ciphergoth | Come on with the rain, there's a smile on my face

The scene with

spikeylady went incredibly fabulously; see her friends-only entry for details. We really did excel ourselves just as I'd hoped. Thanks to co-conspirators

ergotia,

lilithmagna and

kitty_goth - you all rocked very hard. I don't think I can do justice to just how fab

spikeylady was or is here. After the scene finished, we chilled for a long time, then did some other different scenes, slept, there was more play, then

purplerabbits came over

ergotia and

lilithmagna went off to meet

lilithmagna's Mum in the National Gallery and the four of us that remained went off to Camden to meet

lolliepopp and

djm4 for fantastic burgerful lunch at Ruby in the Dust, followed by shopping. Shopping in the glorious sunshine with such fabulous people after such an extraordinary evening was... was just the way all Sundays should be. Myself and

spikeylady bought matching Clockwork Orange T-shirts as a memento of the scene - how sad are we?

After shopping, we popped into the Dev for a swift half, then

spikeylady and I dashed off to St Pervertia for a swift last burst of play (she might otherwise be sitting comfortably for the journey home, which would never do) before dashing off to Euston to see her onto her train. *sigh* the whole seeing-people-onto-trains thing is most delightfully romantic, but there's a big downside - they aren't there afterwards...

Then I returned to the Dev, where

kitty_goth and

purplerabbits were still, and met

kjersti,

lproven,

duranorak,

dennyd, and were later joined by

trishpiglet and

babysimon after fortifying ourselves with Chinese fast food. Other LJers spotted:

vikinghugs, and I'm told

arkady was there but sadly I didn't meet her (though thinking about it, I did talk to someone who might have been her but didn't ask about LJ names)

purplerabbits is here now updating her LJ, we're probably going to watch "Clerks" and sit about drinking rather than trying to do anything more complex. She flies home tomorrow, but lunch with

ergotia first is on the cards.

I'm disturbed by the lack of internationalism on my friends page. I'd assumed that the sorts of people I might tend to meet would in general reject patriotism and nationalism as a close cousin of racism and other irrational forms of supporting one person you don't know over another, and support instead the idea that we were on the side of the whole of humanity, regardless of colour or nationality. It seems I was mistaken.

jwz gladdened my heart today by writing an LJ for no particular reason about one of the finest albums ever pressed into plastic and aluminium. I have come to you today to speak of Cop Shoot Cop's 1994 album "Release." This album is just such a boot to the head, that as your attorney, I must advise you to obtain and listen to it immediately. Those of you who like the journal, listen to the album. Those of you who like the album, check out the journal. If you're still not convinced, consider that in the club he owns, the cash machine is programmed with subversive messages. my favorite complaint was from the guy who was puzzled that the ATM says ``Destroy Capitalism'' but charges him a $3 service fee. Irony is hard, let's go shopping!

Threaded | Flat

From:

lapis-lazuli.livejournal.com

*sigh* the whole seeing-people-onto-trains thing is most romantic, but there's a big downside - they aren't there afterwards...

Yeah... I've noticed that same problem with the seeing-people-onto-planes thing.

*sigh*

From:

dennyd.livejournal.com

*wavicles* Was nice to see you briefly, shame I had to keep moving. Still, at least I've seen the inside of the Dev now... very, erm, yes. :)

Clerks is an excellent film. Must buy a new copy (and not loan it to anyone).

From:

djm4

I don't think I'm particularly nationalistic, but in as much as I am so, I don't see it in terms of supporting one person I don't know over another, but in terms of a nation being a level of cultural grouping whose ideals I can feel a certain ... resonance with. Mind you, I can feel that about the EU at times, so I suspect it's more that I don't feel that there is a coherent global view for me to ally myself with.

I think this may be a 'face-to-face in the pub' topic, though, and certainly not one I'm awake enough to expound on now.

From:

tisiphone.livejournal.com

OK, I have to say, hacking one's ATM to display subversive messages is... cool!

From:

altamira16.livejournal.com

Place-ism. I think there is some important connection in thoughts to where you spend your formative years. There are ideas that can only be expressed in the mother tongue, and there is the uniqueness of where you grew up, the people you knew, and what it is like. I have a friend right now who keeps going to Brazil, and he says that now that the US is at war, he is leaving for Brazil. Someone else said she was leaving for Canada. I feel like this is the easy way out, and where ever you are, it will somehow be imperfect, and you have to do something to make it what it should be or what you want it to be. At the same time, I think that if you have legitimate reasons for being elsewhere, then be elsewhere. But don't choose a place over another just to escape. Choose it because that is where you want to be.

Personally, I don't like the work-ethic or the megacorporations of the US, especially the New England portion of the US. It seems like there, your work is your life, and you are not quite alive unless you are going somewhere or doing something. I am not talking about things like the social calender that you have (which makes my head spin) but more like 1)Go to work. 2) Go to gym after work. 3) Go home. 4)Eat. 5) Sleep. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

From:

lizw.livejournal.com

I'm disturbed by the lack of internationalism on my friends page. I'd assumed that the sorts of people I might tend to meet would in general reject patriotism and nationalism as a close cousin of racism and other irrational forms of supporting one person you don't know over another, and support instead the idea that we were on the side of the whole of humanity, regardless of colour or nationality.

I don't see patriotism and internationalism as an either/or proposition; that's one of the reasons I'm a member of the SNP. I also find that phrases such as "on the side of the whole of humanity" are pretty meaningless to me in practical terms. They negate the whole concept of sides, and it seems plain to me that sometimes there are sides to be taken.

I suspect this is probably a case of axiom lock, though, because I'm becoming increasingly aware of how all of this ties into my religion, which is pretty fundamental to me. The concept of choosing a side is theologically important in Asatru.

(Just to be clear, I'm not saying that these things are important to me because my religion says so - I'm saying that Asatru is the right religion for me because these things are important to me, and when I start seeing connections between random conversations and my religion, it's a good indicator that I'm in territory that's pretty central to who I am).

From:

booklectica

I'd assumed that the sorts of people I might tend to meet would in general reject patriotism and nationalism as a close cousin of racism and other irrational forms of supporting one person you don't know over another, and support instead the idea that we were on the side of the whole of humanity, regardless of colour or nationality.

Couple of thoughts I had:
- I imagine most people who are nationalist would see it as equivalent to supporting a family member over a stranger, not supporting one stranger over another.
- I wouldn't put patriotism in the same box as racism. You can wish a family member well and support them without necessarily hating the family next door.
- While I agree that the worldview you describe is a good one and I agree with it, it strikes me as difficult to maintain all the time in practice. Irrelevant and irrational emotions tend to sweep in, especially in wartime. Whether or not that's a good thing depends on who you ask...

(Kitten icon included as magical protection against this being the start of a flame war.)

From:

keirf.livejournal.com

Yet again I've typed in a long post about war and nationalism, patriotism and internationalism, only to delete it. There's so much conflicting information, and there are so many moral (and not so moral) takes on the war from both 'sides', that whenever I try to put down how I feel about the current world situation it just breaks down into incoherence.

As a result I end up saying nothing, and it is a frustrated nothing.

From:

sbisson.livejournal.com

I have to admit that I rarely think about things in terms of nationalism or internationalism.

I firmly believe that the natural order of organisation for human beings is of the order of 250 or so (I have a feeling that electronically-mediated virtual communities have the ability to be larger, thanks to the technological suppoprt they offer) - anything else breaks down due to failures in communication. As such I tend to regard the state (or the State, if you prefer) as an aberation that will eventually whither and die...

May be it's because I grew up on a small island, and was able to see its three or four distinct societies functioning quite happily in the framework of a limited government. Or maybe, I'm an anarcho-syndicalist utopian who wants to live in the Culture. Or even, with my consulting hat on, I've seen so many dysfunctional large organisations. Evil comes when we try to build structures that force people into large groupings...

The key to human survival is open, free communications, and the ability to allow self organisation at a village level - whether it's a virtual village like a LJ community, or a group of co-workers collaborating on a project.

It takes a village because we are villagers, no matter where we are or what we're doing. My personal village is geographically very diverse - which I guess means that I am international - but I have also seen its shape and structure change so many times over my life, that I have no idea where it will take me tomorrow.

I'm not sure if that answers your question. However, it does try to encapsulate my personal beliefs.