Hello All

[therockman]

This is my first post here at this forum. I am an old hippie, a middle aged American male that has settled down to a life of comfort and I want to learn about all of the stuff that you folks talk about here. I am here to learn and hopefully have a good time interacting with you all. I have read some Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao and other socialist and communist literature. I feel very dissatisfied with the current system and I feel that the people could do a better chance running things themselfs. Please be gentle with me, I am a newbie.

[therockman]

The one thing that actually bropught me to this site is the idea of "sustainability." I believe that the human race must find a sustainable way to live on Spaceship Earth, or our species will perish. After much thought and consideration I figured out that capitalism is not in itself a sustainable lifestyle, and that the only real way to survive as a biological species on this planet is through some sort of socialist or communist lifestyle. I came here to seek information and to interact at that level, not as a revolutionist that wants to destroy society.

[革命者]

Welcome therockman!

Shall we still let you know when we'll destroy society; might be fun to come along to watch us do it.

If you want to rid society of capitalism, you're more than welcome to stick around and discuss the options with us, as far as I'm concerned. But capitalism is not a lifestyle, you are an accomplice to it just by using the Internet like you did just yet. By doing everything to free us from those chains, you at least can say you did your share.


Scotty

[Q]

Welcome :)

[therockman]

Welcome therockman!

Shall we still let you know when we'll destroy society; might be fun to come along to watch us do it.

If you want to rid society of capitalism, you're more than welcome to stick around and discuss the options with us, as far as I'm concerned. But capitalism is not a lifestyle, you are an accomplice to it just by using the Internet like you did just yet. By doing everything to free us from those chains, you at least can say you did your share.


Scotty



I am very sorry if you do not feel my intentions are worthy. A little bit about my life. I am middle-aged. In 1979 I was living in a teepee in the Pacific Northwest on an island in the middle of a river. I let about 15 other people live on the island with me. My wife and I hitchhiked around the USA without a penny to our name. In 1982 I moved to a commune in Oregon. I took my teepee to Lousianna and lived on a bayou there for a couple of years. Yes I am old and comfortable, but I lived the life. I will work for a cause. I have read the great thinkers in communism and socialism. If I am not "good enough" for this forum, just tell me and I will bow out.

[therockman]

I will try to find an avatar that expresses my position and beliefs.

[Q]

I am very sorry if you do not feel my intentions are worthy. A little bit about my life. I am middle-aged. In 1979 I was living in a teepee in the Pacific Northwest on an island in the middle of a river. I let about 15 other people live on the island with me. My wife and I hitchhiked around the USA without a penny to our name. In 1982 I moved to a commune in Oregon. I took my teepee to Lousianna and lived on a bayou there for a couple of years. Yes I am old and comfortable, but I lived the life. I will work for a cause. I have read the great thinkers in communism and socialism. If I am not "good enough" for this forum, just tell me and I will bow out.
Don't let anyone here let you down! You can expect quite a few discussions on the hippie lifestyle, but that's what a discussion forum is for.

[Lynx]

Welcome to RevLeft :)

[革命者]

I am very sorry if you do not feel my intentions are worthy. A little bit about my life. I am middle-aged. In 1979 I was living in a teepee in the Pacific Northwest on an island in the middle of a river. I let about 15 other people live on the island with me. My wife and I hitchhiked around the USA without a penny to our name. In 1982 I moved to a commune in Oregon. I took my teepee to Lousianna and lived on a bayou there for a couple of years. Yes I am old and comfortable, but I lived the life. I will work for a cause. I have read the great thinkers in communism and socialism. If I am not "good enough" for this forum, just tell me and I will bow out.No, sorry! I am not a fervent user of smilies, but the first bit about destroying society was a joke; we wouldn't want to destroy society, just fundamentally change it. The first and best thing to this end would be to analyse the fundamentals of our current society and explore and develop alternative ideas. That's what I see as being fundamental in doing your share to free society from the chains of capitalism. So I applaude you as opposed to wanting to scare you away.

I was just making a point about how I think you can not lead a completely non-capitalist or capitalist lifestyle, since you are pretty inevitably part of the system. If you'd want to step out of the system completely, a jail sentence might come your way and you rob yourself from the possibility of effectively working towards a change.

I see how you can adjust your lifestyle to be less of an accomplice to capitalism, and you have done so more than I ever dared to do. I have lived a very comfortable life in capitalism, all my life. And I might have been too absolutist about the notion of accompliceness; I am a bigger agent in the continuation of the current system as you were at my age and may have ever been. My apologies for sketching this so black and white.

And, as I see it, as I am as you here to discuss this change, using the Internet, paying taxes to the State and paying interests on my loans to the worst industry of all, the financial services industry, I am an accomplice to capitalism. The more reason to jointly find ways to end it. And I hope to see you help us in that effort here.

So, to make things up to you, another sincere welcome from me to you!

The people, united, will never be defeated!


In solidarity,

Scotty

[therockman]

Well thank you for the clarification, and thank you all for welcoming me here. My wife and I both grew up in the big city of Los Angeles and when we were young adults we decided to live an "alternative" lifestyle. That entailed buying a teepee and living in the woods. We lived by ourselfs until I "found" an island; an unused 5 acre piece of land in the middle of the Illinois river. I claimed the island and my wife and I let several other couples and families move onto the island with us. After that we moved onto a real commune. My youngest daughter was born out in the woods in our yurt (we moved "up" to a yurt at the commune). My wife and I have led "the life," including a period of time on the road hitchhiking around without any money. You could say that we were homeless, but only as much as Woody Guthrie was homeless. We never had a place to sleep, but we always had our faith in our fellow man. I am here to learn and hopefully interact and have a good experience.