[Noisebridge-discuss] [intellectual claptrap] Toward a theory of utilization

[Tony Longshanks LeTigre]

*Take things forcibly, but without violence? While hinging ostensibly
*

> * on the greater good?
> --
> Garrett
> Twitter: @xkit
> personx.tumblr.com*


What I meant is that they may be taken & used by those who need them, if
they are lying idle somewhere else, & it should not be viewed as violence.
Especially if it's to fill a need, like shelter, warmth, hunger. There was
a news clip a while back about blue painter's tape that was showing up on
people's doors. The cops in the clip made it out to be a burglary threat.
It caught my attention b/c I happen to know they got the motive wrong in
that particular "crime" spree. I wondered what difference, if any, it would
make to the TV-watching public if they thought people were sussing out the
occupancy of their house not with the intention of breaking in & stealing
things of potential value, but for shelter, a place to sleep.

I've gotten quite a bit looser with my own material possessions (letting
things come & go without attaching emotional significance) over the past
couple years. I've also gotten a lot looser about taking things that aren't
mine whenever I need them. Usually I put them back; sometimes I put them
back plus extra — because that's a nice, ethical thing to do, & it makes up
for the times I "forget" to put things back. I've definitely gotten more
pirate-like as well. Maybe it's something I've picked up from spending so
much time in the Mission; the Mission has a piratical feel to it as a
'hood, don'tcha think? I love how people seem to literally just drop stuff
on the sidewalks the moment they're finished using it, so that you find New
Cool Weird Free Shit on any walk you take through the Mission.

We're raised to believe that taking things that don't belong to us is
wrong, but I think we should also be taught that hoarding way more things
than you need when other people's basic needs are unmet is wrong. I'm not
categorically opposed to private property, things that are YOURS that
others shouldn't take. I def still have a few things I'd be really sad to
lose, so I secure those items or take them with me everywhere. They are
things I use more or less every day, hence tools of a sort. (A computer is
just a fancy tool.) There's nothing wrong with having tools, that's legit
(although the sharing thing comes to mind here, too....does every person
really need a full set of every kind of tool in every variation?)  I feel
we (Americans in particular, though not exclusively) imbue our "stuff" w/
far too much significance; "liberation" from that impulse is what I was
describing.

Maybe I'm just trying to find philosophical justification for self-serving
criminal behavior. I hope not. The truth is probably complicated, as usual.

Oh, one last thing re: houses & such—you don't "forcibly" enter, because
The Door Was Already Open.

+11+
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