Maladjusted to Modern Snivelization

[Ocotillo]

Hi. i'm Ocotillo. (currently)Unemployed 30-something fuck up. Maladjusted to western civilization. Kinda fat but working on that. I'm into permaculture, hiking-camping, deserts, dumpstering, going to shows, reading, tea, anarchist theory, cooking, psychology, lucid dreaming, herbal medicine, radical mental health, riding my bike, etc. I'm a nice guy who loves honest open communication and exchange of ideas. Not able to travel at the moment due to some complicated circumstances. Love to talk to people, make new friends, share ideas, etc. My life is kinda messy. I have a brother who's in federal prison. Recently had to drop out of college studies due to financial stuff and family mess.

Musically I like a wide range of stuff from dark psytrance to afro-beat, dub, bluegrass/newgrass, reggae,conscious political hip hop, downtempo and ambient to drone like Barn Owl, to folk punk to really soft folky stuff, some hardcore and older punk rock, etc. I'm open to a lot of stuff. Not so much into really screamy stuff or black metal. I do love me some Opeth though.

Currently in Austin though I'd like to move at some point in the next year or 2 probably.

Would love to make some friends here. I'm a pretty nice guy, I just dislike ignorant people, bigots, religious nuts/jesusy folks, and drug addicts. I'm currently pretty much sober most of the time, though I enjoy whiskey or beer now and then. Not really into getting fucked up-been there, done that, just not my thing.

 

[deanmoriarty]

welcome,brother....

 

[japanarchist]

welcome aboard

 

[bicycle]

Welcome, like your description.
Fuck the drug addicts and people who scream alot and think they cool indeed.
Been there done that, seen that, grown over and out of it.
Want to start a mail friendship?

 

[Alaska]

EDIT: I sound like a douche after a few days with no sleep. Pardon me.

Welcome, man. Good luck with whatever your plans are.

 

[Ocotillo]

Welcome, like your description.
Fuck the drug addicts and people who scream alot and think they cool indeed.
Been there done that, seen that, grown over and out of it.
Want to start a mail friendship?

I added ya!

 

[absurdtoast]

HEY, welcome...you like some great things..I'm totally interested in what you mean by radical mental health. There are some really interesting figures in the world of psychology/philosophy...one of my favorites, Michel Foucault. You mention radical mental health and I instantly thought of Foucault.

It's very important to question biological, psychological and social sciences to see that the "universal scientific truths" about human nature are actually products of ethical and political expressions of a particular society. Basically what we accept as scientific truths are actually contingent on historical forces.

Foucault most famously wrote on the history of madness, basically to get an understanding of how the division between the insane and rest of humanity took place and at which points they were deemed a threat to society rather than just a part of it i.e. the development of insane asylums (to imprison these now deemed "threats").

Also looking at the idea that we feel the mentally insane are better off today since we are able to understand the mental illnesses better. Foucault argued this is not the case, that the mentally ill are just sick and in need of mental treatment. Science claims to provide neutral medical treatments and objective knowledge of the mentally ill, but the treatments are in fact covers for controlling anyone who opposes some conventional social norm of a certain society.

“Foucault argued that what was presented as an objective, incontrovertible scientific discovery (that madness is mental illness) was in fact the product of eminently questionable social and ethical commitments.”

This idea that scientific medical community offers these objective treatments for the mentally ill is just a way to silence any opposition to the way of life of that society or to even take responsibility for why these certain illnesses are taking place.

Foucault laid out the history of madness to show that modern psychiatry was not in fact liberating the insane from a brutal past of oppression and misunderstanding. Instead he showed that historically madness was not always seen the same way or even as a threat at all. This madness becomes a threat when it starts to threaten some aspect of conventional society. The point of a genealogical analysis is to show that a given system of thought was the result of contingent turns of history, not the outcome of rationally inevitable trends.
By looking at Foucault and Nietzsche we see this. We cannot have a mechanistic (Descartes) view of mental health treatment like we do today.
SOURCE: my Michel Foucault and Friedrich Nietzsche finger puppets told me so!

Welp..didn't mean to go off like that but....for some reason I found it striking and wanna know what ya think about radical mental health! Not to take over your intro thread thing...we could make another or just chat......but yeah...WELCOME!

 

[barefootinbabylon]

I had procured an amazing book from a library once, which went into very detailed individual case studies, as well as broad-spectrum sociological surveys, which stated that the vast majority of what 'we' have come to term 'Mental Illness' is a construct largely unique to post-industrial/developed nations, but most notably, the good ol' U.$. In countries which are considered 'less developed,' the wide range of manias, paranoid schizophrenia, bi-polar, anxiety, depression are not even REMOTELY present to the extent that they are here. In areas where people have a much more intrinsic sense of family/community/social roles, often living either in very close quarters with numerous other individuals, OR living an existence much more attuned to the cycles and rhythms of nature - viola! The incredible drive to medicate entire swathes of society, simply so as to continue an isolated, consumer-driven, ZoMbIe ApOcAlYpSe existence disappeared. In essence, the further removed we, as a species, become from our integral roots as a species (in my mind, that entails growing one's own food, building (not simply paying for) one's own shelter, doing meaningful daily tasks which contribute to the benefit of an entire community, and engaging in story-telling around fires - the more inherently unhappy we become. Radical mental health...? I would advocate taking those people whom society has dubbed 'insane' out of the 10x12 boxes (in more extreme cases) into which they have been placed, and give them all a working vacation to a farm or nature retreat. I think it would work wonders...

Maladjusted to western civilization. I'm into permaculture, hiking-camping, deserts, dumpstering, going to shows, reading, tea, anarchist theory, cooking, psychology, lucid dreaming, herbal medicine, radical mental health, riding my bike, etc.

It's hard to be well-adjusted to Western Civ. when you like all sorts of bad-ass things like that!! Welcome to the boArds, there's lots of bad-ass people here who are equally (if not perhaps more so) maladjusted to western civilization. Perhaps we remember a time in human 'evolution' when things were more wholesome, more satisfying, more inherently simple and fulfilling... I know I do, and the struggle to re-create those dreams is a daily one.

Austin, eh? I've heard good things about Austin; I have a friend who recently moved down there, and he's been crying up and down for me to come visit him. Were it not for my own 'complicated circumstances' which is kind of prohibiting my own travel (or perhaps, just my self-imposed limitations?), I would be down there for sure... most likely skippin' on my merry little way to Mehiko. <3.

Anyways. Welcome. Very, very nice introductory post... You seem super-duper-awesomeness.

 

[Ocotillo]

HEY, welcome...you like some great things..I'm totally interested in what you mean by radical mental health. There are some really interesting figures in the world of psychology/philosophy...one of my favorites, Michel Foucault. You mention radical mental health and I instantly thought of Foucault.

It's very important to question biological, psychological and social sciences to see that the "universal scientific truths" about human nature are actually products of ethical and political expressions of a particular society. Basically what we accept as scientific truths are actually contingent on historical forces.

Foucault most famously wrote on the history of madness, basically to get an understanding of how the division between the insane and rest of humanity took place and at which points they were deemed a threat to society rather than just a part of it i.e. the development of insane asylums (to imprison these now deemed "threats").

Also looking at the idea that we feel the mentally insane are better off today since we are able to understand the mental illnesses better. Foucault argued this is not the case, that the mentally ill are just sick and in need of mental treatment. Science claims to provide neutral medical treatments and objective knowledge of the mentally ill, but the treatments are in fact covers for controlling anyone who opposes some conventional social norm of a certain society.

“Foucault argued that what was presented as an objective, incontrovertible scientific discovery (that madness is mental illness) was in fact the product of eminently questionable social and ethical commitments.”

This idea that scientific medical community offers these objective treatments for the mentally ill is just a way to silence any opposition to the way of life of that society or to even take responsibility for why these certain illnesses are taking place.

Foucault laid out the history of madness to show that modern psychiatry was not in fact liberating the insane from a brutal past of oppression and misunderstanding. Instead he showed that historically madness was not always seen the same way or even as a threat at all. This madness becomes a threat when it starts to threaten some aspect of conventional society. The point of a genealogical analysis is to show that a given system of thought was the result of contingent turns of history, not the outcome of rationally inevitable trends.
By looking at Foucault and Nietzsche we see this. We cannot have a mechanistic (Descartes) view of mental health treatment like we do today.
SOURCE: my Michel Foucault and Friedrich Nietzsche finger puppets told me so!

Welp..didn't mean to go off like that but....for some reason I found it striking and wanna know what ya think about radical mental health! Not to take over your intro thread thing...we could make another or just chat......but yeah...WELCOME!

Hey no problem I like Foucault. The first time I started reading his stuff it really messed with my head because he turns the tables on everything but I like it.

You make excellent points. By radical mental health I also mean people like the Icarus Project who are an amazing resource.

 

[Keith2]

Hi Ocotillo,

What sort of anarchist theory thinkers and books to you like? Apart from anarchism can you name 3 - 5 books that you think people should check out?

 

[Ocotillo]

I really like Alexander Berkman-his ABC's of Anarchism is a good starter book IMHO. Also, Peter Kropotkin (wrote Mutual Aid and a few other books worth checking out)and more recently people like David Graeber and Ashanti Alston. That's not a definitive list and just some of my favorites, i'm not like Professor Anarchy or anything, and far from a perfect guide to anything, but off the top of my head those folks really influenced my thinking politically.

 

[Ocotillo]

Ooops, you said apart from Anarchism, sorry. Well lately I've been re-reading When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron-which is an amazing book that has a lot of good heartfelt advice. She's a buddhist nun but this is not a religious book in any sense-in fact quite the opposite. Also recently finished Derrick Jensen's book The Culture of Make Believe which was one of the most challenging, shake-you-to-the-core, serious books i've ever read.

 

[Shadowmarque]

Ocotillo, Hello!!!
I was pretty impressed with your objective outlook on your idea of yourself. Quite funny, indeed. I wouldn't mind a mail friendship with you either, you seem interesting and hopeful of your situation. Good stuff.

 

[Ocotillo]

Ocotillo, Hello!!!
I was pretty impressed with your objective outlook on your idea of yourself. Quite funny, indeed. I wouldn't mind a mail friendship with you either, you seem interesting and hopeful of your situation. Good stuff.

It's prettymuch all I can do not to lose my shit-I try to keep positive as best I can while I try and clean up my own life and help my family and deal with having my brother in jail and being unemployed and pretty broke.

 

[Shadowmarque]

It's prettymuch all I can do not to lose my shit-I try to keep positive as best I can while I try and clean up my own life and help my family and deal with having my brother in jail and being unemployed and pretty broke.

I'm glad to hear it. I was just thinking today how extremely difficult it is sometimes to follow through with what you say you're going to do. Good luck, homey

 

[Ocotillo]

I'm employed now, so that's a start-not much money but it's something. Also started donating plasma for quick cash-easy as hell and you can do it like 2-3 times a week! Might use some of that money for a road trip later this summer if I get some time off from work. My job's pretty chill so that may happen. Want to get out to Tucson at some point as I'm looking at a graduate program there at U of A.