Biting the hand that feeds you

[Poop]

She could always get a job.

She did. She was employed by Infoshop for quite a while, I think.

[Chuck0]

She did. She was employed by Infoshop for quite a while, I think.

That is not true. Kirsten was not an employee nor a member of our collective. She was a freelance writer whom we paid a stipend to each month.

[Tom]

Even when you're poor in a place like the United States, you're still privileged.

But this doesn't make that poverty, or the privalidge that other groups have, any less real. Just because she's better off than most of the world it doesn't mean she's not got a valid point when she criticises middle class attitudes to US poverty.

So I don't really get what you mean. Does her privalidge over others mean she can't criticise more privalidged people than herself? Does it make her a hypocrite?

Granted, I don't think I've read anything that she's written that acknowledges her privalidge over others. That doesn't mean that she doesn't acknowledge it, however.

American feminist organizations and thought processes are basically "women are better than men"

Prove it.

And also, it's difficult to seperate kirsten from her writings because she bases them on her experiences and writes "i think this, i think that, i did this" etc, constantly. While on the one hand it stinks of a runaway victim complex, on the other hand i cannot say how justified that is since i do not know her. So really, it's an irrelevancy. Even if she's not financially prudent, and even if she is self-obsessed, and even if she is an attention seeker, it doesn't necessarily make what she writes wrong.

[Aaron]

Even when you're poor in a place like the United States, you're still privileged.

So I don't really get what you mean. Does her privalidge over others mean she can't criticise more privalidged people than herself? Does it make her a hypocrite?

No.

[Y]

I just came back from my brothers apartment (before mentioned $150 place). Quite ghetto. I personally don't think Kirsten could fit in in such an environment (I think she'd get into fights with large men because they looked at her a certain way). Let's just leave it at that.

I did laugh really hard imagining her having an argument with one of those guys, though. My brother thought I was crazy. Come to think of it, the whole complex probably thought I was crazy. The laugh just came out of nowhere.

And Kirsten can feel free to criticize more privledged people than herself, by all means, but to act as if there's no solution to her problems is just silly. I do think she's playing victim. I think that's what she's been doing all these years. She's not a very empowered person.

[Post_industrial]

I went to college living out of a tent in the woods with my girlfreind, relying totaly on my bicyle and busses, dumptering from health food stores, and doing my homework by candle light.

I did this in the south bay area of California where rent was too high for me to afford without working more then full time.

I was able to use public college computers whenever I wanted, and had access to free showers.

I even did this through the rainy season and it was some of the greatest times of my life.


I dont think Kristen knows what poverty is. She should spend some time in a place like LA (I mean the slums, and not the rich areas on the westside), or maybe a place like Baltimore.

Nobody is poor in Seatle, even the Bums have it nice compared to people in poorer areas.

[The Black Flag]

Post_In, my friend, you are hardcore. Props to you.

[IK]

I fear i wouldn't enjoy myself with such a life.

But then again if i had a girlfriend to do it with, it would be cool.

Our hearts crush us.

[Guest]

sigh. it'd be nice if you guys fixed your horrendous self image problems, got into decent relationships. and laid off of the blatant woman-hating. your dog-on-a-leash frustrations aren't kirsten's or anyone elses fault but your own.

it's funny how bob black has legions of defenders around here - we're constantly being told to look at his words and not his actions. but when it comes to kirsten, there's a ... ahem .. double standard.

[Aaron]

sigh. it'd be nice if you guys fixed your horrendous self image problems, got into decent relationships. and laid off of the blatant woman-hating. your dog-on-a-leash frustrations aren't kirsten's or anyone elses fault but your own.

it's funny how bob black has legions of defenders around here - we're constantly being told to look at his words and not his actions. but when it comes to kirsten, there's a ... ahem .. double standard.

I've no clue what you're talking about.

[Post_industrial]

Woman hating?

I reject this logic that to talk shit about a specific women, such as kristen is a form of hating all women, just as much as I reject the idea that anyone from any class which can claim oppression is in any way justified in hating other people who in any way resemble the class which oppresses them even when they also belong to groups which are oppressed.

[Tom]

thinking about it, people do often say bob black's writings were good...

[Guest]

I think that only one of Bob Black's essays (The Abolition of Work) is worthy, and even then, I find many holes in it. So, no, I don't think that he really has much insight to offer anyway.

And anyway, I don't hate women, I hate authoritarian assholes who pretend they have any real concept of freedom within their cold black souls.

[kaylaleitzinger]

Privalidge is more than simply money. It's a complex subject that has more to do with attitudes that are the result of sheltered, financially comfortable existences than how much money you own.

The essay doesn't say "stop having money!" In fact, most articles she writes involve her complaining about not having money, and then saying she could do with getting more...so it's obviously not comfortable living thats her problem, because she's quite vocal about the fact that she'd like to live comfortably and never has..however people who have lived comfortably, and then give themselves a radical tag, retain attitudes from their middle-class upbringing that reflects how they act, eg sexism, racism , etc, no matter how subtle.

Her problem, imo, is that she approaches two completely legitimate and large problems knowing that it'll tread on a lot of people's toes, and proceeds to attack it in a slightly rambling way in which she doesnt really focus her anger. It's like trying to open a nut by firing a flame thrower at it.

Of course, on the other hand, it's as much the problem of the people reading it who immediately get riled and denounce it as "leftist PC rubbish" without looking at it any closer.