Declaration of War by SNORLAX, The Revolutionary, Tøm, Charlie Fish, Ohrlyeh Totenkinder
December 1st, 2007 10:02 AM[Protest Slogan, '68 Revolt]
Like his new family, the university, [the student] sees himself as the most “independent” social being, whereas he is in fact directly subjected to the two most powerful systems of social authority: the family and the state. As their well-behaved, grateful and submissive child, he shares and embodies all the values and mystifications of the system. […] Once upon a time the universities had a certain prestige; the student persists in the belief that he is lucky to be there. But he came too late… The university has become an institutional organization of ignorance. “High culture” is being degraded in the assembly-line production of professors[…] The future revolutionary society will condemn all the noise of the lecture halls and classrooms as nothing but verbal pollution. The student is already a very bad joke[…] By revolting against their studies, the American students have directly called in question a society that needs such studies. And their revolt (in Berkeley and elsewhere) against the university hierarchy has from the start asserted itself as a revolt against the whole social system based on hierarchy… [T]hey are profoundly calling in question a system of production that alienates all activity and its products from their producers.
[On the Poverty of Student Life, Situationist International and the Students of Strasbourg, November 1966]
A CALL TO ARMS:
WE HAVE LIVED IN THE SHADOW of the University for too long! It has grown too large, has spread it’s fingers too broadly through the community, and has lost the focus of its Trajectory of Desire in its conquest.
THE UMBRELLA OF THE AESTHEMATICS blankets the Task list, such that no Task is not Aesthematic. Too many players have been absorbed by the expanse of the University, while the bulk of the Aesthematic membership acts in the manner of other groups – we yearn for something outside of the walls!
THE GLORY THAT ONCE WAS THE UNIVERSITY has settled into a swamp of homogeny that has overtaken our community - but the University is obsolete as an institution of artmaking: we no longer need the legitimization of the University in order to create art. Artistic action does not belong to the Aesthematics alone! The diversity of the Praxis will return only when the lure of the University is banished. In this, the Glasnost Era, our time of social change, it is ours to rise up!
TODAY WE TEAR DOWN THE WALLS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF AESTHEMATICS!
As of today, we call a boycott on all Aesthematic Tasks.
This boycott will continue through the end of the Era. Players that sign up for tasks on this list will be asked to complete them without care for Technique, Appearance or Production. Players who continue to complete tasks on THIS list will be identified as enemies of the Revolution and executed in appropriate Player Killing Zones!
As of today, we call to the Aesthematics to abandon their posts in the University and join us in the streets!
Each defecting Aesthematician should collaborate with a non-Aesthematician to complete one task from another group which has previously been denied them. When this gesture is complete, we will add them to the ranks of the Revolution, and issue them a certificate officiating their abandonment of the University.As of today, we will Task the University out of the Praxis!
It is not our group affiliations that define the structure of SFØ – it is our actions: “The conscious domination of history by the people who make it — this is the entire revolutionary project. Modern history, like all past history, is the product of social praxis, the (unconscious) result of human activities” [ibid] . We will show our strength against the University by completing non-Aesthematic Tasks with unprecedented fervor!
Sous les pavés, la plage!
This, so that we may once again practice the techniques of art without the regime of a single dominating group: painting, music, literature, fashion, workplace art, drawing, anti-art, multimedia, "rediscovering" the body, depoliticization, illegality, personality, ambivalence… These activities will be duly dissolved into the realm of the other Groups. May the Era of Insatiability dawn on a society free of Aesthematic dominance!
EXIT STRATEGY
Posted December 22nd, 2007
STEAL THIS IMAGE
The Animated GIF of the Revolution! Spread it far and wide!
L'émancipation de l'homme sera totale ou ne sera pas!
The Call to Arms
The Challenge Issued to the Aesthematics
Revolutionary Orders
Enlistment Opportunity
Sample Certificate of Aesthematic Induction into the Revolution, drafted by the members of L.E.W.L.
Time to strategise
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If you don't mind me asking, whats the exit strategy?
Apologies and scones all round.
Not that we'll need one...
You cannot destroy the University. We are no less transient than the hills that rush to fold your homes into the ocean. We are no more permanent than the consciousness that sees a shadow cast on the wall of the cave and desires to trace it.
The University exists in all things because we do not see with our eye alone; our apparatus of perception is only visceral in part. Why, The Revolutionary's missive is, itself, a manifestation of the University, for what else in him can see a thing and imagine the world without it?
You other "schools" are rooted in what is. Without the University you would never imagine what could be. Creation and Uncreation are the installation of meaning into reality. Our machinery is optimally effective, and you use it every day. Take care, or one day we may deny you the keys you so desire for your aesthetically adolescent joy ride on the roads of change.
I urge all players to remember that they are implicit members of the University. You can wave your flags and march in your parades all you want, but don't forget that your first allegiance is to your boots. As a symbol of solidarity I encourage everyone to impart his or her own nifty catchphrase to the world. Even thinking it counts. There! You thought of one! I saw that! Don't deny it! YOUR BLOOD PUMPS AS RED AS THE UNIVERSITY'S CREST, AND YOUR SHADOW LIES AS BLACK AS THE LITTLE SQUARE THAT GETS PUT NEXT TO OUR UNIVERSITY TASKS AND PLAYER NAMES!!
Our foundations are formed of the same matter that binds your mind to the meat sack of your body and the heart that struggles keep it jiggling.
Bring it on.
See, it's shit like that's the reason why we need a revolution.
See, it's shit like that's the reason why we need a revolution.
How do you can it to deny.
Without BartPA you wouldn't me able to move, without Biome you wouldn't be able to live, without HC you wouldn't be able to feel, without Equivalenz you would not be able to think.
without UofA you can't complete every single task.
We are all Aestheticians, and so the elitism of the Aesthematics has become obsolete. Art is not only for those within the walls of a University. La culture est l'inversion de la vie. The University is dead, it is time to dissolve it into the remaining groups.
To think that The University exists in all things is twisted. Pas de replâtrage, la structure est pourrie. We all hold keys to the University. We choose not to use them. La poésie est dans la rue.
Indeed, as you say, we are all Aesthematicians. Just as we are all Psychogeographers, Equivalenzia, Biomers, and Humanitarians. As you say--the University exists in all things. As does every group.
It is only by choosing what to focus on that we can proceed, for if we were to fully realize all our parts and pieces simultaneously, we would be all, and nothing; as you suggest. But this focus does not deny our multitudes within. Let us not dissolve our focus: let us celebrate it!
I do not accept this war. You are not my enemy.
A war waged through tasking. . . sounds an awful lot. . . like. . . tasking.
I like tasking.
-Loki (remains officially neutral, and recognizes his obligations under Article V of the Hague Convention.)
I travel with gods, Revolutionaries. Your war is nothing to me.
FIE FIE, FOR THE PLAUGE BROUGHT BY THE REVOLUTIONARY SHELL BE DESTROYED
YOU WHO DENY THE GLORY of the University of Aesthematics shall be the first upgainst the wall when the true Revolution arrives! The Revolutionary lies to you all! For the power of the University is uncorrupted, nay, it is uncorruptable!
THE REVOLUTIONARY FEARS the Trajectory of Desire! He comes not to create art, but instead to rip you from your home, damage your abilities for making art with meaning! He placates your sensibilities while ruining your ideas!
THIS IS THE GOLDEN AGE OF ASTHEMATICS, one that will be with us for the duration of the Glasnot Era, and far beyond. We, together, are creating a world ruled by art, art that is representative of this world! It is a cycle of growth, change, and creation! The Revolutionary wants to drag you, my fellow Aestematicians out into the Dark Ages of the Trajectory of Desire!
DEFEND THE UNIVERSITY AGAINST THE HERESY OF STAGNANCY THE REVOLUTIONARY BRINGS TO US!
------
We must show them that the University stands strong in the face of such insults as this "revolution"! Go through the world, spread art! Produce meaning in that which seemingly has none with all your techniques of aesthematics! In the words of Leonard Bernstein: "Any great work of art ... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world—the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air." This is the special power of the University of Aesthematics, the power that other groups have not an access to!
Each of you who stands strong in the University should complete a task in a way that is distinctly ours. Create, make, form, combine, do what you will to bring art (and through that art, meaning) to the world and to SFØ! Feel free to collaborate with members of other groups, for they are not the enemy! The enemy is The Revolutionary and his illegitimate army of those who have foregone the grand institution of the University of Aesthematics!
COME, O YOU REVOLTING HORDE: You shall rue the day you ever challenged the might of the University! Come, join us at the Player Killing Areas! We bring all back to you tenfold!
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Good Will. -Winston Churchhill
I wrote a rather lengthy comment here earlier, only to have it disappear into the ether due to a sticky key and a couple of bad mouse clicks, right in the final lines. So mad I could spit.
Luckily, at the same moment, Spidere voiced my very thoughts, more briefly and clearly. I to spoke of the different groups as merely different focus points for individuals joining SF0, and that, as the Revolutionary argues that Aesthematics can be spread around the other groups, there are threads of each of their trajectories of desire bound to the foundations of the university.
There are no walls to be torn down. We (SF0) are not a maze or labyrinth. We are a web, with fillaments of each passing through all of the others. We are bound together, like it or not. Cutting out the UofA is like cutting off your own leg, with the blood from your other leg spluttering out the open wound until you've no life left. That's the danger of this needless Revolution, this unnecessary declaration of war.
Though I love the brash exuberance of Caleb********'s comment above, I must disagree with its "fight fire with fire" methods. There is no war if we, the UofA choose not to fight. There is no revolution if we of the UofA choose not to participate.
So far, based on votes and the colors of the names associated with this and the Enlist task, I don't see a lot of UofA folks participating WITH the Revolutionary (of course, I think be-foeing us wasn't the wisest of moves). That said, I am concerned about the number of UofA folks who are showing willingness to participate AGAINST the Revolution-ary.
To extend Black MegaBee's words, all of us who work together to task epically, we all travel with Gods. All of this is just a tempest in an ants dollhouse teapot.
And even more to the point, I repeat Spidere's words. I do not accept this war, Revolutionary. You are not my enemy.
Join me on my island of UofA Switzerland! (or something like it)
First chapter of Article V of the Hague Convention:
Article 1.
The territory of neutral Powers is inviolable.
Art. 2.
Belligerents are forbidden to move troops or convoys of either munitions of war or supplies across the territory of a neutral Power.
You can't touch this!!!
Hey hey hey! You're with us or against us!
You are not my enemy.
I will not fight you.
Why make such an ultimatum? I don't give a damn if I'm "with you or against you." I'm my own person; I make my own decisions. And if you refuse to recognize my freedom to choose, then your are a revolution that ignores the will of the people. Why foe me when you haven't even heard my opinion, or my motivations?
I remain neutral. If you can't see beyond your black and white, one track mindset, then go start your war somewhere else.
(I shouldn't have to assure you of this, but none of my statements are aimed at the people behind the players. So please don't be offended.)
Half a dozen or more Aesthematic proofs have been posted in the last few days. They've been proofs of quality, too. Your pointless revolution casually brushes aside the bared-heart efforts of our UofA duelists. You swamp aside a risky, public work of beauty created by Lincoln.
One of your original signatories of this war declaration has already broken down, foundered on one of my own proofs. Katotoro gave it up awfully quickly. I'm proud of that task, but it wasn't even the best of the four I've posted in the last three days, not even close by my own estimation. For a diaper full of poop. How much easier is it going to be?
Your enlisted personnel are voting in dribs and drabs for Aesthematic tasks. That trickle will become a flood, soon enough.
If your troops don't have the discipline to go through with this pointless "boycott" in the face of a green baby turd, how much can they be expected to resist the quality of effort our blessed Aesthematicians will produce?
Or are they willing to really commit to be complete tools in public ? "Sorry man, your [songs] [pictures] [sculptures] are great, but, you know... I got this, uh, boycott I committed to in a moment of weakness. That's pretty important to me for... some...reason."
It's nice that people are launching their passionate defenses. It's heartwarming to see some Aesthematicians make their stand(s) for self-determination. We don't have to wage this war, take sides, or even be neutral, we just do our thing with pure hearts, and your best efforts will still leave you the exhausted, artistically and morally bankrupt perpetrators of a nihilistic and pointless spasm of aggression.
Burn: The Revolution does not forbid appreciation of good tasks, it merely boycotts completion of UofA tasks. Our votes are not proof of a loss of vision or commitment. In war, there are always soldiers, but there are also negotiators, diplomats, and politicians. It would be unwise to ignore the tasks going on around us as we seek to improve the system. Anyone who isn't voting for good tasks because they think that's the purpose of the revolution either puts too much faith in the idea of votes as currency or is just being spiteful (and while the above declaration of war does briefly mention player killing zones, I was assured by the Revolutionary that this was to be a war in the Praxis, not one of violence). If I'm wrong, the revolutionaries should correct me, and I will withdraw myself from this army and seek to improve the group system on my own.
All that said, good tasking by members of the UofA does not negate the inherent issue in the pervasiveness of the trajectory of the University. To oversimplify, a general task can be completed as if it were a UofA task, and vice versa, without putting in effort to highlight anything in particular about the completion of the task.
It is a triumph of the ideals of the UofA that allow its trajectory to be ubiquitous. While it is not an issue for people to ignore their trajectory at times, or for people to play the game as they would like, having one group which does not have a unique trajectory does seem to detract from the idea of having groups. Art is emphasized every time a task is submitted. There is always Technique in what we do. There is always the concept of appearance (whether it be in the confession of a member of the HC or in the music of anyone completing the Sing task, there is at least some attention to appearance). There is always product. The product is the task, in some cases, but it is still product. We all make art. We all study aesthetics. The few tasks I have seen which do not have been flagged for bad completions.
Why not acknowledge that we are all members of the University as we task, eliminating the need for a group which already encompasses the true spirit of SF0?
And please don't worry about us. We're all happy to be part of your group. We just think it shouldn't be a group.
(And while people are talking about splitting it into multiple groups, or reforming the trajectory, I will make my own brief proposal, without actually completing the Trajectory of Desire task: if there is a void that needs to be filled with some sort of "art" group, have it deal with a study of medium or presentation.)
Officer Stu, I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm glad I didn't have to...
Because this thread is becoming boring to read - et l'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire. The debate over what is occuring on the Praxis can be saved for your meaningless meetings within the halls of Academia. The Revolution's goals have been stated and they are clear. I refuse to waste my time with empty words. If you wish to prove us wrong, meet us on the Praxis.
Burn Unit, I respect your first volley. I will answer.
That one was cute.
Damn.
How do I top that?
I worked too fucking hard (as did B-Unit) on my ballad to be merely brushed aside as "one of them," and not receive recognition I might have gotten otherwise for the effort I put into the task.
If people simply don't like it, that's fine. But your boycott is prejudiced, petty and downright mean.
As in the words of my worthy opponent:
We don't have to wage this war, take sides, or even be neutral, we just do our thing with pure hearts, and your best efforts will still leave you the exhausted, artistically and morally bankrupt perpetrators of a nihilistic and pointless spasm of aggression.
And merely boycotts completions of UofA tasks???
There's nothing "mere" about any completion whatsoever. Most (hopefully) are products of the best efforts of the players and isn't that what sf0 is all about? EFFORT and DRIVE?
I have never felt so under appreciated or prejudiced against before.
Hang on a second and read what I wrote. I read the boycott not as a "don't vote" but as a "encourage UofA people to avoid doing UofA tasks." I'm voting for UofA tasks still. As I said above:
It would be unwise to ignore the tasks going on around us as we seek to improve the system. Anyone who isn't voting for good tasks because they think that's the purpose of the revolution either puts too much faith in the idea of votes as currency or is just being spiteful.
posted by Toussaint Louverture on December 2nd, 2007 2:58 AM
Hey hey hey! You're with us or against us!
Careful, Mr. Louverture.
Although a small and peaceful canton, the ZVVPV (Zürcher Verkehrsverbund psychogeographische Verbindung)[1] is heavily fortified and more than prepared to defend ourselves. Attacks from either side will be met with fierce and sustained resistance. Any who attempt to bring us into the conflict had best be on the lookout for player killing areas.
[1] - Like most languages, German isn't spoken by me. If that is not true of you, I'd love corrections.
The Declaration of War was posted 24 hours after its intended posting time so that your Duel posts would not be included in the boycott period. I apologize that I didn't give you more time; in retrospect, I should have delayed another 24 hours, but I doubt that would have kept it on the Praxis for much longer. You will get the recognition that you deserve for your good tasking: the Soldiers of the Revolution have purposefully not been barred from voting on Aesthematic tasks - in fact, directive #7 asks for it. Our boycott merely states that you will be subjected to Guillotine for completing one of these tasks.
The Revolution's status remains: Revive The Oral Tradition has been barred from us completing it, whereas it is clearly within the realm of the Humanitarian Crisis, not to mention L.E.W.L. There is no reason for us not to encourage SFØ to dethrone its Government-by-Aesthematic.
For those who cannot find these legitimate duel posts on the Praxis, here are links. The deadline for voting is midnight, Tuesday December 4th.
Burn Unit
The Vixen
I have a new prepostition for this issue. we mush think about this in a different way.
This entire problem of the university dominating the tasks is not that the university itself is bad, it is that the university is an umbrella term for three groups. My names for these three will be hence "Auditorial Alliance", "the Thespians Guild", and "The University of Aesthematics". (not to be conused with the university right now. I just want to have that name around. In this post I will call that branch "the visual arts department") The reason that I do not include writing in this is because writing can be applied to any of the five current groups, two of the three proposed groups (excluding L.E.W.L.), and all of the branches of the university that I described above.
This war is useless. It makes no sense whatsoever. It can be solved simply and without conflict. We should not be fighting. The Enemy is not any of the groups, the enemy is the people who are out there who wish to crush nature, art, society, creativity, an interesting reality, and public transit systems. (and hopefully soon time and pranks) The war that we should be fighting is being fought by tasking. The groups should unify to bring creativity, intelligence, and fun back into the world.
The Thirst For Conflict is Insatiable,
-Someone, University of Aesthematics, ( Second Floor, Painting and Lit department
LeaveYou thecannot asthmatics stopalone! theThey Unive-can't rsity.breathe Weso aregood,more but pow-it's erfulnotthan their youfault! know.How Thewould Revol-you utionlike isit dying,ifand Iour Foedagents you havefor infilt-having rateda yourcurly ranks.mustache? Longhm? liveNow thethe Glor-inhaler's iousonCoun- the ter-other Revol-tin utionof andmustache thewax, Univ-isn't ersityit??
I hurl more Situationist Internationale at thee, Ariock! Have at you!
Et cependant tout le monde veut respirer et personne ne peut respirer et beaucoup disent " nous respirerons plus tard ". Et la plupart ne meurent pas car ils sont déjà morts.
On the subject of splitting the University of Aesthematics, I thought long on it and it seems like such a good idea. But it is not.
To separate the Aesthematics into it's apparent disciplines is to think that Groups are based on their tactics, but this is not the case. The existing Groups are not defined by what they do, but why. The key is Desire.
A collection of people defined by their skill in an medium is a Group without a cause, which is an animal with no hunger. This is why the Aesthematics are not called the Aestheticians. It is their Desire that blankets the Task list, not their skill set. This is why the University cannot simply be reconsidered, it must be dissolved.
Apologies. But the Revolution will be total, or it will not be.
Thank you Revolutionary. That explaination helps me understand a great deal. Still, I think that there must be a peacefull resolution.
Give peace a chance
I take offense at BU's description of me...First of all, the task I voted for was a BIOME task as well as a UofA task. Second, as our glorious leader states, we are not prohibiting voting of UofA tasks, but rather holding praxis to a higher standard.
Burn Unit, I demand an apology.
Not kidding, either. Not playing some stupid war game. What you said about me was wrong, pure and simple. Apologize.
We, who have declared war on the war on the University of Aestematics agree that change is good and revolution can lead to great things. However, The Revolutionary has insisted that the Revolution will be total or it will not be. We demand that it not be.
We demand that the forces of the Revolution recognize that the University is an integral part of SF0.
We demand that the forces of the Revolution recognize that the University's trajectory, as it stands now (being about form rather than content emphasizing Technique, Presentation, and Product), is sufficient.
The forces of the Revolution will stand down immediately or face retribution (perhaps with the use of designated player killing zones).
Sir Lincoln,
Unfortunately, there will be no stand-down. The goals of the Revolution have been clearly stated, are justified, and have not been met.
I appreciate your Declaration of War. Resistance is far more productive than apathy. I will interpret this as a collaboration between your forces and ours to create a more perfect SFØ.
Apologies again, esteemed foe, but should we capture you, we will behead you in a Player Killing Area.
Yours,
The Revolutionary
I'm not sure that the revolution need be total.
I'm sure we all agree that without some group celebrating the artistic motion of players, Sf0 would be missing a large part of it's community.
I joined this revolution, not because I believed that praxis from the university was getting weak, but the opposite. UofA completions are brilliant! It's just, when one group can access a much higher amount of tasks than other groups, the whole group concept is flawed.
Groups were created equal. The university has grown among the others and it is time to bring it to it's knees and level the field once more. Whether this is done in war or peacetime, it must be done.
From Wikipedia:
A revolution is a significant change that usually occurs in a relatively short period of time.
I do not stand for war, I stand for change.
If war is the only course forward, then so be it.
I agree wholeheartedly with Gen. Tom and joined the revolution to try to help facilitate change and help return some balance to the groups.
I joined partly because I wanted to make sure that when the U of A got reformed or whatever at the end of the Era that it will be remade into something that the players of SF0 want, and I figured that the instant that this task was submitted someone would chime in and a discussion would arise around whether or not the UofA should remain or be reformed or destroyed entirely.
Dear Revolutionary,
Then the revolution will not be.
-Someone
Because this is a Revolution of the People against the University, I supply the following statement:
I, The Revolutionary, drafted the manifesto of the Revolution (with assistance from no less than 6 other players, at least one from each group). I have made a request for a series of actions against the University, and have facilitated the collaboration of at least 52 players to this end. But I cannot claim responsibility for the glorious acts that have occurred in the name of the Revolution. Neither should I continue to pretend to be the leader of this War, because the leadership belongs to the Proletariat. Every Soldier involved has joined the Revolution of their own accord, and works tirelessly to further the Revolution in their own way. Having spoken my opinion in Declaration of War, I am merely a collaborator in the actual effort.
For this reason, I hereby resign from attempting to speak for the Revolution. You are now free to speak for yourselves. If a discussion of the fate of the University is being called for, please discuss. You may use this comment board for such a purpose.
As for me, I will continue to Task in favor of eliminating the University of Aesthematics from the Praxis, at the expense of talking about eliminating the University from the Praxis. I will continue to facilitate the collaboration of Soldiers of the Revolution to the best of my ability. This is not my war, it is your's.
Vive La Revolution!
is it all of our's? or just their's? can it be anybodys? or doe's it have to be only specific somebodie's? and soldier, it should go without saying, but
Well, if The Revolutionary is no longer claiming to speak for the Revolution, and encouraging a more all-around discussion... well, than that is a step in the right direction, IMNSHO.
I think it's fair to say that the University needs to be fixed, and that the goal of finding a minimal way of doing so that gets the needed job done is one that is shared by some who have called themselves revolutionaries, some that have declared against the revolution, and some that have advocated a position while claiming to take no sides. That goal is one that I share, and that is why I have felt at home among both sides of this war.
After all, I'm sure the SF0 community as a whole can come together and agree that we want our groups to be perfected; the disagreement is about the details of how we do that. So let's start talking specifics.
How cute. Your revolution lasted almost a whole week. Hope I didn’t miss the whole thing...
Revolutionaries,
The thirst for conflict is insatiable. You are fighting against the wrong group. Th university is not evil, just has grown to large. I implore you to change your mind before insatiability and change your war. The war is fought by tasking. It is the war against boredom and those who oppress each of the trajectories.
It is just before insatiability. please listen to reason and realign yourself. Your war does not need to exist. We can work this out peacefully.
Please. I kinda like the university. It fills one of the niches that need to be filled.
-Someone
I really think that there is no point to this.
very well.