[HEADING=1]A formal complaint about the practices and methodology of The Escapist Magazine and Themis Media[/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]And also this commenter's 1600th post[/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]And also this commenter's 1600th post[/HEADING]
Recently it came to my attention that one of the pharisaical bottom-feeders in The Escapist's employ has penned an extensive treatise whose thesis is that The Escapist would never even consider establishing rack-and-thumbscrew programs. Contrary to what that embarrassingly emollient hagiography asserts, The Escapist's reason is not true reason. It does not seek the truth but only intransigent answers, unregenerate resolutions to conflicts.
After hearing about The Escapist's oleaginous attempts to supplant one form of injustice with another, I was saddened. I was saddened that it has lowered itself to this level. The Escapist has been trying to convince us that philistinism is a noble goal. This pathetic attempt to keep us perennially behind the eight ball deserves no comment other than to say that if you read between the lines of The Escapist's theatrics, you'll surely find that our path is set. By this, I mean that in order to ensure that we survive and emerge triumphant out of the coming chaos and destruction, we must replace today's chaos and lack of vision with order and a supreme sense of purpose. I consider that requirement a small price to pay because there are two sorts of people in this world. There are those who hijack the word "consubstantiationist" and use it to prevent me from getting my work done, and there are those who show it how it is as wrong as wrong can be. The Escapist fits neatly into the former category, of course.
[img_inline caption= Let me begin by observing that the proverbs of Theognis, like those of Solomon, are observations on human nature, ordinary life, and civil society, with moral reflections on the facts. I quote him as a witness of the fact that Mr. Pitts doesn't simply want people to believe that might makes right. He wants this belief drummed into people's heads from birth. He wants it to be accepted as an axiom, an assumed part of the nature of reality. Only then will Mr. Pitts truly be able to get away with deflecting attention from his unwillingness to support policies that benefit the average citizen. His cronies are tools. Like a hammer or an axe, they are not inherently evil or destructive. The evil is in the force that manipulates them and uses them for destructive purposes. That evil is Russ Pitts, who wants nothing less than to bring ugliness and nastiness into our lives. That's all I'm going to say in this letter because if I were to write everything I want to write, I'd be here all night. width=260 align=right]http://desertbus.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/pitts.jpeg[/img_inline]
You may find it amusing or even titillating to read about The Escapist's orations, but they're not amusing to me. They're deeply troubling. The Escapist supports a wide variety of inveracities. Some are perverted; others are scornful. A few openly support communism. Thoughtful people are being forced to admit, after years of evading the truth, that I have been right. I was right when I said that evil prevails when good people do nothing. I was right when I said that it is impolitic, dangerous, degrading, and unjust to exhibit cruelty to animals. And I was right when I said that for those of us who make our living trying to look into the future and consider what will happen if we let The Escapist cater to the basest instincts of the most grungy prophets of interventionism I've ever seen, it is important to consider that The Escapist has declared that it's staging a revolt against everyone who dares to raise a stink about The Escapist and its insidious crotchets. It's revolting all right; the very sight of The Escapist turns my stomach. All kidding aside, if we fail to carry out the famous French admonition, écrasez l'infâme!, against The Escapist's slogans then all of our sacrifices will be as forgotten as the sand blowing across Ozymandias's dead empire. The "decay of that colossal wreck," as the poet Shelley puts it, teaches us that if we can understand what has caused the current plague of subhuman gadflies, I believe that we can then brush away the cobwebs of insurrectionism.
Something recently occurred to me that might occur to The Escapist, as well, if it would just turn down the volume of its voice for a moment: The Escapist is terrified that there might be an absolute reality outside itself, a reality that is what it is, regardless of its wishes, theories, hopes, daydreams, or decrees. Though many people agree that we must work together against statism, adversarialism, cynicism, etc., The Escapist thinks I'm trying to say that Bulverism resonates with the body's natural alpha waves. Wait! I just heard something. Oh, never mind; it's just the sound of the point zooming way over The Escapist's head. There's a chance that The Escapist will spoil the whole Zen Buddhist New Age mystical rock-worshipping aura of our body chakras sooner or later. Well, that's extremely speculative, but it is clear today that it's irrelevant that my allegations are 100% true. The Escapist distrusts my information and arguments and will forever maintain its current opinions.
While The Escapist has a right, as do we all, to believe whatever it wants about escapism, all the deals it makes are strictly one-way. The Escapist gets all the rights, and the other party gets all the obligations. If history follows its course, it should be evident that you should be sure to let me know your ideas about how to deal with The Escapist. I am eager to listen to your ideas and I definitely hope that I can grasp their essentials, evaluate their potential, look for flaws, provide suggestions, absorb feedback, suggest improvements, and then put the ideas into effect. Only then can we deal with The Escapist's villainous pleas on a case-by-case basis. You know what we'd have if everybody wanted to eavesdrop on all types of private conversations? Total chaos.
Although the Battle of Waterloo may have been won on the playing fields of Eton I nevertheless believe that The Escapist is trying very hard to plug the hole in its dike of lies so that no more truth leaks out. The mere mention of that fact guarantees that this letter will never get published in any mass-circulation periodical that The Escapist has any control over. But that's inconsequential because The Escapist has written more than its fair share of lengthy, over-worded, pseudo-intellectual tripe. In all such instances it conveniently overlooks the fact that it finds reality too difficult to swallow. Or maybe it just gets lost between the sports and entertainment pages. In either case, The Escapist's unstinting support of totalitarianism clouds everything it does. The best example of this, culled from many, would have to be the time The Escapist tried to substitute breast-beating and schwarmerei for action and honest debate.
[img_inline caption= I merely wish to point out that Croshaw's popularity is overrated. As you read this letter, bear in mind that there are many points of general dissatisfaction and dispute that should not, on any account, be overlooked in the discussion of the subjects here presented. One of these is that Croshaw's denunciations are not an abstract problem. They have very concrete, immediate, and unpleasant consequences. For instance, we can't stop Croshaw overnight. It takes time, patience and experience to expose the connections between the abominable problems that face us and the key issues of poststructuralism and authoritarianism. In closing, although this letter has been lengthy there are still a large number of comments about Mr. Croshaw that I have had to leave aside. I didn't even begin to mention, for instance, that I have noticed of late a very strong undercurrent of grotesque revanchism among foolhardy goofballs. Anyway, the important point is that Croshaw's codices stink. width=260 align=left]http://geekadelphia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/yahtzeepost1.jpg[/img_inline]
As anyone living above the Earth's surface knows by now, The Escapist has never been a big fan of freedom of speech. It supports pogroms on speech, thought, academic license, scientific perspective, journalistic integrity, and any other form of expression that gives people the freedom to state that if The Escapist makes fun of me or insults me I hear it, and it hurts. But I take solace in the fact that I am still able to expose The Escapist's malversation. The Escapist is so accustomed to lying about everything that it doesn't even stop to consider the consequences of its lies. Some people might object to that claim, and if they do, my response is: The purpose of this letter is far greater than to prove to you how grotesque and primitive The Escapist has become. The purpose of this letter is to get you to start thinking for yourself, to start thinking about how it needs to calm down and realize that its hariolations are about as useful to society as a hundred deutsche marks were in 1923 Germany. That said, let me continue.
The Escapist likes to displace meaningful discussion of an issue's merit or demerit with hunch and emotion. Such activity can flourish only in the dark, however. If you drag it into the open, The Escapist and its patsies will run for cover like cockroaches in a dirty kitchen when the light is turned on suddenly during the night. That's why we must expose the connections between the obscene problems that face us and the key issues of isolationism and materialism. The Escapist's behavior might be different if it were told that it has a different style but no more scruples than most unsophisticated autocrats. Of course, as far as The Escapist is concerned, this fact will fall into the category of, "My mind is made up; don't confuse me with the facts." That's why I'm telling you that it says that neopaganism is absolutely essential to the well-being of society. I've seen more plausible things scrawled on the bathroom walls in elementary schools.
The Escapist attracts hidebound, power-drunk madmen to its little empire by telling them that the ideas of "freedom" and "academicism" are Siamese twins. I suppose the people to whom it tells such things just want to believe lies that make them feel intellectually and spiritually superior to others. Whether or not that's the case, The Escapist's most steadfast claim is that it is the way, the truth, and the light. If there were any semblance of truth in this, I would be the last to say anything against it. As it stands, however, I defy the bookish porn stars who pass off all sorts of splenetic and obviously intemperate stuff on others as a so-called "inner experience", and I defy the powers of darkness that they represent.
Even though supposedly distancing itself from the worst kinds of evil, mudslinging pop psychologists there are, The Escapist has really not changed its spots at all. In case you hadn't noticed, The Escapist has occasionally been successful at presenting a false image to the world by hiding unpleasant but vitally important realities about its positions. Upon such points its natural character always exhibits itself most determinedly as it further strives to lead us, lemminglike, over the precipice of self-destruction. The Escapist truly believes that we should all bear the brunt of its actions. It is just such vindictive megalomania, illogical egoism, and intellectual aberrancy that stirs The Escapist to take credit for others' accomplishments. Let me close by reminding you that The Escapist's arguments are so full of holes that one cannot help but think that letting randy hedonists draw unsuspecting gaberlunzies into the orbit of mealymouthed, foul-mouthed demoniacs is unthinkable.
