I think Hartmut Rosa's "Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World" provides a glimpse of what ambitious left-wing critiques of the future might look like. Coming out of the Frankfurt School tradition, he attempts to give a sound sociological definition of "alienation" and its opposite, which he calls "resonance". It dovetails nicely with ideas coming out of "degrowth" economics and the like. Attempts to organise a post-capitalist society around something other than limitless growth will have to take seriously what Rosa calls resonant relationships.
I know this is a joke but I really relate to what HC is saying and honestly sometimes I do have to dial it back to asking myself what AM I absolutely sure of? And it’s things like “humans should recognize each other’s inherent value and treat each other with dignity” which is why the things I feel the very most sure about are things like “don’t murder other people” (which for example leaves me anti death penalty and pro choice but with probably more empathy for those who consider ending the life of a fetus to be ending the life of a human being.) As far as political philosophies I honestly am not ever quite sure which ones ultimately do the most to adhere to that admittedly sort of childlike conviction I have that we just need to be more humane to each other and recognize individual human rights.
Explain to me how "Black American and their leaders have a cod lock on it, and they will not give it up.". What world are you living in where anyone black has any power? Much less these United States?
You don’t think Black Americans as a political bloc have major influence within the Democratic Party? This is the new cool perspective on the social left where you act like Black people are all penniless powerless and indigent and that makes you somehow enlightened. Jim Clyburn is an extremely powerful man and put Joe Biden in the White House.
And set himself up as a permanent (well he’s old as shit like every major Dem but whatever) powerbroker. Next primary do you think he might exert some influence? What would Lil Pete do to get his endorsement in 24/28??
No, not black Americans. The Black Democratic patronage machine -- which was once upon a time one of many Democratic ethnoregional patronage machines, but today sticks out as the last one standing.
"Some intellectuals tout formation of third parties, but they are always doing that."
Well...it never gets anywhere because without Proportional Voting & Representation a 3rd party (and 4th, 5th,...) would be pointless. In a system where 51% of the vote grants you 100% of the district, there is no room for anything but political binaries. The Dems and Repubs essentially have a dual monopoly on the American electorate.
That's only true for competitive federal elections. In a lot of solidly Red or Blue areas, you could easily make a local-regional third party work. You'd just be stuck inside your urban archipelago if you tried to compete for the super-Blue/super-Democrat vote against actual Democrats.
Okay, but then what? How would your fledgling local party help enact broad policies that require state or federal support? I'm not being defensive here, I'm genuinely curious.
I don't think you could. I think you'd basically just have to stick to local issues, and work your way up to a larger constituency that could back you for larger issues.
"The easiest and most pragmatic path to political power would be as a faction within the Republican Party."
But power for what? That is, what beyond restricting immigration in the name of the American worker (which is the one policy item you mention)?
For that matter, as recently as 2018, blacks could poll pretty strongly in favor of immigration restriction. Has that changed drastically, and if not, how bad is this "cod lock" (billiard term, fish jail, crotch joke?) for the policy item you favor?
"A [2018] Harvard-Harris poll found that African Americans favor reducing legal immigration more than any other demographic group: 85% want less than the million-plus we allow on an annual basis, and 54% opted for the most stringent choices offered — 250,000 immigrants per year or less, or none at all."
"...but then again there will always be the Synemas and Manchins and the party’s inherent bias towards them…."
Manchin caught some heat recently for telling the press that the US as a country is politically center/center-right and always has been. Is he wrong? And if he's not what are the implications for any left of center political movement?
I've limited my YouTube consumption to frivolous crap like board games, and I think I'm smarter for it. There's just no reason to go there for politics.
Oh how odd I used to volunteer at a no dig community garden in the UK. Never expected to see Dowding in the comments of a post on the ends of socialism :-)
I dunno, a lot of these videos come from people who otherwise make great content: no pun included, one-stop co-op shop, and others. And I bet the "cultural appropriation in board games" videos are great too, I'm just not clicking on them.
Back when board games used to be largely synonymous with war gaming the industry was constitutionally unconcerned with political correctness, often hilariously so by modern day standards. The widespread use of the stars and bars in Civil War games springs to mind.
But my favorite example would have to be Squad Leader, the grand daddy of all WWII simulations. I used to play the Western Front packs rather than the Pacific War expansions. The Waffen SS units in that game were totally bad ass, almost impossible to break with a super high morale.
Unless of course you played the siege of Berlin expansion. Now the SS units are composed of 14 year old boys and old men and they really, really suck. My friends and I thought that was hilarious.
It used to be pretty much the entire industry. The broadening of the base not only changed that but it also resulted in a reduction in the level of complexity of the games themselves. If you want a laugh go look up the rule book for Squad Leader online. I'm guessing somebody probably has a PDF up somewhere for reasons of historical preservation.
I remember my local game purveyor being very very excited about the War In The Falklands game which came out just a few months after the shooting started in the actual war in the Falklands
I mean in the sense of "imperialism in board games", "cultural appropriation in board games", etc. Back in the old days this stuff would have simply not have been an issue and the world is not improved now that they are.
I don't think the world is worse because people have made games like The Underground Railroad or Spirit Island.
I mean, are thinkpieces of any kind improving the world? Not likely! But websites always need new things to write about so rewrite 10 year old thinkpieces about Call of Duty to apply to Settlers of Catan is just part of filling the vast maw of a website's need for clicks.
I haven't actually watched any of this stuff but I would have to imagine that Youtube videos about "cultural appropriation in board games" are discussing older, "problematic" titles rather than the newer PC stuff.
If you want to make a board game about the siege of Stalingrad and you're an American company are you appropriating Russian or German cultural material? This stuff just doesn't make sense under the old worldview.
Right, I mean the "cultural appropriation in board games" articles are probably just replacing the "top 10 board games where the third letter is m or n" lists
idk sometimes it's gold. My favorite might be someone who attempted to explain anarcho-communism using a character from Magic the Gathering. It was kinda funny to watch a youtuber who seems to be himself some flavor of anarcho and/or communism hold this character up as an entry into that world, because this character was a 15-year-old who had no political ambitions or philosophy aside from "burn things down" and was summarily executed as soon as the people manipulating him for their own ends no longer had use for him.
It's probably not good for me, but I get hours of entertainment from watching people trying to contort whatever their favorite popular media is into an expression of their political beliefs.
I've been using youtube to watch old BBC documentaries like Ways of Seeing and Civilization. It's amazing that they used to fund and air this stuff on TV and a lot of it was extremely popular.
I just finished that and now I’m watching his follow up series American Visions and reading the book alongside it, such good stuff. It’s criminal that they’re only available as crappy VHS rips on youtube.
even the explicitly political ones are like “we gave edward said an hour of television to make a wistful documentary on imperialism and his childhood,” a way more interesting use of your time than breadtube.
The left perhaps needs a heavy dose of Irish sensibility. Bleak humor, but there’s room for the dirges and the battle hymns too. But the thing you go to battle for has to be real, to be comprehensible, to *many*, because it’s not a flaw to look for yourself or someone like you in the causes you support.
Example: I firmly support trans rights. But my continued support of biological women and girls and my concern over medicalization of gender dysphoria for teens makes me…an enemy to trans people, somehow? But the battle cry we could all get behind is anti-discrimination law and making sure it’s enforced. That’s not good enough anymore.
Yes. It's called bi-partisan compromise and it's considered old fashioned now. One must destroy the opposition, not work with them on what common ground there might be.
(Note: as a former copy editor, just starting out can be fraught. Please don’t take personally the inevitable dicks who take joy in pointing out your misses. People love to feel superior.)
"The problem is that there is no real socialist movement in 21st-century American politics. All we have are entertainers."
Bwahahaha. I think it was George Carlin who said it right, in America right now (back then as now) there are two types of people, pimps and whores and only one culture: hustle.
I have a project: raise minimum wage to $20/hour. Lefties are so arrogant, they always think they know better and to help people then create crazy bureaucracies that waste money. Ask poor people what they want and I guarantee it is a simple answer and always the same: money. Of course there will be a considerable loss of jobs in the compassion-based industries and the lies would be ferocious as they try to save their jobs.
Are "Leftists" where you are not fighting to raise the minimum wage? I assumed (perhaps wrongly!) that this was a universal leftist imperative. Where I am (Canada), progressive groups are perpetually fighting to raise the minimum wage and the opposition comes from conservative groups (parties and business owners) and centrists (who advocate for slower, more incremental increases).
I am Canadian, you are probably correct they are fighting for increased minimum wage. My point though is that the left has become an industry dedicated to self preservation
Yeah, there's a fair bit of that going on, but I don't think it's fair to say that's everyone (or even the majority) on the left. I see that more among centre-leftists with institutional power (Liberal Party types, university administrations), rather than your run of the mill NDP voter.
My father, who was an ardent Irish Catholic, once told me the Catholic Church will always do the thing that ensures its own survival, no matter the cost. He was probably right, but this sentiment isn't unique to the Church.
Every group that wields power thinks self-preservation is numero uno...can't influence the hearts and minds of your flock if you don't exist right? The (far)Left isn't doing anything that any other group, including the Right, isn't doing either. The Golden Rule of politics and power is to always make sure your flock believes they can't survive without you.
Good perspective, I was a bit one sided on that phenomenon blaming the left more: maybe because of their high mindedness in the face of obvious self preservation tactics.
Ha! Yeah, the 'holier-than-though' mentality of many party Dems is beyond insulting. This might be where McWhorter's claim of wokeness as a religion might come into play, because unfortunately a lot of them seem to be behaving like infallible clergy.
Does Natalie Wynn claim anywhere to be popularizing or leading a movement? I don't recall any such, but there's plenty of her stuff I haven't seen. You're right that she's a good teacher!
I took the point as more about other people assuming she has a political goal. I think it was in her ”Cringe” video where she said explicitly that she regards herself foremost as an entertainer, even in her previously-more-political content where the entertainment generally came from knocking obnoxious far-right youtubers down a peg.
She made a video on voting and a video on abolishing the police in recent years, but as with most of her stuff it was more well-phrased observation/analysis than call to action.
1. He once said America deserved 9/11 (and got a lot of (well-deserved) shit for it).
2. He bought a very expensive (2.7M) house (and got a lot of (maybe less-deserved) shit for it).
3. Some of his livestreams are just other people's YouTube videos he puts on while eating or not even being on stream (and he got some shit for that too).
Regardless of if he believes in socialism or not, he isn't the kind of person I'd want being considered a leader in my movement in the same way as Richard Stallman in the Free/Libre software community.
- a real thirst to conduct purity tests and burn witches
I think Hartmut Rosa's "Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World" provides a glimpse of what ambitious left-wing critiques of the future might look like. Coming out of the Frankfurt School tradition, he attempts to give a sound sociological definition of "alienation" and its opposite, which he calls "resonance". It dovetails nicely with ideas coming out of "degrowth" economics and the like. Attempts to organise a post-capitalist society around something other than limitless growth will have to take seriously what Rosa calls resonant relationships.
how about murder, you feel strongly about that one
I know this is a joke but I really relate to what HC is saying and honestly sometimes I do have to dial it back to asking myself what AM I absolutely sure of? And it’s things like “humans should recognize each other’s inherent value and treat each other with dignity” which is why the things I feel the very most sure about are things like “don’t murder other people” (which for example leaves me anti death penalty and pro choice but with probably more empathy for those who consider ending the life of a fetus to be ending the life of a human being.) As far as political philosophies I honestly am not ever quite sure which ones ultimately do the most to adhere to that admittedly sort of childlike conviction I have that we just need to be more humane to each other and recognize individual human rights.
Eeyore is a great logo for socialists in America. Like a democrat, only sad and wilted.
Hard for me to reread this piece and feel like it's touting Bernie....
Yeah that's not helping your case
How complimentary is "noble failure" coming from Freddie?
Explain to me how "Black American and their leaders have a cod lock on it, and they will not give it up.". What world are you living in where anyone black has any power? Much less these United States?
Really!!! I must be living in the meta-verse, then. Black American have so much power. Who knew!
You might want to check your math!
And yet we have the spectacle of Biden guaranteeing a Supreme Court seat to a black female.
You don’t think Black Americans as a political bloc have major influence within the Democratic Party? This is the new cool perspective on the social left where you act like Black people are all penniless powerless and indigent and that makes you somehow enlightened. Jim Clyburn is an extremely powerful man and put Joe Biden in the White House.
No..Black South Carolinians had ONE lever and they pulled it for a Supreme Court seat. Well done Jim Clyburn. well done.
Absent that win in S. Carolina I think it's debatable whether or not Biden would be President now.
And set himself up as a permanent (well he’s old as shit like every major Dem but whatever) powerbroker. Next primary do you think he might exert some influence? What would Lil Pete do to get his endorsement in 24/28??
No, not black Americans. The Black Democratic patronage machine -- which was once upon a time one of many Democratic ethnoregional patronage machines, but today sticks out as the last one standing.
Good point, I think that Democratic patronage machinery has a tight grip with the Black Churches, particularly in the Southern States.
True
"Some intellectuals tout formation of third parties, but they are always doing that."
Well...it never gets anywhere because without Proportional Voting & Representation a 3rd party (and 4th, 5th,...) would be pointless. In a system where 51% of the vote grants you 100% of the district, there is no room for anything but political binaries. The Dems and Repubs essentially have a dual monopoly on the American electorate.
That's only true for competitive federal elections. In a lot of solidly Red or Blue areas, you could easily make a local-regional third party work. You'd just be stuck inside your urban archipelago if you tried to compete for the super-Blue/super-Democrat vote against actual Democrats.
Okay, but then what? How would your fledgling local party help enact broad policies that require state or federal support? I'm not being defensive here, I'm genuinely curious.
I don't think you could. I think you'd basically just have to stick to local issues, and work your way up to a larger constituency that could back you for larger issues.
"The easiest and most pragmatic path to political power would be as a faction within the Republican Party."
But power for what? That is, what beyond restricting immigration in the name of the American worker (which is the one policy item you mention)?
For that matter, as recently as 2018, blacks could poll pretty strongly in favor of immigration restriction. Has that changed drastically, and if not, how bad is this "cod lock" (billiard term, fish jail, crotch joke?) for the policy item you favor?
Source (sorry it's a bit outdated):
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-seminara-trump-immigration-reform-african-americans-20180316-story.html
"A [2018] Harvard-Harris poll found that African Americans favor reducing legal immigration more than any other demographic group: 85% want less than the million-plus we allow on an annual basis, and 54% opted for the most stringent choices offered — 250,000 immigrants per year or less, or none at all."
"...but then again there will always be the Synemas and Manchins and the party’s inherent bias towards them…."
Manchin caught some heat recently for telling the press that the US as a country is politically center/center-right and always has been. Is he wrong? And if he's not what are the implications for any left of center political movement?
I don't think the American people are politically coherent in that way, but it's complicated.
This is an interesting approach to this conundrum that may serve to further (or not, ymmv): https://medium.com/@even.aesphasian/3d-political-spectrum-4870f06f2f49
I've limited my YouTube consumption to frivolous crap like board games, and I think I'm smarter for it. There's just no reason to go there for politics.
There are lots of lectures that libraries intrepidly post that have maybe 35 views but interesting. RIGHT, never politics.
There's great educational content on there like Statquest, but never for politics
Makeup videos, but never politics.
I suck at painting my nails, any good videos on that?
Oh indeed, indeed. And if you’re into gardening, highly recommend Charles Dowding, the British mister Rogers of gardening.
Oh how odd I used to volunteer at a no dig community garden in the UK. Never expected to see Dowding in the comments of a post on the ends of socialism :-)
Chanel has some fashions shows that after you watch them you feel like capitalism is so awful...but..so pretty.
There's so much good stuff on YouTube. Car stuff. Tech stuff. I watch people fix things and sail around the world.
But never ever politics.
every damn time I refill the printer I watch a youtube
Printers fucking suck.
I began my career on a typewriter and was a better writer then and there was just one device.
Although I should add that it can be hard to avoid politics in the frivolous stuff. Sorry, not gonna click the "imperialism in board games" video.
The problem with board games is that the space has been invaded by normies.
I dunno, a lot of these videos come from people who otherwise make great content: no pun included, one-stop co-op shop, and others. And I bet the "cultural appropriation in board games" videos are great too, I'm just not clicking on them.
Back when board games used to be largely synonymous with war gaming the industry was constitutionally unconcerned with political correctness, often hilariously so by modern day standards. The widespread use of the stars and bars in Civil War games springs to mind.
But my favorite example would have to be Squad Leader, the grand daddy of all WWII simulations. I used to play the Western Front packs rather than the Pacific War expansions. The Waffen SS units in that game were totally bad ass, almost impossible to break with a super high morale.
Unless of course you played the siege of Berlin expansion. Now the SS units are composed of 14 year old boys and old men and they really, really suck. My friends and I thought that was hilarious.
I think of war-gaming as a sort of sub-hobby, like chess. I've never played a war game, and I don't think many people in my gaming group have.
Pfah! Casuals!
It used to be pretty much the entire industry. The broadening of the base not only changed that but it also resulted in a reduction in the level of complexity of the games themselves. If you want a laugh go look up the rule book for Squad Leader online. I'm guessing somebody probably has a PDF up somewhere for reasons of historical preservation.
I remember my local game purveyor being very very excited about the War In The Falklands game which came out just a few months after the shooting started in the actual war in the Falklands
Worst take I've seen on boardgames!
There are more kinds of boardgames than ever before, with more varied themes and mechanics.
I love it.
I mean in the sense of "imperialism in board games", "cultural appropriation in board games", etc. Back in the old days this stuff would have simply not have been an issue and the world is not improved now that they are.
How are you defining "normies"? I doubt very much that the people I would consider normie would give a shit about "imperialism in boardgames"
Anybody who has a problem with depicting Waffen SS units that are composed of 14 year old's and old men is a normie. See my comment below.
I don't think the world is worse because people have made games like The Underground Railroad or Spirit Island.
I mean, are thinkpieces of any kind improving the world? Not likely! But websites always need new things to write about so rewrite 10 year old thinkpieces about Call of Duty to apply to Settlers of Catan is just part of filling the vast maw of a website's need for clicks.
I haven't actually watched any of this stuff but I would have to imagine that Youtube videos about "cultural appropriation in board games" are discussing older, "problematic" titles rather than the newer PC stuff.
If you want to make a board game about the siege of Stalingrad and you're an American company are you appropriating Russian or German cultural material? This stuff just doesn't make sense under the old worldview.
Right, I mean the "cultural appropriation in board games" articles are probably just replacing the "top 10 board games where the third letter is m or n" lists
idk sometimes it's gold. My favorite might be someone who attempted to explain anarcho-communism using a character from Magic the Gathering. It was kinda funny to watch a youtuber who seems to be himself some flavor of anarcho and/or communism hold this character up as an entry into that world, because this character was a 15-year-old who had no political ambitions or philosophy aside from "burn things down" and was summarily executed as soon as the people manipulating him for their own ends no longer had use for him.
It's probably not good for me, but I get hours of entertainment from watching people trying to contort whatever their favorite popular media is into an expression of their political beliefs.
Reminds me of the books I used to see like "The Philosophy of Arrested Development." Like, ok
Solid agree. Why watch politics when I can see a vaguely asian man explain Vocaloid to me using pipe organs?
Or a British guy with amazing hair explain the best way to brew coffee with a Moka pot.
Board game youtube is the best youtube.
Have you seen the Dragon's Tomb rules explanation for Jenga? one of my all time faves
...the what?
Guess it's already that time of day for me to spend a few hours watching on youtube!
I've been using youtube to watch old BBC documentaries like Ways of Seeing and Civilization. It's amazing that they used to fund and air this stuff on TV and a lot of it was extremely popular.
I just finished that and now I’m watching his follow up series American Visions and reading the book alongside it, such good stuff. It’s criminal that they’re only available as crappy VHS rips on youtube.
Good point. So much besides politics.
even the explicitly political ones are like “we gave edward said an hour of television to make a wistful documentary on imperialism and his childhood,” a way more interesting use of your time than breadtube.
Rick Beato's 'Everything Music' channel will improve your life.
The left perhaps needs a heavy dose of Irish sensibility. Bleak humor, but there’s room for the dirges and the battle hymns too. But the thing you go to battle for has to be real, to be comprehensible, to *many*, because it’s not a flaw to look for yourself or someone like you in the causes you support.
Example: I firmly support trans rights. But my continued support of biological women and girls and my concern over medicalization of gender dysphoria for teens makes me…an enemy to trans people, somehow? But the battle cry we could all get behind is anti-discrimination law and making sure it’s enforced. That’s not good enough anymore.
I decided it was about time to toss in the CLW movement. (I gave a link).
Great point. There’s a group that can’t get on board with abortion but can do so much for other leftist causes.
Yes. It's called bi-partisan compromise and it's considered old fashioned now. One must destroy the opposition, not work with them on what common ground there might be.
I joked with the copy editor that there would be one big glaring mistake we both missed, the first time, and there'd 'thing hard' sitting right here
Yeah not good enough. Consider me unsub.
(Note: as a former copy editor, just starting out can be fraught. Please don’t take personally the inevitable dicks who take joy in pointing out your misses. People love to feel superior.)
Et tu, Erin? 😩
there'd
Hey Freddie, great article. I just subscribed.
"The problem is that there is no real socialist movement in 21st-century American politics. All we have are entertainers."
Bwahahaha. I think it was George Carlin who said it right, in America right now (back then as now) there are two types of people, pimps and whores and only one culture: hustle.
Seldom discussed and maybe below the radar of many people or maybe because "Catholic" is off-putting to intellectuals--
There has been, since 1933 The Catholic Worker est. by Dorothy Day. The newspaper is still published (from NY) and there are 160 communities in the U.S. https://www.catholicworker.org/communities/directory-picker.html
Terrific writing.
Socialist is a verb, good thought.
I have a project: raise minimum wage to $20/hour. Lefties are so arrogant, they always think they know better and to help people then create crazy bureaucracies that waste money. Ask poor people what they want and I guarantee it is a simple answer and always the same: money. Of course there will be a considerable loss of jobs in the compassion-based industries and the lies would be ferocious as they try to save their jobs.
Are "Leftists" where you are not fighting to raise the minimum wage? I assumed (perhaps wrongly!) that this was a universal leftist imperative. Where I am (Canada), progressive groups are perpetually fighting to raise the minimum wage and the opposition comes from conservative groups (parties and business owners) and centrists (who advocate for slower, more incremental increases).
I am Canadian, you are probably correct they are fighting for increased minimum wage. My point though is that the left has become an industry dedicated to self preservation
Yeah, there's a fair bit of that going on, but I don't think it's fair to say that's everyone (or even the majority) on the left. I see that more among centre-leftists with institutional power (Liberal Party types, university administrations), rather than your run of the mill NDP voter.
Cool, Ontario‘s doing OK with $15 an hour minimum wage I hope they put it up a dollar per year until it hits 20. I’m in Toronto
Well, I hope you let your local PC candidate know that!
Have you thought about filling out your profile, I did
My father, who was an ardent Irish Catholic, once told me the Catholic Church will always do the thing that ensures its own survival, no matter the cost. He was probably right, but this sentiment isn't unique to the Church.
Every group that wields power thinks self-preservation is numero uno...can't influence the hearts and minds of your flock if you don't exist right? The (far)Left isn't doing anything that any other group, including the Right, isn't doing either. The Golden Rule of politics and power is to always make sure your flock believes they can't survive without you.
Good perspective, I was a bit one sided on that phenomenon blaming the left more: maybe because of their high mindedness in the face of obvious self preservation tactics.
Ha! Yeah, the 'holier-than-though' mentality of many party Dems is beyond insulting. This might be where McWhorter's claim of wokeness as a religion might come into play, because unfortunately a lot of them seem to be behaving like infallible clergy.
Does Natalie Wynn claim anywhere to be popularizing or leading a movement? I don't recall any such, but there's plenty of her stuff I haven't seen. You're right that she's a good teacher!
I took the point as more about other people assuming she has a political goal. I think it was in her ”Cringe” video where she said explicitly that she regards herself foremost as an entertainer, even in her previously-more-political content where the entertainment generally came from knocking obnoxious far-right youtubers down a peg.
She made a video on voting and a video on abolishing the police in recent years, but as with most of her stuff it was more well-phrased observation/analysis than call to action.
She is wildly entertaining, though!
Is Michael Harrington remembered today?
Well, *I* remember him, but I remember JFK's assassination too.
There's three things I know about Hasan Piker:
1. He once said America deserved 9/11 (and got a lot of (well-deserved) shit for it).
2. He bought a very expensive (2.7M) house (and got a lot of (maybe less-deserved) shit for it).
3. Some of his livestreams are just other people's YouTube videos he puts on while eating or not even being on stream (and he got some shit for that too).
Regardless of if he believes in socialism or not, he isn't the kind of person I'd want being considered a leader in my movement in the same way as Richard Stallman in the Free/Libre software community.
As of 1PM today, I learned through my RSS feeds that he has also bought a Porsche (and is once again getting shit for it).