February 27, 2020 Podcast

FRR Books Podcast: On The Advantage And Disadvantage Of History For Life by Friedrich Nietzsche

What is the point of studying history? The greatest argument I have heard is that if we know history we can change the future. Nietzsche makes this argument, but this ignores the fact that history is often a weight and a burden. Despite what most liberals believe, knowledge is not always 100% positive. Sloterdijk said that “Those who first uttered the phrase that knowledge is power didn’t mean only to make that equation, but to also intervene in the game of power.” This is the positive of knowing history, power! But, knowledge can also be a burden. Knowledge can function as a chain which limits us. What is heavier than history? It weighs not only on our minds, but our bodies. History is a given. We are shackled to the past by the libidinal economy of shared history and the history that lives in our bodies. I am against revolution because in my opinion no revolution has ever led to a society or situation which I find worth affirming, but should this limit me completely from any interest in revolution? I think so, but I am open to the idea that I am wrong. Can we view history from something other than a tautological mindset? Can we reject the gift of the given? What if we reject history, or change it?  What would that look like? What does it look like to make a history for ourselves? Can I view history from one of the many options Kundera provides for us: read more

August 4, 2019 Podcast

FRR Books Podcast: Camp Concentration by Thomas Disch

“Much that is terrible we do not know.  Much that is beautiful we shall still discover.  Let’s sail till we come to the edge.”

 There is something about books with shitty protagonists that I love and find compelling.  Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim usually comes to my mind first with Bron from Delany’s Trouble on Triton entering my mind second with a nod to Dostoevsky’s lead in Notes From the Underground.  These are incredibly flawed and weak characters with Dostoevsky starting his novel with “I am a sick man…. I am a spiteful man.” Sometimes these characters are insecure and sometimes they are full of braggadocio such as Bron.  Thomas Disch’s novel Camp Concentration is in large parts the journal of Louis Sachetti(think Sacco and Vanzetti of anarchist fame) who is a peak liberal basking in his self-righteousness.  Louis is a conchie(conscientious objector) very satisfied with his righteous imprisonment and his poetry. Disch is bold enough to write poetry for Louis throughout the novel, which some of the other characters take hilarious jabs at.  Reading a novel with a character such as Louis forces a reader to either become a good reader(reading closely and several times over) or to miss all of the beauty and depth within the novel. When I read Camp Concentration I must find empathy and understanding for Louis, a person who if I met in real life I would find completely repulsive.  But, the truth is that there is much I dislike in Louis that I dislike in myself. I have been self-righteous, I have written shitty poetry, I have thought of myself as the smartest person in the room. There is so much more to Camp Concentration, but this first and most basic issue, the shitty protagonist, sets the stage for the discussions of beauty, life, death, and freedom that follow.  Disch’s novel is a prison novel, it is a deeply physical novel, and it is a novel against death. A novel that seeks out anarchy in the fight against biology, the fight against anything that is put onto me or told is necessary for me. It is an exploration of agniology(the study of ignorance) and knowledge. What happens when we bite from the fruit? As we chew and digest how are we changed?  Discussing Camp Concentration is discussing these questions.   read more

May 25, 2019 Podcast Uncategorized

FRR Books Podcast: The Stirner Series Ep. 10, the Finale part 1!

I decided I was a fucking anarchist after reading the Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guinn when I was in my early twenties living in Hawaii.  I had no idea what an anarchist actually was, what an anarchist scene was..fuck I didn’t really know anything other than that I liked to surf and that I didn’t like the world that I lived in. Anarchy represented the most radical difference to that…this made it incredibly attractive to me.  It stayed incredibly attractive because I kept living in Hawaii, not knowing or meeting anarchists. I read, a lot. I’ve read a lot since I was a little kid. I didn’t make friends during childhood because I was too intense, too black and white morally and took the world way too seriously. I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t cured myself of these childhood/childish ways.  I thought at a young age that there was a moral obligation to watch the news, pay attention, know everything, and that somehow this would be helpful in fixing things. All I can do now is laugh at myself, which might seem like a refrain for my life at this point. read more

March 26, 2019 Podcast Uncategorized

On Desire and Consciousness: FRR Books Podcast the Stirner Series Episode IX

Here we are again, back on the boat discussing Stirner’s ideas. On my best days I view this project as an attempt to break from the ideological & eschatological thinking that hangs like a pall over anarchists and humans alike. It is difficult to discuss Stirner because most people haven’t read him and also because many believe that they know what is contained in this book from whatever they have read or heard other people say. We are not attempting to do the work for you, but rather to provide a companion with which to interact while reading Wolfi’s rewriting of Stirner’s book. As someone who reads all the time, it is frustrating to have few people to discuss the books with. It is frustrating because I believe reading to both an anti-social(while doing it) and social(it changes me and then I interact differently when socializing) activity. When I read a book that makes me question myself, my idea, my ideals, and what I hold closest, I am compelled to share this new version of my self with friends, fuck it, with strangers too. So here sits our version of sharing, our hope that in talking with each other we can better understand ours elves and how to relate to each other and further complicate our selves and relations to revel in pretending we can see and understand the chaos for just a little bit. read more

March 4, 2019 Podcast Uncategorized

FRR Books Podcast. Stirner Series Ep. 8: What’s Love got to do with it?! <3

In episode VII we discuss the second half of the chapter My Intercourse in the Unique and Its Property by Max Stirner, translated by Wolfi Lanstreicher.

What happens when six friends(aided by adult beverages and friendly plants) get together on a sailboat(well a parked sailboat) in the Pacific Ocean to discuss Stirner’s seminal piece of writing. Did the world change? Did we change? Did we discuss whether or not this was even possible? I’m not so sure. What I do know is that there are few things I love more than reading a book and shooting the shit with a few friends who also enjoy battling over ideas and seeing if it possible to take them out of the realm of the platonic and into the realm of our lives. To listen to us is to listen on a conversation shared between friends that we do for our selves but also that we love to share. Here are some things we hit on: read more

February 10, 2019 Podcast

My Intercourse! How We Have it, Who We Do it With: FRR Books Podcast the Stirner Series Episode VII

Image result for stirner memes

In episode VII of the Stirner Series we cover the second 50 pages of the chapter My Intercourse. In this episode Keehar, Big Cat, and rydra wrong discuss all things Stirner. We delve deeper into Stirner’s ideas and how they relate to our own lives. Some people have wondered what the purpose of this project is. The answer is simple: we are a group of friends who enjoy reading, talking, fighting, and laughing about books we like. If that isn’t of interest to you, then we probably wouldn’t get along very well if we met in the meat space. We do this project for ourselves, but we share it for our glory and because fuck, why not! read more

January 21, 2019 Podcast Uncategorized

FRR Books Podcast Episode 6: The Unique and Its Property, A Close Reading

In episode 6 rydra, big cat, Kahar, and Chuck discuss many things!

  • What is the difference between a criminal and an illegalist
  • Liberals want us to assert our weakness!
  • Might vs Right! Earned vs Taken rights! Rights?!
  • Can egoism be appropriated by leftism!?
  • Rydra says we cannot have a creative nothing because we cannot free ourselves from other’s perceptions of us! He shockingly uses Kundera to back up this point in a discussion of imagologues.
  • What is spookier, society or other people?
  • Big Cat brings in Daredevil references using Fisk to back her up to discuss love as the ultimate prison, “everywhere you go, you take it with you.” Aw, Fisk!
  • We discuss Steve Prefontaine and the perfect speech for an egoist to give leading up to a first kiss! We miss you Steve!
  • Big Cat explains Crab in A Bucket Theory
    • read more

    December 10, 2018 Podcast

    FRR Books Podcast: The Unique and Its Property by Max Stirner, a Close Reading Part 5!


    Welcome to episode 5 of the FRR Books Podcast series on Max Stirner’s The Unique and its Property translated by Wolif Landstreicher.  In this podcast we cover section 2.1 Ownness and stop at section 2.2.1 My Power

    This episode is hosted by Kahar, John, Big Cat, Chuck and rydra wrong. We are back on the sea packed 5 deep like sardines on the FRR sailboat.

    Discussed in this episode:

  •  What is the difference between freedom and ownness
  • Does Stirner hate freedom! It has nothing for you!  What does that mean? Can he let go !?
  • Freedom apparently meanings being “rid of things”
  • Occupy Stirner! What the fuck
  • We discuss how our dating lives are relevant to Stirner, are they?
  • Does consent matter when it comes to ownership and property(in the Stirnerian sense)?
  • Take when you want and throw away the rest:  Is this just a cliche or actually useful
  • Concepts! What the fuck is a concept! How do we use them
  • Who does Stirner give the status of capital B Being to ?
  • Can a slave be inwardly free? Is this trivial?
  • Stirner says there is freedom and unfreedom! No such thing as half way crooks! But is he just creating a binary of freedom and unfreedom to destroy the concept! woooooah
  • Chuck says romantic relationships are being trained to treasures!  Benefits vs a chain!
  • John says chosen bondage is freedom, like being in a dungeon! We discuss!
  • What the fuck is Stirner’s problems with rocks.  Rydra fights with Stirner in a landslide of discontent.  Also panpsychism is so last year.
  • Kahar likes his Christians out of the closet, he is pleased!
  • Kahar and Big Cat argue over Kahar’s belief that selves can be divided into parts
  • Impulses and desires and relationship to Taoism

    • read more

    December 2, 2018 Podcast

    FRR Books Podcast: The Unique and Its Property by Max Stirner, a Close Reading Part 4

    Welcome to episode 4 of the FRR Books Podcast series on Max Stirner’s The Unique and its Property translated by Wolif Landstreicher.  In this podcast we cover section 2.1 and stop at section 2.2.1 My Power

    This episode is hosted by Kahar, John, and rydra wrong.  This is our first go recording podcasts at sea!  We are floating on water as we speak!

    Discussed in this episode:

    –  Criticism as thought, the downside of criticism

    –  The 3 types of liberalism

    –  Human rights!

    –  rydra hates phenomenology and wants to fight about it!

    –  morality and stirner

    –  what is religion?

    –  Conflict avoidance and how to avoid it!

    –  Cult of celebrity and “Absolute Monarchy”

    –  Stirner crushes Social Justice

    –  Is Stirner related to Nietzsche?

    This podcast was produced by rydra wrong

    This podcast was edited by Big Cat

     

    November 14, 2018 Podcast

    FRR Books Podcast: The Unique and Its Property by Max Stirner, a Close Reading Part 3

    Welcome to episode 3 of the FRR Books Podcast series on Max Stirner’s The Unique and its Property translated by Wolif Landstreicher.  In this podcast we cover section 1.3 The Free.  This episode is hosted by Cornelius, Chuck, and rydra wrong.

    Discussed in this episode:

  • How do we eat the profane?  What have we held sacred that we no longer do?
  • Fear!  How do we develop an intimate relationship with fear! Another excuse to talk about surfing!
  • Talk of shit!  Another excuse for rydra to bring up Kundera
  • Talk of Christianity being spread among the non-secular
  • Dissolution of the object and the flavors of abstraction! There are many to choose from!
  • We are in a sea of phenomenology says Cornelius!
  • Children!  Talk of Kids!
  • Chuck says part of humanity is thinking of yourself in relation to an ideal human, we discuss this!
  • Cornelius feels limited by society, even suffocated but she remains more interested in the physiology and bacteria living within human beings!

    • read more