Re: The Art of Rhetoric as Utilized Against New Girlfriend's Angry Roommate

On Jan 2, 2011, at 10:16 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Guardian piece is about Anonymous, I've pasted below. Tell me more about your exchange; I spoke briefly with Greenwald yesterday about it as some of the dynamics remind me of a recent conflict I had and my take is that those two editors are being disingenuous in their replies. Greenwald's not perfect but fuck if I can think of anyone more honest and rational. But yeah, what's he telling you?

Never in human history has there been a period that compares to our own in the degree to which the terminology employed at the end of a twenty-year period would have been entirely incomprehensible at its beginning. This is, or should be, the first sign that something is afoot. All significant human activity is the result of human collaboration, and over this same period the potential for human collaboration has exploded in a manner that has never before been seen. This is the second sign, and the fact that these developments and their implications have been greeted with the usual mix of silly and inane commentary for which our career media personnel have become known even to themselves is in turn a perfect indication of why this period has been so necessary, and why many of us are working to ensure that the dynamics now in play continue to accelerate.

Wikileaks, a force that was ignored by a news media incapable of identifying important trends until such time as it became impossible to disregard, has ushered in a new period of human history in which state actors have lost the privacy that they never deserved in the first place. Anonymous, a similarly misunderstood harbinger of the coming age, has taken a series of actions to defend that organization, including information campaigns and DDOS attacks on national governments - including Tunisia, as of this writing - that have welcomed the new age with tighter controls on what their citizens are allowed to see. As someone who has worked with and promoted certain factions of Anonymous for a number of years, I would like to explain what it is that is happening and why it will continue until such time as individual liberty escapes its controversial status.

Throughout history, the majority has been consistently wrong and consistently willing to initiate violence in service to the local flavor of foolishness. Not long ago, many took for granted the divine right of kings - and some still do, of course. Today, many in the West believe that anything is moral just so long as it is done in some accordance with the will of the voting population of a particular nation-state; to some, even a kings intent will suffice. Actions of extraordinarily lesser negative impact on the innocent, taken by any organization that lacks the arbitrary status of a state, are meanwhile denounced with a fervor that the more fair-minded might reserve for those who routinely cause the deaths of women and children - for instance, the large majority of American voters who have exercised their rights to topple one dictator while propping up others, and who pat themselves on the back for their participation in a civic entity that has made such a mockery of the rule of law that those of us who were born too late to see the America that once existed no longer feel any loyalty to its government whatsoever.

This is the context that has turned Anonymous from a Dadaist cultural phenomenon into a geopolitical harbinger. Its first notable target was the violent white supremacist and FBI informant Hal Turner; its second was the Church of Scientology and the degenerate manner in which it deals with critics and apostates; its third was the government of Australia on the occasion of a proposed internet censorship policy that would have opened the door for further state control of expression, as such policies always do.

Over time, Anonymous has changed. Some of us are no longer anonymous, for one thing; my associate Gregg Housh was outed by the Church of Scientology after they discovered he was one of the five participants who launched the Chanology raids via a YouTube proclamation, and thus now gives interviews to those outlets that care to know more; my associate Sean Carasov killed himself last month after a great deal of legal harassment from the Church that helped to ensure that his career would never see a revival. Others have been arrested as well, and more will be arrested in the future. This will stop nothing. And the typically flawed reception that the movement has received from those who will justify most any government action will not change the fact that we have entered a new age in which individuals around the world can form their own entities to counter those that now exist, and will do so increasingly as the implications of our time become more widely understood. And they will indeed be made understood, soon and forever after, to all who choose to listen.

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 12:12 AM, Robert Green <robertogreen@gmail.com> wrote:

i've been having a really interesting back and forth with ryan singel (head writer for danger room/threat level at wired.com) about wikileaks and kevin paulson and glenn greenwald. he's drunk the wired kool-aid on this. i'm trying NOT to piss him off as i respect his work tremendously but wired are acting like fucking douchebags.

looking forward to the treatment. what's the guardian piece?

On Jan 2, 2011, at 10:07 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Her roommate moved out. I sure had to fight some fucking battles to win this girl. Just finished second column for The Guardian and now will finally get back to work on this treatment, which obviously I'm going to have more fun doing. Will send along some early notes soon.

On Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 8:04 PM, Robert Green <robertogreen@gmail.com> wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqBOMBSDQsI

sort of the bill hicks version of this idea. knowing what we sold to iraq, telling the iranians, telling the iraqis.

i can't find the exact clip so the one above will have to suffice.

On Dec 31, 2010, at 2:38 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

It was the idea I mentioned to you about a film in which a speechwriter ends up secretly writing for both candidates in a single campaign. Also, check this out:

http://theothermccain.com/2010/12/31/video-dueling-aholes/

On Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 1:54 AM, Robert Green <robertogreen@gmail.com> wrote:

pitch it to me like i'm an idiot.

RG

On Dec 30, 2010, at 9:42 PM, barri2009 wrote:

> Also, let me know if you want me to pursue this film treatment or any other project. The concepy for treatment has been very well received and I think it's something we can pursue to our profit. I'd really like to concentrate on that now; let me know if you agree.
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Green <robertogreen@gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:58:13
> To: Barrett Brown<barriticus@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: The Art of Rhetoric as Utilized Against New Girlfriend's Angry Roommate
>
> a) you are crazy
> b) thanks for the lolz
>
> seriously.
>
> just got back from utah. it's fucking beautiful there, other than the people.
>
> bryce canyon, it's...insane.
>
> RG
> On Dec 30, 2010, at 11:51 AM, Barrett Brown wrote:
>
>> Thought you guys might find this amusing. I slept over at my new girlfriend's house for the first time last night, and one of her two male roommates was upset that I accidentally left a condom (not "used") on top of the toilet. He sent her a text message this morning saying "Prince Charming left a condom in the bathroom. I'm disgusted. This needs to end or this shit's about to get real." Apparently he doesn't like that she had friends in town the other day and has had a couple of guys over in the past few months. So I texted him back on her phone saying "This is Prince Charming; sorry about the condom. Please don't send threatening nonsense to Nikki." Then he wrote some more stupid messages ending with a declaration that he was about to come home and that he "expects the house to be occupied only by paying residents." I got my laptop out to record just in case something happened and I needed evidence that I didn't start it (I've had to do this before; last time someone's ex-boyfriend threatened to throw my laptop out the 12th-story window and have me arrested because he allegedly knows Michael Bloomberg). I've attached the first of the two recordings here. Notice how similar his logic skills are to those of every single movement conservative blogger that has ever lived. Note: I am kind of stoned here and hadn't had my coffee yet.
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>>
>> Barrett Brown
>> 512-560-2302
>> <Video169.wmv>
>

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302