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Jack Donovan (1)

Autor de The Way of Men

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6 Obras 427 Miembros 3 Reseñas

Obras de Jack Donovan

The Way of Men (2012) 259 copias
Becoming a Barbarian (2016) 82 copias
A Sky Without Eagles (2014) 36 copias
A More Complete Beast (2018) 36 copias
No Man's Land 5 copias

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Conocimiento común

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male

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Reseñas

Well, Jack Donovan's new book is out and as usual, his writings give me pause and offer a completely different way of viewing existence. This collection of essays flows nicely and each chapter builds upon the previous to provide a compelling argument for tribalism as a necessary (inevitable?) development for modern civilization. These essays answer a lot of questions that I had after reading The Way of Men. In my undergrad days I read a lot of anarcho-syndicalist material and I see many similarities, at least with the assessment of state power and hyper-capitalism. But what eventually turned me off to Kropotkin and Rocker and Chomsky was their inattention to human nature and cultural tendencies. They were far to idealistic. Donovan is more or less hinging his arguments off of basic principles in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology. That still leaves some issues for me but it's closer to seeming plausible.

Donovan acknowledges that the State is too powerful (right now) to go head to head or even just to live in explicit defiance. It is impossible to live outside of the State's reach, therefore one should build a tribal network under the radar, so to speak. This is where things get a little fuzzy. I think Donovan is banking on the slow decline of empire instead of the popularized "one second after" model where every thing goes to crap over a week or so. In the slow decline, there is no one day when the State ceases to be. It's just a gradual loss of economic strength and ability to project power. Nature abhors a vaccuum so tribes will fill in the gaps. This is not unlike when Rome started shrinking and leaving it's fringes hanging out to dry (think 500 - 600 AD Brittania). I'm not quite sure we are in the same boat this time around. Who is to say other empires will not fill that void?
Still, I get where he is going with this, and its interesting to ponder. I am left asking a few big questions. Is conquest, exploration, innovation, and expansion possible or important with out the Empire of Nothing? To what end is tribalism? This can easily be asked of the State as well but I'm having trouble imagining small tribes coming together to create new vaccines, optimizing energy use, establishing new colonies on Mars. What does High Barbarian Life look like? If tribalism can't accomplish these things, does it matter? I see the appeal of "what is best in life?" But eventually Conan becomes a king, and the kingdom becomes an empire anew. Is this cyclical nature our destiny? I'm not saying I prefer the Empire of Nothing, but is there no point in trying to break free of that cycle into something more meaningful?
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Denunciada
BenjaminHahn | Apr 11, 2016 |
I had read most of these essays on Jack Donovan's website before I reread them in this short collection. I particularly like "Violence is Golden" of course, but his new ones like "Train for Honor", "Crom" and "The New Brotherhood" are interesting and well written. I still can't get 100% behind tribalism but like Crom, Donovan doesn't need me to get behind his ideas. They are there regardless. Donovan admits that empires can accomplish great things, although at too high a social cost. But what about those great things? I don't see space travel emerging out of tribalism. As long as men dream of lofty goals, the drive for consolidated power and resources will pull tribes together. Does Donovan just want the pendulum to swing back into barbarism for a while? Is this inevitable? Is this shift/collapse required to jump-start human potential again (ala Venkatesh Rao's The Return of the Barbarian)? I mean, I know its happened before several times throughout human history. It does seem naive to assume our species has moved past that cycle. Anyone who watches the international news should be able to admit that. Just how widespread and how long will it be though?
In Donovan's essay The New Brotherhood, he cites Guillaume Faye's archeofuturism as a guiding principle. This will be my next avenue of investigation.
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Denunciada
BenjaminHahn | Jul 10, 2014 |
If Tyler Durden wrote a manifesto, it would probably read a lot like The Way of Men. I've been thinking a lot about this book since I read it last week. Jack Donovan is a provocative writer and even though I don't outright agree with some of what he believes in, his essays make me pause and think about modern American society.
Donovan is an advocate of tribalism, which is to say, in short, that he would like our society to be far far less complicated and soul crushing than it is right now. Who wants to live in a soul crushing society? Nobody does really and that's why I find myself sympathizing with his back to primal manhood arguments. But its the solution to the soul crushing that I'm not quite sure about. Jack wants us to form all male gangs and not be afraid to get violent if our honor is challenged. He recognizes that this isn't really going to happen as long as we live in a highly regulated and legal society such as our current one. Not to worry though, because society is going to collapse any day now, so you won't have to wait long before we are all thrust back into survival tribes. Possible, yes. Likely, no. I'm not convinced that is going to happen soon. I want to be prepared for it, no doubt, but in the meantime, I'm going to have a hell of time convincing my male friend group to get up and move their families into the same neighborhood, start working out at the gym, buy some guns and start shooting on a regular basis. All just because of the off chance that Mad Max is right around the corner.
I hear the call of that adventure, I dream that dream, but only sometimes. Other times, I want my wife and children to be safe from harm. I want to go to a hospital when my appendix is about to burst. I like sitting down in a cafe to drink coffee. I don't want to face death everyday just to feel alive.
Besides, predicting the end of the world is tricky. It's been called one of humanity's favorite past times. It never really happens the way we think its going to.
When you put that "likelihood" assumption aside, Donovan's overall philosophy is interesting. It's grounded in evolutionary biology and psychology and I found myself generally agreeing with his train of thought. The sources he cites are sparse but adequate. His critique of feminism however seems focused on a type of woman that I have yet to really meet and speak to. I'm sure these "man haters" are out there, but I'm just not around them that much. So his spite seems out of place to me. As a man, I don't feel the looming specter of modern feminism hovering over me, trying to keep my manhood down. Nor do I feel that multiculturalism is being shoved down my throat to the point that it is debilitating. The 50,000 ft view just doesn't seem that dire. Perhaps its my environment. Alaska is a little strange in the first place. Practical, but also strange. Donovan's writing from the Portland, OR area so perhaps circumstances intense to him.
Anyway, I will probably send this book onto some of my close male friends and see what they think. It's controversial subject matter, but I think Matt will find it interesting at least. In the meantime, I will keep my eye out for Donovan's other books and give them some of my valued reading time. He has earned that much.
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3 vota
Denunciada
BenjaminHahn | May 30, 2014 |

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Obras
6
Miembros
427
Popularidad
#57,179
Valoración
3.8
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3
ISBNs
21
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