yeah.

i didn't miss anything because there wasn't anything to miss. well, ok - i would have gone out a couple of times, maybe. weather permitting...

sllllooooow year in detroit.

there's a few things coming up, but, again, it's the same bands i've been seeing for the last couple of years.

i pointed this out about this time last year - i may spend more time exploring the artier fringes this year, as a consequence of age. i may end up at the dso a few times. there's lots of shows happening, but rock music has really turned over to a point of macho stupidity that i never liked. the artsy fringe of rock that i always existed within has largely evaporated, or at least isn't appearing in detroit. it may be lost to history at this point. the aesthetic i'm looking for will inevitably appear in some combination of hip-hop and techno, but it's not really presenting itself to me at this point; what i'm seeing is mostly the same kind of toxic masculinity, which has long been the norm in hip-hop, and appears to have become the norm over the last few years in techno.

so long as i can find something to do a few times a month, i'm not going to be obsessing over sorting through much of this stuff. but, i'm going to have to survey bits of it....

we're in a down period, musically. 

the go-to spot in mexicantown appears to have shifted directions. that was apparent from the start, but the turnover is at this point apparently mostly complete. oddly, though, some of these shows are showing back up at the magic stick, or at least at the theatre downstairs. the venue in mexicantown was really simply too small to be detroit's go to rock bar; maybe everybody just finally came to terms with it. some of them have been moved back out to the suburbs, which is where they were when i first got here. it's going to be a trek out to la dispute.

there appear to be a few new venues. ufo is re-opened....

detroit is known for this. you have to pay attention, or things start disappearing in front of you and you don't know where they end up. ottawa, on the other hand, has had the same five bars for fifty years; they just change names once in a while.

anyways, i should get out to see something in a few days. for now, i'm going to nap and try to call about the fingerprints again in the afternoon.

i'm defending my views on this by pointing to liberalism, but i will acknowledge that my liberalism is on the far anti-authoritarian extreme of the spectrum, and i have made no secret of the fact that i identify as an anarchist.

you can't call yourself an anarchist and then go walking around apologizing for islam. there's no such thing as an anarcho-muslim. it's a contradiction in terms.

and, as an anarchist, my fundamental concern is with the abolition of the illegitimate use of power, which means two things:

1) i am simply not going to stand with a group of people that define themselves by a system of brutal oppression, and muslims are exactly that. my political vision necessitates abolishing their religion; co-existence isn't actually possible.
2) nor will i offer blanket condemnation for any group fighting against a system of hierarchy, no matter how misguided their approach may be. so, i will not offer blanket condemnation towards palestinians fighting the occupation, and i will not offer blanket condemnation towards anybody fighting against the spread of islam in the west - even if i don't like their tactics, one bit.

in a sense, i'm refusing to take a side in a debate between white supremacists and muslims because i actually view them as essentially interchangeable, and the truth is they largely are - they both hate jews, they both hate queers (if anything, nazis are less anti-queer than muslims), they both hate africans, they both believe in slavery, they're both hyper-capitalistic, etc. i'm not sure that the differences between the modern saudi state and the historical nazi state are very substantive; there's terrible people on both sides, here.

but, i'm also sincere in my belief that this is not something that ought to be fully condemned, because there is a basis of resistance underlying it.

discourse is always preferable, granted. but, if we can't win this argument, there may come a time when violence is actually rational.

is that an acceptable diversity in opinion?

see, in justin trudeau's warped and shrunken pre-adolescent benetton faux liberal pea brain, when a muslim stands on a pulpit and attacks jews and queers and calls for the annihilation of infidels and the subjugation of women and the enslavement of blacks, that is a diversity of opinion - which underlies our strength, as a nation.

however, when a jew or a queer or a woman or a person of colour pushes back against their hateful tirades, that is toxic and deplorable and should be censured.

in the end, we end up supporting hate speech in the name of suppressing it, and advancing hate in the name of reducing it. this is indeed the era of orwell....

but, as i've pointed out repeatedly, and the evidence seems to be mounting in favour of, the reality is that this analysis is giving the man far too much credit. the actual truth of it is no doubt that this guy simply lacks the cognitive ability to work through this kind of contradiction, and is resorting to the doublethink out of a feeble deficit of intellect rather than a downwards enforcement of brainwashing. this is no doubt less some kind of elaborate psy op and more just a completely naive, total idiot.

if he were to wake up one day and see a group of muslims stringing a bunch of people up a tree on his front lawn, he'd no doubt just conclude they don't understand each other well enough and require more face time together. the problem isn't an ideology rooted in hate, it's just a lack of community and fraternity. they just need to sit down and worship together.

as i've said repeatedly: the only difference between a muslim and a klansman is the colour of their hoods, and they need to be treated the same way.