Yo momma!

oh wait. I wasn't suppoosed to say that. But hey, 'you are a dumbass', now that's clever (not at all the intellectual equivalent of 'your momma!')

Icithecat, maybe you failed to get the gist of what I was saying, I wasn't disagreeing with the guy. I was saying that an eduaction in politcal science that doesn't teach critical thinking and relies on anecdotal definitions of why various socio-politcal systems are 'good' or 'bad' is a worthless education. They should give that guy a refund.

The statement thalycine described make as much sense as the statement, "capitalism is people starving in the streets while the rich are protected by their private armies," or, "socialism is the goverment holding a gun to your head while stealing your religion from your children." All of these statements are stupid. They all attempt to discredit complex systems using 'worst case scenario' anecdotes which, in fact have very little, if anything, to do with the systems they are trying to discredit.

I stand by what I said. "anarchism is someone holding a gun to your head..." is ignorant. It narrowly defines a broad range of politcal and social theory as expressly violent when it is not. I don't care if the guy has a different opinion based on, perhaps, the idea that people can't be trusted to live together peacefully without government help. I'd even agree that people in this country would starve without the government. But it seems the only thing that guy learned about Anarchism at school was from watching 'god save the queen'. Gimme a break.

Anyway, nice bikes.

oh..snap....as the dumbasses say..

The statement "Anarchism is like someone holding a gun to your head....." is a metaphor. based on his oppinion. I can't believe you're making broad assumptions about my freind who you don't know, have never met, have no idea of his qualifications, all based on a second-hand metaphor.

Yup...sticking to bikes......great idea.

i think he explained it very well..your friend has his masters in political science and shot down an entire system of beliefs with one metaphor... actually.. if we are gonna nit pick.. its a simile .. not a metaphor.. and its not even a light hearted simile.. but an extremely visual one aimed to discredit.. and what the champ is saying is.. your Masters of Poly Sci should know better. If that is his opinion... its really shallow and narrowminded, (one might even use "broad assumption" ) especially for an M.S..

Whatever anarchy is, it's definitely fair, as many have said, to work within the system (i.e. selling bicycles or whatever) until you have the wherewithal to overthrow it or go outside of it. Lenin wrote fairly well (albeit in the convoluted style of 19th century european intellectuals) about this compromise. (Unfortunately, Stalin then realized that the one thing easier and more effective than short-term accommodation to bring about long-term gain is killing everybody; maybe we could all learn by his bad example and not get too worked up and viscious while we discuss politics?)

Also, Circle A bikes are, without a doubt, hot as hell. They could be Circle C bikes (for copyright and capitalism) and they would still be hot (though maybe not quite as satisfying to the soul).

Of course the circle c brand wouldn't do that well, since it doesn't have the same 'us against them' cache of circle a. They'd probably also be built in china by tiny tiny hands, in keeping with C principles, so they'd be super cheap.
I might buy actually one however - my ex grandpa was head cowboy on the circle c ranch in north idaho for 20 years. I always liked the sound of 'circle c'.

And Thalycine, you're right, I jumped to conclusions about your friend. I figured that that statement was at best ignorant, at worst dishonest. I guess I hadn't considered he could be making a lighthearted condemnation. But although I want to, I'm not going to make a simelar lighthearted condemnation of, say, catholics, to illustrate my point on how this is not helpful to the public discourse.

Maybe I'm getting too uptight here. I think the point you were trying to make is that there are many definitions of anarchy and that some people ignore some definitions while hi-lighting others. To be fair though, you might have to know the folks at circleA before judging them as cynically marketing to idealists and trustfund bike punks.

Is posting geared bike pics in the FG/SS anarchy? :rolleyes:

man i ****ing hate catholics, lets ***** about them instead of anarchists. i even like crimethinesque trustaferian anarchists more than catholics...and thats saying something :D

I'm new here, and I'm a Catholic with a Circle A:

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2004/g/bordas.htm

Trackstar is located a few doors down from the Catholic Worker, a lay movement (founded on May 1, 1933) that is often described as Christian anarchist. They are not posing, and do the hard work that needs to be done day in, day out.

Cool. Now we have a Catholic Anarchist on the board. I was raised Anglican myself and rather than go to church and tithe the 'organization', I contribute to food banks and a local 'church' called the Open Door. The reverend ********** 'sorry' is a firm believer in filling the bellies before filling the head with bs.

But a thylacine and get off the bandwagon.

(riding for cover... NOW)

W.K.
Aren't you on a boat with more firepower than most countries?
If so, why ride for cover.

But can we? :)

Gotta get off the boat one day you know.

Perhaps sooner than later if they decom my command..

nola, wanna tackle chain lube? Then we'd have completed the triumvirate.

Relax, kids. Unless we can laugh at ourselves others will gladly do it for us.

bla bla bla, wah wah wah.... did you see that bike? i love the forks.. i have a thing for straight forks.. . your bike is a winner

W.K.
If you become decomisioned, look into becoming an Accountant. Minimal mathematical skills required, and good prison conditions if you get 'Enroned'.

Ed B, that bike is hot stuff, and I agree with sloppy about those forks. holy cow. (no offense to hindu fixed riders). I really like the colors.

thechamp, I called you a dumbass because it seemed to me that you were saying that australia's education system was sub-par.

but it is, right? ...jusss kiddss

hey lab rat matt... for the longest time till someone noted the lab rat comraderie.. i thought your tag was la brat matt... like le car...or le bag, for that matter... can we call you that anyways?

Believe it or not, I had a friend that called me le brat for a couple of years. We were both regulars on another message board.

Sure, go ahead, call me le brat.

Thanks! I waited almost six months for it, and I would have been willing to wait longer... I have nothing but good things to say about the bike and Chris at Circle A. It's a joy to ride, and it feels so much better than the too small Pista I had been riding, and now use as my winter bike.

I see them all over Providence, and one night I ran into a guy unlocking his outside a bar -- the same color, lugs and fork ends as mine, and it turns out he was born in my hometown.

I like wax-based lubes because they're cleaner and I accept that I will have to apply them more frequently. Your turn! :)

Where'd you learn how to read Labratmatt, austrailia?

What I said was "I guess an Australian masters in poly-sci isn't all that valuable if this is the sort of statement it produces"

I specifically mention the masters in polysci programs and I added a qualifying 'if' to cover my ass. Although I did come awfully close to makeing the sort of broad generalization I've been complaining about. Awfully close...

At this point I'd buy you a beer to show you I'm only kidding around but I'll just have to tell you. I'm just fooling around. unfortunately for me, and I guess for you guys too, I'm a real last word sort of guy. I'm sorry for dragging this out like this.

BTW, all the people I've met from oz have been very nice and seemed reasonably well educated. And they were just sailors!