Karl Krass profile picture

Karl Krass

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

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I'm becoming increasingly enstranged with the society I live in. The State is busily raping civil liberties behind our backs, corporations are eating away at the public sector underneath our noses, the disasterous consequences of Western imperialism are looming over our heads, and an increasingly volatile underclass is growing beneath our feet, yet all that lies in front of our eyes are pretty little talent shows, gossip magazines, and tabloid headlines about how wasted some stinking rich talentless celebrity got the other night. Nothing like a bit of decadence to keep us all distracted and under sedition! Yes, corporate oppression reigns supreme, and the ignorant nazi following the BNP are building up proves once and for all that divide and conquer will unfortunately always be easier than peace and understanding. A shitty state of affairs to be honest, but at least I'll always have the Royalty Pub just a few hundred yards away! I'm at Sunderland Uni studying Politics and Criminology. Music is my bread and butter though, alot of it being politically subversive punk, hardcore and anarcho. I play guitar, write songs and jam with others when I get the occasion to, but no band off the ground yet. Along with my music, I also read alot and I spend alot of time writing down my thoughts and ideas - usually on music, youth subculture, and socio-political issues. I am a radical activist with the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and a phone conversation I had once with one of their chief organisers was cut short because I had to head off to a politics lecture.....on Margaret Thatcher. Oh it just says so much! I might be getting into some freelance journalism over the next couple of years too, which is great cos not only are there plenty of ideas that need communicating, but the north-east punk scene is pretty cool too. Have already managed to struggle through an interview with Loudmouth during soundcheck! Things that interest me include going to gigs, grassroots politics, the anarcho-punk movement, pub quizzes, cheap beer, reading, writing, travelling, watching films, and finding creative ways to waste time in the house with Callie, Steph, Beccy, Wes and Steve. Things that repel me include authoritarianism, capitalism, religious extremism and organised religion in general, New Labour, corporate welfare, US and British imperialism, idealism, bigoted social intolerance, willful ignorance, celebrity culture and other chickenshit mind-numbing media, and the current naive preoccupation with emo that I seem to come across in alot of people nowadays, most of whom have no idea what real emo-core actually is or where it came from......I also hate pigeons, they fly at my head.

My Interests

"Conventional wisdom would have one believe that it is insane to resist this, the mightiest of empires....but what history really shows is that today's empire is tomorrow's ashes, that nothing lasts forever, and that to not resist is to aquiesce in your own oppression. The greatest form of sanity that anyone can exercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress, and fight down the human spirit" - Mumia Abu-Jamal

I'd like to meet:

Emma Goldman - the fire-brand subversive herself. "IF I CAN'T DANCE, I DON'T WANT YOUR REVOLUTION!"

Music:

Punk, hardcore, anarcho, ska, folk and loads of other random stuff: Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Pennywise, NOFX, Descendents, Adolescents, Social Distortion, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Gorilla Biscuits, Millions of Dead Cops, Misfits, Ramones, The Damned, Buzzcocks, UK Subs, Crass, Conflict, Subhumans, Discharge, The Exploited, GBH, Anti-Flag, Propagandhi, Leftover Crack, Choking Victim, Mouthwash, The Distillers, Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, The God Awfuls, Nekromantix, HorrorPops, Da Skywalkers, The Anti-Nowhere League, Vice Squad, The Adicts, Peter And The Test Tube Babies, Angelic Upstarts, The Freaks Union, Loudmouth, Gimp Fist, Chowder Boy, Goldblade, Skunk, Eve's Only Son, Nirvana, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Iggy & The Stooges, Hole, REM, Dire Straits, The Cure, Fleetwood Mac, Tracy Chapman, Ani DiFranco, Enya, Tommy Emmanuel, Beethoven ,Stephane Grappelli (amazing jazz violin).

Movies:

Star Wars, The Godfather, Scarface, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Monster, American History X, V For Vendetta, Steal This Movie, Reds, Lord Of War, The Monty Python Films, The Big Lebowski, Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling For Columbine, Roger & Me, The Matrix, I Robot, The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, What To Do Incase Of Fire, A Clockwork Orange, Trainspotting, Fight Club, Heat, Scent of A Woman, Devil's Advocate, Insomnia, Silence Of The Lambs, Red Dragon, Hannibal, Hannibal Rising, The Shining, Death Becomes Her, Cruel Intentions, Starter For Ten, The Parole Officer, Ghostbusters 1 and 2, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Se7en, Hard Candy, The Shawshank Redemption, Schindler's List, Goodbye Lenin, This Is England, Forrest Gump, Almost Famous, American Beauty, Secretary, Ghost World, One Hour Photo, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, .

Television:

TV is mostly mind-numbing, shallow and decadent, and ironically reality TV couldn't be any further from reality if it tried....but I do like some stuff: The Simpsons, Family Guy, Red Dwarf, Men Behaving Badly, Spaced, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, I'm Alan Partridge, Have I Got News For You, QI, Real Time With Bill Maher, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Scrubs, pretty much anything on the Discovery Channels.

Books:

Books are an important alternative source of media to counter the lies and deceptions radiating from the TV screen. Some of my favourite books are: HEAVIER THAN HEAVEN: THE BIOGRAPHY OF KURT COBAIN by Charles Cross, NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER and ANIMAL FARM all by George Orwell (plus his essays), HEGEMONY OR SURVIVAL, DETERRING DEMOCRACY, GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE, MEDIA CONTROL, MANUFACTURING CONSENT and FAILED STATES all by Noam Chomsky, BLOOD AND OIL by Michael Klare, THE OCCUPATION: WAR AND RESISTANCE IN IRAQ by Patrick Cockburn, THE GUN AND THE OLIVE BRANCH by David Hirst, MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN by Ghada Karmi, CAPTIVE STATE: THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF BRITAIN by George Monbiot, NO LOGO by Naomi Klein, TESCOPOLY by Andrew Simms, THE NEW RULERS OF THE WORLD and FREEDOM NEXT TIME by John Pilger, NHS PLC: THE PRIVATISATION OF OUR HEALTH CARE by Alysson Pollock, PLUNDERING THE PUBLIC SECTOR by David Craig, MIND THE GAP: THE NEW CLASS DIVIDE IN BRITAIN by Ferdinand Mount, THE ABOLITION OF LIBERTY by Peter Hitchens, I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE by George Galloway, DAS KAPITAL and THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO both by Karl Marx, LIVING MY LIFE, ANARCHISM & OTHER ESSAYS and MY DISILLUSIONMENT WITH RUSSIA all by Emma Goldman, RIGHTS OF MAN by Thomas Paine, GOD IS NOT GREAT: THE CASE AGAINST RELIGION by Christopher Hitchens, THE THREAT TO REASON by Dan Hind, STUPID WHITE MEN and DUDE WHERE'S MY COUNTRY both by Michael Moore, NEW RULES: POLITE MUSINGS FROM A TIMID OBSERVER by Bill Maher, THE RISE OF POLITICAL LYING by Peter Oborne, UNSPEAK by Steven Poole, BLACKSHIRT: SIR OSWALD MOSLEY AND BRITISH FASCISM by Stephen Dorril, FEMALE CHAUVANIST PIGS by Ariel Levy, SOPHIE'S WORLD by Jostein Gaarder, STARTER FOR TEN by David Nichols, REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL by Mark Steel, THE DAY THE COUNTRY DIED by Ian Glasper.

Heroes:

Not so much heroes (I don't really do idolatry) but big personal influences: Kurt Cobain, Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Crass, Propagandhi, Noam Chomsky, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Emma Goldman, Thomas Paine, Tony Benn, George Orwell (who kicked my brain into action more than any writer before or since).

My Blog

Marxism vs Anarchism

***Since I was, and in some ways still am, a long time sympathiser of anarchism (along with the fact that I can't think of anything of my own to write about at the moment), I shall provide this a...
Posted by Karl Krass on Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:46:00 PST

Means Create Meaning

As Marx himself said, "philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it."Books, pamphlets, and other publications are an important resource for us to educate ou...
Posted by Karl Krass on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:25:00 PST

Marketing and advertising

.....is bollocks.  The market needs to attach falsely contrived definitions to variations of the same product in order to widen its consumer base and keep people interested.  Observe the fol...
Posted by Karl Krass on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:58:00 PST

A response

I can see I've sparked quite a debate on this subject, thank you all for your responses!  Mine is thus... Democracy was never 'invented'.  It is not an ideology.  The only real constant...
Posted by Karl Krass on Sun, 03 Feb 2008 04:35:00 PST

Democracy anyone?

A friend of mine recently claimed that democracy was "invented by pirates".  Its a bizarre thought, and by pirates I think he meant mercenaries, merchants etc.  He may have been referri...
Posted by Karl Krass on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:30:00 PST

Youre Already Dead

....another gem by Crass.... ATTENTION. Fuck American power. Fuck Russian power. Fuck British power Fuck all power.ATTENTION. These ignorant shits arm themselves for annihilation and call it world pea...
Posted by Karl Krass on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:09:00 PST

The Far Right

In all honesty, I wasn't too keen on Nick Griffin being taking to court for 'incitement to racial hatred'.  This doesn't mean I don't think that racism shouldn't be resisted; I just think that wh...
Posted by Karl Krass on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 07:46:00 PST

The Occupation

"The US occupation has destabilised Iraq and the Middle East.  Stability will not return until the occupation has ended.  The Iraqi government, penned into the Green Zone, has become tainted...
Posted by Karl Krass on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:11:00 PST

Religious Dogma

I am an atheist who is very critical of organised religion. There I've said it....but consider this: people always criticise religion because of all the suffering and oppression it leads to. One coul...
Posted by Karl Krass on Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:03:00 PST

Craig Christ

I recently made a discovery which might just provoke me to re-think my views on Christianity.....He's a character in the bible who's existance is barely known of because he is barely mentioned.  ...
Posted by Karl Krass on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 08:00:00 PST