A Few Thoughts on Zerzan's Work

by XSilent (Jan 2003)
http://www3.telus.net/arktos/xsilent/index.html

The work of John Zerzan has become extremely influential in anarcho-primitivist circles over the last decade. His ideas are radical, even within the anarchist fold, and they elicit very strong reactions from many people. Summarizing his work is not my intention here, but there were a couple thoughts that I needed to put on paper after reading his most recent book Running on Emptiness.

Seldom do I run across a book that keeps me thinking for several months after finishing it. The points raised by Zerzan include a fundamental critique of the role of symbol-making in the start of domination and power relationships. Although I generally agree with his assessment, there was something that seemed unfinished to me. The force of Zerzan's arguments often leave one having to agree or argue. Really I do not want to do either - just ask some questions.

Is symbol-making such a destructive addiction for us that we cannot imagine a healthy world where it plays any positive role? I feel like we are a culture of extreme alcoholics trying to imagine a people who can have just one drink without it taking over their lives. I think Zerzan is right to question the whole field, but upon reflection I believe it deserves more conversation. Maybe it is a purely alienating force (it certainly seems that way now) but must all language be divisive? Perhaps we just do not have the capacity to imagine a different paradigm.

If this issue is not completely black-and-white, then is there a hard line between foragers and horticulturists? When does a tool become technology? Is all division of labour alienating? Although I think some of these questions have been addressed, might the issues we are picking on - such as language, symbolic art, and ritual - be as much symptoms as causes? To use a clumsy term coined by Alan Watts - perhaps they 'goes-with' each other. Disentangling the root cause is difficult in natural systems that contain great complexity. Often multiple facets arise mutually - interdependent when pathological or healthy.

This is not to say that Zerzan has not raised extremely important issues, only that those committed to exploring the depths of them should be open to surprises. There is a part of me that would be very happy to live in a world without symbolic mediation. I just hope the part that questions the complete abolition of symbol is not just my addiction cunningly rationalizing a reason to hang on! The last thing I want to do is write an apology for civilization...

See Language: Origin and Meaning for a good start on Zerzan's writings on symbolism.