I've been on and off this list for several years and I've never noticed anything I would label hazing. Insults yes, hazing no.
>
> I am not hiding anything. I am not here to compete with anyone or to call out anyone on anything. Maybe I am a bit defensive - but that is merely because I am attacked for merely expessing an opinion - that I disagree with authoritarian socialism.
>
> I am not a troll, CIA nor a FBI agent, not a PHD or academic, not poor, but certainly not rich. I just wanted to offer some thoughts, experiences on autonomism and my concerns with social democratic reforms.
>
I think you may be mistaking exasperation for hazing or insults. The opinions you post cover very well trod ground here hence the exasperation you may read in replies. I don't have much sympathy, or any sympathy for that matter, for those who wish to harshly criticize Venezuela right now. Criticisms of Chavez coming from outside Venezuela at this point serve the US Empire far more than they serve working class and poor Venezuelans. The Venezuelans I know who have complaints about Chavez prefer to keep them inside Venezuela since they cannot possibly do any good elsewhere.
>
> Moreover, I was being rhetorical with my question regarding LBO, because I get a sense that ideas, thoughts are shot down before they are sincerely discussed. I expressed an opinion and was skewered as it being useless. So, I ask what is the alternative? This is an honest and genuine question.
The alternatives cannot be known right now. Imagining them as stateless is all well and good but imagining them as governmentless is some sort of autonomist utopia and not terribly fruitful as a topic for serious discussion in my view.
John Thornton