Hip-Anon?

A bit of history for ya here:
In 1996 I created Hippy.com as a place for old hippies like me to gather on the Internet. What resulted was not what I expected way back then.

Instead of old hips we were flooded by YOUNG PEOPLE wanting to learn more about the hippies. I soon realized old hippies were acting like luddites, slow to get wired. We were flooded with questions about Hippies, so many that I got so tired of answering them individually, so I wrote a book, Hippies From A to Z to answer ppls curiosity. More than 250,000 ppl have read it. It's taught in schools around the world.

Many of those young people who discovered the site in the 1990s are still with us. Many have become activists as a result.

Over the past six years or so many more old hippies have arrived on the Net and found this place. So we now have multiple hippie generations here. Of course many here don't consider themselves hippies due to different lifestyles. They are still part of this community because we try to be inclusive, not exclusive.

What you guys are saying is you want to EXCLUDE ppl, causes, etc. from Anonymous because you want to stay on target. But that shouldn't really be threatened if ppl create their own marginally-related groups, or channels regardless of what they choose to call or how they describe them.

Again stop focusing on labels, and continue your focus on actions.

 

"if you think the lables mean anything well you just don't get it."

Exactly. Anonymous = Label.

I've already explained why marijuana protesters need to be anonymous.

I think you folks are tripping on your own definitions.

We will not co-opt the Anonymous label. Quit worrying. Ganja protesters have at least 420 very creative labels of their own.

 

We're hippies, we steal anything cool!

BTW, calling us "hipsters" isn't doin' it right!

Hipsters was used only briefly, historically.

I'm seeing it more and more from those who ain't doin' it right...

Hippy or hippie is correct.

But who the fuck really cares. Labels don't matter, actions do.

 

Let's get down with this Anonymous label, ok?

Labels serve propaganda purposes mostly. For identification, recruitment, PR, etc.

"Hip" was a meme from American black subculture.

It was co-opted by the media and applied to the phenomenon occuring in SF just before the Summer of Love.

It was the media attention to hippies that created the summer of love when young people all over the country (and world) saw news reports coming from Haight Ashbury describing what hippies were doing. Like smoking cannabis, partying, dropping LSD, having free sex, etc.

Young ppl have no idea what America was like JUST BEFORE THAT... (fuck'd up for sure)

The first media reports were curious and friendly, merely reporting how much fun everyone was having. But once the powers saw that the media was spreading a new, dangerous meme around, negatives were tagged on to that label -dirty, drugged, stupid, promiscuous, etc.

So the real issue with labels is the media reaction. Anonymous wishes to retain it's "name recognition" with this one cause, and that's understandable and shouldn't be diluted.

But, consider this...

Some mentioned "boots on the ground" b4, and really that's what's important. How many are actively involved.

What you folks are not getting is that once someone is "turned-on" to protesting, they don't turn off right away once the issue is over. The more protesters we can drum up, the more effective we can, whatever the cause.

In fact the whole problem with protesting the marijuana laws is that ppl are scattered everywhere, the laws are different everywhere, so many organizations exists, some at cross purposes, and only a FEW are actively in the streets protesting, none regularly.

That is another GREAT thing about Anonymous that no one has brought up.

You are consistent. You protest regularly. That is what keeps things together. If you just did it occasionally ppl would lose interest. Right there is an important tactic.

It was only the regularity and the increasing #s of protesters that finally brought the Vietnam war to a halt. Once a movement reaches critical mass, nothing can stop it from reaching its goal.

So excluding potential allies in whatever struggle you have is counter productive.

Oh and just to be perfectly clear. No one is asking Anonymous to protest MJ laws.

We don't need to carry the same banner. We just need to be in the streets together protesting!

 

Yes, SH, I don't think they realize the source of their tactics.

Anonymous' main innovation was bringing it all online as they have.

The Pranksters were the shit! Kesey, Babbs, Cassady, Wavy Gravy (whom I hope to interview soon), Paul Krassner, Stewart Brand (who I mentioned b4 who founded the Well, the Whole Earth Catalog, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, etc.) Acid played an integral part in all their activities and innovations!

Anonymous needs someone to write a book about them, a la Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. I might volunteer, depending upon my schedule...

 

I only got onto them because SH brought them up. She also referred to both the SF diggers, and the ORIGINAL diggers, who were a fascinating bit of British history. We are both equating Anonymous tactics with theirs which predates the French Revolution by more than 100 years.

Moar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers_(theater)

Well once you include all drugs you have a much harder sell to most of america. Most Americans have tried cannabis but not other drugs.

What we want is legalization of medical, industrial, spiritual AND recreational uses of cannabis in all its forms.

If we could just get the DEA to stop undermining state laws that would be a huge victory. Then states could decide themselves how to regulate and tax it.

The medical mj laws coming recently are more restrictive than ever. Some won't allow for-profit sales, which means ppl will be forced to grow their own (nothing wrong with that) or join a co-op (nothing wrong with that either), but they restrict it to medical use only so the other possible uses are ignored.

 

Possibly, only time will tell...

 

I just heard the entire California legislature and Gov. Ahnold are asking the California courts to strike Prop 8 down. It won't last long! Human rights are for EVERYONE!

 

^^^^^^^^
Good advice.

Activists usually do focus on one target at a time, until the media focuses on it. Then they move to the next one on the list. The list is so long...

On the other hand, a group that has a good cause, and numerous targets attracts more people to it, than one that has only one focus.

You pick up ppl who have their own grudges against specific targets. Once you include their target in your actions, they join the good fight.

It's very important to define goals and targets and keep ppl motivated. Chanology sites do that well.

But really to get ppl motivated they usually have to be personally affected. I am amazed that Chanology has so many "unaffected" in its ranks. But I'm thinking a lot of this has to do with the social milieu you've created. That attracts people for its own sake.