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A review by xrevacholiere
Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization by John Zerzan
4.0
As a critique and analytical tool, anarcho-primitivism is certainly very interesting. Or should I have used anti-civ? Because I'm still not entirely sure what exactly is the supposed to be the real difference; maybe practice? The difference between post-civ and anti-civ is much clearer, the former not wholly rejecting technology, and figuring out ways of how to use it best post-collapse.
Nevertheless, as a prescriptive and essentialist ideology -which many primmies take it as despite Zerzan's opposition to even referring to it as an ideology-, ''a resounding no'' to anarcho-primitivism (to quote one of Zerzan's most well-known replies to whether domestication ever did us any good).
Presently it's difficult for me to determine if Zerzan was being selective in relation to the anthropological representations of pre-domesticated peoples, whose lives have been generally harmonious and healthy, contrary to popular belief; but they've been propped up as examples of what I guess Zerzan thinks we could go back to, albeit obviously not *exactly* like that. And herein lies the problem: the sinister vagueness of which Zerzan has been accused of is never really resolved. What he envisions as an-prim society, for lack of a better term, can't merely be a''return''; this would mean the effacing of the entire planet and constructing a new world. It seems that this irony escapes him when he starts bemoaning nihilism and postmodernism, which, to him, might as well be used interchangeably. Murray Bookchin deals with the anthropological roots of an-prim (and apparently takes a jab at Zerzan) in Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism, so I suppose if anyone's particularly interested in that and not all that satisfied with Zerzan's name-dropping, it must surely be of some interest.
The most valuable insights have to do with a critique and history of the reification of life, as a consequence of symbolization, naturally starting with the concept of time. In that respect, Time and Its Discontents is arguably the best essay in this book.
There's discontents & discontentment with things and 'thingified' others, such as Star Trek, postmodernism (predictably), et alia, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that Zerzan's deeply concerned with alienation which permeates particularly the most 'civilized' of cultures. The book's generally insightful and thought-provoking. It's only a shame it doesn't seem to be taken very seriously in anarchist circles (and elsewhere! especially), because of a tendency to be maximalist that can plainly be seen in Zerzan himself. I don't know. It opened new avenues of perspective for me.
Personally, the question(s) anarcho-primitivism asks remain more interesting than any plan or idea for the future, which seem to involve a kind of fantastic reversibility of time (all the while wanting to do away with what has become reified time), of human collective consciousness. Was civilization a horrible mistake?
Recommended especially to rabid techies for whom technology is somehow neutral, and anyone else who's willing to have their cage rattled a bit.
Nevertheless, as a prescriptive and essentialist ideology -which many primmies take it as despite Zerzan's opposition to even referring to it as an ideology-, ''a resounding no'' to anarcho-primitivism (to quote one of Zerzan's most well-known replies to whether domestication ever did us any good).
Presently it's difficult for me to determine if Zerzan was being selective in relation to the anthropological representations of pre-domesticated peoples, whose lives have been generally harmonious and healthy, contrary to popular belief; but they've been propped up as examples of what I guess Zerzan thinks we could go back to, albeit obviously not *exactly* like that. And herein lies the problem: the sinister vagueness of which Zerzan has been accused of is never really resolved. What he envisions as an-prim society, for lack of a better term, can't merely be a''return''; this would mean the effacing of the entire planet and constructing a new world. It seems that this irony escapes him when he starts bemoaning nihilism and postmodernism, which, to him, might as well be used interchangeably. Murray Bookchin deals with the anthropological roots of an-prim (and apparently takes a jab at Zerzan) in Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism, so I suppose if anyone's particularly interested in that and not all that satisfied with Zerzan's name-dropping, it must surely be of some interest.
The most valuable insights have to do with a critique and history of the reification of life, as a consequence of symbolization, naturally starting with the concept of time. In that respect, Time and Its Discontents is arguably the best essay in this book.
There's discontents & discontentment with things and 'thingified' others, such as Star Trek, postmodernism (predictably), et alia, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that Zerzan's deeply concerned with alienation which permeates particularly the most 'civilized' of cultures. The book's generally insightful and thought-provoking. It's only a shame it doesn't seem to be taken very seriously in anarchist circles (and elsewhere! especially), because of a tendency to be maximalist that can plainly be seen in Zerzan himself. I don't know. It opened new avenues of perspective for me.
Personally, the question(s) anarcho-primitivism asks remain more interesting than any plan or idea for the future, which seem to involve a kind of fantastic reversibility of time (all the while wanting to do away with what has become reified time), of human collective consciousness. Was civilization a horrible mistake?
Recommended especially to rabid techies for whom technology is somehow neutral, and anyone else who's willing to have their cage rattled a bit.