Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

A CRITICAL QUESTION

The Believer | 28.02.2002 11:46

A short piece of critical writing

There is no point in pretending that what you are about to read is anything other than criticism aimed toward many of the readers of this site. I think that whether criticism is constructive or destructive is not only determined by the content and form of the criticism itself but by the way people react to the criticism. What you are about to read could be taken as either constructive or destructive - it depends on the attitude the reader takes. You might say "Well if all you can do is knock us down then fuck off" - and it is true that the critique takes a somewhat negative form. But surely we can't have critique without at least some negativity? And perhaps after all it is possible to react to a negative comment by saying "Well that's negative, perhaps even too harsh, but it does set off a chain of thought..."

And so that's all I intend with this - to spark some thoughts.

One last point - in pre-emption of replies: please don't suggest that since I am offering criticism I have to come up with positive alternatives. The whole point is that you think independently enough to reach your own conclusions.

With those corollaries in place I will begin. *Clears throat*

As an adult in an early 21st century Western society I feel isolated from the many millions of people in the society around me. Most people feel this either consciously or unconsciously and they have different ways of dealing with it. Myself I go to a meeting once a week or so of people who have similiar beliefs to my own. Sometimes I go much more often. We usually meet for a couple of hours and then have a social time. We feel some sense of community in doing this and it prevents the alienation permeating society from wearing us down. It is good to have a place where I don't have to constantly defend my beliefs.
On first going to these weekly meetings one begins to learn the things that should and should not be said/done. Some of those taboos are things that should not be said between any decent people, and some of the 'shoulds' make good sense, but some of them - such as the selection of favourite enemies for example - are less obvious and on initial consideration seem to have more to do with embedded orthodoxy than actual principles. On joining such a group though one needs to feel a sense of 'belonging' - after all that is one of the reasons for going. Conformity to the norms of acceptable speech and behaviour is therefore necessary at first. As time goes on it feels more natural. In fact such norms can't equate to conformity anyway because the entire ethos of the group is counter to prevailing culture. Clearly then it is a group of non-conformers and so I am a non-conformer. It is nice to be able to view myself in such a way. It makes me feel like I am truly an individual and that I have chosen my own path in life.
Occasionally I feel I ought to act more on my beliefs than I do - I certainly ought to do more outside of meetings. Sometimes the group I meet with helps me to do this, but I do sometimes get a creeping sense of guilt when I realise that the group is a bit insular and self-indulgent. Other people in the group feel the same way because we often talk of the need to 'reach out' to people. We feel the world would be a much better place if more people believed (at least approximately) what we believe. Indeed, sometimes it seems like that getting the message to other people is one of the main reasons for our meeting and acting together.
At other times I am more pessimistic and suspect that (a) ours is too difficult a message to get across, and (b) we aren't very good at 'outreach' anyway. At such times I allow myself to simply enjoy the community in which I have placed myself. I know there is nothing wrong with us enjoying ourselves even if there is so much wrong with world - occasionally though I feel that such enjoyment is becoming too important to me. I am after all 'committed' to my beliefs. I know that others in my small community feel the same because sometimes people hint that we need to be 'serious' about certain things; that is, our personal pleasure should be placed a bit lower on the agenda. This might be slightly painful but it is good to get serious sometimes because it focuses our minds on the action and outreach we ought to be doing. I hear that some groups have moved on from this dilemma by making sure that all their meetings and action and outreach are fun while still dealing with the serious issues. This is good because now there is nothing to stop them doing what they ought to.


You may have guessed the question by now. Here it is:
Do I go to a christian church or an anarchist activist group?


Yours in hope

The Believer


[Note to Indymedia people - if discussion results from this and you don't want it all on the newswire could someone think of an online forum it could be transferred to? If discussion does start feel free to copy it over without my permission if that is what you think should happen.]

The Believer

Comments

Display the following 14 comments

  1. Oooooh a riddle! — UN
  2. important distinction... — hs
  3. Agreed — leftism
  4. Ahem — The Believer
  5. sad — Andy
  6. you must make that decision for yourself — Acorn Tributor
  7. Righty ho then — The Believer
  8. Believe — agony aunt
  9. blah...blah...blah... — @nonymous
  10. Closed belief systems — Old Nick
  11. Tum te tum te tum... — The Believer
  12. You ignorant peasants — Jay-B
  13. well said... — d@ve
  14. More funds for public education NOW! — Walker
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech