[Noisebridge-discuss] Use of Nitrous Oxide in the space on Sunday night

[Edward Azi Cragg]

There is absolutely nothing new about N2O being used at Noisebridge.

The appeal to legality is a joke, as Noisebridge lacks a liquor license,
thus any serving of alcohol is strictly verboten. If the illicit serving of
mind-altering substances is your problem, the bias towards complaining of
one kind of illegal substance provision over another is telling.

Zach,

I think you may be surprised at the amount of so-called recreational (I
would say cultural) substance used by people you know and respect there,
who have simply become really damn good at hiding it out of raw survival
instinct.  Im talking about people who are productive and who bring cool
projects, organizations and energies to the space.  Noisebridge is what it
is because largely because it prides itself on being a safe 'mind your own
business' environment, which allows individuals who face active
state-sponsored persecution elsewhere a place where they can come,
socialize, learn and teach, and not be stigmatized as long as they keep
their behavior reasonable.  A place where people are judged by the contents
of their character and the portfolio of cool shit they've manifested,
rather than the contents of their medicine cabinet, so to speak.

This isn't to say that everyone at NB uses, just that I think there is some
pride that NB is a safe space for everyone who behaves excellently, whether
or not they use 'bad' drugs.

I also do think there is something to be said for asking if the sewing area
is the best place to engage in such activity.  At the very least, there are
many more intimate sub-spaces I could think of which would not have quite
the same entry-door-eye-shot liabilities.

But I would hope you may take from this not that Noisebridge isn't the
space you thought it was, but instead perhaps that your ingrained
perception that certain behaviors automatically denote bad individuals is
not as accurate as you may have once thought.

Not to sound condescending if this is not news to you, It's just the vibe
I've gotten off from your honest surprise at how we might be inclined to
come to the defense of the users.  If I'm being a condescending prick,
please ignore me and have a great day!

-Azi


On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 10:59 AM, rachel lyra hospodar
<rachelyra at gmail.com>wrote:

> Responses not inline, because wtfbbq. An organization can be anarchist. It
> can hold ideals and act on them. An anarchist can follow rules. Some
> anarchists love them.
>
> I think zach is awesome and we should care about his feelings.
>
> I definitely have found, in my time at noisebridge:
> -used dental dam
> -goth kids doing nitrous (a Sunday night in the library many years ago)
> -non-rodent feces (two different occasions)
> -sleeping people
> -tweaker people
> -rob2.0 sacked out on the roof with a lady friend
> -a belgian too drunk to do anything but scat sing and sleep in the darkroom
> Among other things.
>
> I have helped eject banz0red people.
>
> I have also encountered people who design and build every kind of hardware
> and software I like to use. Seriously, there's a lot of mental firepower
> floating around. Noisebridge has been to space, and has designed a new 3d
> printing platform. I have learned about tea, kombucha, mushrooms, vinegar.
> Coding. Data architecture.  I once helped a kid ride an electric unicycle.
> This week when I came I met some journalists who were visiting from
> oppressive regimes to chat about mesh network technology. God I loved
> noisebridge in that moment.
>
> I think the issue is not that we should make a rule about nitrous and you
> can only use it if you are hacking brains. I think the issue is that zach,
> who is a part of our community, had a problem and people didn't respond by
> giving enough of a shit.
>
> Anarchism can have rules or not, but if we don't give enough of a shit
> about each other's feelings it all falls apart.
>
> R.
> On Oct 11, 2012 10:12 PM, "Taylor Alexander" <tlalexander at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I thought the assertion that NB is an anarchist space to be a bit
>> interesting. There may be many people at NB who identify with anarchist
>> ideals, but as a legal non-profit operating in San Francisco, it's simply
>> not possible for NoiseBridge, as an organization, to be anarchist. NB has
>> to comply with building codes, fire laws, local ordinances (one of those
>> covers smoking on the fire escape, which is a defined no-no from the
>> chatter I've followed on the list), zoning laws (sleeping in the space, a
>> definite no-no), etc.
>>
>> Noisebridge members may prefer to follow certain anarchist ideals, but
>> the organization cannot actually be truly anarchist without quickly getting
>> booted from SF.
>>
>> I'm all for reasonable illegal drug use and I personally wouldn't be
>> bothered if people did them in the space (I like N2O myself), but simply
>> saying NB is an anarchist organization and therefore doesn't need to follow
>> the laws is ignoring all of the laws noisebridge DOES choose to follow as
>> an organization, like the aforementioned sleeping in the space and smoking
>> on the fire escape.
>>
>> As for whether or not some people doing whippets really needs an official
>> decision from the group, I have no idea. I'm not a regular so I'm not going
>> to bother trying to make a suggestion on that. Just wanted to point out the
>> fallacy in the "we are anarchist" argument. NB may be "mostly anarchist",
>> but that still doesn't explain which laws are going to be followed
>> completely and which will be skirted/bent/ignored.
>>
>> In general its important for a hackerspace to allow its members to chose
>> to violate certain laws (DMCA circumvention and other hacking projects come
>> to mind), but its harder to make that argument for drug use. Though
>> personally I'd think it would be best for noisebridge not to make an
>> official decision on this. But that's just my opinion.
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 7:28 PM, Brian Cloutier <
>> briancloutier2010 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>  > 2) the intoxicated people need to be physically able to leave and
>>> > psychologically able to comprehend that they are being asked to either
>>> > leave or stop use.
>>>
>>> Some of you have some very weird misconceptions about N2O.
>>>
>>> - Brian
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
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