scene, they will bring others who harass and abuse people and create an unsafe space, but that is not what seems to have happened in São Paulo, one largest and most ideologically divided cities in the world. There may be something unique about Madame, but there is a way.... I certainly will not boycott events that make a different decision (I go to other smaller ones here in Latin America that have rules like no bigoted/authoritarian/machismo attitudes, and I respect that choice), but I offer up this perspective and a possible better path forward.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

I will say that I actually cannot confirm the allegations about the "Goths Aganst Cancel Culture" group censorsing opposing views, and they presented some reasonable sounding neutral set of content guidelines to me - maybe slightly more restrctive than I would chose, but overall consistent with free expression, so I'm still contemplating whether to share this perspective there.

[Oberon Obsidian @OberonObsidian]

So another argument that I want to address is that violence against the right is justified because “white supremacy” is a fundamentally violent ideology. We will set aside for now that leftists throw around this term far too casually. (Not everyone who makes a racially insensitive comment or perpetuates some racist trope or does not support racial quotas or buy into critical race theory is a racist or Nazi. There are degrees of insensitivity and bigotry, and in my opinion what DEI has come to mean has tread into the other extreme – into reverse racism.) But he real reason this is peak hypocrisy from the left is that their ideology fundamentally rests on a foundation of violence as well, as any that utilizes the coercive power of the state does. What do you think happens to you if you refuse to pay the taxes that they want to implement. Suppose you do all your business on the informal market, take all of your money out of the bank, put it into cryptocurrency, destroy the physical device, memorize the passphrase, and refuse to turn that over? What if you refuse to turn yourself in when the tax collector charges you? Eventually this leads to armed men with guns coming to take you into custody, and if you resist arrest, I assure you they will not shy away from violence. What do you think happens when the government mandates conformity to their preferred set of cultural values, and you refuse to comply? The scenario is quite similar. We saw this in blue states during the COVID lockdowns, when businesses refused to comply with lockdowns.

Eventually it comes to force, and if you resist that force, eventually it becomes violent. The fundamental power of the state rests on the monopoly of force. As an individualist anarchist, I can say I am one of the few people in the discussion here who does not support this force (or violence). I follow the non-aggression principle and think people should be left alone, as long as they do not initiate force against others (or violate their rights). What that system of individual rights that governs the division of economic resources should look like is something we can argue about (and we do in individualist anarchist circles – we have anarcho-capitalists, mutualists, geo-anarchists, etc.) Both the mainstream and left and right have an ideology backed by violence though. Now apparently the left has decided that those with opposing opinions that are “violent” need to be shut down (and even killed if necessary). This is very shortsighted. Do they not think the other side could use the same justification to justify the same sorts of actions? It makes it that much easier to frame the left as adherents to a violent ideology. Do you not think the right is going to come after you in the same way? Besides retaliatory assassinations, it could easily normalize the idea that adherents to this ideology are “terrorists” and the boot of the state needs to stomp down and break them.... It is my current fear that that is where we are heading (and will be more than just the left that is swept away by this).

Before you accuse me of being an apologist for the right, I have been fighting against abuses of the state since the 90s. I was making noise about abuses of the police long before anyone knew who George Floyd was..... I have been a victim of it myself and don't think this is purely a racial issue. I do recognize it disproportionately affects minorities. I happen to differ in my preferred solution from the left. I don't think the solution is anarcho-tyrrany (defunding the police, yet still going against anyone who owns a weapon or engages in self-defense.) I don't think it's branding all white people as racists. I do think community-based self-policing has a role (I think the Black Panthers were right in spirit). I'm in favor of the Second Amendment and minority gun ownership. I also think as long as we have the present system, we basically need a fourth branch of government (and may be fifth) – one or a couple responsible solely for investigating and prosecuting abuses by the police and government officials, which are totally independent of the normal law enforcement and proprietorial arms of the government and do not depend on them to function. This will remove the current conflicts of interest and create accountability. That, not pushing the racism into reverse is what we need.... The consequences of that have been quite destructive. Telling all these Gen Z young white men they are trash (and systemically stripping them of opportunities) is one of the things that has pushed them to the right (although this is a global phenomenon – not just something happening in the US or even in white-majority countries, and this shift is also taking place in places in South Korea and Latin America.) And before you tell me that, if I don't share your views, I must be a racist or Nazi too – I'm Jewish and part Native American and have an Afro-Caribbean/Asian fiance, so that is not going to stick.... That ship has already sailed, and the last guy who tried to make an issue of it, quite fittingly got thrown out of the place we were in by a Black guy in a cowboy hat. I spent 3 months in São Paulo, Brazil, one of the most diverse places on the planet, and that is still one of my backup plans (it would not be if I did not like that diversity). So next time, if you want to try something, try it in Campos Elíseos and see how you fare on the streets there. Anyway, you will not be some young guy beating up Nazis on the street forever.... Eventually you'll be an old man facing some group of people younger and tougher than you, so maybe think of how you can reach this younger generation with your words, not your fists. I can pretty much say, say here in South America, I am completely beyond the reach of US-based Internet “tough guys.” Good luck figuring out which country I'm in, and which language you'll have to speak to go there! (This gives me a certain level of freedom to speak my mind, unfiltered.)

Anyway, I have digressed into my personal history and situation, but what sets white supremacists and racists apart is not actually that their ideology rests in violence (that of the mainstream right and left does as well). It is that is rests in ignorance – these false beliefs in the inferiority of one population or another are the reason for their hatred. They are certainly not unique in either of these regards – I could accuse the left of ignorance on economic matters and current social conditions (sometimes willfully so), and many of them are quite hateful of the rich or those who oppose their views (and taken to the extreme, that can lead to great human suffering – look at the Soviet Union, or more recently Venezuela). I've seen the disdain of entire cultural groups as well (poor white rednecks or “white trash,” the “degenerates” that Hillary Clinton and others liked to disparage). Racist ideologies only the worst manifestation of this, it is a spectrum.

It is my belief that the solution is education, not violence. This the universal antidote to ignorance. This is not as simple as winning an argument in the moment. In many cases, you have the plant the seeds of open-mindedness over time and watch them grow. Eventually people will come to their own conclusions. The danger is when you have self-reinforcing groups that cut off information to the outside, using either force or social pressure to enforce conformity. It is harder to break this spell than changing the mind of an individual – in some cases it requires outside force or pressure to come in an break this cycle. Presently, it is the left that is worse on this front, and studies have shown they have lower ideological variation than the right, and this is no doubt the result of how they police views that step out of line (and utilize “cancel culture,” now even resorting to violence). This is what Karl Popper's “Paradox of Tolerance” actually was talking about (not simply holding bigoted/discriminatory views against one group or another). The key element is whether some group is open to outside ideas and whether it polices those who stray and consider them. Unfortunately, I think that is the US left right now. Though I don't yet think force is necessary to deal with this, I do think some of them may have to lose their jobs, etc. as a consequence of cheering on violence to shut down opposing viewpoints.

Anyway, that is as much as I have time to write right now, but there are reasons I'm presently living outside the United States, and the toxic ideological climate is one. This is also the reason that wherever I end up, it is not going to be in a city dominated by the left. It will be someplace more politically mixed, where not only people of all backgrounds and lifestyles are tolerated, but also all viewpoints and ideologies. Luckily, this continent does not follow the same demographic patterns as North America, and there are plenty of options. So for now, I am done with the US. Latin America, it is.